Mikasa Ackerman, from Attack on Titan, is a hāfu[edit | edit source]
Half Japanese and half Eldian.
"This is a cruel world. And yet...so beautiful...." — Mikasa's personal outlook on the world
Mikasa Ackerman (ミカサ・アッカーマン Mikasa Akkāman?) is the adoptive sister of Eren Yeager and one of the two deuteragonists of Attack on Titan, along with Armin Arlert.
After her biological parents were murdered by human traffickers, Mikasa was rescued by Eren Yeager and lived with him and his parents, Grisha and Carla, before the fall of Wall Maria. She is the last descendant of the Shogun clan that stayed on Paradis Island, thereby related to the Azumabito family, and holds significant political power in Hizuru.
Though she desires only to live a peaceful life, Mikasa entered into the military—where she is considered the best soldier among the 104th Training Corps. She later enlists in the Survey Corps to follow and protect Eren, becoming one of its greatest assets. She is currently serving as an officer (上官 Jōkan?) in the Corps.
Mikasa is Eren's childhood friend who was taken in by his family after her mother and father were murdered by slave traders. A normally quiet and withdrawn girl, she maintains a stoic expression except when it comes to Eren and her friends. As later revealed, Mikasa's father was a descendant of an Eldian bloodline that was modified to create super soldiers equal to a Titan in strength. When under duress, these genetically inherited abilities may allow a descendant access to their ancestors' battle experience. After Eren and his father discover The Ackermann's deaths during a routine doctor's visit, Eren tracks Mikasa to the trader's cabin. Mikasa's instincts are awakened when Eren urges her to 'fight back and live'. Because of this, and because of Eren's kindness in giving her a red scarf which Mikasa treasures and wears her entire life, she feels compelled to protect and follow him at all costs, including joining him in the Survey Corps. She graduates from the Training Corps top of her class, and is regarded by officers as an unprecedented genius and prodigy, easily worth a hundred men in battle. Though technically half-blooded, she is the last known person of Oriental descent residing in the Walls. A wrist tattoo inherited from her mother (which she keeps hidden from everyone except Eren) indicates that she is descended from the prominent Azumabito family (アズマビト家, Azumabito-ke), a cadet Shogun branch from the Oriental nation of Hizuru (ヒィズル, Hizuru), whose ancestors migrated from their native land to Paradis as honored ambassadors. While investigating the Volunteers alongside the Survey Corps, Eren tells Mikasa that he has always hated her for being a slave to her Ackerman blood. In turn, she becomes despondent and removes the red scarf off her neck. While still invested in Eren, Mikasa decides to join the alliance to stop Eren's planned genocide. In the author's blog, Isayama notes that her name comes from the Mikasa, a famous pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Mikasa is voiced by Yui Ishikawa in Japanese, and Trina Nishimura in English dub. In the live-action film, she is portrayed by Kiko Mizuhara. Ishikawa says that Mikasa cares mainly about Eren, and keeps a distance from the rest of the world. She says that "While she might seem like a character with so few emotional levels, there are actually many feelings that swirl around her heart."