D.Gray-man Hallow

How long has it been since LA watched the original series...5 and half coming up 6 years?...you have NO idea how much LA had been waiting for this.

8 years later since D.Gray Man finished and we have FINALLY gotten a continuation to one of LA's most nostalgic anime, so did Hallow live up to the original or did the sequel curse fall upon it???

The plot say the least have some major problems with it's pacing, mainly it being inconsistent, however it can easily be compensated for it's tightly woven character development to some of our main characters, Hallow especially focuses on Yu Kanda, Allen Walker, ... the Millennium Earl as well as some newer characters like Alma Karma and the short arc with Timothy. Nonetheless with all these characters moving around along with the MANY new villains' plans and motivation can rather make this anime's plot feel rushed but do take it's time when trying to unravel character development to these characters and take it's time in doing so. Hallow also seemed to skip a certain portion of the anime so it can quickly move to the Timothy arc, what LA think about this, well LA didn't read the manga til that point so LA really didn't know until a character handwaved the missed plot...ehhh if it was the get to the better plotlines or wasn't as crucial that TMS Entertainment did leave it out for a reason, LA didn't mind. What Hallow also comes into light is the Order isn't what it seems as the good two shoes organization trying to eliminate the Akuma as it really isn't the entirety of the Order who are at fault, but more like two certain members *cough* Lveille you bastard hypocrite *cough* and the Alma Karma arc not only develops what evil deeds the Order did and how magnificently it backfires on them with the Third Exorcist Project but simultaneously gives Alma Karma and Kanda the development they needed (Kanda especially as he really didn't get much development more or less hints in the original). Finally Allen goes into the crossfire of ALL of this plot and becomes a rather unique case of a main protagonist, sure it brings into light that both the Order and the Millennium Earl might as well be both evil and yet in brings up "who is the TRUE evil" and this statement goes straight back to Allen as a character. Yeah the plot has pacing problems to say the least and takes more of a focus to certain characters and the rest becomes either plot devices or supporting characters, but if it character development and world building (TRUE world building) you want Hallow gives it to you.

Well since the plot is interwoven by it's characters...LA already talked about the characters. Well there's one thing LA missed. LA's favourite character?..it has always been Lenalee Lee and always will be and she was the MAIN reason LA came to love the series in the first place, sure it doesn't become Lenalee Lee's story in Hallow, but just seeing her again was so nostalgic (new hairstyle and all...as for the new voice actor...well that a bit later).

The soundtrack felt like a blast to the past, keeping the original soundtrack for the most part just under a lighter, softer tone remix. Nonetheless, having this soundtrack with that slight remix gave LA a quick approval to this soundtrack. Call it nostalgia blindness...but LA loved the soundtrack even if is a remix.

In terms of voice acting, well there is actually alot to talk about this as Hallow gave us a entirely new voice cast. Allen's, Miranda and Kanda's voice actor (Ayumu Murase, Ami Koshimizu and Takuya Satou respectively) fit in to both the characters and their original counterparts, LA didn't really have a problem with Lavi's new voice actor Natsuki Hanae (though LA thought he's missing something), however LA had something that irked on Lenalee Lee's new voice actor Ai Kakuma (now LA will say that LA could actually see Ai Kakuma voicing Lenalee, heck for LA it made sense as LA thought that Ai Kakuma would be something like a spiritual successor to Shizuka Ito, however Ai Kakuma had something of a higher pitched voice but that wasn't LA's problem with Ai, it was that Lenalee lost her "ojou-dereness", however LA quickly grew with Ai Kakuma's voice acting for Lenalee, though LA just kept thinking Shizuka Ito voice her better and why Lenalee was LA's favourite character in the series in the first place. If there was anything Ai Kakuma could have done to properly fit into Lenalee Lee, she could have projected a bit of Isuzu Sento from Amagi Brilliant Park (for her maturity and her deadpanned ojouness) and less Hanabi Ayase from 12-sai.: Chicchana Mune no Tokimeki, Ai Kakuma thankfully got better...by the final episode, but still, SHE GOT BETTER. LA will emphasis this for the voice cast, for the most part, the new cast fit it quite well in some regards, as for Lenalee Lee's new voice actor, LA doesn't hate Ai Kakuma voicing her, she just had to adjust from being a squeaker kind-hearted character to an ojou-kind hearted character. Now onto some better news, LA quite enjoyed Millennium Earl's new voice actor Yutaka Aoyama who replaced Junpei Takiguchi and thought that Yutaka's replacement was ok in LA's books. Now for the best voice actor in Hallow however goes to Yui Kondou for LA, where Yui voiced Road Kamelot who replaced Ai Shimizu, same psychotic yandere and anti-villain charm she had in the original and the change of voices didn't change it. Wow LA talked ALOT about the voice actor section..moving on...

In terms of animation, done once again by TMS Entertainment to say the best it feels really polished from the original (to be expected), the characters are alot shinier in design and the battles move more smoothly than before, also the eldritch abominations that appear in this anime (and no not JUST the Akuma), it's amazing what detail they put into it. The comedic moments also bring up the typical anime emoji what little comedic moments it has considering the VERY serious tone it starts and ends with. Overall, Hallow had some very decent animation across the board and LA can overlook the few rare times of animation errors.

LA won't tell much about the ending as it still has lots of plot threads left and it just feels like that Hallow has only just touched the tip of how D.Gray Man could have turned into. There is SOO much more left and LA obviously wants another season.

