i am sick and tired of seeing the rare time that bertholdt is mention on tiktok being just “oh ahahahaha annie didn’t like him and armin stole his girl omg so sad :( he must be heartbroken” there is more to his character than being obsessed with annie (which he wasn’t…he just cared about her. he got angry when the scouts said they were torturing her bc…he cares. and yeah he technically does have a crush but yk), in fact that’s such a small part of his character it’s ridiculous how that’s the only thing people care about.
he was such a kind soul, he never judged, he knew that the world was cruel and he knew that no one was truly the monsters. he could have been friends with the scouts because he wasn’t rude. he didn’t hold a grudge. like. guys. please
also realistically he wouldn’t gaf about aruani. if u really do think he loved annie then he might be a bit sad but that’s it. he’s probably just hanging in the afterlife with his dad guys cmon.
I think it’s safe to say that Eren was right. Not in his actions, but rather in his conclusion that humanity has failed (yes, over and over again) to learn from its mistakes and instead just keeps on making the same ones.
It’s painfully obvious that in today’s society, war and discrimination are still as present as ever. Which, of course, were supposed to “never again” happen.
While no one is surprised, many are disappointed. Some even worse.
“We could’ve prevented this.” Yeah. That’s the whole point, genius.
We see real life imitate fiction and all we do is watch (not that we can do much about it anyway)
The whole premise of the show was that it was never supposed to be prevented. It’s inevitable. That’s why it’s bittersweet.
The whole premise of history is to give us a blueprint of what to do and what not to do.
Also there's typos because I wrote this all at once within 2 sections late at night after consuming monster energy drinks
I cannot express how fucking goated Attack on Titan is. From the characters and their backstories, personalities and designs, to the music in the soundtrack, to the overall story and writing, everything is just absolutely fucking peak.
Why? Well, there's many messages relayed through aot. It is a common theme throughout the series that Humanity will always inevitably tear each other apart and that the cycle of hatred is neverending, which has never felt more accurate in this world than it does right now. Hajime Isayama is a fucking genius and the absolute masterpiece that is AOT will ALWAYS be my favorite thing ever.
The animation and art, especially the backgrounds and all details throughout the show, or nothing short of absolutely stunning. The graphics are insanely good. AOT is such a large fucking franchise that there's a THEMEPARK in Japan(?) With AOT based attractions. The franchise has also been incredibly successful in terms of merchandise which can be really difficult to achieve in a lot of medias.
The characters in AOT are just written to absolute perfection. Bias, but Mikasa is so well written it makes me sob every time i take a deep dive into her character.
From the way that Armin narrates most of the story throughout the show as well as Mikasa in some parts, and even just that narration adds so much to the story. It makes everything feel more real.
The lore as well as the world building is absolutely incredible btw, like I would've never thought of all these details that subtly connect everything together like a puzzle. Even just the concept of humanity in this series is so baffling to think about because when you really think about it, it's not much different from the past of the real world and even some of the present. Humanity has thrived and crippled because of their own kind. Take the Holocaust for example, it's very similar to the rumbling in season four. It's a sad reality, but it's the truth.
Even just the story of Marley and the way Eldians were treated is such a slap in the face to the discrimination many actual minorities faced in the past, it's like a reminder of everything that we've faced as human beings. War, prejudice, discrimination, famine, genocide, all of it.
The idea that Ymir appeared at the end of season four and it was revealed that she had been watching the story unfold since the very beginning, specifically through Mikasa, is just mind blowing. Ymir watched Mikasa do tthe same thing she did—dedicate her entire life and existance to a man she viewed as her savior. Ive never been able to relate so badly to just a concept or notion provided in a fictional media, but this hits me on another level.
Period point blank Attack on Titan is geniunely such a good fucking series. Everything about it is just insane and really makes you think about the world.
If youve listened to some of the songs and osts from aot, youd perfectly see how the music blends so well with their respective scenes in the show. The music is composed to absolute god-tier, and it hits you more emotionally than anything else along with the dialouge of the voice actors. Speaking of which, the voice acting in both the sub and dub is fucking AMAZING. The amount of effort and emotion poured into each line in every scene is just jaw dropping. And fun fact, the last line delivered in the show by Mikasa, "See you later, Eren", made BOTH of her voice actors cry after the recording. Thats how intense it was.
