Manga / D.Gray-Man

Key visual from the first anime: Left to right: Lenalee Lee, Timcanpy, Allen Walker, Yuu Kanda. Background: The Earl of Millenium.

"With my right hand I will save humans, and with my left hand I will save the Akuma."

— Allen Walker

D.Gray-man is a manga (later adapted into an anime) about Allen Walker, a 15-year-old Exorcist with a deformed left arm which can transform into a weapon called Innocence. Allen fights against the Millennium Earl and his Akuma: living weapons created by trapping a human soul inside a mechanical body using Dark Matter, and having it wear the skin of the human that created it in the first place. The Millennium Earl wants to use these to destroy humanity, and Allen, who was cursed by an Akuma as a child, is caught in between. The Black Order, which he joins early in the series, is a religious organisation of Exorcists that seeks to stop the Earl and destroy his Akuma using Innocence. As the story progresses, a conspiracy unfolds involving the Noah Family - a group headed by the Earl - and the mysterious "14th" Noah.

Written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino and first published in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2004, the series is known and loved for blending typical shonen action tropes with a Gothic sensibility and a sense of design that borders on the surreal. The manga also tends to go on hiatus a lot due to the author's bad health. One hiatus ended on August 17, 2010, when a 50-page chapter was released. The series then switched to a monthly schedule − but releases stayed sparse. By November 2014, Hoshino showed signs of having healed enough to draw again, and finally the manga resumed serialization on July 17, 2015 in Jump SQ Crown (which became Jump SQ Rise in 2018). The catch? It is now a quarterly release instead of monthly, meaning only 4 chapters a year. In part because of all these hiatuses and magazine changes, the tone, direction and artstyle of the series changed several times, to the point the early volumes and the latest ones might almost seem like a different series.

The Animated Adaptation, produced by TMS Entertainment, premiered on October 3, 2006 and ran until September 30, 2008, after 103 episodes. Due to the aforementioned hiatuses in the manga brought about by Hoshino's bad health, this anime series came to an end in the middle of volume 16. A continuation, D.Gray-man Hallow, premiered on July 4, 2016 and concluded on September 26, 2016, after 13 episodes. Since Hoshino was dissatisfied with TMS's previous anime adaptation, Hallow was produced under her supervision. Like later chapters of the manga, Hallow also saw a change in artstyle from the previous series.

Funimation has licensed both the original anime series and Hallow in North America, Initially, the company only released the first fifty-one episodes of the original series, and haven't touched it since 2011. Shortly after Hallow's simulcast announcement, Funimation announced that it also acquired the rest of the 2006 series (episodes 52-103, known as the "2nd Stage").

See the character sheet here.

---

This series provides examples of:

