DNAngel Volume 1: The Dawn of Dark - Anime Advanced
- Anime Advanced
- Vincent Del Vecchio
- 11/08/04
- click here
November 08, 2004
by: Vincent Del Vecchio
'...the forthcoming volumes can?t come quick enough. What can come quick, however, is my recommendation for it. You won?t be disappointed.'
Disc Description
Being a teenager is rough enough, but young Daisuke?s got more troubles than any ten normal guys. Due to a strange quirk of genetics, Daisuke?s been cursed with an ancient family affliction that?s sure to put some major kinks in his relationship with the opposite sex. You see, whenever he becomes? enamored? with the object of his desires, Daisuke finds himself transformed into the legendary thief Phantom Dark! Unfortunately, the only way to return to his true form is for his true love to love Daisuke for himself; but when she?s only got eyes for Dark, how can Daisuke compete with himself? Stealing the heart of one?s true love has never been as complicated? or intriguing? as in The Dawn of Dark, the first scintillating volume of DNAngel!
Disc Features
Clean Opening & Closing Animation
Voice Actor Commentary
The Creation of an Opening Theme
Promos and TV Spots
Disc Review
Content:
DNAngel is a show that I?ve been waiting to watch for a very long time. Containing four episodes in this first volume, the first episode starts off innocently enough. We?re introduced to Daisuki Niwa; a young boy who has just turned 14 years old. Daisuki seems like a normal young teenager, although he?s often a clumsy one at times. His family though? doesn?t really seem normal at all. His mother and grandfather come off as members of some evil cult (which will be explained shortly.) What?s also strange is the fact that his mother knows everything about him. Well, that may not be strange but the fact that she knows who he?s in love with; her name,age, that she has a twin sister, and other random information is a bit odd.
He has friends in school and a girl, Risa Harada, with whom he?s in love with. Of course, any attempts to confess those feelings of love seem to fail miserably. Today is different though, he has a full proof plan to deliver a love letter to Risa. Unfortunately for him, that doesn?t go too well either and he almost ends up making an utter fool of himself. So, the two get to talking and just as Daisuki starts getting his hopes up, she crushes them down by telling him she only considers him her friend; a great friend but only a friend. After school, he rushes home to find the house has been booby-trapped by his mother and grandfather. It seems these traps are ways to train him. For a klutz, he makes his way through the traps pretty well; which shows that he?s not as clumsy as he may let on. Later that night, he starts thinking about Risa and a mysterious transformation occurs within him. He rushes downstairs to his mother and we see that he?s grown into an older boy. He?s taller and his hair is now dark. His mother tells him that every Niwa family male, at the age of 14, transforms into Dark, the legendary Phantom Thief. In order for him to return to normal, he must win the heart of his true love.
As Dark, Daisuki must steal various items that are causing trouble around the city. We?re not told exactly why he must steal these artworks and why these things are causing trouble but we see that his mother and grandfather have the ability to stop what?s stolen from continuing to cause problems. This is a little confusing at times and while the premise is nice, things are left unanswered. It is a little bothersome that Daisuki just steals the items without questioning why these things are happening. You?d think he?d be just a little curious or concerned over these weird items that are forcing him to turn into Dark in order to steal them. To make matters worse, people at school start suspecting Daisuki of stuff. Satoshi, the genius, especially starts to suspect that Daisuki is Dark. Not only that but Dark seems to be causing problems with Daisuki working his way into Risa?s heart because he also has feelings for her. On top of that, when Dark lands on Risa?s balcony, her sister Riku caught glimpse of him and freaked out. Dark, in trouble, kisses Riku in order to quiet her down. Riku is confused from that day on and often starts thinking of Daisuki every time she remembers the kiss on the balcony; which causes her to question Daisuki about actually being Dark. Now, everytime he sees an image of Risa, Daisuki transforms into Dark. This is particularly troublesome because Risa continually asks him to help her meet Dark. Since Dark and Daisuki are the same person, he can?t be around while Dark is there? so he?s in a big bind. He wants to help the love of his life out but being that he loves her and she loves the person he turns into causes some tension and trouble.
Now, things keep going from bad to worse when Satoshi and Daisuki get locked in the freezer room and Satoshi transforms into Krad; Dark?s sworn enemy. We see that Krad isn?t playing around and he viciously attacks Daisuki, who is lucky enough to transform into Dark at the very last moment. From what the ensuing battle tells us is that Krad seems to be the more powerful of the two as he throws attack after attack that has Dark running for cover most of the time. The battle ends with no clear winner and now Daisuki has another problem to contend with. The poor kid now has girl trouble, he transforms into some Phantom Thief named Dark, Dark is hitting on the girl he likes, the girl he likes keeps asking him for help in meeting Dark, Risa?s sister Riku is questioning him, and some kid who transforms into something that looks like an angel wants to kill him. Talk about having your life literally turned upside down!
