Da Capo is another one of those anime series that is based off of a game of the same name. Much like Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, Mizuiro, and Kanon, Da Capo is pretty much all about a single male surrounded by a horde of females. Normally, a series like this is pretty hit-or-miss (see such game-to-anime flops as ONE and With You ~Mitsumete itai~), but I was very pleased to see that Da Capo is most definitely a hit.

I think the setting of Da Capo is probably what really caught my attention when I watched the series. It's just so mysterious. All of these strange, unexplainable events are occuring all over the place that don't seem to be connected at all. I just had to find out what was going on, and I liked it. The music and art quality are also very high. I loved the Da Capo soundtrack, from its upbeat opening sequence to its soft and soothing ending theme and everything in between. The whole presentation - art, music, and atmosphere - was very well delivered.

Though each episode of Da Capo may seem to be around 24 minutes in length, the real meat of each episode is only about 14 or 15 minutes long. The rest of the time is spent doing either a music video or a side-story. The music videos were tolerable, as the choice in music wasn't too bad. The side stories, on the other hand, were just a pain to watch. Almost every 6 or 7 minute long side story was connected by a wafer-thin story, and they all led to a rather inconclusive resolution. Fortunately, a couple of them were worth the time taken away from the episodes themselves.

The first half of the series was much like the side stories themselves: each episode seemed to go nowhere and I was wondering when it was all going to end. Nearly every episode in the first half was pure filler with nothing at all to add to the story. I'm not saying that they weren't enjoyable. Yes, they were pointless, but they still managed to make me smile. The side characters in the show were also just as useless as the first half, though. By the end of the series, I really didn't feel like they influenced the story in any way whatsoever.

Thankfully, the second half of the series was able to carry the load that the first half couldn't handle. For probably the first time ever, I can say that I was shocked -- SHOCKED, at how the story unfolded right before my eyes. I almost felt guilty just watching the last few episodes because it was so shocking. Each episode built off of the momentum of the last until the conclusion that definitely deserves being called a conclusion. The whole second half is like the polar opposite of the first half. Nearly every drop of comedy has been taken out of the story and all we're left with is an umm... sponge of drama. Alright, so that was a lousy metaphor. You try to make a better one.

I think that Da Capo could have worked very well as a 13-episode series instead of 26 episodes. Sure, it probably would have meant leaving out some of the side characters' screen time (not a huge loss there, trust me), but it wouldn't have dragged on like it did with 26.