Forum - View topicD.Gray-man - Japanese broadcast.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11450 Location: Frisco, TX |
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D.Gray-man (TV) Genres: action, drama, horror, supernatural Themes: developing powers, monsters, superpowers Plot Summary: Allen Walker, a young man with a cursed eye, lives to destroy a weapon known as Akuma. These weapons created by the Milleneum Earl are sent out by his command to purge the world from humans. Allen Walker uses an anti-akuma weapon, Innocence, to counter the Earl's attempts at destroying humanity. He travels to the Black Order by his mentor's directions. There he meets with others who also fight against the Milleneum Earl's plans. But more questions start to appear as Allen and his friends move further along to reach their goal. And these questions that seem to connect to Allen's past. ---------------------------------- Okay, so I locked the thread ChronoBall X made because I felt the opener could've been much better. And being the big shounen fan I am, I thought I'd make (a better, more long-winded) one in his stead. I started the series about two months ago and think it's Good so far. I'd heard the name mentioned in referrence to the manga here and there, but never really bothered checking it out until I actually decided to read the plot summary, and it struck me to have some potential for a cool shounen series (I love supernatural themes, especially). I'll state the disclaimer right here because it's been mentioned (and should be apparent by now) that shounen titles share a lot of similiarites, whether it be design, story elements, atmosphere, or whatever. So don't try to turn those into an argument. To kick things off, I'll start by commending the concept. Basically, it's more good vs. evil; The Black Order (Exorcists) vs. (from I've learned at this point) The Millenium Earl and the Akuma (spoiler[ I see that they serve under an organization opposite Black Order, but I don't remember if they mentioned the name yet]). But to make things interesting (for me anyway) you've got the whole supernatural theme with the Akuma, Black Order, Anti-Akuma weapons, Innocence, Christian references, and probably lots more stuff to come. From what I've seen thus far, it feels to have a pretty good flair for the dramatic through some of the plot twists and what little character development that's been shown. You've got the optomistic, yet traumatized/tainted hero in Allen, the damsel fighter/sidekick in Lenalee, various forms of comedy relief from the research guys back at Order, and what seems like a merciless villain in The Earl (spoiler[ though I'm guessing there's more to his reasoning and motive after seeing Road Kamelot]). I'm not familiar with the animation company, but it looks pretty consistent and up to par enough that it doesn't bug me. The art is well-drawn, and full of dark color palletes (very suiting for the kind of world this is taking place in). And I really like the music after hearing so much of Kaoru Wada's stuff through Ninja Scroll and Inu Yasha. Anyone familiar with his style should be able to pick up the sound quality and some of the motifs he used in those scores. Voice acting is solid with Sanae Koboyashi (who I finished hearing not too long ago as Akira in Hikaru no Go, a very good performance), Takahiro Sakurai (always good at playing the skillful, yet angsty good guy), and a (possibly) brief role for the always-villainous (and awesomely rasp-voiced) Fumihiko Tachiki (it's true, he's always playing bad guys or anti-hero characters, just check his credits!). I'm sure the series will go on for quite a while judging that the manga isn't very far either, so we'll probably get filler at some point. But hopefully it won't be too bad (or at least as lame as episode 8 felt). I like it and see a lot of potential. I might even have to pick up the manga at this rate (before it gets really far). So, any opinions? Last edited by Tony K. on Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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I'm fairly caught up on the manga and I have great hopes for the anime. Yeah, there will likely be filler since they're blitzing through the existing material, but if they have an ounce of skill and talent they can do some interesting stuff with it because there is a point about two thrids along the story where they can easily go off on a bit of a tangent before pciking up the plot again.
I do enjoy the various Innocence and their effects, and can't wait to see where thngs go on this one. |
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TranceLimit174
 Posts: 963 |
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I gave the first episode a shot, and it didn't impress me enough to keep watching. One of my gripes was that after the first episode I got a Bleach vibe. Another monster of the week show, only instead of Hollows we have Akuma. It gave me a feeling of been there done that so it lost points on originality. Maybe it's just me but there seems to be this influx of series that focus around the church or some sort of holy order, which is something I'm not into so I didn't care for that angle. But there are 2 points which made the show very generic to me.
