D.Gray-Man Vol. 15: Black Star, Red Star

Lulu Bell from the Noah clan has entered the Black Order's head quarters to retrieve the Millennium Earl's precious Egg.  With several of the Order's Exorcist without weapons or in bad shape, Allen and Bookman will have to fight off the massive amounts of Akuma, and protect the Egg, until more help comes.

Highlights

Science Lab 5 is under attack from Lulu Bell, and her hundreds of level two and three Akuma.  She has brought along the Skulls, workers for the Earl who do odd jobs that are too degrading for any Noah to do.  They have come for the Egg and some new "recruits" for the Skulls.  Only a handful of the scientist in Lab 5 remain, and those are the ones we have already met, except for one.  Of course, the survivors want to save their friend, but they are too late.  Reever jumps into the line of fire and proposes a deal with the head Skull to sacrifice himself in order to save the others.  Like that was going to work in the first place…Luckily for him, Allen and Bookman fall from the ceiling and save Reever (yay!), for the time being.

Well, things don't look good at all.  Allen and Bookman are outnumbered and the captives are still being turned into Skulls.  When things look really bad, Cross and some of the top Exorcists arrive to save the day! But, while the exorcist are fighting the Akuma, the Egg is subsiding into a portal, and the surviving scientist have made a plan to save their captive friends. Again, all plans fail and have an even greater consequence then ever.  A level 4 Akuma has been born.  This is the first time a level 4 has been heard of.  It is more terrifying then any Akuma, and it's powers are completely unpredictable.  So, now there's a horrific fiend running around the Order ready to kill any living thing in it's path.  

Overall

OH MY! Can you say epic!  My heart was pounding every second, the suspense and the sense that even I was trapped was just, too much.  The amount of action was overwhelming and often confusing.  I appreciate when manga artists pay attention to detail, but this is one situation where detail was a bad thing. With the same old characters, with nothing new, and no new points to the plot, I found it to be almost boring when it came to the story itself.  The overall creepiness seen in D.Gray-Man was more than usual, and at times it was a bit off-putting.  

Overall, there was just too much going on and nothing new to the plate.  I am disappointed at how the character's actions were predictable and shallow.  But, it's not the worst I've ever read, and I could see where Katsura Hoshino was going with it all.  Personally, I am still looking forward to the next volume.

ComicsOnline gives D.Gray-Man Vol. 15: Black Star, Red Star 3 out of 5 Bullets of Sin