#-C

• Actually Not a Vampire: Krory, since he'd attack the townspeople at night and drain them of their blood. Turns out he was subconsciously attacking Akuma.
• Adaptation Deviation: Even though the anime adaptation is fairly true to the source material (manga and novels), it still alters the timeline, and includes characters in events where they originally weren't there either because the event occurred before they were introduced, or it was a solo mission. For instance the time when Allen meets Jan in episode 6 and we find out how Allen became cursed, originally happened before Allen joined the Black Order. General Yeegar's fall is also greatly expanded in the anime and shown after the Krory arc (in the manga it happens before), giving the General lots of characterization, revealing his Innocence and showing him interacting with Allen, unlike in the manga, where his death happens off-screen before he gets the chance to receive any personality at all and he died before Allen gets to meet him.
• Adaptation Expansion: The anime fillers add plenty of characterizations to characters that had less of the spotlight in the manga, notably Miranda, Krory, Kanda after he was temporarily Put on a Bus, and General Yeegar, Daisya Barry, and Suman Dark, who we barely got to know in the manga.
• Adapted Out: The small transitional arc between the Black Order Invasion and the reveal of the 14th Noah involving the transfering of the Black Order staff to a new base after the Level 4 Akuma incident wasn't adapted in neither the first anime (as it ended just before the series could reach that part) nor in Hallow (that skips the arc altogether and, by the time the first episode comes, had the Exorcists and other staff already established in the new headquarters). That the arc was comedic centric and didn't bring much to the table (other than some worldbuilding about the experiments made in the Order and giving a closure to the strained relationship of Komui and Lenalee in the previous arc) probably was the reason why it was skipped. The closest thing to a proper adaptation of this arc is a CD drama from the first anime that only adapted its beginning.
• Affably Evil: The Millennium Earl and some of the Noah.
• The Alcoholic: Cross Marian, big time. All but outright stated he's drowning his sorrows, given the amount of alcohol in his old room, and his character quote in the fanbook by Hoshino.
  "Sake is the best medicine."
• All-Loving Hero:
  • Allen loves everyone, even the Akuma and villains, with two exceptions: He nurtures a great hatred for the Earl, and tries to kill him in the Ark. The person behind the Earl's clown mask, on the other hand...
  • Subverted by Lenalee. Although on the surface her strongly caring nature could appear to invoke this trope, we later find out otherwise when it's revealed that she is only this way towards the people who make up her 'world', and she doesn't care about what happens to those outside it.
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • Krory and Miranda went through this before they joined the Black Order.
  • Allen gets a certain amount of it too when he was young and after it gets out that he's the Fourteenth. He seems to take it surprisingly well.
• All There in the Manual: The Reverse novels include a lot of information about the characters who were put on a bus in the manga.
• Ambiguously Brown: All of the Noah in their real form, and for some reason Tyki in his human form too after Allen awakens the Noah memory inside him while trying to erase it.
  • In coloured manga pages the Noah have grey-ish skin. And Tyki is Portuguese originally.
• Ambiguously Evil: The manga has a large Morality Kitchen Sink, however, even within that murky depth, there are some character that are hard to pin down morally:
  • Malcolm C. Lvellie is an immoral Bad Boss who abused his power and instigate some of the most horrific human experiments in the series, and also looks like Hitler. Yet all he does is to ensure humankind's victory in the Forever War between the Noah and Innocence, do not shed innocent's blood indiscrimately, genuinely care about his subordinates and is in an Alliance with Big Good Cross.
  • The 14th, Nea D. Campbell is always portrayed as the Great Enemy by the Noah, yet his action is always toward the purpose of uniting with his other half - Mana. And then those who can sense Ki find that his thought is a mass of murderous intent, which push him toward Evil even more.
  • Innocence itself enter this territory with the introduction of Apocryphos.
• Anime Catholicism
• Air-Vent Passageway: Young Kanda and Noise Marie use this in Wisely's projection of Kanda's past
• Anachronism Stew: With the Black Order's wacky technology, it's easy to forget this series is set in the 19th century.
• And I Must Scream: All those poor souls that are stuck inside an akuma can't even be seen by most people, let alone heard.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Alma Karma and possibly the 3rd Exorcists.
• Apologises a Lot: Miranda, mainly due to her klutzy tendencies.
• Arc Villain: Though the Earl is the Big Bad of the series and is the main threat of the manga (though recently both the 14th Noah Nea and the sentient Innocence Apocryphos have also raised as potential threats for our main character), some arcs (especially those whose main plot is the retrieval of Innocence around the world) feature minor antagonists that tend to be dealt at the end of the arc where they appear. Some of them include:
  • The Ghost of Mater arc has the Level 2 Akuma Pierrot, a terrifying Monster Clown that evolved from a Level 1 Akuma that was sent to Mater to retrieve Lala's heart and became a Level 2 after killing lots of Finders that were sent there.
  • The Destruction of the Black Order Attempt arc has Komlin II, an invention of Komui that was made to lightening the workload of the Science Division, but went insane after tasting coffee, wanting to remodel both Lenalee and Allen to increase their power in the battlefield and going into a rampage in the headquarters of the Black Order. He was however completely Played for Laughs and was easily destroyed by Lenalee after she regained the conscience.
  • The Rewinding Town arc has the Noah Road Kamelot and a trio of Level 2 Akumas that act as her servants, going to Miranda's hometown to retrieve the Innocence attached to her grandfather's clock. Unlike some examples of this trope, Road ends the arc unscathed and becomes a major villain later in the story, but all of her Akumas are destroyed (one of them after she ordered him to self-destruct no less).
  • The Vampire of the Old Castle arc initially has baron Arystar Krory III, a vampire that is terrorizing a small village near his castle and whose inhabitants plead Allen and Lavi to exorcise him after they realize what their profession is. However it turns out that not only Krory is not a vampire, but he's an Exorcist with a parasitic Innocence that was subconsciously killing Akumas infiltrated between the townsfolk, with the real villain being Eliade, Krory's lover who is in truth a Level 2 Akuma that fell in love with Krory and wants to kill anyone who tries to separate them, eventually turning on Krory after her true nature is revealed. Krory ends killing her in the climax of the arc and joins the Black Order afterwards.
  • An exclusive arc from the anime (before Allen and his friends meet Anita) has Lulu Bell (who appears in the anime way earlier in the story than her canon debut in the manga) as the main antagonist, trying to delay Allen's group from meeting Cross in China with the help of her dragon Mimi. After Cross leaves the country before Allen and his friends could find him, she returns a few episodes later trying to destroy the Innocence of a little girl that the Exorcists befriend, succeeding in her mission, at the cost of the life of Mimi.
  • The Fallen One arc has the former Exorcist Suman Dark, who was turned by his Innocence into a huge, floating angel-like creature known as Fallen One (that will cause lots of destruction until its host's life is eventually drained) after he sold information to the Noah Tyki Mikk about fellow Exorcists and Finders in exchange for his life, causing several casualties on the Black Order's side. Allen finds him after being attacked by a swarm of Level 2 Akuma and spends the arc trying to save him from his cruel fate. Though Allen manages to save Suman from the energy draining, he ends braindead as a final punishment of his Innocence and ends killed by Tyki, who later apparently kills Allen as well.
  • The Black Order Invasion arc is a curious example, as it features three different menaces through its run. After two arcs dealing with Level 3 Akuma and later playing a mortal game with the Noahs inside the Ark, the initial threat seems to be inspector Malcom C. Lvellie, a higher up from the Vatican that comes to the European headquarter of the Black Order to get information from both General Cross Marian and Allen about the events of the Noah's Ark, threatening Allen with being tortured and interrogated if he doesn't cooperates with him. However, the arc takes a turn for the worse with the appearence of the shapeshifting Noah Lulu Bell, who infiltrates and invades the headquarters with lots of Level 3 Akuma and a group of Skulls with the intention to retrieve the Akuma Egg that Cross stole in the Ark and turn some of the scientists of the Black Order into Skulls.
    • At the end, Lulu Bell is forced to retreat after being overwhelmed by the General Exorcists (with the Egg being destroyed by Allen). Everything seems to be solved and the Black Order's members finally have a break... until the Level 4 Akuma is born, of course. It then proceeds to cause even more destruction and casualties, and remains as the final threat of the arc until Allen, Cross and a Lenalee with an improved Innocence manage to take it down after a long battle.
  • The Phantom Thief G arc has another Level 4 Akuma that commands a small squad of Akuma and fights Allen, Kanda and Marie while its partners go to capture Timothy. It ends killed by a combined effort of Allen and Kanda, but before dying, it manages to trigger Nea' s first takeover of Allen's body, kickstarting the events of the next arc after the Earl realizes Allen is Nea's host.
• Arm Cannon: Allen's left arm can become one of these. For some reason he loses this ability after his Innocence evolves though...
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In one scene, Cross shoots a Level 4 Akuma full of bullets. He tells it he fired one for each of his allies it killed, and the rest were for ruining his coat.
• Art Evolution: Several actually. Due to Hoshino's health problems there were several long breaks that went with abrupt changes in the author's style. From volume 1 to 8 the drawings follow a regular curve, getting more and more refined. Then from volume 9, the drawings suddenly became more angular and less classical, and when the publication went monthly after a year long hiatus, the style changed again and has become rather irregular since then.
  • One very interesting newer example is the design of Link. Starting out as a somewhat younger version of Lvellie (lacking Hitler moustache) with a horrible hairstyle and nightmarish eyes, his design later got more and more towards the Bishōnen section - which is directly proportional to his increasing screen time and him getting more and more likeable and accepted as part of Allen's everyday life (which is even lampshaded when Allen calls him "furniture"). And as things are now he is freakin' damn hot. Ho Yay ensues.
  • We can also note the unexplained change of Lenny Epstein's design. Before the long hiatus she was a very tall and muscular looking woman with a long face, not unlike Mahoja (although not as extreme). When the manga became monthly though, she apparently lost 15cm in height and looked like a more classic sexy scientist.
• Art-Shifted Sequel: The first anime of D.Gray-man used character designs similar to the ones Hoshino used during the Noah’s Ark period, with round faces, smaller noses and more pronounced lips, which becomes more noticeable as the series reaches its middle point. The series also used a dark and dull color palette to reflect the sinister world of the series as well as the gothic aesthetic of the early parts of the manga. D.Gray-man Hallow, the sequel made eight years later, however, uses instead Hoshino’s current artstyle in its character designs and art, as now the characters have more elongated faces, longer noses and less detailed lips, and the color palette of the series changed, with more vibrant colors (that also shows the more colorful approach Hoshino gives to the manga nowadays) and a more polished and shiny art.
• Artistic License – Religion: The first Akuma seen in the series is a priest who became one after the nun he married to died and he made a deal with the Earl to bring her back. Suffice to say, this completely ignores the vow priests and nuns make about renouncing to marriage and the terrenal pleasaures. The anime fixed this by having them being normal people with no relation to the church.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Certainly seems to be how majority of characters were named. The protagonist has the most accurate name considering that he's British, but others, like Alma Karma, Cross Marian, Klaud Nine, Froi Tiedoll, Tup Dop, Winters Socalo, Tyki Mikk, Road Kamelot and Jasdero, not so much (not to mention the rather feminine names on some male characters). Many an early fan translation tried to render them in a more Victorian light, like changing Tyki Mikk to "Ticky Mick" and such, but after so many years the fans have simply accepted that the series's naming conventions are as fantastical as its supernatural stuff.
  • And of course Arystar Krory, which sounds like (and probably is) Aleister Crowley ran through a Japanese Ranguage filter.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Since the main requirement to be a General is to have full synchronization with Innocence, this is naturally what happens.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Most of the Exorcists would never even consider retreating, ever. Mostly because retreating means death or becoming a Fallen One.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Level 3.5 akuma, made by combining a shit-ton of human-sized level 3 akuma together, are huge.
• Awful Truth:
  • Mana was the 14th Noah's brother and was likely insane before and definitely while raising Allen. Oh, and he's also part of the Millennium Earl.
  • Alma Karma is Kanda's pre-death female lover. He would go to extreme means for it to stay ignored.
  • Really, the Alma Karma arc has a long list of those concerning the Black Order and just how far/low they're willing to go/sink.
• Badass Adorable: Allen, so very, very much. Lenalee as well.
• Badass Bookworm: Bookman and Lavi.
• Badass Back: Cross one-shots three Level 3 Akuma that try to come up behind him. At once.
• Badass Longcoat: The Exorcist uniform. Mostly
• Badass Normal: Inspector Howard Link, despite having no superpowers and appearing at first like a meddling bureaucrat, is able to keep up with the rest of the cast and has a particularly awesome, albeit ineffective, moment attempting to defend an Innocence user.
• Badass Transplant:
  • Although technically all of the exorcists apply, Allen takes the cake for having the most obviously transplanted one, and the most badass.
  • Lenalee's Innocence, once it transforms into a Crystal-type is another example.
  • The Phantom Thief's Innocence, once he learns how to use it properly and starts using it against Akuma.
• Beautiful All Along: Miranda letting her hair down when she first activates her Innocence.
• Becoming the Mask: Lavi wasn't supposed to get emotionally invested with the Black Order, only record their activities. Then, he grew fond of them. And Road used that against him horrifyingly well.
