D.Gray-man / First Impressions

Summary:

At the Black Order headquarters, Komui rushes to Lenalee’s bedside when she opens her eyes, and she comments on how he’s here now just like he was when she woke up before. Since she asks about Allen, Komui tells her that he’s on a mission with Kanda. At that time, Allen is being carried by Lavi through a blizzard. The group takes refuge in a cabin, and Elda notices that Allen has come down with a fever. When their finder Michael arrives, he reports that he didn’t see any Akuma around the cabin, so Kanda decides to go out to find the Innocence before the Akuma can get to it. Almost everyone wants to go with him, but Kanda leaves with only Lavi. While they’re gone, Allen explains to Elda’s father that the Innocence cannot bring back his son. Elda’s father, however, does not care, and he has disappeared when the group wakes up sometime later. Allen wants Elda to wait at the cabin while he and the finder go after her father, but Elda insists on coming too because she doesn’t want the regrets of not saving someone again.

Kanda and Lavi meanwhile have been able to find the cave where the Innocence is located. Since the storm is so severe, Lavi uses his hammer’s Wood Seal – which controls things in nature – to make it stop. Inside the cave, they find a large tree, but when Kanda tries to touch it, a strong force repels him. Having followed the two Exorcists, Elda’s father is delighted to have found what he thinks is the Leaf of Revival, but the tree pushes him back too. Kanda responds by pulling out his sword and cutting down the tree before it can hit him again, and the group finds the Innocence on the tree trunk. Elda’s father wants them to hand it over to him, but Kanda tells him that Innocence doesn’t have the power to resurrect his son, and Lavi explains how he thinks this legend started. Returning back outside, the group encounters the three Akuma. Since their individual attacks don’t seem to be hitting the Exorcists, the female Akuma decides to absorb the other two and strengthen into one larger Akuma.

During the battle, Elda’s father gets a hold on Kanda in order to get the Innocence from him. The Akuma takes the opportunity to freeze the feet of both Exorcists to prevent them from moving. Fortunately, Allen arrives on the scene and activates his arm. Kanda and Lavi get him to free them, and then all three Exorcists attack the Akuma together. After the battle is over, Elda’s father once again asks for the Innocence. This time, Allen asks him if it isn’t Elda who he should be helping. Allen points out that Elda’s father has been chasing after his dead son so much that he hasn’t seen his daughter who is still alive. Elda is fortunately ok with everything, and father and daughter end up hugging. Watching from a distance, Skin Boric prepares to attack, but he gets an electric shock from Road who wants him to return the umbrella Lero. She also tells him that the Millennium Earl has work for them, so the two of them go back.

At the train station before he leaves, Allen tells Elda that the Akuma are products of tragedy – souls which have been called back to this world. He warns her not to listen to the Millennium Earl if he ever shows up and tells her she can revive the dead. Taking his daughter in his arm, Elda’s father says that he’s going to face forward with Elda and her mother. On the train, Allen tells Lavi that if Elda’s brother becomes an Akuma, they would defeat it because this is the battle of the people who chose to be Exorcists. After Allen falls asleep, Lavi comments to Bookman that Allen’s fight seems to be becoming a painful fight and will be for a long time from now on.

Preview

I thought Skin Boric would get to fight Kanda this arc, but it seems that his involvement wasn’t very important. I would have thought that getting an Innocence would be pretty high on their priority list, regardless of what other work the Millennium Earl had, but that appears not to have been the case. It’s a shame though, because I think Road and Skin vs. Kanda, Lavi, and Allen would have been an interesting battle.
Next week, a story that involves Kanda again and a swordsman.

18 Comments

  9. Stop involving Kanda so much. ;A; Show Spoiler ▼

    Nevertheless this does seem mildly interesting. I wish they’d go back to sticking closely to the storyline, though.
    …is that an EARRING I see on Kanda? O __O

    Shii
    Reply

  10. It’s a shame that they appear to have cut out the original scene where Rinali wakes up in the hospital. Show Spoiler ▼

    I’m just glad that the animation quality seems to be very consistent and nice. |D It’d be a shame to see the quality go downhill, especially after such a nice start.

