D.N.Angel, Volume 8 Book

Daisuke Niwa is doing all he can to save Freedhert and the Second Hand of Time while Dark, Satoshi Hiwatari, and Daisuke's family are doing all they can to save Daisuke. The young Niwa hears the true story of Ice and Snow from Freedhert's own lips, but there's only so much he can accomplish, no matter how much he wants to help. His determination, however, inspires Dark and Satoshi Hiwatari, the Hikari heir, to show they can be a formidable team when Daisuke's life is at stake. The problem is that Krad, once closer to Dark than anyone, now his enemy and opposite, whom is jealously possessive of Satoshi, his own host body, doesn't want the two of them to succeed. On top of it all, Risa and Riku Harada, out of the best of intentions, are getting underfoot…again. Only this time have they managed to trip up Krad as well as Dark?

This was a particularly touching volume in the series because everyone was trying to help someone else. Daisuke was trying to help Freedhert. Risa was trying to help Dark and Riku. Riku was trying to help Daisuke. None of these characters were especially effective about it, but their sincerity was moving, even as the epic of Ice and Snow along with the Second Hand of Time wound down to its inevitable tragic conclusion. More effective were Dark and Satoshi, trying to save Daisuke. Dark's relationship with his host took on an extra level of sweetness while Krad's with its own sharpened in intensity. I cannot blame Krad for being obsessed with Satoshi, for this host is a talented and sensitive boy under the walls of ice he's surrounded his heart with. More touching than anything is seeing Satoshi's walls melt around Daisuke, discovering how much Daisuke gives him hope, hope that he can become a Hikari once more and embrace a life without shame. What was once a highly-charged, complicated adversity between Daisuke and Satoshi is blossoming into something beautiful, something deeper and going beyond romance. Readers may wonder if there's a warning lying in the ice and snow for Satoshi as well as Daisuke in Freedhert and Elliott's fate. All of this enhanced the epic conclusion of this exquisitely powerful arc.