I can't honestly remember why I made this GIF. 2005 was an odd year.

You know how I've always said Kotori needs to be in a better show? Well, it just might happen. Anime News Network reports there's a Da Capo OVA in the works starring Kotori. I hope to Haruhi this turns out to be good, because I'm not especially looking forward to watching more Da Capo.

Chiwassu!

I've insisted for a long time that Kotori deserves to be in a better show. The Shirakawa-centric Da Capo If OVA isn't exactly what I had in mind, but at least she does "win" in this alternate re-telling of the original Da Capo continuity.

Walk it off, Nemu. You'll be all right.

As near as I can tell, Sakura kills Nemu in this version. (She had it coming, really.) We don't know for sure Sakura killed Nemu. Neither character appears in the first Da Capo If OVA. But if you're familiar with the end of the original Da Capo, you can get there from here.

Sakura wouldn't kill anybody. She seems like a nice girl.

I said "wins" because a Kotori-Junichi pairing sounds like a lopsided relationship to me. When I said Kotori deserves to be in a better show, I meant one where she's a pop idol or a mecha pilot or racing through European countries trying to stop a serial killer. Ending up with Junichi isn't what I had in mind.

Right?

You see, as far as I'm concerned, Junichi is still a cretin. He's not as bad as his D.C.S.S. counterpart, but he's not exactly a stand-up harem comedy protagonist, either. If's way of pretending he's a decent fellow is letting him get his shoes wet as Kotori very slowly and completely inexplicably falls over at the beach. I wasn't aware she had an inner ear disorder.

I said, "RIGHT?"

But that's Da Capo for you. Its cast is still a menagerie of twits, so I shouldn't be surprised the franchise can't get Kotori and Junichi together without trying to bring her down to his level. Kotori is still a total sweetheart, but she's definitely throwing her life away for no good reason.

Nemu and Junichi really did deserve each other.

In other news, I've started watching the original Da Capo series backwards. That is, after If 01, I went back and re-watched Da Capo 26, then episode 25, et cetera. I'm not sure why I'm bothering, since it's clearly a complete waste of time. It's a mildly amusing exercise so far, but I can't promise I won't abandon the endeavor altogether once the Winter 2009 season hits its stride in earnest.

Kotori is pretty upbeat for a girl surrounded by twits.

As I mentioned at the end of this entry, I am sort of half-ass re-watching the first Da Capo anime in reverse order. Mostly this is just confusing since I've forgotten a lot of the smaller details regarding the show and its characters. But it is also nice to get the important stuff front-loaded. In backwards order, Da Capo is about how everything is pretty much Sakura's fault, and then the show spools out to reveal how things get there.

I bet it's Sakura's fault Moe is in a constant stupor, too.

I hated Sakura and Nemu the first time around, mostly for their incessant nii-san! onii-chan! business, but Sakura is actually all right when she's trying to kill people, trying to not kill people, wallowing in self-loathing, seething with jealousy, and pretending it's not her fault Moe's boyfriend got hit by a car. I even have to grudgingly admit Nemu is okay providing she doesn't talk. If only she could have gone into that coma earlier.

"HOLY SHIT! KOTORI IS DITCHING!"

There is still no guarantee I'll finish the Great Backwards Da Capo Re-Watching Project, mind you. Now that I am clear of the traumarama episodes, the bulk of the story is rather insipid, not counting the bizarre side-story epilogues. However, I've already dropped five shows this season, so unless I really am going to watch 100 episodes of Major, I'll have some time to kill before Da Capo If episode two hits in March.

"Tschüss, fuckers!"
And away she goes.

In other news, someone needs to teach Kotori the proper way to play hooky. It's kinda conspicuous when the school idol tips out the front gate in broad daylight. Then again, maybe she did that deliberately because she knew her stalkers would rally and sound the alarm. Being the smartest character on the show and a mind reader to boot, the possibility probably occurred to her.