|
|
||||||||||
| Episode Details | |
|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 | |
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
|
[series:5#1552] |
|
(Rent-/ Watch+) I have to wonder what went wrong with the direction of DNA2 considering what first started off as a romantic comedy degenerated into a poorly put-together action title in the show's second half. But before I get into fussing the second half, I'll discuss what I got out of the first half which focuses on Junta's encounters with a few different girls in a couple mini-arcs through his alter ego, Mega-Playboy. The girls in these arcs face some sort of problem which Junta tries to help remedy while Karin makes sure Mega-Playboy doesn't rear his head. A good amount of the show's comedy relies on Junta getting caught in moments of fan service from a female character that either lead to his "girl allergy" to vomit or trigger Mega-Playboy to pop up on scene. While the moments of comedy in these instances are hit or miss since I'm not the biggest fan of fan service, the characters within these arcs are given enough personality and room for growth for me to connect with them. In addition, I did dig seeing Karin popping up at points to bash Junta senseless to keep Mega-Playboy in check and lamenting over her bumbling actions preventing her from collecting her reward back in her time period. The visuals to DNA2 are nothing to write home about considering the lack of detail in backgrounds and no elaborate animation sequences. But the character designs are tolerable and actually look better on the eyes compared to series creator Masakazu Katsura's earlier work, Video Girl Ai. What almost led me to rate DNA2 a Watch is the sloppy handling of what would be the final quarter of the TV series and the OAV episodes. The show switches over to an action genre and its pacing clearly goes at a faster pace. With the subpar animation found in this series, going for action scenes isn't exactly the best approach to go for it. Not to mention that Ryuji making himself into a costumed, power-crazed baddie through Karin's shooting of him left me dumbfounded, as well as the arrival of Mori and his bunch. The existence of one of Mori's cohorts in the OAV brings about both a contradiction and plot hole in regards to her origins which the show doesn't bother addressing too much in depth because of the rushed pacing of its events. DNA2 had a decent first half with its character chemistry from Junta's interactions with the female cast which was only brought down by the hit-or-miss delivery of its comedy while the second half is a shallow and poorly implemented attempt to switch the show's direction into something that it didn't have the animation quality nor time to properly lay out. It's like you are seeing two completely different titles thanks to what the second half tried pulling off. I would recommend the show for its first half while warning you to be aware of the poor handling of its second half. Last updated Sunday, September 25 2011. Created Sunday, September 25 2011. | ||||||||
| Rent | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
 Devil Doll
|
[series:5#752] |
[Score: 76% = Rent]
So where is the difference? Both series are starting very alike, then DNA² soon becomes a harem series where Junta basically tries not to hurt anyone. I like this part a lot. But half-way through the series the background story kicks in and becomes more and more important... that's where DNA² begins to be a superhero action show (very suitable to Junta's Dragonball outfit) instead of a character drama. DNA² explains well what happened, but this story isn't as interesting to me as the character relations - in which aspect Video Girl Ai provided more content in less then half the number of episodes. Watching this show still was fun for me, but I rate its predecessor one level higher than this series. Maybe I just like drama and clichés better than intrigue and fighting which fill most of the second half of DNA². And Karin became quite repetitive with her 'future dream'... While the three OVA episodes may be considered a separate series in a way they're already announced at the end of the TV series, and they provide an explanation for what happened before as well as a real ending to the whole story. That said, I agree with several other reviewers that they're weaker than the rest of the series in many respects (mostly action, very little character development). The OVA alone would have earned only a "Watch" rating from me. Last updated Saturday, June 14 2008. Created Saturday, November 13 2004. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 Forbin
|
[series:5#1573] | ||||||
|
I'm not sure why it's called DNA Squared (Not DNA2) but owells. I loved this! It might be really old (1994) and it's graphics are very simple but I just cannot get enough! But I do agree about Disc 5. It just pure action and no love story at all and was just pure filler. Also there wasn't enough Tomoko!. At first I was like why doesn't she just kill him...then after she tries it, I understand. Hehe BTW For those PC users, I think Tomoko's graphic was stolen for the Hentai Sim Date game. Last updated Tuesday, September 28 2004. Created Tuesday, September 28 2004. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Stretch
|
[series:5#628] | ||||||
|
