Funnily enough I knew only my mother tongue, so I was pretty much guessing what was happening in the anime (I still understood most of it, since the plot it quite easy) so I decided to rewatch episodes I am most found of to check if I nostalgia lenses aren't blinding me too much.
Story 7/10
As I said, the story is quite easy to follow and actually differs quite greatly to manga. The manga is still on-going since Sugisaki Yukiru have more Orphaned Series than completed ones, so the anime creators took liberty to go in the own direction. Is the story worse than manga? Yes, but it's true for many other anime.
How does it hold up then in general perspective then? It's a romantic comedy than anything else and it has rather stupid moments, like Risa (who is 14 years old mind you) wanting to meet her crush Dark, which means wondering the streets at night, and the fact that Main Protagonist's pet cannot say his master's name correctly and in stead say "I love you" in Japanese, it was bound to result in some silly situations.
But is comedy the only thing this anime has in store?
While love is the reason is in the very center of the story at most time, the conflict between Main Protagonist family of thieves and the "creators" family is the main story.
Niwa Daisuke is part of the family of thieves who courteously sent away notices whenever they are going to steal something, but they are not stealing just anything. In fact they specifically aim at artworks created by Hikari family. The males in Niwa family are rigorously trained since young age to become great phantom thieves. Daisuke is not so eager to take over the family business but is basically forced into the roll when one day he returns home and his physical appearance changes. His mother explained that this change is normal as it happens to all Niwa boy once they reach the age of fourteen and once they inherit the title of "Phantom Thief Dark". Soon enough he realizes that the title is not the only thing that being "Dark" is about.
Of course Niwa family's tricks are too much for the Japanese police, but luckily for them they have another fourteen years old kid to help them out, namely Hiwatari Satoshi. Hiwatari is skilled at predicting Dark's moves and prepares multitude of traps in order to capture him.
What makes this series great, however, is the stories between each artwork. Very few have none, such as Sacred Maiden from episode 1 or the golden bird (I believe it has no name) in episode 2, but the rest stories have lovely and compelling stories with Second Hand of Time having the most advanced story, spanning across multiple episodes.
It has similar vibe to Kamikaze Kaitou Jean, except that the romance part is said in a way better way (unless you count season two of KKJ).
I also give the anime credit for giving viewer heads up what will be happening in the episode. "Double Cooking"? Okay, episode about cooking. "Menou's warning letter"? Oh, this episode will be about stealing another artwork. "Barbecue Panic"? Okay, this is about Barceque XD
So it's easy to navigate if you are not really that interested in bounding between characters and just want to see the artworks, which is great.
Art 6/10
The art sadly is not consistent as the signature Sugisaki's eyes gets butchered in certain episodes and the character design gets sloppy. The artworks, however, are always beautifully drawn like Towa no Shigure, double dragon figure, the unicorn, Agate Link, the statue of Poseidon and so on. There are also couple CG shot displaying city and it's truly saddening that the anime didn't have bigger budget to flesh certain scenes out. The animations are wacky at time, but since it usually happening for the more comical scenes it simply increases the funniness of it. E.g. Hiwatari caught Daisuke red handed as he was looking up information about him but Risa showed up out of the sudden so he run to her in four jump cut frames as Hiwatari stands frozen in time. Simply hilarious. For that I gave it a rating of six, if it wasn't used in this funny way I would give it a five since animation is average when compare to current anime.
Sound 10/10
The sound is amazing. The soundtrack contains truly memorable songs that fit into the settings almost too perfectly with a mix of accordion, flute, piano, violin and choir.
Foreboding scene? - Takurami, Kugutsushi
Lonely scene? - Another World, Toki no Byoushin, Frozen Flower, Ice & Snow
Day to day scene? - Good Morning, Everyday, Sutekina Hitotoki
Heartwarming scene? - Freedert, Soshite Hitotsu Ni, Mitsumeru Saki Ni Wa, Shooting Star, Someday Sometime
Comical scene? - Shinning heart, Double Trouble, Summer Beach, Eccentric Girl (this ones makes me laugh just hearing the upbeat tune and weird background noises), Chatty
Dangerous scene? - Versus (this one is my favorite)
Depressing scene? - Toki Wo Koeta Omoi
Build up? - Tenpenchii, Kokuyoku
Final Showdown? - Yami VS Hikari ~ Epilogue and Prologue
The Vocal Collection has jewels such as Kodou ~ Whenever ~ (Dark character song) and Paradise ~ Fanatic ~ (Krad character in them), both of which having one of the most intoxicating lyrics I have seen thus far in my short life.
