Character Information/Background Plot


Daisuke Niwa was an average teenager... until his fourteenth birthday.

After being rejected by his crush, Risa Harada, Daisuke realizes that something is wrong. Very wrong. Poor Daisuke had inherited the Niwa family's 'curse'. When he feels strong emotions (namely towards Risa) Daisuke transforms into The Legendary Phantom Thief- Dark Mousy. After the transformation, Daisuke is shoved into the passenger seat as the art thief takes command.

A charming part of D.N.Angel is the love... circles... it contains. Daisuke has a crush on Risa Harada who thinks him too plain to be a boyfriend. Risa, however, is in love with Dark who immediately rejects her. Dark is oddly attracted to Riku Harada, Risa's twin sister. Riku, in turn, dislikes Dark and (?) seems to fancy Daisuke. Satoshi, a boy in Daisuke's class, appears to have feelings for Daisuke and tries to protect him while, at the same time, tries to capture Dark Mousy. Krad, dear Krad, is obsessed with Satoshi and tries to kill both Daisuke and Dark.

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Daisuke Niwa

A 14-year-old student at Azumano Middle School. He has a unique genetic condition that causes him to transform into the infamous Phantom thief Dark whenever he has romantic feelings. His family have been Phantom Thieves for 400 years.



Dark

The legendary Phantom thief Dark, who's returned after a forty-year absence. When Daisuke thinks about his feelings towards Risa, he turns into Dark...and when Dark thinks about Riku, he turns back into Daisuke.




Risa Harada

Also in Daisuke's class. Daisuke told her how he felt about her...but she rejected him. She's been in love with Dark ever since the first time she saw him on TV.




Riku Harada

In Daisuke's class. She's been thinking about Daisuke lately, although she's not sure why. She's still upset that Dark stole a kiss from her...




Wiz

A mysterious animal who acts as Dark's familiar and who can transform into many things. He's been with Daisuke's family for generations. And...he hates water.
Wiz Transformed: One of Wiz's transformations - he becomes black wings that Dark can fly with.




Takeshi Saehara

The son of Police Inspector Saehara, who is after Dark. He's obsessed with becoming a famous reporter and uses his dad's connections to find news.




Satoshi Hitwatari

Supposedly a normal middle school student, but he's also the special commander of the police operation to capture Dark.

Hiwatari Keishichou

Aside from the fact that they both wear glasses and work for the police force, Hiwatari-keishichou and his adopted son ,Satoshi, have absolutely NOTHING in common. Mr. Hiwatari is a very calculating, cold young man, only 26 years old, who's probably more interested in Satoshi's abilities as a cop than Satoshi himself. He does make a pretty unconvincing show of how CLOSE he is with his 'son.' Yeah, yeah. *rolls eyes*




Krad

Krad is the oh-so-loveable homicidal blonde of D.N.Angel. he is the alter-ego or 'DNAngel' of Hiwatari Satoshi, and Dark Mousy's most dangerous enemy. Dark Mousy's transformation into Daisuke is the main cause for Satoshi turning into Krad. At first, Krad appears to be sane and says that Daisuke should be treated with respect, then Krad goes for Dai-kun's neck. Ouch!

Krad has been chasing Dark for centuries and will stop at nothing to kill him. Krad has a bit of a 'weird' side. He is very possesive and refuses to let let anyone get too close to his host, Satoshi. Krad affectionately calls poor Sato-kun 'My everything' and would probably kill anyone and everyone to protect him.

Krad apparently tries to win Sato-kun's affection by 'eliminating the competition'. It... well... doesn't seem to work very much. Poor Krad.

***On a side note, "Krad" is "Dark" spelled backwards.***




Kosuke Niwa

(Like Father like son eh?) Kosuke is Daisuke's father. He married Emiko knowing that she came from the blood line that carried Dark's DNA. So when they got married, he took her last name instead of stickng with his own because of that. He left the family when Daisuke was jsut a baby, which is why when he shows up later on in the story, Daisuke or rather, Dark doesn't recognize him.




