Mikasa Ackerman (Junior High Manga)

Mikasa Ackerman (ミカサ・アッカーマン) is a 1st year student at Attack Junior High School and the childhood friend of Eren Yeager.

Appearance
Mikasa wears a yellow school blazer which has a small blue bow on the collar of her white uniform blouse with a short black skirt. She has medium length black hair with a center bang and large dark eyes. Generally, she wears her red scarf on a daily basis as it is very important to her and is more sentimental than it is for fashion or warmth.

Personality
Mikasa is very protective of her friends, especially Eren and wants him to fit into a normal high school life. She also can be prone to violence, as seen when she takes down a Titan after it was provoked by Eren; this is shown later when she was open to the idea of having to beat an elderly man in order to see Armin and when she threatened Sasha with bodily harm when she was caught lying. Mikasa also is known to be extremely jealous and prone to try and intimidate those who she sees as a threat when they try to interact with her or her friends (mainly Eren).

Story
Mikasa and Eren walk to their junior high school, excited to start the beginning of a new school year. She hears him proclaim that he will surpass the Titans when he gets hit on the head by a large eraser; Mikasa tries to pass it off as merely an accident and gets irked when Eren spitefully writes his name on the eraser. The Titan who owns the eraser then drops a ruler on his head.

As they line up for class, Mikasa tries to get Eren see to reason but soon notices he is not next to her; looking around, she sees Eren trying to burn some shorts he stole from a Titan's backpack. Mikasa goes to chastise him but both are caught by a member of the faculty; both the staffer and Mikasa order Eren to apologize to the Titan he stole from, but he merely faints after realizing he stole a pair of gym shorts (that he also sniffed.) Later on, he still insists to Mikasa that he did nothing wrong but are both called to the entrance ceremony. Mikasa again tries to have Eren let go of his obsession about Titans, but the latter blurts out that their principal was the one who stole his lunch five years ago, causing both of them to be shunned for several days.

During their first day in Class 4, Mikasa notices Eren being called on to share what his dream is. Before she can stop him, though, another classmate named Sasha asks if she has any food. When Mikasa comes to Eren's defense, another student named Jean instantly becomes smitten with her and berates Eren for having her stick up for him. Later that day, Mikasa tells Eren that he must make friends to ensure he has a better future; this causes Eren to run off. Mikasa tries to convince some of her classmates to be friends with Eren but gets no luck. She eventually sees Eren being sucked on (and spit back out) by the Titan he stole from earlier; this prompts Mikasa to go over and, in a fit of anger, brings it down with a single kick. She stands on top of the Titan and tells a false story that paints Eren in a positive light, convincing the others in class to become his friends.

Mikasa and Eren both learn that a dodge ball tournament is coming up the following day and that participation is mandatory for all students; since Armin has yet to show up to school, they both travel to his house to change his mind. When Armin's grandfather tries to intimidate them, Mikasa relishes in the thought in beating him; this causes Armin's grandfather to back down and let them in. Armin does not believe Eren's claims and Mikasa is eventually able to convince him to come in. She says that their classmates will accept a weakling like Armin due to accepting Eren after his emotional outburst on the first day of school. This is enough to convince Armin to go to school and participate in the tournament.

However, Eren does not show up the next day and causes Mikasa to not perform as well as usual; eventually, she starts to give out a depressing aura that begins to affect the others and steals Armin's futon, wrapping herself in it and refusing to budge. Her classmates try to pass Jean off by disguising him as Eren, but Mikasa does not fall for it, claiming not being able to sense Eren's ki. Eventually, Eren arrives and this breaks Mikasa out of her funk; she happily goes over to him, but chastises him for his tardiness. During the match between Class 3 and 4, Mikasa notices Annie focusing on eliminating Eren over the others. Mikasa proceeds to try to eliminate her but fails. Despite this, their class wins the match but proceed to get decimated by the Titan team in the finals. Later on, Mikasa goes with Eren and their classmates to track down the elusive 'Survey Club' in order to join it. Due to its secretive nature, they are unable to write it down on their applications and are all assigned to be part of the 'Wall Beautification Club'. The Survey Club decides to take a trip to Wall Rose; Mikasa notices Eren wandered off on his own and catches him with Annie and two members of the student council, Hitch and Marlowe. When they decide to issue a challenge to determine the fate of the club, Mikasa tries to go against Annie instead of Eren but fails to persuade him to give up his spot. They eventually win the challenge, allowing the Survey Club to remain active. However, she notices Annie has now become friends with Eren, sparking some jealousy in Mikasa.

