Reviving an old topic because I wanted to voice my displeasure with the D.Gray-Man manga.
Anyone here read it? Maybe not.
The manga came off (another) hiatus a few months ago and is now releasing a chapter every month. I recently caught up with it , and I must say... I'm quite disappointed. It's only been 3 chapters, but this hiatus seems to have really changed DGM. It's just not the same as it was before.
Slight spoilers below without spoiler tags ~
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Instead of continuing directly from chapter 186, a time skip seems to have taken place making for a very disjointed feeling when reading chapter 187. There's no real clue to as how long the time skip was either (unless I missed it). Chapter 186 gave off the feeling that if the manga had continued without a hiatus it would have continued on to develop the Third Exorcist characters, begin the Kanda arc (which is what the focus is on currently), and continue with the 14th and Allen. However, reading chapter 187 it feels as if there was a whole bunch of chapters that should have been read between 186 and 187, especially in regards to the Third Exorcist characters.
Everything also feels very rushed now. It feels too much like the mangaka is trying to finish this manga up as quickly as possible now. This leads to a very less entertaining D.Gray-Man. I always enjoyed the "down-time" between action in DGM, where everyone is at HQ interacting. The Allen and Lenalee scene (with the 14th) was great for example. The pace wasn't quick, but it wasn't slow either. But then all of a sudden in 187 the Earl wants to "end the war" and him and the newly and rapidly introduced Noah begin attacking. The Third Exorcist seem to have already become part of the team and before you know it... American HQs are captured and Allen is surrounded by Noah and the Earl. Then the 14th pops out of nowhere (felt a lot more out of place than his other appearances). No Lenalee or Lavi anywhere in sight. And the forced "comedy" sucks.
The art style has changed. Looks like the mangaka has adopted a (even) more bishonen style. I disapprove. Characters look really different from what they did in chapter 186, especially the Earl. Finally, the characters are different. Most of their base personality is there (for most of the characters), but they're still very different than before.
D.Gray-Man died after the last hiatus.
I guess it's for the best, if it continued like it did before... it would probably just end up going on hiatus at some point again.
Edited by Unknown Entity, 23 December 2009 - 07:36 AM.
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