| DNAngel #1: The Dawn of Dark |
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| Wednesday, 27 April 2005 | |
 Here's somthing you don't see very often - a mahou shounen (magical boy) series. Fortunately, DNAngel's
hero eschews naked transformation scenes and short skirts in favour of
some far more sensible clothing and doesn't follow the typical mahou
shoujo saving-the-world storyline. That doesn't make it any less
fun, though...1 - Dark Reborn Daisuke Niwa is a normal kid, albeit with a very abnormal family - for years now they've been making him run through dangerous obstacle courses and other physical tests, and he's never been quite sure why. Today's his 14th birthday - it's his plan to mark the day by confessing to his one true love, Risa Harada, but little does he know his day isn't going to go even remotely according to plan. As if blowing his chance to confess to Risa isn't bad enough, he's about to find out what all that training his mom and grandfather have put him through is all about - the males in the Niwa family suffer from a curse: on their 14th birthday, a peculiar gene they possess activate, unleashing another side to their personality - Phantom Thief Dark. To add insult to injury, it seems Risa has fallen for Dark...   2 - Rekindled Flame Dark resorts to drastic measures to stop Riku calling for help when he's forced to land on her balcony, and kisses her - but during the kiss, Riku sees Daisuke's face in Dark's. Has she figured out his real identity? Meanwhile, Daisuke's mom explains what's required if Daisuke's to banish Dark completely - he somehow has to persuade his true love, Risa, to return his love. It's not looking good - she's too obsessed with Dark to care about Daisuke's feelings, and pressgangs poor Daisuke into helping her find a way to meet her new obsession. He's so keen to spend time with her, he agrees to help. Riku's suffering from confused feelings as well - could it be she's falling for Daisuke? You wouldn't think it from their first meeting after he late-night kiss, when she floors Daisuke and knocks him out...   3 - Whisper of the Unicorn There have been a number of strange disappearances in town - all girls, and all missing from locked rooms. The police are investigating, but all they have to go on is a strange sound that's been heard around the time each girl has disappeared. Meanwhile, Riku's been asking Daisuke awkward questions, both about Risa and about his connection with Dark. Not too many questions, though, as Riku's the next girl to disappear. In a panic, Risa calls Daisuke, wanting him to get Dark to help find her sister. Fortunately, Daisuke's grandfather seems to know what's going on - a magical unicorn, with the power to draw people into artwork. Armed with this knowledge, Daisuke resolves to take care of the problem himself, without Dark's help...   4 - Between Light and Darkness Daisuke's been thinking about his classmate Hiwatari a lot lately - and contrary to what Dark may tell you, it's not love. Rather, there's something about Hiwatari that bothers him - and there should be. It seems Hiwatari has a mission of his own: to capture Dark, and a little research shows that he's more than the average high school student. Meanwhile, Daisuke thinks it's his lucky day when Risa makes him a bento box, but there are two downsides: first, she can't really cook, and second, she's only using him as a guineapig for what she wants to cook for Dark. Later, Hiwatari arranges a little test to try and prove that Daisuke is Dark, but he only succeeds in bringing out his own alternate self - Dark's mortal enemy, Krad...   I've been looking forward to DNAngel for a while - and don't let its 'shoujo' status put you off, this is one fun series, so far at least. The real core of the story is Daisuke's love life, or lack of it - a lot of the time it seems that Dark is just there to play the role of an obstacle in Daisuke's path. I know the Dark / Krad side of things will come more into play later in the series, but at this stage it's really just on the fringe of things. There's a real love quadrangle beginning to form - Daisuke loves Risa, who loves Dark (and is too self-centred to see the effect she's having on Daisuke by using him the way she is); Riku is beginning to have feelings for Daisuke, although she's not too happy with the idea. Me, I'm rooting for Daisuke & Riku - she by far the nicer of the two sisters. The interplay between the four main characters makes for some good comic moments, although you really can't help feeling sorry for Daisuke and the position he's been put into. Hiwatari is a bit of an enigma - the link between him and Krad seems to be different from the link Daisuke and Dark have, as Krad seems less willing to 'share' his body with Hiwatari. That seems to be what's driving Hiwatari to capture Dark (with Dark out of the way, would Krad no longer be an issue for him?) - that hasn't really been explored yet, but there are a few hints dropped as to what's going on. I also want to know more about the connection between Dark & Krad. On the basis of this first volume, then, DNAngel is set to be a really good series, and I personally can't wait for volume 2. I just hope it's a good as this throughout... |
