D.Gray-man - Ch. 247 - Saying Goodbye to A.W - A Path of Purpose

[alacaelum]

You know... I just had a thought and in retrospect... D.Grayman has a very Bloodborne vibe, with the "alchemical science", zealous religious military organization, eugenics memetic of past transcendent beings corrupting people, and a holy war between both sides, all the shebang.

Apocryphos is a literal product of advanced alchemy, a homunculus, that is programmed to one purpose by an entity that even being on the "side" of humanity doesn't really care for us, the innocence is another weapon made with such "science" that literally works as "antimatter" to the akumas, by some otherworldly principle that we can only hope to understand.

The Noahs are humans "infected" by memories of past transcendental beings that have such powerful feelings that even after overwriting the host to make them a Noah, if there is any damage or error it can completely drive them mad and a danger even for their own family, they have access to some "alchemical" "factory" capable of producing an unlimited quantity of weapons of mass destruction that are literally immune to any other weapon besides the innocence and that clearly has a much greater purpose, and they have some sort of "device" that allows them near instantaneous teleportation and access to pocket dimensions.

And with this flashback, we know that there is some sort of greater Will that has plans that far surpass common understanding.

Either sides at their deepest levels are so far beyond human understanding and both can easily corrupt those that have contact with it.

 

[alacaelum]

Wait I thought Mana was the earl the entire time? So how could allen bring back mana when he's the earl?

Mana is the earl, the current one.

The original Millenium Earl, at some point in the past after being exhausted by the sheer weight of Noah's memory... split himself, and from that came two babies, Mana and Neah.

There was a woman nearby that adopted them, she took care of them as their mother, but at some point during their "teenage" years, something happened she got killed(?), they had gone back to the Noahs' side but at some point Neah betrayed them, there was a whole fight he killed all the other Noahs (except Road, loli is a force of nature man), damaged their memories and Mana's too, and Mana killed him.

At some point, he(Neah) had contact with Cross and gave him instructions about his return (not specified).

Mana stricken with grief went mad and forgot everything about the Noahs and himself, he still remembered Neah but only his existence, not the details, jump to his life as a pierrot, and Red came into his life.

And Red our Allen was/is already Neah's new host, but he is too the host of a innocence, and apparently, he was a friend of Neah and an adult, but after offering to be Neah's host he somehow became a child, lost his memories got "infected" by an innocence, "was thrown out by his parent" was sold to a circus to which Mana later was hired, got adopted by, had all the debacle portrayed in the flashback and kinda suffered again another trauma right before getting rescued by Cross probably right after Mana's "death" that is when he supposedly turned Mana in a Akuma.

Thing is... there is a lot of missing information here still, mind you, MISSING not a plot hole. With the memory alteration and unreliable narrator conditions that permeate all this shitshow, it is obvious that much doesn't click quite right, but that is the point.

There is a lot still up in the air, and the supposed timeline of events and true players that really were there is still a mystery, The Heart and Apocryphos, the old Noahs, Cross, Neah and Mana's "mother", the church all of those have much more sides that we have no idea how they exist and what is really at the core of this conflict.

 

[Makenai]

This was a great chapter. So we finally get a clue why the Manga is called D Grayman!
The flashback chapters are probably pretty good if you read them in the volume, in one go. I think they're well paced, it was just a pain to wait for the next ones. That said, I know it can't be helped but I'm struggling keeping the story together even though I'm a careful reader. I know the main plot more or less but some things keep on confusing me like the whole Mana/Nea/Earl stuff. I always keep mixing their names up. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Hoshino for this. She tries her best and it's a nice work. But the Manga's quite complex and the wait for more always lets me forget things. If this is finished I'm gonna reread it all in one go and it will be great!

 

[Rogojinen]

Kanda had to sit like us through this convoluted flashback and was having none of that shit. "Fuck it, we're grave-robbing and we'll see what's what!"

Also shit, D.Gray Man's first chapter in Jump was in May 2004, 19 years ago! I really feel for Hoshino-sensei. Let's remember that she was advised to stop drawing and give up her passion, but she's persevering and found a way to do so safely. It's not ideal for us to consume the story in good conditions but what matters anyway for others are the result, and the result is this quality art.

Final note, the Boys Love vibe were strong in this chapter or am I crazy? I think we need to see Lenalee next to balance it out. (Not to invalidate my point at all, but also because I have no idea what she's been up to-)

 

[Xystus]

Me reading the chapter:

 

[ygoliker]

Peak fiction returns

 

[Geneaux]

How long was this arc again?! Feels like 10 years!

 

[TakeiDaloui]

A 38 page chapter... Are we being spoilt today? And while I have enjoyed the flashback, I've been desperate for the plot to move forward too.
What's interesting is that in the past Allen always showed Mana dying from a carriage accident. But it seems the flashback showed that scene where he is almost hit and that's the one Allen has been portraying as the cause of Mana's death when hiding the truth, when he actual died later on.

Of course Kanda is right to suspect things. With his own experiences, he suspects something doesn't add up here. And we as the audience still don't know who Allen summoned as an Akuma, or rather how that even could work with Mana being the Earl. There's missing pieces to this puzzle still.
But at least if Allen is now moving towards the mansion we should get to see Bookman again soon. Due to the quarterly releases, maybe in a year?

 

[bk3k]

Kanda had to sit like us through this convoluted flashback and was having none of that shit. "Fuck it, we're grave-robbing and we'll see what's what!"

He has a point too. You have at least one entity who manipulates memories. Plus all the trauma and mental illness present. So what they remember, is that what really happened?

Things don't seem to add up at face value - or maybe I just don't remember clearly... in fact I'm sure that's the case. So Kanda is correct that things need verified.

 

[Ashurali]

3 years of flashback, all can fit in probably 2 episodes of anime

 

[Rogojinen]

He has a point too. You have at least one entity who manipulates memories. Plus all the trauma and mental illness present. So what they remember, is that what really happened?

Things don't seem to add up at face value - or maybe I just don't remember clearly... in fact I'm sure that's the case. So Kanda is correct that things need verified.

Yep, Allen is a textbook unreliable narrator. They even know now he's unreliable to be around since the Fourteenth can take over his body.

Some parts of the tale make sense but not the whole thing.

Mana didn't die, he's under the mask of the Millennium Earl we knew all along. And the real and original one was that being that later got split into two twins, Mana and Nea. And when Mana killed Nea, I guess some balance was broken since they have to be linked in some magical bs so he went maniac and impersonated the clown, off-duty and during Noah business.

So I suppose what happened with this death of Mana flashback we were led to believe all those years was true was just Allen discovering his surrogate father's true monstrous nature. Must be then that Nea infected his body because Allen already had his Innocence arm before.

I think the onus will be on Allen accepting that he loved and still loves the enemy number one; and for the Earl maybe to choose for his Mana persona to be his real and pure self, when he was a good man before being roped back into whatever evil shit the Noah want to do.

 

[TheGreatALBundy]

It's been so long since I read this that I genuinely have no recollection. However, after some wiki reading to somewhat refresh my memory. I recall suspecting innocence wasn't entirely kosher considering I think they said: "It came from space/another world and the Noah fought it" and Noah keep saying they're the original humans. So me thinks The Noah caused the great flood because Apocryphos and the Heart are parasites trying to take over the planet.

 

[TestAddress]

Nah let him die

Gotta save Hitler

and die again;

 

[Kinji_Orimura]

Damn, didn't know the manga still ongoing..
Haven't watched the anime nor followed the manga but I do know this series.