D.Gray Man is such a nostalgic shounen anime which LA wished and begged for another season and LA wished has been fulfilled, yeah Hallow has several flaws that it can easily be subjected to sequelitis, but for an anime sequel LA has been waiting ALMOST HALF A DECADE for, LA can overlook these flaws and see why it even exists. LA is soo happy to even see a sequel to D.Gray Man and call this nostalgia blindness (similar to LA view on the soundtrack) but LA doesn't care. Hallow you have your problems from it's controversial new voice cast to it's inconsistent pacing in it's plot but LA doesn't care. Come on just seeing a sequel to such a nostalgic popular shounen anime that took 8 YEARS to get made again as well as an anime that was HUGELY influential to LA as an anime fan even now is amazing to see again, nostalgia is a high factor for LA especially from D.Gray Man and is essentially what drove LA into still liking Hallow.

OK so I somehow managed to complete the anime but GOD that was Torture for me.

D.Gray-man is a Master-Piece for me whether it was the manga or the 1st season anime and I was SOOO HAPPY and Overjoyed about the announcement of the 2nd season after so long. So if you're not a Hardrcore fan of them like me then this review is not for you cause you'll think that I'm Overreacting.

#Story
It picks up from where it left in the previous season leaving some chapters but sticking closely to the manga which is the only good thing about this show beside promoting the ... manga.

#Sound & Characters
I convinced myself to accept the change of the Seiyuus and give a chance for the new ones since I like most of them in other works but I was SOOOO DISAPPOINTED. There was a killing SHALLOWNESS in their voices and not even 1/10th of the characters's feelings and emotions that you feel in this important turning point of the manga (or what we felt from the previous Seiyuus) presented, and so the characters personalities and characteristics were all gone, which is SOOO VEXING and SAD and basically RUINED the whole show. T~T

(Oh, But I liked the old music background they put, It gave me a nostalgic feeling.)

#Art & Enjoyment
The art and animation were average overall to poor at some points and jokes and funny interactions between the characters were dead even though their amount was small in this point of the original work but their presentation was bad.

#Overall
For their defense MAYBE the short limit of the 13 episodes which had to cover this arc was the reason of such POOR Performance, STILL its disappointing and heart breaking for me no matter the reason . Even with all this I still have no heart to give it less than 8/10 honoring This Master-Piece of a manga.

Story 9/10
D.Gray Man picks up where it left off at the end of the last series while also skipping the zombie arc from the manga. The new arcs in this season are very interesting but are poorly skimmed through to meet 13 episodes which I thought was poorly done as the studio did add in new scenes. However the overall story is still good and does remain true to the manga which I thought was very good.

Art 7/10
Art in this season has been changed from the previous to match the authors art, it's good but too inconsistent with the animations some episodes seemed poorly done ... and others felt outstanding, there really was no overall standard in art and animation in this as the animation in some scenes were just poorly done and kinda ruined the experience for me.

Sound 7/10
OP is amazing and catchy but also quite generic.
Overall the voice acting does take some adjusting to if you loved the original like me, however I did get used to them all, Miranda's new art and voice acting is pure shit and I think they screwed up here trying to match the last VAs voice acting rather than doing their own thing.

Characters 9/10
I really love the characters in D gray man and hallow, the reason that this isn't a 10 is simply because some of the old characters that we know and love are unessesaryly involved in this series where as in the manga they were not important at all, yet every episode we'll see Lavi and Lenalee but they're really not important at all and I think that's where the anime also screws up because this season was meant to be about Allen and Kanda.

Overall 7.5/10
I really did enjoy this but I also had hype for the series return and unfortunately I was disappointed in some areas and the studio really didn't seem like they were putting in their 100%, I've seen much worse anime but they at least had consistent decent animation throughout the entire cour

D Gray Man Hallow is a hard show to recommend. In one case it is a blessing to the D Gray Man fans that desired a sequel to the show following the climatic end of the last series. However, for viewers that watched the anime only it might seem as a bit of a disappointment.

Story: 8/10. Prior to this shows announcement, I read the D Gray Man manga and realized that their are elements of the story that the anime series ignored or replaced with filler. I felt more attached to the story of the manga after reading it and watching the original show over, ... so I have a long for the story that D Gray Man Hallow is telling (as it is one of my fav Arcs) but when removing my bias, I can see why people won't like the story of the anime. It kinda jumps all over the place in the early episodes rushing through story arcs in order to get to the main story that lasts for the majority of episodes before ending with another climatic ending (which is frustrating but understandable as there isn't enough manga material to continue on). But I don think that there is enough enjoyment for both the readers of the manga and the anime viewers to enjoy.

Art: 7/10. D Gray Man has never had amazing animation, it has good animation but never stunning and expensive animation like Ufotable puts outs. It is kinda evident that the show didn't have a large budget during certain scenes early on in the show. However, the show was much more like the manga's designs than the first series was (kinda like how FT 2014 switched to designs like the manga) which was a welcome change to me (though I don't think it was the best choice). Also I do not understand why Allen's hand is suddenly red again when in season 2 of the original show it became black...ugh nitpicking.

Sound 9/10. Nothing much to say here its basically the same soundtrack as the orignal show which is awesome. I do have to say that I enjoyed the opening and ending song of the show as it was the mixture of somber and action packed fights that the show possesses.

Character 7/10. Again, nothing much to say. The characters other than Allen and Kanda don't get much development. But this is likely due to the shows run time of 13 episodes compared to the 103 episodes of the original. If you liked this cast though there really isn't much of an issue, one thing I can say that I liked about this show is that I didn't have to listen to Lenalee's past again (they like repeated it 5 times in the original show, we get it she has a lot of problems with the order before her brother came).

