D・N・A² 〜何処かで失くしたあいつのアイツ〜 4 [DNA²: Dokokade Nakushita Aitsuno Aitsu 4]

DNA² #4

by Masakazu Katsura, 桂正和

かりんは亜美にメガプレのことを話し、純太とつきあうよう頼みこむ。親友のことみから好きな人のことで相談を受けた亜美は、純太に告白しようとするが、ことみの好きな相手も純太とわかり…!?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Shonen

181 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 1994

About the author

Masakazu Katsura (桂正和) is a Japanese manga artist.

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review for complete series



A Note on Katsura Masakazu
Masakazu's works are oddly diverse and formulaic at the same time. He likes to dab in romantic comedies while also producing works about superheroes that are heavily inspired by US comics. I've only ever delved into his romantic comedies and they usually follow a very particular pattern: average guy pines for a pretty long-haired brunette until a short-haired tomboy makes her entrance. It turns into a love triangle that is soon extended to a third girl who is also a long-haired brunette. At least one of the long-haired brunettes is bound to cut their hair in an attempt to mimic the tomboy. Even though Katsura sticks to this formula, the plot outside of the love story is often refreshing and complex. And while the basic premise of his love stories is the same, you can never be sure about the outcome.



D.N.A.² is definitely one of the weirder manga titles I have read. It also happens to be one of the series I read during my first year of manga reading and my opinion on it has changed with every reread. Enter high schooler Yunta - he suffers from my most disliked manga trope: he is allergic to girls, meaning he pukes when he touches a girl or sees a bit of skin. Enter Karin - a time traveller who drops the bomb that Yunta is a mega playboy who has fathered 100 children in the future with 100 different women. Karin's mission is to prevent Yunta from turning into a playboy, yet it seems that her interference with the past is exactly what triggers Yunta's transformation and now girls are mad about him.

In addition to being this super magnet to anything female, Yunta develops psychic powers which I am convinced was partially inspired by Dragonball - you can't do that surrounded-by-aura-hair-glow thing and not think of a super sayan (having Goku's hairstyle doesn't help). Throw in some villains that may or may not look like Frieza (actually, I think it's Katsura's love for US comics in play here), and you have a pretty weird plot with puking boys and farting girls.

When I first read this, I thought it was utterly ridiculous, couldn't stand it and got rid of my volumes pretty fast. Upon reading it again, it finally occurred to me that this is a parody - you just can't write a plot like this and be serious. Yunta even names his attack moves something along the lines of Mega-Play-Boy-Punch. By the love of everything good about manga, this just can't be serious. It's a comedy, and I refuse to believe otherwise. Reading it as such, it's actually pretty entertaining. Weird, but definitely worth a laugh or two. One should also never underestimate Katura's pretty art when it comes to female characters.

Now, more than a decade and a half since my original read of this manga, I feel much the same as before. It's funny and shouldn't be taken seriously - the art is nice and it's just really weird. I consider myself someone who can reread the same works multiple times without getting bored of them - it seems that doesn't apply to D.N.A.², though. Even though I had forgotten a lot about the plot, it didn't really hold my attention. Perhaps, after so many years of reading manga, I've just got so much to compare it to and even knowing that this is supposed to be a comedy, it just doesn't really make the cut.

If you haven't read this yet, don't mind a bit of fanservice and simply want to read something weird that's got a reasonable amount of entertainment value, by all means - give this one a go! But if you haven't read any of Katsura's other works yet, you would do much better to read Video Girl Ai or I''s instead. As for myself, I think it is time to let go of this series once again. The collector in me would like to hold on as it's been with me for a while, but my ever-shrinking shelf space just doesn't allow for every series to remain.

[Gustavo · Rating 4 out of 5]

En este tomo Katsure vuelve a la comedia romántica y al menos esa es la versión del autor que más me gusta en este manga en particular. Este tomo me pareció muy liviano y divertido, vuelven las situaciones ridículas y las situaciones románticas. También se introducen nuevos personajes que son interesantes.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

A no dejarse engañar por esa dulce, pacífica, sexy y sobresaturada portada. El penúltimo tomo de D·N·A²: Anomalías, deja la expectativa por los aires y la moral por los suelos, esperando la iniminente Conclusión.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición argentina, penúltimo tomo: Anomalías.