Levi tells Armin/squad to suck it up, and that they’re killers now lol. Once again, he’s awkward in his wording and because of this it’s taken harshly by the scouts.
Mikasa reacts, visibly frustrated at him. “Captain? Why would you say something like that?!”
AndINSTANTLY Levi starts to rephrase AGAIN just like in my other post. “What I MEAN is… what you did led to saving our lives. Thank you.”
Healways has a reaction to Mikasa’s opinions. He’s always attentive to her reactions to what he says/does. He always wants to communicate clearly with her. And Mikasa is always the only one who dares to challenge him/speak up to him.
The first time you hear these words from Levi, it just goes over your head/he just seems like a hardened soldier who doesn’t stop to think about loss. But then you realize… shit… Levi thinks about every single loss, EVERY SINGLE DAY. He goes into every day assuming the people around him won’t make it or won’t be there the next day.
He just dismisses his traumatic way of viewing his life as “Well, I just think like this because I’m not normal and have seen shit. Moving on now…” But??? Like??? Can we stop to think about that? Like how tragic it is to view his daily life like that. Think about how dark and heavy that nonstop mindset would be for Levi.
This is coming from a man who, just the next day/soon after, indeed loses even more of his squad traumatically AGAIN — the soldiers who were standing literally next to him during this speech, exactly like he says. (His pained face illustrated as Kenny shoots their heads was brutal ;-; Poor Levi…)
Once again… Levi has only ever known loss and suffering and outliving people he grows even REMOTELY close to. And always in tragic ways. He deserves to be stone hearted. And yet he reveals every time that he feelsdeeply — SO deeply. Isayama always says Levi is the most emotional character and it makes sense.
And we see this even in more dialogue of Dimo to his son — he trusts Levi wholeheartedly and calls Levi a good guy, softhearted, despite being awkward and clumsy.
And then you have Mikasa who reaffirms this. She acknowledges the same thing that Dimo does — that Levi is awkward and maybe imperfect in his own way, BUT he is trustworthy and dependable, and his judgment deserves to be followed without question.
She also uses and mirrors Levi’s usual words of asking others to make a choice. Mikasa could just tell them “Levi is right. We need to follow him.” Instead, she says Levi’s orders are the best option, and asks Connie, Sasha and Jean to MAKE A CHOICE to follow and trust him.
In the end, Levi says he will do anything and everything for even some of humanity to see another day. He doesn’t care if that makes him a bad guy in people’s eyes. Again, his wording is awkward and intense, but all he is saying is that he values protecting others and values the idea of tomorrow — he holds onto hope in his own way.
Now we get into Rivamika. If fast forward Levi were to fall in love with Mikasa or anyone for that matter, I can see this mindset easily playing into that love. He wouldn’t care what he has to do and how that reflects on him if it means he can 1) protect who he loves, and 2) have hope of his loved ones seeing tomorrow. He would go ANY lengths for himself seeing tomorrow; what more someone he loves?
He lives daily thinking the people around him won’t last. He only knows that HE himself will outlive everyone because he’s the strongest. Then there’s Mikasa who rolls in and so happens to be the only person he can rely on not dying because she’s strong as fuck. And he calls upon her all the time. And she’s become his right hand woman.
Like she’s probably the only person he could possibly see living forward. And Mikasa sees him the same way. And now they both have their FULLEST trust in each other to 1) live, and 2) help each other to see tomorrow.
So much that even when everyone was STILL doubting Levi when he ordered them to kill the enemies, Mikasa was the only one who instantly said yes to him.
(In the end, as much confidence as he has in Mikasa, I know his inner demons will always chew at him and convince him that she would tragically die like everyone else in his life.)
Anyway! UGH!!! Levi is just so freaking complex and wonderful and sad and tragic but I’m only realizing how hopeful of a human he secretly is. He says a lot of things but there’s always a layer of care beneath the words.
I’ve been having a lot of fun writing a lot of my ff in his perspective because of things like this. I LOVE LEVI holy shit
We’ve seen this panel before; Levi is always quick to correct and check himself when Mikasa speaks up. There’s a ton of dialogue in this scene but ONLY WHEN MIKASA SPEAKS UP does he make the effort to rephrase.
Levi is, as he says, focusing on their shortcomings (aka Eren’s), but when Mikasa says, “But Eren tried his best,” Levi’s like “shit WAIT Mikasa I’m sorry you’re right, I’m just an asshole, let’s rephrase”
Analyses usually stops here, but if we keep reading on we realize that from that point on Levi resorts to the approach of inspiration and encouragement in his own subtle way. He speaks of the moment he learned what the air outside of the walls smelled like; how much better it was to learn that there was freedom out there. Hange translates his kind of vague thoughts, but in the end after Mikasa spoke up to demand his clarification, Levi moves on from the negatives and focuses on the positives (the things they did gain despite it not being ideal).
