Yu Kanda

Yu Kanda
D.Gray-man character
Yu Kanda by Katsura Hoshino
First appearance	D.Gray-man manga chapter 5 (2004)
Created by	Katsura Hoshino
Voiced by	Japanese Takahiro Sakurai Takuya Satō (Hallow) Tsubasa Yonaga (Hallow, young self) English Travis Willingham Ian Sinclair (Hallow)

Yu Kanda (Japanese: 神田ユウ, Hepburn: Kanda Yū^?) is a fictional character from the manga series D.Gray-man by Katsura Hoshino. A young adult, Kanda is an Exorcist from the Black Order. He is in charge of destroying enemies known as Akuma, created by a man known as the Millennium Earl. For this, he uses an object referred to as "Innocence" sealed within a Japanese sword. Kanda sides with the Black Order in their fight against the Earl's group, the Noah Family. He is cold and antisocial toward his teammates, even disliking it when people refer to him by his first name. He often engages in fights with his frequent ally, the series' protagonist Allen Walker. Later in the series, it is revealed he is the result of an experiment from the Black Order that created his artificial body and merged it with the brain of a deceased Exorcist. Outside the main series and the two anime adaptations, Kanda has also appeared in the D.Gray-man light novels, the two video games of the series, and the crossover game Jump Ultimate Stars.

The character was created with the intention to bring a change to the series' Western setting, with his design being based on samurai. As a result of the character being attractive, Kanda has been difficult for Hoshino to illustrate, as she focused more on his eyes and hair when drawing him. Due to his original backstory having multiple plot holes, Hoshino rewrote it to one where Hoshino created Kanda's first friend, Alma Karma, who plays in his backstory as well as alterations to Kanda's characterization. Kanda was voiced by Takahiro Sakurai in the first anime series, Takuya Satō in the anime sequel D.Gray-man Hallow, and by Tsubasa Yonaga as his younger self in the same series. He is voiced by Travis Willingham in English and by Ian Sinclair in Hallow.