"The Never Withering Sakura Tree, from which he gained his power to observe the dreams..."
Da Capo I is a harem, drama, magic, and romance anime. It was originally released in July 2003 by Feel and Zexcs with 26 episodes. It has a season 2 and two additional sequels of the next generations (Da Capo II and Da Capo III). Since the seasons are too different from eachother, I will be writing a review for each.
General Rating: 6.8/10
My Rating: 9.8/10
Da Capo is one of my favorite romance animes of all time. However sometimes I doubt myself giving it a full 10/10. It's not the perfect anime, but the ending meant a lot to me.
Da Capo at first seems like just another harem anime, but it has a slight twist that the main male can see the dreams of other people. I wish they had utilized this more in the anime.
I am generally not a fan of harem animes like these, and Da Capo is no exception - at least not in the first half of season one. After a while of pointless harem dramatics, this anime awakes its secret emotional underlayers. That changed my opinion on the anime greatly. I love seeing a couple's love persevere and the cute romantic moments in this anime - mainly the emotional endings in Da Capo Season One and Da Capo Second Season. (Not to be confused with Da Capo II). The emotions between the main couple in Da Capo is what saved it as a romance and brought it close to being called a masterpiece.
Story: Da Capo starts off with a bunch of typical filler episodes that are seen in harem animes. The main character spends time with each of the girls in his harem and we learn more about their personalities. This is the part of Da Capo that I disliked. Junichi was painted out to be just another boring harem main character who is wishy washy and doesn't seem to have any deeper connection to any of the girls besides the old crappy excuse of wanting to be nice to them all. Luckily, this changes later in the anime, and thus the anime getting the love it has from me. The anime is really an emotional masterpiece and has great romance in the later episodes. ted as one of the romance options for Junichi. Nemu on the other hand, while calling herself Junichi's sister, is nothing but a childhood friend who now lives with him.
Characters: Da Capo has pretty stereotypical characters just like every harem anime ever. The childhood friend, the little sister, the beautiful popular girl, etc. And of course Junichi is about as plain as an empty book, except that he can do a bit of small magic, which is pretty cool. But personality, he's just like every other snore male protagonist. At least until he starts fighting for his girl. The character designs for the girls are pretty cute at least and most of their personalities are at least likable or important to the story's plot. There were two characters I could not stand, and they were Miharu and Aisia, for the reason that they took up way too much of the anime and seemed to have no point whatsoever.
Soundtrack: Da Capo's soundtrack doesn't stand out the most, but it is still very enjoyable. I love the openings and endings too. Da Capo's soundtrack also fits the emotions later on in the anime to the heartbeat.
Art: Da Capo has my beloved 2000s style, which I absolutely love about it. The female character designs are very cute, while the males were left out, as always. Looking beyond that, it was a very enjoyable style.
Overall Da Capo is one of the most amazing romance animes I have ever seen, despite its flaws. It focuses on one couple, it has cute romance, and it has overwhelming emotions that I have to admit were completely unexpected. Fans of animes like Clannad, Shuffle, Canvas, Air, Mashiro-iro Symphony, Ef: A Tale of Memories/Melodies, Gift Eternal Rainbow, or Kanon will definitely love this anime and should give it a watch!
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