Close your eyes, as the night grows...
"Exorcists. Also known as those chosen by God. They are the ones who exists to eliminate those who lurk in the darkness..."
— Narration of the first chapter and the first episodes of the anime
Coverage: Chapters 001-007; Episodes 001-002, 006-007
Short Summary
In an alternate 19th Century, a sinister figure known as the Earl of Millennium is using human souls to create killer machines known as Akuma to destroy humanity and doom the world. To stop the plans of the Earl, an organization known as the Black Order employs humans with weapons capable of harming the Earl and his allies known as Exorcists, the apostles of God. Meanwhile, a teenager Exorcist named Allen Walker is on a quest to find the headquarters of the Black Order so he can work as an official apostle. In his search, he comes to face the Earl himself, in an event that will make him remember the moment who turned him to the path of the Exorcist.Main Summary
The Opening Arc has the following tropes:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Since the arc in the anime is split in two halves before and after the following one in the manga, some characters and abilities get to appear sooner in the anime:
- The characters from the Order such as Kanda, Lenalee or Komui appear as soon as in the second episode when Allen arrives at the headquarters of the Order. In the manga they appear at the very end of the arc in the 5th chapter of the manga, after the plotline with Jan and Allen meeting the Earl for the first time ever since the Mana incident has already happened.
- As a result of having that part of the arc adapted when Allen is already a formal member of the Order, Lenalee helps him fighting the Akuma that the Earl gathers in the graveyard in the anime. With that her Dark Boots appear for the first time an episode before their canon debut in the Destruction of the Black Order Attempt chapters.
- Adaptational Expansion: The fight with the Earl and the Akuma in the graveyard is extended in the anime, where Lenalee (who in the anime is introduced earlier) aids Allen into destroying the Akuma.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Leo, Jan's friend who helped him patrolling their city to "combat" the Earl, is revealed to have turned his deceased mother into an Akuma after she died and he fell into the temptation of bringing her back with the Earl's magic, essentially creating one of the things he was fighting against.
- Disposable Vagrant: The Akuma of Claire was feeding on poor people and moneyless travellers who took shelter on an abandoning church. This is what prompts Moore to investigate the church.
- Hate at First Sight: While Kanda initially attacks Allen because the gate guardian erroneously labeled him as an ally of the Earl, even after the misunderstanding is cleared off he still tells Allen that he doesn't likes him one bit, kickstarting their antagonistic yet weirdly friendly relationship.
- Police Are Useless: Justified in this case. The British police initially arrest Allen on suspect that he was the one causing the disappearances of the abandoned church and killed Charles. However, once the proof that he couldn't have caused them is shown they leave him under Moore's care. And when they are confronted by Claire, as normal humans there's not much they can do before getting massacred.
- Starter Villain: The Akumatized nun Claire/Crea serves as the first adversary Allen faces in the series. Being a standard Level 1 Akuma, she proves to be untouchable by humans, but gets destroyed easily by Allen. The following enemies Allen faces prove to be way stronger than her.
