D.N.Angel

It seems that most people who have read the manga are disappointed with the series, and that's completely understandable. I usually like to read a manga and then ignore the anime version of it, or possibly try the first few episodes. It's sad but true: the animes just don't quite live up to their manga counterparts.
That aside, I have never read the manga, so take into account that my review is written without knowledge of the story manga-style.

Fantastic! This anime is truly amazing! I want to start by telling you this:
The reason that this anime is so great is the innocence and purity of the romance. Most animes lack this, in fact every other anime I have seen doesn't come close to this. Now this could be because I haven't seen enough romance animes, but D.N. Angel touched me in such a way that still leaves me impacted, one year after viewage. (Yes, I know that's not a word.)

STORY: 9/10

Great story, I'm mainly grading by how engaging the story is, not how inventive it is. Its actually a very simple story, but its this simplicity that makes it beautiful to watch. To boil it down to the essentials, its just a story about a boy who is confused about love. As the story progresses, he slowly finds his way, and begins to understand more about his life.

ART: 9/10

I love the art, its unique yet not too forcefully new. Its very refreshing, and the smooth textures really blend in with the moods of the anime. I'm not a very artsy person, but a big thumbs up in this section.

SOUND: 9/10

The OP is just amazing, I can never get it out of my head. It sounds a bit weird at first, like the vocals are a bit weak, but the more you listen to it, the more it will be stuck in your head. The in-anime music is also fantastic, great great job here too.

CHARACTER: 10/10

This is where D.N. Angel really shines. The characters are simple, some cliche, but these are the characters I have found myself being attached to the most in any anime. The focus ends up being confusion and misunderstandings, and how the characters deal with these. And instead of turning into some dum fanservicey, ecchi, borderline hentai situation like most modern semi-romances do, the characters are forced to turn away from each other and they think long and hard about their feelings. Through this process, you really start to develop your own feelings toward each character. I really really got into this anime after about 13 eps or so, I became slightly obsessed... whoopsie :D

ENJOYMENT: 10/10

Nothing much to be said here; I kinda already said it. It's really great to see such innocence on the screen when other things like violence and fanservice are in high demand. Not that I mind either of those, but D.N. Angel puts those concepts to shame. Shame shame shame, this anime is so good.

OVERALL: 10/10

I am definitely going to have to rewatch this anime when I run out (like that's gonna happen...). But this anime has something that others lack, and its probably its ability to draw the viewer deep into the romance, and you can really see and develop feelings and attitudes during the episodes. Please, you don't want to miss D.N. Angel for the world.

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Let me lead of by first saying that I love D.N.Angel and its an amazing anime, however, I just feel that it had the potential of being so much better than what was presented with the final product in the anime.

The story of D.N.Angel is relatively original as you don't see other anime shows adopting what D.N.Angel has - an angel stealing artwork in hopes of preventing world destruction, if you put it in very simple terms. In a nutshell, the Niwa family has long been the bloodline that holds the dark-winged angel, Dark, in their male children and every 40 years or so, it is time once again for Dark to re-emerge and once again steal the artwork or art pieces from the Hikari family, who also houses an angel of their own, Krad <-- Dark spelled backwards if you guys did not notice that immediately. The town that the story takes place seems like it was taken somewhere from Italy and they simply just inserted Japanese speaking people there. ^_^ But don't worry, the town setting perfectly suits D.N.Angel as soon enough, you will be wishing that you were living in that quaint, little town.

A very important part of the plot is the triangle romance between our protagonist, Niwa Daisuke and the Harada identical twin sisters, Risa and Riku. At first, Niwa has a crush on Risa (the prettier of the two sisters) but as the anime progresses, we see a change in Daisuke's heart. And its rather very interesting how the change comes about. The romance is such an integral part because in essence, that is what brings out Dark from Daisuke - his love for Risa. To understand exactly what that is about would be giving away too much. You should watch the anime. ^_^

The animation is actually quite interesting. There are a few scenes in some of the episodes which you'll believe *have* to be computer animated, but amazingly enough, it isn't. In addition, the quality of the animation is crisp, clean and smooth and is up to today's standards, given that the anime is a few years old.

The music to D.N.Angel is very good, however, it does fall short of being exceptional. There are many scores that you will find enjoyable, but some of them just sound too much of the same. The introductory song is fantastic (True Light), however, it is sung in the same pitch of voice, and if you're a big music person who understands that, it may or may not get on your nerves a little.

Character development is a integral part of D.N.Angel as the relationship between Risa, Riku and Daisuke is the overall focal point of the anime. Satoshi Hiwatari is Daisuke's rival in a sense, however, as Daisuke embraces his counterpart in Dark, Satoshi is seen to reject his. The Niwa and Hikari families have been battling each other for centuries over these artworks and Satoshi is adamant in capturing Dark without his counterpart. Its interesting to watch his relationship with Krad throughout the series.

There is no doubt in my mind that everyone who is looking for a cute romance and an interesting plot will enjoy this show immensely. The only qualms that I have with it is that there are not enough battle scenes in the show that is seemingly advertised by the introductory song and the pace of the anime seems a bit slow in some of the middle episodes. The ending was also very abrupt and easily could have been stretched a bit longer, given us more information and more battles. But looking back on it, once can say that it was sufficient enough. However, once you get passed those two or three episodes that do seem a little too slow, you're in for quite a treat. If you're a sucker for romance, look no further than D.N.Angel.

