DNAngel - The Dawn Of Dark (Animated) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Very crisp animation, great opening theme tune
Disadvantages:	English voice acting,

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Synopsis

Daisuke Niwa is your average boy…whose mother just happens to lay dangerous traps around the house. The poor boy can't even open the fridge without having a mace or something swing out at him! There is a reason for her madness, however, as Daisuke finds out on his 14th birthday…his DNA is infused with that of the legendary thief Dark Mousey!

Dark is bound to male members of the Niwa family, though as Daisuke's grandfather only had a girl he skipped a generation (girls can't become the phantom thief). Dark steals artwork, and unfortunately for Daisuke, this means that now he does too! All of that training his mother and grandfather put him through was leading up to this.

Dark literally takes over Daisuke's body, and can often be heard as a voice, arguing or teasing Daisuke when he's inactive. He becomes active whenever Daisuke thinks about his crush; Risa Harada. Unfortunately, this isn't very practical for things like school where they share classes!

Interestingly, for Dark to turn back into Daisuke, he has to look at a picture of his crush, Riku Harada; Risa's twin sister!

Of course, a phantom thief stealing valuable artwork isn't going to go unnoticed by local authorities, but Dark has had generations to hone his skills by possessing members of the Niwa family. Unfortunately, for just as long, the Hikari family have been making these valuable artworks; and police commander Satoshi Hikari of said family has made it his life mission to capture Dark. Satoshi is 14 years old, and a genius. He's also Daisuke's classmate.

As if things weren't complicated enough, Daisuke's crush, Risa, doesn't feel the same way for him. And early on makes it very clear that her heart belongs to none other than…Dark.

So poor Daisuke has to juggle a mother who tries to kill him by laying traps around the house, an unrequited love, stealing artwork, transforming into Dark every time he thinks too much about Risa, and avoiding making himself look suspicious in front of Satoshi. He has his hands full!

The first DVD concerns Daisuke getting to grips with Dark, and with stealing these valuable pieces for his family.

This is DVD 1 of 7 and contains episodes 1 - 4.

Characters:

Daisuke is adorable, and until you meet Dark you wonder how on earth he would carry out being a main character. His innocence perfectly balances Dark, so it does work, but you sometimes feel he is a bit weak.

Dark is everything Daisuke is not; tall, strong and good with the ladies. Frequently seen wearing form hugging black outfits, he's really not doing anything to prise Risa away - even though he knows how Daisuke feels about her.

Risa and Riku are initially both very, very annoying. It took me a long time to warm up to them, and even now I'm still not sure that the series would have been terribly damaged without them.
With is the Niwa's fluffy bunny-like pet. He's been with the family as long as Dark, and helps out on missions by transforming into Dark's wings. He can transform into anything, though. The only thing he says is 'kyuu' and I'm mentioning him here simply because he melts the heart!

Satoshi Hikari (also known as Satoshi Hiwatari) is the last remaining heir of the Hikari family. He is a fantastic student, but very cold. However many situations usually end up with him and Daisuke stuck together. I personally loved him, and wish there was more of him throughout the series.

Animation:

Very, very nice. Shorter anime series (13 or 26 part) usually have much crisper animation than the 200+ episode behemoths, but DNAngel is particularly well done. Vivid colours, crisp line work.

Voice acting:

Before you do anything make sure your DVD is set to Japanese (with English subtitles). I promise you, it's for your own good. I mentioned that I disliked the Harada twins, and the English voice acting is not working in their favour. As for Daisuke, he seems to have two emotions; flat and surprised (read; high and whiny voice). Dark and Satoshi sounded good, but for the benefit of your ears the original Japanese is the way to go for this series.

Can be viewed in either English or Japanese language, with the option of adding/removing English subtitles.

Music:

The background music (BGM) is typically light and airy; and the fight scenes (well, stealing scenes; there's not a huge amount of action) is dramatic and works well with the animation. Nothing to write home about, though. The end theme (the series has two, switching mid way through the series) is forgettable. The opening theme Byakuya True Light by Shunichi Miyamoto (they keep the same one for all 26 episodes) is fantastic. I could listen to it all day, and in fact have bought the single. It's that good. Very dramatic, and perfectly fits the anime.

Value for Money:

Contains the first four episodes for an RRP of £19.99 Anime DVD's are always highly priced, so this is the standard price. 4 episodes per disc is also pretty standard. It pays to shop around, though, I got mine for £4.99 each!

DVD extras:

Clean opening and closing credits (i.e. the opening and end themes with the animation only without the names and credits), voice actor commentary, the creation of the opening theme and some adverts for it. Nothing fantastic, really.

The one good extra is the reversible jacket sleeve. If you don't like Dark on the cover (heaven forbid!) you can take it out of the case and switch it round to feature Risa Harada. I didn't switch mine. It is a nice feature, though, that is carried on throughout the DVD series; and I did change a couple of mine. The reversible jacket has all the information printed on both sides, just a different cover image.

Summary:

A pretty entertaining series, though I probably wouldn't have bought the whole set if I hadn't have been able to find it so cheap. Shop around a bit on the online retailers and try to get a good deal; it is enjoyable, but the plot can run a little thin.