Watching this after having my ass handed to me by a midterm reminds me why I love anime so much.

Hmmm…four episodes in and Koko is -STILL- with Yoshiyuki, does not compute. I still maintain that we’re heading for a siscon end, but each passing episode that this relationship stays afloat is sowing the seeds of doubt into my mind. Though, could you imagine the awesomeness of another Canvas2-esque WTF! ending. DO WANT.

Yoshiyuki wakes up from another one of his dreams, this one has Koko taking him to the equipment shed to make some “memories”, only to find that he’s running late. He catches up to Koko, who’s waiting for him so they can walk to school together, she asks why he’s so late, only to have Yoshiyuki dodge the embarrassing dream. As they walk to school, Koko wonders if they’ll have any time to spend together, today being the sports festival, Yoshiyuki promises that he’ll do his best to make some time for her.

At the opening ceremony, Wataru is less concerned with Sakura’s opening speech as he is with being surrounded by bloomers, turning Yoshiyuki’s attention to Koko’s. However, they’re quickly busted by Otome, who yells at her ototo for whispering during her speech.

As the classes start to cheer, Yoshiyuki and friends notice Nanaka going all out rallying her class, noting how she can be cool as well as cute. Nanaka notices Yoshiyuki looking and calls out to him, Yoshiyuki responding meekly, but calling her by her first name, as has become habit. This, of course, gets him many death stares from the guys in Nanaka’s class, as well as some teasing from Anzu.

The first event of the day is the four-legged race (I guess three-legged races have become too standard?) with Koko, Yoshiyuki and Anzu. After some pre-race teasing from Anzu, the starting pistol sounds and they’re off! Or…so was the plan, but the three end up falling flat on their faces right from the start. Anzu takes the opportunity and pushes Yoshiyuki onto Koko, anime physics kicks in and he lands right on her breasts, Anzu takes it a step further by smothering Yoshiyuki into her oppai for a good while after that.

Afterwards, Yoshiyuki tries to apologize to Koko but ends up getting dragged away by Wataru to watch Yume and Minatsu in the karimono, borrowing race. When the two get to the table, Minatsu picks paper after paper saying bananas, throwing each one away in frustration. After Yume grabs her paper she rushes straight to Yoshiyuki and tears him away from Koko yet again. Turns out she needs his gym shorts, but in her rush, she takes one layer too extra, leaving Yoshiyuki half naked in the middle of the track.

With some alone time, Yoshiyuki and Koko sit down to have lunch together, but are interrupted yet again when the whole gang shows up to eat together. While everyone tries to take a stab at the bento Koko made for Yoshiyuki (only Nanaka succeeding), Anzu and Akane suggest Koko try feeding Yoshiyuki in the classic rabu rabu “Ahhhhh~” fashion. The crowd goes wild when they actually oblige.

Koko and Yoshiyuki continue to get interrupted even after lunch when Suginami pries him away to show him something neat. He hands him a remote that is hooked up to the net obstacle that Nanaka, Yume and Akane are currently running, when Yoshiyuki presses it, the net flings them in the air, landing them in some very…interesting positions, to say the least. And half the guys at the track die from rapid blood loss XD

Yoshiyuki gets back to find Koko has gone to help out with the 100m dash, Yoshiyuki’s next event, her task is handing out the first place flag. With Koko waiting at the end, his determination to win is high, but when the starting pistol sounds, he finds out Suginami has rigged another one of his contraptions up to “help” him. Attached to the bottom of his starting block are rockets, initially propelling Yoshiyuki forward, but soon taking him to the sky, and shortly after, a rough landing.

As Koko walks him to the nurse’s office, Yoshiyuki curses Suginami, which Koko finds odd because he usually doesn’t get worked up over things like that. Yoshiyuki says that it’s because she was waiting for him at the end of the race, Koko blushes and thanks Yoshiyuki with a hug. However, their time together is cut short yet again when she’s called over the PA, having to hand Yoshiyuki over to Yume to take care of the rest.

In the nurse’s office Yume tries to dig some info up on what’s going on between him and Koko, suggesting that she may have been interrupting. Yoshiyuki denies it, despite being technically true, and when she presses further, he says their relationship has nothing to do with her, causing Yume to go into a fit of jealousy and blast him with a long spray of rubbing alcohol.

As the sports festival winds to a close, Koko asks Yoshiyuki to follow her to the storage shed. There, she leads him by the hand around the back and nervously asks if he will help her make some memories. Yoshiyuki’s hormones rage and he thinks he’s about to get some, when Koko pulls out a camera and it turns out she just wants a picture. She sets the timer and stands beside him, but the two are interrupted yet again by Wataru, Anzu and Akane. Wataru wants in on the pictures, but not before Akane orders him to take one of the lovey dovey couple by themselves first.

Thoughts

Ahhh, why won’t it end. I can’t believe it’s four episodes in and the KokoXYoshiyuki relationship is still hanging on, admittedly by a thin thread, but still hanging on. Again, I don’t dislike Koko or anything, but I’m finding her story really really boring.

Although, character wise, I can’t find any fault in Koko at all, she is, as Nanaka suggested, the perfect bride candidate. But again, this makes her really boring to watch. I’d much rather see Yoshiyuki with Yume, who despite being a bit on the bitchy side, would probably be all kinds of awesome melting in Yoshiyuki’s hands, much how many thought Nemu was a bitch, but I personally loved her interaction with Juunichi. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind a Nanaka path, she’s so laid back and casual with everyone, I’d love to see the side of her that comes out when she’s dating.

Da Capo has always had some intense character drama, for example: In the first season you had Nemu and Juunichi struggling to come to terms with their love for each other, knowing that it was there yet not wanting to act on it in fear it would ruin their relationship and bring societal scorn. The misunderstandings and awkwardness that resulted and the glorious moment when they broke through expectations and came together was an amazing sight to behold.

But in DCII, all we’re getting is some lame elementary school romance where Yoshiyuki and Koko still haven’t gotten over the profuse blushing and awkwardness yet, it’s disappointing. At least if there was some more direct competition we’d get to see some catfighting going on, but from the looks of it, Nanaka is sitting on the sidelines so as not to betray her friend and Otome sees Yoshiyuki as nothing but her ototo-kun.

The only one who seems like she might put a fight, and the one who I still pick as the end winner, is Yume. She is showing interest in the KokoXYoshiyuki relationship, trying to see how serious Yoshiyuki is about it, all while showing periodic signs of jealousy. Yume ftw! Anything to stir up the so far sub-par drama that DCII is turning out to be.

But that having been said, it’s doing quite well as a light hearted school comedy, nothing to hold a candle to School Rumble, but I find it pretty funny nevertheless. Between Nanaka and her happy go lucky personality, Anzu/Akane’s teasing and Minatsu’s ongoing struggle against bananas, I still find myself being entertained episode to episode, just not in the way I had expected to be.

Oh well, I can only hope that the romance drama will kick into gear soon enough, not that I have the slightest clue as to what was said during the caffeine induced preview rant.

Seeing Sakura again reminds me of her awesomeness, eternal loli is eternaaaaaal

~ Shirukii ~