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Just watch the first episode — that’s all it should take. There are plenty of lengthy reviews for D.N.Angel, so I'll try to be concise to save you some time:

What makes this anime truly stand out is how the story, the characters, and the romance are all serious and pure. This is not another silly anime where the characters degenerate into loons or crack stupid jokes. They take their lives seriously, which in turn allows you to take them seriously, and eventually get sucked into their world.

Though most episodes are captivating and fun, the show does stagnate in places. For example, I remember the snow painting episodes near the end being especially painful to get through. The beginning half also might seem a bit routine and slow, but just wait for the romance that eventually develops with Daisuke halfway through. It was presented very well with a lot of heart, and will keep you coming back for more. Wait for it.

However, keep in mind that this was marketed toward younger viewers, so dialogue, scenes, and characters might come off a bit childish. If you’re young at heart though, you may actually enjoy this point!

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CHARACTER/STORY:
The plotline of DNAngel is really one of a kind. There are so many unique twists throughout the story that there is rarely a dull moment. Basically a boy named Daisuke Niwa falls in love with a girl names Risa Harada. On his fourteenth birthday he is basically rejected by Risa and later when he is thinking of her his DNA has some kind of reaction to Risa and he changes into the phantom thief Dark Mousy every time he thinks of Risa. To make matters difficult, Dark has the same reaction to Risa's twin sister Riku. But there is a problem- Risa is the one who likes Dark and Riku doesn't want anything to do with Dark. There is also a guy named Satoshi Hiwatari- he goes to school during the day and is the commander of the police at night. He is not only assigned to capture Dark but he has personal reasons to do so. Satoshi actually has an alter ego as well, Dark's all time nemisis, Krad. (notice Krad is Dark spelled backwards). Dark is the outgoing, flirty type but he does have a serious side. Daisuke is the innocent, average boy. Krad looks like an angel but has the heart of a devil. Satoshi is the genius, misunderstood character that thinks of nothing but capturing Dark. Risa is too preoccupied with her reputation and her "love" for Dark. Riku is the athletic, stronger twin. With (Wiz) is Dark's familiar and "wings". There are also characters like Daisuke's Mom, Dad, and Grandfather (I forgot their names >.>) that play important roles in some episodes. Anyways, the only way Daisuke can get rid of Dark is if his love (Risa) returns his feelings which is difficult because she is obsessed with Dark.

ANIMATION:
The animation is over-all really well done, in my opinion. There was nothing bad about it that distracts from the anime and there was a lot of effort put into it. Some of the images (especially at the end) look like they were done 3-d and it didn't really fit in to the rest of it, but nothing too distracting.

SOUND:
The music is really great- my favorite is the opening music. It brings out a lot of emotion and really fits really well with the anime.

OVERALL/ENJOYMENT:
I really liked DNAngel. I first saw it off youtube and I didn't have any speakers so at first I didn't get a good look at it because I was too bust trying to read the subtitles. When I was watching it I could think of nothing esle but it. I finally bought the box set and watched it for hours on end, once again thinking if nothing but it until I finished it and even after it was over. It is definately worth a look at, its a really great anime! ((its even better with sound (-^^)- )).

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I really don't understand the raving about this series. D.N.Angel has a typical anime plot, and executes it poorly.

The story starts out typically enough, based on the first two episodes it could have really been something good. Young boy who is a high school student by day, and a paranormal thief by night.

Its just that the storyline itself develops slowly and never really built up much interest. The actual stealing was a bit interesting, in the style of Lupin the Third, but in the end D.N.Angel just fails to deliver.

I'm not sure on the English dub, but I must say that the Japaneses voice acting cast for this series is probably one of the worst I have ever heard. The leading female was alright, but the main characters voice often lacked emotion completely. If the line was about how he was in great danger he would almost sound like he was being sarcastic because of how lacking his voice was in the sense of that danger.

I'm not saying D.N.Angel is a bad anime. Remember, 5 is an average score. However, why watch a 5 when there are still unwatched 8's 9's and 10's?

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There is nothing outstanding to say about D.N.Angel. When I think of it, nothing really comes into my mind as to how it's unique compared to other animes, or how all the pieces of it create something truly great because it's not.

Story: Prophecies/Fate/Family Secrets are all plot points which, unless done really well, make an anime extremely cliched. I couldn't tell whether this anime was a crime/fantasy anime or a fantasy/romance. They make this really big deal about Dark being an amazing theif, which originally I thought was pretty cool, but then they make him steal magical things that hurt people...which grew very boring, very quickly. The other facet is the romance aspect. Dark and Niwa share a body, and Niwa loves one girl, and Dark, of course, loves her sister. This puts in alot of misplaced angst because obviously Niwa doesn't want Dark flirting with the other sister...I think.

Art: The art really does nothing good for the anime. It feels campy and tired. There's nothing in the art that seperates it from other anime made in the same year or in the same style. They occasionally do some nice effects, but nothing really that oustanding. The character designs are alright, but everyone became very boring after awhile.

Sound: They try to impliment songs during some "fight" scenes, they don't work at all and I was tempted to skip them in boredom. The beginning/ending songs didn't really stand out to me, just felt like the same boring j-pop that you can find anywhere. Some of the effects they used were pretty nice, but there were a few they threw in which sounded very cliched.

