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Tv, Manga

Plot Synopsis

Mana Walker cursed his 15 year old son Allen Walker. As he tried to resurrect him he slashed Allen's eye, and his deformed arm turned into a claw like weapon that can be used against the akuma. After turning on his father Allen Walker becomes an exorcist. Not out of guilt, but as his purpose in life; to exterminate the beings known as akuma & the akuma maker, the Millenium Earl.

Story & Characters

This is my first review evar so please don't chew my head off. I like where it is on my shoulders... Also, I'm sorry if some parts are rather vague... just throw me some constructive crit and I'll try my best to fix it. Cheers~

D.Gray-man is not as the title suggests; there is little to explain what the D or Gray means. The 'man' of D.gray-man however... I think is simple enough to understand if you look at it from a fangirl's point of view (*cough*ATTRACTIVEMEN*COUGH*), that is however, but mere baseless conjecture.

The story revolves around the adventures (I just HAD to use that word.) of 15 year old Allen Walker, exorcist of the Black Order; a secret organisation backed by the Vatican. He is a rather effeminate male lead who's innocence (not THAT Innocence, notice the lack of capitalization?) and kindness had me wrapped around his little finger within half an episode. We discover that Allen's left arm contains a divine substance known as Innocence, which coincidentally is the only substance that can harm creatures called 'Akuma' (translation; demon. But kept as Akuma throughout the series). These Akuma are not your typical demons, they are actually living weapons complete with gun barrels and bullets of a gaseous toxin which proceed to explode you into dust if you're hit by one.This was the first original traits of DGM I had picked up and the nice little touch of the said weapons requiring human souls as energy to function only served to impress me further. These unfortunate souls are the souls of deceased people who are called back by their loved ones after being fooled with the hope of being able to revive the dead.
Moving right on, the Akuma are manufactured by a fat guy in a top hat (who, I'll have you know, I just love to bits) known as the Millennium Earl who is, you guessed it, the main antagonist of DGM. While his goal is the very overused 'destroy the world' ploy, the Millennium Earl intends to call upon 'Noah's Great Flood' to do so. And don't for one second think he isn't prepared because he has his own little team of henchmen conveniently called 'The Noah Clan' to aid him in his evil plan. As an added bonus, he carried around a talking umbrella, which just adds to his charm.
Getting back on track again, we soon learn that 7000 years before the beginning of DGM, the Millennium Earl was defeated once before by the all powerful Innocence. However, during that time, what is referred to by the Black Order as the 'Three Days of Darkness' occurred. This event is generally known as 'Noah's Great Flood' and was historically recorded as such. The Innocence, as a result of the flood, was separated into 109 individual pieces and scattered all over the world. Now, the Millennium Earl is back again and he's after the shards of Innocence, bent on destroying the only power that can stop him before it is used against him and he is defeated once again. This is where the Black Order comes in, and it is a race against time to locate all of the pieces of Innocence before the opposing side does.

It's a very refreshing (to me anyway) plot with unique characters of all races and ages. Although Allen Walker is your typical shounen protagonist complete with exponential power and a tragic past, his naivete and general all around ability to be gosh-darned cute makes him a very likable, but not very believable character. The poor child was abandoned at birth due to his disfigured left arm (a result of being born with Innocence) and was later adopted by one Mana Walker. When Mana suddenly succumbs to an accident and dies, te Millennium Earl approaches our protagonist and offers to revive Mana. Being young and stupid.. err... naive (just like everybody else), Allen agrees and unknowingly condemns his foster father to a lifetime of servitude as an Akuma. Mana's new career however was short lived and he was destroyed not long after by Allen's arm, but not before placing a horrid curse upon our beloved main character. This curse allows him to see the souls of Akuma and thus, is able to distinguish between human and Akuma, which already gives him a big advantage over other exorcists. When it all comes down to it however, Allen is still very lovable, with enough flaws to balance out his err... strengths.

The very next main character we meet is the questionably male (as far as looks go) 18 year old Yuu Kanda, the only character of Japanese decent in the series, which is another original trait of DGM. His role in the series is the stereotypical jerk-face who brushes mostly everyone off with a 'Tch' and a sharp glare. While I believe that Kanda has the largest following of hordes of screaming fangirls, I fail to see the greatness he possesses; he's just another jerk. 'Nuff said.

