I will never ever understand why anyone would want to make another human being upset on purpose. I never have and never will understand the appeal of "getting a rise out of" another human being. I will never understand why some people find joy or amusement over another human being's suffering and distress.
And the fact that this behavior is so widely acceptable and tolerated really is the root of so, so many problems. Sexual assault and abuse wouldn't be so rampant if this behavior wasn't so socially acceptable, you can't change my mind. Today's "he's just trying to get a rise out of you because he thinks it's fun to make you upset, but it's not a big deal and it's completely harmless that he likes to make you upset for fun" is tomorrow's rapist and/or abuser.
I can't sleep, post-rumbling jeankasa is actually keeping me up rn. The idea of Mikasa who, after Eren's death, seeks comfort and understanding from Jean, who is always kind, patient, and caring towards her while also being his typical blunt self. She slowly falls in love with him because he gives her a sense of comfort she hasn't felt in years. She doesn't even know how these feelings even started or why she is feeling this way towards him, she just accepts that she really wants to try to be in a relationship with him, but her past experiences and trauma have left her unsure about what she should be doing or how she should act. Is he even in love with her? (She was oblivious to his feelings towards her). She doesn't want to be overbearing and push him away, but she also doesn't want to let him go and lose him like everyone else in her life.
Then you have Jean, who has been in love with Mikasa since they were 12, but he has been so used to her being in love with Eren and never seeing him as anything more than a friend that he is incapable of imagining the possibility of Mikasa ever returning his affections. He tells himself that he is fine being her emotional support, looking after her, helping her, being there for her, yet he cannot stop feeling his love eating him up inside. It is a bruise to him at this point, he can bear the pain, and now it only hurts when pressed on. Any time Mikasa gets embarrassed, blushes, or gets close to him, he reasons it is because they are friends and nothing more.
Everyone else can see it and even help push them in the right direction, but it didn't work, since they are misunderstanding each other's feelings for one another. It took an honest conversation about their new lives for them to take the first step and realize that they might have a chance with each other.
Ymir was essentially trapped in a timeless eternal stasis because of her yearning for King Fritz... and she chose Mikasa to set her free... Mikasa who was similarly hopelessly devoted to a powerful figure who could never fully return Mikasa's affections... and Mikasa liberating Ymir ended the Curse of Ymir and all the Titan fuckery...
And people still want to say that Mikasa would be hung up on Eren for the rest of her life and never move on.
How is Friendship and Humanity Presented in Attack On Titan
A key element of Attack on Titan is the unwavering humanity of the main cast and how their friendships develop and change them as people. Unfortunately, this is often overlooked in favour of discussing the darker side of the show. Armin mentions taking time to enjoy the "little things", and this is what in my opinion makes the show so enjoyable. The characters of the show constantly display small and large acts of empathy which connect them together. Through these relationships, the series shows how compassion and understanding are what allows humanity to prevail over violence.
One major example of this would be the dynamic between the veterans, Hange, Levi and Erwin. This trio intermingles well, they all bond over survival and have huge trust in each other. Hange is an excitable, curious person and takes great joy in researching titans. This can represent the inquisitive nature of humanity and the drive for knowledge which has pushed us as a society to advance. Levi holds great respect for Hange. However, his more stoic attitude helps to rein in her chaos. Hange also brings out a more relaxed and less uptight version of Levi, a symbol of their friendship. Levi Ackerman carries deep trauma that extends beyond the Survey Corps and into his childhood. Someone like Hange is good for Levi. This is clear in their often teasing and sarcastic interactions, where Levi even dubs her 'Four-eyes'. These moments between them show the more joyous and playful side of their friendship.
However, Levi would lack direction if not for Erwin, as they have complete faith in each other. Erwin trusts Levi to accomplish any mission. In return, Levi trusts Erwin's leadership and judgement. This is shown during the Return to Shiganshina arc, when Erwin sacrifices himself to give Levi a chance at killing the Beast Titan. Their relationship portrays how people often rely on each other for counsel. Erwin is ruthlessly pragmatic but highly intelligent. Like Hange, he is driven by a desire to uncover hidden truths. Because of this, they work well together and bond over their shared thirst for knowledge. As commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin enables Hange's research projects. In turn, Hange deeply respects his strategic vision, and therefore they do their best to carry it out, shown when Erwin entrusts them with taking over his position after he dies. Overall the trio balances each other out. Although they are more practical and hard-headed than their younger counterparts, their friendship remains deep and meaningful. They found motivation through each other.
