conn.jude - 2017-02-08 08:04:41

THis anime is so good highly recommended

jaleel.boyle - 2016-03-21 13:30:39

Critic’s Log - September 24, 2015. Review #98: D.N. Angel

Since I reside in the United States, I am fully aware that some people enjoy watching an Anime dubbed for specific reasons. I have a bilingual preference when it comes to Anime. I like watching Anime subbed and dubbed. When I do rewatch a certain Anime, I would go with the version I enjoyed the most or the one that I think that was the better version. There are some Anime that are good in either version. When it comes to English Dub Voice Actors, Men tend to favor Steve Blum, maybe it’s because he’s got that cool distinctive voice. When it comes to the ladies, they tend to favor Vic Mignogna. Even though Steve Blum is one of my favorite voice actors and being one of the reasons that Cowboy Bebop has a dub that is considered one of the greatest dubs ever recorded, Vic Mignogna has been voice acting since 1999 which is roughly around the time that English dubs were starting to increase in quality. Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist was his career-defining role and my favorite role of his. However, there was also another early fan-favorite role of his when it comes to Vic Mignogna’s fanbase… and it is in D.N. Angel.

Daisuke Niwa is just an average teenager, He turns 14 and He tries to declare his love to the girl of his dreams, but like any average teenage protagonist in an anime, he... fails. Suddenly, whenever he thinks about this girl he turns into the legendary phantom thief known as Dark Mousy. Daisuke's mother is aware of this and she makes him turn into Dark so he can steal valuable works of art for a purpose that Daisuke doesn’t even know…

D.N. Angel is a Xebec production and this series looks fine for the most part but there are glaring and painfully obvious flaws in the animation department. There are times where it recycles some of its animation and there are some times where the character design looks a little sloppy. Much to my surprise, the animation is actually not too bad when it counts. However, the one thing that never aged well was the 3D animation effect. It really sticks out like a sore thumb. I am just going to go out on a guess that D.N. Angel was a low budget production. It would probably explain some of the animation recycling and the cheap looking 3D effects. I do give Xebec some credit for making the character designs mostly consistent. The character design in D.N. Angel may not be suited to your liking but I actually had no qualms with it. It looks pretty average for a Shojo anime and I am okay with that.

The music by Takahito Eguchi and Tomoki Hasegawa sounds pretty average for an anime made in 2003 but at the same time, it is minimal to the point where a theme or two will be used over and over and OVER. The music itself isn’t that bad considering the show’s tone. The stringed instruments sound fine, the piano sounds beautiful in this anime but the soundtrack to D.N.Angel  is just poorly utilized with no direction at all. There are a few times where insert songs come in and they are forgettable in this show even though Shunichi Miyamoto is not a bad singer. In fact, he made a great first impression with his singing debut which happened to be the opening theme “Byakuya ~True Light~”. Not only is his singing great and the song itself is catchy, it is the highlight of D.N.Angel’s soundtrack. Oh and the added sound effects for the second half of the series was a nice touch. You wanna know what else is catchy? The first closing theme “Yasashii Gogo” by Minawo. The visuals in the closing may not be much but the song did grew on me even if it’s forgettable for some. However, the second closing theme “Hajimari no hi” sounds boring and the closing visuals are the same since Episode 1. That is just lazy. Good thing it is only a minor complaint on the music department of this series but still, I don’t think the soundtrack was utilized all that well. Had D.N.Angel been given more themes made, the soundtrack would have been decent in the long run.

