D. Gray Man: Exorcists, Soldiers of God

D. Gray-Man

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Action

Director: Osamu Nabeshima

Manga Author: Katsura Hoshino

Number of Episodes: 103

Year: 2006 – 2008

Country: Japan

D. Gray-Man follows the journey of Allen Walker, a fifteen year old boy ridden with a dark past, on his quest to become one of the strongest exorcists in the world.  In D. Gray-Man, an exorcist is a soldier chosen by God to wield part of his “Innocence” (individual pieces of a larger god crystal) to destroy demons known as “akuma” that plague the world and the man creating them, the Millennium Earl. The story is a highly original story, twisting some traditional biblical stories (for example, Noah’s Ark) and making it incredibly entertaining despite its biblical background.  D. Gray-Man expertly mixes action, fantasy, and comedy into an entirely hilarious show.

The best part about D. Gray-Man is the characters.  All of the characters are quite unique and there is plenty of development all around.  The main group of characters the story follows is: Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee (sister of the chief of the Dark Order, which leads the exorcists), Yu Kanda (a Second Exorcist) Bookman, and his apprentice Lavi.  Bookmen are soldiers much like exorcists, but are to merely observe and keep track of the normally unwritten wars and events around the world.  The villains of D. Gray Man, the Millennium Earl and the Noah family, are incredibly hilarious and enjoyable to watch. Sometimes you almost want to root for the Earl.

Characters from left to right:

Road Kamelot – Oldest of the Noah clan, can travel between dimensions.

Yu Kanda – Second Exorcist who wields a mighty sword named Mugen.

Lenalee Lee – Sister of the leader of the Black Order, wields the Dark Boots.

Millennium Earl – Creator of Akumas on earth, wields a great sword and controls dark matter.

Allen Walker – Exorcist who wields a parasitic weapon that grows out of his left arm, plagued by a dark past.

Tyki Myyk – Second eldest of the Noah clan, controls dark matter and can shapeshift.

Lavi – Apprentice Bookman, can control nature using a weightless hammer.

Timcampy – Essentially Navi. Hey Listen!

 

The worst part of D. Gray-Man has nothing to do with the anime at all, so we can blame Funimation for it.  The anime/manga is left open-ended because the show is currently on hiatus, since the original creators decided to wait for Funimation to English dub all 103 episodes. Unfortunately, Funimation has given up on the project for some years now (2008 since it went off of the air!) and the current English dub ends at episode 51. The remaining episodes are still listed on the Internet as English subs. So if you would like to watch the remainder of the show, I hope subtitles don’t bother you.

Pros:

• Awesome main character development
• Fluid, original story.
• Constant Tone
• Hilarious dialogue.
• Likable Heroes/Villains.

Cons:

• Very Biblical.
• Some plot points appear out of nowhere.
• Leaves questions unanswered.
• English dub only to Ep. 51. What about 52-103?

SCORE: 9 / 10 Stars

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