Another example of friendship impacting personal growth is Gabi and Falco. This pair starts off as indoctrinated children, knowing only Marleyan propaganda as the truth, but over time, they both learn to see past their prejudices. Falco is much more empathetic than her to begin, and clearly holds a lot of love for her. He stuck with her through thick and thin, wanting to ensure her safety, joining her in sneaking onto the airship. Falco acts as a levelheaded protector for Gabi, who is impulsive and volatile in comparison. He tries to guide her away from her hatred. There are many moments in which this is shown, my personal favourite is at the Braun stables, where Gabi is bitten on the head by a horse, and Falco remarks that there is no horse that would let her ride it. This shows Falco acknowledging the extreme resentment she harbours. However, it reminds us that he still loves her, and is able to joke with her. This does also remind us that they are just children, and this allows us to empathise with the pair, even after what Gabi did.
Eventually, Gabi overcomes her hostility and her true selfless nature begins to emerge. This occurs after she sees the humanity of the Eldian people. Forced to live among those she thought were subhuman, Gabi realises they are no different from her. The kindness of Sasha's family not taking revenge and instead offering forgiveness forced her to confront her own misconceptions about the Eldian people and change for the better. In the end, they help to stop the Rumbling, doing this out of a desire to show kindness in the same way the Eldian 'devils' showed kindness to her. She found she could connect with these people, and a perfect example of this is a small scene where Levi helps her shoot a rifle during the rumbling. He keeps a hand over her to stop her flying off Falco's back. This portrays her development, but also Levi's too. Over the course of the series, he becomes more of a 'father figure' to the cast. It's small interactions like this which make the show feel purposeful, giving humanity to its characters.
Connie and Jean create a more relatable aspect to the show, both of them are very normal people. Connie is, at first glance, a comedic relief character, but it goes so much deeper than that. Firstly, his humourous nature provides a much needed lightheartedness to the series, especially paired with Sasha. Most importantly about Connie, is how he maintains this outlook, he has an incredible ability to look past betrayal for the greater good. He feels personally betrayed by Reiner and Bertholdt. When his village was overtaken by titans, he claims that a titan communicated with him. Reiner is quick to dismiss this claim. This makes the later revelation Reiner and Bertholdt are the Armoured and Colossal Titans much more devastating, as his family were directly affected. Despite this, he empathises with their position, and overcomes his bitterness, and during the final fight, he places his trust in them again. Connie is a shining example of forgiveness in the show, which is an important step to unity.
Jean's character focuses more on selflessness than forgiveness. Jean starts out thinking only for himself, he plans on joining the Military Police, getting a cushy job, and living peacefully. After his close friend Marco dies, he adopts a sense of responsibility. Marco's name refers to the Roman god of war, Mars, it symbolises strength and valour. These are qualities Jean adopts after Marcos death, choosing to fight for others rather than himself. Jean also deals with temptations to choose the easy path, by joining the Military Police or becoming a Yeagerist. However, he always ends up choosing the most dutiful path, picking compassion for others over self preservation. One example of Jean choosing kindness would be with Reiner. In the final fight, Jean saves Reiners life, and tells him the reason is "We are Scouts". This represents how despite Reiners betrayal, Jean understands that Reiner has changed and found his way, showing Jeans development. This is sort of a full circle moment for Jean, he now knows what it means to act selflessly. The average person can easily relate to the struggles of both Jean and Connie. Because of this, they ground the show in reality, and demonstrate that ordinary people can make significant moral changes in themselves by becoming more empathetic, compassionate and forgiving.
