Predictions Mikasa and Rivaille

[SarcasticIndeed]

(MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD)

Well, this is my first thread, which is more of a question I'd like to see your opinions on.

After reading a rather large article dealing with Rivaille and explaining his character, motives and such, I started wondering something. Namely, the article said that as time passes, and Mikasa gets more experienced in combat, she will eventually overcome Rivaille in skill.

Being a Rivaille fan, part of me wanted to simply reject this, so I took into consideration their current states of skill.

And yeah, anyone who read the manga should know that Rivaille is levels beyond Mikasa, as we can see in the battle Against the female titan. Mikasa couldn't cut the Female Titan because of her hardening skill, but Rivaille was so fast she didn't have time to use it. However, the battle also ends with him being injured by saving Mikasa.

Now, while I agree that Mikasa will get much better as she gains more combat experience, I don't think she will surpass Levi. That is simply because of the role he plays. He's titan killing personified, his purpose is to be the strongest man alive. He is hope. If he was bested by someone else, he wouldn't be what he represents in the manga anymore. Mikasa is there as one of the major characters, her roles are multiple. To be there for Eren and so on.

What do you think?

 

[Demonspeed]

I don't think she will surpass Rivaille. And I would not like it if she doesn't get a good character development.

 

[SarcasticIndeed]

I don't think she will surpass Rivaille. And I would not like it if she doesn't get a good character development.

Yeah, she needs good character development; I didn't particularly like her from the start anyway. Why do you think Rivaille won't be surpassed? (I agree with you, I just want to hear opinions)

 

[Utsune]

Hope I don't sound too persistent in this Mikasa matter lol, but to be honest, Mikasa's so-called "character development" people want to see isn't really so much as "character development," but very simply "change of heart/attitude" over time. At the moment Mikasa's heart/attitude is very much driven by her priorities (Eren.)

Note that while change of heart/attitude/priorities = character development, character development does not always involve change of heart/attitude/priorities. She doesn't exactly "require" the change-in-heart/attitude/priorities type of character development, but rather a turning-point in the story that places her at the extremities (perfect example of character development includes Eren's apparent death event at the beginning, where she doesn't exactly "change" her priorities, she only discovers what is already in her heart and make the quality shine.)

Sorry for sounding confusing, basically what I'm trying to say is, changing her supposedly "selfish" attitude isn't the necessary type of character development for the kind of person she is. Rather, look forward to situations where she is placed in a bad spot, and see how she reacts while staying true to the type of person she is.

And sorry for misunderstanding anyone's point if I did, this is simply what I think of Mikasa as a character

 

[SarcasticIndeed]

Hope I don't sound too persistent in this Mikasa matter lol, but to be honest, Mikasa's so-called "character development" people want to see isn't really so much as "character development," but very simply "change of heart/attitude" over time. At the moment Mikasa's heart/attitude is very much driven by her priorities (Eren.)

Note that while change of heart/attitude/priorities = character development, character development does not always involve change of heart/attitude/priorities. She doesn't exactly "require" the change-in-heart/attitude/priorities type of character development, but rather a turning-point in the story that places her at the extremities (perfect example of character development includes Eren's apparent death event at the beginning, where she doesn't exactly "change" her priorities, she only discovers what is already in her heart and make the quality shine.)

Sorry for sounding confusing, basically what I'm trying to say is, changing her supposedly "selfish" attitude isn't the necessary type of character development for the kind of person she is. Rather, look forward to situations where she is placed in a bad spot, and see how she reacts while staying true to the type of person she is.

And sorry for misunderstanding anyone's point if I did, this is simply what I think of Mikasa as a character

Yeah, I understand what you are saying. It's just that Mikasa is more or less annoying to me at this point. A change would be nice.

What do you think on the topic of the thread? In the future, will Mikasa surpass Levi in skill?

 

[Utsune]

Yeah, I understand what you are saying. It's just that Mikasa is more or less annoying to me at this point. A change would be nice.

What do you think on the topic of the thread? In the future, will Mikasa surpass Levi in skill?

It's a very interesting idea, and definitely something any readers might think about at some point. I can see at least two instances where Mikasa has shown acknowledgement for Levi:

1) Levi shows off his speed when fighting the Female-Type

2) Mikasa's guilt for causing injury to "the best fighter in the Scouting Legion"

For Mikasa herself to think this, this is no small matter indeed, lol. And Mikasa is shown genuine admiration for his speed.

Although for normal Titans, there isn't much difference between Mikasa and Levi, we will probably see a very obvious gap between the two when the story moves on to fighting more Shifters.

Having said that, for now we can see Mikasa and Armin being some sort of shadow/apprentice of Levi and Erwin respectively, and there is no doubt if any of the two high ranks get done in, they will take their place (not necessarily in ranks) and become analogous with their skills, if not better.