Up next is what's considered as the only eye candy for the male viewers of the series; 16 year old Lenalee Lee, a fellow exorcist of Chinese decent. She is not without her own tragic past; having had her family killed by Akuma and then taken away from her brother whom is her only living family left. It is because of this incident that she becomes very emotionally attached to those she considers dear, which sadly, is just about every bloody person she meets. Her friends mean the world to her, and I'm not kidding when I say that; she admits it herself. Throughout the series, I can confidently say that she does a whole lot more crying then fighting, but when she does fight, she does it remarkably well. If you were to ask me, Lenalee is possibly the most believable character of the bunch. Why? Christ, if my entire family was killed and then I was taken away from my older brother to live in a gloomy tower for about 10 years, I'd be pretty attached to my friends too...

Komui Lee is next in line and if you hadn't guessed from his last name, he is the older brother of Lenalee. He isn't exactly a main character, so I'll be brief with this. He serves as the primary comic relief; a professional procrastinator who is helplessly addicted to coffee. He has a really, REALLY bad sister-complex.

Now for my personal favourite, 18 year old Lavi and another exorcist. Despite being one of the oldest of the main characters, he is far from mature at often intervals of the series, thus he can also be seen as comic relief. When he's not being a silly little bunny however, he has a very good head on his shoulders, and I don't just mean that he's friggin' hot; his memory is near perfect and his intelligence is not to be underestimated. Lavi is currently the apprentice of a being known only as Bookman; the sole recorder of so-called 'secret' history. He also has some weird fetish with older women. *shrug* It just adds to his charm. *snerk* Lavi is not without faults however; he has priority issues. The friends that shouldn't be important to him are starting to be and Bookmen aren't supposed to possess feelings. He hides his inner turmoil very well however which is an indication of his cleverness (leaning more towards the sly sort of clever). The personality he shows is that of a friendly, out going young man, which he acts out very well, because I totally acknowledge the realism of his character. Unlike other characters who put up an act to hide their motives, Lavi has an actual reason to, and perhaps it's that reason that's made me so attracted to him an a whole. He is definitely among my favourite characters of all time.

With a whole crew of other unique people, including, but not limited to; an Australian (he's one of my favourites too) man excelling at maths, language and physics; a bipolar, almost vampiric young man; a very timid woman; a shriveled up old man; and a host of other unforgettable characters. DGM, to me, boasts a very impressive range of personalities. You cannot watch DGM and not be able to find a character you can identify with, whether it be one, or even perhaps 4 at once.

Rating

7 (above average)

Art

I will be focusing solely on the manga here since the anime mimics the drawing style of the manga anyway. I might slip in a few thoughts on how the anime looks though, so keep your eyes sharp or you might miss it. ;P

The theme of this series is gothic with a very slight touch on horror. As a result, most of the buildings are drawn with a Victorian setting in mind. This most likely, is the result of DGM being set in an alternate late 19th century. Additionally, a symbol constantly appearing throughout the series is the moon, either a crescent or bearing a face with a large crooked nose, narrow eyes and big ass teeth... looks a lot like a typical witch...
Keeping with the gothic theme, the female characters can be spotted wearing plain black dresses, and at one point in the series, Lenalee is made to dress up akin to a gothic lolita, minus the white frills, so the manga does not stray from its theme. One thing that sets DGM apart from other shounen manga is the fact that all of the characters are proportionate. That means there are no breasts the size of heads or tiny waists with wide hips(I consider Lenalee very thin. Byte me). Maybe the fact that Hoshino-sensei is indeed female has something to do with it... who knows. However, the uniform exorcists wear looks as if it's made of leather. And boots happen to be worn by nearly every character... Can anybody say 'kinky'? Or is it just me?

The characters themselves are all very different and if you carefully scrutinise the later chapters with the beginning ones, you will notice that Allen looks older and more mature. At the beginning of the series, Allen has large, curious eyes which I swear gleam with innocence. Now, 142 chapters later, his facial structure has changed and has become more manly. Darling little Allen Walker is growing up ladies and gents, and this is also expressed by an increase in not only physical strength but emotional strength too. Sadly, this change is made much less obvious in the anime, as from the beginning, Allen looks more mature than he's supposed to. Very disappointing.
Additionally, his hairstyle changes from falling straight down to above his shoulders, to a spiky style not unlike Sasuke's from Naruto.

Lenalee also gets a makeover, but it is much more obvious than Allen's. From the beginning of the series, Lenalee has long dark hair, which is symbolic of her femininity and well-mannered nature. Much later in the series, during a fight with a particularly powerful Akuma, she is forced to push her Innocence to its limits, burning most of her hair in the process, leaving her with a very boy-ish look. From that fight onwards, Lenalee starts letting her temper fly and goes as far as punching Allen and Lavi right in the face when they upset her. She still cries too much though, so THAT hasn't changed. This was an excellent form of character development and design on Hoshino-sensei's part.

