D.N.Angel

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D•N•Angel
Genre	Comedy, Fantasy, Kaitō, Magical boy, Romance, Supernatural
Manga
Authored by	Yukiru Sugisaki
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten TOKYOPOP Chuang Yi (Chinese) Editorial Ivrea JPFantastica Grupo Editorial Vid Bonnier Carlsen
Serialized in	Asuka (magazine)
Original run	November 1997 –
No. of volumes	11 (currently)
TV anime
Directed by	Koji Yoshikawa, Nobuyoshi Habara
Studio	Dentsu ADV Films
Network	TV Tokyo QTV (May 08, 2006)
Original run	3 April 2003 – 25 September 2003
No. of episodes	26
Game: D.N.Angel: Crimson Wings (～紅の翼～)
Developer
Publisher	TAKARA
Genre	Fantasy, Romance
Platform	PlayStation 2
Released	September 25, 2003
Manga: D・N・ANGEL TV Animation Series
Authored by	Yukiru Sugisaki
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten
Serialized in	Asuka (magazine)
Original run	1 August 2003 – 1 October 2003
No. of volumes	2

D•N•Angel is a manga by Yukiru Sugisaki (杉崎ゆきる, Yukiru Sugisaki^?) which was later adapted into an anime and a PS2 game, subtitled "Crimson Wings".

Yukiru Sugisaki's wildly popular D•N•Angel manga began its manga run in Japan in Asuka Magazine in 1997 and inspired a hit 26-episode anime show in 2003. Although an action series, its artstyle, character design, and romantic context may be classified as shōjo manga. The manga is published in English by TOKYOPOP. The Manga currently consists of 11 volumes in tankobon form. While the storyline has not yet ended, no new material has been released since the August 2005 issue of ASUKA magazine. It is not known when Sugisaki will continue D•N•Angel, as she is currently doing illustration work for a series called EDEN in Shōnen Ace .

A series of drama CDs (D.N.Angel Wink) were also released, although it should be noted that the seiyu cast for the drama CDs is largely different from the anime cast.

The 26 episode television series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo, and has been released on DVD in the US by ADV Films. The final broadcast of the anime coincided with the release of the game, which carried on the story from that point. Due to the anime series having a different storyline than the manga series, a two-volume special manga series was released by Asuka titled "D・N・ANGEL TV Animation Series" in 2003 which followed the anime storyline.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 List of episodes 4 Music 5 External links

[edit] Plot

Daisuke Niwa is a 14 year-old-boy who has a special DNA due to his genes. Whenever he sees, or thinks, of his crush, Risa Harada, he turns into Dark. Dark was created by "The Black Wings," a very large mirror, along with Krad. Krad is the complete opposite of Dark, and is from the Hiwatari family like Dark is to the Niwa family.

Later on, after being rejected by Risa, Daisuke falls in love with Riku. Riku likes him too, but until Daisuke is able to tell Riku about his condition and she can love both of them, he'll keep transforming. Unfortunately Riku, who had her first kiss stolen by Dark, now thinks of him as a "pervert" and hates Dark. She likes Daisuke, but hates Dark.

Interestingly enough, Risa falls in love with Dark, and proceeds to do all sort of absurd things to get him to go out with her, which he eventually does (only in the manga). She has also kissed him on more than one occasion, and it is hinted that Dark still loves Riku, but Dark claims that he does not love her, and that, at least in the anime, Risa's grandmother, Rika, is the only woman he has ever loved. In the manga, Dark's reasons for rejecting Risa seem to be so that she is not hurt by the fact that he is immortal and not really human, and therefore cannot participate in a functional relationship. As expected, Risa doesn't really listen to him and continues to try to get him to go out with her.

[edit] Characters

Daisuke Niwa (丹羽大助, Niwa Daisuke^?), (Seiyū - Miyu Irino(Anime, Japanese), Kevin Corn (Anime, English), Soichiro Hoshi (Drama CD))

The 14-year-old protagonist of the story, is a typical school boy who has a crush on a girl at his school, Risa Harada. However because of the Niwa family heritage, his special DNA merged with that of the phantom thief, Dark, when he was rejected by Risa.

Daisuke can transform into Dark (usually unwillingly) whenever he experiences feelings of love or intimacy. Daisuke is kind-hearted; the opposite of Dark and always tries to stop Dark from performing crazy stunts to no avail. Later on in the series, Daisuke gradually falls in love with his old crush's older twin sister, Riku Harada. Even though he does not look or act it, Daisuke is very perceptive and athletic - capable of jumping from heights that a normal boy could never be capable of. To hone his skills, his family sets up daily life-threatening trials once he returns home from school. A specialty of his is his keen ability to lockpick (or hack, in the case of electronically activated locks) any kind of lock in succession.

