Wait, what!?

So after all the Koko buildup, after being forced to sit through an entire season of watching the two of them dancing around their sham of a relationship and getting nowhere, we get a Minatsu centric ending? This coming from the same Feel that did the original Da Capo, brimming with wonderfully constructed siscon drama? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!

Episode Rating: 5/10 || Series Rating: 5.5/10

After Minatsu was expelled from school Yoshiyuki never managed to get a hold of Sakura, as he arrives to school the next day he finds that the students are boycotting classes. When they had learned of Minatsu’s expulsion they went to the teachers to oppose the decision, led by Maya of all people. The protest proved fruitless so the students decided to boycott classes in response. When Minatsu finds everyone else and confirms that the boycott is being done for her she’s touched by their sentiments but knows that this will only lead to trouble for the students. Yoshiyuki understands what she means and tells her that if she can spread that message among the students they’ll act accordingly.

With Nanaka and Suginami’s help Minatsu hijacks the PA system, first telling everyone how happy she is that everyone would come together for her but knows that the decision can’t be overruled, rather than being discouraged, this actually makes the student body erupt, cheering Minatsu’s name. After calming the cheering and getting them to listen, she explains that she doesn’t want for anyone to get in trouble because of her, that’s all she wishes for now. The students then calmly bow and ask the teacher’s to reconsider, or at least give Minatsu some more time, they finally cave.

Minatsu gets to enjoy her life as a student for a bit longer, but after school Koko and Nanaka speak in the music room, Koko saying that she wants to do something more for Minatsu, but is afraid of what Yoshiyuki will think. Nanaka reminds her about her decisions and thinks that she should be honest with both Yoshiyuki and Minatsu.

After school Yoshiyuki returns home to find Sakura has returned from an emergency business trip. He tells her that he wants to do something more for Minatsu but since she doesn’t want everyone to dote over her, he wants to respect those feelings at the same time. The next day is Minatsu’s last, she meets with Yoshiyuki on the roof and thanks him once again for everything they’ve been through together. As she reminisces about the times they’ve spent together and the friends she’s made because of him she wonders if she was able to bring humans and robots closer together. Finally, taking out her plans for world domination, she tears the notebook up and lets the wind carry the pieces off, feeling that it isn’t necessary anymore.

As they come down from the roof Yoshiyuki gets a call from Koko telling him to bring Minatsu with him to the gym where they find the entire student body gathered for a special graduation ceremony for Minatsu. Anzu and Akane tell Yoshiyuki that it was Koko who planned it all, Sakura even presents Minatsu with an honorary graduation diploma. Yoshiyuki then gets a message from Koko telling him to come backstage where she hands Yoshiyuki his guitar and the band puts on a concert. As Minatsu watches from backstage she can’t help but be moved to tears, thanking everyone for all they’ve done for her.

Thoughts and Final Impressions

Thank God it’s finally over. I repeatedly stated throughout the series that Feel made a huge mistake by picking Koko and Minatsu to center their focus on, and believe me when I say, it’s the honest truth, I have no personal vendetta against the characters, they would have been quite likable on the sides. But in the spotlight, they fell much too short of the personality required to build an interesting plot around, and it’s a crying shame too, DCII really did have a lot of potential.

I really want to know what was running through the heads of the writers, especially for the last few episodes. Up until then there was at least the unifying theme of the struggling KokoXYoshiyuki relationship, no matter how painful it was to watch, but then they decided to shift the attention onto Minatsu and it all fell apart, feeling completely random. We didn’t even get any closure in terms of Koko and Yoshiyuki, sure they broke up, but we never really saw Yoshiyuki react to it, even in the last episode he was worrying more about Minatsu than Koko.

Despite all the crap that I’ve given DCII over these past months, I’m going to have to do something counterintuitive, I’m going to recommend it to everyone. For on reason and one reason only, because at this rate there has to be a sequel, and it will focus on either the Asakura sisters or Nanaka, I’m thinking the latter seeing as she was there to support Koko at the end, whereas the Asakura sisters didn’t really get much in terms of development throughout the series. If this second season actually does make it to air, think of how awesome it will be. Minatsu and Koko are pretty much completely out of the way, so there’ll be plenty of time to fully develop the other characters, the thought of a properly done Nanaka route makes me drool with anticipation.

So against my better judgment, if you’re a Da Capo fan and want to prepare yourself for the next season, buckle down and get through this load of fail so you’re prepped for DCII SS. Or perhaps if you’re not concerned too much with the finer details, you can skip it and just hope that the next season doesn’t hinge on things developed this season.

Anyways, that’s all for now, I can’t bring myself to say anything else about the series without having it turn into a vitriolic rant about how much wasted potential DCII had. Bottom line, if you’re a Da Capo fan or if you plan on watching the sequel, give it a shot. Otherwise, stay far far away from this, it’s a disgrace to the harem genre and a stain on the Da Capo franchise far worse than DCSS (and if you’ve watched DCSS you’ll understand the true weight of that statement).

EDIT Update! Da Capo II Second Season confirmed, it will begin airing April 2008. Haha, oh wow, that was sooner than I expected.

A tip for Feel’s scriptwriters to keep in mind next time, NEEDS MOAR NANAKA!

~ Shirukii ~