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「聖戦ブラッド」 (Seisen Buraddo)
“Blood Crusade”
A blood soaked Allen Walker, a traumatic flashback, and another brief glimpse of the Fourteenth? That’s certainly one way to start off an episode. A brief moment of hilarity from Lenalee and Link aside, this week gives us yet another dark turn in a series filled with them, and this could be most significant one yet.
For one, the arrival of a new brand of exorcist comes with a sinister catch as expected, and our “Third Exorcists” are revealed as genetically engineered half-Akuma with a human foundation. Made from a piece of the Akuma Egg/Production Plant destroyed a little while back, they’re essentially humans capable of using Akuma weapons, and as Allen finds out the hard way—it’s a caveat that comes with an instinctively negative reaction to Innocence. Given their reactions and the fact they’re essentially part-Akuma in nature, there’s no end to the potential risks their deployment entails, and I suppose it goes to show just how cornered humanity is at the moment. Given their recent losses and the fact you can’t just find Innocence and comparable owners off the street to replace them, you realize it’s finally come to a point where even past failures and morals/ethics can’t sway the equation, and the end could very well be coming sooner than expected.
For now though, the Third Exorcists end up arriving as much needed reinforcements, even if their presence also serves as reminders of a tragic past filled with failed attempts at creating “Artificial Apostles.” We’re not given much else regarding this experiment aside from the brief hints of “Second Exorcists” being its result, but given its clear link to Kanda—who’s strongly hinted to be a Second Exorcist product or contributor—makes it something that’ll likely come up again in the near future, and I suppose we’ll see in due time just what exactly he had to go through to get to this point.
In the meanwhile, all eyes are on the Millennium Earl and his own “reinforcements” (as if he needed anymore), and he certainly doesn’t waste any time deploying all of his newly awakened apostles/Noah family members. What results is beginning of yet another massacre, and the ease by which they take down even the Third Exorcists hints at a tremendously grim future for Allen and company. At this point, there’s practically more apostles than capable Innocence wielding Exorcists, and the fact that they reincarnate every generation makes you wonder how humanity’s still alive. Still, I guess that’s what it’s always been about—humanity’s resilience in the face of long odds—and it’s certainly curious in that regard when you consider how similar they Allen’s sword is to the one shown here. (EDITED: Thanks to a few comments, I was reminded that this tidbit was already mentioned briefly at some point in the past).
Aside from that, this week brings with it a continued upturn in animation quality, although there continues to be a rough patch here and there. The arrival of the Black Order’s North American Branch Leader ends up another minor highlight, and I suppose that’s about it in terms of this week’s significant developments. To help you guys kill time until next week though, here’s a full-length… and a few surprising figure announcements from WonFes a few days ago to top things off. Who would’ve thunk?
Author’s Notes: As stated last week, D.Gray-man will be picked up for weekly coverage from this point forward. Posts will likely release on a 24-48 hour delay (Tuesday/Wednesday Eastern Time) however, and will be more brief than typical posts due to its air time and how it fits into my schedule. Once again, please remember that spoilers for future chapters should be placed into spoiler tags. Feel free to ask if you are unsure how to use them.
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For fujoshis indeed.
Officially DGM is shonen but over time the art style changed. I can definitely see why you would say that.
At this point, there’s practically more apostles than capable Innocence wielding Exorcists, and the fact that they reincarnate every generation makes you wonder how humanity’s still alive
I will put this on a spoiler:
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Ah right. There was that tidbit from the last series. It’s times like this where you realize just how long it’s been. Thanks for that.
Yeah, that’s why I reread the manga and rewatched the anime before Hallow started. It has since then proved that it was a wise decision.
That was Millenium’s sword, not Allen’s. They’re very alike; indeed, it was said before (in Hallow or in the original series, not sure which) that they look the same, only with inverted colors. That does not mean that they are not related, though. IMO, this only strengthens the possible connection.
A lot of things happen in each episode of Hallow. In fact, that seems to be the inclination of every episode of DGM since Ep. 56. IMHO, DGM’s characters are among the unluckiest anime characters X).
Anyway, nice post 🙂
Ahhhh, now that you mention it there was brief mention of that somewhere. I can’t remember if it was because I read ahead somewhat in the manga or if it was in the original series from way back when though. I’ll mod that part real quick in zeh posto.
That’s the Earl’s sword, not Allen’s. Their swords have inverted color to each other
https://randomc.net/image/D.Gray-man/D.Gray-man%20HALLOW%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
That’s the Millennium Earl with his own sword (he used it to fight Allen in the Noah Ark arc. Both him and Road were surprise that Allen has the same sword).
One would wonder why an Innocence would turn into the same form as its main nemesis’s weapon.
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The 14th already appeared in human form in this episode. Too bad that they left out the scene when he spoke, even though I know that they don’t have time.
I’d like to say more about the whole 14th thing but that’s too spoiler-ish even with the spoiler tag…
I tried watching first episode but couldn’t stand the VA so I stopped, despite following manga since years ago. After 4 episodes aired, should I start following this series?
Tbh, the only voice I could see being really hard to get used to and fairly subpar compared to the 1st season would be Lenalee’s as Itou Shizuka is just too awesome of a VA – though I’m slowly getting used to that as well.
In the case of Allen, I actually prefer this one – more mature & confident sounding, as if solidifying all his development from S1 one step further.
So yea, go for it, IMO.