SNK Analysis: Eren's Feelings For Mikasa

eremikadefensesquad SNK Analysis: Eren's Feelings For Mikasa

I just received an anon request for my analysis of Eren’s feelings for Mikasa. This is a topic I’ve been meaning to tackle for quite a while, simply because that is a very, very interesting question. It’s been clear that from the very beginning, Mikasa has loved Eren as far more than a brother, and if you still don’t believe this by this point in the manga, I don’t have any hope whatsoever than you’ll understand any of this post. My personal belief is that she never saw him as a brother, but that’s a post for another day. I’m focusing on Eren here, not Mikasa.

Yes, she loves him. But the pressing question here is: is this a mutual relationship? Does Eren see Mikasa as a friend, family or a lover? Or is it the opposite and does he see her as an annoying, overprotective pain in his ass? Does she bother him? Was that heartfelt scene from chapter fifty Eren misinterpreting Mikasa’s words? I’m going to explore all of that.

First things first, I am going to make it perfectly clear with how I stand on his views towards Mikasa. It’s easy to see why Eren means so much to her; he did, after all, save her from a life of being nothing more than a sex toy, and offered her a home after she lost literally everything and everyone she had ever known. However, sometimes Eren can make it very difficult to see exactly how he feels about others. His motivations are constantly changing, as are the people who trigger his passionate anger. For example, his true motivation has always been vengeance. He joined the military to avenge his mother. He transformed and fought Annie to avenge Squad Levi. Now, in the manga, he wants to avenge Hannes, and has committed himself to mastering his Titan powers to achieve that goal. With him possessing such a constantly changing disposition towards others, I have come to one conclusion about the Eremika ship, even from Eren’s side: they are soul mates.

What I mean by that is, there is no one level of affection they feel for each other. They are everything from family, to best friends, to lovers, and everything in between. As many times as Eren has gotten angry at Mikasa for being protective and shot the whole ‘we’re not family’ thing back in her face, he clearly doesn’t really believe that, which has been very obvious well before chapter fifty came around.

I’m going to jump way back now, all the way to episode four, in one of Eren’s many heated encounters with Jean. Before the two hotheads can start beating the shit out of each other, Mikasa intervenes. She says nothing to Eren, she just grabs his hand and stares at him. He then looks down in shame and prepares to back off before Jean, in jealousy of Mikasa’s actions, attacks him.

This is a scene that is widely unnoticed, even by eremika shippers, but its significance is an early bit of evidence supporting the fact that, yes, Eren does care about Mikasa’s feelings. If he saw her as merely a nuisance and a bother, he’d have ripped his hand away and punched Jean in the face. The thing here is, she didn’t need to say anything. All Mikasa had to do was look at him. That’s the kind of influence that her attitude toward his actions has over him. Eren doesn’t have that kind of a relationship with anyone else, not even Armin. That is the type of bond you have with family.

Now, let’s move to episode twenty-five, where there is a scene that frankly pisses me off, but is also a huge bit of development for Eren’s way of showing just how much faith he has in Mikasa not only as family, but as a friend too. After the drama with Annie has passed, Jean, Armin and Mikasa are by Eren’s bedside. Jean and Armin drill Eren for allowing Annie to escape inside her crystal, but are called out of the room for questioning. The second they’re gone, Eren tells Mikasa that it “felt refreshing to be ripped apart” and he says how he wouldn’t have minded dying, at the time. This obviously upsets her, and Eren quickly adds that he no longer felt that way, prompting Mikasa to tell him that she was glad he came back.

As inconsiderate towards Mikasa’s feeling as this bit of dialogue seemed, it has huge meaning. Notice how Eren didn’t say this in front of Armin, just Mikasa. Mikasa is the only person Eren has that he feels he can say that kind of stuff to without fear of being judged or ridiculed. That is a best friend. Then, it goes the extra mile. Mikasa grabs his hand and bows her head in front of him. Just go back and watch that scene again, then look at the expression on Eren’s face. It’s like his eyes have been opened, like he’s seeing just how deeply Mikasa cares for him for the first time. He understands, in that instance, just what his well being means to her.

