dgray_man | Question of Sanity

Entry tags:

Question of Sanity

I was wondering to myself, Who is the most sane?

Warnings: Spoilers for the most recent chapters. Kind of crack discussion. I use the word "Sanity" loosely.

Let's look at Lenalee first.

She doesn't care about the world as long as her loved ones survive. She even has a need that borders on strong dependency for them. Argue as much as you want but she has just as much, if not even bigger sibling complex for her Brother that causes her to even defy logic and be able to sense when he's napping when both are on the other side of the world from each other (he can kind of do it with her too). She basically shows nearly no or much of the kind emotion you would expect from someone in certain times. Like when something really weird comes up and everyone freaks out she's all "Oh average eh, la la" or even when she hears that everyone survived the level4 attack, she just smiled and clapped her hands like a giddy girlscout while Allen broke down in relieved sobs. She also tried to commit suicide when she was a kid.

She's basically had one of the more dysfunctional and horrible lives. But she has gotten more reasonable and is stable enough young woman, so she's not on top.

Now Lavi.

The guy is, confusing at times. Mostly to himself. He can have a very big denial complex when it comes to what he wants and yet runs around and acts to avoid them. Heck, it took him getting trapped inside Roads dreamworld, getting pummeled by -himself of all things-, mentally/emotionally tortured, and nearly killing Allen to get him to figure out/accept that sure how he acts at the Order is genuine and not fake! You think something like that would be more about whether he wants to be bookman for real or chose his friends once in for all, but no, It was about something he could have easily asked and decide for himself without all that life and death risk! Oh yeah despite how much he cares about his friends, he's still choosing, history lessons over the fate of humanity! I know he may possibly still not like humans in general but still unless it turns out he's not human or able to live peacefully with the noahs I think it's a little weird that Lavi (and Bookman) could leave the place when they could help. Will they be all "oh well there goes the human race lets go read a book and hope the world gets populated again somehow so we can get our jobs back?" Lavi's not even thinking about the human race, he's just feeling how upset he will be when he leaves his friends. But from his lack of backbone to Bookman he's not going to say no to him. I'm starting to think Lavi is the one who is most dependent on someone and not Lenalee. At least she can get a backbone to stand up to them when she feels differently (Lavi seems to only have a backbone with people he does not know well or dislike).

Lavi is the most human character I believe out of all of them. So, I guess I don't know where to put him other then I don't think he's the most insane you could get?

Now Allen.

Oh boy this kid is so insane, he probably knows just how much insanity he contains and that's how he can fool others into not thinking of him in that way (much). He has possibly the most unlucky life so far and he has major identity issues with trying to be like Mana (father complex much?), not be like Mana, and now having to deal with the 14th. This may not be a sanity issue for fans (since it's out of compassion) but most characters will think he's down right mad for loving the enemy. He does not have much value in his own life if it causes harm to others and will only get his fire back when it turns out doing so will help others. He also has a tendency to switch a 180 in terms of personality image when a simple nerve is touched and often he will do things like strip full grown men down to their underwear with cheating tactics in poker. I could go on and on.

Basically he's an odd ball. But he is so good at hiding it (at least his more disturbing parts) usually not many people would notice. I guess I would rank him number 1# as most insane in the group. But he's very strong and kind person, possibly the most. I actually find that his desire for fighting stemming from saving humanity out of love instead of just for the job or something else to be resfreshing and rather sane comparing to the others. I guess he's twofold. In the end possibly it's easy to at least overlook his insanity in favor of that. Usually. =/

Finally, Kanda.

Kanda is possibly the most sane from what we have seen so far. He is logical for the most part and though it may make him look cruel at times he knows the consenquences of his actions better then most would consider their own. He approprietly freaks out when weird stuff happens still even after everything he's seen. The only thing that speaks of insanity is his seemingly disregard for his own life and the fact that he can see imaginary flowers.

