D.Gray-man

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It started off quite slow, but around the second half of the series (around volume 12,13,14) it picks up a bit. By volume 21,22 + it gets insane. Enough to call it an unfinished masterpiece. I'm sure when I read it again, I'll pick up on a lot of things I missed

story 10 - plot twists are insane. and the slow buildup worked. when reading this itll pay off if your patient

art 9 - the art is beautiful and gets better later on

characters 9 - the dynamic between the antagonist and protagonist is mind blowing. just brilliant. as well as all the characters have a ... mystery about them and are intriguing

enjoyment 8 - it was very enjoyable read, although personally on the first read found it a chore to get through the first half. it was still enjoyable. but im sure on a second read through this can go higher, and ill appreciate it more

overall 9

Total Score - 45/50 = 9/10

Depending how the story finishes may be a 10/10, also I plan to read it again so that can change as well

Excellent manga right here worth giving a shot

When i first found out about d gray man, i wasn't very enthusiastic about it, the synopsis sounded as generic and repetitive as almost every shonen ; a cursed boy joins an organisation to defeat some evil dudes. It wasn't until i stumbled upon katsura hoshino's marvelous art, and i liked the aesthetically pleasing gothic setting of the story. I checked few panels and illustrations and eventually decided to give it a shot.

D gray man is the farthest thing from a generic shonen story, it's truly a shame this manga isn't as famous as many other works . It probably got stuck in the middle ... of two categories, it didn't fit within the shonen tropes due to its dark themes and narrative structure, and it definitely didn't work as a seinen due to it's light atmosphere compared to stories like berserk, claymore or Tokyo ghoul.

D gray man is brilliant in its own way, it doesn’t have to fit within any box to truly shine, it is unique and unforgettable.
It manages to impress you from the very beginning with a perfect combination of hoshino's outstanding art skills and Gothic, dark and melodramatic atmosphere.
It has everything you need and more, clowns, vampires, artificial intelligence, churches, weirdly shaped akuma, dolls.. Its diversity is what makes it special and entertaining.

The story itself is confusing, it is simple actually, but in a baffling way, you can't really tell what is going to happen in the next chapter, it just happens, and somehow the plot is unbelievably coherent and well structured. The story doesn't give you a clear idea where things are going, unlike many shonen stories in which the plot is divided into certain arcs and the reader has a prior knowledge of what is exactly going on. D gray man is mostly a character driven story yet it doesn't deviate from the primary goal or drift away from the themes and symbols that build the story. In fact the story keeps getting much better and stronger with every chapter, every question that had been asked throughout the story is ultimately answered and well covered. The further you get into the story the more intriguing and cryptic it becomes and the real questions start to rise, however the story unfolds itself slowly in a clever way. Hoshino has truly mastered every aspect of a good manga, ; unparalleled artstyle, well grounded plot, conspicuous atmosphere, astonishing storytelling and balanced characters.

The characters are the best part of the story, it's hard to actually despise any character even the villains.
Every character is well-written and developed throughout the story, the cast is realistic, humane and diverse, from Japan to China to Italy to England to Germany, there are characters from everywhere, there's no such a thing as the stupid or cold-blooded or the genius one. They do have indeed distinct traits, Allen is Sympathetic, lavi is funny, kanda isn't so talkative, crowley is kinda dumb, komui is genius in his field, miranda is silly.. However these traits do not define their characters, as Sympathetic as he is, Allen is ruthless, as funny and playful as he is, lavi is serious, as silly as she is miranda is devoted..
They are all useful and consistant throughout the story, even side characters are memorable, every death is tragic and heartbreaking because this is the world of d Gray man. Everyone have their own stories to tell, they have their own backstories, goals and personalities.
The antagonists are no less than the protagonists, in this chapter , hoshino gives you the sweet and absolutely normal family, in the next one, she reminds you how pitiless they are . The most striking thing about the villains is despite their wicked actions, they are not utterly inhumane. They don't spend their entire time preparing for the next malicious attack. In fact, they are normal, same as the protagonists, they lough ( they are actually quite funny), they do Their homework, they play cards.. They aren't morally black. They are interesting and also vague, you can't really tell what's going on in their heads. They aren't just a killing machine blinded by a certain ideology .They may seem shallow and depthless at first glance, but they are definitely the opposite.
What i love the most about hoshino is she never fully reveals things, she gently cooks everything on a low non-burning fire. And peels the story layer by layer until you reach the core. I also love the little club she created at the end of every chapter, it's cute and heartwarming.

Anyways, if you haven't read d gray man go read it, it's worth it and it's absolutely more profound and amusing than it looks.