Emiko Niwa

Emiko Niwa is Daisuke's mother. She has a keen fashion sense and makes both Daisuke's and Dark's clothes for them. She knew all along that Daisuke would turn into Dark on his 14th birthday but never told him. She married Kosuke but he took her last name instead of his own when they got married.




Niwa Daiki

We never really know what Grandpa's name is until, about, WAY later on in the series. Think towards the end of Stage 2. But I digress.

Grandpa is the one responsible for the kaitou education of Niwa Daisuke, his grandson and 'heir' to the glorious (?) job of phantom thief of the decade. >_> Or four decades, in this case, since Grandpa didn't have a son to run around wreaking havoc at night. :3

Grandpa is a funky guy. He seems pretty goofy and lost most of the time he actually *does* appear in the manga, but on the other hand, he shows some pretty cutely sensitive sides as well. ^_^

When Grandpa was Daisuke's age, he turned into Dark as well... but unlike Daisuke, Grandpa performed his kaitou tasks just as one would go about doing household chores. He had no motivation or incentive, save preserving the family tradition, and went about it dutifully until he met a mysterious young girl named Kurashina Menou... and his nightly duties took on a different meaning.

You know, I think it'll be kinda freaky to know that your former alter ego is now your grandson's. o_O Grandpa seems to cope with it well, though. XD




Saga Keiji

You know how every story has at LEAST one Kansai-ben speaker? This is it. Look, gawk, stare, and be prepared to be completely boggled by Saga Keiji, self-proclaimed part-time student and full-time entertainment bossperson.

Keiji happens to spot Daisuke at the school's Saint White Festival very coincidentally... and he decides immediately that this little guy must be the model of the next commercial announcing auditions for male idol wannabes for his company, Saga Entertainment. Yeah, I know. -_-

Keiji is a bit more than you think, though. When Riku and Daisuke are going through the whole tug-of-love war, Keiji notices that Daisuke is closer to Riku than he himself may think. ^^ Enterpreneur, I say.

Keiji's a cute boy. :3 Bunny-sensei should bring him back, really.

Sekimoto

A freckled, light-haired boy who hangs around Daisuke and Takeshi at school... and unfortunately gets victimized by the latter a lot. He's also seen occasionally with a censor's picket in hand, thanks to Takeshi's... colorful speech. XD

Teacher

Slightly ditzy and clueless newbie teacher who's in charge of Daisuke's homeroom. She's pretty kindly, from the impression I get.

Ukawa Senpai

A pretty self-indulgent little thing who attends Azumano No. 2 Junior High and strongly believes that Riku is head-over-heels in love with him. I'd let him slide except he nearly kissed Riku - Forcefully!

Fukuda Ritsuko

A pig-tailed girl who seems to hang around the twins a lot, particularly Risa. She seems pretty outspoken as well, although I'm not really sure of her personality as of yet.

Funabashi

In short, Keiji's sidekick and secretary rolled in one. Funabashi is one of those typical I-Don't-Speak characters who pack a lot more comic relief than you think. Hee.




Kurashina Menou

Ah, the first mystery character of Stage 2. Menou appears in the crowd that gathers around Dark's target of the night, and is caught on Takeshi's camera. And, of course, Takeshi wonders who this mysterious, gorgeous girl may be and decides to investigate...

What Takeshi doesn't know is that Menou died 40 years ago. Yes, people, she's basically a spirit that was trapped in the necklace 'Agate Links.' ('Menou' means 'agate,' incidentally.)

When Grandpa was the phantom thief, 40 years ago, he happened to fly by a small, lit window where a small girl stared out into the night. She was weak and sickly but glad to see him as he visited occasionally. Menou was Grandpa's first incentive to steal something that was NOT of the Hikari family, to steal something for a purpose other than just to collect artwork for his family... unfortunately, Menou never survived to receive 'Agate Links' from Grandpa, and was thus sealed away into the necklace until the next Dark appeared.

