Do we like them?

Do we like Historia Reiss?

A character from Attack on Titan (2013-2023)

Our score: 8 out of 10. Yes, we'd back her. She starts out putting on a nice-girl act, but she grows into a brave leader who chooses her own values over what others expect.

Historia is introduced as Krista Lenz, a small, gentle cadet who seems to be everyone's friend. The story follows humanity's fight against giant Titans behind massive walls. She quietly helps those around her, but she is also hiding who she really is.

Her kindness starts partly as a performance, because she wants to be a 'good person' so that others will approve of her. Her friend Ymir challenges her to stop living for other people's expectations and to live as herself. That push gives her arc its emotional core.

She learns she is a member of the royal Reiss family, and she is pushed into taking the throne. She does it on her own terms. She uses the position to protect the poor and orphaned, and she shows she can lead and make hard decisions without becoming cruel.

We give her an 8 because her goodness is real and hard-won, and her flaws are human rather than harmful. She loses a couple of points for the times she stays passive or conflicted when the stakes are highest.