D. Gray-man

**D. Gray Man** is an action, adventure, shonen battle, drama, comedy, romance, fantasy, tragedy anime series.  It was based on a

    manga series written by Katsura Hoshino and published by Shueisha for the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from May 31, 2004 to May 11, 2009, Jump Square from November 4, 2009 to December 29, 2012, and Jump SQ Crown from July 17, 2015 to present.  The series began on May 31, 2004, and is still ongoing, with 25 volumes in total so far.  After that it got a light novel series, titled D. Gray-man:  Reverse, which was written by kaya Kizaki, illustrated by Katsura Hoshino, and published by Shueisha from May 30, 2005 to December 3, 2010 for 3 volumes in total.  After that it got two seasons of the anime.  The first season was directed by Osamu Nabeshima and Nana Harada, written by Reiko Yoshida, musically composed by Kaoru Wada, and produced by TMS Entertainment.  It originally ran from October 3, 2006 to September 30, 2008, for 103 episodes in total.  The second season of the anime, titled D. Gray-man Hollow, was directed by YOshiharu Ashino, written by Michiko Yokote, Tatsuto Yiguchi, and Kenichi Yamashita, musically composed by Kaoru Wada, and produced by TMS Entertainment.  It originally ran from July 4, 2016 to September 26, 2016 for 13 episodes in total.

## Plot

Set in an alternate 19th century, the story focuses on an organization of exorcists, named the Black Order, as they defend humanity against the Noah Family, reincarnations of Noah and his twelve apostles whom bear hatred towards humanity and God led by a man known as the Millennium Earl. The exorcists' main weapon against the Noah Family are sentient holy artifacts called Innocence. Innocence comes in a variety of forms, varying from everyday objects such as boots to grandfather clocks, to weapons such as swords and guns; regardless of their form, each Innocence possesses unique offensive and supportive abilities and will only work for the wielder of their choosing. Out of the 109 Innocence hidden and scattered throughout the world, one of them is the master Innocence; whichever side obtains this Innocence first will win the war. In contrast to the Innocence, the Noah Family's weapons are derived from a power source known as Dark Matter. Dark Matter, grants the Noah superpowers, along with the ability to create and control demons.

The central character is Allen Walker, a new recruit to the Black Order who started training to control his Innocence after it destroyed the Akuma of his late guardian, Mana. The story begins in a villain of the week fashion, where Allen teams up with various members of the Black Order to search for Innocence while battling Noah's demons on the way. Later, Allen and his friends are ordered to track down exorcist General Cross Marian, Allen's missing teacher. Their search concludes with them stealing one of the Noah's transportation device, referred to as the Noah's Ark; this was made possible since Allen has been instilled the consciousness of Nea D. Campbell, the exiled 14th member of the Noah Family who the Earl wishes to have back. During the Third Exorcists insurrection story arc, Nea's consciousness begins superseding Allen's body. Now hunted by the Black Order, the Noah Family, and a humanoid Innocence called Apocryphos, Allen goes into hiding as he searches for a way to end Nea's resurrection.

## Video Games

1. D. Gray-man:  The Apostles of God (Nintendo DS) (Japan Only)
2. D. Gray-man:  Player (Playstation 2) (Japan Only)

## Why It Rocks

1. Good voice acting in both sub and dub.
2. Excellent animation in almost every scene, especially during fight scenes and dramatic scenes.
3. Great soundtrack.
4. Very appealing art style and character designs.
5. Well-written exposition.
6. Enjoyable, quick moving plot.
7. Awesome villains which are reminiscent of comic book villains.
8. The main villain in particular, the Millennium Earl, is quite likable, despite his role.
9. The main character, Allan Walker, is very likable, complicated, and interesting.  He has a tragic backstory, which makes him sympathetic, and it's cleverly woven into his character rather than feeling tact on.
10. While the series early on seemed like an amature comic, it has made significant improvements as it continued.
11. It's impressive how the manga was able to combine so many different genres, such as action, adventure, romance, comedy, drama, and fantasy, making it an atypical manga from it's demographic.
12. While some of the elements seemed derivitive at first, it eventually developed a unique identity.
13. Amazing, intense, heart-pounding fight scenes.
14. While some plot twists could come out of nowhere, many of them were still, nevertheless, enjoyable and fascinating, such as when it was revealed that Allan Walker was actually the 14th Noah and that he'd be an enemy of the Order.