Overall, I can give this show a solid 7.8 or 8 out of 10. Its definitely not perfect and won't appeal to you much if you don't know anything about the show. Yet, its a love letter to the fans of the original and perhaps that hints there's more to come.

Achtung:
Might contain spoiler, might not, it's a gamble sonny

Ah we meet again D. Gray-man. You and your awkwardly spelled title have been haunting me since that level 4 Demon jiggled it's titties around.For those who are interested no the anime hasn't improved. Scroll lower and you'll see why.

Animation.
You know how old Grayman had it's nice and a bit unique art style? Well that buggered off. Greet the bland style of 2015-2016 anime for the first few episodes and a bit improved version of it after those eps. It's completely devoid of imagination and uniqueness. Fight scenes are even less interesting than before, there's barely any ... energy in them. Character designs didn't change much, except for Allen who looks even more gay now. Speaking of designs there's lots of powers that look pretty uninteresting, apart from two that barely get any screen time. Oh huge blades? Haven't seen that one before! Laser beams too? Gee please stop with such drool inducing innovation Picasso. To make it worse all the interesting looking, and interesting overall, characters have been pushed aside to make space for Kanda and his fuckbuddy, two of them in fact one is Allen and another one shan't be spoiled for you. So here's a 5 and you know why? Because art still mostly sucks. Oh sorry did you expect some other non obvious conclusion? Too bad you'll only find an awkward ending to a paragraph here.

Sound.
I swear the creators read my mind and picked the only song that I liked in the first Grayman. It's that piano piece that Allen plays near the end of old series. Unfortunately they didn't learn that repeating a good thing makes it pretty agitating pretty fast. As for new opening I ought to recognise they did well to recap old series trough it buuut the actual sound in it is pretty lame. Here's a fiver for ya chap now leg it.

Story.
It continues on from past one. It's really rushed tho and every important scene has lessened impact due to that. Probably one of the most boot to the pacing moment was when baddies have a get together to count their numbers and present strategies. Now after that you'd expect them to show up after three episodes and execute their plan. Not in this anime tho! Three minutes later they are already in the midst of their master plan wrecking havoc.There is this flashback that was actually pretty interesting and added something to the upcoming fight,that being context and stakes. Quite baffling that the best part of an anime is a flashback considering those are usually shunned. I oughta acknowledge it amused me slightly in some portions so I'll give it a 5 and move on.

Character.
You expected characters but it was me, bad writing! Okay, okay maybe I'm overreacting let's go over the characters, at least those with any bloody time given to them, and their interactions. Allen Walker is attempted as a formal general guy in the first two minutes after which he just goes back to his usual behavior,which is being an usual shounen protagonist. Wanker is accompanied by his old companions( Kanda,Levi,Lenalee) and some fresh ones but they barely get any time in this banana poop cake so they can butt off. No I'm serious they don't even get shown during their fight scenes, at least I assume fight happened cause next cut to them showed 'em tired and battered. Kanda is still Kanda, cold and a bit mean. Lavi is a bit more cheerful than in the past which is okay, he does get the same treatment as everybody else and get's airbrushed away after five episodes or so. And Lenalee... Is back to bland female character tho I know that bitchy annoying girl is still in there and is just waiting for an opportunity to piss all over my lasagna. There's more characters,as I mentioned a few paragraphs ago,but I needn't point out my frustration with characters themselves when their interactions take the Oscar from most migraine inducing aspect of this anime. Every talk feels dry and cheesy like it was written by a dehydrated mouse. There's no emotion or reactions at the times that should provoke ones. There's some attempt at comedy that falls flat because,again, no emotion. The original had some rivalry between Kanda and Allen,their bickering being the most notable part, but here it feels arse painfully forced. Somehow a part that was implemented into so many cases that didn't fit it but still managed to work with it felt forced. Here's a 3, that number has more representation than some characters.

Enjoyment.
After all things I disliked about first one I still derived some enjoyment from it due to some extremely intriguing mini stories. This one I can label a grand disappointment. However despite my utter contempt for it there was a thing I enjoyed. This being the aforementioned flashback. It was something that feels like a part of the past series, which looks like God incarnate compared to this.Unfortunately after the flashback it went to a fight scene that was as lifeless as the past ones.The best I can do is 2. Besides the flashback anime is a pain for it's extremely rushed story, lifeless dialogue and characters,boring fight scenes and blargh.

Conclusion.
Screw this anime. Here's a 3,an average of grades should be 4 tho that'd mean I rated it decent. I recommend you stick it up your arse and die from rectal bleeding. Or if you like watching half naked hot guys jumping around with other half naked hot guys in a rain of lasers I recommend this anime greatly. It's a hot guy extravaganza.

This is just a complete disappointment.

I really loved the old anime. I loved the aesthetics, the creepy scenery, the overall dark tone, the seiyuu, the art style, the soundtrack and the pace. And a lot more.

That's why I was also really hyped up for Hallow... but that was just an extreme disappointment.

The pace and the art style are one of the worst things. I also don't like the color palette and the seiyuus that were chosen for Hallow. Why does Hallow look so cheerful and happy when it's the exact opposite?

The expression were horrible too. They looked fake and forced and most ... of them didn't even remotely look like they did in the manga. A profressional should know how to draw proper expressions.

I want to be happy that they did a sequel, but I can't. Not with something like this.

I love D. Gray-Man with my entire being, but Hallow felt like an insult towards D. Gray-Man and Hoshino herself. Allen was protrayed totally different in Hallow - I was very butthurt by that, since Allen is my absolute favorite.
Especially after the horrible poster I lost ALL my respect for this studio. This incident made even Hoshino upset. I'm sure some of you know what I'm referring to.