And then we come to chapter fifty of the manga, the defining moment of unparallelled fangasms and squees from eremika shippers the world over. Believing they are on death’s door, Mikasa thanks Eren for all he’s done for her, and confesses her feelings for him. She leans in for a kiss, and Eren pulls away from her to attack the Smiling Titan with his fists. Okay. For some reason, this scene has gotten two very different interpretations by the fandom. Some think that this is merely Eren rebuffing Mikasa’s advancement, or simply being too bullheaded to understand what she truly meant. Others, myself included, see this as Eren telling her in his own way “yes, I understand what you mean and yes, I love you, too.”

Why do I see it this way? Honestly, how many of us can say with a straight face that Eren would come out and in plain words say, “I love you”? He wouldn’t. Eren is a character that is fueled by anger and action, not words. He shows his feeling through what he does. And seconds after Mikasa tells him the truth about her feelings for him, he punched a fucking Titan with his bare hand. This was not a display of ignorance, but of defiance. In that second, Eren realized just what Mikasa meant to him as well, and he wasn’t going to let it end like that. He was going to do anything he could to ensure Mikasa lived to see another day. After all those years, she finally needed his protection, and he gave it to her. That is true love.

And as beautiful as this scene is, there’s still more to talk about. In the direct aftermath of Mikasa being taken away by the medics to have her ribs looked at, there is yet another scene with Jean. In it, there is a bit of the typical, snippy dialogue you’d expect in an interaction between Eren and Jean, but it changes in an instant when Jean says “I saved your precious Mikasa”. He’s referring to chapter forty-nine, when he saves Mikasa from being eaten after she is grabbed by a Titan while trying to save Eren. Jean was probably expecting a smart-ass remark from Eren, but then he does something nobody expected: he thanks Jean.

This means so much, on so many levels. Mikasa was snatched up by a Titan directly after making a dive for Eren, but missing by mere inches when Bertholdt ducked out of the way. If Jean hadn’t saved her, Eren would have had to have watched her die, literally feet away, helpless to do anything. Look at his face. He knows Jean is right. If he hadn’t acted, Eren would have lost her before he even got a chance to see her one last time, and he knows just how much he owes Jean, even if they don’t get along. This is a turning point in not only Eren’s relationship with Mikasa, but his maturity as a whole.

Some people like to say that their relationship seems to have regressed back to what it once was, now that the immediate danger of the Shifters has passed for the time being. I disagree. In chapter fifty-three, Eren reacts to Mikasa’s protectiveness differently than he would have under normal circumstances. He now understands why she is the way she is. He has realized that he is what gives her strength, and he doesn’t bite her head off about it. In all honesty, Eren’s anger toward Mikasa has always been nothing more than an inferiority complex. He’s always resented the fact that she’s had to protect him all their lives, but now he’s learning to accept it. This all takes be back to my main point: their relationship is complex, and has many facets to it.

Are they family? To a point, yes. They’re not family in the sense of considering each other to be siblings, but they share a bond far, far deeper than friendship. They are family in the sense that they are all each other has left in the world, but it’s not the kind of ‘family’ that makes it incest. At the same time, they also trust each other like best friends would. They can tell each other deeply personal thoughts without a fear of being judged or ridiculed. And finally, yes, Eren does indeed love Mikasa, on a romantic level.

As I said: they are soul mates. They share every kind of bond there is, and it all leads to one final conclusion: they have a mutual codependency for each other. By this point in the series, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that if Eren lost Mikasa, he’d be just as devastated as Mikasa was when she thought he had died. Their relationship is beautiful, complex, and best of all, it is mutual.

I hope this is what you wanted, anon. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I wholeheartedly believe that I have been blessed with the greatest OTP in the entire fandom.

Source: eremikadefensesquad oooooooooooooh i remember of this{i was anon but who cares it was one(?) year ago}eremikai'm too obsessed with eremika Voir le Tumblr entier de meliikasa