D.Gray-man Hallow: Episode 8 Review
By: TheJewphin[yasr_multiset setid=11]You have to give it to D.Gray-man - they really do know how to push the story forward. Revelations that would have taken five episodes in One Piece or seven months in Dragonball Z are dealt with in roughly half an episode. The only downside is that some characters seem to only exist so they could be present at the exact right moments to push the story.Where we last left off, Yu and Alma were preparing to battle to the death and everyone else may or may not have been dead. It is very quickly established that the battle to the death is definitely going to happen. It is also quickly established that nobody died in the explosion. The remaining crows used their crow magic to protect everyone.
Even though everybody is safe, Allen spends much of the episode depressed because he couldn't protect everyone. Like most of Allen's emotions in this episode, it comes out of nowhere and persists way longer than is necessary. In fact, Episode 8 may be one of the few times where I could not get myself on the same page emotionally as the protagonist.With Alma having awakened as a demon, all of the half-demons created with Alma's cells also transform. Allen is obviously reluctant to fight any of them, given that they used to be his teammates. This leads to his inevitable injury which is later fixed by some old guy who has the power to heal, but only this once. This is one of those places where it feels like some of the characters only exist to be a stepping stone for Allen.
After a little time has passed, the Millenium Earl makes an offer to Allen. If Allen - and by extension, the Fourteenth - agrees to go with the Millenium Earl, the Millenium Earl will agree to stop the assault which, up to this point, has proven extremely effective. It's an odd moment in the show once you realize that the Millenium Earl is in a great position to kill everybody, but is holding back to he can achieve his master plans (which should also involve killing everybody).Allen prepares to agree but is stopped by For, the guardian deity of the Order. For gives Allen a pep talk and Allen decides that it's type for him to do some saving, starting with... Alma. Again, Allen's priorities seem a little skewed. It makes sense that he may want to save Yu from having to kill his friend again, but Alma is very definitely a demon now who just attempted to blow up Allen and all of his friends. It just seems odd that Allen would be so desperate to protect him.Yu refuses to listen to Allen and continues to attack Alma. In the process, he stabs Allen. The pain from being stabbed with a weapon containing innocence (a second time) causes Allen to transform into the Fourteenth.
The Noah reveal that this was their plan the whole time - to awaken Alma so that Yu would fight him and Allen would protect him and Yu would stab Allen thereby causing the Fourteenth to awaken. If that sentence seems convoluted, it's because it is. That plan has more holes than Allen... Too soon?