Sasha is the paragon of humanity in Attack On Titan. She starts off perhaps a bit selfish and immature as a cadet, but she quickly grows and matures into a capable soldier. What really stands out about Sasha is her unwavering love for the world around her, she is capable of seeing past any prejudices she has to see the truth. Sasha is essentially the life of the show. You could easily simplify her to just 'comic relief', but in a show with themes as dark as Attack On Titan, her ridiculous love for food and entertaining nature bring a spark to the series. Sasha, from season one, has this incredible compassion. When she gets caught eating the potato during training, she offers a significantly smaller half to Shadis. This could be just a funny joke, but it actually shows Sasha's hope for the future and her trust in others to also be kind. Of course, this doesn't end well for her and she still gets punished.
Later on, in season 4, Reiner recounts this story to his family when talking about his experience with 'Eldian devils'. The worst thing he can remember about Sasha is that she gave him the smaller half, its a humanising story, and this shows that Reiner has opened his eyes to the truth. The harmless and mundane story perpetuates an entirely different idea of Eldians compared to the Marleyan propaganda. Reiner is traumatised by his revelation. It went against everything he was ever taught. Therefore, he tried to find a reason to not believe it. Instead, he found humanity, and he found it through Sasha. In season 2, episode 6, Reiner says "if only I never knew there were people like this" I think this is a great example of how Reiner's experiences on Paradis with people like Sasha created his immense guilt, changing his perception and overriding his indoctrination.
Not only does Sasha help Reiner overcome his beliefs, she also helps Niccolo. After arriving as a ships cook on Paradis and being captured by the Survey Corps, Sasha gets to try his seafood. Her reaction is tearful, sobbing and immediately praising Niccolo as a genius. She has never tried seafood before, her overjoyed reaction to this foreign experience is a testament to her accepting disposition. Sasha's appreciation changes Niccolo's perspective, deciding to bring happiness to others rather than spew hatred. Their relationship is a sample of how love, even if at first just for food, and empathy for others can break generational cycles of hate.
Sasha's kindness is so impactful that it continues to influence people past her death, changing people's perception of Eldians. Similarly, characters like Armin and Falco also beleive this, using their empathy for others to try and break the spiral of hostility, reinforcing the theme of an enduring humanity. During the Wall Rose invasion, despite being unarmed and afraid, she stepped up to save a young girl, Kaya, from being eaten by a titan. In this scene, Sasha showed bravery and selflessness. Later, Kaya shares her fond memories of Sasha with Gabi. Combined with Niccolo's grief and Sasha's parents choosing to forgive her, these moments ultimately change her worldview. In the end, this conveys one of the key messages of the show, that while hatred is inevitable, its never too late, even after a death, to keep choosing understanding and forgiveness. Sasha brings a certain soul to Attack on Titan which despite initially seeming irrelevant, ends up impacting the plot in many ways.
Ultimately, Attack on Titan demonstrates how humanity persists even in the most brutal circumstances. Through friendships like Hange, Levi and Erwin, the moral growth of Gabi, and the compassion of Sasha, the show emphasises that humanity is found in empathy and understanding. In a world of violence and hatred, kindness and compassion are the key to breaking cycles of hate and finding purpose.
Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed, pls give me your thoughts!! (be nice tho)
People who refuse to accept that Mikasa was able to rebuild her life 10 years after Eren's death (knowing she wasn't even 20 when he died)... You scare me. It's completely logical and normal that she would find someone to build a life with. And it makes sense that it would be Jean. The drawing matches Jean. And besides, with Jean's dream seen earlier in the show with the girl who looked like Mikasa, it makes sense. It was like foreshadowing. And it's better that Mikasa is with someone who went through everything with her and understands everything, rather than with a stranger who will never understand everything she's been through, or even understand that he isn't the love of Mikasa's life. Jean can perfectly understand and accept that Mikasa loves him sincerely without being his great love. You can lose the love of your life and rebuild your love life afterward, without it tarnishing your former love. People who think otherwise are scary.