Not to mention but all of the foreshadowing within the series is so cleverly weaved into the story, like even the episode names. "to you, in 2000 years", the name of the very forst episode, ties directly to the season four episode 21 (episode 80 in total series) title, " From you, 2000 years ago." The foreshadowing and connection behind those small details is absolutely genius work and i cannot get enough of it. There's many other examples of this, such as the direct connection between the season one ending ost (the one with Mikasa) and the Akuma no Ko ending ost (with Eren). The animations in both have so much symbolism tied into it, such as the knives in the background of Mikasa's ending, to the cage and field of flowers in Eren's. Theres a lot of other little connections into those Ep endings, and the lyrics in both are also connected. "The world is cruel, but I still love you" in Akuma no Ko ties directly with one of Mikasa's famous quotes within the show. "The world is cruel, yet so beautiful." Not to mention the song itself just hits you so hard emotionally when you see the context behind it.
Moving on id like to talk about Mikasa and yes im biased no i dont care that i am biased and no i dont care what anyone else has to say about Mikasa, either u agree with me or youre just WRONG!!!!
Not only was Mikasa the first female character to be made for aot, but in my opinion shes also the most important. Not just because shes a protagonist, but because without her, the story just would not be the same and the meaning behind the series would fall flat. Like i said before, the founder Ymir had been watching Mikasa the entire time until she was finally set free to rest in peace during the last episode.
Mikasa is also a powerful feminine fogure within the series that isnt made fpr the male gaze or for fan service whoch os absolutely incredible to see these days. We love feminism. Anyways dod you know, realistically, someone with Mikasa's body build would only have 3% or less bpdy fat, the rest is just pure muscle and bone. Yes ive researched this dont question me.
Mikasa is a perfect example that women can be just as strong even stronger than men both physically and mentally. The amount of shit Mikasa has seen and gone through is enough to leave anyone with major mental scars, yet she still persists and fights for her peace. A great example of perseverance.
Not only that but the fact that grown men were pressed over her s4 design and her hair being cut shorter is just incredibly fucking stupid no matter what way you look at it, men were crying over it because mikasa was no longer a "15-year-old waifu", but rather a strong and independent woman who won't take shit from ANYONE. And honestly that's what we need more of in this world.
Oh and dont even get me STARTED on the way Eren treats Mikasa even in just season one, which was actually one of the worst when it came to their relationship in my opinion. Eren constantly snapping at Mikasa and pushing her away because she wanted to protect him (and obviously is attached to him) was just a low fucking blow, and generally toxic behavior. Oh and when he called her a slave in season four and said he hated her? Oh my blood was fucking BOILING. because how are you gonna call a woman like that A SLAVE AND SAY YOU HATE HER??? WHEN SHES DONE NOTHING BUT SAVE YOUR PATHETIC ASS...lmfao i know Eren had his reasons but i honestly dont care it was still shitty of him to do and he shouldn't have said those things at all especially given how much it affected Mikasa.
Mikasa's clear trauma bond tying her to Eren runs deep in her veins, she saw him as her savior and someone she needed to dedicate her life to. When Eren saved Mikasa from the traffickers, she had already lost everything she knew and loved. Her parents and her home and her innocence as a 9 year old child, watching her parents be brutally murdered in front her. Clearly Mikasa has some form of CPTSD from that event.
While both Mikasa and Levi are part of the Ackerman bloodline, making the two distantly related (at least in my eyes), Mikasa is the only main character that is revealed to have direct ties with the Azumabito Clan, this is seen when she reveals the clan mark on her bandaged wrist to Kiyomi, stating that aas a child her mother had passed it down to her. Kiyomi then explains that Mikasa is the last descendant of Hizuru's "royal bloodline" (not sure what exactly they called the past clan hierarchy, but i know it was important to the story of Hizuru.)
