D.Gray-man ep.01

October 4, 2006 | 41 Comments

Opening Theme: 「INNOCENT SORROW」by Abingdon School Boys
Download: HIGH-RES AVI format (NEW - 35MB) | PSP format (15.1MB)

Woot! That was hot. I finally managed to get a high-res version of the raw and it makes a hell lot of difference. The pictures have now been updated to the high-res ones. Anyway, I think this is a really good adaptation of the manga series. I definitely love the way everything is presented in the anime. I kind of miss the gore in the manga version but I figure that won't make it into the anime so I was prepared for the censorship. Everything else, however, is quite similar to the manga except for the first few minutes where you get to see Allen getting off a train. Speaking of Allen, there are few occasions where the VA inadvertently breaks out into Naruto-style talk. I think I noticed one 'datteba yo' in one of Allen's conversation. The OP theme itself is pretty nice once the refrain kicks in but it's nothing extraordinary.

The episode begins with a narrator saying that Exorcists are those who are overseen by God to hunt those covered in the darkness. The story then shows the end of 19th century, where an Akuma hunter called Allen Walker gets out of a steam train. Cut to a shot of late-night London where Allen is calling out for a creature called 'Tim Canpi'. Once he finds the creature, Allen tells it to be careful or else it'll get eaten by a cat. A man and a woman dressed up as a clown and a bunny then come out from behind the curtain and offer Allen something to eat. When the woman asks him if he's on a trip, Allen tells her that he's on his way to the Exorcist headquarter. A few days later, a policewoman stands in front of an abandoned church, remembering how someone once told her that people tend to disappear while inside the church. Another person claimed that a poor traveler once went inside and the next morning, his clothes was the only thing that was left.

After thinking about it, the young woman, whose name turns out to be Moore, decides to investigate the abandoned church. This worries her fellow policeman so he tries to stop her. Moore, however, insists on coming in because the townsfolk have made complaints about the church. The other policeman believes that the place is cursed but Moore tells him that a policeman should not utter such word. In the end, the policeman has no choice but to follow Moore into the Church. Once they are inside the policeman panics when a cat touches his leg. To make things worse, all of a sudden a bunch of bats fly towards them. In the midst of the attack, a large clawy hand appears and makes a grab for Moore, who happens to be holding the cat. The bats eventually disperse once they get into a room and out of it, Allen appears, saying that he finally got 'it'. He, however, is surprised when he realises that he has grabbed Moore.

Before Allen can do anything else, Moore has tied his hand with a rope. Allen tries to apologise, explaining that he was actually trying to grab the cat because the furball had eaten something that belongs to him. In an attempt to convince Moore, Allen tells her that the item is from his Master and he can't afford to lose it. However, when Moore asks Allen where this Master of his is located, Allen can't answer her, claiming that the guy was lost in India. All of a sudden, they hear a scream coming from the other policeman. When Moore goes to look for him, she finds the guy in the midst of being strangled by a creature. His body then turns completely black and there is a mild explosion coming out of his body. All of a sudden, Moore feels that she can't breathe properly. Thankfully before something else happens, Allen appears and covers her mouth and nose, telling her to be careful because the gas around them is dangerous.

Allen points out that the policeman has been killed by an Akuma. Moore then loses her consciousness due to the gas and when she wakes up, she finds herself inside the police station. Her fellow officer immediately takes her to a room where they are conducting interrogation with a suspect, who turns out to be Allen. Allen freaks out when the inspector tells him that he must be the one who killed the officer in the Church. He explains that he simply carried the unconscious Moore back here. The inspector, however, does not believe him. Besides, he thinks Allen has a strange hand and proceeds to open the gloves that Allen wears, revealing a cross burned within his hand. After seeing this, Moore quickly tells the inspector that Allen was with her when the policeman got killed. Another police confirms this, telling the inspector that a large bullet hole was found in the location and yet Allen only has a cat and a bag with him.

