D.gray-man Review
Nov. 12th, 2009 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foryouranimeAfter watching the first few episodes of D.gray-man, a friend turned to me and said, “Wow, it’s kind of dark for a kids’ show.” Yes, compared to the other shonen anime on tv at the time (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece), it was darker. A young orphan (because you can’t have a shonen story without an orphaned main character) sells his soul to bring back to life the man who was like a father to him, only to have him come back as an evil body-snatching weapon o’ evil. Luckily Young Orphan Boy, hence to be known as Allen, escapes with only a scar over one eye and the ability to see other evil body-snatching weapons o’ evil, called Akuma. Oh, and he also learns that he’s something called an Exorcist and must team up with other Exorcists to hunt down the Akuma and their maker, the Millennium Earl.
The show is dark--there’s no denying that--but that’s what made me fall in love with it! It also balances the dark, soul-crushing angst storylines with pure delightful cracktastic ones. And once we’ve laughed away the depression from the last story arch, often thanks to the wacky Exorcists’ Science Division, we are plunged once again into another story where “bad things happen.”
The characters are fleshed out wonderfully. You have no idea who will become a major character and who is just the damsel-in-distress of the month. I always find it a nice surprise when I’ve resigned myself to saying au revoir to a minor character when a storyline has drawn to its close only to discover that not only will that minor character be sticking around, but they will be kicking much butt as they do so!
The animation is beautiful. It’s a bit jarring if you are coming over from the manga, which has its own unique gothic style. A lot of people complained when the anime first came out that it was “too” beautiful. The motion and fight scenes are awesome and thankfully we get a lot of them. The background theme music made me giggle the first time I heard it because it does seem to borrow a lot from Harry Potter’s Hogwart’s theme, but it’s easily gotten over.
If nothing in this article convinces you that this is a series worth seeing, maybe this will: EVEN THE FILLER EPISODES ARE GOOD!! Ah, filler episodes. They are famous for killing the Rurouni Kenshin anime series and for making everyone want to spork out their eyes at the TWO YEARS of Naruto filler. (Sharks in Ninja vests! Argh!) But D.gray’s filler is…good. It’s enjoyable! It even enhances the plot! Gasp! It helps that both the manga writer and a novelist worked together to come up with the filler storylines. They fill in gaps that happen in the manga storyline, give personality and back story to characters we briefly met, and just make the overall story a bit more satisfying.
For those of you who aren’t fans of multiple episode fight scenes, maybe this won’t be your thing. Fans of other shonen titles should definitely give this a try. I think it’s one of the worthier titles Jump has put out in recent years.
for all your news and reviews.... http://www.foryouranime.com
The show is dark--there’s no denying that--but that’s what made me fall in love with it! It also balances the dark, soul-crushing angst storylines with pure delightful cracktastic ones. And once we’ve laughed away the depression from the last story arch, often thanks to the wacky Exorcists’ Science Division, we are plunged once again into another story where “bad things happen.”
The characters are fleshed out wonderfully. You have no idea who will become a major character and who is just the damsel-in-distress of the month. I always find it a nice surprise when I’ve resigned myself to saying au revoir to a minor character when a storyline has drawn to its close only to discover that not only will that minor character be sticking around, but they will be kicking much butt as they do so!
The animation is beautiful. It’s a bit jarring if you are coming over from the manga, which has its own unique gothic style. A lot of people complained when the anime first came out that it was “too” beautiful. The motion and fight scenes are awesome and thankfully we get a lot of them. The background theme music made me giggle the first time I heard it because it does seem to borrow a lot from Harry Potter’s Hogwart’s theme, but it’s easily gotten over.
If nothing in this article convinces you that this is a series worth seeing, maybe this will: EVEN THE FILLER EPISODES ARE GOOD!! Ah, filler episodes. They are famous for killing the Rurouni Kenshin anime series and for making everyone want to spork out their eyes at the TWO YEARS of Naruto filler. (Sharks in Ninja vests! Argh!) But D.gray’s filler is…good. It’s enjoyable! It even enhances the plot! Gasp! It helps that both the manga writer and a novelist worked together to come up with the filler storylines. They fill in gaps that happen in the manga storyline, give personality and back story to characters we briefly met, and just make the overall story a bit more satisfying.
For those of you who aren’t fans of multiple episode fight scenes, maybe this won’t be your thing. Fans of other shonen titles should definitely give this a try. I think it’s one of the worthier titles Jump has put out in recent years.
for all your news and reviews.... http://www.foryouranime.com
