Welcome to Gaia! ::

I called it a review of the anime when I posted it on Tokyopop last December, but now I see it as more of a character analysis.

As you can see, I was deeply unimpressed with the anime. However, if any fans of the anime are reading this, which I'm sure there are some, please keep in mind that these are my opinions, and I do not wished to be flamed for them. Which I shouldn't be, anyway, because I've given very valid reasons for disliking the anime.

Anyway, tell me if you guys agree, disagree, whatever.

----------------------------------------

I love DNAngel. Absolutely love it. I own all 11 of the TokyoPop released manga volumes, and I cannot wait for 12 to be released. When I found myself presented with the opportunity to watch the DNAngel anime, of course I took it!

It greatly saddens me to say that I was absolutely apalled.

Sugisaki Yukiru's wonderful creation, DNAngel, had been turned into a shallow, emotion-lacking mess. Not to mention the exclusion of some extremely entertaining characters, and the inclusion of annoying, original characters that one would expect to find in a CharacterxOC fanfiction.

And speaking of the characters, the ones that were included in the anime were merely weak shadows of their manga counterparts.

I'll start off with my favourite character in DNAngel, and possible my very favourite manga character ever, Dark. Dark is an enigma, really. His past is yet to be revealed in the manga, but what we see of him is an attention-loving kaitou with a bit of a soft spot for the Harada twins and the Niwas. Dark is very close with his host, Daisuke, and at times they seem like they share an almost brotherly bond. In the anime, I found it strange and unappealing that Dark would challenge Daisuke for control of his body, with little consideration for his host. To me, they seemed more like rivals than brothers. Also, in the anime, one particular character is continually brought up. That character would be "Rika Harada", the Harada twins grandmother. Supposedly, Dark was once in love with this woman, but they were seperated when Dark's host got his love to love him back, and Dark disappeared. In Daisuke's time, Dark is attracted to Risa (as opposed to loving Riku in the manga) solely because she resembles her grandmother, and leads her on to believe he loves her, until coldly rejecting her and leaving her behind. To me, this clearly states that Dark is very shallow and extremely insensitive. Both traits that he certainly did not posess in the manga. In the manga, Rika didnt even exist, and that's the way it should've stayed. Dark did ask Risa out on a date, but to let her down gently, and tell her that he couldn't share his life with her, despite that fact that he was indeed falling in love with her. He generously offered to spend the entire day with her, as opposed to leaving her crying on the floor, as he did in the anime.

Moving on, I'll turn to Daisuke. Daisuke's personality was... hmm... I could say fairly well portrayed, but perhaps exaggerated a bit? I mean, in the anime, Daisuke seemed a bit too much like the clichéd cowardly, always-flustered, wants-to-tell-her-how-he-feels-but-can't kind of person. Now, manga Daisuke does loosely fit that description, but he is not constantly flustered and embarassed, and he certainly isn't a coward. Instead of chickening out at the last minute like he did in the anime, he gave Risa his confession letter, only to be rejected by her (she told him that she couldn't see him of more than a friend). That is, obviously, how the manga begins. In the next volume, Daisuke openly tells Risa that he never saw her as a friend. This is just my opinion, but that doesn't seem like something a coward would do, and certainly not something anime Daisuke would attempt. Again touching on his connection with Dark, Daisuke really does seem to care about his other half in the manga. Whereas in the anime, Daisuke seems unaffected by Dark's disappearance at the end of the series. It becomes obvious in volume 5 of the manga that Daisuke needs Dark; he doesn't feel complete without him. Daisuke would be devastated if anything were to happen to Dark, and I can't see Daisuke getting over his closest friend's disppearance so easily.

