Review for D. Gray-Man: Series 1 Part 2

Introduction

Every year sees a new gateway drug for anime come to our shores, something nice, entertaining, middle of the road, that appeals to broad audiences, without being too quirky or off the wall, or liable to cause any offence. As so often happens, these shows tend to fall to Manga Entertainment, and given that these shows usually run to three digit episode counts, and it's Manga who have cornered the market in 13 episode boxsets, that's a good thing. Just like Naruto and Bleach before it, D. Gray-Man is a show that will appeal to broad, and more importantly young audiences. It's the sort of show that serves as an introduction to anime as a medium, and hopefully leads on to bigger and brighter things. This winter's release of the first volume introduced a show that was really quite entertaining, with interesting characters and a compelling story. It's also just a little quirky, and composed of more than a few shades of darkness. Also because it is of a limited run, it appears to be free of the filler and bloat that mar shows like Naruto and Bleach. D. Gray-Man may just be the perfect package to entice a new generation of anime fans.

It's the end of the 19th Century, and a 15-year-old exorcist named Allen Walker comes to Britain to join the Black Order, a group of exorcists tasked with keeping the world safe from Akuma, or demons. Long ago in the mists of antiquity, there was a war between the ancients and the Millennium Earl. The Millennium Earl sought to destroy the world and he did so by creating Akuma, mechanical demons, fusions of machine, a soul and a tragedy, feeding on human souls to evolve into ever more powerful killing machines. The only thing that could stop them was a fantastic substance known as Innocence, and weapons fashioned from it were the only things known to destroy Akuma. 109 fragments of Innocence were scattered around the world during the Great Flood, and now the Black Order searches for it to use in their fight against the Millennium Earl, while at the same time, the Millennium Earl seeks it to destroy it. Allen has a piece of Innocence embedded in his disfigured left hand, giving him the ability to sense and destroy Akuma. Together with the Black Order, he joins the battle against the Millennium Earl.


Manga Entertainment releases the next 13 episodes of D. Gray-Man in a two-disc collection.

Disc 1

14. The Leaf of Revival
15. Beyond the Snowstorm
Allen's next mission is to investigate a region where odd and bizarre weather occurs, extreme cold followed by unbearable heat. Such weirdness could very well be caused by Innocence, and the seriousness with which the rumour is being treated becomes clear when exorcists, Bookman, Lavi and Yu Kanda are also assigned on the mission. Sure enough, the village is afflicted by extremes of weather, and the first thing they do is rescue an old man and his daughter who have collapsed in a snowdrift. Well, all except Kanda, who as usual insists on focusing on the mission. Given that one of the Clan of Noah, Skin Boric is there with three evolved Akuma is surely an indication of Innocence in the area, but there is a spanner in the works. The old man and his daughter aren't there for their health. They are looking for the legendary Leaf of Revival, with which they wish to restore the girl's younger brother to life. The old man accuses the exorcists of trying to steal it before him, but Allen is concerned that the old man's obsession is leading him down the path to disaster.


16. Millennium Swordsman
17. Pride of the Swordsman
There's a legend in Italy. A thousand years ago, a beautiful daughter was born to a rich noble. Sandra however was adamant that she would only marry the strongest man in the world, the one man who could defeat her family's best warrior, Vittorio. As time passed, warriors came and failed, and eventually Sandra died of an illness. But since then, Vittorio has remained, testing warrior after warrior, unrelenting even after a millennium. It's a nice legend, but now Yu Kanda has gone missing on a mission to Italy to retrieve some Innocence. Allen and Lenalee are sent after him to find out what has happened, and they wander into an Italian town in a state of mayhem. The daughter and heir to a rich merchant family, Claudia Sardini has been kidnapped on the eve of her engagement to the noble Paletti family, and the town is full of bounty hunters looking to claim on a reward. It's also full of Akuma searching for a delicious bit of Innocence. But there's no sign of Yu, and there's a mysterious swordsman in the local coliseum.

18. Lenalee's Love
Lenalee is spending a lot of time with Russell, and what's more, the two of them are being discreet around her brother Komui. That's enough to raise the overprotective brother instincts, and soon Komui is on the warpath, determined to protect his sister's innocence at all costs. When the would-be couple go on a date to the nearby town, Komui risks mayhem by resurrecting Komlin II. It's up to Allen and the other exorcists to keep the town safe.


