×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
D. Gray-man (Viz Media Release).


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Manga
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
braves



Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 2309
Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas)
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:47 pm Reply with quote
D. Gray-man

All right, I guess it's time to liven this forum that's full of...nothing, except flame wars and a Fruits Baskets thread really.... :/

Anyways, I've read 3 volumes of D. Gray-man and while I find to be really simple, I also find it to be really engaging and full of potential- which is how good Shonen manga should be. Wink

The art style is pretty dark and gothic, though it kinda falters when in motion- the author does seem to have some difficulty when drawing action. But the whole D. Gray-man world is very interesting, except for the designs for some of the Akuma; some of those designs go through being weird, scary and laughable at the same time. Confused

Now, volume 3 started out kinda slow with some unnecessary filler ( Rolling Eyes ), but it got really interesting with the mandatory indroduction of the bad guy organization. I really like the character design for Road Kamelot, though I thought that she was a "he". Didn't really notice the skirt. O_O It wil be nice to see where it goes from here and if it stops being a "monster of the week" type of series, though it isn't too bad in that aspect.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
SharinganEye



Joined: 01 Feb 2005
Posts: 402
Location: Les Etats-Unis d'Amérique
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:32 pm Reply with quote
I have a lot of problems with D.Gray-man. It started off with potential, but then problems kept popping up, from burning through the plot way too fast to things that don't make sense.

But my biggest complaint is that her art's messy and hard to follow, especially later on and during battle scenes. I can't make out what's what during some of the later materials, not to mention that she never finished drawing some scenes and all they are are rough draft sketches.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tony K.
Subscriber
Moderator


Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11293
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:33 pm Reply with quote
Initially, I was very intrigued by the anime, but then I found out over half of it is filler... not to mention the crappy animation.

But needless to say, through the 6 volumes I've read, the manga is much darker (i.e. better) in terms of presentation. The humor is a lot more subtle and not so "look at this - hahaha! Ain't that funny?" (stupid Komui). And as rough as the drawings look, I feel it adds more grit to the art style. I mean, it's nice to see them smoother and in color via the anime, but TMS did a horrible job with the animation and frame rate. I felt like I was watching Night Head Genesis and Naruto Shippuuden.

However, as is the problem with a lot of Shounen Jump titles, I've yet to progress since my last reading because of the overwhelmingly slow pace these things tend to go at. Maybe one of these days I'll try to find scans or something. But until then, to hell with all you SJ authors past 28 volumes.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:48 pm Reply with quote
braves wrote:
All right, I guess it's time to liven this forum that's full of...nothing, except flame wars and a Fruits Baskets thread really.... :/

Oh come on, what's wrong with Furuba? Laughing

But hey, I actually like D. Gray-man. I've only read up to where spoiler[the girl from Noah comes up,] and that's where things started to get interesting until I had to come back to the United States. The story though is very interesting. spoiler[Allen and his conflict with the Millenium Count] is the one I really look forward to reading about again as soon as I can get my hands on some more volumes of the manga.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
HellKorn



Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 1669
Location: Columbus, OH
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:01 pm Reply with quote
braves wrote:
All right, I guess it's time to liven this forum that's full of...nothing, except flame wars and a Fruits Baskets thread really.... :/


I'd post about underappreciated manga, but a miniscule portion here are actually willing to give them the time of day. Talk about shrinking your horizons...

I rather like the third volume, and the fourth volume (and what little carries over into the fifth) is kind of fun, as well. Hoshino seems to fare better with self-contained stories and concepts, so the "shorts" fare better.

But the overarching plot and fights? Suffers from Trigun syndrome -- incoherent, messy and visibly lacking creativity when you actually come to grips with what is happening. Hoshino's art becomes less individuable and has more bishounen-leanings as the series wears on, so that's more disappointing.

Tony K. wrote:
However, as is the problem with a lot of Shounen Jump titles, I've yet to progress since my last reading because of the overwhelmingly slow pace these things tend to go at. Maybe one of these days I'll try to find scans or something. But until then, to hell with all you SJ authors past 28 volumes.


Tony,

dude,

ONE PIECE.

It's the only shounen manga (aside from Fullmetal Alchemist and perhaps Slam Dunk!) that seinen hipsters can come to a consensus on: it's damn good. Oda is a manga-ka whose desire to draw whatever pops into his head is evident on every page. It's everything an adventure should be, really, with an endearing cast and whimsical environments.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
BrothersElric



Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 1996
PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:25 pm Reply with quote
Oh man, I was totally going to post a series discussion thread about this but because of my year long lasting laziness it looks like braves beat me too it. Anime smile + sweatdrop

But yeah, just a few of my own opinions of the series as a whole and I'll go on and try to start conversation on vol. 10 for anyone who wants to discuss it volume by volume. Personally, I think this series is up in the top 5 of the best shounen series out there. I used to have Shaman King up in the place it's in right now but that series has been disapointing me lately... (although just having gotten through 14 it's starting to look a bit better than it was, but that's a different story). It's the only one to me besides Naruto, One Piece and FMA that has been consistently good from the very start and everything, not just taking a few volumes to get into it or anything like that like is so common amongst other shounen series. I mean yeah, it does start out very episodic, Akuma of the month type of thing, but I think that may very well be one of the only cases I've seen where that actually doesn't hamper it at first, in fact the particular stories in those first few volumes are actually pretty darn engaging and emotionally touching. Of course even in that case I'd still say it's not as good as the incredibly exciting and dramatic cannon story that follows, but it's not the same old cliche "you have to survive those first few volumes before it REALLY starts getting into it!" No, this is good from the very start. It just takes those first few volumes to really, REALLY get into it is all. Wink

