D.Gray-man / First Impressions

OP Sequence

OP: 「INNOCENT SORROW」 by abingdon boys school
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 Mirror 2 (23.2MB, XviD)

Summary:
Exorcists are the ones watched over by god to bury the ominous things that appear from the darkness. It is in this 19th Century world that a boy arrives in a town with his flying companion Timcanpy. In this same town, a female police officer named Moore is investigating a church that is rumored to be cursed. She and her fellow officer go inside, but at first find nothing except for ruins. However, a colony of bats appears and seems to sweep Moore away, taking her to another room. Moore sees that there’s actually an arm holding onto her and that arm belongs to a white-haired boy. He’s surprised to see a human here and claims that he was only trying to get the cat because it ate something important of his. The pair suddenly hear a scream coming from the main room, so Moore rushes back to find the other officer pinned against a pole, with a black star pattern growing on his face. The officer’s body soon turns black and explodes in smoke. That smoke starts to choke Moore until the boy from earlier covers her mouth and explains that her companion was killed by an Akuma. Moore soon blacks out and wakes back up at the police station sometime later.
One of the detectives is interrogating the boy who brought Moore back. The boy’s name is Allen Walker, and he has a green cross on his disfigured left arm. Allen reveals that the culprit of the crime is called Akuma, which he has encountered before. Allen is an Exorcist, and that cross is actually an anti-Akuma weapon. The detective isn’t sure what to make of this, but decides to let Allen go under the care of Moore. Unbeknownst to them, a large person with an umbrella arrives in Moore’s home right before Moore and Allen get there, and this shadowy figure refers to Moore’s brother as an Akuma. He disappears before Moore comes by to check in on her brother Mark, and Mark seems normal to her. Later that night, Moore wonders if the culprit is really an Akuma. She thinks that akuma (in the literal sense of the word meaning devil) are fantasy things created out people’s fear. Moore doesn’t believe in Akuma or curses and hates them. However, Allen corrects her because the Akuma he knows isn’t what she’s referring to; it is instead the name of a weapon that takes a human form.
It is at this point that Moore’s brother comes into the room and Allen notices that he is an Akuma. Moore’s brother transforms into a large floating egg-like creature. It aims and fires its guns at Moore, but fortunately Allen saves her and the two get thrown back into the church across the street. Allen actually caught one of the Akuma’s bullets, but he warns Moore not to touch it because it contains a poisonous virus. The effects of this virus can be seen in the cat, as it soon develops the black stars and its body shatters. Allen thinks that what they saw wasn’t Moore’s brother Mark, but rather what killed him and took him over. Their conversation gets interrupted when the Akuma bursts through the wall. The detective from earlier and several officers confront it, but it kills them all. Allen explains that the Akuma are programmed to act as weapons so that they can evolve, and are living weapons with souls. The frustration of the soul becomes the energy that evolves the Akuma. Allen can see that there is a woman’s soul in this one and thinks that it’s probably someone who had bonds with Mark. It seems that the ingredients for an Akuma include soul, machine, and tragedy.
Moore remembers how on the wedding day of Mark and Moore’s sister Crea, Crea had been worried about Moore joining the police. Mark had felt that Moore was not out to avenge their dead parents but rather to protect. However, a chandelier had crashed down and killed Crea, sending Mark into a state of despair. After this tragedy, a man in a top hat had visited Mark and offered him a deal where he could get Crea back by calling out her name. When Mark did this, the robotic skeleton in front of him was infused with Crea’s soul, but she didn’t have control of herself and was forced to kill Mark. It was she who took over his body and she who is the Akuma in front of Moore and Allen now. With his arm and his cross glowing, Allen powers up to destroy the darkness. He uses his enlarged claw arm to rip through the Akuma and break the chains on the soul. After the battle, Allen tells Moore about the Earl of Millennium, the producer of the Akuma. This Earl of Millennium is trying to perform a scenario with the demise of man, and bringing that to an end is the job of the Exorcists. With his job here done, Allen leaves with Timcanpy.

