D.Gray-man (ディー・グレイマン Dī Gureiman) is a 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, 23 collected volumes have been released. It made the transition from weekly to monthly series in November 2009, when it began serialization in Jump SQ. 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 July 3, 2012, Viz Media has released the first twenty two 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. The anime is licensed by Funimation Entertainment in North America.
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.
