I remember during my ICT this year, one of my friends recommended me to watch this anime series, since I told him that I was quite hooked on Detective Conan. He proceeded to tell me the details of the story, of which I was mildly interested at the time, because in part, I just couldn't see any other anime which could possibly surpass Detective Conan.Nearly 6 months later, I watched an episode of this recommended series. And I found another anime which I'm crazy about now. I think I need both of these animes to tide me through the holidays and the last semester in NUS. Both make me happy in different ways. Detective Conan reaches out to my love for detective fiction. It's happy, ingenious and the cases are most of the time interesting. D.Gray-Man, on the other hand, makes me happy in a different way. Quite strangely, it seems rather Harry Potterish in a way. Young boy discovers a supernatural ability, gets accepted to a new environment, makes good friends and fights evil. But beyond the rather formulaic premise, it is mature, dark and emotionally realistic. All of us want happy endings, but D.Gray-Man denies you that satisfaction. Time and time again, we as viewers are met with disappointment after disappointment. But that's life. That's reality. Character development has always been the most important to me and by far, these two anime have satisfied this basic and vital requirement. D.Gray-Man's Allen Walker is naive and idealistic, but I think Walker's naivete is necessary in order to prevent the anime from being too dark. The characters are unique, multifaceted and are constantly growing. Perhaps that's where Conan can learn from D.Gray-Man. People watch TV, read books to escape from the real world, but in actual fact, all of these, including anime, are reflections of reality. Rather than escape from it, I think we should learn to embrace it.
Have to thank my friend for recommending this anime. It has brought me great satisfaction, and alongside Detective Conan, I think I have come to seriously consider taking up Japanese in the future.