Sasha Blouse

"I had someone important to me once, too! That's right...! An Eldian!! A descendant of devils!! But...she enjoyed my food more than anyone I'd met before...She saved me from this stupid, worthless war...She showed me who I was meant to be. Someone who brings people happiness through his food. That was Sasha Blouse. The woman whose life you took."

- Sasha is fondly remembered by Niccolo

Sasha Blouse (サシャ・ブラウス) was a member of the Survey Corps and one of the few former members of the 104th Training Corps, of which she was ranked 9th best, that decided to join the regiment, upon coming into contact with Eren's strong desire to eliminate the Titans. A compulsive food hoarder with an overly polite way of speech, Sasha was from Dauper, a village in the southern territory of Wall Rose.

Appearance
Sasha was a young woman with light gold eyes and brunette hair originally kept in a ponytail that reached the base of her neck. Her bangs were slightly parted to the left, cascading down each side of her face and stopped around the middle of her neck. On missions, she wore the standard Survey Corps uniform with a light gray shirt underneath. When not on missions, she wore a simple long sleeved blouse with a skirt that slightly covered her boots. On some occasions, she even wore a sleeveless vest over her blouse. She had a slender figure and was of average height.

In the year 854, Sasha had grown taller and her hair was cut shorter with longer bangs, exposing more of her face. While in Marley, she wore the black Survey Corps uniform with support belts for her vertical maneuvering equipment along with a rifle.

Personality
Sasha was a friendly, fun-loving girl with a compulsive appetite. Originating from Dauper Village, she had a local accent, but actively hid it out of embarrassment by using formal speech, even when conversing with her fellow trainees.

Initially, Sasha was shown to be somewhat timid and prone to make mistakes when under stressful situations. She was rather simple-minded and eccentric, but her intuition was very sharp. Sasha was also surprisingly courageous, and she was considered a wise judge of circumstances and danger.

Before she matured and entered the military, Sasha was shown to be rather intolerant and very close-minded. She only cared about herself and her village, and was very aggravated by all of the people from Wall Maria coming in and hunting all the game they once hunted. Additionally, she refused to change their traditions for the greater good.

Possibly due to her younger years of struggling to hunt and find food, Sasha had developed an incredible appetite; eating provides her with considerable gratification and relief, especially during times of great stress, and food was often the only thing on her mind when at ease. So compulsive in her desire to eat, she had proven willing to steal food from the infantry stores and/or kitchen and earned herself the nickname "Potato Girl" (芋女) after stealing a potato and absent-mindedly explaining herself when her superior caught her eating it during her first day as a recruit. Despite her gluttonous tendencies, Sasha was a capable soldier and could not stand by when others are in trouble.

In the year 854, Sasha had adapted to her role as a sharpshooter, agreeing with Jean that, as time has passed, killing other soldiers had become easier. Despite her newfound cold professionalism in the field, Sasha still appeared to be incapable of killing civilians and especially children, exemplified when she had Gabi Braun in her sights yet could not take the shot, resulting in her death at Gabi's hands.

Prologue arc
Sasha is seen arguing with her father, telling her not to eat the meat from the winter from the ground. He fails to stop her, and as she devours the meat he wearily explains to her why it is important to keep the food: after the fall of Wall Maria, many refugees have come to Wall Rose's lands, which has resulted in a food shortage due to the extra mouths to feed. In particular, refugees have begun hunting for food in Dauper's territory, leaving less game for the village's citizens than usual.

Blouse admits to having considered giving the forest to them so that they can make fields, while the hunter's tribe starts taking care of horses, but Sasha objects, arguing that they should not stop living like they do just because of the newcomers. Her father acknowledges her point, but disagrees, saying that it is more important to take care of the people, rather than live all alone. He finally states that he wants to live with his clan, even if it means to change their way of life. Sasha, angered, enlists in the Military in retaliation.

104th Training Corps arc
On the first day of training, she steals a steamed potato from the kitchen and eats it during initiation. She is questioned by Keith, her head instructor, while he performs the "Rite of Passage" ritual on them. She gives him "half" of the potato (actually a much smaller piece than the one she kept for herself) in a doomed attempt to appease him and is ordered to run around the premises for 5 hours as punishment. Krista Lenz brings her bread from the dining hall after finishing, which Sasha greedily snatches out of her hands.

