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 This volume marks the end of Manga UK's release of D.Gray-man, but it's not the end of the series - the second half is stuck in licensing hell somewhere. So, armed with the knowledge that we're going to be stuck on an unlikely-to-ever-be-resolved cliffhanger at the end of the set, let's see what we've got...
For full episode summaries and screenshots, check pages 2-3 of the review. You learn something new every day - and now that Allen knows that Timcanpy can sense General Cross's location, all they have to do is follow the little critter right to the person they're looking for. In theory, anyway. By the time he's led Allen and Lenalee through Bulgaria, though, they begin to realise that they're in for a long trip - all the way to Asia, potentially, and with Akuma to deal with along the way. Rescuing a man from one while still in Bulgaria earns them a place to stay for a while, though - and an unexpected meeting with Lavi and Krory, who break the bad news about just how many lives the Earl's recent attack had cost. The pair have been sent to help with finding and protecting General Cross - but first, the Rose Festival in the town they're staying in presents a target the may be irresistible to Akuma...
The twelve episodes here cover a journey that begins in Bulgaria, and follows Allen, Lenalee and co all the way to China and ultimately onto a boat headed for Japan - at which point the credits roll and that's your lot. Fortunately, the volume is also a fairly well self-contained story arc, with the Millennium Earl having sikked another of the Clan of Noah - Lulu Bell - onto the group. Lulu Bell and her loyal sidekick Mimi are, by quite some margin, the most enjoyable villains of the series so far: Lulu spends most of her time in the form of a cat, and has all the capriciousness and inbuilt cruelty of our feline masters, while Mimi provides a dose of maidservice to proceedings that doesn't do any harm at all. While being a cutie (at least in her non-Akuma form) she's also as devious as her master and perfectly capable of holding her own in battle, thanks to her prowess with two rather nasty iron fans (hmm, imagine Kaname from Full Metal Panic getting hold of those...) and her ultimate fighting form, which makes an appearance towards the end of the set. These two follow our heroes throughout their journey, laying a number of devious little traps to waylay them and occasionally engaging in direct combat.
Very few of those confrontations are anything less than enjoyable, either - which is unusual for this series. There are one or two moments where abject stupidity raises its ugly head, usually courtesy of Allen or Krory, but they're few and far between and for the most part it's good, short-and-to-the-point action with a decent sense of humour.
There are two exceptions to this: a short segment dealing with the discovery of a new Accommodator - a young girl with the ability to see the future - and her Innocence, and the gang's eventual arrival at the last known location of General Cross. Mei Ling is the young girl, and with her abilities and possession of an Innocence she's quickly targeted for recruitment by the Order - but with the Earl also quickly becoming aware of her existence, events go out of control rather quickly and her story does not end as well as it could. As for General Cross, he's constantly one step ahead of the gang and has once again slipped beyond their reach, but their arrival in China brings new allies with which to continue the search.
All of which is kinda moot, though, given that the continuation of the story is unlikely to be released. Manga UK can't go further for lack of rights, and lack of a dub even if they had them; FUNimation, who licensed the show in the US and produced the dub, haven't ruled out the possibility of picking up the rest of the series but have indicated that there are issues around licensing it. Make of that what you will, but don't hold your breath to see what happens next.
Which is a shame. For most of its run so far, D.Gray-man has been by-the-numbers, unremarkable shounen fare, but with the appearance of Lulu Bell it's discovered a sense of fun and more of an emphasis on long-running stories, and in doing so has raised its game considerably. Typical that just as it does that, it comes to the end of the line.
D.Gray-man finally hits its stride, then - and promptly strides off into licensing hell. This set is fun & lighthearted action fare with an occasional darker streak showing through, and was the best passage of story that the series has managed so far - so it's a real shame that we're left on a cliffhanger that we'll probably never see resolved, and that in turn makes it hard to recommend, despite its good points.
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