And the opening song Byakuya is a wonderful opening, which simple yet well made animation showcasing the main cast. The acoustic version as well as piano versions are even more incresible as Miyamoto pours all his emotions into both of them. Same goes for the end credit song for episode 24 called Caged Bird.
Both end credit songs are catchy and I can't help to sing when I hear them, the animation remains the same for both mostly showing different Risa cards spinning and the two Harada twins in still image. Simple yet elegant.
I am not a big fan of Michishiribe which is used as the end credit song for the last episode, as it's not my cup of tea, but is very fitting as the end song for DN Angel. The accoustic version, however, is a honey for my ears.
If anything, I suggest looking for the soundtrack as it's one of the most memorable ones out there and listening it over again in the episodes just made me love even more after more than ten years.
Also, don't listen to dubbing. It's atrocious.
Characters 8/10
I give them overall an 8 since the Risa's characters in the anime is way more annoying than she is manga and Dark's key character traits also have been altered, considering his attitude towards Daisuke in the later manga chapters.
Niwa Daisuke 8/10
Daisuke is an naive and goodhearted main character, who is often clumsy and gets pushed right and left by characters with stronger character traits such as his friend Takahashi or Riku. He is also madly and innocently in love with Riku's younger twin sister Risa. As the anime progresses he learns that his affection towards Risa was very shallow as it was mainly looks based and with her growing affection towards Dark he slowly gives up on ever asking her out. At the same time he becomes closer to Riku, appreciating her more for her character than her looks until he develops deeper feelings for her. Anime starts with Daisuke's failed attempt at confessing his feeling to Risa, since he got verbally friendzoned by Risa just as he was going to. Overtime he become a bit more mature (considering that anime takes couple months at best, to big changes wouldn't be expected anyway) and is able to successfully confess to Riku later on, although he probably still is a bit of a pushover XD
One can't help but sympathize with him, since we were all in this awkward stage of our life at some point, so he is all anyone can expect from a fourteen years old on the surface. The is more to his character, like his difficult relationship with his mother, as he feels like she cares more about Dark than she does about Daisuke, the lack of his father in life to the point that he initially doesn't recognize him when he shows up in later episodes. The anime manages to skillfully show those relations and how Daisuke deal with them with some difficulty. Another interesting part of Daisuke's character is that he doesn't want to take over his "family business" and is the first member of Niwa family to creates art of his own via painting (which he is really good at). His animosity probably mostly caused by his family keeping him in the dark all the time. He knows that he is trained to be a thief but he knew nothing about Dark, that he will HAVE TO become a thief when he is fourteen, why Dark exists in the first place, why Hikari's artworks are dangerous and needs to be sealed. This lack of proper communication between him and his family further amplifies his difficult relation with them. Even his grandfather keeps him mostly in the dark, despite not having any serious problems with him.
Hiwatari Satoshi 9/10
Hiwatari Satoshi despite his young age is a prodigy who pays close attention to Daisuke even before he "inherits Dark's title" and apparently graduated from high school when he was eight and then studied abroad, eventually graduating from Lagoon University at the age of 13. Talk about an overachiever. After his graduation he returned to Japan and started working for the police under his adoptive father Hiwatari Kei. Satoshi is mostly calm and collected, mostly showing anger during...his encounters with Dark. (He would also make a great cross dresser, but only manga shows that :p )
Satoshi is also popular among girls at school but he mind is too occupied with thinking about Daisuke, lol. Also his eyeglasses are a prop.
Hiwatari doesn't live with his father but in an apartment showed greatly in detail in episode 4. While Haradas' and Niwas' houses are open and warml, Satoshi's room, while also with an open structure, feels confiding and cold. Multiple books decorate the shelves with some scattered on the floor, while computer mouse and keyboard are hanging of the edge of the desk. The one unusual item in his room is white sculpture chair that can be seen in the opening, which casts a forbidding shadow on the floor as Frozen Flower plays in the background. While I don't associate any OST with Daisuke, Frozen Flower seems to play a lot when Satoshi's is around, giving a very lonely tint to scenes he is in. Certainly loneliness is a great part of of Satoshi's character and given his relationship with both his mother Rio who passed away at a very young age as well his adoptive father, who clearly have very dangerous aura about him and the fact that he is way more intelligent in comparison to kids his age. Those thing only add up his family history and the burden he has to shoulder alone as the last living descendant. It's interesting to see how from obsessing over Daisuke because he is part of Niwa family he slowly starts to care about Daisuke (who, with his good nature, started almost immediately when he realized how much pain Hiwatari was in due to his condition) despite their obvious differences in maturity, intelligence and character. They bounded over the burden that their families have put on the shoulders after some ordeals with one another. The way their relationship surfaced seems very organic and not forced, which is not something that's often seen nowadays. Hiwatari is definitely the most tragic character in the whole story.