im an eremika girlie as much as any of you but damn every time i see anything about mikasa post rumbling it's like. "don't even SUGGEST she got married w jean/other" or "she's LOYAL to eren and would NEVER betray his memory!" yes! okay! i got it! canonically, she DOESN'T move on! you can chill?!! sorry for wanting a favourite character to be HAPPY 😭 can a girl not heal from her wounds and deep scars and find meaningful relationships after her first and ONLY (somewhat disastrous and all consuming) love is gone? c'mon bro i just think the idolization of her as some pure and unchanging eternal virgin saint who is forbidden from even looking at anybody but eren a...little bizarre
Why Jean Kirstein is the best character in SnK: An essay w/ references/RECEIPTS
(This essay spans from the beginning of the story up to the current chapter 117 of the manga. Also, almost 90% of the quotes I use here are from the manga; not the anime)
Jean was introduced as a selfish snob, who was born into luxury and raised with class. His plan was to join the military police and live in the safety of the interior, far away from any titans or danger. And from the very beginning, Jean was—and has remained—an honest person. Keep that in mind.
During the 104th scouts training, which is also where Jean and Eren first met, Eren says he plans to wipe every single Titan off the face of the planet, & Jean just laughs. Eren says he must be the guy who plans to live a laid back life in the military police. In the anime, Jean’s reply is “I’m no liar. I’m a straight-talker, unlike someone who pretends to have balls of steel, even when he’s about to piss himself.” Similar to the manga version, where he says “I’m nothing, if not honest.” [vol. 4 ch. 15] And he is true to this statement.
Jean’s mentality towards joining the military police does not change until the battle in Trost district, where he encounters titans for the first time. The main characters, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, (I’ll be referring to that trio as EMA throughout this essay) have already been exposed to the horrors of the titans. EMA have already been traumatized because they were kids when they first saw the titans face to face. However Jean is a teenager and also fresh out of the academy. He barely knows how to use his EDM gear and now he is expected to face those monsters, not run, because that’s what he trained for.
When the rest of his squad is trying to think of what to do, Jean says “it was a boring life. But I guess if it’s gonna end like this, I might as well say let’s do it everyone! Come on! Up on your feet!” [vol. 2 ch. 7] & he actually was the first one to have a positive attitude when everyone else was preparing for death. That was the first moment where I really enjoyed his personality. Thats pure courage and strength in itself right there. Continuing on the positive-Jean train, when Mikasa is the first to run off to face the titans, Jean yells to the rest of the people who didn’t step forward “were we taught to let one of our own fight alone? All of you really will make cowards of yourselves” and runs after her, followed by the rest of the brave 104th cadets (the Jeanmika/Jeankasa ship is SAILING)
As the battle continues, he watches his comrades get killed in front of him, but instead of running, he LEADS everyone to safety. He assumes the role of leader ON HIS OWN, maybe before he even realized it. I want to note this first pivotal point in his thought process. He uses his other comrades sacrifices to lead the others to safety. To put it into other words, he sees his classmates getting eaten all around him but he doesn’t break down or run away to save himself. Instead, he quickly analyzes the scene unfolding in front of him and orders everyone to charge for HQ while the titans are occupied (eating his comrades) [vol. 2 ch. 8]. Granted, once they make it to safety, he later feels the guilt, saying “how many died on my signal?” You can see it on his face that this decision weighed heavily on his conscience.
After finally breaking down and losing his cool, he realizes that this was real life. His dreams of living in peace were crushed at the sight of reality finally setting in. He wanted a long life and a family but now it all seemed over with. His perspectives had changed, and when he almost lost all hope, it was Marco that brought him back. His friendship with Marco is probably the first—and probably the biggest—factor in his character change.
Marco tells Jean that he thinks he would make a better leader than himself because Jean isn’t a strong person so he can relate to weak peoples feelings. He knows what’s going on around him at all times, knows exactly what needs to be done [vol. 4 ch. 18]. At first Jean is offended at this, but when he is watching the bodies of his comrades burn, he then accepts that Marco was right. If Jean had never become a soldier, he would never have had to worry about people dying, it never would have crossed his mind.
