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Japanese title
D. N. ANGEL
Manga-ka/Author
杉崎ゆきる Yukiru Sugisaki
Genre
romance, drama, supernatural, shounen
Volumes: 11
Distributor: Tokyopop
Classification: U
Originally serialised in
月刊あすか
Asuka Monthly
Rating
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D. N. Angel is the story of Daisuke Niwa, a 14 year old born into a family of
notorious art thieves. He admitted his feelings for one of his fellow students,
Risa Harada, who turned him down. The same night, Daisuke mysteriously
transformed into the infamous art thief, Dark.
This strange heirloom has been passed down through the Niwa family; put simply,
when a boy comes 14 and meets his first love, he will transform into Dark
whenever he starts thinking about her. This condition won't be lifted until he
wins the love of the object of his affections.
Problems quickly arise for Daisuke, as not only does he have to live with the
consciousness of Dark inside himself (and steal various pieces of art as Dark),
but he is also under the watchful and mysterious eye of another fellow student,
Satoshi Hiwatari. Satoshi is the son of the head of the police force, and is not
only unnervingly intelligent and perceptive, but he is also bent on catching
Dark.
Sadly enough, Risa has eyes only for the mysterious Dark, to Daisuke's
disappointment, and to complicate things further, Dark becomes interested in
Risa's twin sister, Riku. Daisuke finds himself yo-yoing between himself and his
alter ego, making for some interesting situations, as he tries to keep his identity
hidden from his classmates. But when Daisuke begins to realise that he likes Riku
also, things become even more complicated as Dark names him his 'rival'. Will Daisuke
rid himself of his unusual destiny and have his love returned, before Satoshi catches
Dark? And who is the one who Daisuke truly loves?
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With its cute
shounen
art style, brightly-coloured illustrations and easygoing storyline, this series
strongly reminds me of my friend's younger brother. That is, it's a manga
clearly marketed at younger boys, with its exciting (yet non-violent) action and
innocent ideas of love. It's very much in the same vein as the ever popular
Pokemon, but reminds me more of a shounen version of Cardcaptor Sakura.
At the time of writing this article, I have two volumes of this manga, and while it's
not aimed at my age group (similarly as with Cardcaptor Sakura), I am quite fond
of this series.
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Manga
Tokyopop produces the
manga of D. N. Angel, and I particularly like the foil-embossed covers and
extra mini-manga added as extras after the main story, which isn't too common.
The manga is quite easy to find in English, and the majority of the books have
already been translated. I found my copies in my local bookshop.
Anime
There is also an
anime production of D. N. Angel, which ran for one series and has been
dubbed into English by ADV, as well as French and Tagalog. The series has also
been released onto DVD, although you may have to try specialist anime and manga
shops or online to find them.
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