Lenalee was originally forced to become an exorcist when she was a child, but ended up appreciating it after her older brother, Komui Lee, moved to the Black Order to avoid being left, alone and at the same time became friends with all the staff.

Katsura Hoshino's one shot Zone featured many characters similar to those that would appear in D.Gray-man, especially Lenalee, the Millennium Earl, and General Cross Marian.

1:172] Lenalee was originally going to be portrayed as crabby and fiery based on her dark backstory, but ended up as a nice girl.

[2] Nevertheless, Hoshino took advantage of Lenalee's fight against the Level 3 Akuma to generate an impact strong enough to cause her to lose some of her hair in the process.

However, Hoshino notes that the design does not fit with the manga's setting and states that it is best to treat Lenalee's uniform as fan service.

When the manga moved to Jump Square, a magazine for older readers, Hoshino decided to increase Lenalee's sex appeal by having her skirt shorter even though she is also wearing shorts beneath it.

[4] Ito found Lenalee striking both in terms of personality and design and thus wanted to properly voice the character when receiving the news she was being cast.

69] Lenalee's Innocence are the Dark Boots (黒い靴, Dāku Būtsu), her Equipment-type anti-Akuma weapon, take the form of a pair of black, knee-high boots that give her the ability to run at high speeds, jump to great heights, walk on water, create whirlwinds and use sound waves as footholds.[ch.

18,48,67] When the exorcists are given the mission to save General Cross Marian from the Noah clan, she believes Allen was killed on the journey by her former ally Suman Dark.[ch.

71] This leads the Millennium Earl to believe that Lenalee might possess the "Great Heart" that both exorcists and the Noah search for as the user of it will win the war.

210] When Allen's mind is about to disappear from his body as a result of the Noah, Lenalee appears in an illusion allowing him to regain his desire to live.[ch.

222] As well as the main manga and anime series, Lenalee makes brief appearances in the three D.Gray-man spin-off light novels by Kaya Kizaki.

While noting how the initial story arcs followed Allen's mission with other characters including Lenalee, Joy Kim of Manga Life found the introduction of her character appealing as it provided comedic moments to balance the bittersweet ending of the series' previous story arc.

[28] Kevin Leathers of the UK Anime Network referred to her as "the typical female influence" because of the contrast she provides with other characters from D.Gray-man like Yu Kanda.

[29] The Fandom Post's John Rose found her more sympathetic than Allen's previous ally, Kanda, which helped him enjoy the story more.

[32] Capsule Monsters' Michael Marr enjoyed Lenalee and the series' other supporting characters' roles because of their impact on Allen.

[34] Kimberly Morales of Animation Insider commented on Lenalee's tragic backstory noting she was forced to join the Black Order organization, but her reunion with her brother Komui became "paramount to her character".

[35] Morales also praised how Lenalee and Allen work together on a mission to help Miranda Lotto, who has a poor life, but thanks to the duo becomes a better person.

Nevertheless, Lauenroth found Lenalee's inability to stop Allen from leaving the Order sad, but praised the direction of their farewell scene.

[41] Although Lenalee fails to rescue Allen in the end, Karavasilis felt their farewell implied a romantic interaction between them, but joked he did not want that due to his obsession with her.

He also noted that although some fans were annoyed with Shizuka Itō being replaced by Ai Kakuma, he did not mind the change of voice actress for Lenalee.

[43][44] Manga artist Osamu Akimoto told Hoshino Lenalee's appearance especially due to his taste of longhaired women as well male readers in general.

[45] Artur Lozano Mendez from Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona considers Lenalee as one of the most outstanding female characters in D.Gray-man due to her active role in the Holy War and how, despite being several male comrades, she never is shown having romantic interests with anybody.