• Berserk Button: Allen when being called "Moyashi" (Bean Sprout) by just about anyone or being reminded of his piles and piles of debts.
  • Special example: Never drown in self pity cause of Cross leaving you a debt about 100 guineas. Not with Allen around. Unless you wanna give poor Lavi a heart attack.
  • Also, Lavi calling Bookman a panda frequently causes Bookman to violence all over him.
  • Not to mention calling Yu Kanda by his first name...
  • And Komui? Don't tell him his sister's getting married... Or that Bak Chang stalks his sister...
  • Krory has been known to get a little irritated when somebody calls him a vampire.
  • Don't even hint at the fact that Jasdevi is a monster.
  • Oh EARL... oh 14th... you two both never get that Allen hates it when the latter one once again tries taking over. (Most hilarious reaction - he got back to consciousness, just to ram his head into the Earl's teeth)
• Beware the Nice Ones: Allen, Lenalee and Froi Tiedoll fall into this.
• BFG: All level 1 and some level 2 akuma have these. Allen's arm also turns into one at lower levels.
• BFS: The Earl and Allen eventually. Nea too.
• Big Bad Ensemble: The Millennium Earl, the Fourteenth and Apocryphos, all of whom have their own distinct agendas contradictory to the other's. And all of which involve Allen in some way.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Lenalee shows up during the fight with the first Level 4 to save the team.
  • An even more epic one occurs shortly afterwards, when Cross appears and completely curbstomps the Level 4 - if for a seemingly unimportant reason.
    Cross:"Where was I? Ah, yes... the reason. Let's overlook everything you did to the members of the Order... I'm not that cruel a man after all. But then... you went and messed up my clothes."
  • Howard Link in Chapter 221. He manages to hold down the Earl long enough to get Allen away.
• Big Eater:
  • Allen and Krory, explained by their Parasite-type Innocence, which require a great deal of energy.
  • Also, Howard Link is shown to only eat hilariously HUGE cakes and pastries.
• Big "SHUT UP!": When in the middle of one of their arguments and told to calm down, Kanda and even Allen tell Lavi and Marie to "Shut the hell up!"
• Birds of a Feather: Allen and Lenalee.
• Bishie Sparkle: Allen appears to be able to invoke them at will.
• Bishōnen Line: The final (for now) results of Akuma evolution.
  • Level One: Giant orb covered in cannons with a human face down the centerline.
  • Level Two: Massive animalistic form, with abilities and design unique to each Akuma.
  • Level Three: Always an armoured figure, with individual variations only manifesting as differing numbers of eyes and unique abilities. Level Three Point Five: A giant, lanky hermaphorditic humanoid roughly the size of Godzilla, made by combining thousands of Level Two and Three Akuma.
  • Level Four: The deadliest Akuma form yet, resembles a naked pot-bellied four-foot tall hermaphroditic ball-socket-doll-like tattooed haloed cherubim, which is capable of batting aside five Critical-level exorcists (that is to say, the Generals and Allen, the most powerful exorcists alive), without breaking a sweat.
• Blood from the Mouth: Seems to happen to Allen pretty much every battle, and Kanda fairly often as well.
• Bloody Murder: Krory, eventually awakens the power to kill his opponents with a "copy" made of his own blood.
• Body Horror: The Akuma blood bullets make you break out in a pentacle-shaped rash. Then you explode into toxic dust.
  • Also, Suman Dark. Poor, poor Suman.
  • Don't forget when Road stabbed Allen in the eye, then we get to see his partially regrown-but-still-not-there eye-socket!
  • And remember when Allen's arm was all flaked and looked like it was about to fall off? Then Tyki ripped it off and then had his Teez eat a hole in Allen's heart?
  • And Level 0 Akuma forcing themselves down their victim's throat...and Tyki destroying people's hearts...Let's just say there's a lot and leave it at that.
  • Almost payback for Tyki's Body Horror infliction on Allen: He transforms rather gruesomely into a demonic knight thing that turned the Black Knight scary again. He now uses weird energy circle things to basically trounce his enemies left and right. It also seems to have a taste for blood.
  • Why does everyone seem to forget Daisya? We never did find out what all was missing from his corpse, did we?
  • Not to mention Kanda's Freudian Excuse. Czeslaw Meyer would sympathize.
  • General Yeeger's death had to get bowderized, after Tyki removed some organs, tortured him, nailed him backwards to a cross and carved "God Hunt" onto his back.
  • In Chapter 195, the 3rd Exorcists' akuma cells go berserk and create some incredibly disturbing body moments.
  • Chapter 202, Fiddler's tongue. Those eyeballs. And the sound effect when one spontaneously popped out.
    • Made worse when you realise that right now those things are living inside of Lavi and Chaozi.
• Body Surf: Phantom Thief G's (AKA Timothy's) MO.
• Born Unlucky: You think being chosen to be the host of a not exactly benevolent man's soul and being suspected by the Order sucks enough? Well Allen, be happy to learn that you are now targeted by an enemy you can do nothing against, who wants to absorb you and will chase you to the end of the world!
• Bratty Half-Pint:
  • Surprisingly, Allen was bratty, mouthy, and a bit of an urchin back when he worked in the circus, before meeting Mana. And now Timothy.
  • Past Yu. Having your memories erased, reconfigured into a child body, and being subjected to horrific experiments can do that to you
• Break the Cutie: Alma, Alma, Alma. The Cheerful Child foil to Yu's Bratty Half-Pint, he eventually slaughters the whole lab when he figures out his "friends" (failed experiments) are never going to wake up and since the war with the Noahs will never end, neither will the horrible experiments.
• Bridal Carry: Several times between Allen and Lenalee when he rescues her, a few times between Lavi and Lenalee, and Kanda and Alma.
• Broken Hero: Both Allen and Lenalee are deeply traumatized, but you wouldn't know it to look at them.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Depending on how you view Komui's obsession with his sister...
• Calling Your Attacks: All Exorcists with Equipment Innocence. Sometimes they can invoke their Innocence just by thinking the name, but in the manga it all reads the same.
  • Allen does this when using his Innocence's abilities, such as Cross Grave/Glaive (depending on the translator) and Crown(ed) Clown.
• Came Back Wrong: Subverted. There is nothing wrong with the souls themselves. The fact that they are now trapped in a machine and under the complete control of the Millennium Earl who only wants them to kill EVERYONE, that is what makes them wrong. In fact, if you are lucky enough to be able to see the souls inside the Akuma, you will see that they are in constant pain and are miserably suffering A Fate Worse Than Death. All because you crossed your Despair Event Horizon and wished to see your loved one again.
  • At least until they reach level two. Then they get a personality and may have their memories intact.
• Captain Obvious: "Phantom Thief G" is slow on the uptake.
  "Huh? What is this?"
  "It's a sword. You've just been stabbed."
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The character designs (as well as its evolution through the manga) from the series certainly makes most of the male cast attractive in different degrees, to the point it would be easier to list named male characters that aren’t pretty or handsome in some way. Some of them, like Kanda or Tyki, are deliberate attempts for Hoshino to introduce good-looking men in the manga.
• Cessation of Existence: If an Akuma is destroyed by anything but an Innocence, it cannot be saved. Road gave Allen his first experience of this by causing an Akuma to self-destruct.
• Chainsaw Good: Winters Socalo (by rapidly spinning his serrated blades.)
• Charles Atlas Superpower: It´s never really mentioned how, but pretty much all the Exorcists are capable of superhuman feats of agility and strength. Allen´s daily morning routine consists of 300 1-handed handstands per hand, Socaro is able to leap hundreds of feet into the air and Leenalee can jump a few scores of feet into the air without her Innonence activated. Cross is capable of breaking a wooden washtub with his bear feet, and being able to lift, one-handed, and throw Allen, who weighs 121-129 pounds, a few yards. And he casually holds Lenalee in the air, and perched on his arm, with one hand, who weights 106 pounds. All the Noah have superhuman strength too, though it is somewhat justified since they are able to use the superhuman Noah genes within all humans that unlock not only certain Dark Matter-based powers, but also incredibly strength, regeneration and agility.
  • Not to mention how Miranda once climbed a cliff with a grandfather clock strapped to her back.
• The Charmer: Current evidence suggests that Allen could be if he wanted to, but he's too kind to do so. Unless the victim is a robot, that is.
• Cheerful Child: Alma, despite the horrible experiments that were done to him. And then he figures out the experiments will never end...
• Chekhov's Gun: The abandoned city of Mater, where Kanda and Alma end up being transported by Allen so they can get away from the Order.
• Chivalrous Pervert: General Cross who, despite having many lovers, really does care for and form bonds with his women. Unlike The Casanova, nothing has shown he mistreats or is dismissive of his lovers. In fact the manga shows he thinks fondly of women. Also, Allen says under Cross' bed, at mother's house, that it's filled with things he got from his lovers. So, Cross has keepsakes from his lovers that he puts away. Seems Cross may be into Polyamory if anything.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Allen has a rather serious case of "Must save everyone!" and doesn't seem to have quite gotten it through his head that there are only about twenty Exorcists and millions of Akuma.
  • This was lampshaded by Kanda, who called him out on it early in the series. Then again, Kanda is not half the idealist Allen is...
  • Hell, even Lenalee called him out on it once. And how.
  • Only for her to fall to the same flaw multiple times. She may be worse than even Allen in that department.
• Church Militant: The Black Order
• Chick Magnet: Allen, oh boy, Allen.
• Child Soldiers: The Order and the Innocence aren't picky about the ages of the Exorcists who fight for them.
• Circus Brat: Allen grew up in a circus.
• Clear My Name: After the entire arc involving Kanda and Alma, Allen still gets in a lot of trouble for turning into a Noah, and ends up stuck in a prison for a while.
• Close-Call Haircut: Lenalee, during the Eshi battle.
• Clothing Damage:
  • Allen and Kanda have both had their clothes totally shredded in fights at some point.
  • Tewaku's clothes are ripped apart when her Akuma cells go wild.
• Combat Sadomasochist: The Clan of Noah.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Cross's emotional and physical abuse of Allen is usually played for laughs. However, this was more in the anime given Cross' Adaptational Villainy. In the manga, Allen has only suffered genuine trauma with the amount of debts he's had to pay off due to Cross. Whereas in the anime, Cross abandons Allen to be beaten by thugs, orders Allen to bring him man-eating animals, throws him to legions of Akuma without training him, and having Allen so scarred that he believed that all generals were evil due to his experience with Cross.
  • As of Chara Gray, Cross takes debts to extremes—while the events in the framing story are in the same spirit as a Fourth-Wall Mail Slot page when it comes to how canon they are, Cross manages to somehow pile on more debts on Allen despite, as Allen notes, it being uncertain if Cross is alive or dead.
• Common Tongue: Everyone speaks English in this series, no matter the people or the place. At the beginning it was justified within the order because of the various nationalities inside of it (although in the 19th century English was not the lingua franca it is nowadays...) but then the heroes travel to Italy, Germany, Romania or France and don't have any trouble to communicate with complete strangers. The newspaper in the Rewind City arc (set in Germany) are also written in English, as well as the name of Timothy's orphanage in Paris. Even the Noah's real names are English! The tongue barrier is only briefly Played for Laughs in China.
• Convenient Coma: Alma Karma. Cross Marian, confirmed in chapter 222 of the manga. He appears to Allen to speak with him -the latter being trapped within Nea's subconscious memories. After their talk, we see Road, who had been watching them. She mentions being glad that Allen will go to the mansion that Cross pointed him to, and tells Cross to sleep until then.
• Crapsack World: Of the highest degree. Congratulations you are now an Exorcist for the Church. Here is your Innocence. Problem is that there is only a dozen of you guys against the millions, if not billions, of Akuma which can each kill you horribly in a single shot. They are also led by the Noah family who each have ridicously powerful abilities which can all kill you horribly in a single shot. Next of which is the Earl who can kill you and everyone you love horribly in a single shot. Better not mess up though or we will order your friends to kill you horribly in a single shot. Better not go against us cause we have a squad of Half-Akuma shrouded guys who can and are really willing to kill you horribly in a single shot. Oh and remember that Innocence which gives you all of your powers? Better be careful or else it will turn you into a Fallen. Which will force you to go on a rampage, murdering all the people you are trying to protect before finally draining your life force and leaving you a hollow shell before you pray for death. Oh and if you do happen to die we might just revive you in a new body so you can do it all again. Enjoy.
  • Honestly, how are the exorcists ever going to beat the Akuma and save the world?!
  • What was that? You said you killed a member of the Noah family? Well too bad. Turns out that every member of humanity is a descendant of the original Noah which means that soon enough the memories of the Noah will be reincarnated spontaneously. Which means that eventually they will come back and ready to kill you again.
  • Don't forget the Heart of the Innocence. When this one randomly appears if the enemy gets it than its destruction will lead to the destruction of all Innocence in the World which means nothing can stop the destruction of the world.
  • Considering that the Heart knows about all of the above spoilers, the only side that has no reason to destroy humanity is the 14th and even that's iffy.
• Creature-Hunter Organization: The Black Order. being tasked with looking for and training people who can be Exorcists and providing them with non-exorcist backup for reconnaissance and such. The exorcists are the ones doing the actual hunting of Akuma though.
• Creepy Twins: Jasdevi
• Cursed with Awesome:
  • Allen's left arm caused him to be abandoned by his birth parents. And it gives him the ability to cleave through Akuma almost effortlessly. He also has a scar over his left eye that lets him see the souls that are sealed in Akuma.
  • Exorcists in general. Yeah so having Innocence gets you a cool weapon that can kill Akuma, but Innocence shortens the exorcist's life and causes them to be targeted by Akuma and Noah. If that's not enough, being an exorcist makes you be treated as a pawn by bigoted higher-ups of the Black Order, and betraying the Innocence itself turns you into a Fallen One. And it is not pretty.