Anyways, my (somewhat mediocre Anime smile + sweatdrop ) comments on vol. 10. I guess the number one thing that sticks out in my mind most here is spoiler[DANG is Kanda a bada**! Cool] I could probably just say that and that'd wrap up my comments on this volume. But nah, I think there's a few other things I can say here. Mostly along the lines of how the intense drama of things have just escalated from how intense and dramatic they already were, but I mean this time, I really mean it in a big way, with spoiler[them being trapped inside the arc and all.] Hoshino seems to be really, really good at making things just downright hopeless for our heroes, doesn't she? I mean spoiler[right now practically the entire Order has been destroyed, the armies of Akuma keep getting bigger and bigger, this remaining group of ours still has had certain casualties of it's own, and now they are trapped inside of a collapsing Noah's Arc to add insult to injury.....] But that's part of what makes it so good is that you're just dying to find out how they'll get out of THIS one! Anime hyper
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger My Anime My Manga
Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:50 am Reply with quote
BrothersElric wrote:


Anyways, my (somewhat mediocre Anime smile + sweatdrop ) comments on vol. 10. I guess the number one thing that sticks out in my mind most here is spoiler[DANG is Kanda a bada**! Cool] I could probably just say that and that'd wrap up my comments on this volume. But nah, I think there's a few other things I can say here. Mostly along the lines of how the intense drama of things have just escalated from how intense and dramatic they already were, but I mean this time, I really mean it in a big way, with spoiler[them being trapped inside the arc and all.] Hoshino seems to be really, really good at making things just downright hopeless for our heroes, doesn't she? I mean spoiler[right now practically the entire Order has been destroyed, the armies of Akuma keep getting bigger and bigger, this remaining group of ours still has had certain casualties of it's own, and now they are trapped inside of a collapsing Noah's Arc to add insult to injury.....] But that's part of what makes it so good is that you're just dying to find out how they'll get out of THIS one! Anime hyper


It's kinda like survival/horror meets Shounen Jump, isn't it? Hoshino is actually killing characters left and right. Okay, the dead people are all minor characters spoiler[(the fans would kill her if she killed characters like Kanda)], but there are enough deaths to keep it suspenseful.

As for the series as a whole? It's my fangirl series currently. I always have a series I fangirl over and right now it DGM (next year it's probably something else, I'm a fickle fangirl). Why? Mostly because of the characters. They fit the usual archetypes, but they are unique enough to be very likable. I mean, when was the last time you saw a polite shounen manga hero? And the interaction between the characters is just great.

BTW Last year I actually made a Lavi costume for my rabbit. Okay, it was just the scarf, bandana and eyepatch, put together in less than one hour, but he looked so cute!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
BrothersElric



Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 1996
PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:32 pm Reply with quote
Tamaria wrote:
It's kinda like survival/horror meets Shounen Jump, isn't it? Hoshino is actually killing characters left and right. Okay, the dead people are all minor characters spoiler[(the fans would kill her if she killed characters like Kanda)], but there are enough deaths to keep it suspenseful.


It actually reminds me more of suspense/thriller meets Shounen Jump if anything. I mean yeah, it's got a pretty huge death count and that's part of what's been making it so intense, but like you say, it is indeed with minor characters. With the main characters it's all about "how are they going to get out of this predicament!?" type of thing, and Hoshino has just been pitting them time after time again in these hopless, seemingly impossible to overcome the odds situations. Just intense, intense stuff.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger My Anime My Manga
SharinganEye



Joined: 01 Feb 2005
Posts: 402
Location: Les Etats-Unis d'Amérique
PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:48 pm Reply with quote
BrothersElric wrote:
and Hoshino has just been pitting them time after time again in these hopless, seemingly impossible to overcome the odds situations.
Dude, absolutely.

spoiler[The Level 4 Akuma? Holy crap.]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:12 am Reply with quote
spoiler[Major characters did almost die during the Ark story arc, but of course Hoshino used that trick to bring them all back. You could have seen that coming from a mile away. ]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
Lady Lita



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:39 am Reply with quote
I like the concept (even though I'm not the biggest fan of Goth culture), characters are interesting to say the least, weapons and special powers individuals hold are really cool, the bad guys are designed in my opinion really well... all in all I think this manga has potential to be real good... but I have to say there is quite a bit of story that doesn't get concluded or feel like it will be concluded, but I imagine those stories will be explained in later volumes.

I like D Gray man.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Maryohki



Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:29 am Reply with quote
D. Grayman completely blows my mind. I'm caught up with the scans, but I buy the volumes as they come out also. It just keeps getting better, except that Hoshino's art style is evolving and I like the old style better. I just love the characters, and the plot is fascinating me...

And what you call "unnecessary filler" in volume 3 is one of the many reasons why I love DGM. It knows how to break the tension with comedy that doesn't feel forced in the least. Komurin II was one of my favorite portions of DGM. Also, that volume is so much <3, since it's Miranda's introduction.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
kefkaownsall



Joined: 05 Jul 2008
Posts: 189
PostPosted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:32 pm Reply with quote
Okay I like this series because although it's typical shonen jump (which is everything in that magazine except maybe OP, Death Note, Claymore (from what I heard), and Hikaru no Go) the author (she or he) does quite a bit different. Like actually explaining why the main character can eat his weight in food.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tamaria



Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: De Achterhoek
PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:48 am Reply with quote
What they don't explain is where the food actually goes. Wouldn't he have to go to the bathroom like every hour? And he doesn't seem to like veggies... I feel sorry for whoever cleans the toilets at the Black Order.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
.Metal.



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Posts: 64
PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:53 am Reply with quote
I'm sorta into dark action stuff (Hellsing, Berserk etc) and I was thinking about starting this series. Would you guys consider this worth it or should I skip it?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Manga All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group