There's a scene shortly after this, were Historia tells Mikasa that now they share similar burdens, having to bear the weight of responsibility from an entire country/population of people on her shoulders. (Also Mikasa blushes at her during this scene heh)
Speaking of Mikasa's interactions with other characters.. I find her and Levi's dynamic to be extremely interesting in the sense of found family. At first, Mikasa HATES Levi for beating the ever living shit out of Eren, but as time goes on, they begin to form a mutual respect for each other. When Mikasa finds out about Kenny and his explanation of the last name "Ackerman", i personally strongly feel tjat from that moment on, Mikasa sees Levi differently. She thought she'd already lost everything in regards to family, but this wasn't the entire case. Even in later seasons Levi can be seen interacting more with Mikasa and working alongside her, making them a deadly duo. I like to think Levi sees Mikasa as family too, though he'd never admit it. He's seen protecting her many times in season 3 and 4.
Then there's Armin. Sweet little Armin, ever since meeting Mikasa, has always been at her side through everything. Where Mikasa has strength, Armin has intelligence. Mikasa is also very noticeably a lot softer when it comes to Armin, even in season one during the fall of Trost. She refuses to let him die or take the blame for the other soldiers' deaths. She also reassures him that his quick thinking and skill in strategy had saved her and Eren plenty of times, on multiple occasions. This actually happens throughout the show too. Mikasa and Armin are very very close, especially in Season four. Despite Armin now having easily one of the more powerful titans at his disposal (the colossal), Mikasa STILL jumps in front of himi into oncoming danger to protect him, which this can be seen in both the show and the manga. Armin admires Mikasa a great deal, and after their confrontation with Eren in Marley, he gets extremely, and i mean EXTREMELY pissrd when Eren belittles and insults Mikasa making her cry. He gets so infuriated, to the point that, despite not being very physically strong as a human (he's actually rather physically weak), he jumps over the damn table and punches Eren in the face. Armin getsr trhe shit beaten out of him by Eren in the end, but his dedication and loyalty to Mikasa is very clear just in that moment. Not just that, but Mikasa and Armin seem to know eachother better than any other duo in the show. They can tell wjat the other is thinking without much effort and even act in sync with each other throughout the entire show.
Honestly, if it were me, I wouldve made Armin to be Mikasa's endgame. They fit so well together and their dynamic is just extremely sweet and well written.
Not only Armin, but Sasha as well. Since the very beginning, even when Mikasa was more cold and stoic towards literally anyone that wasnt Armin or Eren, she had already caught Sasha's attention and even more so after Mikasa saves Sasha during Trost. "Mikasaaaa! You saved my life!!" Sasha wails, grabbing onto mikasa in shock. Mikasas asks if she's okay, and Sasha replies with, "thanks to you I am!"
After this until all the way up to season four and even until Sasha's death, the two girls have multiple scenes and interactions together showing their bond as it grows stronger. It's even proved canon that Mikasa was very fond of Sasha. When Sasha died, Mikasa was absolutely shattered. So much so that Mikasa refused to leave Sasha's grave for the whole night. If you look closely, it is also shown that Mikasa leaves a bouquet of particular yellow flowers (forgot the name of them exactly,) but upon digging deeper and researching, you'll come to find that those specific flowers symbolized unrequited or tragoc love. Not only does she leave flowers, but if you look closely, there is also a small pink note beside them, placed neatly against the gravestone. It's not clear what it says or exactly what it's meant to be, but some, including myself, speculate that it was a confession of sorts, a confession that Sasha would never be able to read or hear aloud.
I also feel the need to mention Annie and Mikasa's dynamic in season four. The two are actually seen somewhat bonding over trauma (real), and even become closer as comrades, much unlike how they were in season one. Even though Annie had betrayed them, Mikasa set aside the past to focus on more pressing matters such as the Rumbling. She even helps Annie multiple times in season four, and at one point, even comforts her. (Gay) idk i just think Mikanni is just so underrated and highly looked over. Random, but I like to think that in season one when Mikasa fucking TOSSES Reiner like a sack of potatos across an ENTIRE FIELD, Annie had been watching and possibly thought to herself, "damn. Kinda deserved tho, good for her on throwing the damn hulk of a teenager". At least, thats just my take on it after seeing Annie and Reiner's dynamic be shown more bit by bit throughout the show.