D-M

• Dance Battler: Lenalee, since her weapon is her pair of boots.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Almost everyone.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Black [Religious] Order.
  • The more we learn about their methods the more it looks like Dark Is The End Justifies Absolutely Any Means.
• Dead-Hand Shot: The flashback inside the flashback of Kanda's childhood has this scene. Pretty often.
• Deader than Dead: Unless it's killed in a specific way using Innocence, all souls bound to an Akuma are utterly annihilated when it dies.
• Death by Origin Story: Mana Walker, as his introduction to the story is through his death to fuel Allen's plot and desire to hunt and "save" akuma, and the reason he gets his curse. Later revealed to be false. Mana didn't so much die as get his mind shattered and body usurped by the Millenium Earl.
• Death Glare: Madarao prefers to rebuke his subordinates through this rather than the more verbal approach.
• A Death in the Limelight: A number of these episodes also happen the episode before said character dies (or is Put on a Bus.) Yeeger and Daisya are given this treatment. Suman also isn't seen again after his episode until the start of the Fallen One arc.
• Death's Hourglass: Fans assume that that's the deal with Kanda's lotus.
• Defector from Decadence: Allen and Kanda could be considered this following the Alma Karma arc, in which a lot of Awful Truths about the Black Order were revealed.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • In much of DGM's merchandise, Lenalee Lee.
  • There's also Lavi. Like Lenalee, he hasn't been around much either since Destruction of Black Order arc, despite them both being part of "OT 4" and close friends of Allen. These two aren't present in recent chapters despite the fact that there are major things happening around both Allen and Kanda. Sure, they're off carrying their exorcist duties somewhere, but one would think that this series being Shounen would mean that these two would be around their True Companions during important changes. But no. Whatever happened to Lavi's job to record Destroyer of Time, no one knows... Lampshaded in the bonus material for volume 19, where a very distraught Lavi begs to be let back into the series. Come Volume 25, he has barely appeared for more than 1 or 2 panels in the manga.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • Crossing this is how the Earl FINDS YOU. Once you let yourself sink into that depression, expect the Earl to show up before you with an offer to revive your lost loved one.
  • Also, subverted. Allen Walker is one upbeat, glass half full kind of guy when we first meet him. It's only until later that we realize he has already crossed the horizon once before but has come back with a new and more painful fighting spirit.
• Disability Superpower: Noise Marie is blind, but he has such good hearing that it usually isn't a problem.
• Dissonant Serenity:
  • The Fourteenth Noah. Allen's face should not be capable of an expression like that when he has a BFS through his chest and a Level 4 Akuma not a foot from his face.
  • Alma Karma greets Yu Kanda with a gentle smile after he's slaughtered the whole lab and still has a few corpses stuck to his razor-like "wings".
• Doting Parent: Cyril Kamelot.
• Driven to Suicide: Ironically the optimistic hero Allen attempts to slit his own throat in a newer chapter when he doesn't want to have his Innocence attack a 3rd Exorcist having a And Then John Was a Zombie moment. The attempt failed, but it gives whole new meaning on his promise to stop the 14th if he attacks the Order.
  • Also, a younger Alma Karma sees this as the solution when he gains Innocence and learns the truth about his existence. However unlike Allen who attempts it to stop himself from harming people, Alma decides to take out everyone around with him.
• Dual Wielding: Kanda
• Dynamic Entry: It's pretty hard to top Allen's entry into the science division during Lulu Bell's assault. He cut a Skull in half vertically.
• Dysfunctional Family: The Noah. They're all psychotic. Of course, they also have affection for each other and a few 'awww' moments.
• Dysfunction Junction: Between Allen (abandoned by his parents, turned his guardian into an Akuma, and raised by Cross), Lenalee (wanted nothing to do with the Order, and was effectively kidnapped and blackmailed into working for them), Lavi (turned cynical and jaded from years of watching wars, and guilty that he's taking sides when he's supposed to be neutral), Miranda (bullied her entire life and couldn't keep a job no matter how hard she tried, leaving her with a massive inferiority complex), and most of all Kanda (an Artificial Human created from a fallen exorcist with lingering memories of his own death, who was subjected to Body Horror-filled experiments and forced to apparently kill his only friend after said friend went insane and slaughtered dozens of people), being deeply traumatized seems to be a requirement for Exorcists. Especially when compared to the Noah.
• Embarrassing First Name: Referring to Kanda as "Yu" is a very good way to acquire stab wounds.
• Empathic Weapon: Parasite-Type Innocence, like Allen's; also his eye.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The Earl's goal is to kill God and destroy the world.
• Even the Guys Want Him:
  • Allen, Allen, Allen.
  • In chapter 210, two separate men hit on Kanda. The first is a possibly homosexual gangster that loudly proclaims that he is going to kidnap Kanda and take him home. The second time is debatable as this time the person was drunk and mistook Kanda for a girl.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: The Millennium Earl may have annihilated Japan and turned it into a Social Darwinist hell filled with cannibalistic Akuma, but he is also a polite, jolly gentleman who loves his family and is rarely too busy to take some time to help Road with her homework. Most of the Noah, despite their bickering, do act like family, particularly Road and Tyki, who get along like a real brother and sister. Cyril, however, takes this familial love among Noah a little too far.
• Evil Uncle: The 14th Noah, Nea, is technically one of these for Allen due to him being Mana's brother.
• Evolutionary Levels: Akuma. Level 1 Akuma are basically a big ball of guns, level 2s have special powers and more animalistic or humanoid forms, and level 3s are armored humanoids with more powerful abilities. Combine enough of them and you get a level 3.5, a mecha-sized hellbeast. Level 4 Akuma are just as bad as you'd expect, and probably worse.
• Exposition Beam: Wisely uses this on Kanda in order to show Kanda's memories to Alma Karma in an attempt to wake him up. Conveniently, Road and Allen are both drawn into watching the memories too. In true DGM fashion, the ensuing flashback goes on several chapters and contains vast amounts of Body Horror.
• Expy:
  • Whether intended or not, Froi Tiedoll looks (and sounds) a lot like Ishida's grandfather.
  • Timcanpy, the Golden Snitch with a tail◊!
• Extra Eyes: Wisely. And possibly Allen, if you count the various lenses of his special eye.
• Extremity Extremist: Lenalee and her Dark Boots.
• Eyepatch of Power: Lavi.
• Eye Scream: Allen's eye gets abused a lot.
• Face Doodling: Lavi even doodles on Allen's eye bandage. In the character book, the first thing Road does when she wakes up in the morning is listed as "pranking Tyki by doodling all over his face". In hilarious parallel, the first thing Tyki does is "getting rid of all the graffiti that Road drew all over his face".
• Facial Markings:
  • Allen and the Noah.
  • Daisya Barry.
  • The Third Exorcists.
• Fanservice: The camera always seems to shoot the scenes to accentuate and draw attention to Lenalee's perfect legs as much as possible, in particular the opening and ending credits. Also lots of absolutely gorgeous guys.
  • The whole arc after the Level Four Akuma attacked the Black Order was dedicated to fanservice and humor.
• Fate Worse than Death: Becoming a soul bound to an akuma. And working for the Black Order, as they do not let you die even when you die.
• Fetch Quest: In the earlier chapters, and much of the filler. This dies down quickly when the Earl declares war on the Black Order. The Earl himself remains on a Fetch Quest to destroy all the Innocence.
• Filler: So very much in the anime.
• Finger-Lickin' Evil: Not quite, but the intent was there. Road is psycho.
• Fingore: Noise Marie gets 2 of his fingers hit by a level 4 Akuma's bullet and has to cut both of them off before the blood virus spreads and kills him.
• Foe Romance Subtext:
  • Despite being Allen's enemies, it's mentioned in-universe that both Road and Tyki like him, although whether the true cause of that is this trope or them subconsciously detecting that Allen is also a Noah and thus a family member of theirs is unclear. Even so, some of the lines between Tyki and Allen during their fight on the Ark have sexual undertones.
    "This is giving me the thrills! I'll break you, one more time, with this hand...!"
    "Don't be so cold, boy. An Exorcist made a Noah strip down to his underwear. Was that the first time you did it? Do you think it was destiny for it to be us?"
    "It would have been good if we just played poker, and nobody died. If it could come true, this is all I'd want."
  • And in the most recent chapters, there are serious hints of this between the Millennium Earl and the 14th Noah. In chapter 196, when asked by Johnny why the Millennium Earl is so interested in taking Allen (or rather, the 14th) away with him, the Millennium Earl says:
    Millennium Earl: "Why.... by his side. I want to be by the 14th's side."
    • And this is after the 14th has publicly expressed his clear intention to kill and replace the Millennium Earl.
    • Later turns into more of a case of Twincest, ESPECIALLY with the way Nea and Mana seem to have made their entire lives revolve around eachother.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Near the end of volume 8 Allen regains the use of his Innocence and destroys a level 3 akuma. Before he deals the final blow, he asks it for information... and surprisingly it gives it to him! We later find out that Allen is the host of a Noah. Noahs have the unquestionable loyalty of every Akuma. So the Akuma may have given him the intel because it subconsciously felt the Noah in him.
  • There's also the fact that Allen is looking more and more like a Noah lately, including changing hair style and darker skin. Heck, while imprisoned, he's seen wearing white clothes very similar to those of Tyki and Wisely.
  • For foreshadowing, one can go all the way back to Volume 1 when the Order's door can't decipher if Allen is human or not. They write it off as the curse causing the problem and Komui later decides not to check to see if Allen is human. But then you realize that the curse would affect his eye and not his whole body...
  • The Joker card. Leading up to the destruction of Allen's Innocence, there were quite a few instances of Allen being depicted with or shown in the same scene as a joker card. When Allen reclaims the use of his Innocence and is granted greater powers by it, it takes on a new form (a cloak with a masquerade mask) and name, "Crown Clown".
  • In Tyki's introduction, he makes fun of the Millenium Earl's weight, With the Earl retorting "I am not overweight" He isn't lying, what we see is just a suit, under it is he quite lithe and handsome.
• Four Is Death: Level Four Akuma are horrifyingly powerful. As in, a single one almost destroys the Order over the course of one manga chapter, including most of the Generals.
• Four-Star Badass: Thanks to Asskicking Leads to Leadership among the Black Order.
• Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: The manga volumes include reader questions answered by the characters.
• Freudian Excuse: There's a very good reason Kanda is such a cynical Jerkass. Namely, he was grown in a lab and constantly subjected to torture for most of the first year of his life. And then he was forced to fight the only person he could even remotely consider a friend and thought he killed him, after which he was drafted into the Black Order's Akuma-fighting arm.
• From Bad to Worse: Allen's life is pretty much this trope, but his time with the Order includes losing his arm, and Innocence, and getting a hole torn out of his heart thanks to Tyki and seeing the only place that he could ever call home almost be destroyed by a Level Four Akuma attack. And just when you think things can't get any worse for the poor kid, the 14th Noah takes over Allen's body, and there isn't a sewer big enough to produce all the shit that has hit the fan.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The Noah were all normal humans once. Then once cross shaped scars started to appear on their foreheads things went bad from there...
• Fusion Dance: Twin brothers Jasdero and Devit sing a little song and shoot each other in the head to merge into Jasdevi, a much more powerful single entity.
• The Gay '90s: Takes place near the end of the 19th century.
• Gatling Good:
  • Level Four Akuma get two of these: one in each hand. Level 1 Akuma have a considerably less powerful version.
  • Allen gets one of his own early on as well, though he still uses the claw form for much of the series (primarily as a shield.)
• Gender Bender: Any akuma formed by one (heterosexual) lover pining for the other (the Akuma created from a British wedding couple in the Introduction arc, for example). Alma Karma was a woman — Kanda's girlfriend, in fact — in a previous life.
• Genre Shift: The series started as a gothic-style action series with a somber tone. Then with the Edo arc, around volume 8-9, it adopted a more traditional battle shonen approach. Then when the series went monthly, action mostly took a backseat and the series got darker again. In the latest volumes (especially since the series moved to SQ Crown), it has pretty much become a horror fantasy story with a more contemplative look, that wouldn't be jarring in a seinen magazine.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  • Lenalee does this to Allen, and Allen later does this to Lenalee.
  • Later on, Allen manages to punch Kanda to get themselves out of a flashback vision of Kanda's sad past. Well, Allen does have the right to be concerned that a Noah is invading his and his friend's privacy.
  • Lavi tries to do this to Lenalee, and fails. Everyone yells at him for doing so.
• Girlish Pigtails: Lenalee, until her Close-Call Haircut.
• God Is Evil: what the Millennium Earl believes- or at least says.
• Good Is Not Dumb: Lavi, Bookman, Lenalee and Komui are the standout examples. Also, Allen has the occasional moment of being a Guile Hero despite his usual honesty, such as when he cheats at poker to win back all the items Krory lost.
• Gotta Catch Them All: Innocence.
• Gravity Is Purple: Eshi, one of the Akuma, is able to create "Gravity Chains", which are purple and made of dark matter.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Early on, there's a town that constantly replays October 9th, and only one person inside notices. It's actually Miranda's Innocence responding to her thoughts in a way she didn't want or expect.
• The Gunslinger: General Cross Marian, who seems to have been based on John Wayne.
