D.N.Angel

D.N.Angel is another series I watched some time ago.  This series was developed from an on-going manga.  The plot revolves around a 14 year old boy named Niwa Daisuki.  Daisuki is your average middle school student who has the average type crush on one of his class-mates, a very feminine girl named Harada Risa.  Risa happens to have a tomboy twin named Riku.  Daisuki plans to profess his love for Risa on his 14th birthday, but things don’t work out as he wants and she rejects him.  He goes home depressed and to make matters worse, once home he transforms into Dark – his DNA-based alter-ego. 

Daisuki’s family is blessed or cursed to have Dark in their genes.  When a boy of the Niwa family hits puberty and falls in love, it triggers his DNA and he transforms into a young man called Dark who has his own ego and semi-existence.  Dark is an art thief, so now Daisuki, in the form of Dark, is forced to steal art works, with the knowledge and help of his mother and grandfather, who also transformed into Dark when he was 14.  Dark only manifests during puberty and there were no boys in Daisuki’s mother’s generation, so Dark is manifesting in Daisuki after not being able to manifest since Daisuki’s grandfather left puberty.

Dark has an arch-nemesis named Krad, who is the DNA alter-ego of Daisuki’s classmate, Hiwatari Satoshi.  The Hiwatari family is cursed with Krad's existence just like the Niwa family is with Dark's.  Satoshi also happens to be a very precocious member of the police force committed to capturing the art thief, Dark.  Daisuki and Satoshi dance around each other at school and eventually become friends, despite the animosity and conflicts between their alter-egos.

The plot is unique enough and interesting enough to keep me watching, with lots of twists and turns.  The pieces of art that Dark is stealing are magical pieces created by Satoshi’s family, so the Niwa and Hiwatari families have been at odds for generations.  Most of the magical art pieces contain hurtful magic though, harming people or stealing their souls, so Dark is actually performing a service by stealing them and sealing them away.  This is definitely not clear at the start of the series though. 

  

The interplay between the characters is one of the factors that make this such a good series.  Not only is there interplay between the opposing characters, but also between the characters and their own alter-egos.  For example, Satoshi often tries to control Krad.    Also, the series has a love story between Daisuki and the twins.  The twin that Daisuki loves, Risa, is superficial and has a crush on Dark.  Dark plays with her, making Daisuki miserable along the way.  At times Dark seems cruel.   However, at one time Daisuki is trapped within an art piece and must be rescued by Dark. Plus as the story proceeds Daisuki eventually realizes he loves the twin, Riku, and only had a crush on Risa.   There’s some fun story and back story there.

 

The series has a mostly happy-ever-after ending.  Dark and Krad are usually only able to manifest for a few years during the boys’ puberty, but during Daisuke and Satoshi's generation, Dark manages to re-seal Krad away, at the cost of sealing himself up with him.  So the series ends with Dark and Krad gone forever, supposedly.  However, Daisuki and Riku are in love and happily a couple at the series end, and nobody in the “real” world dies.  It’s almost a bitter sweet ending.  I give the series high marks for unique plot with some meat to it (not totally frivolous), for outstanding music, and for just being fun to watch.   If you get a chance you should watch it.