Hoshino Katsura’s “D. Gray-Man” is a fantastic manga series that manages to have a dark, exciting and action-packed storyline with wonderful artwork. The storytelling is quite strong and the characters featured so far have been utilized quite effectively throughout these first three omnibus volumes (graphic novel 1-9). If you are a fan wanting an exciting action manga series with cool characters and more… “D. Gray-Man Omnibus Vol. 3” is highly recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2004 Katsura Hoshino. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: D. Gray-Man Omnibus Vol. 3 (Vol. 7-9)
STORY AND ART BY: Katsura Hoshino (星野 桂)
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Shueisha, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC
RATED: T for Older Teen
Available on March 4, 2014
Allen has had his heart pierced and his Innocence pulverized by an assassin from the Clan of Noah. Allen is taken to the Asian branch of the Black Order to heal. He is keen to rejoin the battle, but he will not be able to fight again until he learns how to activate his Innocence and turn it into a weapon.
Allan is thought to have been killed by the Clan of Noah, meanwhile the Black Order must travel to Asia by boat with the help of exorcist Miranda Lotto. But traveling to Asia is not going to be easy as they expect to be attacked by akuma on the way there.
As for Allan, he is being healed and trained by the Black Order Asia Branch
Find out in Hoshino Katsura’s “D. Gray-Man Omnibus Vol. 2 (Vol. 4-6)”!
What is “D. Gray-Man”?
For mangaka Hoshino Katsura, the manga artist first caught attention of readers with her first work titled “Continue”. In 2004, Katsura moved on to create a new series titled “D. Gray-Man†which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine with a total of 23 manga volumes collected and currently Katsura is on hiatus as her focuses is on a new anime series titled “Valvrave the Liberator”.
With the manga series popularity, in 2006, “D. Gray-Man†received its anime adaptation and in three years, a total of 103 episodes were featured in Japan on TV Tokyo and also received various video game series, soundtracks and also novels.
And now, Viz Media will be releasing “D. Gray-Man” as an omnibus with the first three manga volumes featured in one omnibus in July 2013.
“D. Gray-Man†focuses on the 15-year-old character, Allen Walker, who is an exorcist who works for the Black Order, an organization that is trying to stop the main antagonist known as “The Maker” who’s real name is Millennium Earl.
The Millennium Earl wants to destroy humanity by creating an army of akuma (weapons from the dark side created to prey on humans). What Earl does is go to those who grieve for a love one that passed away and asks them if they want to see their love one alive and if they do, they just have to call out the deceased one’s name.
And in the process, a person becomes an akuma, a living weapon with a soul embedded to it. The soul is ruled by the “Maker” and the lost souls that are tormented by their sins, hate the world and the akuma feeds upon pain.
In this case, Millennium Earl entices one in pain by bringing them a metal skeleton in which the person in pain uses their voice to bring the soul of the dead back to life inside a metal skeleton which then brings an akuma to life. The Maker then urges for these akuma to kill the person that wished them back and take over their body in order to inflict more harm on humanity.
It is the job of the exorcists to stop these akuma and kill them but for Allen, unlike others who work for the Black Order, he understands their anguish of being revived to kill and having no control over what they do. Allen knows this from experience as he was tricked by Earl when he was young and ended up bringing his dead father Mana back to life as an akuma. And Mana cursing Allen with an eye that can detect and see the anguish of the soul that inhabits an akuma body.
Along with others in the Black Order, Allen learns through his visits to various villages of the evil of Millennium Earl but also that he has others working for him. And a race is on for both sides to look for 109 pieces of the “Innocence†which can be turned into anti-akuma weapons that the exorcist need to fight Earl and his akuma, while Earl wants these pieces to make sure that he can destroy them.
The first volume of “D. Gray-Man” introduces us to Allen Walker and introducing the reader to what an akuma is and how he became an exorcist. Eventually he joins the Black Order and meets Lena Lee who gives Allen the tour of the area but is also attacked by Yu Kanda, a cold exorcist who was not sure if Allen is a akuma or an exorcist. Eventually, the Black Order realize that Allen is a true exorcist sent to the Black Order by the General. And the remaining volume focuses on the Black Order testing Allen and trying to determine what kind of exorcist he is.
Allen learns about his anti-akuma weapon embedded in his hand created by a crystal known as “Innocence” and learns that through prophecy, the Earth has been destroyed before (which correlates to “The Great Flood” from “The New Testament”) but now through prophecy, the world will come to an end once again and it will be known as “The Three Days of Darkness” and thus the reason why Millennium Earl is trying to build an army of akuma.
The Innocence was washed away during the great flood and have been dispersed all around the world. There are a total of 109 Innocence and if they are found, it can be used to destroy the Earl. But the akuma are after the Innocence as well,
In volume 4, after Allen’s last battle, his injured left eye now prevents him from seeing akuma but after it is known that the akuma have targeted the Generals, Allen must try to find and protect his master General Cross. But before getting on the train, Allen is kidnapped by townspeople who plead for him to stop the vampire who has killed some of their own people.
So, with the help of Lavi, both exorcists head on to the home of Lord Arystar to see if they can stop the vampire. But is he really their foe? And why did the General go to visit him?
