Summary:
It appears that Aisia still has not been successful in reviving the tree, and she can only think about what Sakura had said the previous night. At school, Junichi notices Aisia’s absence, but Moe, Nemu, and Sakura all show up in school uniforms to distract him. Miharu is especially working hard to push Nemu onto Junichi, though Akishima-sensei soon interrupts them. Soon it’s pool time and the entire gang dresses out and has a lot of fun. Nemu catches Junichi ogling at Moe, who’s writhing into a fence after being hit in the head with a ball. Junichi makes his escape, and spots Aisia walking past the front gate. He invites her to join them in the pool, but she leaves after hearing Sakura call for him. Worried about her, Junichi follows Aisia to the lighthouse by the sea and tells her to go home. When she refuses, Junichi surprises her by asking where she wants to go then.
That night, Nemu tells Junichi about a test of courage, and he decides to go with her and Aisia. Miharu meets them there and sends them on their way after putting Junichi and Nemu together and pulling Aisia aside for scare duty (despite the fact that Aisia wanted to be with Junichi). Junichi can tell pretty quickly that all the scares are really his friends, but Nemu is frightened anyway. They work their way through the checkpoints on Miharu’s list, but when they get to C-Point, they discover Kotori talking with Moe in the bushes, which doesn’t make for a very convincing scare. The girls give Aisia a Frankenstein mask and send her towards the two, which does end up scaring them and causes Nemu to run off scared, with Junichi in tow. Aisia, obviously not amused, questions if this was supposed to be fun and walks off. Junichi and Nemu reach an opening where Sakura finds them and tells them that everyone has been doing this for their sake. She shows them the meteor shower that’s just starting, and then quietly leaves the two alone. Meanwhile, a frustrated Aisia reaches the old sakura tree. Under a sky of falling meteors, she begs for everyone’s happiness. As the next morning dawns, we find Aisia sleeping in that same spot, but it appears that the tree has started to sprout something distinctly pink.

This episode really emphasizes how much Aisia has been missing the point. Her ideal for happiness centers around love, and she’s blind to the fact that everyone is quite happy as is. But despite this, she’s actually successful at reviving the tree, which ends up being the only real plot progression of the entire episode. Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoyed all the humor since we’ve had quite a lot of drama/angst recently. They used in some of the more comedic animations too for several of the scenes.
Since the tree has finally been revived, I expect next week to be a pivotal episode. The Newtype spoilers specifically mention that the girls’ feelings are starting to change little by little. I hope that they will focus on Kotori in particular, but I’m more inclined to believe that the story will continue to center on Aisia, Junichi, Nemu, and maybe Sakura. In any case, D.C.S.S. has been slowly getting better, so I hope that the upcoming climax doesn’t disappoint, however it ends up working out.

Closing Thought: A hint at the future? Episode 25 is simply called 「ダ・カーポ」 (“Da Capo”). Remember folks, Da Capo literally means “from head” and is a musical expression that means “from the beginnning.”

31 Comments

  1. It’s episode 22 already!!! Get rid of Nemu!!! Hook her up with the nurse guy or something!!! If this series ends with Junichi and Nemu, then its going to become one of my worst ranked series.

    EliteF22
  2. Now, come on… seriously… when did show ever give any sort of indication whatsoever that Junichi would change his girl of choice? Even in his alone time with Kotori, he still thought of Nemu. I like Kotori a lot too, but give it a rest already… Saying “it’ll become one of [your] worst ranked series” is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    relentlessflame
  3. Ah, it brings back good ‘ol memories to see the cast in Kazami Academy’s uniform again (Except Nemu, didn’t really wanna bring back the memories of old Nemu).

    “If this series ends with Junichi and Nemu, then its going to become one of my worst ranked series.”

    I’m quite convinced to believe that in order for D.C.S.S to have a happy ending now, Junichi and Nemu have to stay together. Of course, it wouldn’t mean that Kotori will end up being happy, but I sincerely hope that won’t be the case. My highest hope right now for this series is that Kotori will move on…And show more of her as the story proceeds to the ending.

