nice review man. nice lang too. guess thr r no gramatical flaws, rest assured. :)
hm, nw i feel like reading the manga.
D Gray-Man tv,manga Review
At the end of a fictional nineteenth century, the Earth is the battlefield of the war between the Black Order and the Millennium Earl. The Earl wants to destroy humanity using his army of akuma, weapons created from the despair of the people who lost their loved ones and recall them to life, trapping their souls into the akuma. The Black Order is a secret organization, under the orders of the Vatican, composed by Exorcists, people able to fight and destroy the akuma using their anti-akuma weapons, made with a divine substance called Innocence. Among them is Allen Walker, a 15 years old boy, who joined the Order to defeat the Millennium Earl and free the souls trapped as akuma.
Story & Playability
Foreword - Minitokyo-goers who read my previous reviews were quick to point out the flaws (mainly lack of correct grammar XD). Many thanks! I appreciated all the constructive criticism. I hope this review doesn't fail to inform, whilst retaining some flair and keeping anyone from falling asleep on their keyboards! Cheers!
Mangaka (manga author) - Hoshino Katsura (female by the way)
Serialised by "Weekly Jump' (2004)
Set in an imaginary timeline toward the end to the 19th century, D.Gray-man is a goth-style manga revolving around the ongoing battle between exorcists and 'Akuma' (demons) created by a phantom called the Millennium Earl. Utilising a divine substance called 'innocence,' exorcists fight against the Earl, his legion of Akuma minions and a prophecy foreseeing the end of the world at his hand, by way of 'Noah's great flood.'
Enter Allen, abandoned at birth by his true parents due to his deformed hand, and adopted by a man named Mana Walker.
The Millennium Earl appears to those who catch his attention; taking advantage of the despair that person feels for a deceased loved one, he will offer to bring them back to life. Upon agreeing, they will serve as the link to bring that soul back, reviving them to be an 'Akuma' (demon).
Mourning the death of Mana, Allen accepts the Earl's offer, only to quickly realise his mistake, he had inadvertently turned his father into an Akuma. Allen's left hand awakens and kills the mechanical skeleton trapping his father's soul, but not before being cursed by his father.
Allen's left eye cursed by his father, enables him to see into the souls of Akuma, even if they are disguised as human. His left arm actually possessing a shard of 'Innocence,' that, upon activation, transforms his hand into a weapon that allows him to exterminate Akuma. After the awakening of his innocence, Allen is taken in by a priest named Cross Marian, who allows him to become one of God's 'black priests', an exorcist, to destroy the Akuma and their maker, the Millennium Earl.
By creating Akuma, the Millennium Earl aims to raise an army, first to destroy all 109 existing units of innocence, the sword that defeated him in a battle 7000 years ago. After which he will 'purify' the world by wiping out humanity by inciting 'Noah's great flood'.
Becoming an exorcist under a dark religious organisation appointed by the Vatican, called the 'Black priesthood,' Allen sets off on a race against the Earl and his legions of Akuma to retrieve the units of innocence, scattered by the last Noah's flood. To help him are other exorcists including Rinali Li (Linali Li in the anime), Kanda Yu and Rabi (Lavi), as well as Komui Li, supervisor of the science division (also Rinali's older brother) and Bookman, keeper of history records.
Allen Walker is your template good guy: idealistic, naive, honest, (somewhat feminine looking) and devours food like a
black hole. Nevertheless Allen is a likable character, personally, I found him more endearing in the manga then the
anime though, maybe I'm just a purist, since I read the manga before watching the anime (which has just started
being released).
Rinali Li is most likely the next most prominent character in the manga & anime and the most likely candidate as Allen's love interest. Rinali is feminine, caring and loyal (and more notably powerful in the manga then the anime). She loves her kooky and somewhat irresponsible brother, also supervisor of the science division, Komui Li, and values her friendships, her one with Allen in particular. Another template and not amazingly unique character, I just like Rinali because she's Chinese (like me) and her innocence, 'dark boots' are so damn sassy XD
The characters I enjoy the most are the laid back Rabi and enigmatic (and psychotic on occasion) Rhode Noah. They add a bit more character variety to the mix, and help keep you coming back for more. Rhode Noah makes a more compelling 'bad-guy' figure then the Millennium Earl himself (a lot more notable in the manga then the anime) who just pops in to create Akuma and drops out again, whereas Rhode takes the time out of her busy school schedule to terrorise Allen and the gang.
