(L) D.Gray-man (Season 2)

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by Srin Tuar

Please, if there is any redeeming merit to this series, someone convince me.

I'll agree that Ep.1 was mediocre, putting animation quality aside.

I'd say that this series's redeeming value is how it's a well-done cocktail mix of successful shounen aspects. The comedy shines at later parts, the characters are quirky and likable, there are 2 (( or 3 )) arcs in particular that is both intense and emotional, and the art as a whole is good. Frankly, the anime design pales in comparison to the more girly bishie look in the manga.

It follows mostly the same value of a lot of shounen system, mediocre-ism at first and slowly gets better and better. The last 20 chapters or so of the manga is like a total opposite of the first 5 to 8 chapters of the manga in terms of quality.

[Karnot]

I also think chara design of this is rather ...weird. One time you have this hardcore-bloody scary monster, another time you have some guy who must have being thought out and drawn by a 10-yo kid. Like that one in the catacombs in the first volumes... the design just doesnt seem...whole.

[Tsukishirou]

Liked this. Reminds me of some other anime, but I can't remember which.

[Mangaka-chan]

I think the "doodle-looking" picture from the anime were actually based on frames from the manga so I don't really find them that odd (other than the fact that it's colored now instead of black and white).

[deathbygirl]

Originally Posted by Tsukishirou

Reminds me of some other anime, but I can't remember which.

Haha, don't know if we're thinking about the same show, but this screamed Shakugan no Shana to me (for better or worse).

[dxgarten]

Originally Posted by Sakuya

Episode 1 subbed has just been released by SD. They said it's a "barebones release" where there is no karaoke FX but it is translated and edited. I guess I will take their word on it. Can't wait to get home.

Edit:
Oh yeah, someone asked this but it was never answered. What exactly were censored in this episode?

I can only remember two and they are nothing extraordinary but....

Spoiler:

There is a scene where Mark gets Akuma stuffed through his mouth and his body spasming frantically (you only see the shadow reflected on Millenium Earl in this episode)

They took out the reference about Mark and Crea being priest and nun who got married to one another.

[SilverChakra]

Is thisn anime worth watchin? I haven't read the manga. But there's like tons of new animes coimng all the time and I can't keep up with it. It's hard to know which will be good and which will be not so good ^^;

[demonik]

The manga is awesomely awesome!

But...the anime is yet to be rated...

Though the designs just seemed based off the manga, i guess they look odd because they're moving and lacks the whole lot of shading and such the author usually puts in, which lessens the whole effect...

[mankey]

First episode gave me Chrno Crusade vibes, which I kinda liked... for awhile. But I've heard the manga is good so I'll continue to watch this! I hope they make a stop at a good story point instead of making up their own ending/go fillers if they catch up to the manga (which do not seem to have Naruto quantity of chapters as of now).

[-KarumA-]

Originally Posted by Sakuya

Episode 1 subbed has just been released by SD. They said it's a "barebones release" where there is no karaoke FX but it is translated and edited. I guess I will take their word on it. Can't wait to get home.

Edit:
Oh yeah, someone asked this but it was never answered. What exactly were censored in this episode?

ill check that out when i get back from work ille dit then hold on

EDIT :

Spoiler for edits in the episode 1:

when Charles was hanging against the pillar and the stars popped up over his face there was no hole in his chest which was there in the manga version

at the point cat, Allen and Moa got blown in the cathedral by the Akuma bullet, when Allen holds the cat there is no blood on his hands, int he manga the cat was also bleeding before it exploded

also whent he Akuma started shooting at the cops and Gabe there was no real detail of them being 'hit'as in a no holes in their bodies

a major re edit

in the anime Marc and Claire maried when Claire died, in the manga Marc took care of Claire and her sister Moa, Marc was a priest but soon married Claire who also started to work for the church, Moa had an arguement with her sister about her becoming a police officer, Claire was discussing this with Marc while she sat at an orchel thingy which had a huge metal cross hanging above it, Marc confinced hr that Claire must trust in Moa's heart, when she does agree with him the cross falls down on top of her and she died, Marc lost his fate in God when she passed away in the accident, dug her up again when the Millenium Earl appeared before him

and the spirit appearance of Claire is imaged as a nun in the manga instead of a bride

also did anyone who also watches Hack/ROOTS notice that the voice of Millenium Earl is like the old cat character from roots, you know who i mean, whom everyone always talks to on the bridge

