Attack on Titan’s Goth Mikasa and Nerd Armin are two alternative versions of Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert that feature in the Attack on School Castes.
Attack on Titan premiered in 2009 and has since become one of the most popular Japanese manga series of all time, with over 100 million copies sold worldwide. The anime also recorded a major milestone when its adaptation debuted in 2014. This popular anime series piqued the interest of many manga fans because it is full of intrigue, political secrets, conflict, genocide, and an unending web of deceit.
If you’re unfamiliar with the allusion, Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan, is worth noting that he made a name for himself because he enjoys including fake “previews” at the end of his manga chapters; one of the most popular is ‘Attack on School,’ which reimagines the series as a high school play.
In the series, Armin is nerdy and wears spectacles, whereas Mikasa is a Goth girl. This high school fantasy has also been acknowledged in the canon manga storyline, making it somewhat official.
What Manga Is Goth Mikasa and Nerd Armin From?
Goth Mikasa and Nerd Armin feature in Attack on Titan. The plot of this series follows Eren Yeager and his friends as they go through the trials and tribulations of high school life. Eren Yeager pledges to annihilate the Titans after they destroy his community and kill his mother. It is set in a world where humanity is compelled to live in cities surrounded by three great walls that defend them from gigantic man-eating humanoids known as Titans.
From September 2009 to April 2021, Attack on Titan was published in Kodansha’s monthly shōnen manga magazine, with chapters collected in 34 Tankbon volumes. Mikasa is portrayed as a Goth girl in the series and is known as Goth Mikasa (or Gothkasa). She is a fan favorite and one of the most well-liked characters in the series.
Are Goth Mikasa and Nerd Armin Alternate Characters?
In the Attack on School Castes, Goth Mikasa and Nerd Armin are two alternate forms of Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. Goth Mikasa was a manga-exclusive character until recently, i.e., until Episode 19 of Season 4 of Attack on Titan. Still, she wasn’t a canon character and was part of Isayama’s faux previews for the original manga.
While Eren remained on the edge of life and death in the episode mentioned above, he got a flash of memories from his existence and that of his Titan forefathers. The faces of two favorite alternative characters, Goth Mikasa and Nerd Armin, appeared in a collage of those recollections rushing through the ether. However, Mikasa had a drastically different haircut in those memories, and fans refer to her as “Goth Mikasa” or “Gothkasa.”
“Nerd Armin,” as his fans refer to him, is sporting spectacles in the memory. This does not imply that the two of them have become part of the main anime canon, but the producers have acknowledged the fake previews. They have incorporated silhouettes of these two characters in the anime as a gesture to fans.
Is Goth Mikasa the Same As Mikasa Ackerman?
Two relatively recognizable faces can be seen whirling past Eren as he gets images of his history and memories of prior Titan users — it’s his best pals, Armin Arlert and Mikasa Ackerman, but they seem pretty different than usual. That’s because these aren’t Eren’s favorite renditions of the characters.
Instead, they’re from one of creator Hajime Isayama’s parody manga previews, which were frequently included at the end of manga chapters and depicted the bleak series’ protagonists in comical and absurd settings. Fans would go ahead to dub these versions of Mikasa and Armin “Gothkasa” and “Nerd Armin” from the “Attack on School” trailer, which reinvented the series as a standard high school drama.
However, the series was never considered part of the Attack on Titan canon, and even Isayama admitted that the previews were phony. So, in a way, she is not exactly real; nevertheless, this has little bearing on the anime’s overall plot – it was merely a nod to manga readers.
Is Nerd Armin the Same as Armin Arlert?
The character, Nerd Armin, is a reincarnation of Armin Arlert from the Attack on School Castes series. Armin is portrayed as a dorky high school student in the series and is known as Nerd Armin. He is a huge fan favorite and one of the series’ most popular characters. Is he, in fact, real? In that sense, he is since he exists and has a story to tell.
However, the series was never considered part of the Attack on Titan canon, and even Isayama has stated that the previews are phony. Nerd Armin was a manga-exclusive character until recently, i.e., until Episode 19 of Season 4 of Attack on Titan. Still, as we’ve discussed, he wasn’t precisely a canon character and was part of Isayama’s faux previews for the original manga.
However, while Eren drifted on the edge of life and death in the aforementioned episode, he had a vivid flashback to his own life and that of his Titan forefathers. The faces of two favorite alternate characters, Nerd Armin and Goth Mikasa, appeared in a montage of those memories remaining in the ether.
Who Is Armin Arlert Voice Actor?
Marina Inoue is Armin Arlert’s Japanese voice in Attack on Titan. Marina Inoue is a Japanese singer and voice actor from Tokyo, while Josh Grelle is the English dub voice of Armin Arlet. Clearly, the MAPPA team took the time to animate Nerd Armin and Goth Mikasa’s brief debuts as a gesture to the manga’s fans.
That hasn’t stopped Attack on Titan fans from going crazy over the Easter egg reference. Some even claim that this visual in the anime now “confirms” that Nerd Armin and Gothkasa are canons, as well as the entire high school narrative.
Although these alternate-reality versions of Mikasa and Armin first appeared in the manga as a joke, they have grown unexpectedly popular and inspired many fan art and cosplays. The animation studio MAPPA, which is producing the show’s last season, appears to have wished to pay honor to these fan-favorite characters by granting them a brief cameo in the anime.