D.Gray-Man struck me as very unique and gripping, especially in the beginning, I was hooked for days at a time whilst I was reading the manga. It also reminded me of 'Full Metal Alchemist', based in a world like ours, but with a single but enormous difference, may it be Alchemy or Akuma.
Rating:
Graphics
Fans of other goth style animes will be magnetically drawn to D.Gray-Man. Less notable in the anime, most of the scenes
took place in the manga were during the night-time which emphasised the dark themes and settings. The chapters
themselves being numbered '1st night', '2nd night' and so forth.
The art of the anime is crisp and anatomically correct (relative to other animes anyway =P and always an important
consideration). The manga is beautiful to say the least, the gothic style drawings rich, poignant and clean (assuming
there isn't an akuma to be defeated, the action scenes are quite chaotic).
Rating:
Sound
Opening Themes:
INNOCENT SORROW - abingdon boys school
Closing Themes:
SNOW KISS - NIRGILIS
Pride Of Tomorrow - JUNE
The most notable of these tie-ups being 'INNOCENT SORROW' performed by abingdon boys school, led by Nishikawa Takanori, more notably known as 'T.M.Revolution', a veteran to music and anime tie-ups alike.
'SNOW KISS' is a favourite of mine, the song having an air of mystery as well as coolness that I personally loved. I also loved the first scene of the closing sequence depicting the trio, the Millennium Earl, Allen & Marian Cross, probably the most significant characters of D.Gray-Man back to back in top hats.
A decent line-up for the opening and closing songs. Voice acting adequately reflects the characters featured, nothing surprising and not much that stands out from the crowd.
Rating:
Fun
The anime adaptation of the manga disappointed me, it felt as though all the peculiarities that made the D.Gray-Man
manga unique were smoothed out for the anime. I guess anime is a watered down version of the manga so to speak, a
reasonable initiative by the producers of the anime, as to open D.Gray-Man to a wider audience, otherwise it may have
been too dark or gruesome for younger viewers.
Like most animes, I recommend reading the manga wherever possible. Nevertheless, D.Gray-Man the anime is a solid watch,
there's plenty of action to be had and a little space to be bored as you learn about the world of the exorcists.
Rating:
Final Verdict
7.5000 (good)
Reviewed by Patchy, Feb 05, 2007
Comments
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pvvd29 Feb 06, 2007
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shoujoboy Feb 06, 2007
A fairly solid review overall but it looks like quite a few of the recently posted reviews in that we get this enormous opening section followed by 3 that don't even match it combined. Is it laziness or just not near as much to say about the other sections. Personally I would have liked to see more elaboration in the sound department like comments on vocal portions and background music. Not bad, just needs a bit of tweaking. But I'm like the MT review ass, so maybe you'll agree or maybe you'll curse my name.
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Patchy Feb 09, 2007
i don't think you're being an ass at all (stabs voodoo doll of shoujoboy) all constructive criticism is welcomed! i would say there isn't much to write in the 'art', 'sound' and 'presentation' sections, people write them don't know enough to substantiate them or just aren't very adept at critiquing them (like me).
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rindinnikfindindiddles Feb 13, 2007
Yea, I am reading this (and watching, trying to compare and contrast) and this is a fair and good review. This show has very straightforward artwork (albeit impressive, "gothic" does express it best), and sound is usually short... unless there is a terrible voice actor/actress. So, yeah, great review, good show too.
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Chiro-kun Feb 14, 2007
Nice review. I agree with the fact that the anime was a big disappointment like Air Gear. I really had high expectations for D.Gray-man, the shounen fan that I am but I think more or less every DGM fan accepts the fact that the manga is on a different level. Personally I would probably rate the anime as a 7.0 =P
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evil-intentions Apr 01, 2007
This is a kick ass review
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ealpha-scorpio Apr 13, 2007
Wow! That's one the most detailed and well written reviews I read so far. :D Very Excellent! :D I like the way you explained the storyline. It was very clear and helping. Thank you very much. :)
Keep it up...
C-ya :) -
Mydilemma92 Aug 13, 2008
good review it said it all. to the point i like the anime though just not as much as the manga, but it ges better as it goes along XD it was well written i agree with the points all in all good!
merged: 08-13-2008 ~ 07:03pm
good review it said it all. to the point i like the anime though just not as much as the manga, but it ges better as it goes along XD it was well written i agree with the points all in all good! -
rukasu04 Mute Member Apr 28, 2009
Well, this is a nice review. ^^
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SchRita Jan 15, 2010
Thanks for the review!
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hitsu-chan Jul 20, 2011
it seems good... thx! *wants to watch now*
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