ED Sequence

ED: 「SNOW KISS」 by NIRGILIS
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 Mirror 2 (14.1MB, XviD)
It’s been a while since I’ve heard TMRevolution sing a song and even longer since the last time I heard something by his group the abingdon boys school. NIRGILIS, on the other hand, I remember from Eureka 7. Anyway, I think this is the first show this season where I’ve liked both the opening and ending songs.

Well that was pretty interesting. I hadn’t been really familiar with the manga, so I came into this without much knowledge about the story. The whole Akuma/Exorcist/Machine/Soul theme is quite intriguing and I can see a lot of good potential in this story, perhaps with a lot of religious elements. This was only an introduction episode with some exposition and showing some of the main characters powers, but it does fairly well in drawing me into wanting to see more – or read the manga as the case may be. Actually, I probably shouldn’t read the manga in order not to spoil myself.
The overall animation quality for this show is pretty good, about what I’d expect from something airing in a prime-time slot. There’s something familiar about Allen Walker’s character design. It reminds me of a cross between the main character of .hack//SIGN and Edward of FMA. That glowing red left eye of his makes him look rather cool and it seems like it’s as important a part of his powers as his claw arm.
Like I said, I’m looking forward to seeing more of this, so the odds this will continue to be blogged are rather high.

55 Comments

  2. Yea Allen somehow resembles Edward of FMA but his hair seems to be longer in the manga…He looks younger in the manga too…Anyways this is the show I look forward to the most ^^

    w1ckhunt3r
    Reply

  4. just read the manga up to chapter 85, damn good manga, so expecting alot from the anime 😀

    but reason why Allen resembled Ed so much is probably because of his arm, and the clothes he’s wearing

    Sensei-kun
    Reply

  8. I find that Allen’s design reminds of Hikaru in the middle-late part of Hikaru no Go.

    I’ll have to take a look at this. The darker elements of the series could hold the promise of an extended and intriguing storyline. I hope the setup is not used as just a premise for episodic battles.

    GDP
    Reply

  15. I was waiting for this! The character designs look a little too old but I guess they’re trying to avoid the whole ’15-year-olds saving the world’ cliche. Whoever said Allen looks like Hikaru from Hikaru no Go got it exactly right. And his seiyuu is Akira which amuses me.

    hanashi
    Reply

  32. arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!
    i wan more d-grayman!!! it’s superb! i love the op and ed…
    it’s been a long time since i saw sony music released some superb op/ed for nice animes…
    i didnt really like the yakitate songs… and only a few of bleach i like…
    ^____^ i think it’s a great job on the op/ed…
    about the anime…
    the colouring arent that great compared to death note…
    hopefully they would do a better job on that… since d-grayman have more promosing plot…

    kakoiiiiiiiii sugoiiiiii
    Reply

  37. I’ll give this a try. I haven’t read the manga, but the anime looks rather, interesting. I’m downloading the first episode now, can’t wait to see it~~. I kinda hope that i’ll like it, since then i can finally begin on a new series. I’ve recently finished Honey & Clover, Host Club and Zero no Tsukaima. I’ll probably finish Strawberry Panic too, really soon. ^^;;

    Ai-Tan
    Reply

  47. yeah bring it on the anime is as beutifuly done as the manga I realy became fond of it too, I hope you continue blogging this anime because the story is deep and definetelly abeautifuly one, it has also phyloso`phycal messages too so I think you’ll pretty much like it ^^

    RickaZ
    Reply

  48. kyaaa !! thankew so much for blogging the first episode of this series. it makes me wanna watch it even more. i’m so horribly addicted to both the OP and ED !!
    and yeah .. allen look somewhat like hikaru of hikaru no go. and voiced by sanae kobayashi too ^^ plus sooo many of my favourite seiyuus !! definitely watching this XD

    babybabu
    Reply

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