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Dated 16 October 2006: Gift ~eternal rainbow~

Kirino Konosaka
Kirino Konosaka.

So there's a Da Capo III. Well, not exactly, but Gift ~eternal rainbow~ seems so much like Da Capo and D.C.S.S. ~Da Capo Second Season~ that it might as well be a third season. The character designs, setting, animation, and other basic elements are all very similiar.

For example:

  • Male Protagonist has the same voice actor in both shows.
  • Both Da Capo and Gift-ER feature non-blood-related sisters as the First Girl.
  • Kotori hat, Kotori hat.
  • Utamaru correlate in some little witch-hat-wearing bird thing (except the bird is much less friendly).

In all likelihood, Gift-ER probably sucks, too. I'll probably still watch it, though. Yes, I'll watch it so you don't have to. Plus it will fill the "lowbrow harem comedy" spot in my usual viewing line-up. Thank God that means I won't have to suffer past the first episode of Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na -Crescent Love- to meet that need, because that show got annoying fast.

Okay, the Gift basics:

  • It takes place in a town where magic is commonplace.
  • There's a not-quite-ROYGBIV rainbow that perpetually hovers over the town for no apparent reason.
  • Any couple in love can share their feelings to make a miracle happen. (No, that's really not a metaphor.)

The First Girl He Sees is an old childhood friend kohai. Hey, a two-for-one special. She's also the one with the Kotori hat.

Alas, she is not the REAL First Girl. The first episode of Gift actually opens with a flashback sequence where a much younger Male Protagonist bids farewell to Riko, some pink-haired girl.

Riko
Riko.

For those of you unfamiliar with the First Girl He Sees Principle, it basically dictates that in any harem comedy, the male lead will always end up with the very first girl he sees. This typically won't happen until the very end of the series, and the bulk of the show will be about the spineless guy vacillating among the myriad girls in the harem.

Naturally, the first First Girl, the one in the flashback, comes back from wherever the Hell she was to this magical town with the perpetual rainbow for wacky good times. Wacky good times like pulling your childhood friend into your bed first thing in the morning to give her a Dutch rub.

Haruhiko pulls Kirino into his bed.
And how.

Oh yeah, this show also has witch hats.

Chisa pulls an Ayu on Haruhiko.
Chisa pulls an Ayu on Haruhiko.

Comparisons to Da Capo are going to be unavoidable for the duration of Gift-ER's run, I suspect. So far the two shows are running fairly even. Gift ~eternal rainbow~ has the advantage of not having Nemu or Sakura in its cast, but it also doesn't have melodilicious OPs and EDs by CooRie.

Kirino Konosaka
Apologies to Kero-chan.

Oh, and for the Seifuku CHECK contingent, the school uniform features a mini corset along the top of the skirt.

Dated 26 November 2006: Gift ~eternal rainbow~

Penguin toy attack
This joke could be stupider. There could be more of them.

Gift ~eternal rainbow~ is god-awful. When a series aspires to be a low-rent Da Capo and fails even in that regard, you know you've got something grotesquely heinous. The only thing Gift ~eternal rainbow~ has going for it is that it isn't Crescent Love. Seriously, though, I want all the characters to die in a fire. Well, not Kirino. She's so pathetic and miserable that I'd let her live.

Haruhiko and Riko
Damn it, snipers, where are you?

I'll tell you one thing, though: Gift ~eternal rainbow~ has made me realize how much better things were back when Girls Bravo was my shitty show for the season that I inexplicably followed. (Girls Bravo was strikingly terrible, but at least it was funny on occasion.) To put things in perspective, Gift ~eternal rainbow~ is worse than Cosprayers. It's still not as bad as Limeiro CROSS, but Lord, it ain't good.

Dated 5 December 2006: Gift ~eternal rainbow~ episode nine

Kirino
Kirino drops back ten and punts.

Yes, Gift ~eternal rainbow~ is really insipid, but I fully support this traumarama circus. War Kirino.

Also, does the episode nine flashback effectively establish Kirino as the First Girl insofar as the First Girl He Sees Principle is concerned? This is getting complicated.

Dated 9 December 2006: Gift ~eternal rainbow~ episode 10

Kirino
Dark Kirino is displeased.

Wow, I almost want to take back what I said about Gift ~eternal rainbow~ being insipid. The last couple episodes have been full of treachery and jealousy and misery and the show is all kinds of watchable now. Episode 10 in particular sets up a BAD END, which will be totally awesome if the show doesn't chicken out and force some manner of happy ending out of the final episodes.

Haruhiko
Basically this is all because Haruhiko is a sick bastard.

I'm hoping that these characters start killing enough other before the series' conclusion, but I guess that's probably a little optimistic on my part. Still, for a show about wishes and rainbows, Gift ~eternal rainbow~ has taken somewhat of a dark turn, so it's not entirely out of the question.

Dated 16 December 2006: Gift ~eternal rainbow~ episode 11

Haruhiko
RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

Well, it looks like Gift ~eternal rainbow~ is headed for the stupid-type ending. I still feel vindicated in choosing this show over Crescent Love as my mindless anime of the season to watch, but I'm starting to wonder if I would have been better off following Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ instead.