16 October 2006: Gift ~eternal rainbow~
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.
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.
And how.
Oh yeah, this show also has witch hats.
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.
Apologies to Kero-chan.
Oh, and for the Seifuku CHECK contingent, the school uniform features a mini corset along the top of the skirt.
