I've seen a lot of titles at this point, from the most sugary like Fancy Lala, to the more intense such as Akira. This next title is an anime known as D.N.Angel, and before I go into it, it mostly doesn't have anything to do with the genetic code, unlike DNA², which I covered a few entries back.
D.N.Angel's character of interest is Daisuke Niwa, a a normal 14 year old boy whose name oddly matches to the initials in the title, making him the titular character somewhat. As the anime opens, he confesses his love for Risa Harada, only to be rejected. Following this is a strange transformation he undergoes, part of which is thanks to his broken heart. It is later revealed by his mother Emiko that, as with the males before him, he gained a genetic trait: he harbors a coutenance, or another being, in side of him. This being is known as Dark Mousy, a phantom thief. Not helping matters is that not only does Risa have feelings for Dark, but Dark has his own feelings set towards her tomboyish sister, Riku, who's in confliction about her own feelings for a certain someone. Oddly enough, there is Satoshi Hiwatari, who serves as both Daiskue's friend and the antagonist, as he suffers a curse of his own. While Daisuke and Satoshi are friends with one another (due in part to their similar troubles), Dark and Satoshi's alter-ego, Krad, detest one another. How their frinedship is maintained with this, I will never understand. To return to normality, Daisuke must have his unrequited feelings returned. And with him raiding items as Dark while trying to avoid the police, and even going through conflicts with Krad, he has his work cut out for him...
The anime is 26 episodes long, launching initially in 2003. Another title formerly licensed for US release by ADV, Discotek picked the title up after the aforementioned company went defunct. Kevin Corn voices Daisuke in the English dubbing, while Vic Mignogna (popularly known as Edward Elrich of the Fullmetal Alchemist titles) voices Dark. I won't say I fell in love with it, but at the time, this anime was kinda special to me.
While not the kind of special that I'm referring to, this series has a really unique love chain of sorts, adding to which is Satoshi's, which possibly hints yaoi. This is not addressed in any form in the manga, from what I hear. On the contrary, in the anime, this is hinted many times, if not made apparent. Granted that such feelings for someone (like Daisuke's for Risa) brings out the curse's form, that possibility looms throughout the anime, notably when told by Dark that Daiskue brings Krad out of Satoshi. What interested me was that the whole deal of light and dark were not only on opposite sides, but opposing natures as well. Normally, it's the other way around of sorts, but Dark has a brotherly bond with Daisuke as his host: though they tend to bicker a lot, Dark has shown to take care of his host, as to not cause any harm to the body. This is saying a lot compared to the relationship between Krad and Satoshi. For a being of light, Krad is more sadistic and homicidal, not caring for his host's well being, though he acknowledges that Satoshi is the tamer. This marks the first anime I've seen where something usually loathed turns out to be the protagonist.
In any case, D.N.Angel is kinda on the soft side, even with the action scenes it contains. No matter how many times I look at it, the anime still comes across as that of an romantic drama, not that it bothers me in the least. I grade this a 7.6 of 10.
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