Hello anon! Indeed, instead of a parallel we have a very nice contrast between these two (; But don’t you think the fact that Mikasa couldn’t destroy the Female Titan and Levi could but didn’t do it was solely due to circumstance?
Would it bring him his squad back if he killed Annie? No… he only needed to rescue Eren and Mikasa from her, not kill her outright (because of Erwin’s plan to capture and identify the Female Titan). This page from chapter 30 says it all:
Now taking account of chapter 81, what if it was Mikasa trying to incapacitate the Beast Titan and it was Eren (non-shifter, obviously) instead of Erwin who was heavily injured, possibly dead if she didn’t save him with the titan serum?
It wouldn’t be any different. Mikasa would have more trouble attacking Zeke, of course, but I’d bet money that she would hesitate to kill him just like Levi.
Levi had no one around to remind him to (quoting chapter 30) not satisfy his desire of saving Erwin. Just for a moment, saving Erwin was more important than destroying the beast titan! And that’s why he failed his mission in this chapter.
They look SO similar when they’re desperate about those precious to them:
Levi has lost many people dear to him, but he still protects whoever he can: Erwin, Mikasa, Eren, Hange, and his other fellow soldiers. Similarly, Mikasa isn’t heartless, like she once said to Historia: She not only risks her life to protect Eren but also Jean, Armin and yes, even Historia herself during the Uprising arc.
If anything, these contrasting situations Mikasa and Levi faced served only one purpose: to show that even humanity’s strongest soldiers care… maybe too much.
It took me a long time to warm up to Levi and Mikasa’s relationship, but when I did start to consider them as a pretty rad little duo, the feelings struck me hard, and I fell in love with their relationship fast. This was aided large in part by their development during the Uprising Arc.
This is definitely a relationship that can be considered a one sided enemies-to-friends trope. At the start, Mikasa was absolutely fuming with rage toward Levi, but Levi never saw Mikasa negatively (his only criticism being her unwillingness to follow orders). These two have always shared similar traits that go beyond their supernatural strength, and for a long time that had the fandom raising eyebrows. It wasn’t until the Uprising Arc that it was revealed they share the same lineage and surname. We know that Levi has pieced the puzzle together but whether he’s fully discussed their ties with Mikasa yet or not is still to be discovered.
Levi has been a large contributing factor to Mikasa’s character development. It is because of Levi’s ankle injury that Mikasa indirectly caused that she started to take it on herself to be more responsible with her strength rather than simply using it for her personal desire to protect Eren. Levi is quick to take on the role of a mentor to Mikasa as he tries to instruct and guide her. When he is unable to perform his duty of protecting Eren, it is Mikasa who he passes the responsibility to, and he does so with full confidence in her. When they have the opportunity to fight side-by-side, these two create a formidable power house and they’re damn near unstoppable.
After the Female Titan Arc, Mikasa starts to gain a better understanding of Levi and starts to hold more respect for him. Eventually, she begins to take his orders without questioning them and without complaint. She learns to trust in him and his guidance, and reaches a point where she defends him and tells her peers that they should do the same. Her trust grows enough that she was even willing to let him take care of saving Eren (something she never trusted him to do at the beginning) while she went to save Historia in the Reiss cavern instead.
These two also have no problem calling each other out and pointing out when the other is being unreasonable. In fact, Mikasa is the only person in Levi’s squad who’s yet had the guts to tell Levi when he’s being an ass, and when she does, Levi is quick to change his tone. Just as well, Levi has been there to let Mikasa know when it’s time to ignore her personal feelings and keep her eye on the endgame instead. While she initially ignored him on this front, she has learned to listen over time, and it has shaped her into a much better fighter.
These two balance each other out well and have formed a very enjoyable camaraderie. I hope to see more development moving forward in the series.
Hey there! That’s a very good question and something not many people know about. This type of detail is obviously left out in the english translations, and to be honest I do cringe from time to time while reading some Rivamika fics where Levi calls Mikasa by “Ackerman”. He never calls her like that! But it’s not the authors’ fault. (:
I’m not an expert by any means, but I can safely say that:
Mikasa addresses him like she would address anyone, and Levi addresses her the way he addresses anyone as well (including his superiors, like Erwin). She uses the common “you” – あなた – anata, and he uses
お前 – omae, which is also normal for someone with manners like his or in a position of superiority.
Now, when they’re calling each other names it’s like this:
Levi addresses Mikasa mostly by “Mikasa”. He almost always calls everyone by their first name, unless he only knows their last name. Levi’s way of speaking is known to be a bit rough and rude, like Kenny’s. (despite his manners and his cleanliness, he couldn’t shake this trait he got from living in the underground.) In Japan, it’s usually rude to call someone by their first name, unless you’re really close or you’re a superior to him/her. Levi has the right to call Mikasa by her first name, alright. However, it seems rude that he addresses Erwin, his commander, the same way! (But this should be overlooked partly because Levi is close to Erwin). In fact, only recently we’ve seen Levi address Erwin properly as
団長 – commander, to everyone’s shock :O
Levi has also called Mikasa ガキ – gaki, or brat (while grouping her with others) and 根暗野郎 nekurayarou – gloomy / moody bitch/bastard (rofl!).
Since Levi and Mikasa didn’t interact much after the Ackerman reveal, we don’t know if he’s going to address her differently. Probably not.
As for Mikasa – now this is interesting – she’s one of the few characters (besides Armin in the beginning of the manga) to address Levi by his full title, 兵士長 – Heishichou, instead of the abbreviated 兵長 – Heichou everyone else calls him by. (They can be translated roughly to “Captain” or “Lance Corporal”. Check this link for more info.) Granted, it was only once, when she protested against his plan of handing Eren and Historia to the enemy:
To me this was a big deal, because almost every other time Mikasa addresses him as
チビ – chibi or shorty (or abnormal shorty)! Only Mikasa, Kenny and the angry villagers from Trost (lol) had the nerve to do it so far.
She also demonstrates she acknowledges him since she has also thought of him as
兵団の主力
– the (Scouting) Legion’s main force, or strongest.
Finally, she’s called him Levi-heichou (兵長) only once, in chapter 45:
In fact, I’m having trouble finding another instance in which Mikasa addresses him as “Levi-heichou” in the manga. (;
To add to the fact of Mikasa addressing Levi in a different way than others:
In 2013, the Editor of Shingeki no Kyojin answered a question on his Twitter about Levi’s title.
Fans: “Which is the correct way to address Levi, Heishichou (兵士長) or Heichou (兵長)?”
Kawakubo: “It’s ‘Heishichou’ in terms of military title. But everyone calls him ‘Heichou’ as an abbreviation.”
So the Editor and Isayama are aware that there are different ways to call Levi, which I think further confirms that Isayama intentionally makes Mikasa call Levi by his full title. The purpose behind it? Hmmm we will wait for Isayama to reveal in the future (hopefully together with the Ackertalk!).
midnight-in-town 