Lmao at ‘man’s body’ and the desperate 'look at me and my brilliance above the masses’ wafting off this post thoI talked about this off this blog, but I thought that it would fit the nature of the blog:
There are very stark differences in how the anime portrays Levi, and how the manga portrays him.
In fact, the fandom—particularly the fujoshi part of the fandom—that has a peculiar idea that Levi is not buff, and is physically very feminine, is most likely from people who focus mostly on the anime. In the anime, he’s thin, with slender shoulders, underdeveloped biceps, a small chest and waist, and a thigh gap. It’s particularly noticeable in ads for the anime, but it’s very much true in the anime itself.
Overall, he’s portrayed as child-like and feminine. One can argue it was just a mistake, or that it was intended for the female audience. However, that’s not what it’s about; it’s the fact that one should recognize that the Levi we see in the anime is very much different from the one we see in the manga.
Canonically, by Isayama’s art, he is much more masculine. He’s short, yes, and has a more childish face than other adult men in the storyline, but that’s where ‘childlike’ ends for him. He’s got a large neck, even for the artist’s style’s standards, broad shoulders, thick legs(from his thighs to his shins) that certainly don’t show a thigh gap unless he spreads them, fairly large biceps, and especially from the bits of his chest we see when he is fighting the Female Type Titan, he has a wide chest.
Speaking simply, in manga-canon, he has a man’s body.
I thought that it would be obvious, but I think that it actually doesn’t process for a lot of fans. I had a friend that talked about her headcanon for Levi’s body type, and ended up getting an anon who was adamant about saying that there was no way that Levi could be buff, because ‘his shoulders are too thin.’
Maybe in the anime, but certainly not in the manga, where his shoulders are twice the size.