Next I'll move to Krad. In the anime, Krad appeared in episode 4, I believe. In the manga, it explains that Satoshi's feelings of friendship (or love? Questionable...) for Daisuke caused Krad's sudden appearance (in volume 4). Yes, this makes sense, because Daisuke and Satoshi had been gradually getting to know each other and become closer as friends. In the anime, there was hardly any time at all from the beginning of the series to when Krad appears, so there is no explanation for his appearance! Are we supposed to assume that Daisuke and Satoshi had been becoming friends before the time the series began? Anyway, this supposed to be about Krad, sorry about that. Krad... Krad is an interesting character. At first glance, yes, he does seem like one who has only two things on his mind: 1) Killing Dark. 2) Satoshi. But does Krad really want to kill Dark? It doesn't seem so. It's Daisuke Krad is after, not Dark. For some reason, Krad's got it in for Daisuke, obviously confirmed when we first meet Krad in volume 4, and he goes straight for Daisuke's throat knowing that Dark is trapped within the "Sage of Sleep", and knowing that killing Daisuke would not rid him of Dark. Another example is Krad actually trying to make Dark not feel guilty about letting Daisuke die in the whole "Toki no Byoushin" incident. And I quote: "If you stop interfering... Daisuke Niwa will never escape the Toki no Byoushin. He'll fall into the darkness--and it won't be because of you!" (Volume 8, p. 122) Does this not prove that Krad is trying to spare Dark's feelings? And he does not want Dark dead? Perhaps Krad harbours feelings of his own for the thief? We just don't know. Personally, I think Krad is a deep, and very important character in the manga. Of course, in the anime, he was the murder-happy blonde who would stop at nothing to have Dark Mousy killed.

Aside from not having enough time to create a friendship with Daisuke, I had no problems with Satoshi in the anime. He was perhaps the best portrayed character in the entire anime.

Keiji Saga. Why, on earth they would leave one of the most hilarious characters in the entire manga out of the anime boggles me to no end.

Mio Hio. A filler character if ever there was one. Completely unnecessary, and in my opinion, endlessly annoying. She has Mary Sue written ALL over her. She even transferred from America, for God's sake.

I'll put the twins in one paragraph, if that's okay. There's not too much I can say about Riku in the anime, except mention her God-awful voice in both the English and Japanese versions. Risa, however, I can say a bit about. Now, to be honest, I didn't like Risa at first in the manga. In fact, I hated her. Even though she was completely aware of Daisuke's feelings for her, she took advantage of his kindness and the fact that he liked her over and over again. A nice person doesn't ask someone who loves them to help meet someone that they're crushing on. Sorry, but it just doesn't happen. She eventually matures, though, and becomes a somewhat likeable character. The important thing though, is that she matures and comes to realization on her own. She really does love Dark. "I-- I love Dark. That's why. I never want to see him captured. I want Dark to always remain free. If he was locked up... he couldn't be himself anymore." (volume 8, p. 100) Obviously, her feelings don't run so deep in the anime, since she tried meeting Dark on one of his thievings, dressed up in some ridiculous costume, not caring at all whether she slowed him down or whether she got him caught. Also, Risa did not really mature at all on her own, since it had to be literally shoved in front of her face (her grandmother's letter to Dark) that she couldn't be with Dark. And that was after Dark rejected her,which she didn't seem to take very kindly to at all. She sat on the floor, and she bawled like a baby. When Dark rejected her in the manga, Risa took it very graciously, understandably letting a few tears slip, and tried to enjoy the rest of her day with Dark.

Wow, I just read that whole thing and I must say: I agree with you 100%

But there are some things you didn't really cover in your OP; such as the fact that the whole Hikari vs. Niwa thing was barely even talked about in the anime, thus making the whole plot seem quite a bit shallower. (But this is a thread on character analysis so this statement is just a little personal additive of why I dislike the anime. xD)

Not to mention the fact that they made Towa look like a shallow and minor character. (I mean, she didn't get much screen time other than the episode she was introduced in.) When in the manga, she played a little bigger a of a role than just "The extra girl who helped Daisuke once." (Or was it twice? I can't remember. I haven't seen the anime in such a long time.)

But all in all there only two other things I have to say about the anime: The anime seemed rushed and, the fact that they didn't put Keiji in there made me sad. I mean seriously! WTF?!

Amazing... that's all so completely true. As a matter of fact, I'm going to put this thread in the link list. I would sticky it, but that... well... I'd rather not say anymore. 3nodding

OoOoO! gold

Yeah, but at what price?
The anime lacked a lot of depth that the manga had. So even when the anime ended it still didn't feel like it really ended.

The anime is a lot worse than manga. Many things are changed. And Mio Hio is so annoying!!!

mio hio was very annoying

i only read the first mange in the series, so i cant really say anything about this conversation until i read more!!! but i think the anime was okay. Risa was very annoying though....she gets in the way tooo much! so yea thats all i had to say. .......................OH YEA!!!! now i get it! Saga was left out in the anime! thats why i was always saying"Who is Saga?"