• Harmful Healing: Miranda Lotto's Innocence functions something like this. She doesn't so much heal injuries as temporarily take them away, and once her Innocence is deactivated they all come flooding back at once (which has, on one occasion, led to characters taking fatal injuries and fighting on, only to have to face their death at the end of the fight anyway.)
• He Who Fights Monsters: The Black Order as a whole will try anything to get an advantage in its war with the Earl up to and including sinking to his level of atrocity. While this is understandable given the stakes, some of their darker acts could very well be beyond the pale even by such standards and probably were bad ideas from the start, since they tend to either not work out very well or bite them in the ass. So far most of the higher-ups are too wrapped up in their own self-righteousness to notice or care.
• Head Pet: Timcanpy with Allen and Cross Marian.
• Healing Factor: Road and Kanda have this, as does Krory when he drinks Akuma blood. Allen does as well, regenerating both his arm after Tyki rips it off AND his eye after Road stabs it out. Skinn Bolic has one as well.
• Healing Hands: Partially subverted. Miranda's time-reversing power can heal almost any recently inflicted wound, even fatal ones, but once she deactivates it they all come right back.
• Heart Symbol:
  • The Earl.
  • Also Lavi when he "strikes" (love-trips) over someone. (This term was changed to a 'term of the moment' in the English version.) This is a more Western-style adaptation of this element.
• The Heartless: Akuma.
• Heart of the Matter: The Heart of Innocence, which contains the powers of all the other Innocence shards and is much stronger for it, is the MacGuffin at the center of the holy war.
• Healthcare Motivation: Suman became an Exorcist to have money for his daughter's treatment.
• Heavy Sleeper: Komui is impossible to wake up unless you tell him that Lenalee's getting married.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Involuntary- General Cross can turn Akuma good.
  • Also, the 14th Noah, who betrayed the Earl. It has also been hinted to be less of a Heel–Face Turn than a Heel Other-Side-Entirely Turn.
• Hellish Pupils:
  • Krory, when in vampire mode.
  • Arguably Allen, when his eye detects Akuma.
  • In some panels, the Earl is depicted with slitted pupils... and scaly, wrinkled skin.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Apparently Kanda in the latest chapters.
  • Lenalee when Allen was presumed dead before they got to Japan.
• Heroic Host: Parasite type Innocences.
• Heroic RRoD: Lenalee after the fight with Eshi. Also happened to Allen when he pushed his arm too far.
• Heroic Willpower: The Fourteenth Noah occasionally tries to take over Allen's body. This mostly just succeeds in pissing Allen off, and he's actually managed to force it back against its will with sheer stubbornness at least once.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Allen is slowly going this way because he's the 14th's container. After he turns into a Noah a couple of times, and the Order's distrust has escalated to the point where Allen gets thrown into a prison.
  • And being broken out by Road and Tyki has made things worse.
• High-Pressure Blood: Akuma and Suman Dark. A little girl Akuma in a filler episode seemed to expel more blood than she could possibly contain. And Level 1 Akuma shoot blood bullets.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Poor, poor Allen. He had it worse than the kid that lived in the 1800s orphanage.
• Horny Scientist: Bak Chang and Rohfa from the Asian Branch, who are infatuated with Lenalee and Allen respectively.
• Homoerotic Subtext:
  • Tyki seems to be really obsessed with Allen. Cyril is unhealthily obsessed with Tyki and Road. Then there's Lavi and Allen...
  • Also, Anita and Mahoja.
  • Lavi is awfuly affectionate with Kanda...
  • Tokusa seems rather obsessed with Madarao, and thinks about him virtually all the time during his Body Horror.
  • Kanda and Alma, to a really incredible degree. It helps that Alma is an akuma created from Kanda's girlfriend from his previous life.
  • Apparently the Earl and the 14th. Before things went down, that is. (though there's still quite a bit subtext.) Though it turns out to be because they are twins / Literal Split Personalities.
  • Allen and Link. 'specially after Link giving Allen a piggy back. And in latest chapters it really reeks.
  • Reverse novel 3 reveals that Kanda lost his first kiss to a man. Didi LeJeune. Who had been drunk at that moment. And miraculously is still alive and in one piece.
  • Chapter 206 gives off some odd vibes between Marian and either Mana or Nea.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Earl and the Noah, as well as 4th level Akuma. Apocryphos too.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Allen has been shown to eat gigantic piles of food, yet remain rail thin. Justified as all parasite innocence users have an extraordinarily high metabolism to make up for all the energy their powers use.
• Hypocrite: The Black Order is quite willing to use dark powers and torture or murder innocents.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Cross Marian seems to fit this trope. He seems to want to protect humanity, and General Yeager praises his will to destroy Akuma. However, he has made some sacrifices in the journey. Later in the manga, it's shown he apparently regards it as Dirty Business. During events of chapter 167, when facing up to Allen's fate, he outright asks himself "Do you always have to sacrifice something to protect something else?" Seems to show Cross has done that alot, and he does not find any enjoyment in it. It's just that the sacrifices he makes are for a greater purpose.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Allen does this when Lavi turns against him after going crazy from the Mind Rape Road inflicts on him.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Poor, poor Kanda.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy:
  • Pit 1 exorcist in noticeable attire against 50 level 1 Akuma, bristling with omnidirectional armaments. Guess who doesn't get hit? The few times a shot does connect, it invariably does so to the one person with a Healing Factor.
  • Averted when firing at the Finders, or indeed anyone without a name and/or Innocence.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon:The innocence and the akuma. BOTH of them. Of course, they are explicitly supernatural.
• Improbable Weapon User: Some of the Exorcists have Innocence that takes the form of everything from acupuncture needles to soccer balls... and everything in between and then some.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Almost every time anyone cries properly, it's like this.
• Internal Reveal: Different from most cases in that the Exorcists have to go through this numerous times when meeting new people that almost always wind up caught in the middle of the Exorcists' battles.
• Irrevocable Order: Played for Laughs. Several of Komui's wacky series of robots, the Komurins, seem to lack a function to abort any given command. It only seems that the Komurins can prioritize certain commands, as seen when Komui has one go after Allen rather than have her sister subjugated to its augmentations. By the time Komurin-Z, a walking Mazinger parody, first appears, Komui finally seems to have gotten the point and installed a "terminate command" option.
• I Want Them Alive!: Around chapter 200 in the manga, you find out that the 14th Noah's memories aren't inside of Allen, but that Allen IS the 14th. With everyone staring in awe and horror, the Earl explains that he now wants to bring Allen over to the side of the Noahs.
  • As of happier 210, it seems that the Earl is sending out higher level Akuma to abduct Allen.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kanda, amazingly. He was largely assumed to be a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk until the Alma Arc, when he suddenly became much more sympathetic. His reaction to finding out that Alma's soul belongs to the woman he's been looking for his entire life, plus his thanks to Allen, plus the kindness he shows in holding Alma until he dies places him firmly in this category. Chapter 209 proves that it wasn't just a temporary change on account of Alma: he is now cheerfully making himself a fugitive from the Order so that he can find and help "the Beansprout."
• Kill All Humans: The Millennium Earl's ultimate aim.
• Killed Off for Real: So far, Tupp Dopp, Alma Karma, Suman Dark, Daisya Barry, the branch head of Oceania, Skinn Bolic, and General Yeagar, two of the Thirds, Bak's parents, Zu Mei Chan, plus many a member of the Red Shirt Army—both the Order, Akuma, and Random Bystanders branches. It is worth noting that so far, we have got very clear death scenes or outright Word of God on the whole when the person has gotten developed past being just a name; as of the Chara Gray fanbook in 2011, explicitly set after Allen fleeing the Order, though Howard Link is quite lively and General Cross's status is given as...well, Allen may have been right about him.
• Killer Rabbit: Tyki's Teez. The man fights with butterflies that can just take their pick of internal organs. Seems like they love hearts.
• Kudzu Plot: Heavily present once the Myth Arc is established.
• Lecherous Licking: Road once licked the blood off a candle she used to stab Allen in the eye.
• Leg Focus: In some panels, Lenalee has legs almost twice the length of her upper body, head included!
• Light Is Not Good: The Stigmata-marked Noah are the descendants of the Biblical Noah, and a Level 4 Akuma is briefly mistaken for an angel.
• Locked into Strangeness: Allen's hair turned from brown to white from his childhood trauma.
  • This might actually be a case of Shown Their Work, since this can occur in Real Life. It is known as the Marie Antoinette Syndrome. Usually though it's only temporary.
• Love at First Punch: Road and probably Tyki to Allen.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: The manga has revealed Allen's late foster-father Mana to be the brother of the renegade 14th Noah and batshit-insane. We can only imagine Allen's reaction when he finds out... As revealed in chapter 219, he's also a piece of the millennium earl when the original split into babies 40 years ago.
• Madness Mantra: Skinn Bolic. "Never forgive...Never forgive...Never forgive..."
• Magic Music: The whole Ark Arc describes this trope. Jasdero and Devit sing and shoot themselves to merge into one, the Earl plays the piano to replace the old Ark, and Allen and Timcanpy have the mysterious power of the Musician to control the Ark. Plus Noise Marie's Verse of the Saint that is poison to Akuma and Cross' Grave of Maria that sings to hide people and uses mind control.
• Magic Pants: Allen's left arm can grow to an incredible size or later turn into a sword, but when he stops invoking it, his sleeve is still there. This is addressed by the author during a Fourth-Wall Mail Slot segment, where Allen admits that he has no idea what happens to the sleeve when his arm transforms, but is just glad that it doesn't rip.
• Magic Skirt: Lenalee's uniform skirts are extremely short, but they always stay down no matter what.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Kanda in particular, since he can heal.
• The Magic Poker Equation: Subverted; Allen isn't drawing what he needs. He just cheats, a skill he had to pick up to deal with Cross Marian's absurd amount of debt.
• Mind Rape:
  • What Road Kamelot does to Lavi during the Ark arc. Also what she does to Marshall Yeegar earlier in the series.
  • Wisely projecting visions of Kanda and Alma's horrific childhood experimentation at the hands of the Black Order onto all of the gathered Order members and Noahs could be considered this. Even Road is shocked and horrified by what she sees.
• Monster Clown:
  • The Earl gets frighteningly close at times.
  • Also inverted with the evolved form of Allen's innocence, Crown Clown, though Akuma naturally find it frightening.
  • And quite possibly Mana...
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 189 careens between the aftermath of an attack by the Noah, the Fourteenth showing up and being incredibly creepy, and... Amusing Injuries being inflicted on the Earl.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: Initially, the morality seemed very clear cut, with the Black Order and their Exorcists being "good", and the Millenium Earl and Noah being "evil". As the series continues though, it becomes hard to tell who outside of the main Exorcists are "good" and "evil".
  • The Black Order are shown to be morally bankrupt and will do anything if it means killing the Millenium Earl, including human experimentation, and end up branding Allen a heretic needed to be executed just because he possesses the Ghost Memory of the 14th Noah.
  • The thing everyone thinks is the Millenium Earl is a semi-sapient Fat Suit following its programming to destroy everything, while the actual Millenium Earl is a pair of twin brothers, Mana and Nea, the former being a mentally ill man trapped inside and being tortured by the suit who doesn't want to be the Millenium Earl, and the latter stuck inside Allen's head trying to take over his body and wants to be the Millenium Earl so he can destroy everything.
  • The Noah don't actually work for the Earl, rather they're using him to destroy the world as revenge for the old world/their world being destroyed, and even then it's clear not all of them want to do it but their Ghost Memory is making them do so, Road in particular working alongside Cross Marian to try and help Mana not become the Millenium Earl again, and Road and Tyki both coming to protect Allen despite him housing the 14th, who should be their mortal enemy for interfering with their plans.
  • Then there's the "third side of the war" Apocryphos, a living Innocence trying to absorb Allen due to him being the chosen wielder of the Heart of Innocence, and has been trying to ruin his life for years to make that happen, even being the one responsible for Mana getting trapped as the Millenium Earl in a bid to get Allen.
  • As a result, a fourth side of the war would be born, the most unambiguously good side of them all, desiring to uncover the "truth" behind the war itself: Allen's side. Consisting of Allen himself, Kanda, Johnny, Link, and Tiedoll, unofficially being assisted by Lenalee, Marie, Tyki, and Road, they all share the goal of helping Allen, unlocking the mysteries surrounding his past, and finding the "truth" hidden within the war.
• More Dakka: The Level 1 Akuma have quite a lot of dakka available. Higher levels, though, rely on quality rather than quantity.
• Mr. Fanservice: Almost all the male cast, but particularly Allen, Kanda, Tyki, and Lavi.
• Multinational Team: British, Chinese, Romanian, Japanese, German, Australian, Turkish... and that's only the good guys.
• Murder by Mistake:
  • Allen tries to stop Kanda's Unstoppable Rage against Alma... and only succeeds when Kanda accidentally stabs him. Seeing as how Allen's suddenly looking like a Noah as a result, murder is likely to be the least of the problems this results in.
  • The latest chapter has a moment too. Allen's innocence gets out of control goes wild on a Cardinal after he believed the guy was trying to kill Link. (The guy survives it through. Which actually is not quite a good thing.)