However, some shots (mostly scenery) in Hallow were good, only some though. It was very inconsistent and the anatomy was kind of weird.

I'm sorry if this review comes off as rude, but I can't bring myself to write any positive things of Hallow. There aren't many I can think of either. I'm sorry.

The studio and creators handled D.Gray-man Hallow poorly. Most of the people watching the sequel are doing it out of nostalgia for the original. So when the creators fundamentally change the art style and character designs that were so endearing to so many fans, it's obviously going to come off as abrasive.

For example, Lenalee, especially in the initial episodes, was turned into a carbon copy of every other cute anime girl. Essentially without substance, she just felt too sweet and artificial. The Lenalee from the original anime, while still excessively sweet, felt real. Her story wasn't all lollipops and rainbows and it SHOWED. It ... showed through her actions and her dialogue and even simply her character design.

Besides that, D.Gray-man has always had a problem with power scaling and consistency, relying more on guts and nakama power. This is partly what made the show so endearing, but it also makes it extreeeeeeeemly irritating. Akumas that wipe the floor with Point Breakers last season, now seem to be a walk in the park. On the other hand, the Noahs are even more overpowered than they ever were before.

However, even with all its flaws, D.Gray-man can still intrigue the viewer and pull them into the web of mysteries once in a while. It still functions as good entertainment, and while I get irritated watching it at times, I never had to force myself to finish. So for that I give it a 7/10.

*sighs heavily in disappointment*


Story: 8/10
Well, since the story is based on the manga, 8/10 is more like my rating for how the story was projected in the anime and not the story itself. Although tbh, even in the manga, the plot line has a number of holes already (like, wtf, as if Link could actually manage to hold off more than one Level 4 when it takes like 2 to 3 exorcists to kill one) so I wasn't really expecting much from the anime version. Although I kinda don't like the way they switched/changed some parts of the plot at the beginning.


Art: ... 6/10
Ahhhh. The most disappointing of all. I don't know what happened with this one. Is it the low budget? not enough time? or whatever?

I can kind of accept the fact that the characters doesn't look exactly like Hoshino's work, but my gaaaddd at least be consistent. Most of the time, the characters are drawn off-model, and tbh, the new look for some characters (my baby Kanda!!) is kinda urgh-ish for me.

As for the animation, the action scenes are ok to me. But some of the slow-paced ones not so much. And the facial expressions! Some times they don't match the emotion in their voices at all. I feel like I'm watching lame actors trying (and failing) to lip sync their lines. Urggghhh

There are also some scenes that I think could have been composed better. And there are a lot of cheat-scenes (scenes where instead of having actual animation, they just draw a single frame/illustration of the scene and then rely on camera movements/effects/shake-shake and whatever) which is quite unprofessional for me. The only excuse I can accept for this is low budget, otherwise I would think the animators are just plain lazy.

The color script is good to me as well as the compositing. The backgrounds are excellent too.


Sound: 9/10

I have no problem with the music and sound effects. They're actually quite good. The voice actors, not so much (though that may just be my biased mind talking. Bring back Takahiro Sakurai and Kenichi Suzumuraaaa!!!). Allen's new VA (Hinata Shouyo ^^) is actually ok but the rest, meh. They're ok I guess, but still BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL CAST!! >.<


Character: 7/10
hmmm.. I guess it's the same with the story. I'm rating the characters more on how they are portrayed in the anime and not... how they actually are?
Anyways, they only got 7 because I can't accept the new voices XD
They felt like different people to me. Not to mention the disappointing way they are drawn some times, but that's definitely the animators' fault :P


Enjoyment: 3/10
Maybe I shouldn't have expected too much. 'Cause the disappointment definitely hurt after I had my hopes soar so high.

I love D.Gray-Man. I really do. But this season just killed whatever enthusiasm I have for the series' anime adaptations (current and possible sequels).

Ahhhh... And most of it is centered on Kanda's background too, which I've been looking forward to since forever. Which makes it more disappointing since I expected so much.



Overall, this season is something I can't be proud of. It doesn't matter that I've waited for a lifetime for the anime to finally be resumed. If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't mind waiting for another ten lifetimes. At least maybe THEN the animators would have finally gotten enough practice and produced something better. As it is, I can only try my best to pretend that Hallow didn't exist and that hopefully sometime in the future somehow they'd do a remake of these season (crosses fingers).


Argghhh My heart hurts

I think scores are pointless, so I just gave it a 10 to piss off the metacritic people.

Initial "review"
Okay so after many, many years we get another season of D.Gray-man and I love it, but I also hate it, so let's get down to it shall we.
Should you watch D.gray-man Hallow ?
- are you a FAN of D.gray-Man and still follow the manga? Then yes.
- did you watch D.gray-man the anime a few years ago and stopped there? Then no.

This is a very hard anime to recommend, because it's very hard to understand who this anime was made for. Unless you are a die-hard fan ... I can't in good conscience recommend this show (I cried when the show was announced).

Story: the story picks up form where the original ended skipping some content form the manga. I'm okay with this because they clearly want to animate the entire Alma Karma saga and the only way to do that within a 13ep run is by cutting a lot of content.
Even if you are up to date with the manga, it is really hard to get a grip about what is happening, the story is moving way to fast and anyone who just saw the original a few years back will be lost on what's happening and you will wonder who most of the characters are.
The story itself is great, but the way it is presented leaves a lot to be desired.

Art: ...it's bad. Now D.gray-man was never a really good animated show, but it had a decent art style. It's clear that the budget for this show is very small and you can tell, from the backgrounds to the characters. The art style is actually worse in my opinion, while the animation remains somewhere bellow average. There are some good moments when the animation shines, but overall the art and animation are "MEDIOCRE".