The animation quality. In the first episode of an action series, I do have slightly higher expectations when it comes to animation quality as visuals are an initial draw. D Gray Man failed in this area. Everything was standard, maybe slightly lower due to no real action being animated. My example being the big moment when the main character (can't remember his name) reveals his ability (the left arm transformation). We didn't really get a spiffy transformation, it just sort of happened. And then when he launched his attack, we don't even see him pierce the Akuma. Basically we were just still frames to show us what happened rather than using you know, animation. Action scenes in an action series shouldn't make me yawn, especially in the first episode. The series isn't violent enough. I know this sounds like a very odd criticism, but for some reason this aspect jumped out at me. It seemed to me that D-Gray Man wants to be graphic and have a distinct horror element, but since there's no real depiction of graphic violence scenes that should have a big impact fall flat. It reminded me of why Go Nagai is successful in his works. He strikes his audience with graphic visuals to help convey the nature of his scenes. The events had the potential to produce strong imagery that would leave an impression, but because it doesn't the overall story really takes a hit because of it. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11450 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Good point. I think the problem is being too graphic can either shy away the intended demographic or not pass some of the censors. At least from my recent memory, a lot of shounen titles aren't too bloody this day now (speaking of the anime only; I haven't read much manga). Although later in D.Gray-man, spoiler[ there was a part where Allen (the hero) got his Anti-Akuma arm nailed into a wall, then stabbed in the eye. They didn't show it in detail of course, but it was a pretty shrill scream with good sound effects and you see the blood on his face and a giant hole in his arm.]). It's no Berserk, but I'm not too bothered by a lack of violence in shounen titles. As long as the plot/characters are entertaining and the execution/directing is good, I'm happy. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Most of your concerns are adressed over the course of the series. There are more elements of violence (not uber-gory but at least Bleach level or more). The action does improve, I think the first ep might have been a bit light feeling in that because it was a direct translation of the first manga chapter, which had a very different feel than later chapters. |
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geishageek
 Posts: 571 Location: Pleasant Valley, NY |
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I'm current on the anime and I've read up to book 3 of the manga. I like it a lot so far. I was never really big into shounen anime until this year. D. Grayman I give a lot of credit to, because it is not trying to be something it isn't. It isn't overly emotional, it isn't super villian of the week type stuff either. It has a good plot that works well. It may have started a bit slow but the pace picked up and it running along quite smoothly.
I like this show because to me, yea it may be a bit cliche and it may seem like every other show out there, but its a good time. I never walk away saying that it wasn't a good episode. I may have seen a scene done before but it is pulled off well that it doesn't seem to get old. The characters are interesting and everyone has a story. I suggest to those who stopped watching after the first few episodes, give it another chance. It does get better. and Tony I completey agree that it has a lot of potential. I just wish the manga would come out faster here. 
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bennyb
 Posts: 477 |
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I'm not really bothered by the toned-down nature of the series. Its hardly a butcher job, if you want the more graphic stuff read the manga.
After watching 13 episodes I'm enjoying it. I like Akuma better than hollows because their design/concept is so utterly creepy. In fact alot about the series is creepy, the music, the characters, the art, it's great! Miranda is also a great character. Can't wait to see more of her! |
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Exaar
 Posts: 279 Location: Delaware |
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I've said this before, both on this forum and to my friends in real life: Never, EVER judge a show by it's first episode. Many of my favorite shows are mediocre until about episode 10, and then suddenly become amazingly awesome.
I can't say if D.Gray-Man is going to become 'amazingly awesome', but it certainly impoves from the first episode. I was not overly impressed by it either, but following my own creed I've stuck with it, and it does get much better. The introduction of the cast of supporting characters helps a lot, and we're just now starting to see actual villians (rather than Monster of the Week-types) showing up in about episode 10 or 11 with Road.. and more on the way, it would seem. Give it more of a shot. It's not a /great/ series, but so far it's proven worth the time invested to watch it. |
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free2slap
 Posts: 210 Location: New York |
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D.gray-man has the potential to be a great anime, but after 10 episodes it has really become tedious to watch. The concept "good Vs evil" ins't really that bad but the trend to prolong a fight for 3 or 4 episodes is what ruining it. I'm already having a bad time watching Bleach because of that same problem, they develop the story only through fighting. D.gray-man, One piece, Naruto, Bleach, they're all the same.
