Dnangel

(Tokyopop, 2004-Present)
™ and © 2002 Yukiru Sugisaki
Reads right to left; B&W

Nerdy Daisuke Niwa has a crush on classmate Risa Harada, but she wants a “hot” boyfriend. On Daisuke’s 14th birthday, his mutant DNA kicks in and he learns that, when he gets hormonally excited about his dream girl, he transforms into Dark, a legendary master thief who terrorized Japan 40 years ago. The Niwa family “curse” is only broken, if the teen’s romantic target returns his love.

It’s bad enough that timid Daisuke is trapped in daredevil Dark’s body during his police–defying nighttime robberies. Daisuke must keep from lusting after Risa at school (where he sees her every day) or risk transforming in public. Risa dreams of being romanced by the handsome Dark, who is less interested in that airhead than in Risa’s smarter sister Riku, who may figure out the connection between Daisuke and Dark. Worse, another classmate, Satoshi Hiwatari, is the modern incarnation of Dark’s supernatural detective–adversary; he suspects but cannot prove anything (yet). Can Daisuke learn to control the headstrong Dark? Or will the two merge into a combined personality? A fun romantic fantasy–comedy.

— Fred Patten

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