Characters: there the best thing about this show. For me the characters were always the best part about the original and that carries on to Hallow BUT unless you creamed you pants when you saw the poster, they are very and I mean very BAD. Because the show is moving way to fast, the characters don't really have time to shine or to interact with each other like they did back in the days. Yes they are the same characters you loved (or not), but their presentation is lack luster.

Sound: same old good music, same old good sound effect....yaaa will all now where this is going. So they changed the voice actors for most of the characters (who knows what's the reason) and while we can accept it and move forward, let's be honest we can't. That doesn't mean the actors are bad, ow no they are quite great and they do a damn good job on bringing the characters to life, but they're not the same. The problem is that if you are a "veteran" this will eat at you the entire season and if you are not then why are you watching this.

Overall: Now I will continue to watch the rest of the season, but I am a die-hard fan. If you have never saw D.gray-man this is not a good place to start. Now my advice to anyone thinking of picking this show up is to go back and watch the original in DUB and pray to the gods that when Funimation brings out the dub they will manage to get the original actors (I'll prob rewatch it myself in dub).
This brings me back to what I originally said: Who is this show for?
We know why it is airing and that is to bring more light to the manga as it has a new serialization, but the show clearly had a really low budget.
Ultimately this is a very average show, BUT for a D.gray-man fan this is the best thing since sliced bread.

Post Completion:
How people manage to watch seasonal anime is beyond me
Okay so I just finished the show and boy was it glorious.
I stand by what i initially said, but I should mention the fact that I didn't give the music enough credit. It truly is amazing, yes it is almost the same as the original, but even by today's standards this show has some of the best soundtracks available.
Now the animation really does not get any better although one thing that I got used to is the voice acting (not that it matters because we won't have a second season).
A few things about the story, yes it was almost unbearable for anyone who was not up to date with the manga, but I did forget to add that this is partly to do with the Hoshono's health problems at the time of writing D.gray-man while forcing herself to put out new chapters and also some problems with the licensing of the manga. While I understand if you will not forgive this for D. Gray-man Hollow very "confusing and messy" story I do still hope you understand the reason behind it.
Overall this still is my favorite anime of 2016 (it became my favorite when it was announced), but this is not a show for everybody, it is mostly for us fans and as well as bringing some much needed love to the manga.
I truly doubt there will be another season any time soon as there is not enough content, and the more they wait the more people will start caring less. I am really happy that this show was made and I look forward the the new D.gray-man chapter 224 that will come out in october.
#hoshinokatsuraiszabest

Ten years ago, there was this lovely little anime called D.Gray-Man, the series ran for about two years before it ended. Rather than take the route of making it's own ending that alters points from the manga as some animes of the past have done, it instead ended on a rather cliffhanging moment which begged to have a sequel. At the end of D.Gray-Man (2006-2008) we had the Exorcists defeat the Level 4 Akuma, but even with that victory under their belt much was left to be desired. The Millennium Earl was still running amok, almost all the Noah were shown to be alive and ... well, meanwhile the Black Order had taken a devastating blow, losing many of the exorcists and scientists working alongside them. Now, presently, we have D.Gray-Man Hallow, which starts approximately where the previous anime ended and continues following the manga so we can finally see what happened to our heroes.

Story: 7
The first four or so episodes of this were not to my liking. Almost entirely because the series was so rushed. There's a few small arcs within the story in the first couple episodes and there were so many details cut out I was beginning to believe that the entire show would be this cut and quick. I got the impression that the showrunners wanted to power through the arcs leading up to the main Alma Karma arc, and it shows. Characters and plot points prior to Alma were practically tossed to the side. And while the Alma arc was truly a great arc with many incredibly interesting plot twists and character developments, the events leading up to it are no less important. Characters such as Timothy were, in my opinion, just tossed aside as minor details in the anime when in reality they had an entire arc dedicated to their development with (most likely) the intention of being more important later on. These first few episodes are, without a doubt, the weak link of the entire show.

However, as the series progresses and we find ourselves in the main arc of the series, that is when things became much more intriguing for me. As I said before, the Alma Karma arc is really packed full of information and the show begins to take it's time and savor the moments within this arc. Alma himself is a bit of a spoiler, so there is little I can say about him without revealing important details, but it is an arc that many fans were looking forward to since it directly ties into Kanda Yu's backstory, a tale which had not been told in the 2006 D.Gray-Man series. All of the other main characters, such as Lenalee and Lavi, had their backstories told in order to give the audience a better understanding of them as characters. Kanda was given no such luxury, until now at least. His childhood is without a doubt one of the most interesting, and it was a treat to see it animated even a decade after the original series aired.

Art: 7
Another notable point that needs to be discussed is the art. Since it is 8 years after D.Gray-Man, there is a bit of difference in the art. Not just a bit, actually... a huge difference. There are times when I found myself loving the art and times I just kind of “ehh??” The art is /much/ more vibrant and colourful than the original, bordering on a pastel colour scheme. It is truly up to the watcher whether this is a positive or negative. Certain battles between characters really stood out to me, notably during the Alma arc, and I can appreciate the show for making the style quite a contrast from the original. However, there are also times when a more subtle and even more 'dull' appearance would have worked in the show's favor. During the more somber and mournful moments, I almost would have preferred the 2006 art style when the art was /literally/ darker. This isn't to say that the art is bad, not at all, it's just a matter of preference.

Sound: 7 / 8
There was an entire new cast of voices brought in for the series. At first I was hesitant because I'm the kind of person who doesn't like change. But very quickly the talent of the new voice actors came through and brought the characters to life beautifully. There was some incredible raw power and emotion coming through the screen; evidently the voice actors gave it their all and I couldn't ask for more.

