D.Gray Man has made quite a name for itself within the Shonen Jump brand. The show stands shoulder to shoulder with its brethren, despite the fact that it's arguably the least popular of the bunch. Still, this 2006 series received over 100 episodes before coming off the air in Japan, so it must have been doing something right. Right? Here in the States FUNimation has been releasing the show in half seasons at a time and with their latest installment we get all the way up to episode 51.

In case you haven't been following the show I'll try to spare you some of the spoilers of what's happened to this point. Instead of recapping the series as a whole I'd suggest that you check out some of the earlier releases to find out what's going on. All I'll say is that D.Gray Man features a story about a young boy, Allen Walker, who is thrust into the world of the Black Order and Akuma. He becomes a demon hunter and is out to save the world from their dark kind. It's a fascinating show with a decidedly darker approach than other Shonen Jump shows, and because of that it stands out in many ways.

Up to this point Allen has been put through the ringer, but more recently he and his peers have been dealing with a bunch of stuff happening in Barcelona. That's where this second part of the second season picks up.

In the aftermath of the Barcelona ordeal Allen, Lenalee, Lavi and Krory become ensnared in a trap set by the Noah, Lulu Bell. You see, Allen and the gang are still on the hunt for General Cross and Lulu was charged by Millennium Earl to slow them down. For almost the entirety of this volume Lulu and Mimi work to attempting to stop them altogether. In some respects they succeed with some interesting techniques and intelligent maneuvers.

For instances one of the first things they do is separate Allen and Krory from Lenalee and Lavi. Lulu heads off after the first pair while Mimi goes after the second. It's ingenious in concept because the four exorcists together would be too much for them. But if they can work their way into their midst via the Noah's power of taking on other forms or what have you, then they may be able to even the odds. Through the course of some failed attempts the team eventually reunites after a few episodes. During this time their journey takes them to Asia, which is certainly a nice change of pace from what we've seen so far.

They meet up with Mei Ling who is an exorcist in training and wouldn't you know, Lulu is still tracking them. I'll leave out some of the details of what transpires here, but let's just say this volume packs a lot of fighting and some nice Akuma battles. Things get very interesting towards the end of this volume as they near someone close to General Cross, and all hell breaks loose.

Up to this point D.Gray Man has been a fascinating show packed with action and some very interesting ideas. This installment is no different, though you never really get the sense of drama from Lulu's activities, because she's just not up to par with the exorcist group. Due to that fact the episodes here that revolve around her antics feel a little on the flat side. Still, fans of the show will eat it up. One thing worth noting is that the focus of the show to this point has been largely on Allen, and that continues here. We don't get the development of his teammates like we have in the past, but that's not entirely a bad thing. Overall this installment is recommended, though it's exclusively so for those who have seen the other episodes to this point.

D.Gray-Man season 2 part 2 is presented on DVD with its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The transfer for these discs has been enhanced for an anamorphic widescreen display as well. For what its worth the series looks pretty good and FUNimation did an overall solid job with the transfer. Colors appear natural and vibrant, and all around the picture is quite solid. Light grain is visible at times, though it's hard to tell if that's attributed to the transfer or the source material. Either way you slice it though, D.Gray-Man is a nice looking show that probably could have been refined just a little more.

The sound for the series is presented just about like you'd expect it would be. The English language comes with a 5.1 Dolby Digital output while the Japanese selection is presented with 2.0 Stereo. Dub wise both tracks performed well enough and there's plenty to appreciate with regards to the voiceover teams for each language. On the technical side of things the English track offers up a slightly better sense of immersion, but it doesn't quite surround you as much as it could have. Some moments feel a little too flat and there are many points where the channels simply weren't used enough.

Clean animations and trailers are presented here for bonus features. There is also an audio commentary for the 50th episode of the show. This features the cast getting together to talk about their experience working on the show. It's entertaining, though not entirely informative. You get more of a sense about the cast themselves than an idea about the production of the show.

D.Gray-Man has definitely made a name for itself. The show is decidedly different and yet familiar at the same time. At its core the premise isn't anything too special (young boy with powers fights evil with a group of other powered beings), but it's handled quite nicely all around. The world is decidedly darker, the characters are rich in development, and the stories can be very engaging.

The second half of the second season hits some nice notes as Allen and the other members of the exorcists continue their search for General Cross. While I appreciated their match up against Lulu at first, it drew on much longer than necessary. The shift of focus back to Allen also disrupts some of the balance the show enjoyed in the previous installment, but neither of these detractions was enough to muck things up. All in all this is a solid installment for the show and I dare say that the ending is the best thing on this volume. I absolutely can't wait to see what happens next!

Check out more of my reviews here. Head on over to my anime blog as well for random musings and reviews of anime, manga, and stuff from Japan!