I feel like Mikasa's trauma is extremely looked over and cast aside as well. I won't go into a lot of detail but part of me thinks it's solely because she's a woman, but that might just be me.
Mikasa is often watered down to just an overly strong and cold, emotionless girl, but that is far from the truth. Mikasa's emotions run deep like roots, and if she favors you, you'd best believe she'll open up more, like she does with Armin. Sure, Mikasa tends to mask her emotions through a stoic expression, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel anything at all. Anyone who says otherwise clearly hasnt paid any attention to the series or just lacks comprehension (sorry its the truth, watching aot really makes you ponder, and requires a great deal of comprehension ability.)
By the way, some people say Mikasa should've been able to be a titan shifter, but i actually disagree with this and approve that canonically she cannot because she's an Ackerman. For one thing, it wouldn't have made sense in the long run. For another, she's already powerful as she is, she doesn't need some special power to turn into a giant beast of pure muscle and human intelligence to be able to carry out her duties and be strong. Her strength just as a human alone makes her a perfect character to even out between Armin and Eren being titan shifters. Plus, with Ymir's curse, (which is that every person who gains Titan shifting power only has 13 years to live after receiving the power), it wouldn't make sense for Mikasa to go this path. If she did, who would live to tell the story afterwards? Who would founder Ymir be watching and waiting for, for 2,000 years? It just wouldn't add up. Isayama had clearly planned this all out in a way that would make sense, be efficient, and not ruin the story.
I have so much more to say but the point is, Mikasa is such a well written rounded character that adds so much to the story. She's always been my favorite, and analyzing her character just makes her more lovable to me.
MIKASA ACKERMAN IS MY MVP MY GOATT MY SHAYLA MY EVERYTHING!!!!
Mikasa and Armin are the Orpheus to Eren's Eurydice.
Armin as Orpheus for his optimism in the world, and his belief that everyone can do good things, and the world can be better, and that there is a chance we can live in a world of peace
Mikasa as Orpheus for her love of Eren, and her ability to strive through everything in the name of love, and how she loves the world for all its virtues and flaws, and how she loved Eren, virtue and flaw.
Eren and Eurydice because Orpheus would have suffer the hunger for Eurydice, but Eurydice never could. Eurydice was doomed by her own hunger, just as Eren was doomed by his hunger as well. They hungered for the same thing in different forms, Freedom. But when they believed they achieved it, when they believed they had found freedom, they were crushed by the devastation of the fact they had infact only shackled themselves into a hell they had chosen. They were doomed from the start, not by the world, but the very hunger they tried desperately to satisfy, only to forever starve.
There are ships I like (rivamika, arumika), ships I'm fine with and sometimes read (levihan, jeankasa), ships I don't like (eremika), ships I actively dislike (ereri) and ships I couldn't care less about (most of the rest). It's fine. Y'all can ship whatever the fuck you want. Yelena/Marco? Sure, be my guest.
But for the life of me, I really cannot wrap my head about how can anyone ship Zeke with anything. Like... just no.
As a historian I often get scared of how out of touch SOME Eren stans can be. I've seen a lot of them excusing eugenics and mass murder! Even if it's fiction this is still disgusting! I see a bunch of 12/13 yr olds idolizing Eren's character to the point of sending death threats to anyone who expresses any sort of opposite opinion.
Let's not forget that AoT is inspired by a very sad moment in Japan's and also Europe's history. Attack on Titan shows very clearly that bad and good doesn't exist, every civilization can be equally good and evil.
Liking a character is completely fine. For god's sake I absolutely love Armin and Mikasa, I understand that they were victims of circumstances but I will NEVER excuse their crimes to the point of harassing actual real people that don't like my favorite characters.
If someone doesn't like your character just scroll past their post or video and live your life! Don't go on their DMs saying "go kill yourself" or try to justify eugenics and mass murder just because you like a character.
Again, this is NOT an attack to all Eren stans but this situation happens more frequently with those stans. Thankfully I have a super nice bubble here but I've seen other writers complain that they've been harassed and I, at some point, had a crazy person that would bother me nonstop because I mentioned briefly not enjoying some aspects of Eren.
