Apparently, I’m a sloppy collector.
For those who may be just now tuning in, I’ve been cleaning out the room where I collect my manga and am systematically going through all the things that I never got around reading when I first bought them. Many of these volumes were picked up second hand at HalfPrice Books or library and rummage sales. I had thought that I’d been pretty good about picking up only things that had a volume one, but apparently not. DN Angel is the second series I’m reviewing where I had to hunt down the online version first.
I will say that the idea behind this one is intriguing. It’s a little like, “What if Lupin III, but with magic? (and less gross sex stuff and more high school romance!)”
SPOILERS
.
.
.
.
It helps that the story starts in a very relatable way. Our hero Miwa Diasuke’s love confession gets shot down. He spent months composing the perfect love letter, but when he finally gets the courage to hand it over, he’s rejected. Turns out he’s been “friend zoned,” by the girl of his dreams, Harada Risa. She’s pretty clear with him, saying basically, “I’ve got my sights set on someone extraordinary, even if I don’t know who he is yet… and you don’t fill the bill because you’re far too ordinary.”
OUCH.
Of course, it turns out he picked a very special day to try to ask Risa out: his fourteenth birthday. And wouldn’t you know it, the rest of the day sucks, too.
We only start to get an inkling that there might be something unusual with Miwa when he realizes that he’s forgotten the keycard to the art room that he’s been assigned to clean. Rather than make the hike back to the office to get the right key, he breaks into a very high tech lock, like he’s done this a million times. His classmate, Hiwatari Satoshi, comments on this and Niwa tries to suggest that it’s just like the lock on his house. Hiwatari clearly doesn’t buy it.
Because, when we finally get to Miwa’s house? We discover he comes from a long line of “phantom” thieves.
And here’s where things get supernatural. It turns out that the Niwa family have a literal DNA-Angel of a sort. They have been cursed for some generations to embody an ethereal, magical thief known as “Dark.” Miwa also has a little magical bunny-type friend, With, that can transform into wings for Dark, or, on occasion act as a doppelganger for either Miwa or Dark. At any rate, it turns out that Miwa’s mom and grandfather have big plans for Miwa’s birthday and that is: his eventual transformation into Dark and the theft of a sculpture of a maiden.
Miwa really isn’t interested in taking on the family legacy, but mom and grandpa lie to him and tell him that the object d’art will help him stabilize his form. So, he agrees to break into the museum and fulfil his destiny as a phantom thief.
Meanwhile, the entire city has been awaiting Dark’s return and so when Miwa arrives at the scene, he’s nearly nabbed by the Chief of Police, who is none-other-than his classmate, Hiwatari.
Is it just me or is there some sexual tension here? Which is weird, since we later discover that what triggers Miwa’s transformation is his crush on Risa and what makes Dark drop his form is Dark’s crush on Risa’s twin sister, Riku.
At any rate, Hiwatari has multiple secrets of his own (including, it is much later revealed his own alter ego that is light to Miwa’s dark) and what follows is a convoluted story of romance and rivals and magical destinies.
I didn’t hate this? Obviously, I did not read all 20 volumes, however. I read the first two and then watched a bunch of the anime, dubbed on YouTube.
For my own tastes, like I said, I really like the premise of this. Parts of it very much worked for me. Dark is a pretty cool alter ego. Frankly, I have always had fantasies of being a master jewel/art thief, so this hits a very guilty pleasure for me. However, this is another manga that has a lot of humor in it and, as has been much discussed over the years of writing these reviews, comedy is very hit and miss for me. Sometimes, it works perfectly. Other times, it’s kind of jars me knocks me out of an otherwise fine story. For whatever reason (although I think partly coupled with the retro art style) the humor was more of the latter for me.
Having looked to see what other people have said about this manga, it apparently took a long hiatus. The anime appears to have made during this time and, from all accounts, is a more streamlined version of the story. I will say having watched the beginning of the anime, I think I enjoyed the pace and the vibe of the manga a bit better? But, the story does move a lot faster into the plot in the anime. Also, you get a much better sense of the world that Miwa and company live in, in the anime.
So, I don’t know? I would not NOT recommend this per se. A lot of it is appealing to me. If it seems like your thing, you should go for it. I will say it’s somewhat difficult to find the first volume, in full, on line. I did find a teaser on Viz Media, but it stops before the volume is complete. This is partly, I believe, because Viz bought the rights from the original company that went out of business before all the of volumes were translated into English. So, even if you have a subscription, they’re pushing folks to buy the volumes.
If cost is an issue, this one comes with some barriers to read. When I have to weigh “Is this worth $5 a volume x 20?” I tend to baulk. Like, probably not? Because that’s a hundred dollars of an investment. I’m not sure I even like Bleach that much, you know?
Source link