The voice acting will take me a while to go over, I should note that Miyu Irino was 15 years old when he did the voice of Daisuke. Say what you will but the Japanese voice of Daisuke really makes me cringe. For some reason, when I hear him shout “Dark!”, it really gets on my nerves. The voice just never clicked with me. Masumi Asano is okay as Risa but nothing too special. Sara Nakayama as Riku… Well, it didn’t impress me and I found the voice to be off. Gee, I sure am not thinking highly of the Japanese cast of D.N.Angel. I will say that the highlight of the Subbed Version is Akira Ishida as Satoshi Hiwatari. Then there’s Ryotaro Okiayu as Dark. I cannot say that his performance was bad, I just don’t think it was a stellar performance either. I am not sure what to make of Ryotaro Okiayu’s Dark. I mean, it’s good but I have to credit the other voice of Dark which I will get to after I start going over The English Dub. In the Dub, Daisuke was played by Kevin Corn. Now I never heard the name since he doesn’t have many roles. He also has not done anime voice acting for years so it appears that he is no longer voice acting and I must say that even though it took me a while to adjust to Daisuke’s English Voice, I have gotten used to it and have grown to like it. Sure, there are some awkward moments where Kevin Corn gives some awkward deliveries when Daisuke freaks out by saying “Oh No!” or “Ah! Miss Harada”. In spite of that, Kevin Corn isn’t really that bad in the long run and his voice really never bothered me. Luci Christian on the other hand warrants an apology. I think Luci Christian is a great voice actress where credit is due. Out of all the work I have heard her in, Risa Harada is one performance that did not sit right with me. I found Risa’s English voice annoying. Sure, this may have been from her early days and I forgive her for playing Risa the way she did. Hilary Haag is fine as Riku. John Swasey is fine as a kooky old man, I mean Daiki. Illich Guardiola sounds somewhat cool as Krad but I can’t say it was great due to the character’s short amount of screentime compared to Dark. Then there’s Jessica Boone as Mio Hio, The English Voice of Mio is both hilarious and annoying. The way she talks in the Dub is funny because she has some accent which made it hard for me not to laugh. On the flipside, it’s annoying because she sounds like an attention whore. Greg Ayres is great as Satoshi Hiwatari and one of the highlights of the dub. Then of course, there is… the unanimous highlight of D.N. Angel’s dub. Vic Mignogna as Dark Mousy. Something about Vic Mignogna felt right when it came to Dark’s voice, it was more memorable than Ryotaro Okiayu’s performance. Dark’s flirtatious moments, Dark’s cool moments, and Dark’s down moments were all well-played by Vic Mignogna. I should note that I am not saying this to please any fangirls, Vic Mignogna in my opinion was the best part of D.N. Angel’s dub.

As far as characters go, Daisuke is just a typical teenage protagonist. Granted, he technically develops in time by… well, I can’t say because that would give away a few things about the plot but seeing as he goes through some complicated events and seeing the outcome of his character, he’s got some decency in terms of writing. Risa is probably on the same page as Daisuke except that Risa takes longer to develop. Riku managed to be a character worth watching, and Satoshi is the one that got a lot going for him. He may not play a huge part to start with but he did get character development as the show progressed down the middle and onwards. Dark and Krad are nice but I have some issues with one of them. Dark is actually somewhat interesting through flashbacks and he actually has some relevance in the series. I just have one question, What the hell is with the name Dark Mousy? Dark alone is fine by me but... Mousy? That's just a nitpick I have with Dark. Krad on the other hand was sidelined until near the end of the series after two appearances, seriously... Krad? You know... "Dark" backwards. (another nitpick). Towa is a pointless character, then there’s Mio Hio again. She’s annoying but there’s more to her than meets the eye, which felt forced to me. Granted, her good side is her redeemable factor. The characters in D.N. Angel don’t necessarily leave much to be desired because this series isn’t too sophisticated. It is geared towards older kids and teens. I just have one major problem with D.N. Angel

The Story to D.N. Angel is monotonous in the first half of the series with all the burglary missions, but as the series switches gears… It does pick up but it doesn’t go very far. The reason I stated that I found the first half of D.N. Angel monotonous is that the story doesn’t go too far after Episode 1 and the show decides to go off track for a little while. Some of the episodes early on don’t advance the plot whatsoever. The reason that it does pick up is that after it switches gears around the second half is that stuff becomes more relevant and stays that way throughout the rest of the series. The outcome really isn’t all that much. D.N. Angel just did not impress me all too well. I haven’t seen many anime where the character writing goes from average to decent and the story writing is mediocre. The Direction by Koji Yoshikawa and Nobuyoshi Habara is lazy, and Naruhisa Arakawa’s screenplay is not even worth comparing to the manga of the same name by Yuriku Sugisaki. the Manga has been on hiatus since 2005. That means Yukiru Sugisaki has not done jack shit to the D.N. Angel manga for 10 years, that is just not good news. Either way, this series is pretty forgettable with some exceptions.

D.N. Angel was available by ADV films in the past, but this anime was rescue-licensed by Diskotek Media. If you live in the U.K. It is out of print since ADV Films also released it in the U.K. D.N. Angel is also available by Madman Entertainment If you happen to live in Australia or New Zealand. The D.N. Angel Manga by Yukiru Sugisaki is available by Viz Media. A PS2 Video Game “D.N. Angel: Kurenai no Tsubasa” was only released in Japan. A manga called “D.N. Angel TV Animation Series” (which is essentially animation stills in the manga format) was also only released in Japan.

