4 out of 5

Directed by: Osamu Nabeshima

covers season 1

Elements of other supernatural / demon / vampire hunter series flow through D. Gray Man – there is a group of good guys  wielding high-powered weapons, ‘exorcists,’ members of The Black Order, hunting a group of soul devouring bad guy demons, ‘akuma,’ tasked by The Millenium Earl – and the anime adaptation of Katsura Hoshino’s manga has its share of tonal and pacing hiccups, but two keys factors help to edge the show out past its peers: a consistent sense of mythology and, rewardingly, its characters.

The Millenium Earl comes to those in grief and promises to resurrect a recently departed… not telling those who agree that they’re cursing those brought back to a life in servitude as a demon, or akuma.  The perpetually smiling Earl then seeks to use those akuma to gather up ‘innocence,’ an ancient power source that is his only weakness, and which The Black Order thus similarly seeks so that they may stop the Earl.  The Black Order is limited by having to find ‘accommodators’ who may use this innocence, which is then fashioned into a weapon that, uh, looks cool.  These accommodators – exorcists, including main protagonist Allen Walker – are tasked out to continue gathering more accommodators, and more innocence, assisted by their unpowered associates, Finders, also stopping akuma along the way.

Got it?  Then you’re good.  Hoshino (and anime writer Reiko Yoshida) absolutely add to that core, with different ‘evolutions’ of akuma and innocence, and ranks within The Black Order, and a group of humans who seem to be aiding the Earl, but D. Gray Man generally sticks to its guns, refreshingly lacking in much of the retroactive lore additions that shows of this nature revel in.  This allows for a general sense of forward movement – keep gathering innocence, keep fighting The Millenium Early – but also accessibility; you are rewarded by knowing the different battles fought and characters met along the way, but you can also pick up the series at any given point and enjoy it, without someone having to justify a whole bunch of plot extensions.

That journey wouldn’t be as entertaining if not for an incredibly rewarding cast of exorcists to follow.  Rarely have I seen an ensemble anime cast – beyond Allen there’s LenaLee, Kanda, Krory and more – who all feel equally compelling to hang with; even the accessory Finders are granted a sense of full personality.  As to why this is, I think it ends up being a misleadingly simple hack: none of the characters are written off as jokes.  Yes, LenaLee’s brother has sister love; Kanda is perpetually gloomy; Krory cries a lot; but they’re also all competent at their jobs, which means you can heavily feature them in an episode and it doesn’t come across as a waste of time.  This extends even to characters who only feature temporarily; when their bit is done or, yes, when they sometimes die, the loss actually feels relevant.

This patience may also lend itself to over-extended arcs on occasion, but if there’s a larger flaw in D.Gray Man’s design, it is its imbalance with its tone and defining the akuma’s threat.  To the former, episodes will suddenly swing into full slapstick for the entire episode, and to the latter, swaths of akuma can sometimes be taken out with a kick, and then a little later, one demon is enough to pin down all our heroes.  Both of these elements render the Earl’s threat a little questionable; eventually one develops the viewing habit of assessing the danger one story arc at a time – so every two or three episodes – which does somewhat sit alongside the ‘pick up and watch any time’ mentality.

With a longform anime, though – this one stretches across 200+ episodes – that it maintains its entertainment value throughout, mixed with continually engaging enemy designs, and a great cast, makes it capable of standing proud above its flaws.