Mentally-strong characters like EMA have it natural to want to fight and be brave. But what I respect about Jean is his honesty to say he is scared. He doesn’t want to die. He doesn’t want to face titans. However, even though he doesn’t want to die and he’s afraid, he knows what must be done. There are people who are ignorant of the terrors of the titans, just like he used to be. But he knows now that it’s reality. After Erwin’s speech, Jean has a moment to choose to either leave or stay, and if he had chosen to leave, he would’ve “hated himself more than he already did”. And so he chose to join the survey corps so that he could fight for those weaker people. I respect that he isn’t hotheaded like Eren, saying he wants to kill every last titan out of revenge. But he wants to protect people, the defenseless people who have the safe life he used to dream about. He knows trauma now, and instead of let it tear him down and run for the hills, he chose to use that fear to protect people. SELFLESSSSSSS KINGGGGGGG.
The next pivotal point in his character development was when he joined Squad Levi. Being faced with titans and killing them was one thing. But in the Retaking of Shinganshina arc (aka season 2 of the anime), they were now fighting humans. Jean is almost shot and killed by an enemy MP, but Armin saves him by killing her, which ended up scarring Armin for a good while [vol. 14 ch. 58]. Realizing that he freaked out and panicked, Jean promises to never let that happen again and apologizes to Levi for letting him down by almost becoming a casualty, but he also apologizes to Armin (I also ship Jearmin like HELLA)
After this, Jean has multiple leadership moments where he saves and protects others. When they’re pursuing the female titan, he backs up Armin and Reiner and tells them to stay focused and to keep a distance [vol. 6 ch. 23]. When Sasha shoots an arrow that got too close to Mikasa, he scolds her for almost shooting her (this was more so because of his undying crush on Mikasa but I still wanted to throw that scene in considering the anime bastards took it out and it was beautiful) [vol. 13 Ch. 54]. He’s also covered for his teammates a numerous amount of times and has never panicked in a crisis because he keeps a level head during times of trouble.
He is an excellent leader and it’s even proven after the time skip, when he becomes commanding officer of his own team!!! [vol. 26 ch. 105] (OUR FRIENDS ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE ALSO OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS) He tells them to keep civilian casualties to a minimum as their primary focuses are the Marleyan government and Eren, not the civilians. Jean also doesn’t let personal feelings get in the way of carrying out a mission. So when the squad was about to kill Pieck, after firing off a thunder spear and it backfiring, he ordered his team to fall back because it wasn’t worth their deaths if it wasn’t part of the mission at hand [vol. 26 ch. 104]. (He also proved this when, even though he’s stated countless times how much he hates Eren, he still protects him in battle because he knows Eren is an important figure to saving humanity). The last piece of evidence of this fact is after Gabi and Falco stow away on the airship, and Gabi shoots Sasha dead, the crew asks Jean if they should throw the kids out of the plane, to which he just replies “is throwing some kids out of an airship really going to stop all of this bloodshed?” This part really hurt me, not only because of Sasha’s death, but because even though Jean was in pain after witnessing one of his best friends die right in front of him, he didn’t lash out. He couldn’t. His composure and facial expressions gave off that he was angry and distraught, but he didn’t let that get the best of him. Killing those kids wouldn’t have brought her back and it’s that maturity to not avenge the murderer of his friend that hurt. Again, KEEPS A LEVEL HEAD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE. [vol. 26 ch. 105] (I would post screen caps of the emotional facial expressions from that chapter but there are just too many, so read it for yourself to feel the pain. Instead, here’s this cute picture of my favorite AOT trio).
