D.Gray-man 20th Anniversary Rewatch Interest Thread

Information: original series MAL, Anilist, AniDB, ANN, Hallow: MAL, Anilist, AniDB, ANN

Hi all! I'm u/LC3 and I would like to invite you all to join me in participating in a rewatch for D.Gray-man and D.Gray-man Hallow. This thread is to gauge interest for a potential rewatch.

What is a Rewatch?

So a rewatch on r/anime is a special event where interested users get together to watch and discuss a series together, in this case one episode per day. Any type of participation is fine, whether you want to dig deep in speculation / theorycrafting or just discuss character design or use of music. However and at whatever level of depth you like. The only hard and fast rule is that spoilers (for future content or manga/LN source material) must be hidden with spoiler tags to protect the viewing experience for first timers.

What is D.Gray-man?

"Losing a loved one is so painful that one may sometimes wish to be able to resurrect them — a weakness that the enigmatic Earl of Millennium exploits. To make his mechanical weapons known as 'Akuma,' he uses the souls of the dead that are called back. Once a soul is placed in an Akuma, it is trapped forever, and the only way to save them is to exorcise them from their vessel using the Anti-Akuma weapon, 'Innocence.'

After spending three years as the disciple of General Cross, Allen Walker is sent to the Black Order — an organization comprised of those willing to fight Akuma and the Earl of Millennium — to become an official Exorcist. With an arm as his Innocence and a cursed eye that can see the suffering souls within an Akuma, it's up to Allen and his fellow Exorcists to stop the Millennium Earl's ultimate plot: one that can lead to the destruction of the world." - from MAL

D.Gray-man adapts the manga by Katsura Hoshino that started publication in 2004; its first TV anime ran for 103 episodes in 2006-2008. A sequel series, the 13-episode D.Gray-man Hallow, aired in 2016. Due to licensing issues, Hallow was simulcast subbed and dubbed before the second half (eps 52-103) of the original series was available officially. Funimation finally acquired the rights to eps 52-103 in June 2016 and published S2 on DVD and streaming in Oct. 2017 through June 2018.

What should I expect from D.Gray-man?

It's a dark fantasy with some scifi elements that is heavy on gothic horror ambience; the color palette is dark and common themes include grief, tragedy and death. It's something like a mix between Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist 2003, Dragon Quest: Adventure of Dai, Blue Exorcist and Pandora Hearts.

The original series had 103 episodes and the continuation Hallow has 13; the manga is still ongoing at a quarterly pace of 4 chapters a year. If you prefer English dubs, the one for DGM is quite good; Hallow changes the voice cast for the Japanese dub but the English voices remain consistent.

Why should I watch D.Gray-man?

D.Gray-man is a unique, underrated anime that starts off as a typical battle shounen but later veers into elements of mystery (like Vanitas no Carte or Pandora Hearts). Its dark fantasy, gothic horror atmosphere set in a fictional 1890s distinguish it from other battle shounen of its kind.

If you liked Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Demon Slayer you might like D.Gray-man too. It also reminds me of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime, with the dark ambience, elements of mystery, and lovable characters. The main character's development is up there with classics like Edward Elric and Guts. Even the antagonists are charismatic and a pleasure to watch, like the Phantom Troupe from Hunter x Hunter or Akatsuki from Naruto. The show's focus on grief, tragedy and death gives it a unique vibe. The anime and manga were hugely popular during the 2000s, and while the manga is still ongoing sales are still quite good and at no risk of cancellation. The show has a unique power system and lots of tense, jawdropping fight scenes with high stakes and consequences.

Schedule:

If enough users show interest for this to go through, the plan is to start on October 5th and end January 30th, at a pace of one episode a day. u/Shimmering-Sky has graciously offered to co-host again; threads will be posted at 6 PM EST/EDT. There will be a OG series discussion thread in between the original show and Hallow.

Why now?

Last year (2024) was the 20th anniversary of the D.Gray-man manga starting serialization, and next year (2026) will be the 20th anniversary of the original DGM series starting broadcast. Additionally, next year will be the 10th anniversary of D.Gray-man Hallow broadcasting. This makes 2025 the perfect time to host a rewatch celebrating both shows. There was one DGM rewatch in 2016 before Hallow came out, but it crashed and burned for several reasons (the host abandoned it). This means that D.Gray-man has never had a proper rewatch all the way to the end, and Hallow has never had one; I would like the the time for one to be now.

Spoiler Policy:

To protect first-timers, please don't spoil anything past the current episode. Rewatchers should avoid hinting to first-timers, and spoilers and manga/LN source material in posts must be hidden behind proper spoiler tags.

Conclusion:

I hope you will join me in (re)watching D.Gray-man and D.Gray-man Hallow starting in October. Please post here if you are interested in participating! If there is enough interest I will post the full schedule soon.

Streams: Original series - Crunchyroll. Unfortunately the license for the sequel D.Gray-man Hallow has expired and it is no longer available to stream anywhere officially, and the DVD/Bluray release was cancelled.