Jonathan L. Switzer
May 27, 2004, 08:48 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/manga/dna1.jpg"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=816623" align=left alt="D.N.Angel Vol. 1"></a>Reviewer: Jonathan L. Switzer, captainjls@animejanai.com
Quick Rating: Good
Ah, for problems like these ...
Story & Art: Yukiru Sugisaki
Daisuke Niwa has a really weird problem. On his fourteenth birthday a peculiar hereditary condition kicked in that has turned his life upside-down. Whenever he thinks too strongly of the girl he truly loves, he transforms into a tall handsome winged art thief called Dark. What's worse, Dark has a mind of his own, and sometimes takes charge. Then, when Dark thinks too strongly of the girl he seems to really dig, he loses control and transforms back into Daisuke.
The cure for this condition? Daisuke needs to have his love returned. Author Yukiru Sugisaki establishes from the get go, however, that this ain't happening any time soon. The girl he loves is Risa Harada, and what she wants is a tall and handsome man, largely so she can laugh in the face of her twin sister Riku.
D.N.Angel's first volume really hits the ground running, establishing not just the mechanics of Daisuke's now cluttered life, but a healthy supporting cast, including his creepy nemesis Satoshi, a pale handsome youth obsessed with capturing Dark who seems capable of turning into a real threat soon enough, and loudmouthed reporter wannabe Takeshsi, whose father is the head of the police unit chasing after Dark.
The volume makes it through three thefts, though the thieving really doesn't seem to be the point--it's treated often enough as an afterthought, a backdrop for confrontations and musings on how Daisuke really feels about this new lifestyle. Much more time is spent at Daisuke's school, as he tries to make it through the day without his wandering thoughts transforming him into Dark. Sugisaki visually portrays this cleverly with a little transformation meter, like you'd see in a video game; that's a fun little touch. For some reason the hijinks that ensue because of this didn't bother me as much as they would in a shonen title; it's probably because, for instance, when Daisuke blunders into where the girls are changing, there wasn't a lavish full-page shot of half-dressed fourteen year-olds. If the softly colored cover shot of the cute boy with the exploding clothes and all the feathers didn't scream "made for girls" loudly enough, the lack of half-clothed teenage girls with overexposed cleavage should strike the point home hard.
And yet, I like it quite a bit. Couldn't tell you why, though. While Daisuke's relationship with Risa is covered at length, Dark's thing for her sister Riku is underdeveloped as all hell, though the ending does open up some interesting possibilities there. And like I said, the actual thieving is given the short end of the stick. We only actually see simple ploys and confrontations after the fact; aside from having those lovely dark angel's wings, we don't get a good look at how Dark makes off with his spoils. Early in the first chapter, Sugisaki presents us with a scene of Daisuke coming home to an obstacle course of traps, something he's lived with all his life to prepare him for becoming Dark. A few sequences like that, of Dark avoiding the traps the police laid out for him, would have been nice.
As for the art, most of it is nice and clean, and I like all the character designs. However, I think Sugisaki relies a bit too much on stock screentones; the ones with the dots are a little distracting and tend to just clutter the pages they're on, and shading a police officer's uniform with closely spaced vertical stripes is probably a bad idea when you plan on spicing up the shot with incoming speedlines. It makes readers' eyes burn. This heavy overreliance on screentones is even more annoying when she presents the poor reader with a few especially cluttered page layouts--not many, but a few. When she's not filling up the page with lots of dots and lines, though, the shading does add a nice level of polish, and the artwork itself is strikingly good, especially as the book goes on.
A short story called "N is for Nishiki" follows the feature, about a fifth grade girl whose family's schtick is that they summon shikigami, which are sort of like familiars. It was done three years prior to D.N.Angel, and is rather similar thematically--romance and fantasy in a contemporary setting, albeit without the action/adventure leanings. I liked it, but of course, more of the main series would have been nicer; however, as this is the way the series was published in Japan, I don't exactly mind the bonus.
All things considered, I enjoyed this first volume of D.N.Angel; the concept is a bit convoluted, but it works, as the hijinks that ensued throughout illustrate nicely. I like the supporting cast, and the storyline is building quite nicely towards some interesting ideas and confrontations. I just think there are some areas that need a little stronger development; perhaps in later volumes they'll get it. I'm perfectly willing to wait and see.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tphalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
Check out TokyoPop's website to see where to buy this and other volumes online! (http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=DNA&categorycode=BMG)
Quick Rating: Good
Ah, for problems like these ...