N-S

• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Millennium Earl and Apocryphos.
• Needle in a Stack of Needles: Jasdevi hid a key this way during the Ark Arc.
• Never Found the Body: Cross. Meaning he is likely still alive (also considering he's far too badass to die). Chapter 222 reveals that Cross is alive, but may be in a coma, as Road tells him to continue sleeping a bit longer. So his body is somewhere safe.
• Nice Guy: They don't come nicer than Allen.
  • Allen's Innocence is less nice than him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Allen's attempt to remove the Noah from Tyki did not end well.
  • The Alma arc is drifting in this direction as well for Kanda: he stabbed Allen with Mugen, which seems to have woken the 14th up completely.
  • Link and the Director deciding to restrain Allen the moment he's about to make a breakthrough with the rampaging piece of Alma that's mutating the Third Exorcists, giving time for the Earl to escape and make the TE's his "pawns". Additionally, imprisoning Allen after he's learned Alma and Kanda's history isn't going to soften his mood towards the Organization (or the higher-ups, at the very least).
• The Nicknamer:
  • Lavi does this a lot. He calls Bookman "panda" (due to dark circles around his eyes) and Arystar Krory "Kro-chan" (Krorykins!)
  • Tyki Mikk does this quite a bit too, such as calling Lavi "Eyepatch-kun," Kanda "Kitchen Knife," and Skinn "Sweet Tooth".
  • Kanda, to an extent: he refers to Allen as "Moyashi" (Beansprout) and Lavi as "Baka Usagi" (Stupid Rabbit) rather than by their names.
• Nightmare Face: Many characters (mostly akuma), but the best example is the earl.
  • Allen also has quite a few ones. Usually pulls them when being reminded of Cross' depts he had to pay. or when rummaging about how he WONT loose at gambling.
  • Allen, whenever the 14th takes over, is an expert at these. It doesn't look so different from Allen's normal face. It's just a really unsettling sight.
• No Ending: The first anime nearly Overtook the Manga due to the latter's irregular release, so it stopped in the middle of volume 16, leaving all the important plot threads hanging.
• Nonuniform Uniform: The Exorcists uniforms share a specific style, yet are fitted for each individual Exorcist (Lenalee's attire comes with short skirts or shorts for added freedom of movement, Allen's uniform includes gloves to hide his deformed arm and Lavi's usually has tight pants so he can wear his thigh holster over them)
• No Sense of Personal Space: Lavi and Road, especially towards Allen.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The higher-ups' response to Allen and Cross saving everyone's asses by preventing the download of the Ark and capturing it for the Black Order? Put Cross under house arrest, put Allen under surveillance, charge Allen with heresy, and prevent them from talking to one another. While Cross didn't especially care, since now he could charge the debts for his ridiculously decadent behavior to the Order, this still rid them of one of their most powerful exorcists and seriously alienated another.
  • This has only gotten worse: in chapter 201, Allen was prevented from saving the lives of three Exorcists because he hid and refused to retrieve Alma. And was thrown in prison.
    • As of chapter 205 Allen has taken the Ark and gone renegade due to evidence that is making him doubt the intentions of the Higher ups. Though he still considers the Black Order his "home", and still intends to fight the Earl.
• Odd Friendship: Kanda, the very abrasive, very competent warrior, and Johnny, the endearingly dorky, non-combatant member of the science division. While at first it seems like partnering up with Johnny is just a matter of convenience in his search for Allen, Kanda seems to be developing a solid respect for Johnny, applauds his strong will, and even fixes his busted head when the 14th throws him into the wall.
• Older Than They Look / Really 700 Years Old: The Noahs and For.
  • As of 218, Allen might fit the trope as well.
  • General Cross seems to qualify. He's been allied with Neah for over 35 years, Winters and Klaud are forty and thirty-five respectively, so Cross has been in the war since they were children. In an extra, Komui's Talk Corner #3, the characters debate Cross' age. Johnny says he looks to be in his late twenties, but that he has to be at least forty. Tyki says he's making himself look scarily young. Wisely then asks Allen-who says his master hasn't aged a year since he met him. He then says it's scary, after calling Cross a monster. Hoshino herself, keeps his age hidden in the character info.
• One-Hit Kill:
  • Kanda, especially in the anime, although eventually all Exorcists are one-shotting Level 1 and 2 Akuma.
  • Allen's first activation of his second Innocence form was followed by him killing a Level 3 with a tiny tap on the forehead.
• One-Winged Angel: The Akuma. Also, exorcists who use a parasitic-type Innocence could be described as the good side's version of this trope.
  • As Tyki (and Skinn) showed, Noah can do this too.
  • Alma Karma, literally.] And when he wakes up and turns into an Akuma, it's even worse. And the Third Exorcists go into a Body Horror-tastic meltdown along with him.
  • One name: Apocryphos] You may run and hide now.
• Only Six Faces: During certain transitions of at characters become hard to distinguish, notably Link and Bak.
• The Other Darrin: This happens in D.Gray-Man Hallow, for all of the characters.
• Overly Long Name: According to an omake Q&A, the name of the Black Order's gatekeeper is Alestina Drow Joanason P. Robathan Gia Amadeus No. 5. That's the translation of the name which is used in the Viz English edition, which makes more sense of the katakana and leaves out the weird punctuation. But even so, according to the Gray Ark fanbook which lists the character names written in English, the even stranger official spelling is Ares Teena = dloe = gynosan = P = ruporson = gear = Amadeus 5th.
• Paranoia Fuel: Level One and Two Akuma wear human skin and are indistinguishable from humans, except by Allen. This is invoked when Allen walks through a crowd of people after temporarily losing his power to detect Akuma, then realizes that any one of them could be an Akuma and he wouldn't even realize it. It turns out he's right on the money, as everyone in the crowd, and even everyone in the entire town is an Akuma.
• Parental Abandonment: Allen's parents supposedly abandoned him because of his arm. Allen has no memory of them whatsoever.
• Perpetual Frowner: It took Kanda a good 200 chapters to display anything but a scowl or Slasher Smile.
• Pet the Dog: The Earl buys a flower from a flower girl on the street while in a normal human form, and another villain lampshades this.
• Phlebotinum Overload: Allen and Lenalee push their Innocences too far, with negative repercussions.
• Please Keep Your Hat On: The Earl.
• The Pollyanna: Lenalee and Allen.
• Poor Communication Kills: The exorcists and people that know about Akuma don't tend to warn people about The Earl even when they've just lost someone and they are their best friend, The one victim who did know about Akuma was a child warned by another child who did not fully understand Akuma at the time.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: Very understandable; poor Allen got unexpectedly glomped and kissed by the evil Road, and she had stabbed him in the eye last time they met.
• Power Degeneration: Parasite-type Exorcists have very low life expectancies due to the strain the Innocence puts on their bodies. Similarly, Kanda's Healing Factor seems to sacrifice long-term life force for short-term healing.
• Power Fist: Allen's left arm, at low levels. Later, Allen can't even make a fist with that hand because of his claws.
• Properly Paranoid: Exorcists other than Allen have no way of telling whether a person is really human or not, so they have to be ruthless.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Allen's cursed eye turns red and starts looking really weird when he detects an Akuma.
• Red Right Hand: Inverted in more than one way with Allen Walker: Not only does he have a literal one (almost his entire left arm), but he is also the main character of the story and very much a good guy.
• Redshirt Army: The Finders, or as the Akuma call them, "free exp."
• Reincarnation Romance: Alma contains the soul of Kanda's dead girlfriend. And because Alma identifies as male despite this the Yaoi Fangirl contingent is most pleased.
• Religious Bruiser: Cross Marian seems to fit here. He's known for being a badass character. Formerly an Exorcist General of The Black Order, and Scientist. His Innocence was a powerful revolver named Judgement, which had homing bullets that never missed their target. He's strong enough to survive being shot in the head by his own innocence -only being comatose as a result. He likes to smoke, and drink, while also having fondness for women, along with interest in visiting the red-light districts. But he's a man of the cloth nonetheless. He is referred to as a priest by villagers who have met him. Allen mentions him being very threatening despite his priest attire after meeting him in Reverse. Hoshino also drew him in priest robes on the cover of the Reverse Novel. The church that he took Allen to, after picking him up, apparently belongs to him. It's revealed in Reverse Chapter one, of the first novel, by Mother, that she just watches over the church when Cross is away.
• Replicant Snatching: How the Akuma masquerade as human.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: General Cross, one of the most badass characters, uses a revolver, Judgment, as one of his anti-Akuma weapons. It is based off of the Smith & Wesson .500, the largest handgun available to domestic American markets.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Komulin EX during the Komuvitan D. incident. Even The Robots Want Allen apparently...
• Running Gag: Komui's defective, dangerous Komurin robots. Made more prominent in the anime.
• Sarashi:
  • Kanda is seen wearing one at the start of volume 2 of the manga.
  • The Third Exorcists wear one as part of their uniform.
• Saving the Orphanage: Phantom Thief G/Timothy is using the money from his crime spree to keep his orphanage running.
• Say It with Hearts: The Millennium Earl. Even when in full Omnicidal Maniac mode, he'll continue to speak with hearts and a generally creepy/friendly tone. Subverted when he's in human disguise, though he still likes sweet stuff.
• Say My Name: "MADARAO! SAVE ME MADARAO!!"
• Scars Are Forever: Allen's cursed eye. Also, he and Tyki now both have giant scars all over their chests from Crown Clown's BFS form.
• Scarf Of Ass Kicking: Lavi of course.
• Scary Shiny Glasses:
  • The Earl, frequently.
  • Occasionally, Froi Tiedoll.
  • A cardinal whose Trigun-esque glasses and pleasant smile make it very hard to tell if he's good or bad for Allen. The hooks coming out of his hands point to "bad".
• Schizo Tech: The rest of the world is set in the late 19th century, with late 19th century technology. The Black Order, on the other hand, has access to giant robots, computers with holographic screens and wireless communicators.
• Seiza Squirm: Allen and Lavi get this for punishment.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: Parasite-type Innocence users, as well as Fo.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Miranda's looks are nothing to write home about in her first appearance, but when she comes back, holy crap she's hot. Her looks even improve by the end of her introductory arc, her initial appearance being downright ghoulish due to stress and sleep deprivation.
