Da Capo

[qwertyuiopz]

was decent for me...was kinda boring especially the stupid black cat specials which had no meaning whatsoever, i even watched the second season

saw the first few mins of da capo2 and i went screw as its the exact same repeat with different chars

[therik]

Okay, here's my proofread/edition of the review. If any of my proofreading marks don't make sense, or if you take issue with anything that I've "corrected", please do mention it. :)

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 (C)cousin Sakura Yoshino. Much like the traditional harem or school based anime, 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. <---(I'd consider cutting the "to name a few". It sounds a little awkward. Perhaps you could rephrase this, by putting "Amongst these we find..." or something similar)

Even though this anime has a lot of the usual niches <--(Really? Niches? A niche is literally a hole in a wall, figuratively it is a small section of the market which can be targetted with specific products - "Viz Entertainment has been successful by zoning in on America's niche manga market". I'd probably use "features" "kinks" "traits" or soemthing like that in this case) 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 <--(sounds rather clumsy. You could say "these include", or "some examples of these are", or "There are many of these, such as") 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. <---(Not sure I agree with this sentence from a factual standpoint. in Kanon, there is a fox that turns human, and Yakumo from School Rumble can read minds. Admittedly both of these were post-Da Capo, but the way your sentence is worded suggests that no other anime contain these elements. Perhaps you could reword the start of the sentence to somwthing like "What sets Da Capo apart from other anime of its genre is that it contains a multitude of fascinating magical elements." But in your own words, obviously.

The anime has a very light hearted <--(lighthearted is all one word, or sometimes hyphenated) and comforting feel to it, as you began to have the characters introduced to you. <--(Sounds clumsy. Could you put this into a more active construction? "as you learn more and more about the characters" perhaps?) Though even with this ticklish <--(This might just be personal preference, but I'd avoid ticklish here, having already used it before. It's ok to do this with words like "good" and "happy", but using a less common adjective multiple times sounds a little odd. Is there a synonym you could use? Perhaps one that describes it better than "ticklish" even) 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. <--(The way you say "the questions that we wanted answered" suggests that you've already referred to the questions in this review. If you have, it's not obvious. You could say "giving rise to questions that the viewer wants answered" or something like that)

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 <--(perhaps "plot". Again, using "story" so many times in the paragraph grates) 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. Character wise, not much is up and beyond that of the norm and <--(need a noun here!!) is often lacking in detail on parts <--(Awkward. "at points", perhaps? Or maybe you could be more specific on what lacks 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 <--(A few whats?). Even with (the/these) beautiful environments, nothing really stands out animation wise <--(You already used "character wise" just a couple of paragraphs ago. Perhaps "in terms of the animation"?) and at best its average, <--("it's average at best," would sound better, in my opinion) if not lowered slightly because of lack of details on some parts <--(could you specify again?).

Sound - 10/10

Sound wise <--(Again, "character wise", "animation wise", "sound wise".. for me it sounds clunky once, let alone on three occasions. Is there another way you could phrase this?), the attention to music and the mood of the scene <--(sounds like you're talking about one scene. Perhaps "each scene" or "every scene"?) (are) is astounding. Many of the moods and emotions that the anime wants to represent were given through sound, <--(Mix of tenses here. Either "[...] and emotions that the anime wants to represent are given through sound" or "[...]and emotions the anime wanted to represent were given through sound) all very 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 ,<--("orchestral", surely) sound which touches the heart and evokes emotion.

Music aside, the voices of the characters are very on point <--(Hmmm.. never heard "on point" used like this before but, even so, I'm not sure something can be "very on point". Surely it's either on point or its not? If this is an accepted Americanism, then leave it in.If you're not so sure yourself, perhaps reword it.) 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, to Miharu Amakase, an energetic girl who acts much like a little puppy(,) and (who’s) whose voice is higher-pitched and filled with energy, much like a child <--(Do you mean that her voice is like the voice of a child, or that her voice is like the child itself? If the former is true, then go for something such as "Much like a child's voice").

