Customer Reviews

D. Gray-Man, Vol. 2

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D. Gray-Man is one of the most suspenseful manga series out there right now. Set in an alternative Earth at the end of the 19th century. a 15 year old boy named Allen Walker helps the Black Order fight akuma, demons under the control of the Millennium Earl.

The Earl isn't your usual megalomanical madman - he doesn't want to rule the world - he wants to DESTROY it!

The Black Order fights the Earl and his evil minions, the Noah Clan, with the use of a mysterious substance called Innocence which gives the exorcists (aka "accomadators") special powers.

There are two different types of exorcists:
1) Equipment type: the Innocence is inside a apparently ordinary objects - swords, boots, guns, hammers; et al, which can change their shape to become specialized weapons.
2) Parasite type: the Innocence is INSIDE the body of the exorcist.

Allen Walker is a parasite type, his deformed left arm, the caue of his abandonment at a very young age, morphs into different weapons; evolving as Allen gains experience and new fighting skills.

Volume Two follows Allen on his very first mission to an abandoned Italian town. Here we mmet a fellow exorcist: Yu Kanda, a bad-tempered young man. He is an equipment type exorcist, who wields the sword "Mugen" (yes, the Innocence have names). As well as "Finders", those who locate Innocence for exorcists to retrieve. Allen also faces a deadly akuma who has evolved to a Level 3 and is much harder to destroy than the Level 1 akumas he dispatched in volume one.

But, it's not all blood 'n guts; there is time for some slapstick comedy as we learn about Allen's prodigous appetite; the talents of his golem companion, Timcanpy; and the over-protective love head Order scientist Komui Lee feels for his little sister, Lenalee.

About the manga: it came in perfect condition and as described by the seller. I highly recommend said vendor and will purchase other manga from him in the future.

This volume was an awful lot of action with not a lot of plot. I found the fight scenes difficult to follow, simply because it was hard to identify who was doing what. The use of sound in the fight scenes was funny, but also added to the confusion. I really enjoyed the first volume and the amount of backstory it gave for Allen, but I feel like this volume decided it wasn't going to give anything away except for annoying little lines that seem really cliche ("I can't die until I find that person"... dun dun dunnnnn!). Yes, I get Kanda has a past that makes him a hardass, and yes, he has some sort of limited time to live. These lines weren't subtle.

Volume 1 reminded us that, even though these akuma are monsters, they're also victimized souls. This volume just showed them as giggling, creepy monsters. I think the only touching part of this storyline was between Lala and Guzol, and even that was a little overdone.

I'm hoping that volume 3 will pick up with the character development of volume 1.