Allen interrupts the inspector, telling him that he knows the murderer and it is a being called Akuma. Allen also claims that he fights it on a consistent basis and if they don't stop it, it will continue to kill. He then reveals his cross-infused hand, saying that his hand is basically a weapon to fight the Akuma. He proceeds to ask the Inspector and Moore if they are aware of the Exorcists because he's a part of this anti-Akuma group. Not surprisingly, the Inspector does not believe in single word that Allen has said. However, since he's had enough of this, he orders Moore to take Allen home and keep a watch on him. Outside in the street, people are gossiping about the policeman who died inside the Church. Because of the incident, they believe that the rumours about the Church are true after all. While they continue talking about an accident involving a newlywed, a fat man wearing an overcoat and carrying an umbrella walk behind them.

The fatman is then seen next to a man in his wheelchair, referring the guy as his Akuma and asking him to continue killing people. Moore's voice then can be heard inside the house, saying that she's back home. Upon hearing this, the man with the long hat makes himself disappear. Once Moore enters the room, the guy, whom she refers to as 'Nii-san' (brother), tells her that she's unusually early. Moore realises that the guy has not been eating his meal so she scolds him a little bit. In defense, the guy claims that he's full at the moment. Moore then kneels next to the guy, whose name turns out to be Mark, asking him to do his best because his wife in heaven will surely want that. Moore's conversation, however, is interrupted when she hears noise coming from the 2nd floor. Moore goes upstair and scolds Allen for leaving his room. She correctly guesses that he was going to the Church again. Allen admits this being true so Moore prevents him from leaving.

Allen tells her that he's worried about the detective investigating the Church. Upon hearing this, Moore asks Allen if he really believes that the perpetrator is an Akuma (Demon). She points out that Demon is just an imaginary creature created by their ancestors who were afraid of diseases and pain. Moore, on the other hand, does not believe in either curses or demon. Allen quickly explains that the 'Akuma' that he's talking about is not that kind of Akuma. He's basically referring to the name of a weapon created by the devil who wants to target human beings. As Allen gives explanation about how the weapon normally takes an appearance of a human being, Mark enters the room. Moore is surprised to see Mark and even more so when he behaves in a strange manner. By using his left eye, Allen can see that Mark is actually an Akuma. True enough, Mark suddenly transforms into a hideous creature right in front of them.

Moore is shocked to see the abomination in front of her but the Akuma is now aiming its weapon towards her. Before the weapon can reach its aim, Allen runs towards Moore and manages to catch the bomb. However, because of the impact of the explosion, they are propelled into the Church. Moore is surprised to see Allen catching a bullet with his bare hands and wants to check on his condition. Allen immediately refuses, asking her not to touch the bullet because the bullet contains the Akuma's blood, which can poison humans. Apparently if a creature get hit by the bullet, the virus will affect that creature immediately. Allen proves his point by showing the cat, which apparently got hit by the bullet. The cat's body now has black stars all over it. The stars then envelope the entire body, turning the cat into dust. Upon seeing this, Moore wonders what happened to Mark so Allen explains that Akuma is capable of taking over body and infiltrate the world.

The person they saw earlier was not Mark. It was an Akuma that killed him and took over his corpse. Before Allen can say anything else, however, the Akuma enters the Church, searching for them. Much to Allen's shock, the police Inspector and his detectives are in the area as well. They are surprised to see the Akuma and try to shoot it. Allen tells them to run away but before the police can do so, the Akuma already shoot them, turning them into dusts. Moore becomes angry upon seeing this, asking the Akuma why it kills people. Allen immediately stops Moore, telling her that the Akuma does not do things because it wants to but because it has been programmed to be a weapon. When Moore yells out that an Akuma is just a killing machine, Allen corrects her by saying that the truth is there is a soul within each Akuma. This is the kind of soul that has no faith in life, who hates to face reality, etc. That soul's frustration is basically the source of Akuma's power.