One day, Jean receives a love letter in his locker and everyone starts to wonder who could be behind it. Mikasa is among those but stops when she sees Annie approaching Eren to return a book lent by him; Mikasa curtly goes and snatches it away, fiercely questioning Eren when he makes eye contact with Annie. Mikasa goes with the others to Jean's locker and is surprised to see Hitch running away; as the rest of the class mulls over the possibility of her being Jean's secret admirer, she and Eren are told by Hitch that the true author behind the love letters is actually a Titan. Asked what to do, both Mikasa and Eren agree that Hitch continue to act like she is Jean's admirer; Hitch later reveals the truth to Jean and the three watch Jean get flattened by the Titan after refusing its advances.

Mikasa is with Eren and Armin having lunch in class when she notices Annie approaching one day. Stopping her at the door, she bluntly asks what Annie is doing there; after she hears the latter wanted to talk to Eren, she offers to pass on a message instead of allowing her to enter. Both sides refuse to budge and almost come to blows; only when Eren interferes does Mikasa reluctantly back down. Glaring at Annie, she hears that Eren was selected to observe Titan activity on orders from the Student Council and to meet her after school. She tries to join as well but is denied by Annie. Still not trusting her intentions, Mikasa decides to shadow both Eren and Annie to figure out the truth. After hearing Eren decline Annie's offer to go with her to an upcoming dance, Mikasa believes that Eren was planning on asking her instead and comes out of hiding; she is dumbstruck to hear that Armin approached Eren earlier and Eren accepted his request. Mikasa tries to make Eren reconsider, but the latter insists on keeping his promise due to Armin wanting to go with someone he trusted. When Eren suggests Mikasa go with Annie instead, both immediately refuse.

After getting punished by Rico (along with the other students) for the actions of Jean, Mikasa witnesses Levi strike Eren after a jab about cleaning. She quickly stands between Eren and Levi, threatening the latter; this causes Levi to issue a challenge between the upperclassmen and the first year students to take place in the next few days. Mikasa works with Eren to devise a plan to rally the first years and defeat the second and third year students; the day of the event, Mikasa sees Eren interact with Annie (who will be cheering them from the sidelines) and chastises him once more. As the challenge goes on throughout the day, Mikasa does her best to rally the first years but the continued push by the upperclassmen drives them away. Finally, they are all defeated by Levi and forced to partner up with the Titans during the dance. During the Survey Club's overnight trip, Mikasa repeatedly tries to get Eren to stop insulting the club advisor, Mr. Smith, but fails. Along with everyone else, she is awoken late at night to the sounds of a fight and learns that Mr. Smith harbors a grudge against the Titans and single-handedly beat the Titan students who had threatened Eren in the forest.

Mikasa soon learns that Eren was invited by Annie to go to the summer festival as part of a large group. Bristling at the thought of Annie possibly having a chance to be alone with Eren, Mikasa invites herself and accompanies Eren to the festival (along with several others from their class.) She soon starts to try and outperform Annie in every game and event to show off her superiority and impress Eren. When the others eventually notice that Bertolt has disappeared from the group, Mikasa spends some time trying to find him but eventually goes off with the others to continue enjoying the festival. During the summer, Mikasa hears that Armin's cherished blanket was taken by Levi and volunteers to help retrieve it: however, like several of her friends, she falls victim to one of the numerous traps around the student dormitory where Levi resides at on campus.