Though he?s having more troubles than a 14 year old boy should be having, we see that Daisuki usually takes it like a man. He?s strong when he has to be and he can stand up for himself. We see this trait when he refuses to do missions as Dark but instead goes as himself. He?s not a wimpy, whiny, crybaby most of the time which is a saving grace because a lot of main characters in anime with predicaments are often complete wimps and can?t even speak their minds correctly. This is what saves the show from becoming cliché in terms of characters and storyline. It is definitely a welcome change in terms of the way a main character usually acts in these types of shows.
Video:
The animation and video quality in DNAngel are spot on. I?d be hard pressed to much wrong with the picture quality here. Darks are dark (no pun intended) and whites are bright, colors are vibrant, and no color bleeding was seen. Aliasing only pops up very briefly during some motion sequences, though barely noticeable. The show sure does have its share of dark and light colors during different scenes though. There are some subtle brighter moments and a lot of dark, shady sequences as well. We noticed no offset shading in the blacks though, as the digital moments are done very nicely. This definitely is one beautiful show.
Audio:
For the initial viewing, we watched the show in its original Japanese language track. The stereo mix was done very well with a good use of the two speakers. Directionality was fluid and overall, the Japanese language track sounded very good. Afterwards, we went back and watched the show with the English language 5.1 track. The 5.1 audio definitely made a big difference. The directionality of all 5 speakers was excellent. ADV Films shows us why their 5.1 English tracks are not just gimmicks, the voices filled up the front soundstage nicely while the ambient effects and music took hold of the left, right, and surround speakers and provided us with a nice feeling of immersion. In what is becoming common with all of ADV?s releases, no distortion or audio dropout were heard on either track. ADV has done a very good job on both language tracks.
Menus:
A static image of Dark takes up the main menu with the theme song playing in the background. Black feathers and purple colors alongside a mainly white fill background promote the beauty of the show. We get episode and chapter selections, audio setup and extra selection choices. We get about 30 seconds of the main opening song here before it starts over again. Menu selections were fast and responsive just like we?ve come to expect from all of ADV?s releases as of recent memory.
Extras:
The first volume of DNAngel has a very good amount of extras in it. We get the normal clean opening and closing animations and ADV previews, as well as voice actor commentary for the lead characters of Dark and Daisuki. There?s also Japanese TV spots, a Japanese promo trailer, in-store promotional video, and DVD credits. There?s also a really nice recording documentary entitled The Creation of an Opening Theme. This particular video extra chronicles the creation of the main music theme for the show. This is a very entertaining piece and I wish more shows would have features such as this.
Dialogue:
Subtitle display looked excellent. Timing was good and easy to read. Font color and size were also good and it wasn?t a chore to follow along with the subtitles for this show at all. The Japanese voice cast all sounded excellent. No weak links in the cast for the Japanese track as it was a pleasure to listen to.
The English cast was absolutely brilliant for these four episodes. The casting choice for the Harada sisters was brilliant; as Luci Christian and Hilary Haag actually sound like sisters! While Haag was a good choice, I would have never expected Christian to be able to match the sound of her counterpart?s vocals. I?ve been a big Luci Christian fan for a while now and hearing her in this performance, I would have never been able to tell it was her if not for the episode credits. Upon hearing her excellent performance alongside Hilary Haag, I?m really looking forward to hearing her voice more roles as she has the ability to fit her voice into many different types of characters.
Kevin Corn and Vic Mignogna voice Daisuki and Dark with excellence. Corn portrays the young Daisuki with enthusiasm and an excellent voice while Mignoga fits in perfectly as Dark. Kira Vincent Davis and Greg Ayres are always a joy to listen to and Illich Guardiola as Krad also does an excellent job as the ?bad guy?.
The Bottom Line:
I?ve held off watching any fansubs of this anime at conventions I?ve attended because I wanted to fully enjoy the element of surprise in not knowing what to expect when I eventually took the plunge into watching DNAngel. I?d just like to say that my decision was a good one. ADV has taken an excellent voice cast and combined it with some very interesting characters and a deep storyline. The show?s first four episodes leave a little more to the imagination than I?d normally like but it is forgivable. I?m really hoping the storyline and some of the characters get a bit more fleshed out before diving head on into the storyline?s main arch. Things seem to be moving pretty fast even in the first four episodes which is a good thing. Whether or not character development and a good cohesive storyline will continue is yet to be seen but I have a lot of faith in this show already. I?m waiting and wanting to see more, especially is the show can keep its momentum going for the rest of the series. With six more volumes to go, I hope filler is kept to a minimum and they use a good number of episodes to expand on the characters backgrounds and lives whilst keeping the show going at a forward pace. So far, DNAngel has the markings of an excellent show with an excellent storyline and excellent characters. DNAngel has succeeded in igniting a longing to see more of it. With an excellent start, likeable characters, and one hell of an engaging storyline, this is a show where the forthcoming volumes can?t come quick enough. What can come quick, however, is my recommendation for it. You won?t be disappointed. 
Verdict
A great opening volume for a series, that if done correctly, can only get better. We're already looking forward to the next volume. This is a very enjoyable anime.
8.8[not an average]
Posted on Monday, November 08, 2004 (Archive on Wednesday, December 08, 2004)
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