## Bad Qualities

1. Some plot points could come out of nowhere.
2. In the manga, the artwork was rather hit or miss.  Some of the fights could be rather unintelligable.

## Reception

### Popularity

The manga has been popular in Japan. One of *Weekly Shōnen Jump'*s bestselling series,[103][104] individual volumes have appeared on annual Japanese top-50 manga sales lists; in 2008, volumes 14, 15, and 16 were on the list.[105][106] Later volumes were also Japanese bestsellers.[107][108][109] In October 2016, the series had a Japanese circulation of over 22.5 million copies.[110] Manga author Katsura Hoshino is grateful to the editors assisting her to the point of saying that she owes the series' success to them.[2]

Volumes of Viz's English version of the series have appeared on bestselling manga lists in the *New York Times*[111][112] and Nielsen BookScan.[113][114] In its summer 2008 and Q3 2008 lists, *ICv2* ranked *D.Gray-man* the 15th-bestselling manga property in North America.[115][116] In 2009 and 2010, the series was North America's bestselling *shōnen* property and the bestselling manga overall.[117][118] It was ranked as the 24th and 23rd North American manga property on *ICv2'*s Top 25 Manga list in 2011 and 2012, respectively.[119][120]

Zassosha's manga magazine, *Puff*, ranked the series the seventh-best long-story manga of 2006.[121] In France, it received the Best Manga Series of 2006 award at the Anime and Manga 2007 French Grand Prix (organized by Animeland) and the 2006 Manga of the Year award from Webotaku.[122] The anime DVDs have also been popular, ranking high on several Japanese animation DVD lists from 2007 to 2009,[123][124][125] and the series was listed as a most-watched anime of the week.[126] Its novelizations were also well-received; the second volume was the third-bestselling novel in Japan in 2006.[127] *D.Gray-man'*s characters have also inspired cosplay.[128][129][130]

### Criticial Reception

#### Manga

Reception of the series has been generally positive. In his review of volume one, Carlo Santos of Anime News Network said that certain plot points "come out of nowhere" and the story was kept from its full potential due to finding some points like the designs generic. However, he enjoyed the series' quick-moving plot, exposition, and backstory.[131] Sheena McNeil from Sequentialtart came to call it as the best manga from 2006 based on its story and cast.[132] A.E. Sparrow of IGN also reviewed the first volume, comparing the series' antagonist to three of *Batman'*s villains due to his likeability despite his role. Sparrow also enjoyed Allen's characterization based on his tragic backstory.[133] Calling the early volumes an "amateur comic", reviewer Leroy Douresseaux of Coolstreak Cartoons noted that the plot and art improved significantly with each volume,[134] whereas *Otaku USA* was amazed by the amount of different element such as horror, scifi, fantasy, among others to the point of making it an atypical manga from its genre.[135] Ross Liversidge of the UK Anime Network enjoyed the first three volumes; Hoshino had "an excellent quality of storytelling" in juggling dark plot, light comedy and appealing characters.[136] According to Brian Henson of Mania Beyond Entertainment, the series became better over time; although some elements seemed derivative, it developed a unique identity.[137] Yussif Osman of Japanator said that the characters were some of the deepest seen in *shōnen* manga, citing Lavi's backstory and the Noah Family.[138]

