D.N.Angel

D.N.Angel is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yukiru Sugisaki. There was also an anime adaptation and a PS2 video game.

Yukiru Sugisaki's D.N.Angel manga started in Japan in Monthly Asuka in 1997 and inspired a 26-episode anime adaptation in 2003. The manga is published in English by Tokyopop. The manga currently consists of 11 volumes in tankōbon form. The series went on an extended hiatus after the August 2005 issue of Monthly Asuka, but the magazine announced in its March issue (released on January 24, 2008) that the manga would resume the next month in its April issue. This issue was released in Japan in February, and it featured a 123 page comeback issue, including 20 free extra illustrations by Sugisaki.

A series of drama CDs (D.N.Angel Wink) were also released, although it should be noted that the seiyū 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 and the UK by ADV Films and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. 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 serialized in Monthly Asuka titled D.N.Angel TV Animation Series in 2003 which followed the anime storyline.

Daisuke Niwa is a 14 year-old-boy who has a special genetic ability: Whenever he sees or thinks about his crush, Risa Harada, he turns into the infamous phantom thief Dark. During the start of the anime, Daisuke carries a picture of Risa Harada in his back pocket for such occasion. This will continue until his crush learns to love both him and Dark.

Satoshi Hiwatari is a student at the same school as Daisuke and the Harada twins and also the Commander of the police force, heading the investigation on Dark. This is because he is a member of the Hikari family, a clan of artists which has opposed the Niwa family of thieves for centuries. Satoshi has Krad, Dark's opposite and, like him, part of the Hikari artwork "Black Wings", within him in much the same way Daisuke has Dark within him.

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. She has also kissed him on more than one occasion, and it is hinted that Dark loves Risa; but Dark claims that he does not love her, and that (according to 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.

During much of the plot, Satoshi Hiwatari's (adoptive) father, who is a high ranking Police Officer, happens to butt in, and ruin a few of Hiwatari's plans to capture Dark. His father also plans to capture Dark himself. But Dark and Daisuke always manage to escape his plans.