Don't think that Lavi doesn't get a change in his appearance! It's just that his occurs early in the series. When we first see him, his hair is wild and untamed with a characteristic little curl in his hair, showing his care-free personality. These wild red locks are held up by a green bandanna and he is further recognised by the eye patch over his right eye. When the manga starts to get serious and more involved with the central plot, Lavi's hair is reduced to mere spikes (I SWEAR he has less hair than before) and the cute curl disappears forever. I've also noticed that during the times his headband is not on his head, making him look gorgeous... I mean, making his hair flop messily over his face, his charade as a friendly, frivolous teen wavers somewhat and he lets his emotions seep through the cracks of his act. An example of this is when he yells at Lenalee for vaguely spoiler-ish reasons, and punches a hole in a window to emphasize his rage.
(As a side note, please do not bring up the episode in the anime about the rose festival, because that was FILLER)

The Millennium Earl gets a paragraph of his own because even though his appearance does not change save for a small decoration on his hat every time you see him, his design is very note worthy. He is NOT your run-of-the-mill villain as far as looks go. For one thing, he doesn't exactly LOOK human. For another, he's big and fat. Sorry girls, this is one baddie you won't be writing romance fics about. With sickly grey skin, large pointed ears, a H-U-G-E mouth permanently twisted into a smile, showing his scarily large white teeth, he's not someone you want to meet in a dark alley. IGNORE the fact that he looks soft and fun to cuddle (I admit I want to glomp the tub of lard, leave me alone), and that his smile and small round glasses give him a friendly look. It's all part of his plan. Behind those delicate pieces of glass over his eyes is a golden pool of nothing but a sinister evil and/or insanity. All in all, the Millennium Earl is very well constructed; he can easily hide his evil intentions and mask them with a friendly fat man/thing. He looks good, but is by no means good looking.

Overall, the artwork is gorgeous and Hoshino-sensei receives extra credit due to the fact that she is a female mangaka publishing a shounen series. As I'm sure some, if not most of you are aware, female mangakas have a very distinct drawing style which include giving their male characters REALLY BIG FUCKING HANDS and REALLY BROAD FUCKING SHOULDERS. I've also noticed that they give their female characters a very subtle figure. But hey, I haven't read many shoujo manga so mer, I might be wrong. Another well known female mangaka is Arakawa-sensei, the genius behind Fullmetal Alchemist. Surprisingly, I've seen many fanmade omake's featuring Ed and Allen together; apparently, they're similar. I suppose in a sense they are, but that's a story for another day.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

There are currently 2 OST's for DGM. I only have the first and so can only comment on the first. Truth be told, there are only approximately 4 songs out of the 30 or so that I like BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT WHAT THE TITLE SUGGESTS. Two of these songs are related to Yu Kanda and the melody of each song is either led by a Japanese flute or just sounds Japanese. KANDA IS JAPANESE. Can you connect the dots? Superb. The first of Kanda's songs is very strong and dare I say, FREAKING EPIC, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Kanda too much. The second of the two of Kanda's songs is very deserving of someone like Kanda; it is powerful and fast paced, symbolising that Kanda stops for no one. The other two songs I developed an attachment to are Lala's Lullaby and The Rewinding Town. Both of these are hard for me to explain so you'll just have to believe me when I say they really suit the arcs they were first introduced in. Oh, as I was typing another song came to mind titled 'Road Kamelot'. Obviously, this is the theme of the Noah I consider second most popular; Road Kamelot. It is playful just like she is with just the right amount of chill. It sends shivers down my spine. No, really, it does.

As for the remaining BGM tracks, according to memory, none of them contained any sort of sounds akin to techno or anything remotely modern for that matter, which is very important as DGM is set in a late 19th century. The classical instruments really do help to set the scene and subconsciously reminds us of the time frame. Well done Wada Kaoru. You did a magnificent job.

