「リトル・グッバイ」 (Ritoru Gubbai)
“Little Goodbye”

And with that, the series’ most emotional arc comes to an end, and this was an episode that really speaks for itself. With Kanda and Alma finally receiving a resolution to their painful past and Allen regaining his senses just in time to provide them with that opportunity—everything here worked out the way they should’ve for the most part, and words can’t express just how fitting a culmination this was to the events of the past few weeks. Ultimately, it’s episodes like these that make me watch anime in general, and count me in as someone who’s happier than ever to have gotten the chance to follow this franchise’s run in animated form.

All things considered though, there’s a measure of tragedy given the fact that Alma and the Third Exorcists are lost in the process, and the end of an arc merely brings us toward the beginning of another—one filled with more uncertainty than ever before. The loss of Kanda (at least for the time being), the inability to utilize and create further Third Exorcists with Alma’s death, the awakening of the Fourteenth and the related confinement of Allen Walker as a “traitor”, the sudden disappearance of the Bookmen, the affliction of Chaozii with an unknown condition, the destruction of For spirit stone, the loss of an entire Order branch HQ… the list goes on.

As much as one would like to revel in the temporary happiness of how things resolved themselves here, it’s impossible to not think about how the state of things somehow ended even worse than ever before, and that’s just counting the physical loss of personnel/combat power. What’ll likely sink in as the real killer is the mental repercussions of losing so many comrades at once while being unsure about the status of some of their closest friends, and at this point, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if the series spends most of its remaining run focusing on this particular aspect and the question of what needs to and what can be done next.

With that in mind, it must be said that the culmination of Alma’s arc with 4 episodes left leaves the series in a tricky spot. Given the length of previous arcs, there’s no chance of another full arc fitting in the time we have left, and it makes you wonder what we’ll get and how we’ll feel as the remaining episodes wind down following one of the series’ best arcs. At the same time, the elephant in the room is starting to get bigger and bigger in regards to whether or not we’ll ever get another D.Gray-man iteration after this one, and I suppose this is one of those cases where you savor what you have now while holding out hope for the future.

 

Preview

8 Comments

  1. A little trivia: The place Kanda and Alma were sent to is Mater, an abandoned seaside town that appeared in the “Ghost of Mater” arc in episode 3-5 of Season 1. It featured the two characters Guzol and Lala, whose lullaby can be heard at the end of this episode.

    SuicuneSol
  2. So that cigarette that Timcampy swallowed in the first ep was also a kind of spell to return Allen to his senses?? Definitly got some spellish vibes from the strange mantra coming from Timcapy during this ep.

    Also I’m very happy, considering I don’t normally ship guys, that Yu and Alma(mystery girl) got a nice ending. Well as nice as dying in each others arms can be, but you get my meaning.

    FallenRock
  3. This was the point (while I was reading the manga) when I realized that a happy ending was too much to ask of this series. It hit me really hard because, at time, Pandora Hearts was destroying my confidence on happy endings too.

    Allen’s suffering is really something. With this arc already over I think that one of my favorite scenes on the manga will make it to this cour. I’m really looking forward to it.

    Kamui
    1. I kept thinking, “I know where this seasons is going to end…” which is going to make me both happy and want want to cry at the same time.

      It’s going to be a long time before we get another D. Grey man anime.

      AniBEE
  4. I kinda liked this episode; they managed to smooth the staggering screenplay. At least, not as awkward as previous episodes but lack of tension in coherent to its situation still persists.

    fishell
  5. If only Kanda was more open with his feelings, then Alma won’t have felt lonely even if he was not alone.
    https://randomc.net/image/D.Gray-man/D.Gray-man%20HALLOW%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
    This was a nice screenshot to not have a bloodshot eye: https://randomc.net/image/D.Gray-man/D.Gray-man%20HALLOW%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
    Thank goodness for his super regeneration powers…https://randomc.net/image/D.Gray-man/D.Gray-man%20HALLOW%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2010.jpg

    random viewer

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