Attack on Titan’s Best Romance Reached a Gruesome Peak That Was Exactly What the Series Needed

Image: Mappa

At its core, Attack on Titan is anything but a traditional romance. Within the series’ hyper-violent landscape, affection is often relegated to the periphery, rarely surviving long enough to truly flourish. Aside from the tentative bond between Armin Arlert and Annie Leonhart, virtually every connection is defined by profound tragedy. Yet, the most haunting dynamic remains the intricate, painful tie between Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman—a relationship that begins in the anime’s opening act and reaches its visceral, unsettling conclusion in the series finale.

After years of emotional hesitation and unspoken words, the pair finally shares a kiss, though it occurs only after Mikasa has decapitated Eren. While undeniably macabre, this moment perfectly encapsulates the series’ central philosophy: the world is a place of unrelenting cruelty, yet it possesses a strange, undeniable beauty.

Image: Wit Studio

Eren and Mikasa’s lives become intertwined during childhood when Eren rescues her from a band of human traffickers. Despite being only nine, Eren violently dispatches her captors, leaving the final assailant for Mikasa to confront. In that harrowing moment, she experiences a fundamental epiphany regarding the duality of existence, mirroring her mother’s brutal murder with the image of a delicate butterfly falling victim to a predator.

When the danger passes, Eren wraps his scarf around Mikasa to ward off the chill. This simple act of kindness sparks a lifelong devotion. While Mikasa’s love is forged through trauma and survival, Eren’s perspective remains skewed; he focuses his energy entirely on the hatred of his oppressors and a singular, destructive pursuit of freedom.

Image: Wit Studio

Following the rescue, Eren’s family adopts Mikasa, creating a domestic bond that further complicates their romantic potential. Throughout their service in the military, they survive numerous brushes with death that seem poised to ignite their underlying feelings, yet the words are always left unsaid.

Eren eventually gains clarity on Mikasa’s heart when his Titan powers grant him a non-linear view of time. However, this enlightenment comes with a heavy price: the knowledge that he is destined to commit global genocide. To save Mikasa from the fallout of his actions, Eren adopts a persona of cold manipulation, attempting to sever their connection through cruelty.

Having finally acknowledged her feelings, Eren is forced to reckon with his own. Despite being shackled to a dark fate, a part of him yearned for Mikasa to offer a different answer—to choose a life where they could flee the cycle of war together. Through the Paths, Eren even explores an alternate reality where they lived in peaceful seclusion. But even in these visions, their happiness was on borrowed time, threatened either by the surrounding conflict or the “Curse of Ymir,” which limits a Titan Shifter’s lifespan to a mere 13 years.

Image: Mappa

As Eren’s descent into villainy becomes irreversible, Mikasa is forced to abandon her role as his protector. Eren eventually confesses that his hostility was a calculated effort to ensure she wouldn’t be paralyzed by grief after his death. Armed with this heartbreaking truth, Mikasa finds the resolve to do the unthinkable: slay the man she loves to save the world and grant him peace.