Like many of her fellow trainees, Sasha gradually begins to slack off during training exercises that will not go towards helping her graduate in the top 10. This attitude leads to a confrontation between Eren Yeager and Jean Kirstein over the way the training corps operates, which garners Keith's attention. In order to spare Eren from getting in trouble for starting a fight, Mikasa Ackerman claims that the commotion was caused by Sasha passing gas.

During training, it is observed that she has uncanny intuition and follows unconventional practices, making her inappropriate for group activities. During a training session in which the trainees practice their maneuvering skills against Titan mannequins, Sasha tails Connie and Jean as they search for Titans and steals their kills once they have located them. Jean confronts them afterwards, and Sasha simply ridicules him for complaining.

At one point during their training, Sasha is approached by Krista and Ymir. Ymir confronts Sasha about the abnormally polite way Sasha speaks to her fellow trainees, guessing that Sasha is ashamed of the dialect used by the people of her village and criticizing her aimless way of living. Krista attempts to stop Ymir's diatribe, but Ymir continues to berate Sasha, telling her to speak as her true self without shame of what others think of her.

Sasha later graduates in the ninth position among the top ten trainees.

Battle of Trost District arc
Sasha, along with Eren and the others, is assigned to maintain the cannons on top of Wall Rose in Trost District. She steals some meat from the Officer's provisions and offers to share it with them. She enthusiastically predicts that after they reconquer Wall Maria, they will be able to keep cows and sheep. This puts everyone into high moods as they accept the meat and get back to work. Suddenly, the Colossus Titan appears out of nowhere and breaks the gate of Trost with its foot. Everyone is knocked off the Wall and Sasha manages to save Samuel from falling off the Wall.

She is later assigned to guard the middle of Trost from incoming Titans, and is among the trainees that are left stranded and unable to retreat to from battle due to running out of gas for their vertical maneuvering equipment. Sasha tries to convince the remaining trainees to try retaking the headquarters together, but is unable to convince them. After Mikasa decides to try to reach the headquarters, Sasha elects to join her, mocking the other trainees to try to motivate them to join in the attack.

She successfully reaches the headquarters, where Armin devises a plan to clear the supply room of Titans. Sasha is one of seven soldiers that are selected to kill the Titans in the supply room, once they have been drawn in and blinded with gunfire. During the execution of the plan, she messes up, not cutting deeply enough through her assigned Titan's neck. As it turns to eat her, Mikasa kills it and Sasha is immediately grateful to her.

After escaping the headquarters, they reunite with their fellow trainees and are placed on standby. While waiting, Sasha attempts to fake having a stomachache in an attempt to get out of returning to battle.

The Female Titan arc
Sasha decides to join the Survey Corps, seeing that Jean, Connie, Ymir, Reiner, Bertolt and Krista were doing the same. Though she begins to break down and cry when Erwin Smith gives his daunting speech about the Survey Corps' mortality rate, she is not deterred, and chooses to join the corps.

A month later, she is sent out with the Survey Corps on their 57th expedition. She is positioned on Line 2 and File 3 in the enemy detection formation and is on relay duty. On the way, she is attacked by a Titan, which was unassumingly hiding behind a building. Her squad members successfully lure it away and she returns to her assigned position.

Later, she is assigned to guard the border of the Titan Forest, after the middle flank successfully lures the Female Titan in. After the Female Titan's capture, she recognizes its scream to be similar to that of a cornered animal screaming for help, and warns Mikasa that they should be careful.

Clash of the Titans arc
Sasha and the others are stationed close to her and Connie's villages as they await orders. They do not seem to understand why they were stationed there. Sasha hears multiple heavy footsteps coming from a distance and they soon learn that Wall Rose had been breached and that they must act quickly. She joins the North Squad to help evacuate the villagers in the northern part.

