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D.N. Angel Volume 2 Double Helix

By noghri
8th Mar 06

AS we learned from earlier volumes Daisuke Niwa is a fourteen-year-old boy who has a "special condition" due to his genes: whenever he has feelings of love or thinks of his crush, Risa Harada, he turns into his alter-ego, Dark, who is called the "Legendary Phantom Thief." However, when Dark sees his "crush," Riku Harada, he turns back into Daisuke. The only cure for Daisuke's "condition" is for him to get his crush, Risa, to return his love, or so he thinks.

This second volume doesn’t really move on as far as the plot goes it does explore the feelings that the Harada sisters have for Daisuke and Dark. This volume seems to have 2 episodes with very little content, one setting up some action and one episode with loads of action. The formula may not be the best and due to this episode mix the DVD volume seems to be poorly paced.

The character list for the series is expanded and I’m hoping that the story will kick off once we get introduced properly to all the characters. I do enjoy the storyline, but it is really slow coming and there is not enough background or insight into characters to justify all the episodes there are. I tend to feel that this story would have made an excellent 13 episode series instead of a 26 episode series that drags this much, of course I don’t know how the story will pan out, it may well pick up yet.

But as with the last volume the animation is really good, especially the aerial views of the city, this 3d cgi work is quite exceptional.

Episode content possible spoilers

With (Daisuke’s pet and dark’s wings) follows Daisuke to school on the same day as home-eco class. Daisuke ends up getting a detention with Risa because he has to spend the whole day keeping With out of trouble. Risa, who has trouble cooking, gets Riku to switch with her and they both wear wigs and pretend to be each other. Daisuke thinks he's cured from his curse when his heart doesn't beat like mad over "Risa" and therefore doesn’t transform into Dark. At the end of the day, not a single person notices that the twins have switched. Meanwhile, Daisuke's given a mission to steal the other half of a dragon statue.

Emiko Daisuke’s mother has a birthday coming up and Daisuke isn't sure what to get her. He learns the story of how his mother and father meet, and how it was his mother's dream to be the mother of Dark. When he's still trying to come up with something, Dark makes a suggestion and they send out a warning notice to capture the heart of the "world's number one lady". Emiko, convinced the notice is a fake goes out to the roof to catch the fake Dark, but when the real Dark appears, Emiko gets her real birthday present -- thanks from Dark for her wanting to be his mother, and a drawing from Daisuke.

When Daisuke's grandfather was Dark, there was a statue in the Garden of Vows of a beautiful Adonis. The statue had a monster in it that survived by stealing the life force of girls when he kissed them. Back then, Dark tried to seal it, but the statue fell into the sea before he could finish. Now the statue has been revived and is dating a girl named Ayaka from Daisuke's school. After watching them, Dark realizes that the Adonis is actually in love with Ayaka and won't take her life force. Instead, the Adonis chooses to disappear from this world so that Ayaka can live on.

After a trip to the museum, Daisuke's grandfather sends out a warning notice that Dark will steal the Agate Links necklace. Saehara goes to take a photo of it, but ends up photographing a mysterious girl and falling head over heals for her. Dark goes to seal the necklace, but meets the girl who begs Dark for one more day. Dark agrees and that night, Daisuke's grandfather tells Daisuke about a girl he met when he was Dark forty years ago. Daisuke's grandfather gave the Agate Link to her the day before she died and she has been sealed to it, waiting for Daisuke's grandfather for eternity. When Dark goes to steal the necklace the next day, it is Saehara that stops him, and the girl is touched by Saehara's kindness. Dark steals the necklace, but turns back into Daisuke so she can see her phantom thief from forty years ago one last time.

To cut a long story short there appears to be a trend appearing for these volumes a couple of filler episodes of character development, one episode building the action and a climatic ending to reassure you that you did the right thing buying it. Unfortunately for me this is somewhat of an after thought after watching 2 hours of a love story that is left wanting, An action story that doesn’t really fulfil my desires. And a story of special powers that aren’t properly explained, I think DN Angel’s biggest issue is deciding what it wants to be. I am probably being a little too hasty with these conclusions, but perhaps the producers should have attempted to fit the storyline into a smaller number of episodes.

That being said this is only the second volume of seven and many stories have not even started to develop a plot by this time so maybe I am being to demanding of this still young storyline. I do still enjoy this story and in some ways it is similar to the likes of fruits basket and King of Bandits Jing, but not as zany. While not hilarious the comedy is quite fun, its suitable for most audiences and I would probably say suits a younger audience than my own.

Pick this up if you enjoy a light entertainment that is not particularly involving. But watch this space as the story continues with volume 3 facets of darkness.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: Clean opening animation Clean closing animation Voice actor commentary Meet Miyu Irino DNAngel unplugged True Light ADV previews

Release information: ADV 17/10/05

Notes: A nice selection of special features on this dvd. similar to the first volume but with the addition of a Dn angel unplugged segment. this shows the artist who sings the opening theme and many others throughout the series live in front of an audience.

-- noghri 8th Mar 06

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D.N. Angel Volume 2 Double Helix

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