With his left eye, Allen can see a female skeleton in wedding dress overimposed on the Akuma. Upon seeing this, he realises that the female is someone dear to Mark. He explains that an Akuma contains elements of machine, soul, and despair. Because all human beings have a dark side, that dark side gives birth to despair and eventually, Akuma. A flashback then reveals that Moore used to have a sister called Crea. During her wedding with Mark, Moore looked unhappy because Crea opposed Moore's decision to become police. Crea believed that Moore became a police so she can catch the killer who murdered their parents. Back then Mark told Crea that Moore didn't become a cop to avenge her parents. He believed it's because she can protect her sister and her brother-in-law. Because of this, Mark asked Crea to believe in Moore and in God. Just as Crea decides to do this, a large Chandelier falls from the rooftop.

Crea pushed Mark out of harm's way but she's the one who ended up getting killed. When Mark was in despair, someone called the Millenium Earl brought out what he called a 'Magical Body'. He claimed that Mark can bring Crea back using it and all he has to do is to call her. Mark agreed to do this and channeled Crea's soul into the doll-like body. Crea was not happy that Mark turned her into an Akuma, trapping her soul into the weapon. Because she no longer has control over her body, the Millenium Earl ordered Crea to kill Mark and enter his body. In present time, Allen powers up his left hand and uses it to rip through the Akuma, breaking the chains that link the soul and the Akuma. Once he did this, Crea's soul is set free once more. In the aftermath, Allen explains to Moore that the Millenium Earl is trying to bring about the destruction of man and it is the job of the Exorcists to stop him. Allen then bids goodbye to Moore.

Impression:

I just realised that the music that this episode used during the wedding sequence is very similar to Buffy/Angel theme titled Close Your Eyes. The composer changed the lead in and lead out of the song but the main refrain is exactly the same as Close Your Eyes. I included the original song in case you want to listen to it. Overall, I really like this episode because it managers to be both eerie and entertaining. I really wish TV Tokyo didn't censor the gore when the Akuma killed Mark. I don't think it was anything to shocking although I supposed the way it kills Mark is rather suggestive. I als notice that Mark and Crea are no longer Priest and Priestess in this one. I supposed the anime producers don't want to incite the wrath of the religious group. In the original manga the two got married even though they are (Catholic) priest and nun.

As far as a protagonist is concerned, Allen is quite an interesting character. He is very lively and his super-deformed expression are quite good. It actually reminds me a bit of Honey and Clover super-deformed characters. And as I said before, I think his voice reminds me a little bit of Naruto. I am not sure if it's intentional or not though. By the way, does anyone know what the hell is Tim Canpi? It looks like an oversized Snitch. Is it some kind of a servant or is it just a pet? I can't remember Tim being useful in the field. The most interesting character in this episode is probably the Millenium Earl. On a glance, he looks like the Penguin from Batman. I am amused that he has a twisted sense of humour as demonstrated when he gave that 'magic body' to Mark.

One thing that I hope won't happen in this series is endless fight scenes. For me, the interesting part about the series is the mystery that surrounds the Millenium Earl and the Exorcists themselves. The fights are okay but I don't want them to go on and on like in other Shounen series such as Naruto and Bleach. I'd rather that the writer up the gore and tension instead of showing enemies that are so powerful, it takes forever to finish them off. If there are such enemies, then I'd prefer that these enemies do not engage in physical fights too often. Speaking of enemies, the opening is full of spoilers as far as upcoming enemies go. I didn't expect the animators to show the Noah family now. I would prefer to see them covered in black shadow but I guess animators don't do that anymore these days. Or they just assume everyone has read the manga.

Ending Theme: 「SNOW KISS」by NIRGILIS
Download HIGH-RES AVI format (NEW - 20.4MB) | PSP format (10.2MB)

The ending theme is pretty much similar to the opening theme. However, although I am used to the opening theme, the ending theme still sounds a bit weird to my ear. Maybe in time I'll get used to it. It's nothing offensive or anything like that.

Preview

On next week's episode: It looks like we get to see the Li siblings and Hebraska.

© memento 2003