Overall, D.N. Angel is a series that will vary with some people but if you are just looking for a random anime to watch, give this one a try and see for yourself whether you like it or not. The animation’s not too bad, the characters are decent, and the music is fine but poorly utilized. It suffers greatly with a plot that goes nowhere until the middle of the series and yet the plot progression does not make up for the early stages of the series and I still find the overall plot of D.N. Angel to be mediocre even though the characters are not the cause of it. D.N. Angel is  cursed with bad directing.

I give D.N. Angel a 4.6 out of 10.

Feel free to leave a comment.

cwilkinson - 2016-01-11 14:35:08

A superb premise that had an awful ending. It leaves you with a bitter pebble of "what am I supposed to do with this?". Read the manga.

raina08 - 2013-12-30 03:30:54

D.N.Angel is a shoujo anime series, based off the manga by Yukiru Sugisaki. While the manga started in the 90s, the anime adaptation was first released in 2003. While this series isn't especially popular anymore, it was pretty popular in the 2000s, especially with young teenage girls. NO, WAIT, COME BACK! I'M NOT DONE YET!

I personally believe that just because a show has a...erm, vocal fangirl fanbase, does not automatically make it a bad show. In fact, most of these shows are pretty mediocre and harmless. Is D.N.Angel a mediocre shoujo franchise, an underrated masterpiece, or a piece of garbage that only the most impressionable of teenagers can enjoy? Let's break it down and find out.

D.N.Angel centers around a young boy named Daisuke Niwa, a young teenager who has a crush on a girl named Risa Harada. Unfortunately for him, Risa does not like him back. He is so upset about this that he mutates into a creepy alien creature and starts to eat himself from the inside out. Okay, okay, I'm lying. He actually starts to change into another person. It turns out that a phantom thief by the name of Dark Mousy has been in the Niwa family bloodline for generations, and Daisuke now has to share his body with Dark. He changes into Dark whenever he looks at a photo of Risa Harada, which is pretty cheesy, but it's a fantasy world; we'll go with it. After meeting Dark, Risa falls in love with him instead of Daisuke. Meanwhile, Risa's sister, Riku Harada, actually does develop a crush on Daisuke, but keeps her feelings inside for most of the anime.

While Dark is a thief, he is actually the good guy of the story. He steals cursed artifacts from museums, but these artifacts belong to the Satoshi family, who has another phantom thief by the name of Krad in their bloodline. Dark and Krad are rivals, and Dark wants the Satoshi family to stop causing trouble with the artifacts. Their relationship is explained in more detail in the last third of the anime, but I won't give it away. Krad shares a body with a boy named Hiwatari Satoshi, who's quiet and distant from most characters, Dark and Daisuke excepted. His job is to try and capture Dark, with the help of Krad, of course. So, there is a love...um, square, going on and a constant rivalry between the Niwa and Satoshi families.

This series has a pretty interesting concept, and the story itself is pretty okay. Since this is a fantasy show, it's hard to criticize the story for being "unrealistic." That being said, this anime actually does have filler episodes that add nothing to the story. These episodes are more for character development, but even saying that is somewhat generous. Other than that, I don't have too many complaints about the story itself. It's execution is okay, and it's pretty easy to follow while not being too simplistic.

The animation was done by Xebec, a subsidiary of IG Port, the holding company of PRODUCTION I.G, I kid you not. Xebec also worked on shows such as Love Hina, Shaman King, Negima!: Master Negi Negi, To Love-Ru, and many other series. There isn't too much to say about the animation, other than it's pretty good. The action scenes look pretty good, while the calmer scenes look...good enough. It's not a strain on your eyes or anything. For a 2003 anime, it still holds up pretty well.

The opening theme song is called "White Night -True Light," performed by Shunichi Miyamoto. The opening song is actually a really good song, and the opening animation is really good as well. There's also an official English version performed by Vic Mignogna, Dark Mousy's English voice actor. That version is actually just as good as the Japanese version, a rarity for dubbed anime songs. There are a few ending songs, but they are ultimately forgettable and do not stick around in your head for long. The BGM is fairly decent, but the show does like to repeat certain pieces like...every episode, pretty much. If that doesn't bother you, then the soundtrack is decent.