Jean has also noted his care and affection for his friends before. Shortly before the attack on Marley, the team is having a discussion on who should inherit Eren’s attack Titan, and Jean is super quick to shoot down Mikasa’s offer because he cares about her. & instead suggests himself as a candidate. However, Eren rejects it, along with Sasha and Connie’s proposals, stating he doesn’t want to give it to any of them because they are all important to him and he wants them to live long lives (…..okay this note is mainly about Eren’s sweet and soft heart more so than it is about Jean, I just wanted to throw it in because I don’t think Eren is the heartless, emotionless bastard that he makes himself out to be after the time skip) [vol. 27 ch. 108] But in all seriousness, Jean’s heart does show when he is talking to Mikasa and Connie after Eren‘s suspicious & traitorous actions. Because of how much Eren and Jean didn’t like each other, you’d think Jean would get angry that Eren cursed out Mikasa, aka his dream guuuuurl. But instead he disagrees with Connie on his loyalty and says “I don’t think he’d do something like that without any reason. Somehow, aren’t his real intentions somewhere in there?” [vol. 29 ch. 116] Remember, Jean is an honest person—almost to a fault—so you know he really believes that and isn’t just trying to cheer up Mikasa. Aw we love a loyal sister *cue applause*
Anyways, I could go on for days fawning over this man, but I’m sure you’re all as exhausted from reading this as I am from writing it. SO. In conclusion, Jean Kirstein was a snotty ass bitch in the beginning because he had no reason to believe his perfect life would ever change, until it did. And instead of go on to live a selfish lifestyle, he chose to protect people and lead them because he didn’t want anyone else to go through what he and his friends did, and he did not want to let anyone down who believed in him, thanks to Marco for opening his eyes first. He isn’t arrogant, he doesn’t think he is a god. He accepts his mediocrity & doesn’t try to get on a higher level than anyone else. He’s fucked up before, has made many, many mistakes, and he lives by his choices and decisions even if they come back to haunt him. He is just an average human being, there is nothing special about him. But he is honest and he is caring. He may be a hardheaded, stubborn individual, but he will go to the ends of the earth to protect his comrades and the people he loves.
P.S (This essay also doubles up as an argument explaining why Jean deserves to become the next commander of the survey corps, after Hanji. I believe wholeheartedly that he will lead the survey corps as passionately as Erwin did 💔)
P.P.S (It’s also no surprise that the creator of the Shingeki no Kyojin series, Hajime Isayama, has admitted before that his favorite character is Jean. HE’S THE MANGAKA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, so I trust his opinion, too. Hehee)
Eren was already free.
He always had that spark of internal freedom.
though... people smothered it, turned it into a bonzai tree by not letting him learn to do thing on his own.
Eren was smart as all hell. but not in the book-ish type of way.
in the on the spot strategic way.
a 9 year old stabbing one dude in the neck is scary because of the violence, but the real thing you should look at is him then backing out of the room, using his environment to confuse the enemy and then tying a knife onto a broom handle. thats not just running on anger and recklessness, thats smart as hell instinctual strategizing.
its beautiful. its completely looked over in favor of him stabbing the guy repeatedly and what he says.
i think its incredibly beautiful. that mind... he's smart as hell.
But because of his over-reliance on Armin, that brain didn't get to shine. it got to stagnate.
And... a part of me can't help but wonder if Eren would have been better at protecting himself and picking his fights if Mikasa hadn't been constantly overprotecting him.
they both stole growth from him.
stole his potential. stunted him.
but worse,
their over reliance on him also stunted them.
Armin relied on Eren for Eren's drive to take action and his bravery, and physical prowess, instead of mastering himself.
Armin is already brave as hell and plenty capable of taking action when pressured to. but he outsourced those parts of himself to Eren instead of relying on himself. instead of growing.
Mikasa wanted to be protected deep down.
so she sought that protection from the last source she had for protection: Eren. and she sought that protection by protecting Eren.
but Eren can be dense at times so of course he didn't realize thats whats up.
Mikasa controlled Eren, overprotected him and took over tasks for him in a way that was upsetting for him, because she was terrified of loosing him, so she did everything in an attempt to keep him around. she force him to rely on her.
she needed someone who would protect her. hilariously Armin didn't do a very good job at that. its Jean who said Eren saying something to hurt Mikasa wasn't okay. sure Armin swung his fist, but maybe he should have instead focused that energy on Mikasa. instead he let himself be jebaited by Eren into getting into a physical altercation. Armin, you were a distortion of yourself at that moment. because Eren wasn't on your side in that moment, you tried to be both yourself and Eren, and you failed miserably at both. because you never trained those parts of yourself that you admired in Eren, even though they existed in you all along.
that is your failure. that is the reason i feel so dissapointed in you lately..
i saw your potential but you were never willing to reach it, because you didn't think you needed too.
