hontou ni
10May/0714

Da Capo II anime – A shadow of doubt

If one hasn't noticed, I'm actually a HUGE Da Capo fan. DC has shaped many aspects my anime psyche/this blog. A cursory look at past banners would reveal an unhealthy obessession with DC girls. The only original, complete anime DVD series I own is Da Capo. My favourite anime imouto is Asakura Nemu and bishoujo, Shirakawa Kotori. The widespread misconception that "Stripey's a siscon" had its roots in this deep Nemu adoration and the list goes on. So when DC II (game) was released last year April, I was beyond rapturous-joy. Not that I wanted to play the game but because the odds of an DCII anime (hence more siscon drama) would be high. And I thank Haruhi for a prayer answered today. (Of course a big thank you to suguru for the heads-up too.)

Much as I had enjoyed in the overnight revelries and street parties celebratiing of DCII's animation, a shadow of doubt was gathering mass amidst the jubilant festivities. The plaguing thought that I could not suppress was, " Would DCII turn out to be another DCSS or worse, Yoakena?" Now it needs to be said that DCSS shouldn't be mentioned with the same breath as Yoakena. Nothing should be actually. Yoakena (the anime) was beyond redemption. DCSS was merely unable to live up to DC expectations. It was then that I realised I needed to know the animation studio, pronto. I generate most of my pre-air series expectations/confidence by looking at the studio/folks involved in the production. Four studios come to mind for animating DCII either out of my wishful thinking or having greater odds by their previous involvement in the DC franchise.

FEEL: Having animated DCSS, I believe FEEL has the highest probability of helming DCII production and I have mixed feelings on those odds. While I enjoyed their Otoboku/Futakoi Alternative, I would not be able to shake an ominous DCSS foreshadowing should I see FEEL in DCII credits. From Otoboku, FEEL has shown that they are capable of injecting deep emotional highs between characters which I believe was a strength of the original DC. It does help that I love their character designs. Still FEEL is the least of the 4 which I hope would animation DCII.

KyoAni: No, I'm not clamouring for KyoAni involvement simply because it's the darling of studio world now. KyoAni has shown through Kanon and AIR that they know how to draw out character charm few studios are capable of. And their faithfulness in adapting from source material would prove to be a major strength for this DCII conversion since DCII has quite a tale to tell indeed. (At least for Yume/Otome's route.) Given DCII's beautiful scenery backdrops, I believe only KyoAni possess the mettle to attempt duplicating the breathtaking CG.

Asread: I was made a fan of Asread from SHUFFLE! From what I gather, Asread has 2 major strengths. First their storyboarding. Zyl can attest to how mediocre SHUFFLE! (game) was, forgettable even. The anime would very much be so if not for their embellishments in the Kaede arc. Despite the divergent plots for each character, Asread did brilliant to tie them all up into a coherent story. Their other strength would be balance. SHUFFLE! had great humor, poignant moments. limited action and well, fanservice. It's amazing how they could mesh all these elements to grant the series its unique flavour while delivering a flowing plot. DCII would do well to have Asread bringing it to life.

ZEXCS: Ah, the maestros themselves. Who better to animated DCII than the folks who did beautifully so with DC. ZEXCS is the REAL siscon adherent. Da Capo, Canvas 2 and Kagihime all have strong siscon elements and not to mention intense love confrontations that blow most studios' paltry attempts (which usually degenerate to Magikano-esque screamfests) out of the water. ZEXCS does romance well, not just romance but specifically siscon well. They excel at injecting drama and DCII needs this midas touch for a shot at being the next DC great. However, unlike Asread and KyoAni who try to develop more of the peripheral characters, ZEXCS would likely focus on the central characters (evident from DC, Canvas2 and Kagihime) which I thought to be a major appeal of DC though many characters would have their tales watered down.

Incidentally, the studios listed are in my ascending order of preference for animating DCII. Well hoping they would release more info soon about the studio and cast. However, should Doumu get this job, there'll be bloodshed. I swear this on Nemu's bell/Kotori's hairclip.

Postulation on the structure of DCII anime up next.

Related posts:

  1. Da Capo II 05 – FEEL is no Zexcs
  2. Da Capo II 01 – Off to a fabulous start
  3. Da Capo II 03 – Yoshiyuki, the man I'll never be

Posted by

Filed under: Da Capo II Leave a comment
Comments (14) Trackbacks (0)
  1. Xellos-_^
    May 10th, 2007 - 12:39

    How about Gainax :D

    The girls would all be have dark broken backgrounds, emo expressions and thier size would grow 3x.

    ( REPLY )
  2. Hinano
    May 10th, 2007 - 13:07

    I gotta admit while I liked Dacapo Season 1, that “sequel” or whatever that came after it (which I thought was Dacapo anime Season 2?) was real crappy until the last 5 eps which actually featured Nemu. I’ve grown to like Nemu/Jyuunichi as characters so I don’t know how I’ll adjust to this one. I guess as long as it’s not as bad as Yoake or generic & boring as Sola, I’m all good.