• Ship Sinking: The character relationship chart in the official fanbook puts the kibosh on several of the fandom's most popular ships, most notably Allen/Kanda and Allen/Lavi.
  • The flash-back to Kanda's past both introduced a new Ho Yay option to ship him with, and pretty much sank any possible Kanda ship with the reveal that he's still very determinedly looking for his long-lost girlfriend/fiancee... then chapter #198 subverted it beautifully: Alma has the soul of the girlfriend in him. Official Couple get!
• Ship Tease: Everyone.
  • JUST KISS ALLEN ALREADY, LENALEE, GODDAMNIT.
• Shirtless Scene: Several, including Allen wrapped up in bandages and Kanda... pretty much just for the hell of it. Tyki, too.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The Fallen One arc. After going through a set of horrible ordeals to rescue the fallen Exorcist Suman Dark, Allen manages to amputate Suman's Innocence and rescue him, which almost destroys Allen's Innocence and exhausts him. After saving Suman, Allen finds that Suman's soul is gone. When he decides to bring Suman back to his family, Tyki Mikk appears, explodes him, destroys Allen's Innocence, and tears a hole in his heart so he can slowly bleed to death.
• Shout-Out:
  • The ruins of the North American branch after the Noahs wake up Alma are clearly modeled after the ruins of the World Trade Center.
  • The weird circly things on Alma and Kanda growing up seem reminicent of those of the Homunculi from Fullmetal Alchemist. Appropriate, considering they're both, at least in a way, artificial humans.
  • Another possible shout-out to Trigun in the Cardinal's Vash-esque glasses and in how the feathery tendrils of innocence that Allen produces look exactly the same as those produced by Plants.
  • Also, in Chapter 213, Apocryphos briefly looks exactly like one of the clowns from Soul Eater.
    • There are a LOT of similarities between the Noah Clan and the Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts.
  • A Wham Shot depicts the past of the Noah as survivors of a previous world destroyed by a pillar. The scene and the pillar looks exactly like the Third Impact.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • Chapter 193; paraphrased:
    Alma: This torment will never end, and I want us to die together as friends.
    Kanda: Sorry, Alma. You may be my only friend, but I want to live! * SLICE-SLICE-SLICE*
  • Also Chapter 204 (complete with a genuine Slasher Smile delivered by Allen himself:
    Allen: I'm Cross Marian's pupil. It makes me wanna puke, the very thought of uniting with you!!!
• Slasher Smile: Tyki and the Earl. The other Noah are prone to this as well. And in 189th night, the 14th did this through Allen... on the 14th page if we count the cover as page 1.
  • Kanda has a talent for it, too.
  • And Lenalee. Oh Lenalee. Until her fight with Eshi one would have never thought, gentle, cheerful, big-sisterly Lenalee would be capable of a smile like this.
  • As of now, Allen doesn't even need 14th anymore. He definitely took lessons from Kanda and Cross. Pretty soon, the number of people who do this will rival that of Hellsing, which is really saying something.
• Spell My Name With An S: Too many, please don't list them all. Let's just say that there are lots of characters in this Japanese series who are not Japanese, and have "B"s, "V"s, "L"s, and "R"s in their names. To Hoshino's credit, most of the names, when romanized correctly, are fairly accurate to the character's nationality. For example: Hungarian exorcist Daisya Barry's first name is likely supposed to be Desya, which is an actual eastern European name.
• Split Personality: Krory and the Noah
• Specifically Numbered Group: The Noah Clan is always made of thirteen members, which makes the existence of the Fourteen a mystery.
• Spoiler Opening: In true shounen fashion, the openings of the first series are filled with potential spoilers:
  • The first opening doesn’t have many, considering it’s just a presentation of the characters and plot of the series, but it has two egregious examples. The first is the reveal that Eliade is an Akuma (that is the biggest plot twist of Krory’s introductory arc), the second, if you are keen enough, is that the part where Tyki appears is situated in China, during the Fallen One arc, the same arc in which he almost kills Allen (that arc doesn’t happens until the start of the second half of the series, around episode 51, while the first opening only last till the 25th episode). It also contains the “End of the World” nightmare that both Lenalee and Allen have during the Edo arc, lots of episodes before the arc was animated.
  • The second opening generally averts this, and instead, shows a battle between the Exorcists against the Noah and the Akumas that never happens during the episodes in which the opening aired (26-51). At worst, the biggest thing that was revealed was Lulu Bell’s existence, since she doesn’t appears till the last eleven or so episodes of the run of the opening. It however, foreshadows again the aforementioned nightmare of Allen/Lenalee and the last scene of the opening (a poker card in a forest of China with one of Tyki’s Teezes flying around) alludes again the end of the Fallen One arc before the arc actually happened.
  • The third opening is one of the biggest offenders, and it basically spoils most of the events that happens during the arcs that it features (Fallen One, Edo and beginning of the Noah’s Ark). Some of them include the existence of Level 3 Akumas (including Lenalee’s fight with Eshi, Thread attacking the Asian Branch and the Giant Akuma), Miranda and Kanda aiding the Marian’s unit in Edo (also showing the latter's battle against Skin Bolic in the arc, that, funnily enough, doesn’t starts till the next opening), Lenalee with her short hair after her battle against Eshi, and, most importantly, Allen losing his arm and then obtaining the Crown Clown (also revealing the Earl’s sword in the process).
    • Fortunately, the thing with short-haired Lenalee only happens in the last shot of the opening (that includes all the Exorcists who went to Japan) and she appears with her back turning on the audience, so unless you analyze the thing and focus on her enough, you will probably miss it. However, if you didn’t realize of that in the opening, the fifth ending (that accompanies the first half of the third’s opening run) has a lovely final shot that shows her with her post-Eshi battle look with every detail.
  • The fourth opening is just as bad. For starters, it reveals Nea’s shadow just during its first seconds, and it goes further as it advances, showing multiple scenes of both the Noah’s Ark (some including Jasdevi and his fight with Krory, Cross appearing in the Ark as well as his two Innocences, Tyki’s Noah form, Chaozii’s Innocence and Allen’s Sword of Exorcism) and the Black Order invasion ( Lavi fending off against some level 3 Akumas who emerge from the floors, the appearance of Lvellie and Link, the Generals unleashing their Innocences against the invading Akumas, Lulu Bell with the Akuma Egg and the Skulls, and an scene with Lenalee and Komui foreshadowing her coming in terms with her Dark Boots due the fear of losing the ones she loves). Oddly enough, the one thing the opening doesn’t spoil is the appearance of the Level 4 Akuma.
    • However, the last ending spoils this last one by having him appearing along with the Earl and Lulu Bell (with the guise of a cat) at the beginning.
• Stalker with a Crush: Bak, although one of the good guys, spies on Lenalee and takes pictures of her.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Krory and Eliade; any akuma who was created by someone pining over their dead lover. This includes Alma Karma, who was Kanda's girlfriend in their previous lives and became an akuma after reawakening to hide it from him. Possibly taken to literal levels since Alma is last seen with a giant star on his/her forehead.
• Steampunk: Truth be told, the series is way too techy (almost to the point of outright anachronism) for the time frame it is placed in (late 19th century).
• Stepford Smiler: Cyril increasingly hints to be particularly unhinged and depraved even among Noah, but throughout all of it he never seems to stop smiling genially. His EYES, on the other hand...
• Strong as They Need to Be: Regardless of the supposed logic of the in-world scale, the heroes are always more or less into the realm of "desperate but winnable fight". A level 3 Akuma can wipe the floor with a whole group of heroes by itself and require several episodes and a lot of heroism to be finally defeated, but just a few hours later each hero can fight several of them at once.
  • Actually, only some characters so far have outright been shown in manga canon to be able to defeat Level 3 (or 4) Akuma by themselves. For example, neither Bookman nor Lavi have ever been shown defeating a Level 3 or above - so far.
  • This is thoroughly subverted during the Phantom Thief arc. Sure, the Phantom Thief's Innocence makes him quite a challenge for the Exorcists, but it's only really useful again Level 1 Akuma, and later in the arc, against Level 2 Akuma as well. When he tries to use it against a Level 3, the Innocence just bounces off and outright tells him it's not strong enough to take over a Level 3 yet. Even during the Alma Karma arc, where Level 3s and 4s make up the bulk of the Earl's army, he is still only able to fight Level 2s or weaker.
• Stupid Evil: The Upper Members of the Black Order. After Allen helps Alma and Kanda escape, his attempt to help the Third Exorcists is mistaken for an act of betrayal, Link restraining him under the belief Allen was killing his family. The Upper Members however only care that Allen disobeyed a direct order, lost Black Order assets, and seemingly aided the enemy. The idiot part comes in that if Allen truly had done something wrong, his Innocence would have turned him into a Fallen One much like Suman Dark did. The fact he is a Noah wouldn't change anything as Noah's are still human. Despite his Innocence not changing him, meaning he did not betray God, the Upper Members still wanted Allen executed. Made worse by the fact that other members have tried to testify on his behalf, only to be threatened with punishment if they do not fall in line. Later, after Link is apparently killed, Allen is blamed for killing Link even though he had almost no strength, but the fact he escaped proves everything.
• Sudden Humility: When he loses his left eye, Allen discovers the pressure that the exorcists who can't distinguish human from Akuma must endure every single day. He adapts fast enough, but not before getting close to have an Akuma bullet or two between his eyes.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: "WHY DON'T YOU USE THE SEAL OF WOOD??!!"
  • This was (slightly) rectified in the anime, where Lavi was seen using it in a few filler episodes long before that.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Tyki, mostly, although all the Noah have Superpowered Eviller Sides.
  • And in Chapter 189 we learn that the 14th Noah, whose consciousness is still partially active inside Allen, is not really a very nice guy at all despite earlier hints to the contrary. Turns out he doesn't want to stop the Millennium Earl so much as replace him.
• Super-Senses: Allen's eye, Marie's ears, and Krory's nose.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Lenalee and Marie have absolutely no idea where Kanda went, and they definitely aren't lying to Komui about it.
• Survival Mantra: From chapter 212 - "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alriiiiiight!"
• Sweet Tooth: Skinn and, to a lesser degree, Road. The Earl in his human form puts 15 sugar cubes in his tea. Malcolm C. Lvellie and Howard Link seem to eat only pastries and cakes. Noticed a pattern?

