We know the choice is hard for Kiyotaka, but most people have their favorites.
What They Say:
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The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the final episode of the series, we’ve managed to move past the material with Sakura, who dominated the previous episode, and move forward with the primary characters and their relationships. The show has always worked well when it comes to evoking atmosphere and emotions, and it does it well right out of the gate here, giving us a beautiful spring as the cherry blossoms fall all over the place as they walk to school and enjoy the brisk air. Though it’s all done up in a very, very clean way, there’s a real beauty to the snowfall of cherry blossoms here and the way of the world as presented. It’s almost dreamlike in what they do to present the city this wy.
With the graduation nearing, the group is trying to figure out the best way to handle the graduation edition of the newspaper and what to present. With them all having different experiences with Sakura, it makes sense that they take the approach to write some varied articles about it all in order to put it all together in a good way. With that in the background, the show also works through Kiyotaka interacting with each of the girls in a similar way to how he has throughout the series, touching on some of the past events that have bonded them closer together. But there are also some stronger moments, such as when Himeno does what she can to see if he can admit feelings for her or not. At least until Lulu and others start showing up and throwing the mood into that of a party rather than an emotional moment.
But amusingly, that sets things in motion where not too much later, the girls all basically set him up in a position where he’s going to have to make a choice so that it’s clear for everyone involved where he stands. That’s awkward as hell of course, but it’s amusing that he ends up getting away thanks to the efforts of Ricca. I’ve rooted for them for the longest time and seeing them have their quiet time to talk things out is very, very welcome. There’s an obvious out used during all of it, which is used in order to move things to a status quo point so that the property can move on to the visual novel itself, but it also gives us a good bit of time with Sakura once again at the end, making things clearer in its own way as it circles back around and evokes the right feelings without really bringing things to a conclusion.
In Summary:
Da Capo III ends in a fairly predictable way overall where it does the best it can to strike a balance while not really pleasing everyone. The series as a whole is one that I have mixed feelings about since it didn’t really make me connect with any of the girls outside of Ricca, though Himeno had her moments where I started to like her more. The more time I got with Ricca and Kiyotaka, the happier I was with things as there felt like there was some real chemistry between the two. What really helped make the show work for me overall though, and not dread it every week, was just to savor the quality of the character designs and the background animation itself. This is a beautiful looking series that really needed to have more emotional material in it, better character depth, to give it what it deserved. It does leave me curious about the other works and wanting to see them, but we’ve been promised Da Capo home video licenses for years and it’s not panned out at all, leaving me feeling like I’m missing out on some greater context.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.