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Manga / DNA²

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The main cast.note 

In the future, the world's overpopulation problem is traced back to Junta Momonari and his supernatural ability to seduce women, which gains him the title of "Mega Playboy". Though you'd never know it, since currently Junta's powers have not woken up, and he's just your typical Unlucky Everydude with a literal allergy to women... that causes him to throw up whenever he sees a naked girl that isn't his mother. Which happens in front of Tomoko Saeki, the most beautiful girl at his school.

Right after this hilariously horrible incident, an Action Girl named Karin Aoi travels back in time to "assassinate" his ability by shooting him (non-lethally) with a special bullet that alters his DNA before his powers as Mega Playboy come to the surface... Unfortunately, she accidentally used a bullet she personally customized to create a "perfect husband" — causing Junta's powers to not only awaken, but be exponentially stronger.

Now Karin has to find herself another way to control Junta's powers, or face the death penalty. While waiting for new orders from her superiors, she stays at Junta's home to keep a watch on him and learn about his environment (and the girls who could be affected, like Tomoko), and then she meets Ami Kurimoto, Junta's Unlucky Childhood Friend who is the only girl who is immune to the Mega Playboy's charm. Now she has to see what to do before Junta wreaks havoc among the female populace!

Originally a short-lived manga by Masakazu Katsura (who also created Video Girl Ai) which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1993 to 1994, later adapted into a 12-Episode Anime in 1994. Its plot and characters also formed the basis of a famous Newgrounds Dating Sim called SimGirls.