    Magi
    Reply

  13. As if the censorship wasn’t bad enough, it’s getting pretty annoying how the anime is taking moments or spoilers from the manga and making “non-moments” in the filler.
    Examples of that would include:
    -Lenalee waking up from her coma
    -Allen getting his eye back
    -Lavi using his innocence’s elemental powers for the first time Show Spoiler ▼

    All of which were great moments from the manga and have been changed and/or undermined by the anime. (>_

    Za_Paper
    Reply

  16. Actually,

    – It wasn’t really a coma, more like she’s just knocked out. Minor details aside, it was abit of a disappointment, but wasn’t really a big deal. (It’s just a kick!)

    – Allen get recovering his eye is nothing. However, Allen Show Spoiler ▼

    his eye is a greater deal, one which they haven’t cover yet. So no need to complain.

    – Lavi’s using the wood seal early was quite a surprise, but it’s either that or the fan whining about the characters using the same skills over and over… Kinda like Naruto’s.

    This episode really is the lesser of two evils =P

    With that said I must also add the Elda really looks cute in this episode =), the animation quality is better than last week’s as well, it was weird that Bookman appeared again at the last part but I’ll let it side…Like Kurosaki Ichigo above, I can’t wait to see Kanda’s solo mission!

    Chaos2Frozen
    Reply

  17. Actually Chaos2Frozen,
    -Taking into account that she suffered nerve damage that prevented her from waking up for days and required treatment from Bookman, I think it’s would be considered closer to a coma than being simply “knocked out”. As for “it’s just a kick”, Show Spoiler ▼

    and it’s a lot more dramatic then her simply just waking up at HQ. Show Spoiler ▼

    -Allen recovering his eye Show Spoiler ▼

    -Lavi using the Wood Seal in manga for the first time is a big deal because Show Spoiler ▼

    Now that the anime has him using it so early on in the story, it makes it look ridiculous that he would forget to use it at that later crucial part of the story. >_> Furthermore Show Spoiler ▼

    “This episode really is the lesser of two evils”
    How so? Plenty of other anime have had filler but I can’t recall off the top of my head when those fillers have actually directly interfered or undermined the main storyline or taken moments or spoilers from later parts of the manga and use them as material for early filler episodes. Because of the filler, they’re going to probably have the change parts of the main storyline just to maintain story consistency.

    If they need to include filler to space out and avoid running out of the material from manga’s storyline or avoid ending up having to over a year of unending fillers, that’s fine. But I just find it annoying when that filler interferes with or forces the alteration of the main story.

    Za_Paper
    Reply

  18. I’m saying its the lesser of the two evils cause it’s does use stuff from the manga instead of repeating the abilities and/or actions of what had been done before like almost every other series’ fillers. If they don’t do this, people are going to start complaining that ‘there isn’t any development or progress to the story’.

    Besides, I think they’re trying to tell a slightly different story from the manga… If they did what Death Note did, and just copy and paste, there will still be people complaining that ‘since it’s the same thing, why bother watching it?’

    But yes, I do admit that it does take away some of the impact from the manga. But it’s bound to happen if you try to change the story abit…

    – No offence, but I didn’t find Lenalee’s awakening to be THAT special or impactful (is that a word?) so I let it slide, sorry.

    – It’s also not hard to believe that Lavi could have forgotten about it if he didn’t use it for a long time, anybody can make that mistake … But come to think of it, did Lavi said he could remember everything? =P But I got what you meant by it’s impact as at that time, Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    – The one I’m most worried about is how they’re going to pull of Allen’s eye, cause to me, that was one of the coolest moment in D.gray-man. But because it’s so important, the anime is bound to have to do something about it…

    But I wouldn’t worry too much about it, after all they did mess abit with the timeline but it still worked out for Jean’s arc.

    Chaos2Frozen
    Reply

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