Name(s): D.Gray-man Hallow / D. Grey-man Hallow / ディー・グレイマン ハロー
Format: TV series (13 episodes)
Studio(s): TMS Entertainment
Related: D.Gray-man (2006-2008)

Review

What a fucking mess. The biggest tragedy of this sequel is that eight years wasn’t enough time for D.Gray-man to escape the incompetent clutches of TMS Entertainment. Much of this studio’s talent hasn’t grown since, if the frequently off-model characters and zoomed-in, cut-heavy action sequences are any indication.

The new art direction is indistinguishable, bland, digital anime, losing the characteristic blue/grey overtone of the original series for a touch more fidelity thanks to a higher resolution. The character designs have been touched up a bit but any additional detail is covered by the negatives, such as the distracting pointy noses. Kaoru Wada’s reused musical score doesn’t fit this less monotone aesthetic, and like the previous series, it is often far too bright in its Gothic fantasy tone when the scenes are much more violent.

Props to the studio, however, for actually having the balls to create a sequel anime when they couldn’t get all of the original voice actors together. Far too often has Japan’s deification of voice celebrities gotten in the way of their story telling, but TMS Entertainment just accepted not being able to get everything they want and prioritized adapting the original story. Optimally, they would’ve just let the anime die with the previous series because the production is so poor, but oh well.

The pacing is an absolute disaster. So much shit happens without any explanation as to why or how it’s possible. Character motivations are all over the place and often incomprehensible, and the supernatural abilities of characters aren’t contextualized in a way that doesn’t feel like a complete plot contrivance. This blows through years of manga material in a measly one season and it shows, with instant time jump cuts, neglected scenes, and it’s just utter nonsense.

TMS Entertainment could’ve taken their time in every possible way to fix the weaknesses of the original series and justify enough interest in future seasons, thus eliminating the need to condense all material into one season, but instead it looks like they just shit out everything they had as quickly as possible and hoped it would sell just because it was D.Gray-man. Fucking hell. Do not watch this, go straight to the manga if you haven’t saved yourself already or skip the franchise entirely.