Character: Niwa is a clumsy, shy, kind kid who has a crush on some girl but can never bring himself to tell her. Oh...and did I mention that his family worship the occult and have been training him to be a thief/assassin since he was very small? And yet despite this training, he's still "clumsy" and we see him muddling up small things because of this. And then....inhabiting the same body, there's Dark Mousy. He's bad. He's a super-thief and he's also everything that Niwa isn't. The fact that they like seperate sisters makes sure that the right amount of drama is infused because obviously Niwa doesn't want Dark to ruin his love-life. The other characters are boring, they build off the four mains and every now and again they throw in Satoshi..who loves Niwa and hates Dark....which is very strange. But the characters in D.N.Angel are only skin-deep.

Enjoyment: Frankly, I didn't enjoy this anime, I found the self-contained episodes...especially in the beginning, to be very tiring. I was trying not to fall asleep during many parts.

There's nothing spectacular about this anime. In a couple days I will most likely forget almost everything about it. I wouldn't recommend this anime, but it's definitely not the worst thing anyone could see.

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D.N. Angel is definitely one of the best animes of all time. It's quite well known, and with good reason. The story deals with the blurry borders between certain things - such as Good vs. Bad. And the plot basically asks one question that has become rather philosophical through the ages. "Does the end justify the means?" Without giving away the plot, I mean of course, "Is Dark/Daisuke Niwa's job alright because of his reason for doing it?"
The artwork - to be quite frank, is marvelous. In particular episodes, the artwork is so outstanding, my emotions became overwhelming due to the sheer fact that the artist's ability to portray a situation were just so superb. It's detailed, clear, and absolutely gorgeous.
Besides the plot and art, the characters in D.N. Angel are without question original and interesting. The depth to them is amazing... The opinions you have about a character will most likely change drastically by the time you finish the series. Throughout the series, the relationships between the characters change a lot - in certain cases it becomes completely opposite of what it had been before.
In other words, D.N. Angel is, to me, a legendary anime that no other can compete with. I must say I'm rather disappointed that there are no movies are OVAs to it... Some of the greatest animes of all time have several movies and OVAs. This anime is right up there with the best, yet it has nothing but the actual series. Ah well. ^^ Either way, it's still an anime that is simply magnificent, and I'm glad to have watched it!

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D.N.Angel is an anime that i can say is a classic, the story was very understanding and simple to follow. the main character is in love with Risa Harada, but when he is about to confess to her he is friend-zoned by her, and you know the rest if you read the Synopsis.

The Art was Great not only the character concept, but the art in the pictures, there is nothing bad i can say about the drawings.

The Sound isn't bad but some of the sound is annoying, but other than that it is very pleasing to the ears especially the background music.

The Characters are awesome i will explain all of them
Niwa Daisuke: Okay this character kinda surprised me. Here is my first reaction to this character, another cowardly main character. i was wrong, he was a shy character, but not cowardly. I liked how they made him, though he was very caring about every character which was a little disturbing.

Risa Harada: she is my least favorite character. i don't like shallow girls and she is a very shallow girl.

Riku Harada: She is the older twin sister of Risa she is a light tsunadere. She is an awesome character and the complete opposite of Risa.

Satoshi Hiwatari: The rival of Niwa, at first i thought he was homosexual, but it turns out that he doesn't care much for anybody.

Dark:The Main character's alter ego until he found true love. He is not shy like Daisuke is. he shows some interest in Risa.

Krad: The Main villain, the name is not very creative, but he is the alter ego of Satoshi. He is pure evil despite the fact that he looks like the good guy lol

The anime was enjoyable, but some of it was kinda "next episode please", but other than that it was interesting it had some comedy in it so you can let off a chuckle or smile, it wasn't always drama.

this is my 1st review of an anime i didn't want to spoil so i held back as much as i could but yeah overall i give this show a 9/10

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D.N Angel is about an ordinary boy, named Daisuke Niwa who has a family secret: when a boy in the Niwa family turns 14, he\'s prone to turning into phantom thief Dark. The only way to turn into this phantom thief is to think about the girl that he has strong feelings for. At this point in time, it\'s a girl named Risa.

Dark has an alternate named Krad, who is represented as angel, which is like \"light\", and they\'re constantly at war with each other, but the reality is they both have to be conjoined together.

D.N angel is such a cute anime to watch, Daisuke is the main character and he is so genuine, sweet, and caring, you just have to go \"Daisuke!!\" Dark is completely different from Daisuke, and the adventures that they have together are crazy and so intoxicating, and on the other hand Risa and her twin sister Riku, are both friends with Daisuke, and at the same time, don\'t know that he is also the phantom thief that the police are trying to capture!

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Way, way back in middle school, I read this manga. That was back when I snapped up every manga I could find, and adored phantom thieves (Kurama, and Tuxedo Kamen, and Saint Tail, oh my!). A friend gave me the box set of the anime for Christmas and I was so excited.

Until I watched it.

D.N.Angel can't decide if it wants to be an epic story of light vs. darkness or a show about a middle school love triangle. It starts out good enough with the phantom thief angle, but that turns into a completely different story about ancient magical rivals. Which would be fine except that the pacing is way off. Instead of the thief bit being the introduction to the magical rival bit, we get lots of episodes stretching out the first part and the latter being rushed and confusing.

For the sake of a middle school love triangle.

The story has it's original aspects, but it quickly gets derivative. Our lead, Daisuke Niwa, is utterly bland. He makes up for this by having a cute furry mascot and turning into the dashing thief Dark Mousy--via a strange genetic condition--that is so good at stealing things, he sends out calling cards to the police and still gets away with the prize. And, in the history of great shoujo tropes, Daisuke turns into Dark by getting flustered by his crush or thinking about her too hard. Romantic hijinks ensue!