T-Z

• Taking the Bullet: Fo protects Allen from one of Tyki's attacks and is seriously injured, but not killed.
  • In chapter 204 Road takes a fist from Apocryphos, directed to Allen.
  • In the first chapter, Allen does this for a kid.
  • During the trip to Japan, Edo, whatever, The crew (now hit with akuma bullets and attacks) protect Miranda, who is the only thing keeping them alive.
• The Talk: Kanda got a weird one as a child, thanks to being an Artificial Human.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Tyki Mikk. Hot damn. Also, Kanda.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Kanda, with not much chance of becoming a Jerk with a Heart of Gold even if he is a good guy though he does mellow out after the Alma Karma arc.
• Tarot Motifs: Briefly, in the anime. The Finder Allen and Kanda were traveling with was doing a tarot reading adapted to a normal deck of cards- and at one of the key points ends up with a Joker. One that looks rather similar to our hero, in fact.
• Team Pet:
  • Timcanpy is adorable, bites people and gets away with it, eats although he never needs food, and is deeply attached to those he's closest to.
  • Rero (the flying umbrella) could count for the Noah.
• Tear Off Your Face: Road Kamelot demonstrates her Healing Factor by tearing her own face off and regrowing it.
• Tears of Blood: The Third Exorcists vaporize a ton of Akuma without using Innocence. Allen, who has to watch Akuma's souls screaming in torment all the time anyway, does not react well.
• Technically a Smile: The Earl is always grinning cheerfully, but the look on his face when he's pissed goes way, way beyond Slasher Smile.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Said by Allen after Lulu Bell's minions turn Tup into a Skull.
• Through His Stomach: Definitely the way to make Allen happy. Somewhat Lampshaded when Miranda is wondering how to cheer up Allen, and offers him candy. He LITERALLY sparkles in glee.
• Together in Death:
  • It's implied in Chapter 202 that Alma and Kanda finally died for good once Allen teleported them out of the Order's reach. This doesn't mean the Order has decided to stop looking for their remains. Later on subverted as Kanda survived.
  • Also Bak's parents where For arranges their bodies so that they were side by side, holding hands.
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Seriously averted. Japan's isolation allowed the Earl to conquer it easily; at the start of the story almost all of the Japanese are dead and the country is run by Akuma.
• Tomato in the Mirror: The manga revealed that Allen Walker is the new 14th Noah - or will be, once the memories of the previous 14th awaken fully within him.
• Too Dumb to Live: Jasdevi have the power to materialize anything they both think about at the same time. So why didn't they just materialize a mass of concrete filling up the whole room or something else that would instantly end the fight?
• Transformation Trauma: Level 1 Akuma bursting through their human skin. Probably painless, but very unsettling. Also Level 0 Akuma forcing themselves down their host's throat.
• Training from Hell: Why Allen doesn't seem too fond of General Cross.
• Traumatic Haircut: Lenalee's Close-Call Haircut during her fight with the Level 3 Akuma.
• Trickster Mentor: Cross fits this very well. He was very rough with Allen, and not always the most soft and affectionate. But he did love Allen. Word of God stating he regards Allen as his own child, and that he loves Allen's dark side, which is why he picks on him. He leaves a message inside of Timcanpy, telling Allen to walk his own path, and to stop wearing the mask of Mana. So Cross' rough treatment of Allen appears to be his way of toughening Allen back up, and to be the person he was prior to Mana's death.
• True Companions: Both the exorcists and the Noah. The Noah might even be a better example of the trope. And the 14th's attempt to kill the Millennium Earl certainly seems like his Moral Event Horizon, too..
• Tsundere: Fo is this in a big way. She is cranky and aggressive towards Allen, putting him through brutal training sessions, during one of which she calls him weak and cowardly because he can't activate his Innocence. After that session, she disguises herself as Rohfa and consoles him, encouraging him to do better. She even gets a little flirtatious. When the real Rohfa sees her, For immediately reverts to her tsuntsun side, saying, "Don't get me wrong, Allen, I didn't come here to cheer you up!" Turned away and blushing, no less.
  • She also tells Bak she likes him at one point, only to immediately punch him and say she was lying (while blushing).
• Unconscious Objector: Played with when Krory fights Jasdevi. He has been trapped in an Iron Maiden, is unconscious if not nearly dead, and has lost the fight no matter how you look at it. The twist? His own blood independently comes out of his body and takes a human shape to continue the fight.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The Black Order officials to Allen after the Ark arc. You'd think they'd be excited that the new kid managed to capture the Ark, temporarily disrupt the Earl's supply of Akuma, find the missing General, and hit General-level synchronization rates himself, but instead they immediately suspect him of being a traitor. Despite the fact that going by Suman Dark, that's not even possible.
  • Taken to the extreme just recently. Allen has just saved the lives of many scientists, and Lvellie, but he still gets tied up and locked away in prison because he turned into an Noah, and didn't obey orders. You know why he didn't listen to you? He wanted to save your butt, too, even if you were being very mean to him for the past few months! Poor Allen does not get a break.
  • The officials of the Black Order are all Jerkasses
• Verbal Tic:
  • The first Level 3 Akuma we meet has an artist's soul and likes to start his sentences with "Title".
  • A lot of level 2+ Akuma do this, such as the cat akuma that comes after Miranda ("Nya!") and the frog akuma Krory and co. meet in the small farming town ("Kero!") The biggest offender is Cross' modified Akuma, whose constant tendency to end her sentences with "Cho!" causes Lavi to dub her "Chomesuke."
  • The Earl's umbrella, Lero, frequently punctuates its sentences with its name. Lero can also use its name just a general exclamation. "Le~ro..." means "Whoa..." "LERO?!" means "AAUGH!" and "Lerolerolero!" means "Ow-ow-ow!" for example.
  • Crowley has a habit of ending his sentences with "de aru."
  • Lavi ends most sentences with "sa".
• Villainous Rescue: Despite the fact they have both inflicted significant Body Horror and done other unpleasant things to him in their earlier meetings, Tyki and Road (especially Road) have begun to develop a knack for helping Allen out when he's about to be consumed by something. Why? 'Cause they like him, of course. Played absolutely straight when they break him out of prison.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Allen and Kanda have been at each other's throats since the first time they met, but beginning with the Alma Karma arc to present, it's clear that they don't actually hate each other. Allen cries when he believes that Kanda has died and goes to incredible lengths to grant what he thinks is Kanda's last living wish. Meanwhile, Kanda not only called Allen by his actual name for once, but believing that he is responsible for aggravating Allen's transformation into the 14th, is so determined to do right by him that he joined the Order again just to help Allen.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Allen throws up when he first sees a Level 4 Akuma's soul.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Black Order would do anything to win the war against the Earl. Anything.
• Wham Episode: Chap. 198 We see the 14th face, who is about to fully awake, and discover that Alma's soul is actually THE ONE OF THE WOMAN KANDA HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR HIS WHOLE LIFE. Ouch.
  • And now, chapter 204: Tyki and Road break Allen out of jail to save him from the Apocryphos, who wants to absorb Allen into itself. But the Order is only aware of the first part, so they declare Allen to be no longer an Exorcist and now an enemy of the Order.
  • Chapter 219 as well, after a two and a half year hiatus: The Millenium Earl used to be one person, but split up and became Mana and Nea.
  • Chapters 239 through 243 reveal that Mana, while definitely "not all there", was a relatively stable, genuinely goodhearted indivual and loving father figure towards Allen, who loved the world and actively fought against his Earl half and the misanthropic wishes of the Noah. His last act of trying to comfort a berserk, Apocryphos possessed Allen wound up shattering his mind and led to the birth of the current, Axe-Crazy, Millenium Earl.
• Wham Line:
  • "What if I told you you'd have to kill someone you love when you become the 14th?"
  • Chapter 192 gives us: "I was killed by Akuma, wasn't I?"
  • And now another: "You can't go back to that place, can you? ♥"
  • 204: "As of now, we will be freezing Allen Walker's rights as an exorcist. From here on he shall be classified as a Noah"
  • 219: "The two of us were once 'one'. We were the 'Millenium Earl'."
• Wham Shot: Chapter 234 combines this with Wham Line: Revealing that the Noah were the only survivors of a destroyed world. The wham is the panel depicting the world's destruction - it looks exactly like the Third Impact.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: In the beginning, the main character is supposed to find the Black Order Headquarters without knowing where the hell it is. The location is still unknown, but a filler episode seems to be hinting it's in France.
  • Well...At least in the Anime, Cross Marian asks Allen if "he knew the way to the Black Order" before knocking him out, because the good General won't be joining him on the account that he "hates that place". And even if Allen didn't knew, or forgot because of the blow to the head, Timcanpy surely knows the way, So...yeah.
    • According to the first D.Gray-man Reverse novel, which is part of canon, all that Cross had ever told Allen was that the Black Order was somewhere in Europe. And so Allen had to travel to Britain, hoping that a particular supporter of the Order he knew there might be able to give directions - which she did. Timcanpy didn't help.
• Word Salad Title: Hoshino said in her interview at the Animagic convention in Germany that the idea for the name D.Gray-man came from the fact that "The colors black and white play an important role in the whole series. And the color gray symbolizes that."
• Wrecked Weapon: Allen's arm. It gets better eventually, though. Also Lavi and Kanda, later. Heck, this is the Earl's ultimate goal.
• Yandere:
  • Eliade. So very much. Justified, as she is genuinely in love with Krory, but is being driven crazy by the conflict this presents with her Akuma programming.
  • Also, Road Kamelot.
• You Can Barely Stand: Sometimes Allen literally can't stand and keeps fighting anyway. Empathic Weapon body armor sure is handy, huh?
• You Won't Feel a Thing!: The anime subverts this with Komui telling Allen, "When I get done with you, you'll be good as new. Though I must warn you, this will be traumatic."
• Younger Than They Look: Even though Kanda and Alma have the physical bodies of a nineteen- and twenty-year-old, respectively, they're actually ten and eleven years old. Of course, if you're counting the age of their souls, they could be anywhere from their late thirties and up, depending on how long it was between their original selves dying and their new selves gaining consciousness.
• Zombie Apocalypse: One of the manga arcs after the end of the anime. Hilarity Ensues.

---