In volume 5, it is revealed that Lord Arystar is actually a vampire that kills akuma, but the woman that lives with him is actually an akuma. But will Lord Arystar fight against the woman he loved?
In volume 6, many exorcists who were dispatched to protect a general have been slaughtered by akuma and now they have targeted Allen, Lavi, Lena and Lord Arystar. And what is a “Fallen One”?
The main characters of “D. Gray-Man†are:
- Allen Walker – A 15-year-old exorcist. Originally adopted by Mana Walker and after Mana passed away, Allen turned him into an akuma in hopes to resurrect him. Instead, Allen was cursed and his eye was sliced. Allen now sports a red eye which can detect disguised akuma and his left metallic arm has become an anti-akuma weapon. Walker now works for the Black Order Headquarters.
- Lenalee Lee – A 16-year-old exorcist whose parents were killed by akuma. She lives with her brother Komui and both serve the Black Order HQ. Has the ability to use the innocence and her dark boots to run very quickly, walk on water and utilizing sound waves. Her kicks from her dark boots also cause major damage.
- Yu Kanda – A cold exorcist who doesn’t like Allen’s compassionate style and thus he and Allen are always at odds with each other. Yu is an exorcist that fights akuma and destroys them with no questions asked.
- Komui Lee – The chief scientist of the Black Order who is Lenalee’s brother.
- Lavi – An exorcist who carries a large hammer-like weapon and wants to become a Bookman, a person who records the history of the world. But sometimes his impulsiveness gets in the way.
- Arystar Krory III – A Romanian man mistaken to be a vampire, which is actually his innocence which makes him a parasyte-type anti-akuma weapon and gains temporary human strength and speed when he ingests akuma blood. A member of the Black Order.
- Miranda Lotto – Rescued by Allen, she is now a member of the Black Order in Europe and has the innocence known as “Time Record” in which she can control time and space.
- The Millennium Earl – The main antagonist of “D. Gray-Man†and the head of the Noah family. He tries to tell those grieving for the deceased that he can bring them back alive but his goal is to use this treachery to create an army of akuma and destroy humanity.
- Tyki Mikk – The Third Disciple who represents “Pleasure” for the Clan of Noah. He tries to live a life of being vagabond and the other to be part of high society. Very powerful and can walk on air or water and pass through anything.
Another epic omnibus volume of “D. Gray-Man”, the third volume covers graphic novels 7-9 and features Allen being rescued by the Black Order, Asian Division. Who tries to rehabilitate Allen but also feel that because he may be special, his innocence may return, despite it being destroyed by Tyki Mikk.
So, as we see Allen going through harsh training each day and as he tries to overcome any doubt that he will be helpful again, despite his innocence being shattered. Of course, Allen is not your average exorcist and the last thing you will see him do is quit.
But as Allen goes through rehabilitation and training, the other side of the storyline focuses on the Black Order trying to survive from an all akuma attack in the sea. Featuring a return of Miranda Lotto, with her “Time Record” innocence, she must try to keep everyone safe from attacks, while Lena Lee takes on her greatest foe yet…Level 3
Of course, we also get to see Lavi and Arystar Krory get involved in the battle but for the most part, this is an all action-packed omnibus seeing each of these characters from the Black Order at their most vulnerable.
And I don’t want to spoil anything else but to say that fans of the manga series so far, will no doubt enjoy manga volumes 7-9 as featured in the third “D. Gray-Man” omnibus.
For those who enjoyed “Fullmetal Alchemist” will enjoy “D. Gray-Man†and some may find a little similarities.
The primary goal of the series is for the Black Order to find all 109 “Innocence” crystal shards in order to develop a weapon to fight against Millennium Earl, who has come to destroy Earth several times and bring it into darkness. Reviving the dead and making them into these weapons known as akuma. But to fight them are exorcists such as Allen Walker and 19 other exorcists with their own temperaments and styles of taking on the akuma.
Character-wise, so far I’ve enjoyed the supporting characters such as Lenalee Lee, Lavi, Arystar Krory, Miranda Lotto, Yu Kanda, Komui and a few others.
But so far the pacing is done well, nothing too confusing (as long as you can keep up with the characters). Hoshino Katsura’s drawings are also well-done and not at all confusing. A few manga artists tend to get over excited by action-scenes and keep line art towards the light side with not much shading. This is not the case as Hoshino is not afraid to use a lot of black and shading with her characters and environments. But character design, artwork and storytelling for this manga series has been quite positive and I look forward to reading more!
Also, another positive to the “D. Gray-Man” Omnibus is that in the long run, readers will save much more money than purchasing each single volume separately. There are a total of 24 volumes of the manga series (as of March 2014), so there should be a total of eight omnibus volumes coming out.
Overall, Hoshino Katsura’s “D. Gray-Man” is a fantastic manga series that manages to have a dark, exciting and action-packed storyline with wonderful artwork. The storytelling is quite strong and the characters featured so far have been utilized quite effectively throughout these first three omnibus volumes (graphic novel 1-9).
If you are a fan wanting an exciting action manga series with cool characters and more… “D. Gray-Man Omnibus Vol. 3” is highly recommended!