Moving on to the opening and ending themes of DGM. There are three openings so far in the anime and they all got progressively better; just when I thought that nothing could top 'INNOCENT SORROW', 'Brightdown' comes along and blows it out of the water. Don't even get me started on how 'Doubt & Trust' completely owned 'Brightdown', despite it being a techno/rock hybrid as opposed to rock. In terms of how well the music fit in with the animation though, 'Brightdown' and 'Doubt & Trust' come in as a tie. the animation scenes in 'Brightdown' were well synchronized with the music and I just loved the imagery provided when the cube of Innocence floated between the space between the Earth and the Moon before it cuts a shot of Allen and the Millennium Earl. It also helped that at that time the lyrics of the song are along the lines of 'the future is placed far away'. I loved it. It meant a lot to me, or do I just read too much into things? Bah.
On the other hand, 'Doubt & Trust' begins with a very sexy piano intro and sounds like a song from a famous composer who I can't seem to the remember the name of right now 'cause I'm a noob. Backing the piano are the chords of an electric guitar and it gave me pleasant chills when I heard it for the first time. (because I just love the piano). The beat then kicks in and I also wet myself (exaggeration, of course) at how awesome it sounded. What made this opening one of the best is how the animation scenes pertain to future events. The downside of that is, of course, the spoilers which is what disappointed me. There is an abundance of spoilers in this opening, such as Allen's true Innocence and the appearance of a level 3 Akuma, but it managed to maintain a hint of mystery as the opening came with images of characters we didn't know yet, unless we read the manga... and.. er.. yeah. Damn... that sentence was going so well too...

Now, time to comment on the voice acting! Hurray!

Allen Walker is voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, a FEMALE if you hadn't guessed already. Kobayashi doesn't use a deep voice, unlike Paku Romi who voices Ed Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist (*Shoves Hitsugaya from Bleach to one side*), which is just as well because Allen with a deep voice is blasphemy in itself. It's not a very smooth voice, which hints at uncertainty for me and that makes him cute. His voice is soft and gentle but it can be angry when the occasion calls for it. Being honest here, I simply can't wait until later on in the anime when you really get to see Allen pissed off. x3

Lenalee Lee's voice actor is Itou Shizuka and is your standard teenaged female voice. There isn't really much that I can say here other then it's girly and it really fits? I'm hoping for a slight change when Lenalee gets stronger...

Lavi's voice actor! Whoo, I actually know this one without having to look it up; Suzumura Kenichi! This voice has a very nasal quality to it, though not as much as Midorikawa Hikaru and someone else I don't remember now... It's also a very cheeky and playful voice, which is perfect for portraying that side of Lavi. I'm very happy with this selection, though my opinion here might be biased since I'm Lavi obsessed.

Kanda's voice actor surprised me greatly, though I recognised it as soon as I heard it. For those of you who watch Bleach, yes, it's Kira, the TRUE emo of that series. Going from someone as wussy as Kira to somebody as bitchy as Kanda was certainly a surprise, but that's not to say it was an unpleasant surprise. I was actually expecting a smooth, loud voice for Kanda, something along the lines of... Sasuke? (PLEASE don't ask) But Sakurai Takahiro does a good job with Kanda's personality, especially the times when it sounds like he's biting out his words. I love it.

There are quite a number of voice actors who are also starring in other popular anime such as Bleach, Rental Magica and from her minimal lines of speech, I picked up Klaud Nine's voice actor as Tsunade's from Naruto's, which is just perfect for me because I loved Tsunade.
In the end, it's quite a line up and I'm more than happy to say I'm satisfied with it.

Rating

7 (above average)

Presentation

OKIE DOKIE. Now to wrap this bundle up! First off; THE ANIME IS POO. It phails (AND pales) in comparison to the manga. The main reason for this is that about 70% of the anime is filler? But wait, there's more! Even canon events felt like filler, but because it was somewhat canon, it was still good. Some of the humor was dumbed down much to my disappointment and it really does take away from the over all experience, in my opinion. DGM is not a hardcore (pardon the expression) series; it's SUPPOSED to contain a few laughs and even though it still delivers them, I was upset at how different it was from the manga, particularly the episode about Komurin II. Ugh, that was a complete failure.

Nevertheless, the anime is still somewhat enjoyable, if not a little frustrating. Even though DGM's fanbase is rather large, it's not as large as it could be if the anime didn't completely kill the manga, but hey, better than nothing. It just angers me that people judge a series by the anime. A few months back on an anime blog, I recall someone saying they hated DGM after watching the very first episode. That really got on my nerves as they didn't even bother glancing at the manga before dismissing it entirely. After all, it's rare for an anime to transcend it's manga counterpart, isn't it? Don't judge a book by it's cover. :/

In the end, I give presentation a 6. It's good, but not great. My closing comment?

READ THE MANGA, THEN WATCH THE ANIME.

...INNOCENCE HATSUDOU!! (Sorry, I just HAD to do it)

Rating

6 (average)

Final Verdict

7.00 (above average)

Reviewed by xx-ataraxia, 33wk 1d ago