Originally Posted by rockenroll4life
Story – 6.5/10
Welcome to Hatsunejima, an island known for its never wilting Sakura trees. Here the story of Da Capo, a ticklish school romance, takes place revolving around the main character Jun'ichi Asakura, his adopted sister Nume, and Jun’ichi’s Cousin Sakura Yoshino. <--- Clumsy sentence because of redundant words and poor word choice. A clear and concise version would read: 'The story of Da Capo revolves around Jun'ichi Asakura, his adopted sister Nume, and his cousin, Sakura Yoshino.' HOWEVER, the sentence in entirety is redundant because it's just saying what the characters are called, and not what they're about. I mean, the following is made up (because I've never seen De Capo), but what you'd ideally want is something like this: 'The story of Da Capo revolves around Jun'ichi Asakura, a boy who has to learn to share cake with his sister, Nume, and his cousin, Sakura Yoshino' OR 'Da Capo is about Jun'ichi Asakura, a boy who has to learn to share cake with his sister, Nume, and his cousin, Sakura Yoshino'. Basically, include in the sentence what the POINT of the story is. Otherwise, wait until the Character section to introduce the characters Much like the traditional harem or school based anime(INSERT COMMA) many of the same story elements are kept intact, from the trip to the beach ending in fireworks to the school festival and even a trip to the movies to name a few.
Even though this anime has a lot of the usual niches that normal school romances have, there are some defining features that set it apart from the rest of the anime in its genre. Many of which include a mysterious magic, allowing a cat to turn human and even a girl to be able to read minds, as well as the never wilting Sakura trees.
The anime has a very light hearted and comforting feel to it as you began to have the characters introduced to you. Though even with this ticklish mood you can feel jealousy slice the air from time to time. Despite the fun nature and comedic value of the show the real story commences two thirds of the way through when the atmosphere quickly takes a turn. A much darker feeling sets in and the true feelings of the main characters step forward leading towards the questions that we wanted answered.
One flaw that I did find with Da Capo story was the introduction of side stories that began appearing at episode eight. These brief five minute segments appeared at the beginning or end of episodes eight to twenty one and were there to help you get to know the side characters. Even with these good intentions a majority of the side stories did not help to further the story in any way and seemed more of a nuisance then a help.
Animation – 6/10
The art style and animation are fitting for being released in 2003 and are on par with a majority of the anime of its time period. <--- slightly clumsy with 'fitting for being released'. I suggest changing to 'The art style and animation are fitting considering its 2003 release and are on par with those of the majority of anime of the same time period' OR 'The art style and animation are fitting considering its 2003 release and are on par with those of other contemporaries' Character wise not much is up and beyond that of the norm and is often lacking in details on parts. <--- 'not much is up and beyond' is a phrase I've never heard of. It's also a vague description. 'on parts' is actually incorrect, and not just awkward. I suggest: 'Character wise, there's nothing new to be found here, and the characters' backgrounds are actually poorly explained at times'. This is an awkward guess as to what you're trying to say, becaue I did not know what you meant with 'lacking in details'. You don't actually say what is lacking in detail. Environmentally the anime is very pleasing, showing beautiful scenery of Sakura trees in full bloom, falling petals, and clouds passing by just to name a few. Even with beautiful environments nothing really stands out animation wise and at best its average if not lowered slightly <--- rewrite to 'and its average at best, if not lower, because' because of lack of details on some parts.
Sound - 10/10
Sound wise, the attention to music and the mood of the scene are astounding. Many of the moods and emotions that the anime wants to represent were given through sound, all very soothing and pleasant to listen to. <--- you have two verbs 'represent' and 'given' which could easily be reduced to one to make it less awkward. Like so: 'many of the moods and emotions in the series are represented through sound, and all are soothing and pleasant to listen to' During cheerful scenes a more upbeat idle type music plays, leaving you sometimes humming along to the tune, and in the darker more emotional scenes you are given a more sad orchestra-ic sound which touches the heart and evokes emotion.
Music aside the voices of the character are very on point with how you would imagine them to sound. Ranging from Moe Mizukoshi, a very polite but dim-witted girl whose voice emphasizes it by its slow paced nature, <--- er, maybe you mean 'whose voice is distinctive for being slow-paced' OR maybe just 'whose voice is slow-paced'. Otherwise this is a very clumpsy part of the sentence to Miharu Amakase, an energetic girl who acts much like a little puppy, who’s voice is higher pitched and filled with energy much like a child. <--- I'd like to point out that, whilst therik's version is definitely correct, you could still cut wordage by just writing 'much like a child's'. You don't really need the 'voice' at the end of the sentence.
Characters - 6.5/10
Da Capo offers a fairly unique cast of characters that differ from other anime in its genre. Robots, Cat girls, and even mind readers make an appearance that help keep the mood of the anime light hearted and give an enjoyable experience. Much like the voices the characters themselves fit into the anime and do not feel awkward or out of place. <--- cut 'into' Even with the characters being unique to the anime you don’t feel very attached to them, with the exception of the 3 main characters. This lack of connection to the characters is what makes it a good anime instead of a great anime.
Overall – 7/10
All in all when it comes down to it this anime is far better than a majority of anime in its genre but still falls short of being great. With the lack of connection to some characters it makes you wonder if it would have been far better if it was more focused on the story and main characters themselves. <--- cut 'themselves'. It's redundant wordage As known with a lot of anime this one is probably more of a hit or miss on if people will enjoy it or not. On an ending note, even with the this anime not being considered a great anime it is still worth the watch if you are a fan of the comedic school romance genre, the fan of Shuffle and Keys works, or just searching for something light hearted.
~rock
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