Characters - 6.5/10

Da Capo offers a fairly unique cast of characters that differ from other anime in its genre. (R)robots, (C)cat girls <--(Personally, I'd go all one word on this. It seems to be the most common usage)(,) and even mind readers make an appearance that help keep the mood of the anime light hearted <--(as before) and give an enjoyable experience. <--(To whom? I'd say "Give the viewer an enjoyable experience" or "make for an enjoyable experience") Much like the voices, the characters themselves fit into the anime and do not feel awkward or out of place. 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. <---(This paragraph uses "anime" 6 times and "characters" 4 times. It's laborious. You should either reword it or use synonyms. "Characters" = "protagonists", "the cast", etc. "anime" could be changes to "series" or "show", and "the anime" could be changed to "Da Capo". Just be sure not to overuse any one word, and you should be okay here)

Overall – 7/10

All in all when it comes down to it, <--(Tautology. Either use "all in all," or "when it comes down to it,". Not both.) this anime is far better than (a) the 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 on the main characters themselves. As known with <--(Perhaps "as is the case with", or just "as with"?) a lot of anime, this one is probably more of a hit or miss on if <--(Can we have "hit or miss in terms of whether..." or "hit or miss as to whether..."? What you have sounds awkward) 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) a fan of Shuffle and Key's works, or just searching for something light hearted. <--(Just a couple of final issues. I've already mentioned the light-hearted/lighthearted issue, but again, there's too many recurrences of "anime". You could re-write to flush some of them out, for example "even with this anime not being considered a great anime" could be transformed to "even with this anime not being considered truly great". Alternatively, you could use synonyms or even do both.)

~rock<--(And that's how a name is signed! Love it!)

~D

[VivisQueen]

Originally Posted by rockenroll4life

Alright, after many hours of re watching a majority of Da Capo and writing and proof reading my review I'm submitting it here. Hopefully its not too bad. ^_^;;


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. Much like the traditional harem or school based anime 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. Character wise not much is up and beyond that of the norm and is often lacking in details on parts. 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 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. 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, 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.

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. 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. 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

BAKA! *smacks rock over the head*

Why don't you review more often????

[rockenroll4life]

>_< Well I take it that I did well then. Are there any other suggestions you may have Vivi for corrections along side therik's?

[VivisQueen]

I don't usually go so hardcore on people who are posting in forums for fun. Even without the revisions, I find your review interesting and enjoyable to read, so the following is just because you asked. Hope it's helpful to you.

Therik's revisions are on the most part great and I'd definitely follow them. However - and I mean this with 100% respect - the changes in punctuation that therik suggests in the first paragraph of 'Story' make the sentences more clumsy. This is because the problem with the sentences is not the punctuation, but the content. His suggested changes everywhere else I do agree with and I thus didn't bother to repeat them.

So, anyway, below are the things I'd suggest on top of (not instead of) what therik says.

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

[therik]

Originally Posted by VivisQueen

However - and I mean this with 100% respect - the changes in punctuation that therik suggests in the first paragraph of 'Story' make the sentences more clumsy.

Hehehe... oops

[rockenroll4life]

Thanks therik and VivisQueen for the help on corrections. ^_^

Originally Posted by VivisQueen

I don't usually go so hardcore on people who are posting in forums for fun. Even without the revisions, I find your review interesting and enjoyable to read, so the following is just because you asked. Hope it's helpful to you.

Posting for fun? Hehe, Well its wasn't entirely for fun, I just thought that users could use a slightly more positive review on Da Capo as well. You know, both sides of the coin.

Originally Posted by VivisQueen

BAKA! *smacks rock over the head*

Why don't you review more often????

Should I review more often?

[VivisQueen]

Yes. A lot of people should review more often.

I also tend to enjoy KiraRin reviews, and Cassie's review was really good. Purplemo as well.

Fucking Sandbar and ForgottenSon should be pulling their socks up too (if either of you is reading this, you have been warned). Frankly, there are many people who can string a really decent sentence together and should do so more often. Just because they're not site reviewers, doesn't mean they shouldn't post more or that their opinions are any less valued.

[purplemo]

I personally liked Da Capo MUCH more than I would have ever expected, especially given at the time I loathed harem anime even more than I do now. There was more depth and character there than a lot of other harem out there, even if it was sporadically littered throughout the story. Nemu's romance is one of the better in harem IMO (which is like saying "hey, my dog's shit smells better than your dog's shit" of a comparison). I should do a . . . eh screw it. I'd have to rewatch it to do that. But until I go back and rewatch, in my memory Nemu's romance in the latter half of the series is one of the better in harem and anime (just so you know, a really good romance is a once in a epoch event IMO).

[VivisQueen]

Originally Posted by purplemo

I should do a . . . eh screw it. I'd have to rewatch it to do that.

So close, and yet so far.