Allen Walker

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Allen Walker
D.Gray-man character
AllenWalkerVolume9Excerpt.jpg
Allen Walker by Katsura Hoshino
First appearance D.Gray-man manga chapter 1
D.Gray-man anime episode 1
Created by Katsura Hoshino
Voiced by Japanese
Sanae Kobayashi[1]
English
Todd Haberkorn[2]

Allen Walker (アレン・ウォーカー Aren Wōkā?) is the main protagonist of the D.Gray-man manga and anime series created by Katsura Hoshino. He was created from the female protagonist of the D.Gray-man's predecessor Zone; Hoshino lengthened the female character's hair to create Allen's design.

Allen joins the Black Order as an Exorcist, a soldier able to use the weaponized form of Innocence to destroy the Millnnium Earl's akuma. He fights against the Earl and his followers, the super-human Noah Family, to prevent their plan to destroy the world. He is also the prophesized Destroyer of Time believed to be the only one able to defeat the Earl. However, Allen is also Neah, the 14th Noah who was killed for betraying the Earl. Eventually, the Order revokes Allen's Exorcist status and treats him as a Noah, forcing Allen to flee the Order.

Allen appears other media relating to the franchise, including the two video games and the two light novels. His character has been very popular with the D.Gray-man readers, usually ranking first in the series' popularity polls. Reaction to Allen's character is generally positive. Several pieces of merchandise have been released in Allen's likeness, including a plush doll, a figurine, clothing and cosplay pieces. His character design is highly praised, as well as his difference from of a typical shōnen protagonist.

Contents

[edit] Creation and conception

Two early designs for Allen

Creator Katsura Hoshino notes that she does not know where Allen's concept came from as she likes to have her main characters be rambunctious, rude idiots. Although she believed his final design looked best with the Black Order uniform, she wondered if his design should be more masculine. She based him on the female protagonist of the D.Gray-man one-shot Zone; she drew the character with longer hair to create Allen and found it difficult to decide on the hairstyle.[3] Hoshino also comically comments that Allen's hair later in the series has become very similar to a Super Saiyan, a transformation from Dragon Ball, in which the character's hair becomes spiky.[4] She says towards the beginning of D.Gray-man's publication that Allen is one of the hardest characters to draw.[5] Allen's eyes have had different colors such as red and light blue during the manga's first chapters due to a discussion between Hoshino and her editor; it was later officially decided to give him silver eyes.[6]

[edit] Character outline

[edit] Background

Allen was born with a deformed left arm, actually caused by the effects of an Innocence, and abandoned by his parents. He later worked at a circus and met Mana Walker, a clown. Mana adopted Allen the day his contract with the circus expired, December 25.[7][8] When Mana died, Allen attempted to resurrect him through the Millennium Earl's offer, instead turning Mana into an akuma. The resurrected Mana was ordered to kill Allen, slicing him through the left eye. Allen's deformed left arm awakened as an anti-akuma weapon, destroying Mana, and his left eye became cursed, allowing him to see the souls of akuma. As a result of this experience, Allen's hair became white from shock (originally having been reddish-brown). Shortly after, Exorcist General Cross Marian offered to take Allen as a disciple and train him as an Exorcist.[9] Allen trained under Cross until the General decided to send him to the Black Order headquarters in Great Britain.[10] At an unknown time, the 14th, a traitor member of the Noah Family and Mana's younger brother, implanted his memories into Allen. Not until Chapter 189 does the Millennium Earl confront Allen and tell him he was not the player left behind by the '14th' but that he was the '14th' himself.It has been revealed that shortly after Allen had destroyed Mana and meeting Cross Marian, Cross had taken Allen to be in the care of one of his supporters known as Mother.While taking refuge, Allen's wound on his left eye made him experience intense pain and having severe trauma over Mana's death. After a while Allen started to speak and act like Mana, adopting his personality as his own. [11]

[edit] Personality

Allen is a friendly and kind-hearted person. Because he can see the souls of the Akuma, he decided to live and fight for their souls; eventually, he realizes that human souls also need salvation and learn the importance of his friends and comrades. He then devotes himself equally to both causes.[12] Because he wishes to save humanity, he is at odds with fellow Exorcist Yu Kanda, who tells Allen that Exorcists are not saviors.[13] Allen is loyal to his friends and comrades and protects them at any cost.[14][15]

Allen's Crowned Clown form

He loves his foster father Mana Walker and is greatly influenced by him, so much so that he is said to be wearing a "mask of Mana"[16], which is revealed to be that, after being traumatized by Mana's death, Allen picked up on his mannerisms and personality, adopting it as his own. Allen promised Mana to keep moving forward on the path he chose for himself and to never give up. Because of this promise, Allen remains optimistic regardless of the situation.[17] Allen is well-mannered and always speaks formally, just as Mana had done.[16] As the series progresses, he begins to speak in a less formal tone, starting to revert back to the way he used to talk before he met Mana.[18]

[edit] Abilities

Allen is one of the rare Parasite-type Exorcists and controls Innocence within his left arm.[19] [20] The arm goes through three forms before reaching its true form. Originally, it appears as a giant claw with great strength and speed.[21] It later "evolves" into a cannon-like structure, allowing him to shoot rod-shaped objects, as well as emitting a beam-like blade from the end.[22] Its final form, the Crown Clown (神ノ道化 Kuraun Kuraun?, lit. Clown of God), takes the form of a type of fur-collared cloak and a claw-like hand.[23] In the Crown Clown's true form, Allen's arm no longer appears deformed (but retains its odd color in the anime); in addition, his arm is also able to produce a large sword that resembles the sword the Earl uses (though the colors are reversed), and he can use his cloak as a grappling hook.[24][25] Shortly after his anti-akuma weapon takes the form of Crown Clown, his synchronization rate exceeds the percentage required for critical level,[24] thus making him eligible to be a General, but this is no longer true since he left the Order. If he is knocked unconscious during battle, his Innocence can control his body on its own, making it a "full-body armor" Innocence and allowing him to continue to fight until the Akuma has been destroyed.

