Yuu Kanda

Yuu Kanda is one of the main characters from the D.Gray-man anime and manga.

Yuu is an Exorcist and member of the European Branch of the Black Order, formerly of the Asian Branch. He is a Second Exorcist, an Exorcist raised in a test tube and artificially modified to bear the Innocence of the previous Exorcist his brain formerly belonged to. He is also the second incarnation of the lover of fellow Second Exorcist Alma Karma's former incarnation. As a former disciple of General Froi Tiedoll, Kanda belongs to Tiedoll Unit.

Appearance
Kanda is a handsome young Japanese man usually found in a foul mood. Kanda has long black (blue in the anime) hair, and dark eyes. Lavi comments that Kanda is a "pretty-type character", and Allen occasionally calls him "girly face"; Inspector Galmar also called him a "pretty boy". Kanda is testy about others touching his hair, getting mad at Lavi when he attempted to braid it. Recently, when Mugen became a crystal type, he gained two stigmata on the underside of his forearms where his blood exited his body to form Mugen's new blade.

On Kanda's chest is a tattoo that is the seal of his Second Exorcist regenerative abilities. Though the ring around the symbol changes (seemingly depending on the severity of his injuries), the symbol in the center remains the same; it is a variant of the symbol for "Om", a symbol/sound/syllable featured in such religions and belief systems as Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.

In his original body, Kanda's appearance is similar to an older Allen Walker, but with light colored hair that covers his eyes. He also wore the standard exorcist uniform for men.

Personality
Kanda is a cold, stoic, and arrogant person who shows little regard to the lives of those around him, even his fellow Exorcists. He is, more often than not, willing to leave those who slow him down behind, even if it means their death and especially if they are not Exorcists, viewing any field officers (especially Finders) who are not Exorcists expendable pawns who should not be expected to be saved. He is even often seen turning his blade on his own comrades over small things, such as Lavi calling him by his given name, Yu, or Allen simply trying to talk to him. Despite his words, Kanda is frequently seen saving those around him, and even putting his own life at risk (like he does with Gozu), though he does it grudgingly and openly complains.

Because of their conflicting views about the worth of the lives of others, Kanda and Allen are almost constantly at one another's throats, Kanda ready to blame Allen for anything that goes wrong and Allen often breaking his polite exterior to let his "dark side" out as he incites an argument with Kanda, which frequently leads to physical confrontation. Kanda has openly told Allen he hates people "like him"; people who make promises they can't keep and seem to fight without purpose. He calls Allen "beansprout" (Moyashi, English Dub: "Short Stack").

Kanda's personality does not seem to have changed since he was young. As a Second Exorcist in the Sixth Laboratory in Asian Branch, he was moody and easily annoyed, especially towards fellow Second Exorcist Alma Karma, who often followed him around and tried to befriend him. However, his final conflict with Alma, who he came to view as a friend just before he had to kill him, seemed to have hardened him further, as Kanda later admitted that, during his years as an Exorcist, he came to not care what happened to the Order or what the Order did to achieve their goals, going so far as to witness Allen's emerging Noah side and not report the incident to Komui.

Since coming back after Alma's death, Kanda has expressed repentant feeling towards his behavior for all of those years, blaming himself for Allen's current state and feeling like he can't die in peace until he repays Allen's kindness.

Abilities
Kanda is one of the top exorcists of the Black Order.

Enhanced Artificial Regeneration: Kanda can recover much faster than ordinary humans and is able to withstand the blood of Akuma due to a secret skill created by the Chan family. He is seen being able to rebirth after death ("approximately during 580 seconds"), regenerate lost limbs, and even survive a crushed skull. His blood is also enriched with healing power, even allowing him to accidentally save fellow Exorcist Noise Marie from a wound that had been deemed fatal and later Johnny from Nea's attack. He can also filter alcohol so that only very strong alcohol can have an impact on him. Because of his overuse of it during the Artificial Exorcists Arcthis ability has a lot weakened and he can now even get drunk like a normal person.

Physical Prowess: Kanda is noticeably much stronger than the average human; while his Anti-Akuma weapon does enhance his power, when none of its abilities are activate he is able to cleave Akuma in half using the blade alone.

Speed: Kanda is faster than most other characters in the series and can leap beyond average distances, though this may be attributed to his regenerative abilities, where such jumps on normal humans would result in damaged ligaments in the feet.

Expert Swordsman: Though his Innocence makes him already inclined to swordsmanship, Kanda is shown to be powerful with a blade in his own right. He has been seen using regular swords to hold off Akuma as evolved as Level Four, and can use various forms of Japanese swords without changing his fighting style. He can unsheathe and slice at a phenomenal speed, such that even a trained and experienced exorcist like Allen Walker couldn't see the move of the saber.

Martial Skills: Coupled with his natural enhanced strength and speed due to him being a second exorcist, he was seen during training to easily defeat dozens of finders in martial fights.

