Episode 12 : My home
Tikki and Allen are running away from the Order and Apocyphos. Tikki says what Allen knows too much but probably did not want to hear. In the apparent Manichean division Allen is not part of one’s group. He’s not black but isn’t white either. He doesn’t belong with the Noah, nor with the Order but now is the time to make a choice.
Meanwhile at the Order, everyone is afraid, The third exorcist are attacking, so there’s some little fights everywhere. I say “fights” but it’s just the characters screaming their attacks and not really fighting, which is a shame. But oh well, it is nice to see everyone fighting a bit, since you know, they did not do much this season. Oh yeah! Also, Road disappeared…
Lenalee continues to defend Allen, she is probably the only person that still believes in him. Even if her brother asks her to go after the 14th she refuses, understanding that Allen trying to save both exorcists and Akuma doesn’t make him an enemy. When she finally meets with him, Allen says he’ll stay an exorcist no matter what, because it’s his home and he feels great there. But right after saying that, he parts way with Lenalee and leaves her alone as she tries to make him stay.
The fight scenes with those color backgrounds trying to give some dynamic to the scenes surprised me quite a bit, since they’ve never been utilized in D.gray-man before and not even in this season. It gave a really shounen’ish touch to this episode and I felt like I was watching some good old Nekketsu rather than D.gray-man. However, I do appreciate some visual choices for some parts, especially with Apocryphos which were really interesting. The way Apocryphos was presented and every choice concerning his presence, were quite judicious. Finally, the scene were Allen leaves Lenalee gave me little chills… because I love Allen too and don’t want him to go.
Episode 13: Walker
We take a little peek at Allen’s past right after he transformed the one he loved into a Akuma and got “infected “ it. Cross Marian acts like Allen’s life doesn’t matter and is only helping him because he is the host of the 14th and that his goal is to protect the host to prepare Neah’s return. It’s during that time Allen was given the last name Walker, name that was previously Mana’s one. After that flashback, we see Allen returning returning to that place after he ran away from the order, using the Ark gate for the last time.
In the meantime, The Noah haven’t really manage to find anything about the 14th by torturing Lavi and Bookman. But we learn that one of the Noah has put some sort of parasite into Chaozi’s body, allowing them to watch the Order’s action form the inside.
3 months have past since Allen’s disappearance, while the opinions about Allen’s true goal are diverging inside the order, Lenalee hasn’t lost her faith in Allen and even blames herself for not making him stay. Kanda is also back at the Order, activates Mugen, shows how cool he is and announces he’s ready to go look after Allen, since the latter helped him and Alma.
Meanwhile, Allen is going bananas, being chased by Akumas while having to fight in order to not lose his conscience to the 14th. What keeps him up a bit is seeing Marian and Mana , telling him to stand up and walk on his own path. To not follow anyone’s lead anymore and especially not the 14th’s one and to create his own destiny.
Final Impressions:
Aaah I can’t believe D.Gray-man is over! I did not want it to end but sadly there wasn’t much more source material to adapt. I’m satisfied with the moment the anime chose to end at. The last scene where Allen decides to stand up for himself, to in a way, honor Mana’s last name, was quite an powerful moment and great way to end the season. Seeing Allen walking, determined, gives the impression that things will continue and that more is to come. So the final was fine, not spectacular but it was cool enough for me.
Now what about the rest of the series you might ask? Well, same as the ending, it was fine. I had really, really, and let me say it once again, really high hopes for D.Gray-man Hallow. I screamed when I saw the announcement and was hyped all long until I saw the first episode. Yeah, that was a bit disappointing but I tried to hold back a bit, and stay optimistic. After a few episodes I got the feeling that D.gray man was finally back. Sure the animation isn’t stellar and breathtaking, but at least the anime stayed true to the manga. Indeed, I have no particular complaints regarding the story. I love D.gray man’s story and seeing that they weren’t butchering one of my favorite manga definitely put me in a more lenient position towards the anime.
But yes, the animation wasn’t particularly good, actually, I think it’s even below the standards of what can be done nowadays, but heh, what can we do about it? Nothing, and complaining about it won’t make the animation quality better so I chose to ignore that aspect a bit and to try to enjoy the anime, which is what I did.
The sound however was a different case. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was non existent. They were some cool tracks sometimes but overall it wasn’t spectacular at all.
So overall, I did enjoy the anime but mostly because I’m attached to the manga a lot. If I did not have this past with the manga and was just discovering the story with the anime, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it a lot less. Since the animation is not terrible, the sound is average, the only thing that saves the show is the story. Although sometimes rushed, the story was consistent enough to provide 13 episodes with each time a lot of content. As for the characters, well, I love them all, even the Noah who are complete dicks, I just can’t help but to sympathize a bit with them, or at least, to be interested in learning more about them.
Now I’m just sad we’ll have to wait I don’t know how many years to get another season…. Oh well, we still have the manga bit sigh… it’s going to take a loooong time before the rest of the “Searching for Allen” Arc gets animated.
I see you in 2050 then!