Kanda Yuu
From Desaiuniversity
Kanda comes from the manga version of D.Gray-Man. This is likely not going to be an issue, since the anime is pretty much a joke. He's been taken from some random point during the long span he didn't appear in the manga, meaning that the events of the Edo arc haven't happened (obviously, given what happens to him in said arc). Still, they will be mentioned under background to further show his personality, abilities, and relationships, so this wiki will be full of major spoilers for recent D.Gray-Man chapters. If you're reading the manga and don't want to be spoiled for major events regarding Kanda, do not read this wiki. I cannot stress this enough.
Kanda is played by Megan.
Contents |
Basics
Name: Kanda Yuu (神田 ユウ)
Age: 18
Height: 5'11
Weight: 161 lbs.
Hair: Black.
Eyes: Dark blue.
Family: None known. Presumably deceased or estranged.
Style: Kanda's ever-present black and white trenchcoat is the big one; members of the Black Order wear such visible uniforms because part of their job description is to be walking targets and draw attention away from civilians. Under that he wears fairly standard, if plain, clothes from late nineteenth-century England: pants, a white shirt, and sometimes a tie. Kanda does not care about clothes whatsoever. In fact, the only adornment he wears at all is a beaded bracelet on his right wrist.
Notable Features: He has a tattoo in Sanskrit on the right side of his chest. His hair's also fairly notable, since he wears it ridiculously long. And, well, the fact that he's pretty like a girl. The other characters even use this as ammunition to mock him.
Musical Tastes: Music is for people who have time to waste.
Weapons of Choice: Kanda uses a katana called Mugen, which is detailed in its own section. He also has a double-edged special ability from his tattoo, also outlined in its own section.
Personality
Kanda doesn't like you.
No, really. He doesn't like anyone. Kanda is a loner, partly by circumstance but mostly by his own choice. He'll work with others when it's strictly required of him, but he finds that most people lack his mindset on things and thus they are hard to work with. Kanda is all business, throwing his entire existence into two things: his work killing akuma, and his drive for revenge on someone thus far undisclosed. He believes that mercy, compassion, patience, and hestiance will get you killed, and that being any of these things is hopelessly naive. (Incidentally, this view is illustrated multiple times from more sympathetic characters as well and seems to be endemic within the Black Order; he just takes it to an extreme.) Because of this, he comes across as an unfeeling, even cruel person; still, he's devoted his life to stopping akuma and saving the world, which means there's some sense of duty and obligation to his fellow humans somewhere in his frozen little soul.
Part of Kanda's loner personality comes from cultural differences. He is originally from Japan and lives in England at a time when the population was most definitely not diverse. Add into that the fact that in the D.Gray-Man universe the Meiji Restoration never took place and Japan never opened up to the west and you have someone extremely culturally isolated from the people around him. There's also the fact that the closed-off Japan is a breeding ground for akuma and the firm territory of the people the Black Order is dedicated to stopping, which only adds to it. His obsessive drive for revenge, to the point that he cares nothing for material possessions and is willing to sacrifice his own life to get what he's after, further alienates him. There's no point to having friends if you're nothing but a tool for your own revenge and are going to die in attaining it.
Kanda has, aside from his cold personality, some serious anger issues. He has a short temper, and this combined with his abrasive personality and nasty mouth means that he gets into fights often. In fact, he has only three natural states: cold and insulting, frothing with rage, and asleep. Things that set him off include being called by his first name, useless acts of compassion, being underestimated, and everything 99% of the human population has ever done. In fact, on his character profile page under dislikes? The only thing written was too many things to list.
Kanda isn't the brightest crayon in the box, either. He tends to act before he thinks, clings stubbornly to old ideas even if he's been proven wrong, and just generally doesn't show good judgement or sense most of the time. He's also, given the fact that he's spent most of his life in England in the late ninteenth century, got a lot of very Victorian ideas. This is already causing him some issues at the university.
Background
Kanda is an exorcist for a lay order of the Catholic Church called the Black Order. Not much is known of his early life except that he is either originally from Japan or of Japanese descent (and given both the alternate timeline of the series and the few cultural quirks Kanda's retained from Japan, the former is much more likely), and at some point ended up working with the Black Order. Since he speaks fluent English, dresses in western-style clothes, and writes his Japanese name in katakana rather than kanji it can be inferred that he left Japan at a fairly early age.
