| “ | Are you asking me? I am Alan Smithee. Well then, let's have a talk. | „ |
| ~ Alan Smithee introducing himself. |
| “ | The Branches of Reincarnation are given by someone. That someone is "a being that can't be remembered", a "hyper-dimensional" being. And surprisingly that someone is here right now. | „ |
| ~ Florence Nightingale on Smithee. |
Alan Smithee is a minor antagonist from Reincarnation no Kaben. Despite his few appearances, it was then revealed that he plays an important role creating the "Branches of Reincarnation" which are the things that created Reincarnators in the first place of time. Although the name, "Alan Smithee", itself is a pseudonym used by directors, Alan Smithee is neither a reincarnator nor a human himself and was revealed to be an hyperdimensional entity that can't be remembered that is shrouded in mystery alongside the origins of the branch of reincarnations itself.
Appearance[]
Alan Smithee appears as a tall and creepy figure with a blank eyes that were mostly obscured by his shadow, making him a faceless being that reflects his enigmatic nature and his moniker as a man without a face, while also supporting a rather creepy slasher smile. His appearance can also be compared to the likes of Slender Man as he is revealed to be a bald person with white skin while wearing a rather refined black suit with a white shirt and black tie tucked inside of it. Occassionaly, he is also shown wearing a black fedora while also bringing a briefcase full of Branch of Reincarnations. Alan Smithee himself appears using several doppelgangers in order to communicate with several people. At one point, it is shown that he smoked.
Personality[]
Not much is known about Alan Smithee as he is a man shrouded with mystery and it was revealed that Alan Smithee isn't even his real name. However, it is stated that he is a hyper-dimensional being who is responsible on creating the Branch of Reincarnation and is forgotten with many people. Most of the time, he spend his time on the manga as a jovial, affable yet creepy person who just wanted to have a nice little chat with other people. It is shown that he possessed an omniscient level of knowledge as he knew about the past of other people such as Jubei Yagyuu while also attempting to make them relieve their past.
Biography[]
Smithee was first introduced around Chapter 40 as he greeted Haito in a beach when she is lamenting about the quarrel that she has with her friend, Senji Touya, calling her an Incomplete Reincarnator and seemingly disappointed that people forgot his name although he ends up dismissing it anyway. Due to his suspicious behavior, Haito ends up attacking him in a hostile manner and despite the attack she inflicts towards her, he still survives pretty well as he decided to have a talk with her.
It was then revealed that a doppelganger version of him appear in Chapter 41 where he disguise himself as one of Kouu's disciples as he attempts to meet with one of the members of Self-Defense Force Black Edge Unit, Kitazuka Itsuki, while another doppelganger was also spotted by Touya and Jubei Yagyuu during their quest on attempting to found Haito. The last of the doppelgangers also appeared in Nightingale's hideout in which Nightingale responded with a laugh as Smithee was revealed on wanting to have a little chat with all of them via his doppelgangers.
The utter reason why Smithee decides on wanting to have a talk with several people in different sides is because of the fact that he is the entity who made the Branch of Reincarnation with while seeing several sides are trying to fight against each other with one of them attempting to destroy the branch which resulted on Smithee feeling like a parent watching his children fail. At the same time, Smithee also promises to not interfere with their decisions as he respected them while telling them that it will be his last conversation for them.
As Yagyuu suspect that Smithee just coming here just to buy time for The Forest of the Greats, Smithee then taunts Yagyuu about the traitor that was wounding her which causes her to be angry and attempts to attack him. In the meantime, as Florence Nightingale was overjoyed about seeing Smithee's presence, she also has a philosophical chat with him while Itsuki attempts to ask about the existence of the Seed of Reincarnation that produces the branch as Itsuki was given a vision about it as it was located in unknown dimension.
After being knocked out by Yagyuu, she then saw the briefcase full of Branches of Reincarnation which causes Touya being aware that Smithee is a person who made the branch while trying to ask him about the existence of the seeds to stop Forest of the Greats. However, when Touya attempts to contact Itsuki and his subordinate, Yoshiki, in order to get several answers about the seeds, Smithee then uses this as an opportunity to make Yagyuu remember about her resentment because he also knew that she also searched for something that she threw away. This resulted in Yagyuu falling into a coma for one hour and was remembered about the incident at her own Dojo which was caused by Haito.
After the conversation, Smithee then retreats and seemingly erased his trace from the history, although some of them attempts to remember about Smithee's presence such as Itsuki himself. It is heavily implied that she also made Haito unable to fight and paralyzed in a certain abandoned temple and due to the incident, Yagyuu then goes berserk anId attempts to kill her to avenge her master and her disciples after she is aware that Haito also meet with the faceless man. When Yagyuu attempts to slash her, she is then revealed to be controlled by the centipede mist of hers which causes her to fight against Yagyuu mercilessly.
During the fight, it was then revealed that the Black Centipede Smithee had summoned and resulted on possessing Haito were caused because of her inability to seek peace and how her heart is broken after she is unable to fulfill her goals to become stronger due to her father being deceased. The talent that Haito strived to become stronger came from her childhood when she hadn’t learned the spiritual side of the sword.
Powers and Abilities[]
As the entity who created the Branch of Reincarnation, Smithee has several powers on his disposal:
- Branch Creation: Alan Smithee himself is the entity who created the Branches of Reincarnation which causes people slitting their throat with the branch gaining several talents from their previous reincarnation of notable figure which resulted on them becoming a powerful Reincarnators. His ability becomes a plot-point as it was revealed that Smithee wanted to talk to several people about the Branch of Reincarnation itself and it's origins and several people attempting to extract several informations about it.
- Doppelganger Creation: Smithee can create several doppelgangers of himself so that he could talk with different people in different locations as was shown during his attempt to talk with both the protagonists and the antagonists at the same time about the Branch of Reincarnations itself.
- Durability: Smithee is shown to have an extreme durability when it comes to defending against other people attacks as no matter people hurt him, he's still left unscathed and still feels rather fine. His durability powers was shown when Haito attempts to repeatedly attack him to no avail.
- Reality Warping: Being a rather enigmatic entity, Smithee himself is able to warp reality around him as he sees fit either using his teleportation skills or erasing his trace from existence. This was shown when he was seemingly done talking with other people about the Branch of Reincarnation as he attempts to erase his own existence despite some of them attempts to remember their interactions with him.
- Memory Restoration: Smithee himself is shown to be able to restore someone's memory as he attempt to relieve them with their past lives. His power was shown during his attempt at attempting to provoke Jubei to remember her resentment against Haito which causes her to fell into coma.
Trivia[]
- Alan Smithee itself is a pseudonym of film directors in order to cover up their identity which is similar to "John Doe". This reflects the entity enigmatic nature, his faceless appearance and his jovial behavior as it was revealed that Alan Smithee is not even his real name.