I hate when people say Lenalee’s not as interesting as the main boys.
Being overshadowed by them. She is. Allen and Kanda are the most developed but Lenalee right behind them.
How does Lavi get more love than Lenalee? Because he’s shrouded in mystery? (He is) Which him interesting? Because he’s funny? (He is) Which makes him endearing? (He is) No hate to him but he doesn’t appeal to me as much. I still like him but until he gets more developed like Allen, Kanda, and Lenalee, then I won’t like him as much. Again, I still like him it’s just that I want more. That’s just me. Like Lenalee, I feel like I’ve seen his character before, but I just like Lenalee more.
This is just my opinion on the matter, but I hope it can prove useful to you:
I think Lenalee /is/ a good character concept, but the problem lies in the execution.
She is meant to be the mediator between readers and the dgm universe, apart from being an Exorcist, she is “normal”, she’s not “special” in the sense that she is not an artificial human, a Bookman or a Noah, she is supposed to be the everyday person who got dragged into this mess (though personally I think given her background ‘the child soldier broken by war veteran’ was expected of her, but looks like that’s Marie’s resort). Her “greatness” is supposed to come from her “simplicity”. That fight with Eshii and her wish to not die for some overrated higher meaning but aim to survive, which is a revolutionally new aspect because women are traditionally raised to do just that.
But the problem is that Hoshino treats her like a Japanese idol: lots of shiptease, tons of people complimenting how beautiful and strong she is for no particular reason, getting stalked and borderline sexually harassed by men almost twice her age and the occasional butt/panty flashes – this framing distances her from the average reader, placing her in some seemingly unattainable heights and gives you the impression that you should feel blessed that she even looks your way. Hoshino seems to try very, very hard to make sure Lenalee is perfect and everyone and their mother loved her: she always must look beautiful, no one can be rude to her without looking like a dick, no one tells her that “ok we get it that you’re worried but stop hitting me, thanks” and that can be a bit annoying.
The other thing is when the actual essence of her character is in spotlight. Lenalee had her moments of weakness – which is good character development-wise: it showed that when she feels powerless/vulnerable she is impatient, she is clingy, she is hypocritical, she has hard time keeping her emotions in check, she is reckless, she is just a human – just like Allen was when he lost his Innocence or Kanda and Lavi when the Noah were pushing their buttons.
The difference perhaps is that Allen, Lavi and Kanda had self-reflection. Lenalee pushed the blame on the surroundings, at first the Order, then once it become her home on the Innocence when Leverrier and Central are more deserving of that hatred (though I guess this sort of hypocrisy makes her more human).
Allen, Lavi and Kanda on the other hand all faced their own selves. Lavi was faced with his own hypocrisy, how cruel he was for marginalising humans and dismiss their grief to protect his own emotional stability. Perhaps the reason why people love him so much is because of this very honest admission that also gave him strenght to defeat one of the most dangerous Noah with only his own wits. Kanda had to come terms with killing Alma and fully awakening the Noah within Allen. Allen was practically slapped in the face with Tyki telling him that him acting while knowing nothing hurt a lot of people he loved. Lenalee didn’t really have that. She was shown to be anxious and suffer from the dread of losing her loved ones, but she didn’t have this realisation that “ok, this is absolutely unfair and I don’t deserve this shit, and the reason why my snchro rate dropped so low is perhaps because deep down I’m hoping that the Order will leave me alone and I can finally be free – but if I don’t fight, the people I want to protect will all unavoidably die”. As a character those 3 are more compelling because they all see and admit the flaw in their ways and try to change – Lenalee didn’t.
Unlike those three, she lacks any sort of direct antithesis of her values. Allen is pretty much every step has someone claiming that he is wrong, naive etc. Kanda was mad at him for willing to sacrifice himself for strangers. Lenalee was mad at him for not trusting her with his back. Lavi was sort of condescending with him with the Exorcist’s coat’s importance. His Innocence shut down on him the exact moment he decided that he will save Suman no matter what. Fou was mad at him for not fighting her “with killing intent”. Bak was mad at him for wanting to go back for Fou which was pretty much a suicide mission. Chaoji developed intense loathing for him for refusing to kill Tyki. It shows that both narratives are valid and these are not universally applicable techniques, which makes the issues much more layered and realistic. Lenalee definitely needs to be viewed more critically to feel more organic and human.
Good news is that her current situation might lead to that. She reminiscenced parting with Allen without being able to say anything encouraging to him or be able to do anything for him – she cannot support Allen in any way or else she might put Komui or the other non-Exorcist members in jeopardy. She knows that however understandable her actions were, she knows that she probably did hurt Allen’s feelings. There’s definitely room for her to work her way around and face Leverrier, the true reason of her trauma.
lanablack 