D. Gray-Man Season 3, Part 1 (Review)

By: ThunderHeavyArmAfter quite a wait, the release of D.Gray-man season three is finally here. Since it’s been awhile, a short recap of what happened previously is needed.RecapThe clan of Noah, allies of the Millenium Earl are hunting down Exorcists in search of the heart of innocence. Should they find and destroy this innocence, which no one knows what it looks like or who has it, will result in all pieces of innocence being destroyed. Somehow the locations of several exorcists, including a general with several pieces of innocence in transit back tot he order are attacked and killed. For safety, all generals are recalled except for General Cross, Allen’s mentor, whom no one is able to get in contact with. Allen sets out with his companions Allen, Lenalee, Krory and Lavi to bring him back by traveling to Japan.

Story Arc

Allen and his friends are preparing to leave China and head to Japan. As they’re getting underway however, a swarm of Akuma pass them, completely ignoring them until they begin to attack them. During the fight, Allen is captured and carried off with Lenalee in hot pursuit while the others stay to defend the ship. It’s not long until it’s discovered why the Akuma didn’t immediately attack the ship. A large white torso with a halo over it’s head hovers in a valley. These beings are called “Fallen Ones”. Those who have zero or lower synchronization with a piece of innocence and are punished to become beings of destruction until their soul is consumed.Allen does his best, even using his weapon on full power to stop the Fallen One from destroying a village. He seriously injures himself trying to save the soul trapped within as well, but ultimately is consumed by Tyki Mikk’s Teez. After a short chat with Allen, Tyki destroys Allen’s piece of innocence and then leaves him to die with a hole in his heart. Meanwhile, the rest of the group at the ship manages to survive the encounter as Lenalee joins them, having left Allen alone to save a girl during the Fallen One fight. After brief search with Lavi, they find a bloodied stain on the ground where Allen was and his fate remains a mystery to them. Miranda Lotto joins them, fresh from her innocence being created to repair the ship and their journey continues under orders from the Asian branch.In reality, and miraculously, Allen is alive. His innocence having entered his body and creating a cover for the hole in his heart. Allen in a depressed state begins to wonder the Asian branch headquarters, where he’s told by the director the only thing he can become is a clerk for the order without his weapon. Allen falters briefly before he renews his pledge to keep moving forward, to find a way. All of this was a test to ensure Allen would not become a Fallen One by abandoning the fight against the Earl. As it turns out, Allen’s weapon has followed him the entire time in the form of cloying dust. Believing that with enough will, he begins training to get his weapon to regain its form so he could rejoin the battle.Leaving Allen to his training, the focus shifts back to the ship in mid voyage. During the night, they come under attack from a very powerful Akuma, the first level 3 in the series. All while the ship is being bombarded, and the exorcists defend it as best they can, Lenalee engages the level 3 Akuma. Eventually revealing his power, Lenalee begins to sink into the ocean. His power is to add anti-matter to his attacks and use it to alter the gravity of anything he hits, including the ship which begins to sink as well. Lenalee finds a way to combat this by boosting her innocence power to its highest level, eventually maxing out her attack for a final blow. Using the increased gravity from the Akuma, she drops on him with a massive force and eventually overcomes him and the ship is saved. She’s saved, unlikely as much, by an Akuma with direct ties to General Cross with a message, stay away from Japan.

Review

Oddly enough despite the time difference from watching this season and the last episode released, I clearly remembered a great deal of the story. Which is a great comment on a show that hasn’t had a new episode for six years, and I haven’t watched for three years.That aside, the one point that I really need to point out that I liked was that the focus wasn’t entirely on Allen. Of the 13 episodes in this set, five of them either hardly showed Allen or he didn’t appear at all. Giving some much needed stage time to the other characters that follow him. Especially for Lenalee, who after the first season came off as a very weak fighter in comparison to the others. What really proves her usefulness is that she is the only one that can, most of the team is being healed by Miranda’s time effect and can’t go far. The fight is epic, and by no way is it just handed to her, she pretty much keeps going as long as she can until the Akuma’s ability does himself in.In the meantime, I like that Allen has been humbled. We haven’t seen something like this in awhile following the actual series timeline. Not since he couldn’t use his eye to detect Akuma has Allen been brought low. I want to stress that I don’t dislike the character, but as a main character, I like these moments where they fail very hard and pick themselves up.

Box Set Review

I have to admit, the cover art for the box set doesn’t mince any words with how rough the next 14 episodes are going to be. But the defiance in the way Allen curls his fist and his dead lock gaze show that no one is going to just give up. The only negative point that I have for it, is the third dvd only has a single episode on it and no special features. Comes off as annoying to have to swap out a dvd watching a single episode.