Daisuke is in love with one Risa Harada, who predictably has the hots for Dark. (Super Man, anyone?) Risa is, of course, the school idol and moe princess with a tsundere twin who would love Daisuke's affections if only she could stop berating him long enough. Which twin will he choose!?

Meanwhile, sickly child prodigy super detective (WHO IS IN THE SAME CLASS AS ALL THE OTHER MAIN CHARACTERS) Satoshi Hiwatari is out to catch Dark, but oh no! His body is home to the phantom Krad...who is the opposite of Dark. You know. Because their names are reverse. It turns out that even though Krad is lighter (blond, light eyes, wears white, where as Dark dresses in black, black hair, violet eyes), he's the more dangerous of the two and his family has made or collected potentially threatening objects over the years that Dark must steal to neutralize.

Things that work:

Daisuke's mom, Emiko is a fantastic character. She's hilarious, involved in the story (she has agency! Even though she's a mother!), and a competent thief herself. Because of the "family secret/trade", she's been training Daisuke since birth and possibly before and guides him along.

Dark, for being a typical "cool bishounen" is actually interesting and can be really funny when he looses that cool.

Krad and Dark obviously hate each other, what with being exact opposite beings and all, but Daisuke and Satoshi manage to form a strained but genuine friendship. Not an easy task with Dark screaming inside Daisuke's head about it.

Daisuke can only stop turning into Dark if the person he loves returns those feelings, but as I said before, love triangle. Risa is the one that triggers the transformation into Dark, so Risa is the one he needs to end up with, but what of his developing feelings for Riku the twin that actually knows he exists? There is the implication that he could be trapped into a relationship with Risa, which is an interesting take on the situation. Things get more complicated when he wonders if he wants to get rid of Dark at all, since they become close.

The theme of dark does not equal evil never gets old.

In 1997, having the boy be the protagonist of a shoujo story and turn into someone else was a cool new idea. We get a lot of Daisuke's inner monologue, which while never being shocking, it's nice to hear a boy muse about his feelings.

The art is decent. I don't care for the character designs, but the colors are bright and crisp.

The music is surprisingly good.

What didn't work:

Besides all the cliches an utter predictability, the world wasn't clearly defined. There was a lot of use of German, European type spell books, references to fairy tales, and Dark and Krad having English names, but a clear mythology wasn't revealed. The city also looked very German, but the kids attended a Japanese style school and behaved very...err Japanese. I was perpetually confused over the setting and culture.

The romance wasn't all that engaging (to moe or tsundere! that is the question!) and ate up way to much of the time.

I wasn't a fan of the character designs, especially Daisuke's weird, out of place hair.

Pacing. Pacing was a problem.

Ultimately:

I guess watch this if you like the manga? Or pretty 1990's style bishounen? Or if you're REALLY into pre-teen romance?

Don't watch it for the magic or phantom thieves though. There are better anime out there for that.

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Watch it before you read the manga.

Premise:
Guy, Daisuke transforms into Phantom thief Dark. Dark is different personality that lives in his head. Ladies man, very suave. Daiske is a nice dweeb, dreams of being like Dark. Can't stop transforming till girl likes him. In the mean time, he steals magic cursed art.

Opinion:
I liked, no loved this show before I read the manga. Daisuke is such a loser, Risa just tramples over him, and I could sympathize with that. A lot of guys can actually, despite it being about a bunch of bishounen who act ambiguously gay at times, this anime tends to appeal a lot to guys.

Me, I'm having a hard time recommending it. I remember loving this series. I own all the DVDs. The English voice actor commentary alone is worth it. I love the final episode where Satoshi's voice actor is commenting alongside Krad's and he tells the story of how when he was going in to do the last episode, Risa's voice actress was just getting done, and they crossed paths in the parking lot. She comes up to him and say, "Oh Greg, your character." and she is just swooning. And Greg has no idea what happens in the last episode. The English voice actors were never allowed to see their parts before they did them and everybody on the staff thought Satoshi was gay.

That's just about the only reason I keep the anime. A lot of great stories in those commentaries. The actors used to call the world in which DNAngel happens "The Land of Clueless" because none of the voice actors had any idea what was going on most of the time.

Anyway, I don't know\what to tell you. I watched this over and over again in high school, and I'm glad a friend of mine warned me not to read the manga until I finished the series, because the manga is just so much damn better it put's this thing to shame. I'm sorry. I guess I should be reviewing the manga.

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A little about the Characters

D.N.Angel follows the adventures of Daisuke Niwa and how he must cope with his alter-ego, Dark Mousy. Because of the nature of the ability, his two friends, the twin sisters Riku and Risa Harada become involved. Other central figures include Satoshi Hiwatari, a descendant of the Hikari family who created the artworks that Dark targets in his thefts and the adopted son of a high ranking police officer. Like Daisuke, Satoshi possesses his own alter-ego, Krad.

Daisuke's family act as supporting characters in the story and aid Daisuke as he copes with the instability of his transformations.

A little more

D.N.Angel was adapted into a 26 episode anime series by Dentsu which aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 3, 2003 until September 25, 2003. The series was directed by Koji Yoshikawa and Nobuyoshi Habara.