... Yes, I have ranked the one who can see imaginary flowers as the most sane. You know it's bad when that happens. >_>

I just typed this all for fun and didn't think too deeply on this much. So feel free to disagree and point out your'e own thoughts. You can even include other characters if you want.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I agree with you on some parts.

Lenalee: At first I would've ranked her on the top of the "sane" list, but lately I'm not so sure anymore. She's like the symbolism of angst (especially her childhood), and it kinda bothers me. And yeah, the Lee siblings totally have complex concerning each other XD

Lavi: The poor guy is really confused about his station in life, but I wouldn't put him on the top of the insane list. He still consider things and ponder over them like a normal sane human would.

Allen: I completely agree with what you said about him. If I have to rank him, I would put him on the insane list. I love Allen, but the boy's just messed up.

Kanda: I'm not sure whether I should put him on the sane or the insane list. The guy is very rational and cool headed. He is also a deep thinker. But his dedication to work and suicidal tendencies are saying otherwise.

Maybe the Millennium Earl should be on top of the insane list. After all he can't stop smiling even when crying, plus his fashion sense is too comical. He also got this idea of all humans are the same worthless speck of life and marvels in the suffering of others. One more thing, his thoughts are completely unpredictable.

I'm tempted to put the other Noahs and Cross Marian in, but they still have sanity on their side. I guess the Noahs got insane only when they let their Noah genes take over. Other than his insane deeds and requests, Cross is a confusing character, he's the black horse on the field.

Lol, Lavi's possble insanity is more subtle then the others. Then again Lavi's character is overal subtle, so it's fits. I think after the Road dream he is a little more together (pun not intended) but I still view him on the insane list for not wanting to stop the human races extinction (I'm sorry but that's just crazy valuing the opinion of a old guy over you're entire race no matter what. Makes me worried if something else happened to Lavi other then watching battles to make him disagreeable to his overall kind).

Poor Lenalee probably doesn't remember a day where she has ever really been totally sane. XP Thank god she's way more stable then she was as a kid.

Allen, I have nothing to say other then any psychologist would have a field day with him. Or lose all their hair of they had not already.

Kanda is the angsty suicidal flower girl, uh I mean boy. =P And yet I still think of him as the most sane of the four (I have a feeling though I possibly won't after finding out more about his past more though). XP

The Earl is without question insane. Whether he has a good reason for his insanity or not, who knows? I am eager to find out why though since it seems he's doing it for more then just for the heck of it. He doesn't seem that crazy really so mauch as eccentric.

I'm not going to touch the noahs I think. XP

Cross I don't know. He seems pretty stable, I think he's just really mysterious so it's hard to tell. I'll go with sane for now.

I'd just like to mention that Cross carries around the corpse of a dead girl to make it sing for him. All the time. He touches it and everything. Don't get me wrong, I love Cross dearly, but... ew.

I'll say it again; Cross stands there grinning while the corpse of a dead woman drapes herself all over him with her rotting blue skin and her replacement arm for the one that fell off.

... Moving on.

Allen's a nutter, we can all agree on that. Lenalee scares me. Lavi's certainly not sane since he has another him, and possibly more, inside his head. Kanda... well, flowers do not equal insanity, it could be Mugen, since it means illusion.

Earl = batshit crazy. And you cannot argue the Noah are sane if you've seen that grin Tyki does.

Oh yeah that is kind of creepy. Cross makes it look so normal though. =/ For some reason I have a hard time seeing Cross as unstable despite how questionable his methods are. Xp

Cross is not unstable. He is very conscious of every action he takes, and that makes him dangerous to his enemies. But there are several types of insanity, and maybe he's in the zone where he fully realize it.

To hellzabeth: Eugh. I didn't realize that part of Cross until you point it out... Now that I think about it maybe Cross should really be on top of the insane list.

Slip of the fingers. >_<; Meant to type insane.

I totally agree with you on Lenalee. She is seriously messed up when it comes to dealing with death and other such atrocities.