All in all, Menou's a sweet but tragic little thing. ;_;




Towa-chan (Towa no Shirube)

If you can't guess from the name, Towa-chan is the real form of the sculpture 'Towa no Shirube,' or the Symbol of Eternity. Yep, that sculpture of a bird sitting on top of the lighthouse.

Towa-chan (as she insists on being called) is a 'young girl who's not even 100 yet' (she's 98... XD). And, being the 'young girl' that she is, she is SPUNKY. REALLY spunky. She has a hyperfeminine formal speech pattern that rivals Krad's formality, calls Dark a complete pervert, and takes an immediate liking to Daisuke... because he's cute.

Towa-chan plays an instrumental role when Daisuke enters the mirror half of the Sage of Sleep to get Dark back. She obviously has some powers of her own, and isn't afraid to use it to help Daisuke.

I love this gal!

Nishimura Yuuji

A boy in Daisuke's class who's in charge of the guys' half of the roll call. He seems to have a thing for Sawamura Miyuki, which ends up with Takeshi poking fun at him about the Mura-Mura Combo. XD

Sawamura Miyuki

A girl in the same class who's in charge of the girls' half. She's pretty blunt and matter-of-fact, and obviously has no clue about (and no interest in) Nishimura Yuuji. Eh heh.




Freedert

Freedert is the most well-known as the tragic heroine of the story "Ice and Snow" in the DNAngel world (as seen in the first image). However, Freedert also has a flipside, so to speak - somewhat like Daisuke and Dark - and that is the Second Hand of Time herself (as seen in the second and third images).

When she was alive, Freedert had two childhood friends, Eliot and Kyle. And as everybody knows, the unfortunate side effect of having this sort of a combo is that two fall in love while the third pines away for the only girl in the bunch. Yup. ^_x; And because of Kyle's jealousy and bad judgment, Eliot dies, and Freedert sacrifices her life to bring him back... except this time ELIOT gives up HIS life, and the whole mess ends when Freedert and the Second Hand of Time become one and freeze her world to wait for Eliot.

Messed up little story, ain't it. Toki no Byoushin, or the Second Hand of Time, is yet another Hikari Production (tm) that had the power to... I dunno, grant wishes? Probably specifically pertaining to each person's 'time', or 'lifespan'...?

Freedert herself seems like a sweet girl - she genuinely feels sorry for trapping Daisuke in her world (she needs his help to extend her 'time', but eh), and it's very apparent how much she loves Eliot... and othersuch. FYI, nobody really knows how to romanize her name. I mean, it's spelled out furi-deruto.




Eliot

Eliot is popularly known as the hero of "Ice and Snow," and is more often that not portrayed as dead. -_-; Well, that ain't all his fault, so.

There's really nothing much known about Eliot other than he was the son of the feudal lord and grew up with Freedert and Kyle... and of course he had to go off to war, but was killed when Kyle prayed to the Second Hand of Time and asked for his death. @_@ Some friendship going on there.

At any rate, it seems like Eliot's soul became trapped in his sword... which was later dubbed as Toki no Kusabi, a.k.a. the Wedge of Time.




Kyle

And here's Kyle, the only one out of the Freedert-Eliot-Kyle trio that DOESN'T appear in "Ice and Snow"... cos "Ice and Snow" isn't the original story, as later discovered by Kosuke.

Kyle grew up with Freedert and Eliot, and ended up harboring a secret love for Freedert when the other two had already confessed their love for each other. That more or less made Kyle bitter enough to pray for Eliot's death so he can have a chance to win Freedert's heart and, well, that all ended in tragedy. @_@ And afterwards Kyle fled from his town, wrote his entire story in a book titled "Ice and Dark", and then committed suicide.

Yeah, well, your best friend's murder wouldn't really do wonders for your mental health. >_>

At any rate, Kyle's original story was then censored and edited during the Cultural Revolution into a more family-safe version that the DN cast now know as "Ice and Snow". And that's that, I guess.


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More to come soon...