''DNA

'' provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: Karin; Rurara.
  • Anime Hair: Junta, to the ridiculous level of spiky hair.
  • Attempted Rape: When Kotomi and Junta end up in a red-light district, Junta gets knocked out and two guys drag Kotomi into a back alley, intending to rape her in turn. Junta fortunately wakes up in time and uses his telekinetic powers to send them away.
  • Babies Ever After: Implied to have been the case between Junta and Karin, had Mori not come back to prevent exactly that from happening. According to Mori, Karin and Junta would have a son three years after the time she originally came to the past and that it was the only true love Junta Momonari had after the Mega Playboy awakened, and the two were even married.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Tomoko initially comes off as this, but she's actually incredibly lonely to the point of being a Woobie.
  • Blasphemous Boast: Karin pulls one off during her first appearance.
    Karin: Not even God can interfere with the flow of time.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: A very odd and annoying one happens in the Mexican Spanish translation of the manga, and also overlaps with Viewers Are Morons, since unlike other examples, this is enforced by the publishers: Basically, any character with name who use the letter "J" (Junta, Ryuji, etc) is written with "Y" (Yunta, Ryuyi, etc) since the publishers thought the Mexican readers could not be able to pronounce those names right.note  The European Spanish translation, who was translated a few years previously before the Mexican one, avoids this.
  • Brought Down to Normal: In the end, Karin shoots Junta with the right DMC, erasing the Mega Playboy DNA within him, meaning he is now no more attractive than his Unlucky Every Dude persona was originally.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Junta gives his attacks when fighting names, all with the Mega Playboy theme to them. There is the Mega Play Chop, the Mega Play Elbow, Mega Play Final Crusher and the Mega Play Cannon. Ryuuji creates a strong attack that he simply calls the Super Sonic Attack.
  • Disappeared Dad: Junta's father died when he was young, so he was raised only by his Apron Matron mother Chiyo. Tomoko's dad works outside of Japan.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Before Karin actually intervenes and is merely observing Junta, she sees how he overhears Tomoko admitting to Ryuuji that she wasn't cheating on him, but merely picked up a loser to tease. Karin wonders whether being made fun of by pretty women was the reason for Junta to turn into a Mega Playboy. According to Mori, though, the Mega Playboy would have awoken inside Junta at the age of 21, regardless of what happened, so it's unlikely that this was the reason.
  • Easily Forgiven: Tomoko, to her Jerkass boyfriend Ryuuji.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Karin is introduced by stepping out of her time ship, her face obscured by her clothes and surrounded by mist, says a Blasphemous Boast and proceeds to Squee over her own awesomeness.
    Karin: Not even God can interfere with the flow of time. (Beat) That was so cool!
  • Fandisservice: There's a scene of Ryuji with the body of Tomoko, wearing girls' underwear, in front of a mirror and talking about how much he loves and misses Tomoko... and it's quite a disturbing sight to see.
    • There's an earlier scene of Ryuji with Tomoko's face and groping his ass, saying he knew Tomoko had a nice one, proceeds to undress to "take in the view" and realizes it's his own body, though the naughty bits are covered with a mosaic filter.
  • Fartillery: Kotomi's... biggest problem, shall we say. She farts when she gets nervous, and since she's a gym practitioner... It should be noted that her farts in the manga seem to venture more toward Fartillery territory than the anime; in the anime, her farts are average sounding but in the manga they're often drawn like explosions to emphasize their volume.
  • Gass Hole: As mentioned above, poor Kotomi's disorder turns her into this when she gets nervous (which happens quite frequently) making her one of the rare female gassholes in fiction.
  • Gonk: Ryuuji when he uses parts of all the DNA he absorbed is not a pretty sight to look at.
  • Important Haircut: Kotomi has Girlish Pigtails, which she later trades for a cute pageboy style.
  • In-Series Nickname: Junta Momonari begins to refer to his playboy personalities via nicknames. The one full of BishieSparkles but with no ability to fight is referred to as "Twinkle Junta" and the proper Mega Playboy with fighting capabilities is the Mega Playboy himself. In turn, during their talks inside Junta's mind the Mega Playboy calls him "DNA1" and refers to himself as "[DNA 2=]", as Junta is the original and he came later. When the Mega Playboy is forcefully brought out in the final chapters and is a huge asshole, Junta calls him a devil and Mori says, "Very fitting. We'll call him Devil Junta", though the Mega Playboy does not like that.
  • Jerkass: Ryuuji. Even more after he gets shot by Karin by mistake, too, and gains powers from that.
  • Karma Houdini: Okay, so Ryuuji ends up in the hospital and then gets Brainwashed and Crazy... but what about the several cases of attempted murder along with attempted rape?!
  • Last-Minute Hookup: Junta and Ami. All the other potential rivals are taken care of since Tomoko has forgiven Ryuuji for his constant cheating and stalker attitude and is taking him back, Kotomi has been Put on a Bus to Germany and Karin removes Junta's memories of her and returns to the future.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: Inverted. Junta Momonari has pretty dark hair, often depicted with red for highlights, where as Twinkle Junta has slightly spikier and lighter hair. Both are outdone by the Mega Playboy, who can charm women much faster and easier and is a much better physical and telekinetic fighter than either of them, and he's shown to have much brighter hair than either of them, going into a neon-magenta color.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Tomoko's Freudian Excuse. Not only her dad is a very rich businessman who spends more time abroad than with his only daughter, but her mom is dead.
  • Manly Tears: Junta sports some after he lands a huge punch onto Ryuuji and thinks he won the duel. He hasn't.
  • Near-Rape Experience: When Junta (actually Ryuji who took on the appearance of Junta) tries to force Ami to sleep with him, she demands to know if he wants to sleep with her or just wants to have sex. Saying it could be any girl, Ami stops resisting and tells him that their friendship is over then... and he stops, suddenly not feeling like it anymore. It does lead Ryuji to discover that he can simply absorb a person's DNA by touch and be capable of taking on their full-body appearance then.
  • No Badass to His Valet: Why Ami is the only known female actually immune to Junta's Mega Playboy persona.
  • The Ojou: Tomoko
  • Operation: Jealousy: Tomoko once asked Junta to go out with her to make Ryuuji jealous after a big fight. And it's right after the horrible (and hilarious) consequences that Karin comes in...
  • Plot Hole: Rurara's existence is both this and a time paradox. First, Karin tells Junta that Mega Playboy only fathered sons and the trend continued down the line of only sons. Then, after the Mega Playboy gene is removed from Junta, Rurara doesn't disappear. The only logical explanation for this is that she was either his descendant through Ami or that being descended from Mega Playboy was a bluff. Adverted in the manga, where she does disappear.
  • Population Control: Due to overpopulation in the future, there's a strict law that permits people to only have one child. Since Junta was a Mega Playboy and fathered 100 children, who all have the same, charming and potent DNA, the plot begins by sending someone back in time to change his DNA so that he won't father those children as a simple and fast way to control the issue.
  • The Pornomancer: Junta is supposed to grow into this and the Mega Playboy is one. And Ryuji thinks he is one.
  • Punny Name: The series's title, which is both a reference to DNA and short for "Dokokade Nakushita Aitsu no Aitsu" ("The One Who Was Lost").
  • Sexy Shirt Switch: Subverted. When Junta wakes up at morning, he finds Karin sleeping on a futon wearing one of his shirts and her panties... but since Junta is literally allergic to girls, there is NO way something could've happened. Karin was wearing his shirt just because Junta's mother Chiyo put it on her when she was passed out.
  • Ship Tease / Will They or Won't They?: Junta falls for Karin pretty early on, and her wacky inner monologue reveals that she likes him even when he's not radiating distilled sexuality.
    • Either Downer Ending or Bittersweet Ending: In the manga, Karin seriously considers staying in the present with Junta, but when she realizes he's started to truly like Ami after all, she tells him that him liking her "too" is not good enough to face all the risks that come with staying, and says goodbye, Junta, of course, tries to stop her, but she still goes to the future and he still gets shot with a bullet that takes away all the awesome powers he recently got complete control over, and his memories of everything that happened in the story.
    • The anime omits all of this. Instead, she just tells Junta to be happy with Ami, and departs with a smile, leaving him fairly heartbroken. The OAVs give a little more closure: after Mori is captured and Rurara is "defused", Karin again shoots Junta... but with a bullet that will both undo the MPB traits and erase his memories. Ami does beg her to reconsider it, asking Karin if that's really the best course of action, and Karin replies that it can't be really helped since she's from the future, her mission is fully complete, and there wouldn't be a way for them to really get together. She even cries as she explains this to Ami, who then accepts it and promises to make Junta happy; then Karin, Rurara, and the other people from the future return home. Still Gecko, but makes a little more sense.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Mega Playboy mode Junta is very obviously based on the hair Gohan sported in Dragon Ball Z once he hit Super Saiyan level 2. Justified, as Masakazu Katsura is a personal friend of Akira Toriyama and both authors love to throw jabs at each other on their respective works.
    • When Junta comes down from his first transformation into the playboy personality, he thinks he's cured and grabs dirty magazines to prove that he can look at half-naked girls without vomiting. There are two magazines, one with Ai and the other with Mai on it. Both are from Masakazu's previous manga Video Girl Ai.
  • Tsundere: Both Karin (Type B) and Ami (Type A).
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: Junta vomits on-screen whenever he's near women, even in the opening credits!
  • Waterfall Puke: It happens when Junta's reaction upon being near women or seeing one naked is... more explicit.

Alternative Title(s): DNA 2

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