    ( REPLY )
  3. suguru
    May 10th, 2007 - 15:43

    I’d love to see Kyoani animate this, honestly I’d rather see them do this than Clannad, since I like D.C. II’s overall storyline better (while D.C. II has its tear-jerker moments from what I’ve read, Clannad looks like it crosses the line into soap opera territory…). I can just picture Kyoani with the intricate falling snow mixed with the never-withering sakura petals…but I’m just dreaming here, their plate is pretty full after all, unless they do this in 2009.

    FEEL would be fine with me too–I really liked the comedy in FEEL’s Otoboku, and it could help balance the more dramatic moments in D.C. II’s plot. I can’t blame FEEL completely for DCSS, because I think it suffered from not having very good source material to base it on–Da Capo original recipe had a stellar, solid, conclusive ending, and trying to bolt a sequel onto it never made much sense to me to begin with. I did like the character designs in DCSS better than the original, and it was good to see the cast again–but the plot felt like it was just going through the motions of the first season’s ending and that’s a tough act to follow.

    But as long as the Yoakena people aren’t involved, I’m optimistic about DC II whatever studio gets the nod. If it’s Cabbage Love…well, you won’t be the only one looking for bloodshed :)

    ( REPLY )
  4. Skane
    May 11th, 2007 - 01:38

    Just a quick correction as I am reading this. FEEL helped to animated Futakoi Alternative. ufotable was the one responsible for its overall production.

    Cheers.

    ( REPLY )
  5. Skane
    May 11th, 2007 - 01:40

    ^for clarification.

    As in, they helped ufotable to draw some of the animation, but they are not involved in the storyboarding.

    Cheers.

    ( REPLY )
  6. Vexx
    May 11th, 2007 - 09:54

    Hmmmm, I felt like Shuffle! had a fatal collision in the intersecting Kaede/Asa arcs (no, I’m fine with *who* things ended up with but the execution was a disaster and the last episode “reset” and animation was just abusive to the characters who had gone through so much).

    I think the FutAlt team (whomever they actually are, according to Skane) would be a darkhorse “win” based on what they did with FutAlt. Of course, that was mostly original material … so the acknowledged pros at the moment are KyoAni for having the most success recently in adapting material to the anime medium (whether it be light novel, ero-game, or 4-koma).

    ( REPLY )
  7. Stripey
    May 12th, 2007 - 01:17

    Xellos-_^: LOL! Well, Gainax and me kinda have a love-hate relationship. I love Eva’s characters and most of the series. Hated the end. I loved Mahoro S1, was murderous over S2. Loved FLCL. Hated HIMM. Love the characters in KonoMini. Pity the series was kind of bland. So yeah, Gainax wouldn’t be high on any of my “pls-animate!” list :)

    Hinano: Heh, glad to have another DC fan! I’m a staunch supporter of Nem X Junichi myself much as I love Kotori. There’s just no other way given their ordeal in season 1. I think people find DCSS disappointing for various reasons and myself, I lament Kotori’s not having a real shot at Junichi’s heart, no thanks to annoying/meddling Aisia. Sola’s picking up. I enjoy it a lot :) Do give it a 2nd chance if you can. :)

    suguru: woooh, it’ll be beautiful indeed to see falling sakura petals dancing among falling snow (as the promo song sings!) KyoAni’s animation powress would bring out the DCII moood very well indeed. Great thoughts about DCSS. Actually I’ve been wanting to catch DCSS again and I suspect if I kept your points in mind, I would be a lot more forgiving to the weaknesses of the series. :)

    Skane: Doh! Thanks for the corrections! XD

    Vexx: I have to agree I was slightly disappointed by Asa’s ending. The stubborn refusal to employ magic at the cost of hurting her loved ones was incongruous with Asa’ maturity. It was then when I switched from AAA to PPP membership XD Nevertheless, I thought the series was very well-conceived in terms of story-boarding and commendable for the Kaede arc. Her desperation/unhealthy love for Rin really came through. But haha yeah, it’d be dangerous to promo Asread just based one controversial ‘win’ KyoAni would be the most secured bet for a great DCII indeed :)

    ( REPLY )
  8. Sherman, the Ramni
    May 12th, 2007 - 20:19

    My humble 2 cents:

    - FEEL: Dame da. Otoboku was good, but they still don’t know how to tell stories.
    - KyoAni: Beautiful animation and scenery, excellent characters, and jaw-dropping soundtrack selection don’t fix the biggest problem when KyoAni tries to animate a H-Game: They try to tell all the stories in 12 (AIR, 3 arcs) or 24 (Kanon, 5 arcs) eps. What made Da Capo, SHUFFLE! and Canvas2 my favourite conversions was the heavy focus on the principal arc, and the usage of the other girls for comic-relief/counseling/fanservice/etc. without interrupting the story flow.
    (And yes, in my eyes, Da Capo anime is way better than KyoAni’s Kanon.)
    - Asread: Good sense of humor and they dare to actually show some flesh. Good points. Lacks in animation and scenery design. Bad points.
    - ZEXCS: D.C. was EXCELLENT… since episode 15 and onwards. Too much fillers, but the story made up for the wasted time. And the cat dude side stories are seriously good material. Lacks in animation and polishing, too.