The series is licensed for release in North American and the United Kingdom by ADV Films, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.[5][6]

Five pieces of theme music are used in the anime adaptation. The song "White Night -True Light-" (白夜 ～True Light～ ,Byakuya -True Light-?), by Shunichi Miyamoto, is used for the opening for all twenty six episodes. For the ending theme, "Gentle Afternoon" (やさしい午後 ,Yasashii Gogo?) is used for the first twelve episodes, and "The Day It Begins" (はじまりの日 ,Hajimari no Hi?) is used for episodes 13-23 and episode 25. Both songs are performed by Minawo. Episode 24 uses the song "Caged Bird", by Shunichi Miyamoto, for its ending, while the final episode of the series uses Miyamoto's song "Guidepost" (道標 ,Michishirube?).


For me this Anime Teaches About the real world it helps u know So much, In one Part for me it teaches the sometime went u love someone u need to do the best for the one u love not only think of yourself

PS. If you’re looking for a fun love and yes no this it will make u cry big time well good look



I give it all a 10 ^-^

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Critic’s Log - September 24, 2015. Review #98: D.N. Angel

Since I reside in the United States, I am fully aware that some people enjoy watching an Anime dubbed for specific reasons. I have a bilingual preference when it comes to Anime. I like watching Anime subbed and dubbed. When I do rewatch a certain Anime, I would go with the version I enjoyed the most or the one that I think that was the better version. There are some Anime that are good in either version. When it comes to English Dub Voice Actors, Men tend to favor Steve Blum, maybe it’s because he’s got that cool distinctive voice. When it comes to the ladies, they tend to favor Vic Mignogna. Even though Steve Blum is one of my favorite voice actors and being one of the reasons that Cowboy Bebop has a dub that is considered one of the greatest dubs ever recorded, Vic Mignogna has been voice acting since 1999 which is roughly around the time that English dubs were starting to increase in quality. Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist was his career-defining role and my favorite role of his. However, there was also another early fan-favorite role of his when it comes to Vic Mignogna’s fanbase… and it is in D.N. Angel.

Daisuke Niwa is just an average teenager, He turns 14 and He tries to declare his love to the girl of his dreams, but like any average teenage protagonist in an anime, he... fails. Suddenly, whenever he thinks about this girl he turns into the legendary phantom thief known as Dark Mousy. Daisuke's mother is aware of this and she makes him turn into Dark so he can steal valuable works of art for a purpose that Daisuke doesn’t even know…


D.N. Angel is a Xebec production and this series looks fine for the most part but there are glaring and painfully obvious flaws in the animation department. There are times where it recycles some of its animation and there are some times where the character design looks a little sloppy. Much to my surprise, the animation is actually not too bad when it counts. However, the one thing that never aged well was the 3D animation effect. It really sticks out like a sore thumb. I am just going to go out on a guess that D.N. Angel was a low budget production. It would probably explain some of the animation recycling and the cheap looking 3D effects. I do give Xebec some credit for making the character designs mostly consistent. The character design in D.N. Angel may not be suited to your liking but I actually had no qualms with it. It looks pretty average for a Shojo anime and I am okay with that.


The music by Takahito Eguchi and Tomoki Hasegawa sounds pretty average for an anime made in 2003 but at the same time, it is minimal to the point where a theme or two will be used over and over and OVER. The music itself isn’t that bad considering the show’s tone. The stringed instruments sound fine, the piano sounds beautiful in this anime but the soundtrack to D.N.Angel is just poorly utilized with no direction at all. There are a few times where insert songs come in and they are forgettable in this show even though Shunichi Miyamoto is not a bad singer. In fact, he made a great first impression with his singing debut which happened to be the opening theme “Byakuya ~True Light~”. Not only is his singing great and the song itself is catchy, it is the highlight of D.N.Angel’s soundtrack. Oh and the added sound effects for the second half of the series was a nice touch. You wanna know what else is catchy? The first closing theme “Yasashii Gogo” by Minawo. The visuals in the closing may not be much but the song did grew on me even if it’s forgettable for some. However, the second closing theme “Hajimari no hi” sounds boring and the closing visuals are the same since Episode 1. That is just lazy. Good thing it is only a minor complaint on the music department of this series but still, I don’t think the soundtrack was utilized all that well. Had D.N.Angel been given more themes made, the soundtrack would have been decent in the long run.