[Deathkillz]

just finnished watching the subs and i dnt think it was that bad...
the part about the akuma a bit cheesy but overall its a nice ep1...maybe ill watch a few more to decide wheather to drop or not

[Glitch87]

my advice to ppl who plan to watch this show.

dont expect it to be a realistic or well thought out plot like FMA. It really isn't. Quite simple actually. Good vs. evil.

watch the show for:
1. The action. This is a shounen anime with action, like OP, Bleach, or Naruto and DBZ. Expect the same "omg wtf ownage" factor that you get from these shows.
2. The Comedy: The way the characters relate to eachother, and a lot of the situations are pure gold. Theres definitely a lot of comedy admist the grim setting.
3. The Story: Even though it's not a masterful piece of literature, it still manages to have a good story with plenty of exciting moments that will be HOLY SHIT awesome!

In short, just sit back laugh and cry as you watch the adventures of Allen Walker the exorcist =D...

One more thing... You are going to see a lot of wierd things in this show. It's gruesome yet lighthearted. You will get used to it. Definitely do not drop it, for the love of god. pun intended.

[Kuwanger]

Ok, ill watch the show for that.

[JerseyDevil]

Originally Posted by Glitch87

my advice to ppl who plan to watch this show.

dont expect it to be a realistic or well thought out plot like FMA. It really isn't. Quite simple actually. Good vs. evil.

watch the show for:
1. The action. This is a shounen anime with action, like OP, Bleach, or Naruto and DBZ. Expect the same "omg wtf ownage" factor that you get from these shows.
2. The Comedy: The way the characters relate to eachother, and a lot of the situations are pure gold. Theres definitely a lot of comedy admist the grim setting.
3. The Story: Even though it's not a masterful piece of literature, it still manages to have a good story with plenty of exciting moments that will be HOLY SHIT awesome!

In short, just sit back laugh and cry as you watch the adventures of Allen Walker the exorcist =D...

One more thing... You are going to see a lot of wierd things in this show. It's gruesome yet lighthearted. You will get used to it. Definitely do not drop it, for the love of god. pun intended.

My impressions of the first episode are similar to Srin Tuar's. Overall, it seemed underwhelming considering all the hype it's been receiving. I never read the manga, so I'll take your word that the series should be killer, but so far I'm feeling abit doubtful about that.

While the character designs are interesting, I felt the animation and execution was abit cumbersome. The action was just ho-hum and very brief. Also, alot of the character interplay seemed awkward to me, mostly because of the out of place dialogue. Like Tuar mentioned, the police inspector's astute logic had me rolling my eyes. Was that scene supposed to be an attempt at humor? And I always hate it when characters hold long conversations/explanation with each other while the badguy (Akuma) stands idly by right in front of them. That must've been an awfully polite evil demon to allow Moore (Mao?) and Allen to finish up their chat.

[Guido]

Let me say this: I Have NEVER Read the Manga

However, I did my research regarding this anime, so I won't be asking beginners' questions that will obviously be answered eventually in the anime.

Making that aside, here's what I think of D.Gray-man

What a blast to start the autumn season and prepare the mood for Halloween. Episode one packed a punch at everything not going at extreme sideaways, switching from one mood to the other.

Allen is a dutiful exorcist who means on taking caution while doing his job and ensuring that innocent people won't get struck in the line of fire. However, he's not the type to sternly take his demon hunting as an overzealous fanatic.
On the surface and for most of the time he's just your average human being, lax and comfortable with pleasures of a simple and modest life. Moreover, I find highly imaginative the use of 'Demons' meant to be more of techno-organic weapons taking on shapes of dangerous machinery while wearing literally live human bodies.
The whole concept of tormented souls bound by a chain of destiny to a human in despair reminds just a little bit of Bleach's Hollows turning from wandering souls. But this is a totally different scope.
The 'Akuma' and their transformations bring forth some nasty imagery taken from horror fantasy; I for my case particularly liken them with the first two Hellraiser films.

