[DerMensch24]

D.Gray-man

Synopsis (Courtesy of MAL):

Losing a loved one is so painful that one may sometimes wish to be able to resurrect them—a weakness that the enigmatic Millennium Earl exploits. To make his mechanical weapons known as "Akuma," he uses the souls of the dead that are called back. Once a soul is placed in an Akuma, it is trapped forever, and the only way to save them is to exorcise them from their vessel using the Anti-Akuma weapon, "Innocence."

After spending three years as the disciple of General Cross, Allen Walker is sent to the Black Order—an organization comprised of those willing to fight Akuma and the Millennium Earl—to become an official Exorcist. With an arm as his Innocence and a cursed eye that can see the suffering souls within an Akuma, it's up to Allen and his fellow Exorcists to stop the Millennium Earl's ultimate plot: one that can lead to the destruction of the world.

Eps: 103 (split into "4 seasons")
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Aired: Oct 3, 2006 - Sep 30, 2008
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Comedy, Shounen
Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/1482/DGray-man
Sub/Dub: Sub was well done. Dub exists currently only for ep 1-51, however Funimation recently received rights to the remaining 52-103 so expect to see that in the future.

Trailer:
Spoiler (Click to View)

Finally, after several months on and off again, I have managed to get through this anime lol.

For a long running shounen, it maintained the characteristics that are to be expected: plenty of action, humorous situations, adventure, a large cast of characters, and super powers when needed. So why does it stand out from the bunch?

D.Gray-man packs a lot of dark tones and realism where many shounen anime tend not to venture. The enemies in the series are not afraid to exploit a weakness, and the Akuma are the greatest example of this as they are the literal souls of loved ones lost brought back to life out of grief. However, the greatest strength in the plot is the pacing within and between story arcs. Fighting is well done, and unlike your typical shounen while some fights are multiple episodes, the battle evolves instead of being entirely repetitive. There rarely are any fillers, however it does become common to see a quick recap of the last ep within the first minute after the OP.

The sound was very well done, for all the OPs, EDs, and the score within the series. Animation was also decent, although there are notable instances of repetitive fighting transitions. The cast for the anime was very memorable, with each character getting in a fair amount of time and showing development throughout the course of the story. Each character displays flaws that they attempt to fix and become stronger over time via their will or through the motivation of their friends. Something else to be noted as well is that there were times when the cast was expendable and hence you were anxiously on the edge of your seat to find out if some characters may die or not.

Overall, while it was a long and arduous task to complete the anime, it was a very decent watch and I do recommend this to anyone who has not seen it yet ;)

[Alek Shieldhart]

It's a good anime. I was happy when a new season was coming out but then it only lasted 13 or so episodes. I wish they create more episodes. I'm still unsure if Allen/13 is really the Earl's twin.

And I recommend listening to the 13th's key to the ark. It's very cool... and sad. Haha

[Mafty Navue Erin]

One of my all time favorite anime, and I was happy that the new season was released after 8 years. A bit sad to see the manga has no consistency though. I fear it may be another 8 years before we see another 13 episodes.

[CorrosiveBlueberry]

i only watched all the episodes once the second season was announced, was nice to binge like a typical shounen to be honest; although i had dropped it multiple times about 10 episodes in or so. Eventually I got hooked and then binged all 100 episodes real quick.

Then the new season was really short 13 episodes.