I am so happy that this manga is back up and... stuttering along. It's too bad to hear that we can't rely on even a monthly update. This is my second favorite manga, ever, and I feel like it never gets the recognition it deserves because of all the hiccups along the way. It would be great if they redid the anime (and I do hope they just redo it, season 1 had so many useless episodes that seemed to only be there to take up space, but didn't ultimately add anything, not even complexity to the characters or their relationships, in my opinion).
I'm quite intrigued with this new mystery. I've been going over it in my head, trying to piece together clues, but I'm still really lost on the Mana/Neah, Earl/Allen front. For simplicity, I've tried to separate the... four narratives of what has occurred.
1) Allen Walker's: Presumably, maybe at 8-10 years old he meets 'Mana', a traveling clown who names him Allen, and takes him in. Mana creates a language with Allen, which later turns out to be the notes to control the Ark. Mana is hit by a carriage, and dies. The Earl shows up, offers Allen the chance to bring Mana back, Allen does, Mana is mad, then Mana curses Allen with an eye that seems to be similar to Akuma weaponry in some way. It also evolves, and if one recalls the Crowley chapters, seems to have some memory or sentience associated with Mana. Mana is killed by Allen's innocence. The memory seems to stop there, although we find out that Earl doesn't kill Allen at this time.
2) Cross Marian's: Cross doesn't give us many concrete memories, but we do know that he took care of Allen for three (?) years after this. He clearly comes to care for him, but knows even as he takes him in that Allen holds the 14ths memories. Further, it seems he has been watching Allen before this. When revealing the cryptic information to Allen, predicting that Allen will have to kill someone he loves, Allen asks him if Mana ever really loved him. Cross reluctantly seems to tell Allen that Mana lost it after the 14ths death, and began to act strangely. He tells him that he doesn't know if Mana even remembered who the 14th was. We also learn that there is a hidden side to this war, that Mana and Nea were brothers, and that the two of them were on the run from the Earl for some time. At one point, he ruminates over the fact that Allen's name was once Red, and that Mana gave Allen the name Allen.
3) Nea D. Campbell: Nea's memories come in bits and pieces. Based off of his interpretation of the events, we know some things. He says that Mana and he were born of the Earl, asexually, I guess, and were twins. A woman takes them in, their adoptive mother, and raises them. We miss the majority of their childhood, but it is apparent that they were very close. Nea confesses that he is the Noah that will destroy everything, and wants revenge on the Earl, and to take over the role of the Earl. He has a hazy memory of a man promising to protect his memories, who looks like Allen, but is confused as to why Allen would have regressed into his youth, only to start aging again. He claims that the Earl is his brother, Mana, that he was killed by Mana, and that Mana's memories have been altered. His vengeful behavior seems to dissipate when Earl/Mana reaches out for him. We have scenes, mostly unexplained, of their mother's death, by the field and trees, as well as... I believe it is Mana's crying face (sometimes its hard for me to tell... the Noahs are all very similar looking to me, and jumping around in the timeline doesn't help). Presumably, Nea died 35 years ago, killed by the Earl, but Mana doesn't appear as the Earl in any of Nea's memories.
Earl's: The Earl's memories are a little more mysterious. We get no really first person memories from him, just vague recollections. He seems confused as to why he didn't kill Allen back in the graveyard initially also, but doesn't go into depth about what happened. He claims that the 14th betrayed all of the Noah. He claims that the 14th tried to kill him, but that the Earl killed him instead (or implies it?). He obviously longs for the 14th, but has no prevailing opinion or memory of Allen besides that he is a container for the 14th.
The reason why I lay these facts out is because I'm trying to get a working theory by trying to see how they overlap. Allen and the Earl's stories seem to overlap just fine, their versions (clearly altered, because Allen has no recollection of implanting the Nea's memories, and the Earl clearly has forgotten much of their narrative) work together. Cross reveals very little, but based off of how close he seems to be to Nea, and his cryptic clues, it would seem that Cross and Nea's versions also match up. So then, it must be decided if one version is right, while the other is wrong, or if all versions have been a little screwed up due to something.
The biggest inconsistency to me is the timeline for Earl/Mana's relationship with Allen. Akuma were obviously being created before Mana's accident, since the Black Order actively had exorcists out and about. Presumably, the Earl must be alive to create them. This would imply that the Earl is living, although I believe only Road's existence to witness this is confirmed. BUT, at the same time Mana is raising Allen, revealing interesting little bits of information to, like the Ark note code. Mana dies, and the Earl reveals himself to Allen. Conceivably, we could maybe make an argument for split personalities due to insanity, and the Earl's memory no longer recognizing his adoptive son after his human side's 'death'.
The problem with this, is that Allen calls Mana back. He calls Mana back, a soul I believe could only be Mana, based off of the dialogue, who curses him in a way that give him an advantage for the job he wishes to do, and is destined to do. I cannot see how Akuma Mana and Earl Mana could coexist.
Cross asserts that Mana lost it after Nea's death, and Allen assumes that Cross is talking about the clown, but it could be possible that he is talking about the Earl, giving credence for whatever memories have been damaged, according to Nea. But, this still doesn't explain who it was that was Allen's Mana. It calls into question whether Allen's Mana ever even existed. I would be inclined to say that Allen created a figment of his imagination, except that the eye exists. It had to come from somewhere, and the Earl seems to remember the same incident.
I can dig that Mana and Nea were twins, but who the threat was, who Nea saw as a threat, seems to still be a mystery. We know there is a 3rd element to the war, that Innocence doesn't seem so kind afterall, but neither, let's be honest, are the Noah. We have this heart thing, that either the Apr. Cardinal is protecting on orders from the heart or of its own contorted free will. We can't say whether the heart is good or not. But the Noah are also cruel. You want to get around it, because in many ways their actions contradict each other, their 'white' sides and 'black' sides. One might make the argument that they aren't evil, that like Alma Mater their Noah selves are simply consumed over revenge against something, but that doesn't negate the breadth of their cruelty over the years. I just can't see them turning out to be the misunderstood kids. Not really.
Allen seems to possibly once been Nea's ally, but then he becomes a child by the name of Red. A child with Innocence. I've once thought that Allen is the Innocence personified, like the Cardinal. It seems possible, since not once has Allen ever truly been without it. Presumably he is born with it, and even when he loses his arm, a piece embeds itself in his heart. Still, that seems a bit of a stretch. It might explain his many abilities, memory loss, and evolving sense of self. And, perhaps, Nea's disregard over destroying him.
I don't know though. Sorry this post is so long, but I really want to hear other people's theories on this, since I felt completely lost by the ending of chapter 219. I'd love to hear what people think!
