Levi and Mikasa - The same
Hello ! In the (very) long block that follows, I will talk about some things I noticed about the parallel between Levi and Mikasa (and to do, use some elements of comparison between manga and anime, english and japanese version, with the two other protagonists, Eren and Armin, and their third parallel : Annie).
I planned it randomly so it could be pretty messy. If this is the case, sorry in advance. I’m hoping that even so, it will help some that this relationship is interesting, for the understanding of its stakes, or see what we could expect about it in the current arc !
The same since the first time
The erroneous look they have on their parallels is the same as on themselves
Levi breaks the cycle of hate, Mikasa’s opening remains to come
First appearances in SnK are often essentials to understand a character. These concentrate generally, the problematic of the character, his role in the story, the angle from which we'll have to look at it to analyze him and a condensed of everything he will embody.
Recently, I was rereading the meeting scene between Levi and Mikasa in the titan forest, at the time of the Female Titan arc. I had never saw it because I began Snk with the anime, probably like many fans. And something surprised me :
This line of “I’m with you” has been removed in the anime.
It may seem unimportant because it's just Levi's attempt to calm Mikasa and make her understand that even if he’s stopping her at that moment, he has the same intention of going to fight against the Female Titan. EDIT : I’ve been told in comments that it may also imply a way for Levi to tell Mikasa that her attacks will not have much effect in any case, that it is the same and therefore must be withdrawn for the moment.
At the first reading level maybe, but the connotation in it makes this as a kind of hint about the mirror effect that was about to happen between them. And moreover, without this sentence, it makes their relationship more arid than it already is, since it begins with Levi's order as he tries to position himself as his superior / mentor by placing Mikasa underneath.
[Small digression : It is also interesting to note that the similarity between Levi and Mikasa was made even before they actually met, on two occasions : the first when Levi saved the main trio, by Armin confusing him with Mikasa, and the second one there ]
Anyway, “I’m with you” doesn’t sound very Levi’s character likely, it’s too direct, too polite and too explicit. I thought it were perhaps a clumsy translation so I went on the raw to see what it gave.
In fact, the line is “同じだ “, “onaji da” in romaji, which basically means “It’s the same”, implied “we”, so “we’re the same” can be understand as well, or “the same as you”.
It's pretty remarquable to see that it's those words of “the same” that opens up their relationship, because that's the whole point : they're incredibly similar, and yet very far in terms of opened relationship.
The same blood, the same behavior, the same personality on many aspects, but not the same level of mutual acceptance.
We might believe that two characters which are so alike would have a pretty fusional relationship, but in SnK, it’s not how it works. It is perhaps even one of the most important point of the story and all the themes touched in this manga : the difference, for the interaction between people, is essential. After all, it is often the farthest characters in behavior that are closest (Eren - Armin, Historia - Ymir, Uri - Kenny...). And despite the difference between Marleyans and Eldians, some of the most established relationships in the current arc are a mix of both (Sasha - Niccolo, Hanji - Onyankupon etc).
In the relationship Levi - Mikasa, if there is not a medium that comes to help them communicate, it is difficult for them to do so. Ironically, the medium often happens to be someone very different : the first time was Armin in trial, and the second time Hanji in serumbowl, the opposites in terms of personality of Mikasa and Levi.
But with Mikasa it is still more marked : while Eren and Armin both have characters parallels to them (Hanji and Reiner for Eren ; Erwin and Bertholdt for Armin), they accepted them and that made them grow while Mikasa's relations to her parallels are tinged with hatred and rejection.
One of the interesting thing between these three parallels, Annie, Levi and Mikasa, is that they share in common the negative view they have of each other.
Mikasa sees Levi as a man, certainly strong, but abnormally violent, without seeing his kind side.
Levi sees Annie like a pure sadist which acts only because she’s enjoying pain and violence, without consider the necessity that guides her actions.
Annie sees Mikasa like a wild beast, with no emotion and who would act only coldly and impulsively, without her human side so.
The negative view of these three parallels between them reflets the fact that it’s themselves they see in each other. Levi can’t only think of him as a strong person who must, because of this, be necessarily violent ; and that's why he relies heavily on violence to resolve conflict. Mikasa thinks she’s indeed a wild beast who must be guided by her strength and violents instincts in order to protect her beloved ones.
[Small disgression again : It's one of the things that Armin is reproaching her at the beginning of the Uprising Arc “Mikasa, rest yourself, you’re still injured and you’re not a beast” , and it's funny to note that Eren picked it up in his hurtful words in Chapter 112 by designate her as cattle, to kindle his rage.]
And Annie has tried to shut herself up as much as possible of all human emotion to fulfill her task, so much that she persuaded herself that she was enjoying killing people - what her strange smiles in fight let slip - when that's not the case.
But fortunately, Levi’s point of view on Mikasa breaks this cycle of hate. After all, as the parents of Sasha mentioned, it's up to adults to break the cycle of hate so they do not let children lock themselves in. It is too late for them, the adults, but not for the children, who represent the future.
That's why during their first interaction, while Mikasa acts inconsistently, insulting him, blaming him for everything, and ignoring his orders, Levi does not give the change and on the contrary, takes on him, even receiving the hit in her place. Here he was, the adult in charge of the child. While he was still shocked by the loss of his entire squad, ready to give up on Eren in considering the worst possible scenario :
He regains the will to fight when he sees a younger version of his self in Mikasa, decided to not let her go through the same pain as him by the loss of her beloved one.
That’s why Mikasa's arc will probably reach one of its outcome when she will stop impeding the fact that Levi and her can make a further connection by recognizes during the Ackertalk that indeed, she is the same as Levi, in many ways.
And this is not only due to their shared blood but also to their own person, Isayama even stated it in a interview which can be found in Answers Guidebook :
– Regarding Mikasa and Levi’s Ackerman family mystery, we’re also receiving more clarity! Can we say that Mikasa, Levi, Kenny are all part of the same Ackerman bloodline?
Isayama: They are all part of the same Ackerman bloodline. However, their reasons for protecting their respective counterparts don’t have anything to do with the bloodline itself - it’s just their nature (laughs). Within the story, Mikasa and Levi almost have the guardian/knight-like roles, right? That’s because they encountered the existence of a “boss”-like individual, and the desire to work for that person is very in line with their personalities.
As Armin by being invested with the spirit of Erwin symbolically, and the titan of Bertholdt, as Eren by going beyond Hanji on the knowledge and recognizing to be the same as Reiner, Mikasa will be the next to face her parallel, and would have to recognize what binds her to him in order to fulfill herself.