I can see Lenalee as the type of person who would blissfully forget anything and everything traumatic about her past the moment the war ends and set up a household with her brother while at the same time be devestated the war ended favorably because her family dispersed.

I love your analysis. Kanda is clearly the most sane, and he may not even be human. XD

Lol, thank you. ^ ^

I can totally see that for Lenalee (she'd probably open baking shop). She'll probably be the one (if she survives, hopefully) who has the most mixed feelings about the end from the way she is now. Does she even think about the ending of the war, cause sometimes I wonder that the Order is all she likes to think there ever will be. Which I guess explains her only fight for the Order since she might not have any hope or strong thought for anything else. Even though the Order was the one who screwed her up to begin with and keep her from a normal life... and yet she treasures the Order as her beloved home, because there are people who are her friends/family now living there?

*Shrugs* Gotta have something to live for. I just hope for her sake she finds more, since people, ecspecially in her line of work are not guaranteed to stick around one way or the other.

Oh Kanda. His mind is suppose to be the dumbest and yet it's the one that's possibly most together. XP Double ouch if he's not even human. XD

Oh yeah, I'm not going to put it in or anything since it goes for exorcists with the exception of Allen. But Lenalee is freakin paranoid also. Like when Komui was investigating Allen's arm for the first time she kept leaning over and asking if they should do more checking on whether Allen's a monster or not despite the proof of so far he wasn't. Something tells me all it would take was one word from Komui and Lenalee would have destroyed any chances of Allen contiuning being the main character right then and there. And then carry on her day serving coffee. Xp

I think they've all got... well issues.

I can't remember, but was it ever officially stated that Lenalee did try to commit suicide? I just remember it being a big issue back when, and people contemplating whether the padding on her wrists when she's strapped to the bed was just for her own protection, rather than it being she tried to slit her wrists. I'm not sure if something was mentioned during the new innocence arc that I've forgotten. Anyhow, I kind of see the way she relates/doesn't relate to strange happenings, as a result of her upbringing. She's said so herself, she doesn't really remember a time before being brought to the Order, so I think her reactions are more of a - hey, this is normal to me - kind of thing. Sure, it isn't sane, but I think from her viewpoint it is completely normal. And I kind of see the Order as responsible for the way she views the world too. I mean, she was screwed over when she was younger, taken from everything she knew and forced to fight through no choice of her own, when you view it from that standpoint, the way she views the world; through the people she trusts and loves, it's actually understandable. Why view the world in the way that's already betrayed her?

Lavi - I think we haven't got to the "root" of the problem with the Bookman clan yet, so this one is a little difficult. But, to me, Lavi has been brought up, again (they mess these kids up young), to think a certain way. He's been trained not to care, record only, he's already seen the worse of humanity and he's supposed to be unbiased towards all of that so that the records are in no way affected. I don't see it as a lack of backbone to Bookman, Lavi isn't a real person (much as I love him), and he isn't supposed to be an exorcist, Lavi as he is, is destined for one thing only, to be the next Bookman. I think the fact that he's spent so long at the Order and grown to do the exact opposite of what he's supposed to do, as in caring for these people, is where the whole mess begins. Honestly not sure what to say as in the two of them leaving, Bookman seems to consider this an easily possible situation after the whole new innocence arc and I think he would pull the two of them out of there if the need be arise. This then goes into confusion for me, which bring up whole new theories and ramblings over the Bookman deal, so I'll cut it short. But I think if this possibility became more likely, then it would certainly crack Lavi even more.

Allen is an oddball, enough said! But I think considering everything he has been through, he isn't actually doing as bad as he should be. By all rights now, he should probably be off rocking to himself in a corner.

