Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Episode Total: 26
Producers: CIRCUS, Ganges, ZEXCS, Lantis, feel.
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Supernatural
D.C.S.S. ~Da Capo Second Season~
[Review: 60/100]

After finishing the moderately decent first season of Da Capo, I wasn’t expecting much from the second season. Maybe a fresh new coat of animation and a few ongoing storylines that overlap each other will help this one be different than the stereotypical first season. It got the same music and art you know and love from the show, but one main addition, the character Aisia, ruined for this season for many. Ironically, it wasn’t exactly a disaster for me.

Two years after the ending of the first season, Jun’ichi Asakura has been living by himself after Nemu left him for an unexplained reason. During that time, besides changing his hair from brown to black, the other girls in his class, especially the lovely Kotori (voice by one my favorite seiyuu, Yui Horie), decided to take care of him since he is such a useless slacker. Although it seems that now Nemu is out of the picture and everyone can win Jun’ichi’s heart, everything changes when the mysterious Aisia walks in one day. The mysterious green bow wearing girl came to Hatsune-Jima to learn magic and was looking for Sakura’s grandmother in order to accomplish that. Because Jun’ichi knew her, Aisia decides to be his disciple and stay along with him, and hilarity ensues.

While the love triangle between Sakura, Nemu and Jun’ichi was the heart of the first season, Aisia is the heart of the second. Her awfully cute personality and her ongoing belief in magic is the topic of many episodes to come. It is weird how in the beginning of the series she was so quiet and mysterious while a few episodes later she is perky and energetic, which makes her more of an annoyance than what Sakura was in the last season.

Aisia’s presence make the show more of a comedy than a drama, as the earlier episodes are filled with intrusive jokes, mainly breasts jokes (not that I have something against it), and while some moments can warrant laughs, some leaves you spiraling in confusion while witnessing Aisia’s poor magic attempts. When the series become more dramatic towards the end of the season, I have to admit, I enjoyed it a lot more than the first season, thanks to Aisia. Say what you want about her, but she is the only character that matures throughout the series and because of her decisions, we get a satisfying conclusion to an overall mediocre show.

Besides Aisia, D.C.S.S tries to add too many new characters for people to personify with. Some, like the mankaga Nanako, seem to be a last-minute addition that strengthens the fact how clichéd Da Capo is in the cluttered Harem genre. Moreover, the other characters have gotten much smaller roles to nonexistent like Mako, who was fun to watch in the first season, but now doesn’t serve more than an acquaintance. What the series needed is more male characters, but besides the hilarious wisecracker Suginami (one of the bright spots of Da Capo), all we get is Kudou. He is a nice fellow, but his origin is never explained, which is unfortunate, because if you play the game, you learn a lot more about him. It is sad because the creators had another 26 episodes to use, but they were only used to emphasize how “loveable” Aisia is.

Da Capo Season Season is one of those shows no matter how many characters there are, you have no one to like or root for; all of the girls are in love with one boy and that boy is as interesting as a blank board. While Aisia is annoying, she does notice that Harem cliché and tries to mess around with it later in the show, but it’s not enough to distinguish itself from the rest. If you loved the first season of Da Capo, you’d probably be upset with the second one mainly because of Aisia (which I said her name 11 times in this review), but those who didn’t, will probably feel the same. In my case, because of the smoother pace, D.C.S.S is a better edited and enjoyable show than the first Da Capo, but that doesn’t make it all that great.

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Episode Total: 26
Producers: CIRCUS, Ganges, ZEXCS, Lantis, feel.
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Supernatural
D.C. ~Da Capo~
[Review: 59/100]

When you hear about a show that’s based on a Japanese dating sim, you are bound to think it’s all about the pretty girls, or guys, you converse with. Da Capo is one of those anime that are based on such thing. It has the same premise of any other anime of its type; have a moderately normal and somewhat popular guy put in an environment of beautiful girls and just see how things go from there. Although some of the scenarios are less than common, I just can’t help but notice how bland it is.

Jun’ichi Asakura, the protagonist, is a sophomore at Hatsune-Jima’s local high school. He leaves together with his sister, Nemu, although the two are not related by blood. While the relation between the two is your ordinary sibling relationship, along comes Jun’ichi’s acquaintance, Sakura, to spice his life a bit. Despite her short stature, Sakura is the same age as he and Nemu, and she harbors great feelings to him. Once Nemu notices that, it all comes down to a competition of who can have Jun’ichi for herself.

The premise itself isn’t ordinary, but to give the series some credit, it has some original characters. Sakura, beautifully portrayed by the talented Yukari Tamura, may seem cute and rather obsessive about Jun’ichi, but she is quiet a serious and rational person when the situation is appropriate. Throughout the course of the 26 episodes, Sakura is perhaps the only one who shows an actual development in her nature and understanding.

While we have some interesting people like Sakura to identify with, some are not quite there. Miharu is the overly zealous freshman that can never get enough of her upperclassman Nemu. Now I don’t mind a little same sex innuendo from time to time, but her annoying fetish for bananas (it’s annoying because she does mention it every episodes she is in) is a bit too much. She acts like a child from the beginning to the end, and while she does have the most interesting background of all the characters, it doesn’t make her any lovable than the others.

The main problem with Da Capo is the lack of a consistent structure. The first 15 episodes of the show provide a nice comedic exposition to the characters, but from episode 16, the series shifts to a serious tone and most of the characters are pretty much excluded from the storyline. These episodes, while emotionally convincing, can be drag on for too many episodes than necessary. There was no reason the series needed all 26 for the story, because 13 would have sufficed. This creates awkward situations that result in a dead silence that can last for a few minutes.

The art in Da Capo is not too exceptional in terms of the character designs, albeit the backgrounds in the show look radiant thanks to the strong shade of pink of the sakura trees. The classical soundtrack of Da Capo conveys the emotions of the many characters in a satisfying way and it is probably the series’ highest point.

To say that Da Capo is unique is a double-edged sword. While it has some interesting elements and characters to it that distinguishes it from the rest of the Harem pack, it knows from inside that it cannot really uproot itself from all the clichés of the genre. The last episodes of the show may move some, but I found them to be drawn out and less than satisfying. Ironically, my favorite episode of the show was the first one because the innocence it had before all the zaniness occurred. If you want a moving romantic story and you have nothing better to watch, Da Capo is a nice choice. I would have to say, however, that Da Capo is nothing but a tedious effort that could have been halved in order to convey its plot in a way that would appeal to everyone.