    Rasmiel
  4. If jun’ichi ends up with nemu and we will get to see kotori move on in the last eps. I really wonder what the point is of this season? Because next eps we will see the girls have a chance of feelings. Are we going to see how every girl feelings will be resolved in just 4 eps!!!
    Am i really going to like how kotori is going to move on? It feels like she lost for the second time. It’s hard for me to believe that in 4 eps she will get over jun’ichi and be happy. And I think she is not going to be a singer, she is more a housewife.

    Searcher
  5. “This episode really emphasizes how much Aisia has been missing the point. Her ideal for happiness centers around love, and she’s blind to the fact that everyone is quite happy as is. ”

    Hmm… I disagree on this point, at least partly. Perhaps it’s because I’m starting to believe that Aisia’s right/got a point, and that people aren’t really totally happy with the way things are. They’re holding back their feelings because they don’t want to upset the apple cart. Maybe Aisia’s questioning things she shouldn’t be questioning, but in doing so she’s forcing people to figure out how they truly feel. She’s definitely a troublemaker, though – she’s forcing an issue that nobody wanted to think about. But deep down, I think she’s got a point. Now it’s time to find out, once and for all, whether the girls are truly happy with Junichi and Nemu being together forever. The real question is… will the audience finally accept it? :p

    relentlessflame
  6. Aisia isn’t wishing for everyone’s happiness, she’s obviously just wishing for her own. She’s jealous of Nemu and uses the excuse that everyone is “unhappy” to make own selfish wishes to come true.

    Soriel
  7. relentlessflame: I think I should have worded it more like “Her ideal for happiness centers around love, but she’s blind to the happiness brought by friendship that everyone else enjoys.” I didn’t mean to say that everyone is completely happy, but that happiness has more than the one facet that Aisia seems to believe in.

  8. Ah yeah, Omni, that makes a lot of sense, and I agree completely. It makes you wonder what scenario there could possibly be where Aisia would say that everyone is finally happy – short of a Maburaho ending? 😛 (The mind reels…)

    relentlessflame
  9. Man! What’s with this I hate this girl and stuffs like that? I mean, we’ve come this far, so we could just shut the hell up and watch and see what goes on. We have to admit that it’s been a great series till now, so if you think it’s bad due to the ending of the show, then I suggest you don’t any animes from now on and go fantasize on your own dreams and desires.

    As for me, I think it’s most likely that he won’t choose anyone at all. Kinna reminds me of the ending of Futakoi.

  10. “We need someone to go crazy like Kaede in shuffle and kill of nemu for good”

    Or Nemu herself could go crazy and jump off a cliff ;D

    I still haven’t burned up my hopes for Kotori’s true happiness (again, I’m a stubborn Kotori fanboy). At least the next episode hints that Kotori and co. might fight the whole “everyone-is-happy-as-long-as-the-Asakura-sigblings-are-happy”ism which in my view, is complete and utter nonsense.

    Rasmiel
  11. If he choses anyone but Nemu, it will be pretty out of character for Junichi. I mean, it has to undo all of Season 1, and the Nemu-returns arc of Season 2. I mean, he picked the same girl, twice. He even specifically rejected two girls that made hard passes at him (Kotori and Sakura). Most harem shows have a fickle-mush head who won’t make a geezly choice. It would make for a pretty unsatisfying series if it chose to do such a major out of character thing in the last 4 episodes.

    Of course everyone has a favorite girl. I kind of like Miharu and her zest for life (although I could’ve lived without the whole robot-thing in season 1). I like the physical attractiveness of Kotori, although I detest her personality, particularly in season 1. Too much of a god-dang doormat, and I never understood what she saw in Junichi. She had that mind reading power, but there never seemed to be much of a mind to read. Maybe I need to rewatch Season 1 again. But anyway, I still want the series to be true to the characters, not to what my desires might be. Which is why I still root for the Nemu x Junichi ending, because that is true to the characters, even if it is a little creepy with that whole not-blood-related sibling thing (that was season 1 though – it doesn’t seem to be an issue in season 2).

    Having said that, one is left to wonder what the point of the second series was. Aisia, I guess.

    What I find strange about second season is how little of it actually focuses on Junichi. In the first one, the audience was privy to his thoughts and dreams, and it was pretty obvious he would pick Nemu. In season 2, particularly after Nemu returns, Junichi has been in the background, and I don’t think we’ve ever heard his thoughts or dreams in any form, or if we have, it has been incredibly brief.