She worriedly returns to her own village noticing that a certain Titan had headed straight for it. She enters a house, wherein a 3-meter Titan is eating a woman's leg while her child sits nearby, paralyzed with fear. Sasha takes the girl to her horse, but the horse becomes restless and runs off. Taking a bow and a handful of arrows, Sasha runs for the main road with the girl. Escaping to the drawbridge, Sasha sends the girl ahead to find help while she fends off the Titan. She decides to buy time by blinding the Titan and climbs a short incline for a better shot. Having missed two shots, Sasha scores a direct hit in the Titan's eye with her third arrow. She throws her bow away, taking her last arrow and stabbing it directly in the Titan's other eye. The Titan attempts to grab her, but Sasha manages to escape its grip. She searches for the girl and eventually finds her with a group led by her father.

Royal Government arc
After two weeks have passed, she is hand picked by Levi Ackerman alongside her friends of the 104th Training Corps as a member of the new Squad Levi, and is stationed with them in a lone house within a forest, where they are hiding in order to protect Eren and Historia. She talks to Armin about the reasons why they were chosen despite being new recruits, and suggests it is simply because they are good. After she is discovered stealing bread from the few supplies that are already present, a discussion with her comrades arises which reminds Eren to the old squad.

During Hange's Titan experiments with Eren, Sasha helps stand guard around the place. Later, the group receives instructions from Erwin to abandon their hut and watch from a distance as the hut is stormed by the Military Police Brigade First Interior Squad. After Armin and Jean are kidnapped, Sasha helps in the rescue operation and saves Mikasa when the leader of the gang, Dimo Reeves, prepares to shoot her, knocking his gun to the ground with an arrow. She is present when Levi and Nifa reveal that the Reiss family is the true royal family. After Levi harasses Historia to become queen, Sasha goes to comfort her.

After Reeves is killed, the squad goes into hiding in Stohess District. They have a conversation about their new lives as fugitives and criticize Levi, with Sasha worrying that he might threaten Historia once she is queen. Sasha hears gunfire and Armin realizes that the Military Police Brigade have found Levi. The squad attempts to follow the wagon that is transporting Eren and Historia but Levi arrives and orders them to stop because it is a trap.

After the battle, Sasha tends to Levi's wounds in a cottage and acts as a lookout for the squad. After the squad catches Marlowe and Hitch and interrogates them, Levi orders Sasha to leave them tied up in the forest but Jean intervenes, saying that he would like to do it instead.

Later that night, Sasha and her squad attack the First Interior Squad's headquarters, capturing of the officers. She and Connie stand guard as Levi interrogates him for the whereabouts of Eren and Historia. Sasha warns the squad that she hears multiple people incoming. It is Hange, to the entire squad's delight, and they inform the squad that the Survey Corps has been exonerated and that they have a lead on Eren and Historia's whereabouts.

When they find Eren and Historia under the Reiss chapel, Sasha takes part in the operation to rescue them. She shoots barrels full of gunpowder and oil with gas canisters attached with fire arrows, making them explode and creating a smokescreen that hides the squad. During the fight she saves Connie's life by firing an arrow at the who was about to shoot him. However, the battle is suddenly stopped when Rod Reiss transforms into an enormous Titan, surprising everybody and making the whole cave fall apart.

Sasha and the squad arrive and Eren is freed, but the squad is pushed back against the Wall due to the heat and force of the steam emitted by Rod Reiss' Titan. They are saved when Eren notices a bottle labelled "Armored-Braun" and crushes it in his mouth while transforming. Eren manages to control his hardening powers and stops the cave from falling. As the squad retrieves Eren, Sasha starts looking for an exit. The squad travels to Orvud District, where they plan to fight Rod.

As Rod approaches the Wall, the members of Squad Levi douse themselves in water to endure the extreme heat from the steam. Sasha takes part in the operation to kill the Titan by blowing apart one of his hands with a gunpowder barrel with built-in shooters made by Hange. When he is crippled, he loses balance and Eren takes the opportunity to transform into a Titan and shoves gunpowder into his mouth, causing the steam to ignite it and explode Rod. The squad tries to cut the flying pieces in order to kill the main body.

