Sunday, June 24, 2007

Da Capo - The Bells of Happiness

One common difference between the real world and the anime world:

In the anime world, the girls fawn over a single guy.
In the real world, the guys fawn over a single girl.

I wonder how true this statement is...

*******
I rushed through both season one and two of Da Capo.

The 1st season was about Asakura Junichi and Asakura Nemu. They were more than just siblings – lovers. Don’t misunderstand; it’s not the forbidden love. From the storyline, it was said that Nemu lost her parents and was adopted by Junichi’s family.

Junichi to Nemu: “Everything I have, I give half to you.”


Asakura Junichi and Asakura Nemu

Besides Junichi and Nemu, there are other characters that play an important role in this anime and they are:


Yoshino Sakura, Junichi’s cousin and first love,


Shirakawa Kotori, the school idol and star singer,


Amakase Miharu, who loves eating banana and adores Nemu,


Sagisawa Misaki, a young girl who stays at home with Yoriko, her cat,


Mizukushi Moe and Mizukushi Mako, both can be seen enjoying nabe at the rooftop,


Suginami, Junichi and Nemu’s classmate,


Saeki Kanako and Morikawa Tomoko, Kotori’s close friends,


Not forgetting Utamaru, Sakura’s cat who is often seen hopping instead of crawling.

Sakura was jealous of Nemu because she loved Junichi. There is this magical sakura tree planted by Sakura’s grandma that grants anyone’s pure wishes. To her horror, the tree granted Sakura’s wish and caused Nemu to fall ill, coughing sakura petals all the time. In the end, she resolves to wither the magical tree, breaking the enchantments placed on Nemu.

The first season ended when Sakura moved back to America again after putting the magical tree to a deep slumber (withered). The withering of the magical tree caused a devastating effect to those who possessed magical powers. They lost the enchantments or abilities they used to have. 

In the second season, the storyline is set two years after the events of the previous season. This time, it is centered on Aisia, a young witch.

There are more characters introduced in this season and they are:


Konomiya Tamaki, a miko/priestess at a local Shinto shrine, possess the ability to see the future,


Kudou Kanae, actually a girl but dressed as a guy. A classmate of Junichi and Suginami,


Saitama Nanako, a shoujo manga artist. Suginami is one of her biggest fans,


Tsukishiro Alice, the daughter of the family of circus acrobats and


Aisia, who always screwed up her use of magic, wreaking havoc.

I thought to be fair, the second season should be the story about Junichi and Kotori since the first episode is mainly about the two of them but I was wrong; Nemu appeared again as a nurse trainee a few episodes later, meaning that there’s no chance for Kotori. Sakura also returns to Hatsunejima (the crescent shaped island where the storyline of Da Capo begin) somewhere in episode 18 or 19.

The conflict of the second season was the difference between the two wizards (witches) view of magic – Aisia’s idealistic view of magic versus Sakura’s realistic view of magic.

Aisia insist on resurrecting the magical tree to grant the wish of every girl but was told off by Sakura because magic is dangerous and can cause a devastating effect. After many attempts with the desire to grant all the girls who love Junichi a fair chance, she (Aisia) manages to revive the magical sakura tree.

Thus, a reset happened – everyone had forgotten the relationship of Junichi and Nemu. Soon, all the girls fawn over Junichi. It is obvious that Kotori will definitely win Junichi’s feelings but Sakura says it doesn’t work this way – everything will stay in a reset status until it is Aisia’s turn to gain Junichi’s feelings. She also said that Aisia had not realized that she harbored feelings for Junichi, which is why she was able to resurrect the magical sakura tree.

Aisia, seeing Junichi and Nemu suffering realized that like what Sakura had warned her – the tree will not hold back against hurting Nemu to grant her wish and comes to the same conclusion like what Sakura went through two years ago. She pleaded upon the tree to stop both Junichi and Nemu’s sufferings but was in vain. Finally she resorts to the final move, sending the tree into its deep slumber again and disappeared along with the petals of sakura, apologizing to everyone for the trouble she caused.

After Aisia disappeared, life goes on normally with Misaki joining in the gang. The seasons passed by swiftly and during spring, the wedding bells rang. Yeap, Junichi and Nemu appeared in front of the crowd consisting of mostly their friends, apparently just married.

At the ending of the episode, Aisia appeared as a hooded figure and visits their wedding as a more capable wizard without screwing up again that is – she caught the bouquet of flower Nemu throw and turned it into mini bouquets of flowers on each of the girls’ arms.

Overall I was quite disappointed with the ending…

Personally I prefer Junichi choosing Kotori over Nemu as I felt that both Junichi and Kotori are more suiting compared to Junichi and Nemu. But then who am I to criticize? At least I did enjoy the anime.


Found this in animegalleries.net

Forgot where I found this...

Credits: Random Curiosity for the pictures.

While waiting for SK for the .avi versions of Da Capo, it's time to study... I have been slacking too much =/

3 comments:

Eric said...

it is wonder why tons of girls went crazy over arrogant guys in anime.. like Lukawa from SlamDunk, and Sasuke from Naruto Animated series..

Wei Liang said...

Eric: Maybe being arrogant is an attraction to the girls? xD

I doubt it works in the real world though...

Steven Chua said...

Nice anime isn't it??? haha...