D•N•Angel•

I think it was about 2004. I was mostly a kid then, and really couldn't find romances that interesting. It all changed with an anime. D.N.Angel. The adaption of this series. A very light-hearted, action-packed with subtle romance developments. There was this plot about a phantom thief, but the most interesting of all was seeing Daisuke, Dark, the Harada sisters and Hiwatari bishie. The whole blushing, misunderstandings and confessions... It all lit my interest on the genre I most read at the time of this writing.

I guess that gives a picture on how that anime series marked me. Everything about it was memorable. The OST, the voice acting, the art, the background details (the city was gorgeous!). The plot was bearable, but the characters shined (even the anime only one, Mio).

That sounds fishy, right? I was a kid, not much exposure or critique to judge a thing. I could be embellishing with nostalgia. This thought made me curious so I downloaded it about 5 years later on DVD quality and had the OST CD. The conclusion? Production values were really high, as I mentioned before. No memory makeup whatsoever. The plot was too silly so I disregarded that entirely. Action was nice. Characters were actually good. Even though it portrays kids, their characterisation held up to my older self standards. Not a masterpiece, far from it even, but certainly a classic.

Edit: Saw parts of it now, and it is kinda plain and cheesy. I have read many wonderful stories in the past few years so it feels pale in comparison. However, what I said is still true, and I'd recommend the anime to anyone that can still like the style (looks dated today) and wants some light hearted romance which, though simple in nature and execution, is full of those amazing little things that stick on you. For years.

Then I come here for the manga expecting to see the raw goodness. Something to hold up to the classic feeling without the sound, color, movement and BG. Just the characters, doing their thing. Maybe the plot actually didn't suck at the source, I was hoping.

Boy, was I wrong.

First of all, the manga is confusing. The panels have a very weird sequence, the action is hard to follow, and story pacing is all over the place. One day they are goofing at the school and the second after it's Dark/Daisuke getting lost and depressed. Then it is back again. It sucks more than the anime, since at least there the progression is quite regular.

And about its strongest point, the characters? The characters are all flat. Even the Daisuke, Dark, Riku, Risa, Hiwatari, the family and friends. All annoying and unlikable. The nuances of romance are also nonexistent. The sisters appear too little and basically are there for misunderstandings. There are also some manga-only characters that sincerely are detrimental to the whole dynamic.

The art style is regular for that time. Almost too generic and plain, comparing to other shoujo of the same decade. The anime made the character design cute and gorgeous in comparison.

All things that it marked on me I couldn't find here. The scenes I hoped finding here were less remarkable (Daisuke's confession, especially, and some of the Dark/Risa ones). The small tidbits of romance that made me smirk, like Riku always appearing somewhere on the background when Daisuke was still heartbroken, and their cute dialogues never existed on the original.

If you think it is unfair to compare the mediums, well, usually the manga is better, because of the plot/story/characters being more fleshed out and consistent. And the manga certainly doesn't hold on its own. If it weren't my mind saying "Hey, it will get better! Remember that cute scene? It will appear!" all the time, I would've dropped it on the first volume. I read five, and skimmed through the rest just out of curiosity. Not worth it. I felt like a fool for wishing for it to finish after that long hiatus of the author. So that I could get closure. A little bit more of awesomeness. Now I don't even care for the rest of the story.