After Historia is crowned as the new queen, Sasha and the rest of Squad Levi accompany her as she goes to find Levi so she can punch him. The squad tries to talk her down, but she punches the captain as soon as she sees him. Expecting Levi to retaliate, the squad is surprised when he reacts by smiling and thanking them.

Two months later, Sasha is on the orphanage with the rest of the squad carrying some boxes while getting her hair pulled by one of the children. Later on, Sasha is seen eating with the rest of her squad and Marlowe. Marlowe is excited about the prospect of taking back Wall Maria, and Sasha asks him if Hitch tried to stop him from joining the Survey Corps. He admits that she tried to convince him of the benefits of staying in the Military Police, claiming that he had been forced to tell her off for her selfish behavior. The squad is appalled at Marlowe's inability to recognize her feelings for him, and begin angrily insulting him.

Return to Shiganshina arc
In the morning, Keith is visited by Eren, Hange, Mikasa, Armin, Levi, Jean and Sasha at the training camp and Eren asks him to tell them everything he knows. They are in a house, with all of them sitting on chairs except for Sasha. Keith remembers that he summoned Sasha in the past to rake her over the coals.

Time passes, and the preparations for the retake of Wall Maria are finished. The day before the operation, the soldiers have a special dinner with meat to celebrate their upcoming mission. Seeing the meat, Sasha goes crazy and tries to eat it all by herself. Connie and Jean try to stop her, and Jean is bitten for his trouble. Sasha is eventually restrained by Connie and Eren, but not before punching Marlowe and Mikasa. Sasha regains her senses but her comrades neglect to untie her, leaving her in the cafeteria after the meal is finished.

The following day, Sasha is ready to go to Shiganshina District, along with the rest of the Survey Corps. They are surprised when the civilians start cheering for them. In response, Sasha, Jean, and Connie begin cheering with them.

After arriving in Shiganshina, Sasha watches Eren seal the hole in Wall Maria alongside her fellow Corps soldiers. After Eren successfully seals the hole, Sasha and the rest of her squad begin to go to meet up with the rest of the Survey Corps, but stop and take up positions atop the Wall after seeing a signal flare. From there they witness Reiner's emergence from within Wall Maria, and the appearance of the Beast Titan and his army.

As Eren and Reiner fight in their Titan forms, Sasha and her squad surround the two and prepare to help Eren. After Hange and Mikasa manage to blind Reiner, Sasha and the rest of the squad use their Thunder Spears on his Titan form's nape and expose his human body. Although both Sasha and Connie find themselves unwilling to kill Reiner, Jean manages to convince them to carry on with their mission.

As Sasha and Connie cry over Reiner's apparent death, a tearful Jean tries to convince them not to mourn for him. The three are stunned when Reiner's Titan form suddenly begins to roar. Sasha quickly evacuates the immediate area around Reiner with the rest of the soldiers as Hange announces that Bertolt will be attacking them from above. After Armin unsuccessfully tries to negotiate with Bertolt, Sasha and her teammates use Eren's Titan form to shield themselves as Bertolt transforms.

The Colossus Titan begins throwing burning houses in the air, searching for them. Connie begins to panic and laugh, prompting Sasha to hit him on the head at Jean's request. Under Jean's order, Sasha and the group get on Titan Eren's shoulders to move to the river while conserving gas. The squad tries attacking Bertolt, but their attack quickly results in Eren being knocked unconscious via a kick from Bertolt. Jean formulates a plan in which he, Sasha, and Connie will act as a diversion while Mikasa fires a Thunder Spear at the Colossus Titan's nape. This, however, also fails.

After Reiner's return to the battle, Sasha participates in Squad Levi's attack to keep him from reaching Eren and Armin. While Jean acts as a decoy to keep Reiner's attention, Sasha and Connie attempt to use their Thunder Spears to blow open Reiner's mouth. However, Sasha is severely injured when Reiner uses debris from nearby houses to defend himself, and her Thunder Spear misses its mark.

After Reiner is defeated with the help of Hange, Sasha's unconscious body is attended to by Connie. When Armin wakes up, he finds Sasha next to him. As she is resting, Sasha quietly complains about her comrades' noisiness.

