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Impressions:

The first episode felt really long, though it managed to cover everything in the first chapter of the manga, which has 60 pages. I guess that means it won’t be a few more eps until the introductions are over and things really start happening. Anyway, the first ep was pretty high quality and didn’t seem old-fashioned like some other shows which are based in the past (outside of Japan that is). Allen’s voice was pretty childish, and even though I did expect it, I wish it sounded deeper and more mature (just slightly). He also reminds me of Fullmetal Alchemist, though he doesn’t have a live suit of armour as a brother lol. The character design is quite good, except for the Earl of course, who just looks absolutely ridiculous. If it wasn’t for him, the show could turn out to be much more serious, with the detailed pained facial expressions and such. I have no idea why the Earl was drawn so stupidly.

I don’t really like either the OP or ED, though the OP really reminds me of the second Bleach OP (except that the Bleach OP is 10 times better). Speaking of that, I read somewhere that some people believe this show is similar to Bleach. While yes, they are both shounen shows with a strong male lead (of course) who must save the world from some form of evil (Akuma vs Hollows), I have to say that they are nothing alike! (Eheh, was that sentence contradictory?) Well, this is based on the feeling I get when watching it. One thing that’s really different is the lead’s personality. Allen is the young, reserved, obeying type, while a lot of other shounen shows feature hot-headed, perhaps cheeky, over-confident, loud leads. Since the lead is the main focus of the entire series, I think this single difference cancels out the other similarities and more. The feeling I get when seeing Allen destroy the Akuma is completely different when say, Ichigo from Bleach slices a hollow in half in a second or so. In a way, Allen is much more mature than the typical shounen protagonist, which is a great relief from generic personalities.

D.Gray-man mixes corny things with blood and death quite easily. Example: the stars that appear on those affected by the Akuma’s poison before dying, the name that appeared on the skeleton that Claire’s soul returned to, the Earl of the Millennium’s face are all things that are pretty un-serious right? Then there’s the mass killings (how many people died in the first episode??) The two don’t really mix in my opinion. If the anime had stuck more closely to the manga, there would have been more gore and blood-splattering as well. It would be so much cooler if people who got poisoned by the Akuma started convulsing violently before growing large swells on their head and spewing blood, then dying as their bodies shrunk so that only the skin and bones are left…That’s so much more fun than shattering! Yeah, I tend to like these kinds of things, even though obviously such things wouldn’t be put in an anime like this. However, one thing I do think should’ve been different are the Akuma themselves. I don’t get how a soul entering a skeleton then entering a corpse could turn into a large multi-barrelled cannon…it just doesn’t work. When you think about it, the Akuma’s true form would be more like a mutated form of their host, not something completely different (although as the Earl actually makes them, I guess he must’ve designed them as well?)

So overall, it was a good first episode and good adaptation of the manga. I just hope things don’t drag on, especially with fight scenes, not because they are boring, just that I don’t think this series is capable of making them interesting enough. I still need to finish the manga though, and it’ll be very hard for the anime to get to its standard. The manga is ongoing so the episode count is unknown, though we can expect more than 50 at least. Maybe it will become as long as Naruto…that’s an ugly thought! The beginning is always quite boring for me until questions start unravelling and the storyline gets drastically more complicated. Right now, it’s just Allen the Exorcist vs. the Millennium Earl and his Akuma; nothing more. But once more characters are introduced and the plot expands itself from being restricted to the few characters at the moment, it will become much more engaging and interesting. Can’t wait for that. As for whether I will blog this series – most likely.

Story:

During the 19th century in Europe, Allen Walker the Exorcist fights to rid the world of the Akuma and the Millennium Earl. Akuma are weapons created by the Millennium Earl from dead souls and corpses. In order to fight them, one must have an anti-Akuma weapon powered by the substance “Innocence”, which Allen possesses as his left hand. He also has a cursed eye which allows him to distinguish Akuma from humans. That’s basically it for now, as any more would be spoilers. Don’t worry, Allen’s situation will be explained in time, or if you want to know more, just read the manga! I’m sure a lot of you have already though…

You want more info or even spoilers? Try the following links:
Anime News Network | Wikipedia | AnimeNFO

Plot Outline:

- Allen Walker arrives at a city by train
- Two police officers investigate an abandoned church that is supposedly haunted
- The policewoman, Moore, finds a cat in the church
- She is suddenly lunged at by an unknown person
- It turns out this person is Allen, who was trying to catch the cat and not Moore
- The cat had swallowed Allen’s gold fluttering thing called Timcampy
- Moore ties his hands to a window as she suspects him of being some sort of criminal
- The other policeman is attacked
- Moore runs to him but is too late as the policeman is killed
- In its place appears some floating monster, which emits a strange gas
- Allen, having managed to free his hands, rushes to Moore and covers her mouth before she can become completely intoxicated by the fumes
- Allen is not affected because he is an Exorcist
- A little later on, Moore wakes up at the police station
- She is taken to the questioning room where Allen has been taken under arrest
- Allen is accused of killing the other officer who had been with Moore
- He is saved when Moore tells the accusing detective that he was with her when the other officer died
- Allen tells him that he knows what killed the officer: Akuma
- The inspector doesn’t believe him and tells Moore to take him home and keep an eye on him
- At her home, Moore tries to get her ill-looking brother-in-law(?) to eat something as he hasn’t eaten in a while, but he claims to be full
- In another room, Allen tells Moore about the Akuma
- The are suddenly attacked by the brother-in-law, who is actually an Akuma
- Moore has a flashback of when her sister (brother-in-law’s wife/bride) is killed by a chandelier that fell
- The brother-in-law had wanted to see his bride again and allowed the Millennium Earl to bring back her soul
- The soul reinhabited a skeleton, which killed the brother-in-law and stole his body
- In order for an Akuma to be created, the soul must be close to the host body
- Allen manages to kill the Akuma and save Moore by using his left hand, which is an anti-Akuma weapon
- Before departing, Allen tells Moore than the Earl is trying to destroy mankind with his army of Akuma, which is why he (the Exorcists) exist to stop him

Preview:

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