The voice acting will take me a while to go over, I should note that Miyu Irino was 15 years old when he did the voice of Daisuke. Say what you will but the Japanese voice of Daisuke really makes me cringe. For some reason, when I hear him shout “Dark!”, it really gets on my nerves. The voice just never clicked with me. Masumi Asano is okay as Risa but nothing too special. Sara Nakayama as Riku… Well, it didn’t impress me and I found the voice to be off. Gee, I sure am not thinking highly of the Japanese cast of D.N.Angel. I will say that the highlight of the Subbed Version is Akira Ishida as Satoshi Hiwatari. Then there’s Ryotaro Okiayu as Dark. I cannot say that his performance was bad, I just don’t think it was a stellar performance either. I am not sure what to make of Ryotaro Okiayu’s Dark. I mean, it’s good but I have to credit the other voice of Dark which I will get to after I start going over The English Dub. In the Dub, Daisuke was played by Kevin Corn. Now I never heard the name since he doesn’t have many roles. He also has not done anime voice acting for years so it appears that he is no longer voice acting and I must say that even though it took me a while to adjust to Daisuke’s English Voice, I have gotten used to it and have grown to like it. Sure, there are some awkward moments where Kevin Corn gives some awkward deliveries when Daisuke freaks out by saying “Oh No!” or “Ah! Miss Harada”. In spite of that, Kevin Corn isn’t really that bad in the long run and his voice really never bothered me. Luci Christian on the other hand warrants an apology. I think Luci Christian is a great voice actress where credit is due. Out of all the work I have heard her in, Risa Harada is one performance that did not sit right with me. I found Risa’s English voice annoying. Sure, this may have been from her early days and I forgive her for playing Risa the way she did. Hilary Haag is fine as Riku. John Swasey is fine as a kooky old man, I mean Daiki. Illich Guardiola sounds somewhat cool as Krad but I can’t say it was great due to the character’s short amount of screentime compared to Dark. Then there’s Jessica Boone as Mio Hio, The English Voice of Mio is both hilarious and annoying. The way she talks in the Dub is funny because she has some accent which made it hard for me not to laugh. On the flipside, it’s annoying because she sounds like an attention whore. Greg Ayres is great as Satoshi Hiwatari and one of the highlights of the dub. Then of course, there is… the unanimous highlight of D.N. Angel’s dub. Vic Mignogna as Dark Mousy. Something about Vic Mignogna felt right when it came to Dark’s voice, it was more memorable than Ryotaro Okiayu’s performance. Dark’s flirtatious moments, Dark’s cool moments, and Dark’s down moments were all well-played by Vic Mignogna. I should note that I am not saying this to please any fangirls, Vic Mignogna in my opinion was the best part of D.N. Angel’s dub.


As far as characters go, Daisuke is just a typical teenage protagonist. Granted, he technically develops in time by… well, I can’t say because that would give away a few things about the plot but seeing as he goes through some complicated events and seeing the outcome of his character, he’s got some decency in terms of writing. Risa is probably on the same page as Daisuke except that Risa takes longer to develop. Riku managed to be a character worth watching, and Satoshi is the one that got a lot going for him. He may not play a huge part to start with but he did get character development as the show progressed down the middle and onwards. Dark and Krad are nice but I have some issues with one of them. Dark is actually somewhat interesting through flashbacks and he actually has some relevance in the series. I just have one question, What the hell is with the name Dark Mousy? Dark alone is fine by me but... Mousy? That's just a nitpick I have with Dark. Krad on the other hand was sidelined until near the end of the series after two appearances, seriously... Krad? You know... "Dark" backwards. (another nitpick). Towa is a pointless character, then there’s Mio Hio again. She’s annoying but there’s more to her than meets the eye, which felt forced to me. Granted, her good side is her redeemable factor. The characters in D.N. Angel don’t necessarily leave much to be desired because this series isn’t too sophisticated. It is geared towards older kids and teens. I just have one major problem with D.N. Angel


The Story to D.N. Angel is monotonous in the first half of the series with all the burglary missions, but as the series switches gears… It does pick up but it doesn’t go very far. The reason I stated that I found the first half of D.N. Angel monotonous is that the story doesn’t go too far after Episode 1 and the show decides to go off track for a little while. Some of the episodes early on don’t advance the plot whatsoever. The reason that it does pick up is that after it switches gears around the second half is that stuff becomes more relevant and stays that way throughout the rest of the series. The outcome really isn’t all that much. D.N. Angel just did not impress me all too well. I haven’t seen many anime where the character writing goes from average to decent and the story writing is mediocre. The Direction by Koji Yoshikawa and Nobuyoshi Habara is lazy, and Naruhisa Arakawa’s screenplay is not even worth comparing to the manga of the same name by Yuriku Sugisaki. the Manga has been on hiatus since 2005. That means Yukiru Sugisaki has not done jack shit to the D.N. Angel manga for 10 years, that is just not good news. Either way, this series is pretty forgettable with some exceptions.


D.N. Angel was available by ADV films in the past, but this anime was rescue-licensed by Diskotek Media. If you live in the U.K. It is out of print since ADV Films also released it in the U.K. D.N. Angel is also available by Madman Entertainment If you happen to live in Australia or New Zealand. The D.N. Angel Manga by Yukiru Sugisaki is available by Viz Media. A PS2 Video Game “D.N. Angel: Kurenai no Tsubasa” was only released in Japan. A manga called “D.N. Angel TV Animation Series” (which is essentially animation stills in the manga format) was also only released in Japan.


Overall, D.N. Angel is a series that will vary with some people but if you are just looking for a random anime to watch, give this one a try and see for yourself whether you like it or not. The animation’s not too bad, the characters are decent, and the music is fine but poorly utilized. It suffers greatly with a plot that goes nowhere until the middle of the series and yet the plot progression does not make up for the early stages of the series and I still find the overall plot of D.N. Angel to be mediocre even though the characters are not the cause of it. D.N. Angel is cursed with bad directing.



I give D.N. Angel a 4.6 out of 10.



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*No major spoilers written but some stuff might be considered minor spoilers*

D.N.Angel is a bit of a hidden gem. At least in my World. It's not an anime I even heard about until last year when I was diving deep into some of my favourite genres looking for shows to add to my plan to watch list. I don't know how well the show was received or its popularity during the time of its release but in the last 5 years I've seen nothing about it here in the West. That's a shame because there is a fun 26 episode run to be found here that's definitely worth your time if you're a Fantasy/Romance fan.

The biggest problem is that it takes quite a while to get to the worthwhile part of the show. If I'm being honest this show was a 7/borderline 6 to me for the first 10-12 episodes. Which is why I couldn't give it a 9 overall even though I really enjoyed it when I had finished episode 26. You have to have some serious patience to sit through a really slow build up and if you watched the dub like I did, some truly poor voice acting. Everything gets better along the way though.