Jean being protective of Mikasa when Armin and Eren wasn't protecting Mikasa, presumably because they figured Mikasa didn't need protecting, while being honest about it, telling painful truths that needed to be said. yeah thats why i approve of Jean as a partner for Mikasa. Mikasa would never admit she is desperate for someone to protect her, to prioritise her, to actually care for her instead of her caring for everyone else, but her actions are a reflection of what she craves the most. the classic quote 'look at you comforting others with words you wish to hear' applies to actions too.
Jean did that. He protected her, several times.
Called out times when Mikasa let Eren hurt her, telling her that shit wasn't okay.
He unfucked her speech in Trost.
He cares for her.
He appriciates her long hair, which Mikasa, btw, she grows her hair out whenever theres peace to do so, she only ever cut her hair because Eren said so as it would be dangerous (for fucks sake, someone show the girl how to cut her hair in a braid instead, why are we going straight to cutting it off. *beats Eren on head with newspaper* i love you but god fucking damnit Eren.), which is indiciative of Mikasa prefering having long hair.
Mikasa clearly longs for a domestic family life, indicated by the cabin ending, its something quiet and peaceful. Jean would give that to her in a heartbeat, hell, its the exact same thing he wants.
He'd pamper Mikasa. he's make her feel appriciated and seen. he'd listen to her, hell he already listens to her when she for example tells her to shut up. (gets all flustered too.)
He's envious of Eren getting picked up and carried away, he's clearly not intimidated by her strength either.
and yet people reduce his interest in her to 'long pretty black hair', completely missing the details of his crush on Mikasa.
(bonus point, Jean likes drawing, he likes art. an artistic soul would 100% get the whole 'world is cruel but beautiful' worldview and maybe even able to expand upon it.)
this fandom exhausts me.
no... this WORLD exhausts me. because noone gives a fuck about actually understanding stuff anymore. noone cares for exploration, noone cares about.
people in this fandom will yap about Mikasa's character development,
and then have zero clue who the fuck Mikasa actually is.
something to note: i stand by my assesment that Mikasa abused Eren. overprotection is abuse. i won't downplay it for you just to make you comfortable. having experienced that kind of abuse myself i know how overlooked and invisible it is and therefor someone has to shout up about it, and apparently that someone is me today. that doesn't mean Mikasa wasn't a victim of other things aswell. hell Mikasa being a victim of loosing people, and all that is the very thing that leads to her abusing Eren. She does it because she's terrified of loosing him. which is, at its core, the main motivator for most abuse if you actually think about it. abuse is attempting to control something so you don't loose that something.
There's this part in "Forget Her" by Jeff Buckley that goes: "Tell yourself over and over, you won't ever need her again. But don't fool yourself. She was heartache from the moment that you met her. Oh, my heart is frozen still as I try to find the will to forget her somehow. She's out there somewhere now" and if that is NOT jeankasa i don't know what else is.
My twt TL was filled with Jean discourse yesterday so I decided to write a thread to honor him because I love him.
First in his OVA we see how he takes care of his sick mom. This is from the time we've only known Jean as a the selfish spoiled boy. Plus, we noticed his goodness comes from her mom, she's always been supportive of him.
In Trost he leads the scouts and shows concerns for the safety of his comrades at all times.
He's the most vocal about rejecting Levi's idea of killing people.
He doubts when it's time for him to do it.
Jean conforts Armin after his harrassment😭
He shows empathy for Reiner even after everything they went through🥺
He's squad leader now and orders to keep civilians casualties at minimum
Fails on purpose in order not to kill Falco.
Once he's safe in Liberio, the first thing he asks about is how many soldiers were lost.
Even though he's desperate bc Sasha was shot, he still rejects Floch's proposal of killing Falco and Gabi.
Of course, he rejects Floch's 2nd proposal of a good life in the interior because he chooses the path of saving humanity just like the first time.
He forgives Reiner🥺
He understands how hard this decision is for Mikasa and validates her by talking to her directly about it. My jeankasa heart I can't😭💞
I don't know if anyone cares about this thread but I needed to express my love for this character. Of course some things about Jean's story were left out. Those will be for another time👀