Innocence
Mugen (Rokugen (Six Illusions). Kanda has a sword with supernatural powers. He runs his index and middle finger along the back of the blade to activate it, whilst saying Mugen Unsheathe, Innocence Activate, which turns the blade silver. The shape of the sword has changed throughout Kanda's Timeline, during his childhood, it takes the form of a small butcher blade with multiple small wings on the hilt, upon Kanda's introduction in the beginning of the series, it took the form of a chokuto (a straight Japanese sword without a tsuba) with a black cross-emblazoned hilt and sheath, but after his battle with Skinn Bolic, it was reforged into a traditional Katana.
 * First Illusion: Netherworld Insects (Kaichū: Ichigen): Kanda swings his sword and releases a small swarm of supernatural creatures that devour his opponents.
 * Double Illusion Sword (Nigentou): Kanda covers his sword and scabbard in a coat of energy and generates an energy blade, creating two impossibly sharp weapons. The second blade that he creates over his scabbard can also be just a pure energy blade if the scabbard is not used.
 * Eight Flower Mantis (Hakka Tourou): Using Nigentou, Kanda quickly slashes the enemy eight times. The slashes collectively resemble a flower.


 * Ascending Flower (Shouka lit. Sublimate): Kanda activates the power of his tattoo, and his pupils change into three dots. Veins also rise around his eyes. Once it is activated, Kanda can activate Triple Illusion.
 * Forbidden Spell: Triple Illusion (Sangenshiki): Kanda drastically increases his speed and strength at the cost of some of his life.
 * Because Triple Illusion feeds directly off of a being's 'life force,' Kanda can realign and reforge Mugen's blade if it is broken as long as he has life to spare, using the command "Drink up".
 * Exploding Spirit Cut (Bakuhakuzan): Kanda needs Sangenshiki to be active to use this, and makes a slash that seems to create small explosions and is strong enough to cut through a Level 4 Akuma. Kanda can also use it with the Fifth Illusion Style.


 * Fourth Illusion Style (Yongenshiki): Kanda's pupils changes to four dots and he gains another drastic increase in speed and power as shown by being able to severely damage Alma Karma.


 * Fifth Illusion Style (Gogenshiki): Mugen's blade changes color and emits a large amount of dark, lightning-like energy. Like the Triple Illusion, it uses up Kanda's life force, though on a larger scale. Forcing the Fifth Illusion causes excessive strain on Kanda's body and soul, eating away at his life force quicker than any of the previous Illusionary Styles. It also causes him to enter a berserker-like state, and causes his hair to pale to a light purple (silver in the anime).

Critical Point: It was revealed that Kanda reached the critical point at some point. Though it is unknown when it did happen exactly and thus which techniques were unlocked after reaching it and which techniques did he master before is unknown.
 * Ripping Flash Claw (Gogen Ressensou): Kanda unleashes seven sharp energy beams

Crystal Type (Kesshō-gata): Upon returning to the Black Order, Kanda went directly to Asian Branch and took Mugen from Zu Mei Chang, who had refused to let it go. Kanda ordered Mugen to invoke, and the rusted sword turned into a black cube and liquified, much like Lenalee's Innocence had. He then drank the liquified Innocence from Lenalee's palm, and stigmata opened up on his arms, drawing his blood and forming a new Mugen.

For the most part, his new Mugen is much more durable than the original, as Kanda no longer has to worry about the possibility of his sword breaking. He is able to use all his original moves like with his old Mugen, the attacks now being stronger and on a much higher level. Unlike how he used to activate it before, Kanda is able to activate his Crystal Type Mugen much faster, making his attacks quicker. According to Tiedoll, Kanda's skill with Mugen has reached the point of having breached the Critical Point of synchronization and it's uncertain whether Kanda was hiding this fact or wasn't aware of it himself.

Trivia

 * In the English dub, "Mugen" is pronounced mew-gen, often calling it "Mighty Mugen".
 * Kanda's interests include gardening, training, meditation, camping in the forest, kicking ass and making soba. He likes Soba, cutting things in half, fair fights and he dislikes anything group-related, the blue sky, sweet/naive people and CROWs.
 * Hoshino notes that Kanda is the dumbest out of the four, behind Allen, Lavi, and Lenalee.
 * Hoshino's comments on Kanda's profile that it's "not easy drawing beautiful people".
 * Kanda placed 2nd in the first official popularity poll. 1st in the second and then 2nd again in the third. And in the fourth he became 1st again, beating Allen.
 * It is implied that Kanda cannot swim.
 * In one of the Discussion Rooms, it is noted that Kanda washes his hair with soap.
 * His favorite foods are soba and tempura, and he likes pumpkin, sweet pepper and lotus root tempura.
 * According to D.Gray-Man Reverse, vol. 3, Kanda's first kiss was with Gigi when Kanda was thirteen (physically; chronologically three) and Jiji was drunk.
 * Mugen was reforged by Zuu Mei Chang after Kanda got it broken into pieces in his fight with Skinn Bolic.
 * Kanda's English dub voice actor Travis Willingham also voices Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. Both Mustang and Kanda are known for being generally cold and heartless, usually getting into many disagreements with Edward Elric and Allen Walker respectively.
 * When activating his Innocence, a high pitched eagle like noise is often heard afterwards.
 * When he was born, Yu had no surname. He was given "Kanda"  because he was born in the “Mitoshiro World”: a rice paddy for the gods… “Kanda” holds this meaning as a last name is required to enter the Order. That's why only Alma and Tiedoll who knew him before that call him "Yu" and Lavi doing it annoys him so much.
 * Kanda used to secretly drink tequila at the order. He once was seen by Lenalee so she wanted to try but she got knocked out.
 * According to Reever and Lenalee, Kanda is a dog person.
 * According to Katsura Hoshino, Kanda's image-color is navy blue.