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kolibri
 Posts: 712 Location: Vancouver |
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True, and especially true for shounen fighting series. According to the noble genre formula established in Hokuto no Ken, first storyarc will be a warm-up to get to know the characters before the actual story kicks in. In D. Gray-Man the warm-up story is the Old Man of the Land and Aria of the Night Sky story - which by the way I found very touching and did the ground work for Allen's character well. We get the sense of the characters and their motivations, with some teasers into their background. Then with the The Rewinding Town story we start to get into the meat of things, to Millennium Earl and spoiler[Noah's Clan] - still nothing but teasers on what's to come (I assume - I've only read manga till the 3rd volume as published by Viz). Great promise though. I initially read the manga by Katsura Hoshino and fell completely in love with it with the powerful Aria story. I still prefer the manga (like I often do) - Hoshino's art is incredibly detailed and beautiful, it's not quite captured in the anime IMHO. So far I think this series has the potential to become a classic, but only time will tell how well the plot develops - the characters are pretty much there. Allen is one of those lovely pure-hearted heroes that instinctively does the right thing, and I love Sanae Kobayashi as his seiyuu. Kanda of course - but I'm a sucker for the broody angry characters like that. I was very surprised to like Lenalee: she looked like one those cute and annoying girls all anime is full of, but she turned out to be sensitive and sensible with a touch of tragic background - and even her brother Komui turned out to have a real reason for his insanity so it all looks good. And can't wait to see more of Miranda and Lavi. We'll be keeping the eye on this one, for sure. Does anyone know if the manga is still on hiatus in Japan or has is continued? |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I'm watching this one as well. At first like TranceLimit174 I was really put off by the first episode but I gave it a chance to improve and it did. Probabally it was the introduction of the other exorcists, especially Leenalee, that did it for me. I didn't know it was going to be one of those long shounen shows though, but now it's hooked me.
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Iwatch2muchanime
 Posts: 1291 |
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I'm also watching this show (Of course) and I like it quite a bit right now. The basic good vs. evil thing always gets me in the bad spot but this one gets it done. The main reason for me watching this at first was the different Innocence weapons I was wanting to see but it turned into a Good show that makes me keep watching. Allens background sucks though....he went through quite a bit but I guess thats why he can do 2000+ push-ups with one arm, balancing on a chair corner, while making it balance on one leg.
Lenalee's Boots are my favorite weapon BTW. |
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Belle Starlia
 Posts: 27 |
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The manga is currently off of the hiatus and continuing on as normal. (Another chapter is due tomorrow, I think. :/ and it updated on a weekly? (correct me if I'm wrong) basis. Currently it's to chapter 103, with 104 coming tomorrow, I think. (Could be 105). As for the animé... At first, D. Gray-Man was really just another 'one of those series' to me, that i knew absolutely nothing about. I watched it sporadically until the rewinding town arc. I watched it, and started to really enjoy it, though not totally addicted. Then I heard they had a manga that was far enough along, and read it in a day, and loved the manga to death. I've enjoyed it far, far more than the Naruto manga, even, and I'm not that big of a fan of Naruto. I like the characters in the manga -- and the anime, though it's not far in -- and I love Allen with his kind-hearted outlook on life, and Lavi because he's really kind-hearted as well when you get down to it. I was also very, very happy that Lenalee was a likable character, (her and Komui's brother/sister relationship is awesome.) and Lenalee hasn't been shafted to make her look overly weak any time in the series without justification - and by that I'm referring to a time in the manga spoiler[ after she loses her Dark Boots. She'll make a comeback soon enough, I'm sure. Just have to wait for it. ]; she can hold her own, unlike Sakura in Naruto, who just always seemed like she was being portrayed weakly and got shafted quite a bit IMO. D.Gray-Man doesn't do that - the author of the manga treats every character with respect and makes sure to make each character likable. Because of the manga, I'm watching the animé quite "religiously" now, anticipating upcoming arcs that I'm very much looking forward to seeing animated. A pity that we'll probably have a bit of filler along the way. I pray it won't follow Naruto's example.[/spoiler] |
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TranceLimit174
Posts: 963 |
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True, but still I think that in a shounen series the first episode is key. It has to somehow latch on and wow in some way otherwise it'll get lost in the crowd. Since D-Gray Man failed to do this I put it on the backburner, since usually a first episode's animation quality is above average and since I was underwhelmed I don't really care to see what a stock episode looks like. Maybe one day I will catch up with this series but as it stands it did nothing to impress. |
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El Oso
 Posts: 105 Location: Rummaging through camp sites. |
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I've officially been hooked since the last episode of the first arc (Episode five, I think), which had a great ending. I'm a sucker for the sad endings, and it didn't disappoint. I'm definitely going to keep watching.
I briefly flipped through the manga, and I must say Lenalee looks alot cuter in the anime. ^^
Really? I can't think of a single shounen series where I was even mildly impressed by the first episode. To each his own I guess. |
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