D.Gray-man Vol. 1

I had heard about D.Gray-man for a while. A friend of mine was always saying good things about it. But, me being me, I usually toss to the side titles that are often raved about by the masses, thinking that they’re over-rated. Now that I’ve finally gotten the opportunity to pick it up, I was delightfully surprised at the full variety that D.Gray-man has to offer.

Allen Walker is your average 15-year old English boy. Well, except for the deformed hand he uses as an anti-Akuma weapon. Oh, and his ability to see Akuma with his left eye. And did I mention he’s an Exorcist? I guess that makes him not really all that average.

D.Gray-man is set in a very unique, fictional 19th-century world, with many of the events unfolding in England. The main character, Allen, is an Exorcist – a warrior of fate whose destiny is to protect the world from the Millennium Earl, a dastardly fellow who creates powerful weapons from the tragic souls of the dead. Both blessed and cursed with a weapon of his own, Allen joins a secret organization called the Black Order designed to fight the Earl, and sets out to put to rest any poor souls unfortunate enough to have been turned into Akuma.

What strikes me as so unique with this series is the sheer amount of 180° turns it takes in tone at regular intervals. You start out reading about mysterious disappearances at a little abandoned church in England, whip around to see the comedic entrance of our hero Allen, and stumble back into a series of macabre murders depicted in almost-full gore. This back and forth switch between action, comedy, and horror is a rather refreshing reprieve from typical shounen manga – which is almost always action-action-action, talking exposition, action-action, romance if you’re lucky, more talking exposition, and more action.

The world itself is intriguing and unique, with a very thorough explanation as to what Akuma are, how the Black Order came to exist, and a just-obscure-enough explanation about the Millennium Earl to make you want to know more. The art is eye-catching and many of the settings are very detailed and interesting, but I think the character design takes the cake. Allen could have very easily stumbled into being very Harry Potter-esque, but he’s quite unique among the slew of other, more common shounen heroes. Allen’s a bright young man, if not a little bit of a dork from time to time, but it’s endearing. He’s very kind-hearted, polite, and straightforward. He lacks the typical brooding nature that many main characters have usually had as of late, and I’m eager to watch him evolve as not just a character, but as a person.

The story is a pretty straightforward formula: hero has destiny, hero follows destiny, hero must defeat big evil villain-y guy, etc. So while the story, when broken down and generalized, seems really generic, it’s the world that it’s delivered in and the confrontations and storytelling that evolve from the array of interesting and different characters that makes it really stand out.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve found a shounen title to follow that’s a bit on the darker side, but D.Gray-man suits this niche very well while still appealing to those who like a bit more comedy in their manga. Highly suggested, and I’ll be sure to pick up the next volume.