She used to be promising.
Summary:
- Mikasa had a lot of great moments in Season 1.
- She experienced all the crucial character moments in the first season.
- There wasn’t much development for Mikasa ever since.
Although Mikasa is one of the most popular Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) characters, her character development is also the most criticized one. And Season 1 and her intro arc might be to blame for that.
Mikasa in Season 1
When Mikasa was first introduced into the series, she was a really promising character. It was obvious that Eren was the center of her world, but there were so many wonderful things about her.
Mikasa suffered a lot throughout the series, but she was among the first ones we saw dealing with the trauma of loss. Her parents were murdered, and she grew attached to Eren tremendously.
Then she thought Eren was dead, too, and Mikasa experienced an incredibly strong moment. She realized that she had to keep fighting for humanity and survival — she wanted to keep living.
Mikasa was the first character who tried to make peace with that, and there were echoes of her speech later in the story with several other characters.
She also showed that she could be a great leader, motivating others. The story tried hard to fool the viewers into thinking that Eren was dead and Mikasa was to replace him, and it worked so well because it was actually believable.
She also got stronger and more disciplined during the first season of the series due to her training and unfortunate experiences with Annie and Pure Titans. She had all the potential for great character development, but this development stopped in the first season.
Mikasa became static
It feels like everything Mikasa has to offer, she offered in Season 1. There hasn’t been much development for her ever since. She didn’t get much stronger because she was already one of the strongest warriors out there.
She couldn’t let go of Eren because he remained the core of her existence. She didn’t become a leader, since this spot was always occupied by someone else.
Mikasa came to all the necessary conclusions and understood all the truths in the first season, and after that there was nothing to work with. Her development became static and 90% of her personality was about Eren and saving him.
Even when it looked like something else was happening with Mikasa, the story took it away quickly. There was a moment when she stopped wearing her scarf for a number of chapters, but it didn’t last long and she put it back on later.
The only new development that happened to Mikasa was in the finale of the series, where she finally understood that Eren had to be killed. And even after his death, she couldn’t let him go, which renders even this sliver of character development irrelevant.