The delulu in me says, Mikasa helps bring Levi back to earth and pushes him to positive light. AND of course, Levi chooses that positive/inspiring approach mainly to make Mikasa feel better and feel heard even amidst looking at plain facts.
Iono IT’S 12:30AM I cannot stop thinking about these two. Also I really want to reread the entire series to catch more of these moments between them.
But also YES she keeps him in place!! LITERALLY no other female has that kind of hold on Levi. Even when Hange calls him out on things, he would never respond to them with that kind of gentleness
We get more backstory on Nile AND Erwin all in one scene. I don’t know if this was mentioned in the anime, but Nile was actually planning on joining the Scouts with Erwin. But he fell in love with someone and chose to be close to her/protect her, then chose Military Police. (Spoilers) This makes Nile’s ending even more impactful and saddening, because we KNOW how important his wife and family is to him. He had the chance to go back to them but chose to press on forward to his demise.
And then we get this from Erwin!
Like?? EXCUSE ME??? Erwin was in love with Nile’s wife back then?!?!? But instead of pursuing her, he chose Titans/truth. Not only does this kinda establish Nile as a type of foil to Erwin (he is what Erwin could’ve been and vise versa), but it also gives Erwin more dimension. It emphasizes that Erwin chose to lose out on a normal life in search of the truth of his father’s words. He chose avenging his father by pursuing truth, and sacrificed ‘normal’ things like love, etc.
Cherry on top is Nile’s sassy crossed arms after realizing the fact that his wife could’ve been swooped by Erwin Smith if the guy wasn’t obsessed w Titans/truth
We’ve seen this panel before; Levi is always quick to correct and check himself when Mikasa speaks up. There’s a ton of dialogue in this scene but ONLY WHEN MIKASA SPEAKS UP does he make the effort to rephrase.
Levi is, as he says, focusing on their shortcomings (aka Eren’s), but when Mikasa says, “But Eren tried his best,” Levi’s like “shit WAIT Mikasa I’m sorry you’re right, I’m just an asshole, let’s rephrase”
Analyses usually stops here, but if we keep reading on we realize that from that point on Levi resorts to the approach of inspiration and encouragement in his own subtle way. He speaks of the moment he learned what the air outside of the walls smelled like; how much better it was to learn that there was freedom out there. Hange translates his kind of vague thoughts, but in the end after Mikasa spoke up to demand his clarification, Levi moves on from the negatives and focuses on the positives (the things they did gain despite it not being ideal).
The delulu in me says, Mikasa helps bring Levi back to earth and pushes him to positive light. AND of course, Levi chooses that positive/inspiring approach mainly to make Mikasa feel better and feel heard even amidst looking at plain facts.
Iono IT’S 12:30AM I cannot stop thinking about these two. Also I really want to reread the entire series to catch more of these moments between them.
First off, Levi is negotiating with Dimo Reeves — instead of resorting to violence (because duh, Levi and Mikasa absolutely COULD), Levi decides to bring Dimo to the top of the wall overlooking Trost. He chose the approach of reminding Dimo that the suffering people of Trost rely on him/Reeves Company.
Again, instead of dominating over Dimo, the Captain of the Survey Corps, Levi — the strongest of humanity — sits with him. Makes himself equal to remind Dimo that they are both humans of the walls who need to support each other.
Mind you, Mikasa at this point is Levi’s right hand person and soldier. I’m verrry convinced that, as she is standing and watching Levi’s approach to helping Dimo Reeves make the right (or in his opinion, better) choice, she is both fascinated and inspired by him. Mikasa is the second strongest of humanity who looks up to Levi, the strongest, and she sees this display of him using his humanity — not his strength for once — to inspire people to the truth. Look at the final panel ^ that shows her as the focus looking at Levi as he sits down level with Dimo!!!
AND THEN! This threw me in a whiplash! As they’re talking, Dimo brings attention to the fact that Mikasa Ackerman was the one who SINGLE HANDEDLY took them out in the past. You can’t tell me Levi heard that and didn’t have a reaction; a moment of being impressed by Mikasa. You can’t tell me that BECAUSE HE DID HAVE A DAMN REACTION! Iono if Dimo means to bring Levi’s attention to Mikasa, but that’s exactly what he did. Levi seems to look back at her (maybe?) after this.