We're trying out a random, shonen series at the media library, which I think has had some success. The concept is already a little lame: "exorcists" fight against a millennial Count, who uses the negative emotions of the pecores of the XIXth century to graft them Akuma (demons-machine) in order, of course, to destroy humanity. Well, why not, but the not uninteresting moral pitch (resentment, hatred, sadness as an inner ghost to fight) is quickly eclipsed by nagging fights, drawn without any legibility, and with a very limited tactical interest.

The characters seem, moreover, to be clichés on legs, whose character is revealed more in the ... bonus question / answer pages than in the story itself! The few gags have no interest. So picking up a shonen like that after years of hiatus, and a rather global loathing of the genre doesn't help me appreciate more than that. Some of the starting arcs still contain original ideas (the Vampire who is an exorcist, a nice modern reversal, with a series of gags on the expected clichés) or interesting if not original (the time bubble of Miranado which evokes A Day Without end, The Crossing of Time etc.). But their treatment over the leg, too busy bringing in classy characters (the entire aesthetic of D-Gray Man seems to be based on an unconscious post-modern ingestion of rehashed nekketsu) or producing sparkling fights ends up emptying all substance. .

The trio of volumes read in a bath yesterday (3 volumes in 1 hour and a few, that says a lot about the "density" of the bouzin) is symptomatic of these scriptwriting limits: potential good ideas drowned in a deluge of geyser of energy without interest. Thus, the boat protected by a time bubble could have given rise to tactical considerations on the combat, or better exploit its cruel moral postulate (the sailors will be protected from injuries during the crossing to Japan, necessarily Japan, but their wounds will kill them all at once), but is too busy offering nagging nagging fights (for me anyway).

Strangely enough, the series is written by an author (as for FMA) which doesn't feel at all, although maybe you avoid at least a heavy gritty side or a design oriented for the male gauze. The hero therefore looks a lot like Edward and his acolytes look like RPG / Manga stereotypes: the silent dark with long hair, the funny sidekick in bandana, the kind exorcist with dripping good feelings ...

ORIGINAL REVIEW IN FRENCH

On tente à la médiathèque une série random, shonen qui a eu, je crois, un certain succès. Le concept est un peu boîteux déjà : des "exorcistes" luttent contre un Comte millénaire, lequel utilise les émotions négatives des pécores du XIXème siècle pour leur greffer des Akuma (des démons-machine) afin de, bien sûr, détruire l'humanité. Bon, pourquoi pas, mais le pitch moral pas inintéressant (la rancune, la haine, la tristesse comme fantôme intérieur à combattre) est vite éclipsé par des combats bourrins, dessinés sans aucune lisibilité, et avec un intérêt tactique très limité.

Les personnages semblent, par ailleurs, être des clichés sur pattes, dont le caractère se dévoile plus dans les pages bonus de questions/réponses que dans l'histoire elle-même ! Les quelques gags n'ont aucun intérêt. Reprendre donc un shonen comme ça après des années de pause, et un dégoût plutôt global du genre ne m'aide pas à apprécier plus que ça. Certains arcs du départ contiennent quand même des idées originales (le Vampire qui est un exorciste, joli retournement moderne, avec série de gags sur les clichés attendus) ou intéressants à défaut d'être originales (la bulle temporelle de Miranado qui évoque Un Jour Sans fin, La Traversée du Temps etc.). Mais leur traitement par dessus la jambe, trop occupé à faire entrer des persos classes (l'esthétique entière de D-Gray Man semble reposer sur une ingestion post-moderne inconsciente de ressassé nekketsu) ou de produire des combats étincelants finit par vider toute substance.

Le trio de tomes lu en un bain hier (3 tomes en 1h et quelques, ça en dit long sur la "densité" du bouzin) est symptomatique de ces limites scénaristiques : de potentielles bonnes idées noyées dans un déluge de geyser d'énergie sans intérêt. Ainsi, le bateau protégé par une bulle de temps aurait pu donner lieu à des considérations tactiques sur le combat, ou mieux exploiter son cruel postulat moral (les matelots seront protégés des blessures lors de la traversée vers le Japon, forcément le Japon, mais leurs blessures les tueront d'un coup), mais est trop occupé à proposer des combats bourrins sans intérêt (pour moi en tout cas).

Etrangement, la série est écrit par une auteure (comme pour FMA) ce qui ne se sent pas du tout, même si on évite peut-être au moins un côté graveleux appuyé ou un design orienté pour le male gaze. Le héros ressemble donc pas mal à Edward et ses acolytes ressemblent à des stéréotypes de RPG/Manga : le taiseux dark à cheveux longs, l'acolyte rigolard à bandana, la gentille exorciste aux bons sentiments dégoulinants...