The surviving Survey Corps members then return to Trost, where Sasha continues to recover and fully regains consciousness. Later, she rejoins her Survey Corps comrades to be exonerated with a medal for her role in the recent battle.

After the Battle of Shiganshina, a year passes and the use of the Executioner from Hell clears Wall Maria from all Titans. Sasha is among the Survey Corps to lead an Expedition beyond Wall Maria, and finds a Titan whose limbs were so small that it could only crawl. The Survey Corps arrives at the ocean and Sasha playfully experiences it with her friends.

Marley arc
Sasha is a member of a group of Survey Corps soldiers sent to defend the Paradis coastline from ships sent from Marley. She witnesses Eren beaching a ship with his Titan form and the resulting exchange between Hange and Yelena. She later falls asleep, only to be woken by Mikasa.

A year later, Sasha assists Connie, Jean, Armin, Mikasa, and Eren in building a railway line. A debate begins over who should receive Eren's Titan powers in five years and Sasha volunteers along with the others, arguing back and forth with Connie over who is more intelligent. Eren tells them all that he values their friendship too much to choose any of them, and resolves to select someone else.

In the year 854, Sasha takes part in the Survey Corps' attack on Liberio. Together with Connie, she is seen killing several armed combatants entering the internment zone with her rifle, and setting up light markers throughout the city. After finishing, Sasha and Connie reunite with the rest of the corps, and watch from a safe distance as Eren and Mikasa attempt to defeat the War Hammer Titan. As the Jaw, Cart and Beast Titans arrive, Sasha and her allies regroup and prepare to face off with their enemies.

Sasha takes cover behind a destroyed artillery gun and shoots and kills one of the gunners. Enraged, the Titan charges at her, but Sasha escapes as Jean and the other soldiers fire a barrage of Thunder Spears at it.

Eventually, Sasha regroups with the other Survey Corps members aboard the airship. Hearing something over the commotion in the ship, Sasha turns to see a girl aiming a rifle at her. Before she can react, the girl shoots Sasha in the chest. As Connie and Jean rush to her side to try to stop the bleeding, Sasha wonders aloud what is going on and why everyone is yelling. As she drifts in and out of consciousness, she asks for some meat. Despite the efforts made by the other soldiers, Sasha bleeds out and dies next to Mikasa and Armin who were visibly distraught.

After the Survey Corps return to Paradis, Sasha is given a burial. Mikasa remains at her grave after the funeral service, reflecting on what needs to be done for the Eldians to live.

War for Paradis arc
After Mikasa kills Eren, her apparition appears before Jean and Connie, beaming towards her two friends.

Abilities
Raised as an animal hunter, Sasha showed high level skills in archery, horseback riding, and tracking. Sasha was ranked one of the top 10 trainees in her squad, implying good physical abilities. She was also commented to have a better sense of balance than some of the other trainees. Sasha's hearing was also very acute, to the point that she could detect an approaching group of Titans before many of her fellow trainees. As well as physical abilities, Sasha had good knowledge of wild animals and utilizing her hunter experience (as shown when the Female Titan screamed), she knew exactly what the scream meant (a distress cry; danger) and that they should be wary of it. She also seemed to be athletic and useful with bow and arrow, injuring a 3m class Titan alone with just a bow. She was later shown to be able to disarm a person without any injury to said person, with archery alone.

Four years after reclaiming Wall Maria, she had proven to be very proficient in using bolt action rifles, fatally sniping down multiple Marleyan soldiers from a rooftop in only a couple of seconds and sniping a gunner through a narrow opening in the middle of a firefight. She was proven to be a skilled thief, as she often managed to steal food from the infantry storage without getting caught.

She possessed at least a small amount of medical knowledge; attending to Levi's wounds after he was attacked by Kenny Ackerman and the First Interior Squad.

