Posted by Episode 12
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「My Home」
Episode Summary: With the arrival of the Third Exorcists and an army of Akuma, the Order is held in their pursuit of Allen Walker, and a declaration of betrayal confirms the Third’s voluntary allegiance to the Noah. Apocryphos forces the activation of Allen’s innocence in order to find him, ultimately closing in to their location as Road succumbs to the damage inflicted to her in the previous episode. Lenalee catches up to Allen in time for a tear-filled farewell, and Allen opens an arc gate to escape the battlefield, stating his intention to remain an Exorcist. Leverrier’s discovery of Link’s body leads to the revelation that he knows of Apocryphos’ existence, with additional hints pointing at the intentional creation of Third Exorcists to lure him out.
Episode 13
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「ウォーカー」 (U~oka)
“Walker”
And so, the curtains come down on D.Gray-man, and this week’s finale isn’t so much an end as it is a new beginning. In a fitting analogy to the Walker name—which was also used as this week’s episode title—the cast begins to look and move forward into an unknown future, and it’s something that starts with the return of Kanda, who elects to sacrifice the freedom given to him by Walker in an attempt to return the favor. The fact that he returns just in time to see Zu May Chang on his deathbed ends up symbolic of the new chapter he’s starting—given that the former started all of the Order’s original experiments in the first place—and at this point, it’s all about leaving the past behind for good.
With the way things are—there is no need, time, or option to look back anymore, and with Apocryphos hot on his tail and the threat of the Fourteenth’s complete awakening, this goes doubly true for the man currently in possession of the Walker name. In the meanwhile, the Bookmen continue to be held hostage, Road’s confirmed as temporarily gone, and while there’s no shortage to the amount of plot lines left open, it’s nice to at least see where every member of the cast stands at the current time, as it gives a sense of closure that makes it easier to stomach what might be an immensely long wait for another continuation.
Final Impressions after the ED caps…
ED1.13 Sequence
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Final Impressions: When you get down to it, I think it’s safe to say that this was a series that surprised both in the fact that it returned in the first place, and in regards to how well it advanced the story despite an obviously low budget allocation. For every animation quality drop there was a significant moment in exchange that made the series worth watching, and it only helped that the whole Alma Karma arc was arguably the best and most emotional arc we’ve watched to date. Getting used to the new cast and art style took a little while to get used to at first, but once you did, it was like we never left the dark world of D.Gray-man, and if anything—we realized just how dark the world really was.
Ultimately, the series was a triumphant return for a series that disappeared over a decade ago, and as a fan who got into the franchise with its original run, there are few words to express how glad I am to have been able to see D.Gray-man HALLOW materialize into an actual, quality adaptation. The question that begs to be asked though, is whether or not this’ll be the only thing we’ll get, and let’s just say that it’d be a terrible pity if the series never receives the animated continuation it rightfully deserves. Either way, you can count on me as someone who’ll be waiting in the wings for one to arrive, and who knows? With a little bit of luck and some good timing, we might just meet again here sometime in the future with Allen Walker in tow.
Until then, here’s hoping you’ve enjoyed coverage of D.Gray-man here on RC (apologies on the delay on episode 12), and remember: “Don’t stop. Keep walking forward.”
Excellent ending to this season! I’ve never seen a season end with so many questions left unanswered ,but yet still had me feeling satisfied in the direction and content shown.
Looks like things will be very interesting for our shujinkou in the future with not only Noah and the Order tracking him down, but also a certain independent type innocence that wants to get a little too close to him. However it seems that he may not be completly alone considering he still has friends in the order (lenalee, kanda,and group) and the Noah (Road and possibly Tykki)
I don’t like the fact that we have to wait for another adaptation but I am glad they left with this instead of an anime only ending. Hooray for D. Grayman Hallow!
Looking forward to the next season of D.Gray-Man….in another 8 years or so….(cries in a corner)
Between this and the end of Macross Delta (which I coincidentally also covered), I shudder to think about how old I could be before I see another series made for either franchise.
Definitely not something you want to think about, but at least we have some potentially nice figures of Allen and Kanda to look forward to in the near future, if you’re into collecting those. Still waiting on them to make something for Lenalee though…
In the mean while, I’ll simply follow the manga from where the anime left off, which isn’t far actually. The release schedule is understandably way too slow, but at the very least it isn’t dead either.
Wow, no words can describe how fleeting this felt
That was unexpected. I was expecting at least 26 episodes.
That certainly would’ve been nice, but at the same time I do understand the decision. Last I remember, it’s at a bit of a hard point in the manga to really adapt without giving it more than a season’s worth of episodes, and starting the next arc likely would’ve left us in the middle of that one rather than the beginning of it, which probably wouldn’t have helped the cause much.
Wondeful.
It’d be unforgivable to not follow the manga story. WTF is an anime only ending? That’s bulls**t from the past. Now we have seasons who follow what the author has created.
Wonderfuk indeed.
There’s actually quite a lot of original content in these final two episodes, drawn out a bit to showcase more action. It’s not exactly an anime-original ending because it is VERY open-ended. But they did change some things. I will list them below without spoiling anything, but I put spoiler tags around it anyway.
Show Spoiler ▼
You are wrong… He really did all that in chapter 208
Oh my Lord. You are right. Holy, I just realized I’m missing out on a bunch of chapters. No wonder something felt disjointed.
Twintails are making a comeback.
I am so happy that this got made. it was a great adaption of the best arc so far. Hopefully once the manga progresses we will get another cour or two.
Most open ended mess in the history of things.
Open ended sure, but I wouldn’t say it’s a mess, and especially not one in the “history of things” eh.
Given the short run time, there’s no way to give any proper closure to the plot lines that are left, and there shouldn’t have been any expectations in that regard.
Despite that, they managed to wrap things up by giving us a glimpse of every cast member, what they’re doing, and what they plan to do in the future, which is what a finale to a series that’s ongoing should do. At the very least, it does more than some series that didn’t even have any additional content after the finale did, which says a lot about how they worked things out even with the low budget and many other things working against them.
The mess is intentional in this case. 😉 Your main character is 100% a rouge now from where we started and some what fitting mess considering all the ties to the cast he has.
The end of 12 is still just as emotional for me as reading it in the Manga but this is a series that has built up to that point as well.
I hope the manga material will be faster so that a continuation is possible. This all hinges on the health of Hoshino-sensei. I remember watching this anime a decade ago and following it week in and week out. It was not the usual shonen series because it is darker and more emotional. That appealed to me and it kept me watching. I’m sure it will return sometime in the future with an even better adaptation. While the art is pretty lamentable, the theme music are still as strong, something that D.Gray-man can always boast about. Despite the short number of episodes, the character development is still the focal point, which I think most other action series always fall into the trap of not spending enough time on in an attempt to squeeze all the action into it. What makes this series good is that the people do not mindlessly fight to protect their nakama and see who’s stronger. There are compelling reasons for doing so, and that is important to allow us to root for the main characters.
All I wanted to know is if Kanda and Allen are still exorcists in the end and it’s confirmed. https://randomc.net/image/D.Gray-man/D.Gray-man%20HALLOW%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2014.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/D.Gray-man/D.Gray-man%20HALLOW%20-%20ED1.13%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
I’ll miss the series for sure. Yet very grateful to have watched more of it.
i think that allen walker will get the haert of all the innocence and hes goona use the power of the fourteenth and his innocence to fight the melenieum earl so gonna wait for how many years to see the future of allen walker i hope its gonna happen sonner or later this year