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R4 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 18 July 2005 12:28 |
 Phantom Thief Dark reappears - briefly, as most of this volume of DNAngel
focusses on young Daisuke and his girl problems. As for Krad /
Hiwatari, he doesn't even get a look-in. With a distinct
lack of action, the emphasis switches a little towards the comedy side,
and it all works quite well...
5 - Double Cooking
Daisuke's grandfather has another job for Dark -
to recover a statue of the Water Dragon, which recently went missing.
It's normally paired with a Fire Dragon statue, and last time they
were separated, disaster struck, so it's vital to reunite them as soon
as possible. Daisuke has other worries, though - With's snuck into his
schoolbag & keeping him hidden during class isn't going to be easy. The
disruption he causes earns him an after-schoool session shredding
cabbage - along with the worst cook in the class, Risa. Risa has
other ideas, though, and bribes Riku into taking her place - but Riku
has problems keeping her temper when their teacher starts giving them a
hard time. Daisuke also has his own 'twin' problems after he finds
With is able to mimic his shape - since he has a job to do as Dark, he
uses With to cover his detention for him - with all these doubles
running around, there's bound to be some confusion, right?
6 - St White Memories
When
Daisuke saves a small child from being crushed by a falling piano, all
he gets from his mother is an admonition that Dark can't appear if
Daisuke lets himself get hurt - it's a warning that gets him wondering
about who his mother cares about more, him or Dark. Emiko's got
other things on her mind, too - it's her birthday soon, and she seems
to be suffering from a mid-life crisis, especially when Daisuke arrives
home to find her in her old school uniform. When he gets the chance to
talk to Emiko about how she met his father, though, it helps him
understand her a little bit better. There's also the small detail of a
birthday present for her - and Dark has an idea about that...
7 - Adonis in the Garden of Vows
There's
a girl at the school that all the other girls want to be like - Ayaka
Hatori, the very picture of a cultured woman. Even Riku's not immune
to her charms. The moment Daisuke sees her with a man, though, Dark
tries to take over, and gives Daisuke a warning to take to his
grandfather - that Adonis in the Garden of Vows has awakened. Adonis
was a statue that used to rest in a castle near the town, but within
the statue dwelt a demon who would devour womens' souls by seducing
them and kissing them. Dark had tried to seal the demon away years
earlier, but had been unable to complete the ritual - now Adonis is
back, and Ayaka seems to be his latest target. Can Dark complete the
ritual to seal him away before Ayaka falls victim to him..?
8 - Menou's Warning Letter
Dark's
got another job - to steal the Agate Links, a pendant on display at a
local museum. Daisuke's classmate Saehara has been on the case since
Dark's warning letter was announced, and visited the museum to get some
photos of the Agate Links - and in doing so, accidentally took a
picture of a cute young girl and immediately fell in love. His new
love is no ordinary girl, though, as Saehara soon finds out after he
sneaks into the museum to meet her. Hearing that the pendant is
something important to her, he promises to protect it and stop Dark
from taking it. Saehara's not the only one in love with the girl, as
Daisuke's grandfather explains...
Episode five takes the award for
'most gratuitous use of an eyecatch' - 4 times total in the episode,
with Risa & Riku even telling them to 'cut it out'. One of
many humourous moments. And we'll not even mention Emiko in her
serafuku.
From humour through touching via just a hint of danger, this volume
covers most of the bases - the only thing missing if a Dark -vs- Krad
showdown, but with Hiwatari away to places unknown for the time being,
that wasn't likely to happen. Even Dark gets the short end of the
stick as far as screen time goes, but I have to admit to being more
interested in the developing Risa - Daisuke - Riku triangle
myself. Oh, the possibilities.
Episode seven's ending was perhaps a bit disappointing, when Adonis has
a late change of heart after discovering true love. Awww.
That was a bit predictable given DNAngel's romantic
leanings - I would have preferred something a bit more confrontational,
but what's there still works quite well. Best episodes on the
disc, though, are 5 (you can never have too much Riku) and 8, which had
enough of the unusual about it to be riveting, even if the girl did
remind me a lot of Misuzu from AIR.
All in all, another good volume and highly recommended, even if you normally wouldn't bother with shoujo anime.
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