D.Gray-man ep.10

December 5, 2006 | 19 Comments

The animation in this episode is unusually good considering that there isn't that much action scenes involved. I thought the animators would try to save it for next week's episode, where the majority of actions will take place. I am quite impressed with the way they animate the revelation scene in Miranda's room. Ever since I've read the manga, I've always wonder how it'd look in animation. The majority of the comedic scenes in the episode are also quite good. As tragic as she can be most of the times, Miranda's over-the-top reaction are quite entertaining to see. I especially love the part where she starts swinging around a knife because she's suspicious of Allen and Lenalee.

Allen and Lenalee are confused that the Akuma suddenly stop attacking them. Since they can't find any answer, they decide to go back to Miranda's house. Along the way, they encounter a bunch of children singing a song which basically mocks Miranda's inability to keep a job. Inside the house, Miranda panics when she sees Allen and Lenalee entering the house. As a result, she drops the key that she wears around her neck. Upon seeing the key, Lenalee realises that it's a key to wind the clock inside Miranda's room. Miranda explains that she can never do anything right ever since she was a child. After she turned into an adult, she can't keep a job because she's clumsy in almost everything. One day, she becomes interested at a clock in an antique shop but the owner tells her that the clock does not work and gives her the key to prove his words. When Miranda uses the key, however, the clock suddenly started up on its own.

Because of this, Miranda considers the clock her most important possession since because she feels that it's the only thing that needs her. Upon hearing this, Allen tells Miranda that he and Lenalee also need her and explains to her about the Innocence, and the battle between Akuma and Exorcist to obtain them. Because of this, he asks Miranda for her help. By this, what Allen mean is that he and Lenalee wants to follow her around as she does her daily activities. Unfortunately, nothing interesting happens until the clock reachers 12 midnight. All of a sudden, Miranda goes to bed and falls asleep immediately. The clock inside her room envelops the room as well as the entire city with clock shapes. Unfortunately, nothing interesting happens until the clock reaches 12 midnight. All of a sudden, Miranda goes to bed and falls asleep. The clock inside her room then envelops the room as well as the entire city with clocks.

The clock's hand then starts to move backwards and sucks all the clock that cover the city. When all of the clocks have been absorbed into the clock inside Miranda's room, night turns to day and it's yesterday all over again. Later on that day, Allen shocks Miranda and Lenalee when he manages to insert his body into the clock. As it turns out, however, he simply 'ghost over' it. It appears that no one apart from Miranda can touch the clock so Allen believes that this is an Innocence at work. When Lenalee asks Miranda what happened on the 28th of November, the woman explains that was the day when she was fired for 100th time. In her frustration, Miranda wished that tomorrow would never come. Upon hearing this, Allen and Lenalee conclude that the clock granted Miranda's wish. Lenalee even suspects that Miranda is compatible with this particular Innocence. Because of this, the only way they can stop the repetition is if Miranda can get a job.

Allen and Lenalee decides to give Miranda a job selling a tickets to Allen's street performance. Basically he gets to wear Kabocha (Pumpkin) while performing juggling acts. Lenalee later on comes to praise Allen's performance. Allen explains that the reason he's good at this is because he used to be a Clown and his parents were street performers. In return, Lenalee reveals that her parents were killed by Akuma and was taken away by the Black Order when they found out that she's compatible with Dark Boots. At first Lenalee felt like she was in prison since she could not see her brother and were not allowed to go anywhere. Eventually, however, Komui joined the Black Order as part of the science group so he could be with her. Because of this, she decides to fight for her brother's sake. Upon hearing Allen and Lenalee's sob stories, Miranda promises them that she'll try her best as well. Road then arrives to buy a ticket so Allen directs her to Miranda.

When they get inside, they find out that Miranda is now being scolded by her boss for letting the sales money to be stolen. Lenalee and Allen notice the thief in question and decide to go after him. Miranda becomes depressed when her boss calls her useless and ends up wondering why the clock becomes her Innocence. Road who hears this realises that the clock contains the Innocence. Meanwhile, Allen and Lenalee finds out that the thief that they're chasing are actually Akuma. More Akuma appear and manage to defeat Allen and Lenalee. When Allen regains his consciousness, he sees Road standing next to a seemingly lifeless Lenalee. His own anti-Akuma weapon is nailed to the wall while Miranda is chained to her clock. Because of his eyes, Allen realises that Road is not an Akuma. Road confirms this and tells Allen that she's a human who befriends Akuma and Millenium Earl is her sibling. They are the true apostles chosen by God: The Noah's family.

Impression:

The scene where Miranda's room and the entire city are covered by clocks gave me the creeps. It reminds me a lot of Twilight Zone series except that this series contains a lot of comedic moments. And if this had been Twilight Zone, the story would have ended with Miranda, Allen and Lenalee trapped in the city forever. Anyway, it's interesting to see Road Kamelot revealed as one of the Noah family members. I am not sure if I should associate this story with the actual Noah Ark legend in the old testament but I guess that's what the writers had in mind when they first created the characters. The problem is, the Noah family comes across as the kind of people that God wants to get rid of in the first place. Of course, it can be argued that humans create too much problem for the world and therefore they have to be eliminated in the same manner that humans often eliminate pests from their house or backyard.

Another interesting plot in this episode is Lenalee's background story. I think this indicates that the Black Order is not as benevolent as they might seem on a glance. If they are capable of seperating a girl from her family so she can become an Exorcist, then it's likely that they are also capable of doing other questionable acts. It would have been interesting if at the end of the series, the final enemy turns out to be the Black Order themselves instead of the Noah Family. Unfortunately it's rare to see that kind of twist on a shounen series such as this one. It's more likely that the writer is just going to add a more powerful enemy to replace the Noah Family once they're gone. The thing that I hate about this is that the enemies then become ridiculously powerful. As a result, Allen and everyone else also ends up powering up in order to defeat them. Once that happens, the series would be trapped in the usual shounen routine.

Preview

On next week's episode: Miranda's true power is awakened!!

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