    My best possible situation would be to mix some Asread and ZEXCS scriptwriters and make them work in KyoAni. Add Yoko Kanno to the soundtrack business and we have a winner.

    ( REPLY )
  9. Sherman, the Ramni
    May 12th, 2007 - 20:22

    P.S.: Don’t ever think on GANIAX. Those uptight bastards only bet their reputation in weird/excellent anime (FLCL, Evangelion) and they won’t dare to “stain” their hands with a “lousy H-game adaptation”.

    ( REPLY )
  10. Skane
    May 13th, 2007 - 01:40

    Hmm… I dunno… Da Capo has the distinction of being one of only two animes that made me genuinely angry (the other being NGE). It riled me so much, I avoided DCSS like the bubonic plague.

    Futakoi Alternative was brilliant, but if you want a honest adaptation of the game, you wouldn’t want ufotable to do it. ufotable excels at eccentricity that contains a heart of gold; and while the idea of them doing a “DC Alternative” is tantalising, I doubt many DC-fans will allow them to totally reinvent the story.

    I would like it to be ZEXCS, BUT not the Da Capo team! I would vastly prefer the Canvas 2 team instead. If you compare the two teams, Canvas 2 was the vastly bigger production and has a more experienced team. The DC-director may have had more roles, but the C2-director has more DIRECTOR roles. In terms of experience, Kawasaki Itsuro is probably Steven Spielberg to Miyazaki Nagisa being Uwe Boll.

    If it IS the DC-team again, I WILL hesitate to watch the series until further notice. I got enough ulcers from the first DC as it is already.

    Cheers.

    ( REPLY )
  11. cyw1988
    May 13th, 2007 - 02:14

    OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY… Can’t wait to see the angst~ XDDD… Otome FTW~

    ( REPLY )
  12. Stripey
    May 13th, 2007 - 22:30

    Sherman, the Ramni: Woah! Great to find another HUGE DC fan. :) I sooo wholeheartedly agree with many of your insights. While I cannot say DC was a superior production over Kanon, I thought the former had more emotional impact. As for music composer, I’d much prefer Hikaru Nanase and Yuugo Kanno to reprise their production roles in DC. DC’s music (esp the 2nd half) is the most beautiful and fitting of its genre. Especially Yuugo’s pieces. Simply sublime. :)

    Skane: Skipping DCSS was wise indeed even though much Kotori’s charm was found in that DC installment. :) I actually thought DC to be superior work to Canvas2 though the latter is also very very good. I’m not sure how DC (and Kiminozo) angered you but I thought the struggles/emotions that Nemu and Sakura suffered in DCI were of magntitude/richness unseen in like series. heh, I guess our mileage/interpretations of their movitations are probably very different. :) DC alternative seems like a riot! Though that would not be the Kotori we all sooo loved XD

    cyw1988: Haha! I’m rooting for Yume! Imoutos ftw! XD

    ( REPLY )
  13. Skane
    May 14th, 2007 - 01:42

    Ah, nono. Not KGNE, but NGE. As in Neon Genesis Evangelion. It has been years since I watched DC, so my memory is not crystal-clear on why it angered me so much, but I do recall it was because the characters acted in ways that just made me want to throw them off a cliff. Lots of snap misunderstandings if I remember correctly.

    Basically speaking, a lot of the relationship “conflicts” felt artificial, felt forced, felt… unnecessary. Especially Nemu. I felt that they made her too… petty.

    Cheers.

    ( REPLY )
  14. Stripey
    May 14th, 2007 - 08:05

    Oops, pardon my misreading :P Ah NGE… yeah I barfed at the end too XD Was loving the series sooo much until it became so incredibly dark. Shinji was a great source of my grief. I think snap misunderstandings are more so for DCSS. DC or at least the story revolving around Sakura/Nemu/Junichi is a multi-facet tale of the deep struggles of forbidden emotions. Nemu/Junichi with siscon and Sakurau w her innermost demon. Nemu may come across petty but really, she’s just desperately clinging to the only happiness she knows. It really breaks my heart to see how Nemu and Sakura are captives of their affections for Junichi, unable to break the bondage of love much as they tried. having just re-watched parts of DC recently, I’d put DC above KNGE and SHUFFLE!. Of course the siscon is me is probably biased :)

    ( REPLY )

Leave a comment

(required)

No trackbacks yet.

» «

Search Hontou Ni

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Series & Themes

Maki Maki Blogroll

RSS Danny Choo

@ZylZaku

Meta