Kanda - I think is more screwed up in other ways. He clearly has relationship issues. Maybe this has to do with his lotus, curse issue. Or it could just be Kanda... But it seems pretty obvious that he does care about people, or at least other exorcists, despite the fact he's constantly pushing people away. He seems quite fond of Lenalee (in a Kanda way), and I think she's the only one that he actually allows to show more of his true feelings to. His compliment of her and answering back when she insisted back with his fight with Skin. Lavi, despite the fact he does get prickly, he still allows to push to certain points. I mean, the fact he calls him Yu and doesn't have his head sliced off from Mugen. Allen is a big one, to me, the fourteenth moment was highly speaking of Kanda's true feelings, in all rights, Kanda and the way he is, would have just killed the emerging Noah, rather than trusting Allen to snap back into his senses.

Aaaaaaand that's my lot of rambling. :P

It was stated in the databook that she had a mental illness at age nine and had to be confined until Komui came. Plus when her wrists were shown heavily bandaged and tied down I think it's easy to assume she did try to kill herself in grief.

Rather sad for Lenalee and I agree that her past has a lot to do with how she sees things now, but that doesn't change the fact she does have the power to see beyond things. She could learn to accept the world outside her own and make it bigger and happier for herself. The world ends with you as the saying goes (gah, I'm borrowing from video games now). But for now I'm okay with insane Lenalee (as long as she gets more development later). XP

You know the thing about Lavi is... He has never been unbiased. If his flashbacks of calling humans stupid and thinking them not worth much mean anything. It's like he doesn't/didn't understand why people could even fight to begin with. He just wrote them off as not worth anything and thought himself better then all of them until the Order. That disdain does not sound like someone who is netural)
Lavi does not have a backbone concerning Bookman. He does feel differently then Bookman supposedly does and could challenge him with his own ideas if it ever became a problem with him becoming heir to the clan. They are not supposed to get involved, and yet look how much they have done as exorcists to get information. Screw that rule, Lavi should just point out and try to defend that it's possible to be a good bookman and human being at once. He could just learn to unhderstand/see all points of view and therefore be able to be unbiased and carry the capablity to have attachments.

Besides, sometimes the most valuable parts of history are the more human ones. Being human helps to truly care about it.

When it comes to Kanda it's so easy to see him as more caring then he tries not to portray himself. XP

The whole 14th scene with Allen was actually another pretty good moment at showing it in my opinion. He took a shot like he was ordered to, 14th dodged but instead of finishing off the noah for good he actually called for Allen (well he called him a idiot) and trusted him to come back. It was kind of cool seeing him give Allen the chance to return his trust like that.

(Good thing too, cause if Allen didn't. We would have a different main character). X/

;lajksdgh;alsdkgh;ldlkg THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS. I've been having pretty much ALL these thoughts, except they've just been swirling around in my head, unable to take a proper shape. xD;

I kind of have to wonder exactly how honest Lenalee is being when she says she cares more about her loved ones than anyone else, though. During the Suman fight, for example, she chases after Allen to help him. But then when that little girl popped out of Suman and Allen got sucked in, Lenalee spends ONLY THREE PANELS worrying about Allen, and then takes off with the little girl. She then sticks around at the clinic and makes phone calls even after the doctor tells her the little girl's okay and there's no reason for her to stay.

And then, after the little misunderstanding with Wong as to whether Allen was alive and at the Asia HQ or dead and being shipped back to Europe, Lenalee only remains upset and lethargic for a few hours. Then she's back to her normal, smiley self in Anita's room.

Then fast-forward to the Ark, where everyone gets completely pwned for her sake. She leaves Kanda and Krory behind with barely any emotion. And there's minimal effort on her part to even get out of Road's cube. She kicks it a few times, but then just kind of gives up and watches.

Really, I don't think Lenalee cares about everyone (or at least the exorcists) as much as she says she does. She only cares when there's a gap in the action and Hoshino wants to convice everyone that Lenalee's the feminine and emotional character and that everyone should love her for being the Japanese ideal. ~~Did the concept of a Mary Sue ever make it to Japan, I wonder?~~

This arguement is not well-thought-out AT ALL, lol...

I don't think you can measure Lenalee's care for Allen just by panel counting, you know. And Allen did ask her to take the little girl, so Lenalee kind of had no choice but to do it, or not fufill Allen's dying wish, or something.