When it comes to light that someone has been abusing the Titan students, a new set of rules for the human students at Attack Junior High goes into effect; despite this, Mikasa is able to intimidate the faculty into allowing her leniency. She later does follow some of the rules and witnesses Eren's attempts to get Mr. Smith's resignation letter from the hands of the principal. Mikasa confides to both Armin and Sasha that she wishes Eren would just lose his obsession over the Titans; Sasha suggests that Mikasa change herself instead of the other way around to get Eren's attention. Taking this to heart, she approaches the Cooking Club and watches Sasha peel some potatoes. Mikasa quickly proceeds to make some fried rice and succeeds in impressing them, with Nanaba begging to become her disciple. After asking Krista for help, Sasha tells Mikasa to let Eren know how she feels; Mikasa then goes to Eren and, telling him she wanted to always do two person abdominal training and wishes to him to be her training partner. Eren agrees and tries to keep up with Mikasa during one of her exercise sessions.

The Culture Fair is announced at the school and when Mikasa hears Eren volunteer to enter the notorious Battle of the Bands competition, she joins him along with Armin, Jean, Connie and Sasha. After Jean tries to take charge and assign positions for the band, Mikasa overrides him and helps Eren become one of the two main guitarists along with Jean. Jean later quits the band, and Mikasa tries enlisting the help of their Class teacher to fill his place. Jean soon rejoins the band and on the day of the fair, Mikasa finds Eren talking with both Annie and Krista; overhearing him invite both girls to see them play, Mikasa forcibly drags Eren away from them. After several sub-par performances (including Bertolt rendering everyone unconscious due to his horrendous singing) Mikasa takes the stage with her band-mates and they end up winning the audience over. However, this is a short-lived victory as the performers after them, The No-Name Band, end up winning the competition for the second year in a row.

As a result of Mikasa declining to take Nanaba as a disciple earlier in the school year, she is informed that the entire Cooking Club has challenged her in a cook-off that will take place in the Home Economics room. Showing little interest in the endeavor, Mikasa only accepts when Eren points out the work and effort made by the Club. Even though the food served from both parties is good, most of Mikasa's classmates vote for the Cooking Club's dishes; however, Eren refuses to vote as he thinks both sides did a phenomenal job in both food prep, serving and taste. It is revealed that if Mikasa lost the challenge, she would be forced to join the Cooking Club; she merely responds that if she were to join them, Eren would have to join also.

During a Survey Club outing, Mikasa and the other first year students get separated during a blizzard and they seek shelter in a cabin. Over the course of a few days, strange events happen and Mikasa is placed under suspicion due to nothing happening to either Eren or herself. When Armin confronts her, Mikasa runs off and while the others take this as an admission of guilt, it was to wake Eren due to his alarm going off. She reveals that while she is not responsible, she does know who is and Sasha admits responsibility; she saw some meat Mikasa brought just for Eren and attempted to obtain it, using a tall tale told by Connie as a cover for some of the events that occurred. Eventually, the blizzard lets up and the first years are able to reunite with the upperclassmen.

Relationships

 * Eren Yeager - Mikasa has been lifelong friends with Eren. Whenever Eren gets into trouble, Mikasa always comes to his defense; however, his care-free attitude and constant obsession with beating Titans can get on her nerves at times. She has been known to become depressed whenever she does not see Eren.
 * Armin Arlert - Armin is another of Mikasa's longest friends. Although she can be a little rough with him, Mikasa genuinely cares for his well-being: when Armin is fearful that he will not be accepted by his peers, Mikasa brings up that Eren was the same way, helping to boost his confidence and ultimately convinces him to attend school.
 * Jean - Jean becomes smitten with Mikasa immediately when she tries to stop the feud between him and Eren; due to the amount of time she spends with Eren, it is not currently known if Mikasa is aware of his crush on her.
 * Annie Leonhart - Since first noticing Annie, Mikasa immediately saw her as a rival and tries to find a way to demonstrate her superiority at every opportunity. Numerous examples include during the dodge ball tournament, the contest to determine the fate of the Survey Club and the summer festival. After Annie eventually becomes friends with Eren, Mikasa becomes incredibly jealous and tries to prevent them from interacting whenever possible.
 * Levi - Initially Mikasa did not think too much about Levi but after he struck Eren, Mikasa immediately saw him as an enemy and had no problem threatening him.