D.Gray-Man
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Summary:
Towards the end of the 19th century, Allen Walker officially joins the organization of Exorcists that destroy the beings known as Akuma; mechanic weapons made by the Millennium Earl with the suffering souls of the dead. Allen has both a cursed eye and an anti-Akuma weapon as an arm, bearing the power of "Innocence", a gift given to him as an apostle of God. Allen, along with his fellow Exorcists must put a stop to the Millennium Earl's ultimate plot that could lead to the destruction of the world and all who live on it.
Information:
Episodes: 103
Aired: Oct 3, 2006 to Sep 30, 2008
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Shounen
Stream: AnimeFreak.tv
Download: Nyaa.eu
OP/ED:
OP
Spoiler (Click to View)
ED
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Review:
Plot:
The plot in this series was something that I enjoyed. It gave a very good explanation for most things, with lots of background. I liked that the people in the show were pretty much all human, but they had power through an energy source (The Innocence). I liked that concept, because it drifted from the usual ridiculous superpower shonen stereotype.
Another thing that was great was the depth of the plot. Out of the 103 episodes, there really wasn't a single filler, as every episode contributed to something that would tie together to the main story.
I really liked that even though some episodes weren't directly part of the main story, they contributed to it, and weren't just there to be there.
Characters:
The characters in this, although very likeable, are a bit stereotyped. They did have quite a few unique points to them, the main character in particular, but overall, they're pretty much just the normal shonen characters.
They did give a lot of insight into the main character's past, and showed a lot of cool things about him. Because of the amount of development around the main character, it's much easier to relate to him, and to see him as a real person, than most other characters. I think the development on his part made him stand out, and, for most of the time, made him a unique type of character. That being said, during fights in particular, he was exactly the same as most protagonists in shonen series.
Thoughts:
Just a forewarning, this part of the review may get long. For the first time of any series, I decided to take notes while watching this one, so I would be able to give a fairly complete review over it.
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The first thing that I really noticed when I saw D.Gray-man, was the lack of general quality. The graphics seemed old, without a lot of color. The quality of the animation was something that I never really got used to.
At the very beginning of the first episode, I was already laughing at the jokes. Besides the jokes, there was a cat within the first half an episode. Jokes and cats are a good way to start a series.
Something that I didn't like was how rushed the explanations seemed at first. Because of the depth of the story, it was really hard to get the general idea across to the audience, and the explanations had to be very complex. Although they were complex, they were understandable overall, but I had to pay very close attention to the details in order to keep up with it.
The series took place in 1851. Because of the time period it was in, it is more difficult to keep everything historically factual. For example, I noticed that one of the characters was enjoying himself some jelly beans. Anyone with half a brain knows that Jelly beans obviously weren't invented until 1861, 10 years later. Now, that one wasn't a huge deal. A 10 year gap from something that old isn't really something to complain about, but the point is, time errors were apparent throughout the show.
At the beginning, it seemed like the main character was progressing faster than the story was. What I mean by that, was the his strengths, and his overall character development was going by super quick, but the story wasn't going anywhere, and neither was anything else. It was like he was moving through time faster. That being said, there came a long time after that where there was almost no improvement from him, while the story progressed. I didn't like that style of progressing either the story or the characters. The series could have been shortened if they did both at the same time.
Speaking of that, I would have to say that the pacing of the series was completely off. Although there was tons of combat in pretty much every episode, the first half of the show was pretty repetitive with the combat. There was never any fights in the first 50 episodes that made me go "OMG, this is awesome! POWER UP POWER UP" (Okay, I never really root like that anyways), even though that's the general point of a shonen. After around 50 episodes though, the combat started to get really awesome, and the show really took off.
Even though it seems I'm complaining about the pacing a lot, the producers did something really amazing with the series. Even though there wasn't amazing action for the first 50 episodes, they made damn sure that every non-combat episode they released was completely necessary. Character development, the introduction of new protagonists, the introduction of antagonists, plot development, and further explanations of the deep story are among the things that they released in the first 50 episodes. In a sense you could treat the first 50 episodes as a sort of prologue to the actual series.
Realistically though, 80% of the series was a couple of main characters trying to complete one mission, while constantly getting sidetracked. Most people would have gotten fired by then.
Something that was stereotypical, and utterly annoying, was the fact that in almost every fight, someone tried to sacrifice themselves for the good of the team, while the team refused. Like, once or twice that's acceptable, but when it's every single fight, the feels are gone.
The series itself, is actually really dark. It conveys extreme amounts of pain and sorrow, mixed with masses of death, and tortured souls. It really gives the message that everyone goes through hardships.
The biggest downside to me was the ending. Even though it was a long series, it ended to early. By the end, they really didn't accomplish much, and many things were left hanging. There were many questions left, and most of the antagonists were still alive and kicking. The manga is ongoing, however, I have my doubts that the will continue the anime once that's finished.
Overall, I think this was a decent show. I didn't enjoy it in particular until about half way through, which I don't think is really acceptable. I'm not sure how well I can recommend a series that takes that long to get good. However, that is just my taste. The style that they used may appeal to a lot of people other than me. Either way, I finished all 103 episodes, so it was good enough for me to not drop it.
If you can power through the first half, then go for it, because the second half is really good.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 8/10
MAL Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 8.31/10
NOTE: Please remember that this entire review was based off of the anime not the manga. If you have comments on any point that I made, please remember that my ignorance is completely reliant on what information was given in the anime.
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