Darkrystal

D. Gray-Man : A Critique (or maybe just a rant...)

*SPOILERS* DON'T READ THIS IF YOU ARE WATCHING OR EVER PLAN TO WATCH D. GRAY-MAN! *SPOILERS*

There, because I know how annoying accidental spoilers can be...

I have just finished watching episode 103 of D. Gray-Man and switched that little coloured box from green to blue. I was looking forward to this. It was supposed to be a momentous occasion, I've invested an awful lot of time into this series, clearly the climax was going to be worth it. Except it wasn't. The whole series was plagued by one problem that becomes ever more apparent towards the end, and that is that it always seems reluctant to finish the stories it starts. There's a complete lack of commitment running throughout the entire series. Now I'm all for leaving a plot open to some extent, either for another series to continue on from, or to supply that little bit of mystery that keeps people talking once the last episode is over, but D. Gray-Man literally gives you NOTHING for your 30+hours.

Maybe I should have seen it coming, the problem has been there from the start. For the first chunk of the show we were fighting demons, then we didn't need to do that anymore, so we started looking for new hosts instead. But then that didn't matter anymore either so we went to look for a Marshall instead. Then Lulubell showed up and things went downhill for a while. Thankfully she went the same way as every other plot point and something more interesting came along eventually. The Fallen, now that was interesting, unfortunately we didn't see an awful lot on that, since Allen got his arm ripped off and everyone else went back to looking for that Marshall... Anyway, you get the picture. The problem is not the quality of the plotlines, indeed a lot of them are really very interesting, but there's just too much going on! By the end of the show you're getting your Fourteenths and Musicians crossed with your Marshalls and Arks and it becomes a struggle to follow what's going on and why it was important. Thankfully, the show then ignores the previous 99 episodes of plot development in favour of a big flashy battle with a demon... thanks guys, you could have told me that I didn't need to pay attention to ANY of the show .

My real problem with all of this is that it's a great show. The characters are for the most part great, the action is always interesting to watch, the comedy is perfectly pitched and the overall dark tone of the show makes it stand out from other more generic action series. I really wanted to love it, but the plot just becomes so convoluted and in the end so un-rewarding that I'm just left to wonder what the point of it all was.