Story & Art: Yukiru Sugisaki
Daisuke Niwa has a really weird problem. On his fourteenth birthday a peculiar hereditary condition kicked in that has turned his life upside-down. Whenever he thinks too strongly of the girl he truly loves, he transforms into a tall handsome winged art thief called Dark. What's worse, Dark has a mind of his own, and sometimes takes charge. Then, when Dark thinks too strongly of the girl he seems to really dig, he loses control and transforms back into Daisuke.
The cure for this condition? Daisuke needs to have his love returned. Author Yukiru Sugisaki establishes from the get go, however, that this ain't happening any time soon. The girl he loves is Risa Harada, and what she wants is a tall and handsome man, largely so she can laugh in the face of her twin sister Riku.
D.N.Angel's first volume really hits the ground running, establishing not just the mechanics of Daisuke's now cluttered life, but a healthy supporting cast, including his creepy nemesis Satoshi, a pale handsome youth obsessed with capturing Dark who seems capable of turning into a real threat soon enough, and loudmouthed reporter wannabe Takeshsi, whose father is the head of the police unit chasing after Dark.
The volume makes it through three thefts, though the thieving really doesn't seem to be the point--it's treated often enough as an afterthought, a backdrop for confrontations and musings on how Daisuke really feels about this new lifestyle. Much more time is spent at Daisuke's school, as he tries to make it through the day without his wandering thoughts transforming him into Dark. Sugisaki visually portrays this cleverly with a little transformation meter, like you'd see in a video game; that's a fun little touch. For some reason the hijinks that ensue because of this didn't bother me as much as they would in a shonen title; it's probably because, for instance, when Daisuke blunders into where the girls are changing, there wasn't a lavish full-page shot of half-dressed fourteen year-olds. If the softly colored cover shot of the cute boy with the exploding clothes and all the feathers didn't scream "made for girls" loudly enough, the lack of half-clothed teenage girls with overexposed cleavage should strike the point home hard.
And yet, I like it quite a bit. Couldn't tell you why, though. While Daisuke's relationship with Risa is covered at length, Dark's thing for her sister Riku is underdeveloped as all hell, though the ending does open up some interesting possibilities there. And like I said, the actual thieving is given the short end of the stick. We only actually see simple ploys and confrontations after the fact; aside from having those lovely dark angel's wings, we don't get a good look at how Dark makes off with his spoils. Early in the first chapter, Sugisaki presents us with a scene of Daisuke coming home to an obstacle course of traps, something he's lived with all his life to prepare him for becoming Dark. A few sequences like that, of Dark avoiding the traps the police laid out for him, would have been nice.
As for the art, most of it is nice and clean, and I like all the character designs. However, I think Sugisaki relies a bit too much on stock screentones; the ones with the dots are a little distracting and tend to just clutter the pages they're on, and shading a police officer's uniform with closely spaced vertical stripes is probably a bad idea when you plan on spicing up the shot with incoming speedlines. It makes readers' eyes burn. This heavy overreliance on screentones is even more annoying when she presents the poor reader with a few especially cluttered page layouts--not many, but a few. When she's not filling up the page with lots of dots and lines, though, the shading does add a nice level of polish, and the artwork itself is strikingly good, especially as the book goes on.
A short story called "N is for Nishiki" follows the feature, about a fifth grade girl whose family's schtick is that they summon shikigami, which are sort of like familiars. It was done three years prior to D.N.Angel, and is rather similar thematically--romance and fantasy in a contemporary setting, albeit without the action/adventure leanings. I liked it, but of course, more of the main series would have been nicer; however, as this is the way the series was published in Japan, I don't exactly mind the bonus.
All things considered, I enjoyed this first volume of D.N.Angel; the concept is a bit convoluted, but it works, as the hijinks that ensued throughout illustrate nicely. I like the supporting cast, and the storyline is building quite nicely towards some interesting ideas and confrontations. I just think there are some areas that need a little stronger development; perhaps in later volumes they'll get it. I'm perfectly willing to wait and see.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tphalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
Check out TokyoPop's website to see where to buy this and other volumes online! (http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=DNA&categorycode=BMG)