Daisuke's family 7/10
It's unusual for the anime protagonist to actually have family, lol, and the fact that they are actively helping him out in different ways. Of course they are not just helpful as Daisuke has some unresolved issued with his parents that get resolved as the show progresses. Daisuke's father voice actor is very soothing as well.
<Spoilers>
Harada Risa & Riku 6/10
Both of the girls are a bit generic, with one being the pretty one who cannot cook while the other one is sporty type who has difficulty with being honest with her feelings. Manga gives them a bit more depth, but as far a anime is concerned they don't have too many dimensions to them which normally would be fine as the conflict between Hikari and Niwa is the main plot and the involved love interest is a plot device but since the anime doesn't offer even half of information about the conflict as the manga does, this simplicity of those two girls is quite glaring. Having Risa use pseudo tarot cards was interesting, as it was even used as plot device in episode 11. It's also nice to see that she eventually come to terms that Dark is still in love with her grandmother and accepts that she will have to lay her feelings for her to rest. Riku's sense of insecurity towards her sister is quite apparent and she comes to terms with it only after she and Daisuke starts to go out.
Dark Mousy 5/10
I am looking quite harshly at him since he was turned into a playboy in anime XD
They are some playboy character that are done well, such as Han Solo in Star Wars, but here it was not the case. It was a bit weird that they linked Harada's grandmother with the story from manga perspective, but it did add a bit to his character as his playboyishness towards Risa was somewhat justified. At first he challenged Daisuke but soon enough they can count on one another. It took some time as they have issues such as love interest, mother's approval and general who get to have to body deal but since anime could use only part of Sugisaki's story, the last part was resolved without any serious issues. The problem in the manga with hosts and Dark/Krad run much deeper and was had much darker elements. In the end Dark pretty much becomes someone akin to Daisuke's big brother and Dark does everything in his power to save Daisuke even when he can have his body for himself if he leave Daisuke alone long enough on two different occasions. Dark has certain level of animosity towards Satoshi, mostly because he is Krad's host.
Krad "Sadistic Creep"/10
Krad is abusive and sadistic in every sense of the word. On one side he claims to care about Satoshi and calls him "Master" and at the other he is making him suffer physically and claims that the body is his alone. He also closes away his consciousness to play with Dark as much as he wants, which results in their constant struggle of control. Dark calls Krad "a creep" as well as "a devil with a face of an angle", both of which are accurate.
Hiwatari Kei scumbag/10
Hiwatari's father gets clearly more abusive as the show progresses, mostly by ignoring the physical pain Krad puts Satoshi through and even increasing it by giving him Rutile in episode 12. It's revealed in the last episode that his soul was corrupted when he saw Satoshi's drawing and is most likely reason why he obsessively seeks out Hikari's artworks, even if it means harming Satoshi. It's difficult to say what the real story is from manga perspective, but the corruption is cannon in the anime.
Freedert 9/10
Secod Hand of Time was my favorite part because of how interesting the story was and Freedert was the tragic heroine, worthy of respect. Her character is actually very similar to Daisuke's with her naivete, kindness and innocents. But I think that the words she had told Daisuke right before her death had great impact on the ending. She told him that no matter what do not chose death for the one you care about, which in the end were the word Daisuke threw at Satoshi during the final episode.
Personal Enjoyment 10/10
I obviously love this anime, considering the level of attention I gave it in this review, ha ha. Definitely music and story board being the biggest factors. I am willing to give certain characters a pass since Daisuke and Satoshi are the once the story is about. Also I could watch episode 20 to episode 25 over and over again simply of how well written the Second Hand of Time arc is.
Anime takes the darker undertones in a way different way than manga have but it's well rounded for the times it was created in.
If you like anime about thieves Kamikaze Kaitou Jean could interest you, especially if you want more romance but if you just want to see something lighthearted about thieves Jing: King of Bandits and Magic Kaito are a blast.