Interestingly enough, there were several songs in the series that were the same (though mildly different) from the original. Perhaps it was my imagination, but there were multiple times I thought “hey I know that song” but remade and updated to fit the new series. A small detail that I thought was clever since it shows that there are ties to the original more than just using the same characters.

Character: 5
Kanda, Alma, and Allen are all given very interesting story arcs in this series. Unfortunately, I felt that there were several other characters who deserved just as much attention but their stories were cut for some reason. Characters such as Link and the 3rd Exorcists had some history that we got a sneak peak into but deserved to have more time put into establishing them as more than just background noise. Same goes for Timothy, a new exorcist introduced very early in Hallow. His entire story was cut tremendously so that only a few episodes were dedicated to it when in reality I believe he deserved more screentime.
Simultaneously, the introduction of several new Noah's felt a bit messy at times. Very little time was given toward introducing them; however this is not necessarily the fault of the show as much as it is the fault of the manga; I can only assume that more information about them will be given later on in the story but for this series, many of them were only given 1 line at the most. My hope is that more time will be given to the minor characters in the future, because in this series it was lacking on the 'character' front.

Enjoyment: 8
As I said before, once the Alma arc hit things started to look up. I found myself much more engaged in what was happening on screen. Allen's development and conflict with the Fourteenth, as well as the tension that builds within the Black Order kept me on the edge of my seat. The stakes are higher than they have ever been. So many things that we had hoped to see 10 years ago in D.Gray-Man are finally happening; all the characters we know and love make appearances and give us a satisfying yet short arc to tide us over until the new season comes out (whenever that may be). I certainly think that returning fans will find enjoyment in this new season despite its differences to the original.

Overall: 7
The series has some problems, I think the pacing could have been better and there are times the art felt like a bit too much, but it is a great ride. I enjoyed watching it, I enjoyed seeing these characters again after so many years and I can only hope that we will get another season in the near future that follows the manga's storyline in the way this one has. If you like D.Gray-Man, I'd say check this season out.

Truthfully, I'm disappointed. No, not for the reason you may think. It is because there are no more episodes! And because Allen broke Lenalee's heart. <- (Only spoiler I will write. Also, that's just my opinion. )

I couldn't wait for D Gray-Man to get a continuation after I finished the anime, which was 3 years ago. I kept checking in every few months. And then all of a sudden it is announced?! And you know what, It was amazing! And now, I can't wait for DGMH season 2!

If you loved the first one, then you'll love this one. Episode 1 is kinda dry, as ... it doesn't pick up immediately after episode 103, but it is still worth your time. Trust me!

I am a hard core D.Gray-man fan so I feel I can honestly say this a mixed bag.

First off the Japanese cast, has perfect replacements for the original cast, Yutaka Aoyama is wonderful as the Earl and a perfect replacement forJunpei he takes a bit to get used to however, and Ayumu murase is a good Allen also Nobuo Tobita is just how I wanted Cyril to sound so yeah that's good.

Then theirs the dub it's kinda bad, the English earl is horrible like he was in the original his voice does not fit the earl and it sounds demon like and he can't emote ... at all, Cyril can not emote ether and Zu Mei Chang sounds annoys every time he talks, every one else is good so I will leave it at that.

No spoilers or anything but I will mention there is a little reference to a plot point in the manga in the voice cast I won't say what but since they won't be going that far it's a nice touch

The art is mixed, the redesigns are mostly good for instant the earl looks good but the animation is poor at times also why are the akuma mostly red now?, the color is a little to much, but the design do look more like how the manga art is now so that's good.

On a side note the soundtrack is beautiful it's mostly rerecorded stuff but there are some great stand out stuff, the new version of tsunaida te ni Kiss wo is the best.

Unlike the original anime there is not to much filler but there is some, also I suppose to compress it down to 13 episodes they cut a lot of stuff out but it does not suffer for the lost scenes unlike the original, also with no spoilers I will say the ending is a little rushed.

So over all it's a good adaptation of the manga but it's a little off at times only recommend for those who watch the original first, but for a 8 year wait it's a fun ride, but stick to the Japanese version for the a fulfilling watch.

Okay so lets begin this.

Phew.....here we go. Honestly I have mixed feelings about this. I was super exited when I heard D gray man was returning as it was one of my favorite anime's/manga so I think maybe my hopes were just too high. At the same Time I feel like I'm still just glad that it came back and with improved animation quality and seeing one of my favorite main characters Allen walker back in action. That being said I give Hallow a 7/10 rating because I feel that the skipping of arcs left me confused and out of the loop since I did ... not read the manga. And on top of that the pacing seemed bad like it was rushing through the story. Not to mention the unnecessary model change for lenalee. if it wasn't for that it would have gotten a solid 9. Over all it was Good and am hoping that season 2 of hallow will redeem it.

It is very poorly executed. Like my other review about Mahou Sensou; it has a good story line compelling but not well done. It leaves you at another cliff hanger.. you don't find out enough about the new character and graphics to feel like its fantastical which it was not.
In short, it was inconsistent, bad plot, uninteresting, dull, it was painful to watch, skipped a lot of the important points which weren't considered.
I loved the original D-Gray Man it was superb, now i look at this and it disgraces me. I found myself trying to watch every new episode, it was unfulfilling with the amount ... of hype i felt for the project it left many of us fans disappointed. The art style certainly improved, but i was more fond of the older style.

This is my first review so it may not be the best, but I just felt I had to make a review for this amazing masterpiece that people are hating.

