D-Gray Man Vol 1
I have to say the art is really good especially for it's first Vol. I love the gothic feel of the art and the way Hoshino drew her 19th century setting. The detail shown on backgrounds and characters are brilliant. Hoshino is really great at creating character designs.
Our protagonist Allen Walker is heading towards The Black Order an organization filled with Exorcists. Whose goal is to destroy the Akuma and Millennium Earl's plan. I have mention something I really love Allen's style of clothes, it just has style. He sure does have great taste. I found some interesting details in Vol about Allen. It seems Hoshino was originally gonna go for a rambunctious idiot type of protagonist, which honestly I'm glad she didn't go for. I mean we already have so many of those type of characters. So having Allen a gentleman type of character is fresh and nice.
The first two arcs were nice to help settle in the setting. The Vol provides information about Akumas and how they are weapons with souls attached. I actually found it a bit disturbing on how the weapons created by Millennium Earl take over the body of a loved one shown in the manga compared to the anime. I guess it has to do with how Hoshino drew that scene with the Pastor in the opening Arc. It was pretty sad and the way the Pastor's face was drawn when his wife died was amazing. The emotions that came from the Pastor especially when he was cursed God was indeed tragic. Though the way that skeleton brought by Earl just crawled into his throat was just ugh.
I have to say the way Earl is drawn is bit creepy and funny. Though as a antagonist his design is great. I especially love the way he just says "Good Evening" it really gives him a personality. I also love the comedy bits in this manga, it actually entertaining.
Anyways Allen Walker finally arrives at the Order in which he's met by Kanda because it seems they confused him as an Akuma. Then Kanda starts attacking him until they finally find out he was sent by General Cross. Lenalee stops Kanda from further attacking and helps give Allen a tour of The Black Order. Sweet Jesus Lenalee's design in the manga is sooo good. She looks amazingly beautiful, just everything about her looks great. It also seems like Hoshino worked on her character longer than Allen which was a pretty long time. I can see why her character looks great. Also Komui was drawn after Hoshino's editor which I find interesting. I gotta say though I love Komui's carefree and brocon personality. Finally at the end it's told that Allen is a Parasitic Anti-Akuma Weapon which are rare, rather than a equip type. It's also told that he will become the destroyer of time.
The Vol was an enjoyable read, just loved everything. I can't wait to read more. 😁