Dark (Seiyū - Ryotaro Okiayu (Anime, Japanese), Vic Mignogna (Anime, English), Masaya Onosaka (Drama CD))

Dark is the entity passed on to each new male in the Niwa generation at the age of 14, once he experiences love. He was dormant for 40 years due to the fact that Daisuke's grandfather (who was Dark's host before Daisuke) had no male offspring.

He is the phantom thief who constantly steals art pieces made by the Hikari family. Unlike Daisuke who likes Risa, Dark fell in love with Riku, the older twin sister. However, he is constantly being pursued by Risa, who fell for him since she first saw him on the television. It is not apparent yet whether Dark's feelings are mutual, or whether he's merely toying with her. She does, however, seem to have an impact on him, shown when he says that he can "feel" her words "right here" in his heart. He uses Wiz(With) as his wings, because using his actual black wings would harm Daisuke severely.

In the English version, Dark is known as the Phantom Thief Dark, while in Japanese, he is Kaitou Dark. Dark's full name is Dark Mousy, though this name is only used in the character descriptions of the manga. In the anime, he is once called by this name by Krad. His real name, however, is Kokuyoku, and he is one half of the exalted Black Wings, with Krad being the other half. It is apparent that they once belonged to the same artwork and were enjoined, but were awakened and separated.

Risa Harada (原田梨紗, Harada Risa^?) (Seiyū - Masumi Asano (Anime, Japanese), Luci Christian (Anime, English), Sakura Tange (Drama CD))

The younger of the twin Harada sisters, she is the object of Daisuke's affection. However, she indirectly rejected him when he was about to confess to her on his fourteenth birthday. She sees him as nothing more than a friend, and thinks he is far too normal to be a potential boyfriend. However, she gets a crush on Dark when she first saw him on the television and continues to be smitten with him despite his blatant indifference to her.

She is supposedly cuter than her sister Riku, and also has an ongoing friendly rivalry with her. She wears her hair much longer, and acts more feminine than boyish Riku. There is a subtle intimacy between herself and Satoshi Hiwatari, although she still at present loves Dark. Later on in the series however, prior to her original rather shallow, self-absorbed personality; Risa grows into a more mature and stronger character, as her 'shallow' love for Dark evolves.

In the manga, Risa pursues Dark, coming up with insane schemes to get him to go out with her, which eventually work. However, Dark states that he cannot be with her, but that for one day he'll be hers alone. As in the manga, there seems to be a very subtle attraction between her and Satoshi Hiwatari, signified by little occurrences, such as he saving her when she falls off a building, or just simply touching a lock of her hair after Daisuke saves her from drowning.

Riku Harada (原田梨紅, Harada Riku^?) (Seiyū - Sara Nakayama (Anime, Japanese), Hilary Haag (Anime, English), Yuka Imai (Drama CD))

The elder of the Harada twins, Risa is assertive, brazenly stubborn, and outspoken. Unlike her feminine sister, Riku's hair is cut much shorter, and she plays sports, particularly lacrosse. She is a very independent and selfless person and learns to get over matters quickly, rather than make a large fuss.

She is attracted to Daisuke and is very insecure about her feelings for him, as one of the greatest reasons being that she thinks he likes her only because of her similarities to her twin, Risa. Later on in the series, her feelings are reciprocated. However, she holds an intense dislike for Dark ever since she caught him outside her window, right after taking a shower. The fact that he stole her first kiss as well, during their second encounter, contributed to her dislike of him.

With/Wiz (Seiyū - Mariela Ortiz (Anime, English), Megumi Toyoguchi (Drama CD))

The family pet of the Niwa family and Dark's familiar spirit, With responding to Dark's call no matter where he is and transforming into a black, winged creature that becomes Dark's wings by clinging to his back. He can also perform other transformations, and can turn into Dark or Daisuke, but is not very adept at communicating verbally. For example, With' attempt to say "Daisuke" comes out as "daisuki" (lit:I really like (you)). Wiz does not like learning new words as well.

With resembles a hybrid of a dog and a bunny (the closest animal Daisuke could compare it to was a flop-eared rabbit), and it is unknown how old With is. In this form, With normally says "Kyuu." He hates water, is afraid of scary movies, and hates Krad. In the English manga translation, With is known as "Wiz", or 'Wizzy'

Satoshi Hiwatari (日渡怜, Hiwatari Satoshi^?) (Seiyū - Akira Ishida (Anime, Japanese), Greg Ayres (Anime, English), Tomokazu Seki (Drama CD))

Always calm and composed, never showing much emotion, Satoshi Hiwatari is a very distant, cold and silent character, though these qualities never seem to affect how close he keeps to Daisuke Niwa. He is extremely intelligent and has a college degree. However, he attends Daisuke's Junior High School in an attempt to have a normal life. He acts as the police commander in charge of capturing Dark.