Shortly after Allen resurrected Mana as an akuma, Mana sliced through the boy's left eye, granting him the ability to see the souls of akuma; this allows him to detect disguised akuma.[9] His eye later "evolves", allowing him to extend his akuma-detecting abilities to others.[26] His eye is also able to detect akuma within a range of 300 metres (980 ft); objects no longer impede his detecting abilities.[27] Allen is also able to control Noah's Ark; like the Earl, he controls it by playing a melody on a piano on the Ark.[28]

[edit] Plot overview

After Allen completes his training under General Cross Marian, he is sent to the Black Order headquarters to become an Exorcist.[10] Allen is accepted into the Order and learns that he is the prophesied "Destroyer of Time".[29] He is sent with other Exorcists to recover Innocence scattered around the world, find people compatible with Innocence, and fight against the Millennium Earl, his army of akuma and the Noah Family.[30][31] Eventually, Allen and 4 other Exorcists are sent to locate and protect General Cross because the Millennium Earl is attacking Exorcist Generals in his search for The Heart, the most powerful Innocence.[32] To save a fallen comrade, Allen uses his Innocence past his ability and is weakened, allowing the Noah Tyki Mikk to destroy his Innocence and nearly kill him.[14][33] He stays at the Black Order's Asian Branch and learns that his Innocence has saved him from death and has not been destroyed.[34][35]

With his Innocence finally taking its true form, Allen joins his comrades in Edo.[23][36] When the Earl kidnaps Lenalee Lee, Allen and 3 others are accidentally taken with her. They are transported to a crumbling Noah's Ark, which is under the Earl's possession.[37] The Noah offer an exit and battle the Exorcists as they try to find it.[38] Allen is nearly killed by Tyki once again, but Allen manages to defeat him using a sword that resembles the Earl's.[24][25] Using the sword, Allen attempts to exorcise the Noah from Tyki; instead, Tyki fully awakens as a Noah, becoming more powerful than the Exorcists can handle.[39] General Cross appears, defeats Tyki, and directs Allen to restore the Ark through a piano.[28][40] Upon returning to headquarters, Allen is suspected as an ally of the Earl [41] and learns that the 14th implanted his memories into Allen. The memories will erode Allen away until he becomes the 14th.[11] This causes him to be placed under the constant watch of Inspector Howard Link. Allen later appears at the Black Order headquarters in North America preparing to battle the Earl and prevent him from killing the personnel.[42] After a Noah attack, Allen is interrupts the fight between Yu Kanda and Alma Karma, Kanda's best friend. However, Kanda stabs him and fully awakens the 14th within Allen, who names himself Nea. Allen is able to regain control of himself and repress the Noah. Although Allen is ordered to kill Alma, he helps Kanda and Alma escape. The Order imprisons Allen for this. He is confronted by Apocryphos, a sentient Innocence that guards "The Heart", who attempts to assimilate Allen's Innocence. Just as Allen is about to be absorbed, Tyki and Road break into the prison and stop Apocryphos. Allen escapes from the Order but is pursued by Apocryphos. Kanda and Johnny search for Allen, who is forced to reveal himself after an Akuma attack. He is stunned to learn that Link was killed, refuting the Order's belief that Allen is the killer. More Akuma attack, and Allen tries to relocate the battle to a less crowded area. As he does so, the Noah Wisely telepathically tells Allen that Noah can sense other Noah, so he will "once again" know what it is like to have no hope of escape. At these words, Allen begins to turn into a Noah again.

[edit] Appearances in other media

Allen is a playable character in the two D.Gray-man video games.[43][44] He also appears in two crossovers video games which feature Allen fighting against several characters from other Shōnen Jump manga, including Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars.[45][46] He also appears in the series' light novels. The first documents Allen's search for the Black Order headquarters after Cross tells him to do so and disappears.[47] In the second, he is a supporting character and attends the Black Order's reunion party.[48]

[edit] Reception

Allen has been highly popular with the D.Gray-man reader base, having ranked as the most popular character in the first official Shōnen Jump poll of the series.[49] In the second poll of the series, he dropped to second, falling under Yu Kanda. He returned to the first position in the third poll. In an Animedia character popularity poll, Allen has been featured as the twentieth most popular anime character.[50] He ranked twentieth in a Newtype character poll.[51] A plethora of merchandise has been released in Allen's likeness including a key chain,[52] a plush doll[53] and figurines.[54] Clothing[55][56][57] and cosplay pieces based on his appearance and uniform have also been released.[58][59][60]

Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other related media have provided praise and criticism on Allen's character. Squentialtart.com praised Allen's character design, saying that his anti-akuma weapon is "quite impressive" when invoked, giving a visual representation of his strength. She also notes that his cursed left eye paired with his white hair make the design "much more striking".[61] Anime News Network also praised his design, stating he looks like a "visual kei rock star" and believed he is "a nice change of pace" from other shōnen protagonists.[62][63] Allen's abilities were described to be "rather inspired" in a review by Michael Aronson.[64] However, Anime News Network stated that Allen does not use any amount of "cleverness" to defeat akuma and just lets his arm "overpower the enemy".[65] Despite this, Allen was praised as a hero, described as and solid by IGN.[66] Animationinsider.net believed that Haberkorn does a "decent job" voicing Allen, matching Kobayashi's portrayal well.[2]

[edit] References

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Chapters • Episodes (1 · 2) • Characters (Allen Walker)
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