Related titles: D.N.Angel (anime)

Genre: Shoujo | Fantasy | Action | Drama | Mystery | Comedy
Company: ASUKA
American Liscensing Company: None yet
Format: ??? On going series
Dates: ????
Original Creator: Yukiru Sugisaki
Age Rating: 12 and up
How much I read: Volume 1-3 and 5 (missing out on 4 made me have to do a little research for my huge info gap! UGH! Volume 4 is so crucial!)

Synopsis: Daisuke Hiwa thinks he's just a normal boy. Nevermind the fact that his family has taught him how to break into just about anything ever since he was little. On his 14th birthday, Daisuke is rejected by his crush, Risa, and then finds his body changed into a thief called Dark Mousy because of his DNA from his mother's family. The only way for Daisuke to control his transformation is if the person he loves, loves him back. Now whenever Daisuke is around someone he has a romantic interest in (Risa), he changes into Dark. Dark also has a seperate mind from Daisuke and he falls in love with Risa's twin sister, Riku, causing him to transform back into Daisuke. All of this is happening, plus the nightly art museum robberies Dark/Daisuke performs. Then there is the prescence of the mysterious boy genius and commander of the operation to catch Dark, Satoshi Hiwatari who also seems to have dark secrets of his own that are connected to Daisuke and Dark.

SCORE: 95%

Hate magical girls? Well, how about magical boys?

Plot: Well, I have to give this series props for being pretty original. I mean, really! This has to be seriously one of the first girls' manga that has a pretty magical boy as the main character! The magic is there. The prettiness is there. The transformations are there. Hell! Daisuke even has a cute little animal assistant named With!

Has the plot been amazing? Well, not too much, but it's been intriguing enough. Many things that happened I really didn't expect (concerning Creepy Boy *grins*) and it's too early in my reading of the manga to see if the plot will hold together or not. However, so far it has, and I'm really curious to see how it will all turn out. There are so many mysteries and questions I want answered before this series is over...and I wanna see what'll happen with Daisuke's love life (and Dark's) and also see what's eating Satoshi! LOL...eating Satoshi...LOL...sorry, being immature at the moment with my thoughts. *grins* ^_^

I do find Daisuke's mom kinda annoying, but she does make his spiffin' thief outfits. ^_^ As for the twins, if I'm rooting for any one of them to be with Daisuke, I sure hope it's Riku. She's not so frickin' girly and annoying as Risa (and Risa is a little bit uppity and selfish; she's just about an outright bitch! Even if she was being nice when she rejected Daisuke, her reasons for rejecting him were so childish and stupid! The poor little cutie!)

I'd comment more, but I'd give the great surprises of this story away! ^_^

Daisuke's a cutie! Dark's a badass! And Satoshi...is well...Creepy Boy! *grins*

Visual: This artwork is AWESOME! Yukiru Sugisaki's work ranks right up there with the manga artist of Hikaru no Go on my list. I probably like this artwork even better than Hikaru no Go. I'm just sad there isn't more color art with a few more different and/or weird themes; and especially not that many color pics of Creepy Boy, especially with his glasses on. *waah!* :( I do love pics when people are being sexy though. ^_^

The proportions of the characters are good. Everyone is there needed cuteness (especially Daisuke and Satoshi of course!) and I love Daisuke's looks that are apparently a bit on the girly side. ^_^

The colors are brilliant! And without being annoying. I don't know how she colors her art, but boy, I wish I could pull that off! Wonderful hues, crisp and clean.

The manga itself is a tad complicated, but still rendered beautifully. I was never confused on what was going on, and it flowed well. Characters always look the way they should and I just loved the intense angst scenes. Beautiful! ^_^

If you can't tell, I really loved the art of this series, since there's so many pics up for this review. These pics don't even compare to some of the luscious and gorgerous (and larger) scans of this color artwork. Make sure to check out some D.N.Angel online galleries if you have a chance. You'll love the artwork!

Extra Rants and Bitching: Very cute and very shoujo! (go fig; this manga runs in Asuka Comics, the same magazine that carries X) This is such a great manga with such a cool cutie like Daisuke ^_^! The setup of this story really cracks me up because instead of a magical girl shoujo manga, it's a magical boy shoujo manga! LOL, what a change of pace!

Satoshi is so frickin' creepy...you just know he's got the hots for Daisuke! *grins* He has to, why else would he be so weird? Oh, well, no one can prove or disprove that. Read it and see what you think. ^_^

Daisuke has the same problem of such very ultra-cute pretty boys in anime and manga; so far, people in the manga have commented on how girly he looks at least 3 times, even though he looks very much like a short haired, spunky boy to me! Poor boy! No one gives slack to a sweetie like him!

Score Comments: Right now the score is at 95%...it would be higher, but I have to see how the rest of the series will go. This title could either keep its great intensity or become a complete washout like a magical girl manga. Hopefully it will not, since it's become a favorite of mine, and so much of the story has been setup to head towards some very interesting mysteries and plots. Make sure to read it if you can! I hope it doesn't drag out like so many other manga of its type...including when the anime comes out! Yeah! It's going to be animated! ^_^ Look out for the anime, starting April 2003 in Japan!

Websites:
Aku Tenshi (Read what I've read so far. This scanlation site was my source for this manga.)
OFFRAMP (The place I got most of the images for this review!)
Astirikinikol: Little place with fics and more
Groovy Blue: A Dark specific site from OFFRAMP!

Have a website about this series, or do you know of a good one? Want me to link to it on this review? Well, the feel free to email the sucker to me! Just make sure to put "Review Link" in the subject. Take note, that I am not responsible for the content of the websites I linked to; not all, but most sites I will be linked to will be good reference sources for this anime/manga.