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D.Gray Man is a dark fantasy shounen which on surface sounds pretty basic. There is an organization of demon slayers fighting against the monsters. But as the time progresses, story gradually becomes much deeper and darker.

Basic premise of the story is that in a world full of sorrow, Millenium Earl – who is essentially the Devil and probably one of most terrifying antagonists in any manga – allows grieving, despairing individuals to sign a “pact with the devil” in order to revive their loved ones. But this is not actually resurrection: soul of the deceased is called into a metalic skeleton, the akuma (Japanese for ... a “demon”), which is then used to imprison the soul and use it as a fuel. Akuma then murders the person who called the soul back, and wears its corpse as a disguise until evolving from Level 0 into Level 1.

People fighting against the Akuma are called the exorcists. These are the people who use holy crystals called Innocence to fight against the akuma and liberate their souls. Just as with the rest of the story, this setup initially appears as a simple and even relatively shallow black-and-white, good-and-evil contrast. Yet as the story progresses, and reader sees the cost of using the Innocence, the world becomes truly gray.

Story has somewhat of a slow start. This should not be discouraging however: much of that slow start is due to introduction of elements of the story that will receive payoff only much later, and all of the elements introduced into the story during its beginning are important and contribute to its depth. As the anime progresses, story picks up the pace, more elements are introduced and battles also become more frequent.

But the best part of the anime is likely its cast of characters. It would not be wrong to call the protagonist, Allen Walker, the best protagonist in any manga, period. D.Gray Man is a mystery story, and as it progresses it becomes clear that Allen is the greatest mystery of them all - including to himself. Allen himself avoids the falling of the "idiot hero" that so many manga are replete with: he is world-wise and pragmatic in battle, and while often self-sacrificial, there is depth to his motives not present in many other manga protagonists. In fact, all characters have clear motives for what they do. Allen wants to save the souls of the Akuma, Lenalle wants to protect her friends.

https://warfantasy.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/battle-fantasy-d-gray-man/