D. Gray-man

D.Gray-man is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino. The series tells the story of a boy named Allen Walker, a member of an organization of Exorcists who makes use of an ancient substance called Innocence to combat the Millennium Earl and his demonic army of akuma. Many characters and their designs were adapted from some of Katsura Hoshino's previous works and drafts, such as Zone, and Continue, and her assistants.

The manga began serialization in 2004 in the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, published by Shueisha under their Jump Comics imprint, and to date, 18 collected volumes have been released. It is currently slated to make the transition from weekly to monthly series in November 2009, when it begins serialization in Jump Square. There is also a spin-off novel series titled D.Gray-man Reverse, authored by Kaya Kizaki, that explores the history of various characters. As of August 4, 2009, Viz Media has released the first fourteen volumes in the United States. The manga has also been adapted into a 103 episode anime series that aired from October 3, 2006 to September 30, 2008 in Japan. Video games, a card game, and other assorted media have been released based on the series.

The manga series has become one of the best-sellers for Shueisha. During its second release week, the 15th volume of the manga ranked as the second best selling comic in Japan. Although most reviewers compared it to other series from the same genre, they praised its moments of originality and its well-developed characters and their personalities.


D.Gray-man follows the adventures of 15-year-old Allen Walker, whose left arm can transform into a monstrous claw and destroy akuma, evolving machines created by the Millennium Earl to help him destroy humanity. As ordered by his master General Cross Marian, Allen becomes an Exorcist, people who can destroy akuma, for the Black Order, an organization attempting to stop the Earl. He becomes a powerful asset for the Order because he can detect disguised akuma with his left eye. Allen is sent to recover pieces of Innocence, a substance that gives certain people, called Exorcists, the ability to destroy akuma. The Earl decides to call together the Noah Family, superhuman descendants of Noah who can destroy Innocence. Both sides start the search for the Great Heart, the most powerful piece of Innocence that will assure victory to the side that finds it.

During his search, the Earl begins killing the Generals, the Order's most powerful Exorcists. To protect them, the Order attempts to bring the Generals back to headquarters, and Allen and three other Exorcists are sent to search for the missing General Cross. During the search, Allen and Lenalee Lee are nearly killed and saved by their Innocence, leading the Earl and Bookman and his apprentice Lavi, who are chronicling the war, to believe one of them possesses the Great Heart. Meanwhile, the Order learns that the 14th, a Noah that betrayed and was killed by the Earl, implanted his memories into Allen. The memories will erode Allen away until he becomes the 14th. This leads the Order to believe that Allen may betray them.

This manga review was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.Gray-man