The first thing I will mention, and it is by far the biggest flaw this series has, is the narrative structure. D.N. Angel doesn't really have an overarching story, nor does it have an episodic storyline as it tends to jump between the two. The problem comes from the standalone episodes that have nothing to do with the main story or the main romance. I don't have a problem with episodic stories; I actually find them vast with wonderful stories and characters even with only 22 minutes or so. However, D.N. Angel fails to capitalize on this.
First off, the standalone episodes aren't interesting to begin with. They could have been, but a lot of them come off as very stilted and jarring, and doesn't really leave any impact on the viewer after the episode. Second, they make the overarching story and main romance way more rushed then it needed to be. So many episodes and even characters could have been cut out to focus on the stuff that was actually good in this anime, but with over half the episodes being stuff that rarely mattered to the main storyline that weren't even good, we are left with a very underdeveloped story.
However, the stuff that is good can still keep enjoyment levels fairly high. For one, the romance. Although not much happened until the latter half of the series, the two romantic leads have fantastic chemistry together, and I really bought them as a couple. I'll give you a fair warning though: even though this is classified as an action romance, the action here is fairly limited. This doesn't bother me that much as the romance was particularly strong, but if you want good action, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Another strong point, although it made little to no sense, was the setting. What I mean by this is that the town the characters reside in is European in nature, with all the houses and various artifacts being German or something (I apologize if I am horribly wrong with that statement). However, it still states it is set in Japan, with is kind of awkward. The setting is still cool from a story perspective, but I wish they didn't have to mention the real world at all in the series, so that way I could suspend my disbelief a lot easier.
There are a lot of strange logical errors in D.N. Angel if you happen to catch them, but they are more nitpicks than anything. For example, Daisuke Niwa's grandpa looks and acts like he is in his 70's or 80's, but based on the information we are given, he is only 54. Doesn't really matter, but it's just kind of amusing even it's kind of dumb.
Also, the actual overarching story, or what we get of it anyways, is fairly unique. It's a unique twist on the family rivalry kind of story, and it delves fairly deeply into various types of artwork and how strongly it can affect both the people creating the art and witnessing that creation, which was pretty interesting.
Now, the characters, oh god the characters...
There are some really good characters in D.N. Angel, and there are some trash tier ones as well. But let's start off on a positive note. The main character, Daisuke Niwa, is a very likeable protagonist. You make think of him as very by the numbers (which many people do by the looks of it), but I think he's a step up from the usual cookie cutter protagonist. Yes, he is your typical nice but kinda clumsy dude, but there is quite a bit more to him than that. His love for drawing (which kind of interferes with his family's business in an interesting way), appreciating the beauty in nature and artwork, and most especially his interactions with Dark, Hiwatari, and the romantic lead, are very well handled. I especially liked how in the early episodes he felt he was completely overshadowed by Dark (LOL SEE WHAT I DID THERE SO FUNNY) and his acceptance of him as the series progressed.
Dark as a character isn't much to talk about. He's just cool and that's all he really needs to be I guess.
Hiwatari is probably my favourite character in the show, mainly for the position he is put in. I'm not going to spoil it, but he is put in a situation that he never really agrees with, which creates an interesting relationship between Daisuke and him. I guess I also have to quick mention how much effort the creators put into creating a yaoi ship between those two. Guess they wanted to turn the shoujo demographic into a bunch of raging fujoshi's, but hell if I know.
Riku Harada also isn't much to talk about, but that's mainly because of spoilers. She's a good character for the role she is put into, and once again, that's all she needed to be.
Now let's go to the fucking godawful. Risa Harada... I get goosebumps remembering all the times she pissed me off. I have not been this annoyed with a character in a long time. She is the most bratty, fangirly, disrespectful, superficial and downright douchebaggy character in any show I have ever seen. They try to give her character development in the last fourth or so of the show, but I plain don't give a damn. She was just so cringeworthy.
And speaking of cringeworthy, let's talk about Mio Hio. Holy shit, the engrish on this character was so bad. Her role in the plot was laughably bad, and before that came to light, she was also just incredibly annoying.
All the other characters are pretty okay; nothing special.
The animation is nothing to write home about. The designs are serviceable, the 3D camera movements weren't awful, but they certainly weren't that great. They re-used a ton of those shots as well, especially the goddamn downwards pan of the school. Pretty meh, but still hold up generally well even over a decade later in my opinion.
The OST is also not that memorable. The opening was quite decent though, even though the vocalist doesn't really sound like he's trying all that hard. That might be part of the charm, I don't know, but it was weird all the same.
Lastly, the voice acting. I'll be completely honest, the reason I started watching D.N. Angel was because I saw that Greg Ayres was voicing a main character and I was like fuck yeah! (I have a soft spot for the guy, I just like his unorthodox voice I guess) However, I only managed to get through 2 episodes of the dub before having to go to sub, and the funny thing is, Greg Ayres as Hiwatari was by far the best sounding of the main cast. Daisuke in the dub sounded godawful, and the supporting characters even worse.
But what I find incredibly astonishing is that, even though it's better than the dub, the Japanese voice acting isn't really that good either. Niwa's voice actor is incredibly annoying, especially when he shouts a name. Riku's voice actress also wasn't that good, but fared better than Niwa's VA. Once again, Hiwatari's VA was the shining star in the sub. It is incredibly rare to find a sub that isn't that good, but unfortunately, I found it.
Crunch time. Is D.N. Angel worth your time? Honestly, I have no idea. There are so many problems structure wise, half the episodes aren't even that interesting, and Risa and Mio are some of the most insufferable characters in anime history. There are some really good parts too: the other main characters, the themes, the setting and what we got of the overarching story, etc. I just don't know if that is good enough to give it a pass. Personally, I had an experience where I knew the overall product was more bad than good, but there was something about it that kept my enjoyment level at a consistently decent mark. In the end, I'd probably say watch a few episodes, and if you don't basically what is going on, skip it. There isn't enough here to warrant a good recommendation, but I can't deny that some people have and will like this show a great deal more than I did. But for what it was, I had a good time.