The deal is I know that the Earl of the Millenium is the so referenced 'manufacturer', that Allen kindly bother to give the introductory course about the birth of Akuma.
I found him wicked but cool character that I could not bring myself to hate just for now. Honestly, both his nasty grin and psychotic eyes bring me memories of Hellsing's Alucard.
What type of creature is he.

Other similarities or parallels that I found was Allen's trademark arm. I could easily choose to make the comparison with FMA's Edward Elric's FullMetal arm, however, Allen's closely resembles an Oni no Te (Ogre's hand)
Another character who possess a demon's hand is Nueno Meisuke from Jigoku Sensei Nube, and that guy happens to be an exorcist though from a different league than Allen.

Lastly, the setting and gothic mood I mostly associate more so with Edgan Allan Poe's dark stories. Particularly, cute and dark picture-book illustrations when Allen is explaining about the 'Akuma'.
D.Gray-man brought me nostalgic memories about Chrno Crusade, but because of the era and settings. But I can realise that it also carries scientific style to that of FMA mixed with its unique comedy flair.

Simply, I love anything from the 1890's to 1930's time era brought live to the screen for sci-fi, fantasy stories than involved the occult, alchemy, mechanics, and funny protagonists like Allen for D.Gray-man

Count me in to follow each of the episodes.

[Glitch87]

id say you have the gist of it. but heres my comparison ingredients.

1/3 chrono crusade
1/3 naruto
1/3 bleach

[-KarumA-]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

just finnished watching the subs and i dnt think it was that bad...
the part about the akuma a bit cheesy but overall its a nice ep1...maybe ill watch a few more to decide wheather to drop or not

you cant judge Gray-man just by the 1st episode, as the episodes go on like Naruto you get a whole ray of side characters and a deeper story line, i would suggest people that wyne about not going to watch this after seeing the first episode to keep watching, i read the manga i know how itll turn out to, you'll love it specially cause Gray-man has the potential to be in the popularity cathegory with FMA, Naruto and Bleach to my opinion, but you cant judge it from the 1st episode alone, there is no real storyline base on things that are really going on, its more of a character introduction episode in which there is also explenation of who the bad guy is but you havent seen any of the real action just yet

[lommm]

seriously. by about episode 12 or so the action will already startt getting pretty crazy. if people don't like ep01, maybe wait a few weeks, dl several eps at once and then see what you think.

[Scribble]

Originally Posted by Glitch87

my advice to ppl who plan to watch this show.

dont expect it to be a realistic or well thought out plot like FMA. It really isn't. Quite simple actually. Good vs. evil.

watch the show for:
1. The action. This is a shounen anime with action, like OP, Bleach, or Naruto and DBZ. Expect the same "omg wtf ownage" factor that you get from these shows.
2. The Comedy: The way the characters relate to eachother, and a lot of the situations are pure gold. Theres definitely a lot of comedy admist the grim setting.
3. The Story: Even though it's not a masterful piece of literature, it still manages to have a good story with plenty of exciting moments that will be HOLY SHIT awesome!

Really? I'm slightly disappointed. I thought that D.Grayman would be a "slightly more mature" shounen like FMA was. I never get a "omg wtf ownage" factor from those shows you compared it to, only "omg wtf cheesy" factor. Except One Piece. One Piece is just brilliant, but I don't watch it for the fighting scenes. I like it for the unique character concepts and the fact that it has such a strong main cast where I like all the characters.

The thing is, I would love these shounen action shows even more if the fighting scenes were actually good. Utawarerumono's fighting scenes were repetitive, but what was shown was satisfying.

I doubt I'll watch it for the comedy either, if it's similar to what was found in the first episode. What I did like about D.Grayman's first episode was the fact that it had a certain atmosphere (which is what One Piece does well too, it really makes you feel as if you are at sea too).

[Nightengale]

Actually, D.Gray-Man is a slightly more mature shounen. But just like so many other shounens, the cream of D.Gray-Man's crop doesn't really start to shine until later, where it starts to be emotionally nerving and downright powerful. It's nowhere close to One Piece, but frankly, very few can match One Piece.

But the main problem is... D.Gray-Man's current manga chapter isn't that far off from the cream. Probably only like...30 chapters apart.