19. Vampire of the Solitary Castle
20. Go for it, Exorcists

Disc 2

21. Krory Attacks
22. The Truth About Eliade
23. The Vampire Whom I Loved
The search for Allen's mentor General Cross continues, and with a rumoured sighting in a quiet village in the mountains, Allen is assigned the mission of investigating. When the train arrives, the villagers who have been desperately awaiting the arrival of an exorcist meet him eagerly, although given that they are armed with pitchforks, it doesn't appear to bode well for Allen. In fact the villagers are more concerned with the local vampire, Baron Krory, and ever since he started feasting on villagers at random, they've been waiting for an exorcist to deal with him. It's a recent development though, previously the Baron was an unlive and let live type. But there's more to this than meets the eye. From his castle above, the Baron surveys the village while supping from a mysterious blonde girl, and the village itself is infested with Akuma. The more Allen investigates, the more it seems that this vampire has very peculiar tastes, he only drinks from the veins of Akuma.

24. Krory's New Beginning
The exorcists have a new recruit, erstwhile vampire, and actual accommodator of Innocence, Arystar Krory. Allen and Lavi get to escort him back to the Black Order, but as they soon learn, Krory is an absolute innocent. He's been sheltered and isolated in his castle, and with his first exposure to the real world, he's a ripe target for those who would take advantage.


25. The General's Chains
26. The Beginning of the End
Allen's next mission seems to be a simple one, delivering a package to General Yeegar in the Netherlands. Of course given his experience being raised by General Cross, Allen is understandably wary of those of high rank, but Yeegar turns out to be a kindly schoolteacher type, who can scythe through Akuma with the greatest of ease. It's only a brief respite for the exorcists, as this is the moment that the Millennium Earl puts his pernicious plan into motion. He wants Innocence, or rather one specific piece, the Heart of Innocence. Whoever possesses the Heart can control all the other Innocence in the world. Yeegar, being a General has access to Innocence, lots of it, and he becomes the first target for the Earl, but it isn't just Akuma that he has to face, this time he'll have to fight Road Kamelot and Tyki Mikk of the Clan of Noah.

Picture

D. Gray-Man comes in a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen flavour, as all modern anime are wont to do. It's an NTSC-PAL conversion of course, although it's a relatively benign one, light on ghosting and judder, although you can't get away from the softness of image. The animation itself lacks the sophistication and detail that shorter series usually get. On the other hand it's certainly not as crude or limited as long running shows like Naruto or Bleach. Certainly there is a far more robust continuity in character design, and the action sequences aren't scrimped on. All in all, D. Gray-Man is a very pleasant watch. And the creepy, spooky nature of the story is well reflected in the atmospheric world design and darker palette. Although with seven or six episodes to a disc, you won't be surprised to see a tad more compression than usual, especially in the frenetic action sequences and the opening credits.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 English, and DD 2.0 Japanese with optional translated subtitles and a signs only track. The surround is quite nice in an action show, but the dub is nothing too spectacular. It consists of energetic and lively performances of the sort that you find in anime aimed at a younger demographic. Although I have to admit that my gratitude is infinite for the blessing that is the absence of the usual Dick Van Dyke accents applied to anime set in Blighty. In fact, most of the denizens of this alternate British Isles are thankfully neutral American in accent. Of course I opted for the original Japanese dialogue as always, and while the stereo isn't as emphatic as the surround track, it does its job well enough. There's a new end theme, and already I miss Snow Kiss.

Extras

Both discs get static menus and a jacket picture to look at when the disc isn't spinning.

Once again, Disc 1 gets the audio commentary, while Disc 2 gets the textless credit sequences. The audio commentary accompanies episode 18, and features Line Producer Christopher R. Sabat, along with Recording Engineer Rawley Pickens, as they play spot the voice artist in another inconsequential Funimation yak track. Also while the textless end credit may be labelled Snow Kiss, it is actually the new end theme that plays.