It's a pity that apparently only two anime series have been made based on the works of Masakazu Katsura--Video Girl Ai and DNA2--because I like them both. I tend to watch one episode of a series per day, to stretch the enjoyment out, but I wound up saying to myself "this is just so damned good, let's watch some more!"--and sat through the first three in a row. They seemed to go by so fast! When I saw the neat animation at the station break, I exclaimed "this is pretty cool!". I loved it when, after failing to inject him with the correct "bullet", Karin considers the option of just plain killing Junta--and the reason she doesn't. I wish DNA2 had maintained this comic intensity to the end, but unfortunately I'm left with the impression that the series is at it's best at the beginning and tends to go slowly downhill from there. It never becomes truly lousy, and it's so good at the start that you've got to see it. But by the end, there's practically no comedy at all involved. The show tries to go from "Action-Comedy" to pure action, and for me at least, it just didn't work. Time-travel, a Mega-Playboy, and DNA bullets aren't too far-out, but when Ryuuji started "assimilating DNA" (while wearing a bizarre, super villain costume), well, that was neither funny nor plausible enough for me to suspend disbelief. I must give Katsura credit for some clever touches even this late in the series--for instance, an incredible ability which Ryuuji acquires sounded absurd until it motivated Junta to want to reverse his choice as to whether he should become the Mega-Playboy. Still, the comedy, which I consider the best thing about DNA2, was pretty much gone and the action was just average. The three OVAs seemed little more than an afterthought. I don't know if they were intended to be included all along, but they don't really make the story any better than if it had ended without them. So, I guess I'll definitely rewatch the first DVD of my set, but I don't know about the second one! My favorite line: "The rates on these dimensional calls are killer, so let's keep this short" --Yokomori Last updated Monday, February 11 2008. Created Monday, April 12 2004. | ||||||||
| Buy | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
 boo
|
[series:5#262] | |
|
Why do i love this series? I don't know. The characters are good, but not the best by any means. They plot is amusing, but sometimes just too emabarrassing, even just to watch. There is a feel to this show, for me, it circled around Karen. All the guys out there, Karen is enough to check out this series. I refuse to watch the OVA series so i can't comment on it. Junta is a funny character and of course he is the warm glowing center of this girls chase guy story. Give it a whirl, you may just find yourself hooked to the characters in a mysterious sort of way. Last updated Wednesday, March 06 2002. Created Wednesday, March 06 2002. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 LoC
|
[series:5#141] | ||||||
|
One of my favorites, this is one of the best series i have ever seen, ok i can agree that it sometimes get a little pathetic, but so what!, its still a great series, even though i like the manga better. the only bad thing i can think of is the ending, one of those i kinda hate...
Last updated Monday, February 19 2001. Created Monday, February 19 2001. | ||||||||
| Rent | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
 Bryan
|
[series:5#14] |
|
In honor of the mapping of the human genome, I figured I might as well watch this anime. Overall, this was a good show. It loses points for episodes 13-15. These are listed by the fan-subber as OAVs, but I cant see a lick of difference in the animation quality between these 3 eps and the rest of the series. What these three do have is a dumb story-line. So, on average, this lands solidly in the rent category (which actually means Id probably buy it if it ever came out). Just stay away from 13-15! I just love Katsura Masakazu's female character designs. Dai ski! Im particularly fond of Kanashi Kotomi, the friend of Kurimoto Ami, the life-long friend of the storys protagonist, Momonari Junta. Mentioning this character immediately throws one into the conundrum of having to mention that this series is quite fond of humor centering around bodily humor. That pretty much keeps it out of the buy category right there (read the other reviews for details). Masakazus story lines always have engaging characters, and they seem to fall apart a little bit just when the action heats up towards the end of the series. Well, this was true for Video Girl Ai. I guess thats all Ive really seem that was based on his work. In this case we have Aoi Karin, a DNA Operator sent from the future to stop one person who is destined to become a mega-playboy and start a massive population boom. Think a kinder and gentler Terminator (and much better looking). Actually shes border-line incompetent and shoots Junta with the wrong bullet, turning him, albeit intermittently, INTO the mega-playboy. She shoots someone else by mistake as well, creating some kind of DNA absorbing mutant whom Junta ends up fighting in the end. Again, I was moderately let down by the last episode and a half. Aside from the end, most of the series centers around Juntas fighting the mega-playboy gene, which, of course, finally allows him to be comfortable around women. As a result, several women (ah, the character designs!) do fall for him all but Ami-chan who only like the original Junta. Again, if youve seen VG Ai you get the basic idea as there are nice romantic elements and 3 or 4 very humors scenes. The op is one of my favorites. I love Blurry Eyes. The ed, blah. Aside from the characters, the art is pretty good for a TV show. The cel counts are a bit low in spots, but better than average. I have a strong feeling the TV show dropped a lot of character interactions to get to the confrontation at the end, but such is life. Last updated Tuesday, October 03 2000. Created Tuesday, October 03 2000. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Jenn-chan
|
[series:5#31] | ||||||
|
I enjoyed this title very much. I'm not really into sci-fi anime, but this broke the ice rather well. A little bizarre with the character quirks though. A guy that throws up whenever he is encountered by something sexual? A girl that farts around the same thing? At times you feel really bad that they have those "allergies", but when they try to play it off as a serious thing you can't help but laugh. Junta's got the whole "dragon ball" thing going on as well which kinda annoyed me being that I am "anti-dragonball". I liked how the Ami/Junta/Karin love triangle played out. The show altogether was rather enjoyable, until the 13th episode in which I was completely lost til the end. And Ryuji in that ridiculous bird man suit...what was THAT?! All in all, not a bad sci-fi romantic comedy with a touch of bizarreness.
Last updated Thursday, April 27 2000. Created Thursday, April 27 2000. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
|---|---|
| Web Site for R1 Licensing Company | http://www.centralparkmedia.com/ |
| Original Website (Madhouse, Japanese) | http://www.madhouse.co.jp/works/1994-1993/works_tv_dna.html |