Story - 8

Like I said above, the show is a tale of two halves. The story is a simple one that is a real slow build. Daisuke is a young boy who has been raised to be the vessel of a legendary Phantom Thief. He just wants to be a normal kid and is reluctant to share a body. In order to transform Daisuke is triggered by his heart racing whenever he thinks of his crush or is around her too long (You can guess where a lot of the comedy comes from with this premise.)

A lot of the episodes are episodic in that Dark has to steal something and Daisuke has to deal with something at school involving his crush (who is in love with Dark). Early on the episodes never really flowed. You'd have some character development one episode then the next episode felt like it didn't really carry over. Not until just before the half way point where the main plot shifted to the romance and the action/fantasy played more of a supporting role. From there everything flowed much better and it felt like I was watching a continuous story with lasted character development. This is where I started getting lost in the episodes instead of watching one or two and then watching something else.

Art - 7

Personally I wasn't a huge fan of the art style but it's important to note I watched this in 2020 and it was released in 2003. Of course my preferences in art style have changed over time. In 2003 when I was 12 I would have thought this looked great. It's not bad by any means but the characters just don't express enough emotion sometimes for the feelings they're trying to convey and some of the action scenes early on didn't hit with the impact they were hoping for because of it. I should mention that some of the action scenes later on looked much better though. Especially when you consider the release date.

Sound - 5

It's important to note that I watched the English Dub of this show. So my opinion is based solely on that version of the show. The subbed version might be great for all I know. Anyways, the voice acting in the dub was truly awful early on and only got marginally better by the end. A lot of the actors sounded like they were sucking on helium balloons, the conversations rarely flowed because it sounded like the characters were in different rooms having their own separate conversations, many of the voices sounded similar and often times they sounded emotionless too with only their volume adjusted to convey different emotions. The voice acting was simply bad. I enjoyed the music for the most part but I regret not watching the sub and I very rarely care about that. Usually I prefer a dub if I'm being honest. This time it had me wondering if this is why this show never took off over here in North America.

Characters - 9

Look, none of these characters are all that unique. In fact, none of them are unique even for 2003. That didn't matter to me though. There was something about this group of kids that made me press through the early boring times. They always gave me hope that I was going to be thankful I pushed through and continued watching and that's what happened. Daisuke is your typical male protagonist in this type of show in that he's incredibly kind, very naive, a little clumsy but most importantly, easy to route for. The twins, Riku and Risa are great in their own right too. At first Risa (for me at least) was easy to hate but over time she stepped out of the arrogant popular girl role and became a sympathetic character. Riku is your typical tsundere girl. Hard shell to crack but inside is waifu material in spades. Dark is your typical mysterious bad boy with a difficult past. No one is reinventing the wheel here but everyone plays off each other well.

Enjoyment - 9

What can I say? If you've read up to this point you know what I like and dislike about the show. It was a bit of a slog early on but once I lost myself in the show I really came out loving it. I know the 12 year old in me would have loved this too when it first came out. He probably would have given this a 10 overall but the 28 year old still found plenty to enjoy. The romance brought me back to a time where the biggest issues in my life were what the girl I liked thought of me and what I was going to have to do in school that day. Thankfully I never had the whole Phantom Thief spirit thing to deal with.

Overall - 8

If you're unsure about whether or not to watch this show and you happen to read my review then first of all, thank you for doing that and secondly, watch the show. If you don't like what you're watching early on but there's still a part of you that's curious than stick it out. The show gets better, I promise. What you're left with is a heartwarming story about a young man trying to figure out his feelings while juggling a private life that he can't share with anyone other than his family.

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*I am not really good at writing long reviews... so yea...*

Story/Art
Not sure how to answer this
Great story line. I can't think of another anime with this kind of idea.

Sound
Sound effects, voices, music, and everything just matched the characters themselves and played at just the right times (??? lol)

Character
Each character has a unique "aura". Just by their hobbies and actions you can tell what kind of people they are. You can also relate to some of them.

Enjoyment
I couldn't stop watching this show once i started (finished it in 3 days, because I started it after it finished airing)

'mkay, d.n. angel..

i remebered that faithful day when i accidentally stumbled upon the tv channel where this was showing. the first episode got me hooked! what i liked about this show was because of the art works. haha. the story is nice actually. it's unique in its own ways but interesting nonetheless.

art work is great! XD although i found some instances when they were a bit too skinny. haha. OST is great as well, i actually had the songs downloaded. i prefer the action over the love story (though the love story IS the side story) i just found it boring when they were focusing on it =__= but generally, it's a good watch.

owaru :)

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Based on the title, the genre listed, the badass looking dude with the black wings, and the first 30 seconds of this anime, I assumed this was going to be some kind of action adventure anime. You know, kind of like Shakugan no Shana, Inuyasha, or maybe even Outlaw Star. Just something with fighting + romance. Unexpectedly, it was not. D.N.Angel is really more of a romance shojo (more on the girly side) anime. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just not what I expected, so if you're not a shoujo fan, you might want to consider skipping this anime.

Story - Quite different from your usual anime stories. But the individual episodes are very romance and/or drama driven. So depending on your taste, this might be a deciding factor for you. The action is either lame or non-existent in all of the episodes. It is terrible. Its worse than Inuyasha, where they do generic sword slashes, with nothing to individuate it from other animes. (I would consider good action to be Samurai Champloo, Samurai X, or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann).