Conclusion

So, you have an interesting premise of exorcists and mechanical demons, you have a peach of a villain in the Millennium Earl, and you have an interesting story that stretches back thousands of years, a mythology that encompasses the Flood and the Clan of Noah, and you've just spent thirteen episodes in putting the story into motion. What do you do next? Well, according to D. Gray-Man, you do it all over again. This second instalment, thirteen further episodes in the world of D. Gray-Man, goes practically nowhere. Worse than putting the show into neutral and letting it coast, it actually goes backwards, and repeats what has come before. Entertaining it may be, but it certainly doesn't advance the story any, it doesn't develop the characters further, and it most certainly doesn't satisfy, if like me what you most appreciate about a story is finding out what happens next. In fact, until the final two episodes, I was about to give up D. Gray-Man as a lost cause. Fortunately, at the end it's as if someone remembered that they actually had a story to tell.


In this set of discs, we get more Akuma of the week episodes, which sees rumours of Innocence propelling Allen and his new found exorcist buddies, Lenalee, Yu Kanda or Lavi heading off to investigate, invariably coming face to face with various demons that they wind up fighting. To keep things a little interesting, we get different guest characters, such as the old man and his daughter looking for the secret of resurrection, and the eternal swordsman and the modern day female doppelganger that he has fixated on. Then there is the obligatory comedy episode, motivated by Komui's unhealthy obsession with his kid sister Lenalee. Previously it was the mayhem that resulted when he created the Komlin II robot. This time there are more Komlins to deal with, once his jealousy is ignited when it seems that Lenalee may be on a date… with a man…


Then, just as in the previous set, there is the lengthy story arc, some five episodes long. Previously, the exorcists found an accommodator, someone who can use Innocence to become an exorcist themselves. Miranda Lotto was an interesting character, gothic in appearance, and morose of outlook, who courtesy of an Innocence infested grandfather clock had sent her town into Groundhog Day. This time around it's a reclusive character named Arystar Krory. He thinks he's a vampire, and since he has the fangs and the predilection for blood, it seems a safe bet. But the blood he craves only belongs to Akuma, and to make things interesting, it seems that he has fallen in love with one. Except that this story is totally uninteresting, mostly because Krory is such an annoying waste of space as a character, a whinging wimp of a vampire who spends his time in tears, lamenting his existence. There's no hook to his character, I certainly didn't find him sympathetic, and rather than enjoy the story, I was looking forward to its end. Also, the story isn't all that inspiring in itself. The Miranda Lotto arc had the resetting clock aspect, it also had the presence of Road Kamelot, advancing the story and introducing a new aspect of the Millennium Earl's plans, and it had Lenalee and Allen in genuine peril. Krory's tale occurs while the show is spinning its wheels, adding nothing much to the ongoing story, and certainly not putting the main characters in a position where they grow or advance.


Another comedy episode, this time centred around Krory's naivety and inexperience of the real world follows, but it's only the final two episodes of this set that actually move the story along. We meet General Yeegar, a super-exorcist so to speak, who can defeat Akuma without blinking, and there's also some discussion of Allen's past, and his place in the scheme of things. Character development aside, it's also where the wheels of the Millennium Earl's plans begin to turn, and we learn something more about his objectives. At the end of this volume it's clear that the preliminaries are over, the real game is about to begin, and we do leave on something of a positive note. It's just a shame that it couldn't have happened some ten episodes earlier.


The overall story and repetitive nature aside, these episodes are perfectly enjoyable as separate little story-ettes. There are good guys and bad guys, well-animated action sequences, and the characters play to their well-established stereotypes. If you want nothing more than to while away twenty odd minutes at a time, these will suffice. And my own personal dislike of the Arystar Krory character aside, his story does have a few interesting twists and turns in its run time. The second instalment of D. Gray-Man then is a run of the mill, average shonen show, boldly going where countless series have gone before. One note of caution before investing further in this series though; at the recent Anime Boston event, where Funimation were proudly announcing their newly acquired licences, they also made passing mention of D. Gray-Man, intimating that its sales numbers in the US weren't as rosy as expected. They stated that they would analyse the figures before making a decision on the second half of the series. While Manga has scheduled series 2, it surely raises a question mark over series 3 & 4. Dropping shows mid series is an affliction often suffered by Manga, no doubt because of their efforts to release shows not long after the US distributors, but it would be a shame if it happens here as well.