Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan is known for a lot of things, but the one thing that makes it stand out is the series’ portrayal of one of the best-written female characters in history. This character is none other than Mikasa Ackerman, one of the major characters in the series whose power and love knew no bounds.
She is considered the best soldier in the 104th Training Corps. and later joined the Survey Corps, which led to her becoming one of its greatest warriors. She was a part of the Ackerman clan, which was a bloodline of ferocious and powerful warriors that protected Eldia’s king but were killed to extinction after refusing to follow the king’s rules.
Many fans won’t know this, but Mikasa was the first character that Isyama ever created for Attack on Titan. Even the creation of her character had a story behind it. Isayama once revealed how he got the inspiration for her character in the weirdest way possible.
Mikasa Was The First Character Hajime Isayama Created
In 2014, Men’s Culture magazine Brutus did a special feature on Attack on Titan that contained a lengthy interview with the manga creator (shared by Mangabrog) regarding the different aspects of the series. During the interview, Isayama was asked about the first character he came up with for Attack on Titan, and the manga creator pointed out that it was Mikasa Ackerman.
Isayama went on to explain that Mikasa had a big role to play during the series, as she was supposed to be the poster girl of Attack on Titan. She received special focus from Isayama, which helped her shine as a major character. Not only that, Isayama wanted her to be a famous character, which is why he named her after a Japanese battleship.
Hajime Isayama’s plan for Mikasa worked perfectly, as she went on to become one of the best-written characters in history and earned a lot of fame and recognition from fans. Not only that, she became a pedestal for the depiction of female characters in the manga world.
Hajime Isayama’s Inspiration Behind Mikasa
The third volume of Gekkan Shingeki no Kyojin contained a special interview that Isayama did on Mikasa Ackerman’s character and it was later shared by @yusenki on Tumblr. During the interview, Isayama talked about the inspiration behind Mikasa which he found in an internet cafe.
Isayama stated:
Also at that time, one of the clients I met [by chance] became the model of Mikasa. She covered her face with a muffler late at night, and I thought this look of hers was endearing [cute]. When she came to the store, I felt something and quickly started to sketch on the memo pad I had in my hand. The sketch from that time was the original drawing of Mikasa.
The manga creator disclosed that when he first came to Tokyo, he worked part-time at an internet cafe. During his shift, he met a client who covered her face with a muffler and Isayama thought she looked cute.
He then decided to quickly draw a sketch of her and later used it as an inspiration for Mikasa’s character in Attack on Titan. The mangaka also pointed out that because she was Japanese, he also created Mikasa’s character to be Japanese.
Attack on Titan is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
