Jean Kirstein

A hot-headed cadet who gave up a safe post to join the Survey Corps and lived to the end.

Jean Kirstein is a hot-headed young man who speaks his mind. He first planned to join the Military Police so he could live safely inside Wall Sina, and he graduated sixth in his class. He and Eren hold opposing ideals: Jean thinks Eren is suicidal for wanting to fight on the front lines with the Survey Corps, and the two keep up a simmering rivalry, sharpened by Jean's jealousy over his evident crush on Mikasa.

Lore & Background

In the Battle of Trost, Jean leads a group of recruits to keep the supply house safe and is shaken that his decision led to the deaths of some comrades. After his close friend Marco dies, he changes his mind about the Military Police and joins the Survey Corps instead. He later rises to become a commanding officer and leads ground operations during the Raid on Liberio.

Reader's Guide

Jean struggles hard with whether to stop the Rumbling or accept it and enjoy life in the Interior, but gives up that dream to save the world, because he does not want his fallen comrades, Marco above all, to be disappointed in him. He joins the Alliance in the Battle of Heaven and Earth, fighting beside Pieck and Connie, becomes one of the series' final survivors and serves as an ambassador of peace for the Alliance. Isayama has called Jean one of his favorite characters because he says what he thinks.

Jean is voiced by Kishō Taniyama in the Japanese anime and by Mike McFarland in the Funimation English version, which spells his surname Kirschtein. In the 2015 live-action film he is played by Takahiro Miura; when Titans ambush the scouts there, Jean tries to convince Eren to flee.