    It’s all been Aisia. And that seems to be the point of the series. Aisia. But what’s the point of Aisia? I honestly have no idea. Is the whole point just for Aisia to learn some life lesson? I have to wonder about all the other characters, though. Is the point for Aisia to give a life lesson to all the other characters – to point out how shallow all the girls’ lives are, because they focus on a guy they’ll never have, who isn’t even that nice a guy to begin with, and has no romantic feelings for them at all, and they should all move on with their lives? That they should all lose the zero, and get with the real hero, Suginami? That would be a first for a harem show!

    Well, I’ll keep watching to see what the point is!

    MonkeyBrains
  12. MonkeyBrains, I think you’re definitely asking the right question: what is the message that they’re trying to tell us in Second Season? They’ve spent the whole show building on certain themes, sometimes in an almost heavy-handed way, and so far it’s continued to add up. They’re definitely trying to tell us *something*, but they’ve purposefully kept us guessing the whole show. So, I suppose there are two options: either they leave us with a strong message that’ll cause everything to all add up and make sense (resolution (in spirit) for all the characters – the “true end” of Da Capo), or they’ll leave us with a weak message and a sort of “unfinished” feeling, which opens the door for more stories to come. With four episodes left, I’m really curious as to where this is all going to take us, and I really don’t know where “the message” is going to come from anymore (my best guess? Kotori and Nemu).

    relentlessflame
  13. I just don’t buy the fact that everyone’s happy as it is right now. I dunno about everyone else, but I don’t.

    I couldn’t care less about what happens to Nemu, she could end up with Jyunichi, go fall sick again, or shoot herself for all I care. I wanna see what will happen with the other characters and particularly Kotori.

    Ale
  14. Oh and I have no idea what’s going to happen but I’m confident that the Kotori thing will be solved now. If you ask me, this is still about Kotori moving on (or not moving on?) and Aisha growing up.

    Good episode, the tree is back now.

    And I still despise Nemu as much as I always did. ^_^ But maybe she’ll grow up by the end too, who knows.

    Ale
  15. The thing is Junichi and Nemu’s relationship seems to be back to brother/sister, not lovers which they’re supposed to be. Remember when they were asked to kiss? They couldn’t even do that properly. If anything this season has illustrated how much of a push over Junichi is. Nemu, the dominant female in his life, with her unhealthy infatuation with her brother, basically told him you like me. With his loyalty to Nemu he went along with it. A logical conclusion to the season would be the girls straight telling him their feelings and then Junichi deciding if he wants things to continue as they are. That would also resolve Kotori’s story, cause there’s no way he can forget that he owes her for being there for him the last 2(?) years. The writers have also hinted that Nemu has some attraction to the nurse guy, they should clear that up, but it probably depends on the ending.

    EliteF22
  16. That’d be a rather cheap ending though.

    Basically, I’ll settle for a well done ending. Or an ending where Nemu loses even if it looks rushed. 😛

    But as the first will probably happen, that’ll be more than enough for me.

    Ale
  17. I find it funny that people hope that Kotori or “heroine X” gets what she wants most in these series.

    Why doesn’t anyone hope that Junichi gets what he wants most, according to the feelings and attitude of the character as shown in the series?

    In season 1, that was obviously Nemu, because we actually got a sense of what Junichi’s feelings were. In season 2, that also seemed to be Nemu, particularly in the early episodes, although given how little characterization Junichi’s had lately, it’s been a little sketchy whether he likes anyone at all at times. And considering Nemu wanted Junichi too, isn’t that a happy ending?

    Of course Kotori gets shafted, but so does Moe, Sakura, etc. But that’s the thing about harem shows.

    Of course, I know why no one considers what the male lead wants – we graft our opinions onto the male lead because most harem show male leads are fickle-mushheads who have no real emotions towards one character or another, other than being “nice” to them (I think Kotori referred to Junichi as “safe” during the early, pre-Nemu episodes of Season 2), who leads on all the ladies but makes no choice and doesn’t particularly care about any female (reminds me of the speech Akatsuki gave Akito about anime heros in episode 11 of Nadesico), or he makes a choice.

    That was a bit of a rant. I am really bored.

    MonkeyBrains

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