Manga of the Month: D.Gray Man

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D.Gray Man (ディー・グレイマン) by Katsura Hoshino

Every time I get a new volume of D.Gray Man, I think to myself why don’t more people read this? I realize it is not an unpopular series but it also doesn’t seem to have really stuck around. This may be partially due to it moving from the prominent Weekly Shonen Jump magazine to the monthly Jump Square. There is a lot of shonen fighting manga out there, so it is easy to miss one. And besides that, picking and choosing what is worth settling in the long haul with can be difficult.

D.Gray Man combines supernatural powers and occult lore with the shonen fighting formula. The gothic and macabre designs are well utilized giving life to everything from the obvious horror to less imaginable whimsy and humor. The art overall is a real treat in the series; the details in the European setting to costume and architecture are wonderful. Allen Walker possess a power called Innocence that can be harnessed to defeat demons and the like. The organization known at the Black Order recruits people with these gifts in an ongoing war against the Millennium Earl and his dark minions. Even before Allen joins their ranks, it is clear that there are many secrets to each side and to Allen himself. Allen is a positive lead who has a lot of charm about him; he is very honest and possesses a lot of heart. He isn’t the type of character who you forget about to concentrate on the support personalities. But he does have an electric group of people around him. The series utilizes everyone and the setting well, even pushing the grotesque monsters and violence pretty far at times. And it has a lot of mystery in the undercurrent which slowly reveals itself.

At just 22 volumes so far, D.Gray Man isn’t too much of a commitment compared to its brethren. (And VIZ is almost in line with the Japanese, releasing the 21st volume in November.) Within its pages is a solid journey that doesn’t drag and reveals its twists and turns in good time. Add in a good cast and artwork that begs to be looked at in detail and I find I can’t resist D.Gray Man.

Let’s ratchet up the drama in Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% S2!

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My first reaction after finishing Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% S1 was hoping they would make another season. It is a completely open-ended finale to the romances and there is plenty more that can be done with everyone’s music careers. Luckily just this past month another anime (Love 2000% ?) was announced for it but with no real details. That being the case, I came up with my own ideas.

Since we ended S1 with the group debuting, they will now try to navigate the waters of the real idol scene. But since the headmaster is also the president of the talent agency, he will still keep up his crazy games because let’s face it, the show wouldn’t be nearly as good without Norio Wakamoto. We can add a new guy to be the agent/manager of ST☆RISH though. The group would get to travel a lot for appearances causing bonding and drama. The guys would be gaining a fan following that would lead to plenty of trouble, too. Some international traveling would be a lot of fun as well as paying a visit to relax at Haruka’s grandmother’s in the country.

At the top of my list though is a scheming rival boy band. They can all be similar to the main cast but done in a darker coloring of our guys, kind of like the alternate costumes in fighting games. These guys would conspire to steal away Haruka to be their songwriter. For good measure the lead in the rival band can also be a childhood friend of her’s. This will make Haruka naturally torn between new and old. This could even build to Haruka being blackmailed to leave ST☆RISH creating a supremely melodramatic climax! As far as the romances between her and our bevy of suitors goes, again I doubt we will get a conclusive pairing at the end of the season.

Anyone who has played the games have a real idea of what we may have in store for S2?

The January Line-Up

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Starting new for 2012 we will posting the newly licensed, newly streaming, and newly announced anime and manga for each month. More than anything, I wanted to keep a list like this so I thought why not make it a blog post at the end of the month to keep me on top of doing it. It is amazing how much was announced this month, I guess it is because it is the beginning of the year!

I have to say this is a brilliant little idea from Narutaki. If you have ever done a year in review article you will find that the while you might remember the last week’s news crystal clear what was licensed and when all tends to blur together after a few months. Hopefully this monthly post will help us, and anyone who needs it, have a clearer picture of what was picked up over the year.

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