D.Gray-man HALLOW – 08

「覚醒」 (Kakusei)
“Awakening”

And so, here we are. Alma Karma’s awakening forces Kanda to utilize his Fifth Illusion skills, shaving off his soul (and lifespan) in the process. The presence of Alma Karma cells subsequently causes the Third Exorcists to go out of control and Allen is handed the responsibility of stopping the fight between our fated pair. As Kanda attacks Allen, his Innocence triggers the full awakening of the Fourteenth, causing things to go exactly as planned by the Millennium Earl.

Wow. If that wasn’t the definition of suffering, I don’t know what is. Just when you thought things would work out somehow with the Third Exorcists’ valiant shielding of our main cast, their double-edged nature comes out to haunt them and the others they protected, and it gets to a point where Allen’s Innocence even self-activates in response to the perceived threat. However unintended, the latter ends up an ironic demonstration of how quickly the Third Exorcists ended up being considered enemies by the very thing (and symbolically, the people) they intended to protect, and this was a “betrayal” that really hit at the heartstrings of viewers and cast members alike.

All the while, you have both Kanda and Alma hell-bent on killing each other even though they don’t want to, and it’s something made even worse by the fact that their past and present struggles are merely being taken advantage of by the Earl to get Allen to join his side. To say the least, it’s the most sinister of contraptions, and one that almost succeeds in getting Allen to voluntarily join the Noah in an attempt to “save” everyone involved. And while the latter doesn’t actually end up happening—thanks to For—it goes to show just how much our characters have had to endure over the past few weeks, and may need to continue doing so in the near future.

After all, the complete awakening of the Fourteenth likely eliminates any chance of Allen returning to the Order even if he regains some kind of control (despite his actions this time around)—a result that will not only be unacceptable to his closest friends, but may very well cause Kanda to go to great lengths to ensure his return (assuming he even survives), given his personality and the fact he’ll likely feel directly responsible for everything that happens from this point forward.

At the very least, there’s seems likely to be one silver lining in all of this however, with Allen’s intervention potentially giving Kanda and Alma a chance for proper resolution they’ve been seeking for all these years. Needless to say, it’d come at a great cost assuming it happens at all, but it goes to show just how the world is here in D.Gray-man, and this is certainly one of those cases where you’d take any silver lining you can get.

Aside from that, perhaps the most interesting thing here is the revelation that the Earl wants Allen and the Fourteenth back because he “wants to be at his side.” The craziness of wanting to be by the side of someone who wants to kill you aside, it’s notable because of how his comments can be construed in many ways, and it certainly makes you wonder how much of this falls under the realm of a homosexual, romantic attraction—something that would be interesting if it’s true, given that isn’t often discussed/mentioned, let alone hinted at so directly. (Please remember, confirmations or denials of this should be put in spoiler tags!)

Either way, the notion of the Earl wanting to be at the side of someone comes as a twist I didn’t quite see coming, and I guess I should’ve figured there was more to the reasons he wanted the Fourteenth back so badly and why the Fourteenth wants to kill the Earl to an equivalent degree. They say love breeds the strongest of hates after all, and I guess ultimately, the only issue I have with what was otherwise one of the best episodes yet was the surprising amount of censoring they ended up putting up this week. It’s not as egregious as the censors we’ve seen with other series like Terraformars, but it was a distraction nonetheless, and one the show could’ve done without. Alas, you have to do what you have to do in order to even get the series on air, and I suppose I can stomach a bit of censoring if we had to choose between getting this episode or not getting it at all…

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