The Da Capo franchise

I was just revisiting some earlier posts in this thread, way back from when DCII was but a glimmer in Mangagamer's eye.

I think it's telling how a number of people are in agreement about the first game being bland, and then cite completely different and conflicting exceptions (depending on who the favoured character was).

I would like to say that doesn't apply to me but I suppose that would be a lie. Honestly, at the moment, I kind of feel that only Kotori and Yoriko were actually good. I want to say I liked Moe and Mako's routes because I like them, but frankly the former is just sort of okay and the latter is too short and has little drama. You could say I liked them, but that's because I like the characters and as such would like the route either way.

I'm probably not qualified to judge if Sakura or Nemu's routes are good since frankly both annoyed me a great deal at the time and I can't remember the details very well. I suspect that they probably aren't very good but can't confirm it.

Oh, I understand, my only point was that it seems to be resistant to general consensus. Everybody likes and dislikes different things about it, which is only to be expected.

^ That's actually pretty good, because this means that it appeals to different people in different ways.

^ ...And all those different people that don't agree with me are wrong.

I couldn't agree more, and it strikes me that this has always been the intention of VN writers (or at the very least high on their list of things to bear in mind).

It's been so long since I've touched DC that I can't really remember a great many details about plot or character specifics, but I've always thought it was pretty good overall.

I mean, certain things bug me, but I'm quite forgiving of narrative flaws and inconsistencies as long as I've had sufficient fun.

I remember this, though: Mako's route was waaaaaaaaaaay too short for such a lively character.

Poor Mako. No drama or tragedy in her life. She must feel very left out.

But yeah, I feel the same. It's rare for me to read a VN or dating sim that I truly think poorly of, and I've read just about everything in English that I could find apart from Saya no Uta (I don't seem to be missing much) and Higurashi. Even Chaos Head was sort of entertaining until the part where I realized it was almost over and that nothing good had happened yet.

edited 28th Jun '11 2:33:06 AM by Arha

I gave up One To The Radiant Season, because of terrible art, and Sengoku Rance because of Rance.

Those are the only two I haven't made a real effort to finish.

Chaos Head is the only one I haven't finished. I think. I mean, I hated Wind a Breath of Heart but I still finished it.

Mako's route was a breeze. Literally.

I wonder if the reason I never actually disliked a VN is because I never got a bad one or if I'm easily entertained. Hell, I don't remember either the last time I disliked a anime, or even a video game.

God, either my standards are really low or I screen too well the things I do. I bet on the former.

Anzu confession ftw!

Those little moments with her during the ski trip number among the mushiest things I've ever seen. Especially Anzu's little trick to get Yoshiyuki to sleep in the same bed as her.

Also, I forgot to mention when Arha brought up the 美春 <-> 美夏 connection: there's a similar thing with the Asakura twins, but it's less obvious because you need to be able to read kanji or have at least some familiarity with kunyomi/onyomi differentiation.

Note the first character in Asakura Otome's forename (朝倉 音姬), and the second character in Asakura Yume's forename (朝倉 由夢). See where this is going? Put them together and you get 朝倉 音夢: Asakura Nemu.

edited 30th Jun '11 7:00:25 PM by zeroplusalpha

Huh, that's pretty neat actually.

Yume and Otome aren't twins though.

edited 30th Jun '11 11:34:54 PM by RunoEddie

^No they're not, sorry, I don't know why I wrote that.

The Asakura sisters, I mean.

edited 1st Jul '11 2:15:15 AM by zeroplusalpha

^^^ FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

edited 1st Jul '11 2:16:21 AM by KousakaKirino

I think it's actually quite a common thing, to name your children so that it incorporates something of one or both of their parents'. However, this would make more sense if Nemu and Junichi were actually their parents, instead of their grandparents.

I'm not really sure why they made the decision to set DCII two generations after the original Asakura canon, instead of just passing it to the next. I suppose there are at least two possibilities:

• Nemu is in fact Otome and Yume's paternal grandmother, which takes the Asakura ship as canon.
• Junichi wanted to name his granddaughters in honour of the possibly departed Nemu, but couldn't the first time because he only fathered a son (which he had to have done anyway, because Otome and Yume still retain the Asakura surname.)

edited 1st Jul '11 2:29:09 AM by zeroplusalpha

Once again, I'm still curious as to Nanaka's genealogy.

I think we talked about this before, and I think we ended with some WMG in which it was possible for both Nanaka and the Asakura sisters to have sprung from Junichi's impossibly gregarious loins within the same timeline.

I've forgotten why though, but since I'm now actually playing the game, I'll come across that soon enough.

Again, don't forget that this is the second generation post-DC timeline: for Nanaka to carry the Shirakawa family name, her paternal bloodline must be from an unknown male Shirakawa, or Kotori's child was born out of wedlock. (And it would have been a son, otherwise we end up with same problem for the generation after Kotori.)

edited 1st Jul '11 4:00:54 AM by zeroplusalpha

She is. I don't remember their mom's name, but she wasn't from the island. I'm not terribly surprised that their names are like that.

^^ My guess is that Junichi fathered a boy with Kotori after Nemu died.

Well it would make sense if Junichi and Nemu had a son: it would be only natural for him to want to honour his mother's memory by naming his daughters after her.

As I mentioned before, it's not uncommon.

I bet there would have been some very interesting silences conversations during the wedding celebrations...

Then the inevitable question. How does Suginami's geneology work out?

He's the exact same person

^Well, I'm not looking at the spoiler, but I would guess that:

Suginami is one generation removed from DC Suginami...and Mako. They're both smart, top of class, and Suginami was definitely really into her during Yoriko's route.

Also, the Mizukoshis had a brother, whom I theorise is the father of DCII Mizukoshi-Sensei.

I have a really hard time imagining Junichi cheating on Nemu though, especially because she is(was?) alive when Yoshiyuki moved into the Asakura household, so that would mean that Junichi had a baby with Kotori while Nemu was alive. Seeing how they had to resort to the magic Cherry Tree to avoid unfortunate implications on regards to Junichi and Sakura I'm not convinced.

^^ It's not a real spoiler, it's a joke. And no, they're not the same Suginami.