 

[SarcasticIndeed]

It's a very interesting idea, and definitely something any readers might think about at some point. I can see at least two instances where Mikasa has shown acknowledgement for Levi:

1) Levi shows off his speed when fighting the Female-Type

2) Mikasa's guilt for causing injury to "the best fighter in the Scouting Legion"

For Mikasa herself to think this, this is no small matter indeed, lol. And Mikasa is shown genuine admiration for his speed.

Although for normal Titans, there isn't much difference between Mikasa and Levi, we will probably see a very obvious gap between the two when the story moves on to fighting more Shifters.

Having said that, for now we can see Mikasa and Armin being some sort of shadow/apprentice of Levi and Erwin respectively, and there is no doubt if any of the two high ranks get done in, they will take their place (not necessarily in ranks) and become analogous with their skills, if not better.

Indeed. While Mikasa makes cuts on the Female Titan, Riaille absolutely rips her to shreds. Where Mikasa's swords wouldn't pierce, Rivaille made a cut because there was simply no time for the Female Titan to understand what is attacking her. And doing all that while fabulously spinning.

Not to mention that Mikasa is described as being worth a hundred /regular/ soldiers, where Levi is a whole brigade on his own.

I just hope the shonen doesn't go that path of "surpassing your superiors" where a character, to be cool, is shown besting someone who's usually been under him for the previous time. The theme of the anime does not make me think it will happen this way.

And now that you mention it, ues, the only way I can see Mikasa surpassing Rivaille is if the latter dies (perhaps due to her own mistake?) and then she feels responsible and tries to become an even better asset than him? Who knows.

 

[mikasaaa]

Having said that, for now we can see Mikasa and Armin being some sort of shadow/apprentice of Levi and Erwin respectively, and there is no doubt if any of the two high ranks get done in, they will take their place (not necessarily in ranks) and become analogous with their skills, if not better.

My thoughts exactly. Mikasa will be the "new" Levi and Armin the "new" Erwin, though not necessarily in ranks (but in the event of a timeskip it may very well be possible). And I don't think she'll surpass Levi unless there's a big (2 years or more) time skip, so yeah. By the way, I'm new here (:

 

[SarcasticIndeed]

My thoughts exactly. Mikasa will be the "new" Levi and Armin the "new" Erwin, though not necessarily in ranks (but in the event of a timeskip it may very well be possible). And I don't think she'll surpass Levi unless there's a big (2 years or more) time skip, so yeah. By the way, I'm new here (:

While I can see that happening, Mikasa and Armin will have to change a lot if they want to at least resemble Rivaille/Erwin, apart from combat power and intelligence, respectively. They are all rather different than each other, but I guess I can see it working.

 

[Demonspeed]

I see Levi more as a mentor for Eren, he is learning from him and he is like Levi's disciple considering his current status. It's easy to make parallels between Mikasa and Levi and she will probably be competent like him later but that's about it. Armin is learning from Erwin though. And he is more similar to him than the Eren or Mikasa to Levi.

And about time skip. Erwin said those who survive 4 years will be competent soldiers. It means they'll be19. Who do you think will survive?

 

[kannazuki]

Deciding which should be more prominent out of Mikasa and Levi's comparative skill is just a matter of personal preference analogous to which romantic pairings people like in the fandom. Regardless of who ends up the better titan assassin in the end, it's not important to the story in the least. Speaking hypothetically, if Isayama indeed does decide to have Mikasa surpass Levi however, she'd become an even greater hope since she'd be better than him at that point. People would have more to cheer for if they had both him and a more powerful younger person, so I don't see what the big deal is there. That said, only for the reason that it would take away from the core of the story too much, I doubt Isayama will bother exploring that much. Just like Armin won't likely succeed Erwin even if he dies.

On the contrary I would say that both of them are going to be downgraded from the great "hopes" they currently are. Seems to me the story is moving away from "titans vs. humans" and toward "shadowy figures who have power both inside and outside of the walls..." against both titan-shifters and humans. If we find out that this is in fact the kind of "true enemy" they're dealing with, then strategy (i.e. Armin and Erwin's part), and recruiting more allies (Eren and the others from the 104th would all play a role in this) will become more important, and both Levi and Mikasa are going to be relegated to support positions as fighters.

 

[SarcasticIndeed]

You raise a good point about titan killing not being in the spotlight anymore, but if Isayama starts showing it as something completely secondary to the plot, the manga is going to lose some of its charm to me. It still takes loads of regular soldiers to kill a titan, and it becoming insignificant wouldn't feel right.

 

[kannazuki]

Don't worry, I expect they would both definitely still get showcased for action scenes! XD

I just think (and I'm sure you probably agree) the *story* focus will be more about how to deal with the "real" enemy, which will involve all sorts of tactics (including badass titan slaying skills). So because of that, their role as leading hero and heroine in the fight against titans will not be as important but it will still be important in order for *progress* to be made! Especially if they find a way (maybe from the basement in Shinganshina) to turn regular titans back into ordinary humans/titan shifters again. Because then the only titans they'll absolutely have to fight are the shadowy figures who have powers inside and outside the walls, right? And those ones are not going to be mindless, sleeping people like Ymir and Eren were. They'll be dangerous like Annie.