Relationships

 * Connie Springer - Sasha and Connie got along well as teammates and as friends. The pair often made jokes, as they enjoyed each other's company. As trainees, they frequently got in trouble together. In spite of that, they defended each other if need be. It is implied that the two were extremely close due to the look on Sasha's face when Connie said that she was special to him.
 * Ymir - Ymir and Sasha shared a strained relationship. Towards Sasha, Ymir oftentimes acted crass and nit-picky. As such, Ymir disapproved of her behavior and was unimpressed by Sasha's actions. For example, Ymir questioned Sasha's way of speech, deeming it too sickeningly polite. Ymir was held back by Historia. Ymir's words impacted Sasha's way of speech after that point, as Sasha used her words more freely.
 * Historia Reiss - In Sasha's trainee days, Historia had shown her a great deal of kindness, though Ymir often questioned the latter's actions. Historia was quick to come to Sasha's defense and trusted Sasha as a comrade. As well, Historia encouraged Sasha to be herself and speak her mind when she wanted to.
 * Artur Blouse - Before Sasha left to become a soldier, her father thought of her as fainthearted and a coward. Still, he cared extremely for her, but got irked when she ate their food supply. Three years later, Sasha reconciled with her father and he stated that he was proud of her accomplishments as a person.
 * Mikasa Ackerman - Though the two have distinct personalities.Sasha admired Mikasa's strength and bravery. Sasha and Mikasa get along really well as the two have been roommates since their cadet days. Even though Sasha snores in her sleep, Mikasa doesn't seem to mind. The two joked around and were close enough for Mikasa considers to her be one of her closest friends besides Eren and Armin. Sasha's death distressed her immensely. After Sasha's funeral Mikasa stayed by her grave and started talking about what had to be done for the Eldians to live.
 * Niccolo - After the capture of the first Marleyan team sent to recon Paradis, Niccolo was put to work cooking for his comrades and his Eldian captors. Sasha seemed especially sympathetic towards him, and was overjoyed at the many new foods Niccolo introduced her and her comrades to, calling him a "genius" when she first sampled his seafood cuisine. The two grew close over time and Niccolo was so moved by Sasha's love of his food that he gradually abandoned his ingrained prejudice towards the islanders. Niccolo risked his safety to visit Sasha's final resting place, and was visibly traumatized at the news of her loss. He then offered to cook for her grieving family in honor of her memory. They were close enough for Kaya to believe that he and Sasha had been dating.
 * Kaya - Kaya was saved by Sasha in Chapter 36 from a three meter Titan and was adopted by the Blouse family, which is why Kaya referred to Sasha as a sister. Kaya admired Sasha’s bravery and wants to be like her.

People killed

 * Carlo
 * One member of the Anti-Personnel Control Squad
 * At least 2 Marleyan Public Security Authority guards

Failed attempts

 * Reiner Braun

Trivia

 * Sasha ranked fourth in the First Character Popularity Poll.
 * Sasha tied with Kenny Ackerman for twenty-first in the Second Character Popularity Poll.
 * Sasha tied with Moblit Berner for sixteenth in the Third Character Popularity Poll.
 * Sasha ranked eleventh in the Fourth Character Popularity Poll.
 * Hajime Isayama named Sasha after comedic actor to reflect the fact that he intended for her to provide a comedic element to the series.
 * An interview with Isayama's editor in Otomedia's October 2013 issue revealed Isayama originally intended to kill Sasha in Volume 9. However, he was persuaded to change his mind by the editor, who apparently went to the bathroom and cried when presented with the ending. This accounts for Sasha's absence during the majority of the Clash of the Titans arc, though she would later receive a stronger presence in the arc during its anime adaptation.
 * The official manga guidebook features original character design sketches that show Sasha's design was originally quite different.
 * Sasha's name is the Russian diminutive of “Alexander” or "Alexandra," which comes from the Greek "Alexandros," meaning "defender of humankind." "Blouse" (Brauss) comes from the German saying "in Sauß und Brauss leben," meaning "to live off the fat of the land," a phrase she herself quotes.
 * She was one of the few characters to survive an encounter with a Titan without using her vertical maneuvering equipment.
 * Isayama stated that there is not any food Sasha dislikes.
 * Isayama revealed on his blog in 2014 that he had selected the song "Bambous" by as a character song for Sasha.
 * Sasha shares a birthday with Dina Fritz.

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