Due to his family legacy, he is almost obsessive in his attempts to capture Dark. He is the sole living member of the Hikari family, whose artworks are almost always Dark's targets for stealing. He was adopted by a 26-year-old police officer by the name of Hiwatari, and so his name was changed to reflect his adoption. During the course of the story, he begins to care more about Daisuke's safety. It appears that Daisuke is the trigger for Satoshi's other personality, Krad, to appear. Satoshi opposes Krad taking control of his body greatly, and has taken on an uncaring personality to 'seal his heart,' and thus, Krad. Krad is Dark's "evil twin", or opposite, a homicidal blonde whose only motivation seems to be getting rid of Dark.

Emiko Niwa (丹羽笑子, Niwa Emiko^?) (Seiyū - Sakiko Tamagawa (Anime, Japanese), Kelly Manison (Anime, English), Yūko Nagashima (Drama CD))

Emiko is Daisuke's mother, an extremely hyperactive woman whom does not act her age. She prepares Dark's costumes for when he goes out to steal artwork. She is also responsible for sending out the notices to the police that tell them what, when and where Dark's next target will be. It made her very upset as a young girl that she could not become a phantom thief. Emiko is very much in love with her husband, Daisuke's father Kosuke.

Kosuke Niwa (丹羽小助, Niwa Kosuke^?) (Seiyū - Masaki Terasoma (Anime, Japanese), Andy McAvin (Anime, English), Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD))

Emiko's husband is the shy and thoughtful Kosuke Niwa. He married into the Niwa family and adopted the surname meaning he himself is not a Niwa male. He knows a lot about magic and had been journeying often, not having seen his son for many, many years. When he finally returned, he gave Daisuke a Rutile which lets him absorb all the damage received by Dark .

He is currently searching for the secrets between the Hikari and the Niwa family. He is very serious when he needs to be, but generally he seems clumsy, exactly like his son. He is easily embarrassed by his wife, Emiko, and her antics. Kosuke was also one of the few characters who arrived late into the series and his true surname is unknown.

Daiki Niwa (丹羽大樹, Niwa Daiki^?) (Seiyū - Takeshi Aono (Anime, Japanese), Eiji Maruyama (Drama CD), Mugihito (Drama CD, Younger Voice))

Daiki is Daisuke's grandfather and Emiko's father. He was Dark 40 years ago. Unlike Daisuke, he took the task of stealing as though it was a job. He appears more in the manga than he does in the anime and is more than often goofy and silly.

Takeshi Saehara (冴原剛, Saehara Takeshi^?) (Seiyū - Minoru Shiraishi (Anime, Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (Anime, English), Wataru Takagi (Drama CD))

Takeshi is Daisuke's best friend in school, and is the son of Police Inspector Saehara, who pursues Dark under the command of Hiwatari Satoshi. He usually serves as comic releif, as he is very excitable, friendly, rude and irresponsible. He is an enthusiastic reporter or journalist who uses his father's contacts to his advantage. However, he is rather reckless, proven in his plans, which Hiwatari often criticises, calling them ineffective. Saehara also likes to dump his work load, such as homework and cleanup duty, on Daisuke, so he can get out early to find a good spot to get good shots of Dark.

Krad (Seiyū - Takeshi Kusao (Anime, Japanese), Illich Guardiola (Anime, English))

Krad is the complete opposite of Dark (with even Dark's name spelt backwards) and also Dark's worst enemy. Krad is the homicidal blonde of the series who is the alter-ego of Hiwatari Satoshi. Apparently, Daisuke was the reason that Satoshi first transformed into Krad. With (Wiz) absolutely despises Krad and always tries to attack him on sight. Krad can be called insanely obsessive, as he attempts to kill Daisuke after their first encounter because he is very possessive over his host, Satoshi, and does not let him get close to anyone. He affectionately calls him, "My everything". Satoshi, however -- like his whole family generation -- despises Krad.

Krad does not care whether he hurts Satoshi's body physically by using his wings or using his energy. Although feelings of love are what cause Daisuke to transform into Dark, it seems that Krad can force his way out of Satoshi at any moment. Likewise, Satoshi can force Krad back inside his body. One very popular nickname for Krad is Homicidal Blonde. Krad has no last name, but only he calls Dark with Mousy attached. He uses it to express how he feels about Dark... like a stupid sewer rat.

