At the present time in the anime/manga, Allen is assumed to be 15. He even says himself that he's 'about fifteen'. The reason for this being that he isn't exactly sure himself on how old he is. Like similar shonen manga's, Allen is an orphan. Well, technically, he was abandoned, but he was an orphan child for many years from what we have gathered from the sketchy knowledge of his past.
Allen does not remember his real family, his biological family. He was abandoned as a young boy, Allen presumes that this is because of his deformed arm. Allen is of British decent, he was born in England. And considering the time, this would have probably been a normal reaction. He would have been born late 1800s, and coming from a large family. They would have been shamed to have given birth to such a child, and probably assumed that he would have had a better chance at a life without them. Or they would have had a better life pretending that he does not exist.
For whatever reason, Allen spent a while on his own. We, as fans, do not know from what he was abandoned, as in manga chapter 166, we see Allen meeting Mana for the first time, whom will later become his adoptive parent, and Allen's father figure in life.
From what we can gather from the limited knowledge of his past, Allen did circus work, though stating to hate it when he talks to Mana in chapter 166, and is heavily injured from a beating he probably received by a clown named Cosimo.
Allen's early childhood and first stages of growing up, seem to be absent of a loving parental figure until Mana adopts him, at an age we can probably guess to be around 7 to 9. You can see some of the effects of this in his later life. In the chapter where he met Mana, Allen is rude, and doesn't know how to behave. And later on in life, particularly in the present time, Allen does not know how to express himself, and doesn't find that he can tell anyone anything, with the exception of Marian Cross, who later becomes Allen's master after Allen turned Mana into an akuma.
So, taking a closer at Mana and Allen's relationship. Mana was a travelling clown, and adopted Allen on the 25th of December, the day he was leaving the circus Allen was working for. Allen and Mana met through this, and Allen had become friends with Mana's then deceased dog. Mana seems to be the person who taught Allen most of his good-natured and kind behaviour. Allen follows Mana's last words and to 'keep moving forward'. At the beginning of the series, Allen seems to idolize Mana and does everything good in his name and tries to live in a way that Mana would approve of. Though, later on, and more recently in the manga, Allen seems to be questioning his faith in Mana, and when Mana said he loved Allen, did he actually mean Allen or Neah, Mana's younger brother, or the 14th Noah, who has been reincarnated into Allen. When Mana dies, Allen is devastated and is tricked by the Earl into turning Mana inti an akuma. Allen does this, and Mana curses Allen by slashing his left eye and giving the eye the ability to see the souls of the akuma. Allen's left arm activates at this moment and ends up killing Mana. Mana's last words to Allen here were 'I love you, Allen'.
Shortly after the incident with Mana, Marian Cross takes on Allen as an apprentice to become an exorcist. Little is really known about the time Allen spent with Cross, but every time Allen is asked about it, he always replies with a negative response. Despite this, Allen seems to have grown something of a strong bond with Cross, seeing him as a stronger, more trustworthy person. Allen depends slightly on Cross through his lack of proper parenting earlier on in his life. It also seems that Cross holds a special relationship with Allen, and just for Allen not because of the 14th within Allen.
Upon Allen's first arrival at the Black Order, he immediately begins a bad relationship with Yuu Kanda. Kanda has tendency to be quite negative about Allen, calling him a 'moyashi', and Allen calls him 'BaKanda'. Both have a growing banter between each other, and Allen knows how to annoy Kanda without really trying. Through the development of the series though, you can gather that Allen and Kanda do actually care for each other, just in their own way, and neither of them like showing it.
Instantly, Allen becomes quick friends with Lenalee Lee. The younger sister of the supervisor Komui. Allen seems a little clueless perhaps of Lenalee's feelings. Lenalee holds Allen in high-respect, and looks up to him for his determination and bravery. And both are quite close in nature. Later on in the series, Lenalee starts becoming really dependent on Allen and is quick to want his help, or to depend on him, no matter how many times she asserts that she will become stronger.
Allen and Lavi, have what can be considered to be a older brother/younger brother relationship. Lavi is a Bookman, and his only reason for being with the Black Order with Bookman is to record information that will be filed away. The Bookmen are gatherers of information, and for this war, they are recording the Black Order's version of history. Lavi holds Allen in deep respect, for after the battle in China and Allen is presumed to be dead, Lavi, though hiding it to Bookman because he isn't allowed to get attached, carries around one of Allen's playing cards. Lavi was upset when Allen was presumed dead and didn't really know how to deal with it all.
Though becoming quite close to many of the members at the Order, Allen always speaks politely to his friends. And as the series progressed, Johnny and Lenalee tell him that he's began speaking less and less politely to them, and instantly begins speaking politely to them again. Through this, and from looking at some of the few glimpses of Allen's past, you can tell that speaking politely and being a gentleman isn't something that comes easy for Allen is something he constantly has to think about.
Also, Allen seems to keep all of the members of the Order at arms length, not really opening up to many of them, and keeps his problems to himself. Something which has been noted by some of the other characters of the series, but speaking about himself seems to be something that Allen is not comfortable about doing, and only really talks about how he's feeling to Cross, who is the only 'stronger, more parental' figure to Allen. This could be down to Allen's upbringing and because most people in the Order see him as the strong and dependent person, Allen doesn't have that kind of situation with someone else, Allen doesn't seem to want to be able to seek comfort in someone who is older than himself.
Allen seems to have a bit o a martyr complex, where he would willingly lay down his life for someone else, or for his beliefs. It seems that Allen would do anything to protect his fellow friends and people at the Order and doesn't really expect anything back. Allen thinks of others lives before himself, rarely even thinking about himself and his own wellbeing. This can be seen through his fight with the level 4 when Black Order HQ was attacked. Though severely injured, Allen's innocence continued to fight because there were people that needed protecting.
In conclusion, Allen is a very complicated character, where his early upbringing has come into his every day present life in many different forms. May it be from forcefully being polite to people, to protecting others before himself, from not really finding that he can trust other people to tell all his worries and problems too. Allen seems to love both humans and akuma equally. Claiming that his right hand is for the people, and his left for the people and that he will do anything to protect both, this is another example of the extent Allen is willing to go to to make sure everyone else is safe, even if he isn't.
PS There are probably many things I have not mentioned. And I can think of many things I haven't mentioned, but it's late, and I'm really tired....
No comments:
Post a Comment