Regarding Lenalee's attitude towards Allen's 'death', she was very devastated. The fact that she was back to 'normal' in Anita's room was her own way of moving on since she was very aware that her being like that would only worry other people, especially since she knew that acting like that was very selfish since Lavi was hurt too.

I don't really say that she barely reacted when Kanda and Krory were left behind. She wanted to run back to where Krory was because she didn't want their group to be separated anymore, until Allen told her to trust them and not worry. It's not that Lenalee doesn't care, she trusts them to come back. And when they were in the dining place and found out the rest of the arc was gone, Lenalee was upset too, but couldn't show it because they were in front of the enemy.

About caring when there is a gap in the action...seriously in manga you only can focus on one scene at a time, how much can you squeeze in one panel, and make it understandable?

I don't know. My thoughts are clearly not 100% organized on this matter yet.

I guess my point about the little girl was that I kind of assumed that Lenalee would just leave the girl at the clinic or something and come back to help Allen. Of course, she could have just been really upset about Suman at the time and not thinking clearly. And I agree that she was very upset when she thought Allen died, but normally, when you lose someone you love, you remain in a stupor for a more than just a few days, no matter how it will affect other people. So getting all pepped up and chatting with Anita about Cross and totally kicking akuma-ass are kind of confusing (to me, at least) from a psychological standpoint.

And when I said 'barely any emotion,' I think I meant 'lack of violent arguement and screaming on her part.' She just...doesn't seem as upset as I would expect someone LEAVING THEIR FRIENDS TO DIE would. And even when she finds out they're gone, again, she's sad, but not as totally crushed as you'd think she'd be. When a huge part of your 'world' disappears, you just can't hold it in, no matter what the situation. She should be all weak and limp and useless like she was she first found out about Suman.

I agree, if the only thing Lenalee did every situation was angst over losing Allen, it would make a pretty sucky manga. But her moving on so easily is purely unrealistic, even if it makes the story work better.

ANYWAY, the point (that I somehow completely managed to miss) was that Lenalee is obviously experiencing some kind of manic episodes that prevent her from acting as a mentally healthy person would in these crazy situations. She's happy and energetic in all the wrong places. Bipolar, maybe?

You have a point there, about Lenalee not reacting normally sometimes. We'll never really know the full extent of what the Order did to her until Hoshino tells us, but like you said, it was probably bad enough to cause her to lose something emotionally. Maybe she's still in the recovery process, since Cross did say she expresses herself better compared to her past self.
She'll probably get better once she's able to straighten out her emotions, if ever.

Adding to what Mittens has already said:

Lenalee kicked a few times, but then stops because she could barely stand up first of all because she pushed her innocence to maximum invocation, which she couldn't be able to before. So even if she's crippled in a way, she still tries to kick open the box. She starts hurting herself by doing so because she wants to be able to help, but she can't. From what I see, she stops because she knows she can't do anything while wanting to, the pain, and Chaoji stopping her.

That wasn't really the point of my arguement, but whatever... xD;;

I've always thought of Allen as the one with the most disturbing childhood. I don't really think Lenalee's is anywhere near as bad. However, usually if a person thinks of themselves as insane, then that means that they're not insane enough to not have considered the possibility. To be frank, I think Kanda is the most insane of the bunch. Not only is his past apparently abnormal to say the least (not disturbing but abnormal), the fact that he's the most detached from his emotions and acts as if that's normal marks him as the most insane to me. Allen would be second to him.

I think Lenalee could come in third, simply because of her past and her obvious issues, which seem to come to light whenever she's around Kanda or Allen especially. Her behavior is, most of the time, a bit desperate, which is kind of reflective of a not-so-sane person. The most sane to me would be Lavi. Anyone can be conflicted enough to have something akin to split personalities, and in a situation like they're in especially. Lavi can be impartial without ignoring the fact that he does have feelings, which makes him more sane than Kanda.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Question of Sanity

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject