12 January 2009: The problem with Da Capo If: Junichi is still an ass clown
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.