Art - I gave art a 6 because it is okay, but considering the year this anime was made (2003), the art is rather crappy. It looks like it was made in 1998. I mean Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star look just as good, or maybe even better than D.N.Angel. Oh and the picture they use for this anime on MyAnimeList, looks way better than the actual show itself. FALSE ADVERTISING! On the positive side, some of the episodes are written and directed quite well. A few episodes are quite poetic using visuals instead of vocals to tell the stories.

Sound - Sound, what sound?! Well to be honest, there probably is sound, it just isn't memorable enough for me to recall it. And the opening song sucks. It's slow and boring. I mean there are plenty of romance animes with great opening like Onegai teacher/twins, but this one is terrible.

Character - The main character is another one of those... I am nicer than it is humanly possible to be guys. This generic anime type character gets old after you have watched a lot of anime. I mean, if your as nice as some of these guys are, you would not be able to survive in today's world. It's a ruthless place out there, and I am sure Natural Selection has weeded all of these guys out by now.

Now for those of you who have read my other reviews, you know that I like to Bitch about things in animes that annoy me. D.N.Angel is no exception.

1. Before our hero is about to steal a priceless artifact, he or is mom, always informs the police that he is going to steal it. I mean WTF, why are they telling the cops that they are going to do this. I mean if you want to steal it, just steal it, there's no logical reason to draw attention to yourself by announcing it to the country. This makes it feel like more of a repetitive little kids anime.

2. Episode 11 partially takes place underwater. Our hero is swimming up and down at incredible depths, and yet his capillaries have neglected to burst. Oh I see, maybe it is because he is magically endowed, giving him extra strong capillaries, but that still doesn't explain why the police scuba divers who are pursuing him are fine.

3. This guy is supposed to be some master thief, but he is getting past some obstacles that a non-asthmatic pre-pubescent girl could get past. OMG there is a gate closing in front of me so I won't be able to get through!!!!! What do I do?!!! Oh yea, I run through it before the gate fully closes. Pathetic. Couldn't the writers have come up with some better, more creative security for these priceless artifacts?

4. I have not yet finished the anime, but when I do, you can expect this list to be much longer.

All in all, it felt like the anime could have been so much better had many of its flaws been smoothed out.

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Story: The story has no story. This is just one of those animes that you watch for the hot guys. Certainly the most of a plot I could get out of D.N.Angel was that 12 year old Daisuke Niwa belongs to a family that has played host to the phatom theif Dark Mosey. The reason it's called D.N.Angel is because Dark is like a black angel (he has wings) and his DNA lives within Daisuke's. Meaning Daisuke's body has two hosts. Whenever Daisuke sees his crush (Risa Harada) he turns into Dark, and when Dark sees his crush, twin older sister of Risa, Riku Harada, he turns back into Daisuke.

The anime passes with lots of fillers, and mini-storys (like Naruto, only shorter). Mostly Dark's purpose in life for his centuries with the son of the Niwa family is to steal peices of art that are tainted, and seal off the evil in it. Of course, he never gives the art back after sealing it. Plus some people like Krad, the opposite angel to Dark comes in, and they're both very pleasing to the eye so let's just watch them fight! Sadly, the ending made no sense to me at all and all my little dangles of string were just cut into little pieces in front of my eyes.
The story has a lot of suggested shounen-ai, so for all you boy+boy=^^ people, D.N.Angel is the shounen-ai without the yaoi, sort of...

Art: This is the reason people watch D.N.Angel. Dark is beatiful, and though in the anime his hair sometimes has the blocky look to it, overall it satifies the eye. No wonder my picture is of Dark and Daisuke eh? (Dark has the purple hair) I also realized that people's eye colour mataches their hair colour!

Sound: I'm pretty sure there wasn't any music, no there was, but not in penty that I can remember.

Character: I don't really see much character devolopment, there's more of a romantic developement. But Risa's still very obbesed with Dark until the end and Daisuke only matures in the sense that, "I can't get this girl so I'll go for the twin who's a bit more mature." And Dark is always just his lusty self.

Overall: Not a bad anime, it's a good starter one, for people who need to get used to the people having strange powers and supernature activities found in many animes. Also great for people who just fantasize about shounen-ai. Not a must watch, just a should watch.

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First of all, hearing about DN Angel, I first got the impression of not being interested on it. I decided to buy the DVD to try watching a bit of it. After awhile, I started to take a liking on the Anime Series due to some reasons (maybe because it's Romance and Magic). I love the anime series so much that It resulted to addiction *I guess*. I made DN Angel as one of my best watched anime ever!

Daisuke Niwa is a 14-year-old boy who has a special genetic ability: whenever he sees or thinks about his crush, Risa Harada, he turns into the infamous phantom thief Dark. Satoshi Hiwatari is a student at the same school as Daisuke and the Harada twins, as well as the Commander of the police force who is heading the investigation on Dark. He is also member of the Hikari family, a clan of artists which has opposed the Niwa family of thieves for centuries.

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It's about a 14 year old boy named Daisuke Niwa.
And the year of is 14th birthday he turs into Phantom theif dark Mousy.
And he sends out warnig signals and for Dark to turn into Daisuke he has to
steal something. But as soon as you get farther into the series you will see why Daisuke doesn't won't Dark to do anything Daisuke wasn't confident enough to do like (ask Miss Harada out) hint hint.