As for the Japanese dub, I cannot say if it is actually good or not, because I do not speak Japanese and I'm not an expert on Japanese voice acting. The only thing I can say about it is that it sounds good from an English speaker's perspective. Now let's talk about something that doesn't sound good AT ALL.

The. English. dub.

Kill me now.

The dub is one of the worst dubs I've ever sat through, up there with Higurashi and Elfen Lied. Kevin Corn's performance is really bad, making Daisuke very monotone at times. Luci Christian's performance is also not fun to listen to. How did this happen? It's LUCI CHRISTIAN! She's in her little girl voice for Risa, the same voice used for Duck in Princess Tutu. While the voice does match the character, it still gets annoying after a while. Greg Ayres as Hiwatari is a pain to listen to as well, but it's Greg Ayres. I'm not saying he's a bad actor or anything, but I personally don't like his voice. I don't hate any of these voice actors as people, I am just taking a look at their performances. Please don't assume that I'm attacking them.

Thankfully, we also have some half decent performances. Hilary Haag did a good job with Riku's character. No, it's not the best performance ever, but it's still good enough for what it is. The best performance has to go to Vic Mignogna as Dark. He captured the sarcastic tone and attitude of Dark very well, and he brings emotion to the character, like he does in most of his other roles. It's not as good as his performance in FMA, but he's still fun to listen to. Thank god for him, because he's the only saving grace in the English dub. If you are going to watch this anime, please watch the Japanese version, for your ears' sake.

The protagonist is a typical love-struck teenage boy. Yes, he's very obsessive over Risa, but he's not the worst of this archetype. I suppose he has a "good heart," but in all seriousness, he's just an average character who's not very interesting. Risa Harada is your typical fangirl. She loves Dark to pieces, watching him on T.V, trying to meet up with him as much as possible and always talking about him. She's just as annoying as she sounds, and she gets in the way of Dark's schemes. I know she's supposed to be cute, but she's really not. Her sister is the polar opposite. She's probably the most realistic character in the whole show. She feels insecure about her feelings for Daisuke due to her tomboy-ish attitude, and she cares about his happiness much more than Risa does. She also worries about her sister and has a very close bond with her.

Dark Mousy had a lot of potential as a character, but does not develop into later in the series. He's just there for two reasons:

1. To steal stuff

2. To provide eye candy for both Risa and the target audience

All of the other characters are pretty forgettable, with Hiwatari being the typical cold teenager and Krad being the typical bad guy. However, the characters are actually pretty fun to watch if you forget about their flaws. The interactions and different relationships are all very entertaining.

If you don't think too much about how good the show actually is, it's surprisingly enjoyable. I had a lot of fun making fun of the show's silliness at times. I'm sure teenage girls will go crazy over Dark and enjoy that aspect of the show as well. Pffft, I don't care about that, but hey, to each their own. I personally had a blast watching this anime. It's definitely a guilty pleasure kind of situation.

As a whole, D.N.Angel is a fairly decent series. It's not anything special, but it could have been a lot worse than it is. I have heard that the manga is better, so if you are unsatisfied with the anime, the manga is probably worth checking out. The characters are decent, the story is decent, the animation is decent. The best word to describe this series is "decent." I would recommend this series to someone who has just started watching anime or someone who likes romance/action series. To answer the question asked in the beginning; D.N.Angel is indeed a mediocre shoujo franchise.

kuphal.chesley - 2013-07-01 02:00:44

Just watch the first episode — that’s all it should take. There are plenty of lengthy reviews for D.N.Angel, so I'll try to be concise to save you some time:What makes this anime truly stand out is how the story, the characters, and the romance are all serious and pure. This is not another silly anime where the characters degenerate into loons or crack stupid jokes. They take their lives seriously, which in turn allows you to take them seriously, and eventually get sucked into their world. Though most episodes are captivating and fun, the show does stagnate in places. For example, I remember the snow painting episodes (episodes near the end) being especially painful to get through. The beginning half also might seem a bit routine and slow, but just wait for the romance that eventually develops with Daisuke halfway through. It was presented very well with a lot of heart, and will keep you coming back for more. Wait for it.However, keep in mind that this was marketed towards younger viewers, so scenes, events, and character demeanors might come off a bit childish. If you’re young at heart though, you may actually enjoy this point!