Attack on Titan: An In-Depth Analysis of Allen's Character (1)
Whether it is the anime or manga of "Attack on Titan", it is often criticized as "rotten", scolding Kaiyama for "disgusting readers, because some readers think that the exhibition is too hasty and does not conform to the public's ideas, and some Allen's fans think that Allen's character collapses, which is completely inconsistent with the bloody image of the first hundred or so episodes."
So Is Attack on Titan really rotten? Is Allen really a character collapse? No, I think it's a work that leaves you with your mind to think carefully about the meaning. Below, I will express my personal opinion.
To understand the ideas conveyed throughout the work and the changes in Alan's temperament, we first need to review Alan's experience. In the first season of the anime, the happy life of the Alan family is shattered by the sudden armor giants and oversized giants, and the mother is also eaten by the giants on the spot.
Allen, who witnessed everything, was extremely angry and firmly set his goal: to drive the giants to extermination. Then Alan overcame a series of difficulties with his hatred for giants and became a warrior against giants, it is worth mentioning that Alan and Armin have been determined to explore the world outside the wall since childhood, out of this "paradise" that is underneath the high wall, so Alan was very eager to explore the investigation corps outside the wall when he was a child, even if it was the most dangerous and disliked by the people. And Allen, after discovering his giant power, joined the Investigation Corps as he wished.
Obviously, the ignorant Alan during this period is just a child who has not been deeply involved in the world, sharp, and relies on curiosity and instinctive yearning for emotional behavior. And to confront the giants and join the investigation corps, all because of a moment of resentment, simple cherishment of friends and family and recklessness of self-help, which can be summarized as youth, the teenager who has just come into contact with the world full of blood, it is not difficult to see the incredible firmness and extreme evil in Allen's bright eyes.
Obviously, the ignorant Alan during this period is just a child who has not been deeply involved in the world, sharp, and relies on curiosity and instinctive yearning for emotional behavior. And to confront the giants and join the investigation corps, all because of a moment of resentment, simple cherishment of friends and family and recklessness of self-help, which can be summarized as youth, the teenager who has just come into contact with the world full of blood, it is not difficult to see the incredible firmness and extreme evil in Allen's bright eyes.
In Season 2 of the anime, Alan shows disbelief and hesitation when he learns that his comrades are the Armor Giants and Oversized Giants he hates the most.
For a time, Alan was shaken between the feud of his mother and the affection of his comrades-in-arms. Unlike Mikasa's decisiveness and determination, Alan first showed his contradictions and hesitation in the face of giants, but after the encouragement of the rest of the Survey Corps and the sad memories of his mother's murder, he was stimulated to get angry again, fought with Reiner, and came when Alan was taken to the woods to rest after his defeat, that due to the long-term undercover agent caused by a split personality, expressing his forced helplessness, Alan's anger was quickly ignited, and he loudly scolded Lena for thinking that she was whitewashing her crime. And at the end of Season 2, Alan once again witnessed his comrade-in-arms and Uncle Hannes, who was considered family, being eaten by the same giants.
His own powerlessness and the sacrifice of relatives and friends, the lofty and unattainable ambition once again formed a contrast and contradiction, and Allen realized the cruelty of the world in the self-deprecation of kneeling and the feeble cry of loss.
During this period, Allen finally realized the limitations of the world on people, and gradually groped in his inner contradictions that what he was pursuing was an idealized, carefree, freewheeling, free world. He began to have doubts about this world dominated by giants and framed by high walls, and doubted the hypocritical beauty of his impressions.
And the person who has similar thoughts to Alan is Alvin, the head of the investigation corps, and when Alvin talks with Levi, he expresses his curiosity about the truth of the outside world, and the so-called truth in all the people when he is a child, but Erwin can restrain himself outside, unlike Allen's impulses. In the third season of the anime, when he is one step away from the truth he has been pursuing for more than thirty years, he finally chooses the interests of the group, preferring to sacrifice his life and the truth of the world that he cherishes infinitely. Compared to Allen's selfish desire to persuade Levi to resurrect his childhood friend, Master Armin is more in line with the image of a hero. When the Survey Corps walked out of the wall and saw the vast sea for the first time, Alan finally realized that his desire was as boundless and unhindered as the sea breeze.
The change in Allen's mood is subtle but obvious. A teenager who yearns for freedom after experiencing the humiliation of being dominated by war and walls for nearly a decade, suddenly faces an unattainable goal, and finds that when everything is within easy reach, the incomparable gap in his heart, the amount of money paid and paid for all meaningless, and the anger at his unfortunate loss of free time are intertwined in the heart of young Allen. The importance of friendship and family and the yearning for freedom completely changed his view of the world, and because of the power of the ancestors and the influence of the memories of the Attack on Titan, Allen's hatred for all enemies who deprived himself and his best friends of their freedom naturally arose, and he sincerely hated those who deprived others of their freedom.
"On the other side of the sea, there are enemies."
Just like killing bad guys as a child to save Mikasa, this also fully reflects Alan's extreme personality.
To be continued...#Attack on Titan# #Attack on Titan Final Season ##Anime# #二次元 #