Rio Hikari (only in manga)

Although only mentioned a few times in the manga, Rio Hikari is an important part of the background story. Rio, the mother of Satoshi Hiwatari, was shown only in an undetailed way in the manga. She was also mentioned by Daiki Niwa when he was explaining to Daisuke Niwa that when he was a child, the Hikari was a woman, who gave birth to Rio, then vanished. Rio then had a son, Satoshi. According to Kosuke Niwa in an earlier chapter, Rio Hikari is dead.

Towa no Shirube (永遠の標) is known as Towa-chan (or To-to in the English translation of the manga) (Seiyū - Rie Tanaka (Anime, Japanese), Monica Rial (Anime, English))

She is one of the Hikari's creations but was later released of their services by their last descendant, Satoshi. She is the "symbol/guide of eternity" and was originally in the form of a pelican statue on the lighthouse. A very spunky and lively guardian, she can only maintain a human form at night; during the day, she is a bird-shaped statue or a small bird the size of With. Her first appearance is in volume five where she emerges to assist Daisuke. She appears to have some of her own powers as she can find magical things of power or else sense them and also successfully guides Daisuke into the mirror of the Sleeping Sage. Later on she begins living in the Niwa household and frequently helps Daisuke whenever she can.

In the anime version, Towa is a bird statue that Dark is to steal from the ruins of an old house, damaged by a landslide. She is also able to retain her human form during the day, occupying her bird form only when she is weak, or playing with With. She stays with the Niwa family as their maid.

Towa (in human form, as the Niwa family's maid) dresses in the Gothic Lolita style.

Mio Hio (桧尾澪, Hio Mio^?) (only in anime) (Seiyū - Taeko Kawata (Anime, Japanese), Jessica Boone (Anime, English))

Mio first appears halfway into the anime series. She is a transfer student who suddenly shows up at Daisuke's school. While at first glance, Mio might seem to be a simple minded "valley girl" (or American gaijin in the Japanese version, even going as far as to say "Sorry! I can't speak Japanese!" when confronted with certain demands). She is actually a puppet of the adoptive father of Satoshi Hiwatari, being controlled as a voodoo doll with the promise of a real life, in exchange for Daisuke's life by giving him a pendant claiming that if he put his pendant through hers they would have eternal love but it would really seal his soul within the pendant. But she fell in love with him during their school trip when Daisuke gives her a bandage labelled "An Important Friend". Mio decided that she wasn't going to work for Hiwatari anymore and went off to tell Daisuke the truth, and to save him from evil magical charms of the pendant. As she arrives at his location, the charms were about to be set off. Hiwatari learnt about her betrayal and terminated her, but not before she used up her last bit of energy to negate the charms, and transferred herself into one of the pendants.

Before the series ended, Mio's spirit came to the Harada twins, asking if she could borrow their bodies. She then gains her own body and goes out to save Hiwatari, who was driven crazy by one of the Hikari pieces of art. She gained some powers along the way and was able to only stall Hiwatari's death, for him only to die anyways. She leaves the twin's bodies and left happily, glad that she was able to save him and that Daisuke and Riku finally got together. "Riku... You and Dai... Make an Uber Cute Couple!!!" were her departing words. (or in the Japanese version: "Riku...be happy with Daisuke, damn it!")

Argentine (only in manga)

He is a mysterious boy who seems to have somthing against Dark, and kidnapped Risa during her date with the phantom thief. According to Kosuke, Argentine was a piece of art created and destroyed by the Hikari family long ago. He propsed to Risa, who rejected his proposal.

[edit] List of episodes

[edit] Music

In the anime, several tunes are featured:

Opening

Name: "White Night - True Light -"/"Byakuya ~True Light~" (白夜 ～True Light～)

Voice by: Shunichi Miyamoto

Ending

• Episode - 1-12

Name: "Gentle Afternoon"/"Yasashii Gogo" (やさしい午後)

Voiced by: Minawo

• Episode - 13-23,25

Name: "The Day It Begins"/"Hajimari no Hi" (はじまりの日)

Voiced by: Minawo

• Episode - 24:

Name: "Caged Bird"

Voiced by: Shunichi Miyamoto

• Episode - 26:

Name: "Michishirube" (道標)

Voiced by: Shunichi Miyamoto

[edit] External links

• D.N.Angel information at Tokyopop
• D.N.Angel (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• D.N.Angel Screenshots Gallery
• Yukiru Sugisaki's work
• List of Drama CDs for sale

D.N.Angel characters

Niwa family: Daisuke (Dark) - Emiko - Kosuke - Daiki

Harada family: Riku - Risa

Hiwatari family: Satoshi (Krad)

Others: Mio Hio - Rio Hikari - Takeshi Saehara - Towa-chan - Wiz