Story: 8/10
I personally haven't read the manga, so I don't have something to rate the story from, but from but what I heard it skipped a lot of the content in the manga. But, even if I didn't know that it skipped manga content I would've known cause the anime did kind of feel rushed, but I'm giving it a 9 cause I don't have the manga to base it off from so it feels great ... to me rushed, but great.

Art: 9/10
It's just beyond belief just how much better the animation and everything looks the only reason I gave it a 9 is because it took me 2 episodes to get used to it coming right off the original D. Gray Man and that the noses looked weird as fuck in some shots.

Sound: 10/10
At first I thought the new voice actors were just unbelievably fucking utter garbage and would never get used to them, but after 3 episodes I loved them so much except maybe Krory. Moving on the opening and ending again freaking loved them don't know why some people hate them so much. The op pretty much tells you the whole plot of the anime in it and the ending is emotional Gucci if you please.

Character: 10/10
I'm not a college professor, so I don't know what makes an amazing plot, but some of the complaints are no character development and I'm just like wtf do you expect in a 13 episode anime and there was character development a bit in Allen and then a lot of Kanda.

Enjoyment: 10/10
It's great hated it at first , but after 1st episode I got hooked on it.

Overall: 10/10
If you just ignore the little hiccups in the anime it's pretty damn great I would recommended this anime to anyone wanting to binge watch an anime.

Details i didn't like about D.gray man hallow
1. there was not much character development
2. It wasn't that funny (and i mean i know that season was meant to be serious but like even in the first season no matter how serious of a threat they were facing they were still able to crack a few jokes )
3. yes, they copied the manga but it seemed rushed
4. They took 8 years to make a 2nd season and there were only 13 episodes

Details I loved about D.gray man hallow
1. The opening and the ending songs are so catchy
2. They picked up on ... where the first season left
3. The art style improved (i mean i like the first seasons art style and all but i have to admit that the current art style is an upgrade )
4.the action scenes are great (not as good as the first seasons action scenes but still great )

All in all I actually really like the anime but if you ask me personally i like the manga better

I am writing this review after completing a two and a half months experience of D.Gray-man and D.Gray-man Hallow. I should confess I feel empty, I feel frustrated that I don't know or don't have any further information on what is going to be on of this marvellous history... I have post-anime depression after been absent in me for a long long time. Here are some thoughts:

D.Gray-man Hallow is the sequel of the 2008 anime D.Gray-Man. So the first thing that should be taken into account is that this anime, Hallow, in order to have a maximum enjoyment and understanding, it should be seen immediately ... after the 2008 series. If not, it would absolutely have no sense.

The history continues exactly where the 2008 version was left, with the main character struggling to understand his condition and position in the Black Order that combats the Millenium Earl and the Noahs in the task of reinventing the world. The story, again, can be seen as a trivial approximation of any shonen anime by which the hero opposes any evil in the name of justice. This is what makes Hallow interesting: it diverges from this stereotypical view and enters into a more confronting story in which at the end we don't have any good and bad guys, but rather individuals who go from one side to another.

The history, like in D.Gray-man, is marvellous. And in Hallow the good thing to see is that the original history is further developed for a more matured audience. And the strongest point of this history relies on its characters.

In Hallow, we see mostly the same characters as in D.Gray-man, with the difference that this time we will get the focus on other secondary important characters that on the first season weren't of that relevance. The biggest example of this is Kanda, but with other examples such as Mana and Link. The success relies on the fact that the initial essence of all main characters of the first series remained intact. Furthermore, we see a deeper development of Allen as a character and we get even closer to other facets of the antagonists like the Millenium Earl, Road and Tiki Mikki.

In terms of art and sound, the series is well developed. Although I missed the emotional openings of the first season, the opening was pretty decent and the ending was outstanding.

In general, I see Hallow as an outstanding continuation of the first season that successfully condensed in 13 episodes a marvellous amount of epicness and emotionality. Hallow's audience is, on the other hand, more mature than the audience of D.Gray-man due to the increase of violence and strong moral issues treated. I should definitely praise the Kanda's History arc... without any spoilers, the development of Kanda as a character and its history is just: beautiful, perfect. One of the most charming histories I have seen in anime.

Hallow may not be up to the level of its predecessor as probably the most brilliant shonen anime that I have seen. However, it is the product of an arduous work to continue such an amazing history and it by far deserves a place in the hearts of D.Gray-Man fans. Do not hesitate to see it.

Here it finishes one of the most intriguing histories I have seen in anime and I cannot wait to see what it will bring after.

D.Grey-man Hallow – SS Overview

(Short and Salty Overview)

Hallow be thy Name. If D.Grey-man ever got a new video game, that is what it should be called. D.Grey-man: Hallow by thy Name for PS4 & PC (sorry I’m a PC man myself).

I read the manga and have watched the previous anime, its good typical shonen goodness. This is a simple overview I will not give any plot points or basic synopsis only my opinion on it. D.Grey-man has a few shortcomings but on the whole it’s a good series, too be brutally honest I wasn’t really expecting a new anime considering. The manga has quite a ... few hiatuses due to the mangaka’s health but fair play to her for continuing the work regardless and I wish her all the best.

How is this series compared to the original 103 episodes, not too bad, it covered a lot of ground (in other words a lot of chapters) in the 13 episodes but unfortunately due to this the pace was incredibly fast and felt rushed. Animation was good; I was actually surprised at how far it went into the manga leaving a small gap between the last episode of Hallow and the current manga chapter. Even though the pace is fast it’s still good, but I would recommend watching the first series as this is an continuation.

D.Grey-man Hallow – 7/10 Not as good as the original series but still pretty good.