The Black Order is dedicated to destroying powerful undead monsters called akuma and to stopping the end of the world. All of this is tied to a shadowy figure called the Earl of the Millennium and his followers, the direct descendants of the biblical Noah. Akuma are created when a dead person's loved ones agree to allow the Earl to resurrect him or her; rather than getting their loved one back, though, they get a horrific monster. Most akuma are indistinguishable from humans and can only be detected by a very special ability unless they decide to take their real, monstrous forms (as most do when not consciously trying to hide, to more effectively attack people). Akuma can only be harmed by a consecrated material called Innocence, which can only be used by certain people who are either born with it in their bodies or who are compatible with a particular piece (usually in the form of a weapon). Only people compatible with Innocence can become full exorcists.
At the point in the timeline Kanda is taken from, there are fewer than twenty real exorcists alive; Kanda is one of them. His anti-akuma weapon, Mugen, is covered in its own section.
Mugen
Mugen (六幻, six illusions), Kanda's anti-akuma weapon, takes the form of a katana. Mugen generally means infinity as it's normally written, but in this case it's written in different kanji. Like all anti-akuma weapons, it's made of the consecrated material Innocence. Kanda uses it both as a normal sword and for its special abilities, which are as follows.
- Kaichuu: Ichigen (界蟲「一幻」, World of Insects: First Illusion). This attack summons a swarm of demonic insects. These oversized flying insects are fairly tough-- able to kill an ordinary human or a weak akuma-- but are fairly easily overcome. For example, Allen Walker was able to fend them off with his own anti-akuma weapon. This attack is Kanda's usual standby, and combined with physically attacking it usually accomplishes most missions Kanda goes on.
- Nigentou (二幻刀, Two Illusion Blades). This attack creates a second phantom sword, allowing Kanda to fight with what are essentially two anti-akuma weapons. While using this second invocation, he can use two additional abilities: Hakka Touribou (八花蟷螂, Eight Flowers Praying Mantis), which is a fast physical attack, and Shouka (昇華, Sublimate), which allows him to tap into the power inherent in his tattoo. He appears to have to use Shouka to be able to invocate his third illusion ability.
- Kinki Sangenshiki (禁忌 「三幻式」, Taboo Third Illusion). This ability is not an attack in and of itself, but instead increases Kanda's physical strength and speed. It appears to also tie into his tattoo, both because of having to activate it before using this ability and because this ability costs some of his remaining life.
There would presumably have been three more attacks if Kanda had lived to use them, given the way Mugen is written. Mugen was, by all appearances, either destroyed or absorbed into Kanda's body as its component Innocence shortly before he died. Kanda as he's played in the game obviously comes from before this happens, given that he's still alive, but it might come into play in the future for plot reasons. The possibility is there, anyway.
The Tattoo and the Lotus
Kanda's tattoo is made up of three of the four states of consciousness in Sanskrit-- awake, deep sleep, and the enlightened state. (The missing brush stroke would be the dream state.) Exactly what's behind it is unknown; what is known is that it gives him the power to regenerate from even the most horrific injuries. It was revealed in one of the novels that the tattoo is tied to a lotus flower in Kanda's possession-- and that when it dies, so does Kanda. It's unknown whether Kanda has a predetermined amount of time or a predetermined amount of life (i.e. whether the flower is dying at a normal rate or if it dies as he regenerates more and more often).
Kanda has technically at least once in the course of the series and come back to life. While he came back immediately he was still severely injured; it took him just a day to heal injuries that should have been fatal and would have, in the words of his doctors, taken five months to heal had he by some miracle managed it. Lesser injuries heal much more quickly, and he can intentionally draw on his life reserve (thus shortening his life more drastically) and heal his injuries faster than they would passively. This is how he actually died in the end-- he healed himself so many times in rapid succession that his life reserve seems to have simply reached its end. Obviously that bit hasn't happened yet, but it's what the consequences would be even in-game.
In-Game
Kanda, thanks to a terrible mixup with the administration, is roomed with Maya Amano. He pretty much wants her to die in a fire. He's also had a less than friendly run-in with his suitemate Dante, who he really wants to die in a fire. However, it's Sae who's currently at the top of his hitlist... mostly because he won't get in trouble at home for killing someone undead. He also hates Vergil because of his monkey and his gay jokes.