Later volumes were also praised; *Otaku USA'*s Joseph Luster appreciated the series' battles and Allen's development.[139] The revelation that Allen would be an enemy of the Order and the 14th Noah was well received by Grant Goodman of Pop Culture Shock and Chris Beveridge of the Fandom Post. However, Goodman criticized early-volume reliance on comedy rather than plot.[140][141] Beveridge and Erkael of Manga News were impressed with Kanda's dark past.[141][142] Douresseaux liked Allen's situation in volume 21 (due to the character's connections with the Noah), and wanted to see more of that and less of Kanda's fight with Alma Karma.[143] Chris Kirby of the Fandom Post felt the constant mysteries across the series were entertaining, but lamented the continuous hiatus Hoshino had to take, leaving multiple fans disappointed in regards to future story events.[144]

Hoshino's art received mixed reviews. According to Casey Brienza of ANN, as of volume twelve, the battles were "practically unintelligible" yet liked the rest of the artwork. She described Hoshino's drawing style as the "aesthetic yet dynamic, superbly beautiful yet super-violent" style made famous by female manga artists arising from the late-1980s and early-1990s *dōjinshi* subculture, citing Clamp and Yun Kōga as examples. Brienza also talked about Hoshino's character designs, believing fans of both sexes would find them appealing.[145] Douresseaux called Hoshino's art "highly stylish" and reminiscent of work by Joe Madureira, Kelley Jones, and Chris Bachalo.[146][147] Describing her backgrounds as eerie and Lovecraftian, Douresseaux wrote that Hoshino made appealing scenes that combined both gothic and violent elements.[146][147] Brian Henson criticized changes made to the Viz Media version, such as the replacement of Japanese sound effects with less-appealing ones and awkward translations of character names.[137]

#### Anime

According to Funimation Entertainment president and CEO Gen Fukunaga, the anime series was popular in Japan and the United States.[58] Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network reviewed the first episode, calling it derivative with "absolutely nothing original" but not boring.[148] Noting that Allen's use of the anti-Akuma weapon might seem clichéd, Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD Talk found its use in the anime entertaining.[149] Active Anime's Sandra Scholes and UK Anime Network's Kevin Leathers enjoyed the anime series and, similarly to Douglass, found its small borrowings from other series appealing. Both reviewers praised Allen Walker's characterization.[150][151] *Anime Insider'*s Kimberly Morales said that the series' animation quality varied and although the story was appealing, voice actor Travis Willingham was miscast as Kanda. However, Morales liked the series and its cast overall.[152] Tom Tonhat of *Escapist* praised the cast due to how it inspired multiple cosplaying and noted the impact of the Earl's characterization as it involved about how the dead cannot be brought back to life.[19]

UK Anime's Kevin Leathers criticized its lack of entertaining story arcs,[153] and Anime News Network's Casey Brienza called the anime a poor adaptation of the manga.[154] On the other hand, *Neo* enjoyed the direction of the episodes even though some are called "filler" based on how they allow to focus on the large cast.[155] Allen's English-language voice actor, Todd Haberkorn, said that anime sales were poor despite generally-positive reviews; he suggested that fans buy DVDs on sale to keep the series from being cancelled.[156]

The anime's sequel, *D.Gray-man Hallow*, was one of the most-anticipated anime series of summer 2016 by followers of Anime News Network and the Japanese web portal goo.[157][158] Since he had not watched the original anime for some time, Alex Osborn of IGN appreciated the brief exposition in the sequel's first episode to remind the audience of the plot. Although he enjoyed the interaction among the main cast, Osborn was confused by the revelation that Allen would become the 14th Noah and had to watch the scene again in order to understand it.[159] In a later review, Osborn said he was amazed by Allen's first possession by the 14th Noah; although it was "disturbing", it enhanced the character's development.[160] Anne Laurenroth remarked Kanda's character development in *Hallow*, particularly his fight against Alma Karma and his return to the Order in the finale.[161][162] Laurenroth noted *Hallow'*s poor animation and pacing but, although most of its episodes were grim, its final moments were upbeat.