What an joy that this series finally got an new season, for me who readed the manga this was a bless, it's almost unbelievable after so many years katsura hoshino managed to bring back such an awesome story, it's almost unfair such an amazing mangaka with fantastic drawing skills, one of if not the best character design in an shounen and mangas, and deep story goes unnoticed by a lot of people, it only really lacks a bit in fights, but since everything else is great you don't care, plain example how people should care more about stories rather than fights, fights and fights everytime ... and have the risk of going downhill like naruto did.

It was also shameful this wasn't on many top 10 animes from 2016 lists, this series is seriously underrated, it's also sad that it is taking so long for chapters to come out again for the manga.

That aside, like i said earlier, the story and characters is the biggest driving force on d-gray man hallow, and a bit of atmosphere, it is filled with great main characters and villains, so much my favorite villains in anime/manga earl of the millenium is back even more twisted and if you readed the manga you know the kind of sad backstory behind it and even more noahs were revealed, giving space to Sheril and Nea who is starting to show up.

The season sort of skips/ignore a few things on the manga, but nothing to drastic, mainly the sort of filler arc it had before this, it tries to be quick and precise avoiding any sort of unnecessary moments which works for the most part, so much it only has 12 episodes since there isn't enough content on the manga to go beyond the point this season ended.

D-gray man has what many shounens lack sometimes which is depth and true character motivations, not some excuse to motivation, i always wanted to see more female characters like lenalee who may not be so freaking strong but at least has presence and you always remember her, her character puts sakura for example to shame, unfortunately she doesn't have much space in this season, same applies to lavi which is almost forgotten here, but to compensate that Kanda and Allen which often battle as the most popular character in the series are the star here and their chemistry work well and you feel the pain and everything that is happening here

I think the few weak spots is the animation and the soundtrack, the opening and ending credits may grow in you after some time, but not so much as the soundtrack that plays during the anime itself, the animation is visible different from the previous series, this one is more light and more colorful in contrast of the previous Gothic and more dark style of animation which worked well, the new one is also made in a way to reflect the change in drawings after the time skip in the manga, which makes sense, could be better but still acceptable, nothing to cause anger.

If you're a fan of the series like me who got really sad because of the hiatus due to all the health problems katsura hoshino went through, especially if you care about the author like me, you will like this season really quick, especially for the story, the character designs and characters themselves who are in perhaps even tougher situations, although some of them have almost no space on this season, for rather understandable reasons
If you never heard of d-gray man, you should give a try, it's a heck of great series that is strangely underrated, it does more success in europe for some reason, maybe the setting? the manga itself is fantastic, it shows how katsura has one of the best drawings in an manga of action ever, the girl deserve all the praise, also if you plan to watch the previous series, make sure to find a list of all the fillers to avoid you know boredom and go straight to where it matters.

Ok, so I decided to write a review some time after finishing D. Gray-man Hallow.
I do not quite know how to start. Since I'm an unconditional fan of the original work, which includes the first anime and obviously the manga, I might be a little taken up by the emotion.
 I cried when I received the news that the anime would have a sequel. D. Gray-man was a part of my life, and I have wonderful memories of coming home from school and running around looking for my DVDs to marathon with my sister.

 I knew that after ten years, a lot of things would change. I ... also knew that, like the 2006 anime, the story would be incomplete. Even so, for a fan desperate for new material from the work he loves, that was a wonderful gift, right?

 Okay, the first episode started, and I, like an idiot, cried when I heard "innocence, hatsudou" after so long, and when I saw again the characters I love so much. It was indescribable. Then the emotion diminished and I was able to see clearly.
 
First: The animation. Wow! I really expected more commitment to the work of Hoshino-sensei ... The animation is much inferior to the first anime, and although it is following the current features of the manga, it is something poor and disappointing. They could have done more.

Second: The voice actors. Oh boy, What have they done to Lenalee? She had such a perfect voice in season one, combining her sweetness with her determination. Now she's just another generic kawaii girl. They simply destroyed her personality in that voice.
The rest ... Well, I do not have much to comment on. As an old fan, I missed the old voices simply because I was used to the previous ones. They do not look like the same characters I met 8 years ago, but that does not mean that the voice actors did a bad job. Quite the opposite.
About the story ... Well, it's based on the manga, but it seems to be running too much. What was that Timothy arc? People who have never read the manga simply have no way to feel affection for him or create some kind of feeling simply because he was not developed.
Unlike other exorcists who were introduced to the first anime and had an entire arc dedicated to them, for the public to sympathize with them, such as Miranda Lotto, Arystar Krory or Chaozii Han, poor Timothy was not so lucky.
I know the goal was to focus this season on the arc of Alma Karma, but the speed of all other events was a bit ... Anyway.

The soundtrack is nostalgic and I was thrilled to hear the so classic music of when exorcists activate innocence.
On the first episodes I was like "Wow, this new opening is just one of the many generic anime openings now," but I changed my mind, because in the last episodes I was all happy singing together. Even so I do not think it's as "Innocent Sorrow", "Doubt & Trust" or "Gekidou". D. Gray-man has always had wonderful openings. sighs

Then that's it. After all, it was a wonderful gift to see my computer screen running a new episode of my favorite series forever.
I find it difficult for someone who is not a real fan to like HALLOW. Unless you follow the manga faithfully and know the previous season of the anime, I do not recommend it, because you will get lost in the hasty plot.

  Even though I find it difficult to have a third season, I'm happy with HALLOW. I hope Hoshino-sensei will give us more and more to this wonderful story.
And I hope the Jasdevi twins get more space !! My poor babies !!