D Gray Man (PG)

D. Gray Man
Storyline ****
Graphics *****
Character Structure ****
Soundtrack *****
Entertainment ****


I almost feel like I'm giving this one a bit too much credit but I thought this anime was really impressive. The end of the 'series' wound down in a slow way but if you disregard that, this was a great anime.

This anime spans 103 episodes so if someone decides to watch this, a little bit of time investment is necessary. It consists of two seasons (episodes 1-51 and then 52-103) and often features cliffhangers at the end of episodes. I ended up watching this in about a week thanks to those cliffhangers.

The world of D. Gray Man is set in a fantasy world where exorcists destroy monsters called 'akumas'. These akumas are evolving machines that feed on humans created by the Millennium Earl. The story follows the adventure of a young fifteen year old Allen Walker who is an exorcist able to see through the human guises of the akuma. He ends up joining the Black Order which is an organization full of exorcists to stop the Millennium Earl. Allen groups up with other exorcists like Lenalee Lee, Yu Kanda, and Levi (and others) to gather innocence which can be made into weapons to fight against the akuma.

The story moved along great for the most part. I was definitely excited to watch each new episode... until the second season. The story goes a bit stale there and I'm not here to spoil it so I'll do my best to bring up examples from other animes and games. Dragon Ball, for example, when Goku 'died' and you had the watch the story unfold without him while watching him train in heaven. That story arc grew stale. In Final Fantasy VII during the part when Cloud comes back from the Mako Stream and he's a big blubbering mess so you have to play as Cid to progress the storyline. That part of the story was also stale. Either way, the point is that you take the protagonist away and advance the storyline without the character. The story often grows stale. I personally absolutely abhor splitting characters up like that. I feel as though I'm watching two animes at that point.

As stale as the second season may have been, it was still awesome as far as the story went. There were many exciting parts and unexpected events that seemed to unfold at just the right moments. However, because the anime caught up to the manga too quickly, the show had to end on a cliffhanger. There is still no news that there will be a continuation of the story through another season or show.

But moving on... the anime itself was definitely shonen style. There were lots of action scenes with great amounts of variation. Basically, it avoided using the same 'finishing move' to defeat each enemy (*cough* Pokemon *cough*). It wasn't too hectic either and because the art was so clear and crisp, it didn't hurt to watch it for a long period of time. Needless to say, I was extremely impressed with the art of the show. It was very obvious that time and effort went in to make the anime look good. If you can't take my word for it that the show looked great, go check deviant art. Many people replicate the art just because it is that good.

Let me discuss the soundtrack a little. I loved the soundtrack for this anime so much that I'm out looking to get the full ost online. I love classical and I love gypsy style music better known as Romani music. Each song played in very memorable scenes in the show so I imagine it's hard for someone to not fall in love with the music. The songs are so memorable that I have even gotten sheet music to play on my piano. Even if someone doesn't watch the show, I think they would enjoy just listening to the ost. It's just that good.

The last two topics to finish this entry would be the character structures and entertainment. The characters are very dynamic. The diversity of character personalities is something I look for in animes and D Gray Man did not disappoint. I feel that for entertainment industries, it's better when you can 'stereotype' characters. This allows the viewer to familiarize themselves with the characters faster and even sympathize with them faster. It also helped that there was a sob story for each character as well. This allowed me to grow to like even Arystar Krory who I tried very hard not to like (the vampire image was RUINED). The main characters played well with the tertiary characters who also had their own background stories and definitive personalities. This is yet another animes that did well in allowing the viewer to immerse themselves in the world of the show by providing adequate backgrounds to all characters and providing enough characters with enough screen time that various people could relate to.

I gave D Gray man four stars for entertainment because even despite the second season, the show was entertaining. I may have dreaded watching the episodes knowing it's going to switch back and forth between protagonist and the rest of the crew but that isn't to say that the scenes involved in switching back and forth wasn't entertaining. As I've mentioned above, I watched many episodes in one sitting and did it gladly. I feel that this anime really didn't disappoint and is well worth the investment in time required to watch the show.