Da Capo / First Impressions

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Do NOT scroll down unless you want to be completely spoiled…

Short Summary:
It’s just another day at school until Miharu discovers a letter in her shoe box. Everyone assumes that it’s a love letter, and Miharu doesn’t say anything to prove otherwise instead blushing and looking dazed the entire time. Junichi and Aisia are in the nurse’s office after falling down some stairs when Miharu comes in. She blushes at the sight of the doctor, making Junichi and Kotori realize that the letter must be from him. On the way home, Aisia asks who Junichi’s lover is, but he evades the question.
The next day everything seems back to normal. The students are in the gym listening to the doctor makes an announcement. Junichi and company are talking amongst themselves when a familiar voice takes the microphone…it’s Nemu, and she’s now the new nurse. Junichi is in a state of shock for the rest of the day, even brushing aside Kotori. In the nurse’s office, Miharu has a tearful reunion with Nemu, and they eat lunch together. But at the end of the day, Nemu is still in her office waiting for something when Mako stops by. After hearing what Mako had to say (probably that Junichi already left), Nemu goes running towards the lighthouse where she finds Junichi. Junichi is intially angry, and when Nemu grabs his arm and asks if it would be better if she had not returned, he raises his arm to slap her. Instead, he hugs her and says that he’s been waiting for two years. Nemu starts crying in his arms as Junichi welcomes her back. When they return home (holding hands), Nemu opens the door to find Aisia with the laundry. Junichi can’t explain quickly enough who she is and Aisia makes matters worse by calling him by his given name causing Nemu to storm out pissed off.

This episode caught me completely off-guard. I was expecting a Miharu episode, maybe with some comedy, which is what the first half of the episode delivered. And then they threw in Nemu. Bam…
Definitely did not expect her return this early in the series. I thought they would cycle around the girls, telling a story for each of them, and maybe Nemu would come back in the late teens. But here we are at episode six. With Nemu. The Nemu that they keep referring back to.
Poor Kotori. Not only does her main rival for Junichi come back, she also gets the cold shoulder from him (literally). I had such high hopes for her too. *tsk tsk tsk*
I admit that I was half expecting a kiss between them when Junichi and Nemu finally embraced. Still, it looked like they were at least holding hands when they walked into the yard of the Asakura home. I can only imagine where we go from here.
So yea, I’m still a bit speechless. More later if I think of anything.

22 Comments

  4. This is not the main page, it’s a content page. On the main page, this post is excerpted with six shots from the first half of the episode. Since this is a content page, it should show everything. Unless you mean something else that WordPress can do that I’m not aware of (which wouldn’t surprise me too much).
    All of the links here should be clearly marked with MAJOR SPOILERS.

    Omni
    Reply

  6. WHY MUST NEMU BE BACK! BE GONE! KOTORI is here and that’s all we need!

    I am still in a state of shock… cannot believe they bring back nemu… (ok.. i am reading the Da Capo Second Stage comic, so I saw them coming…) but why must they do this to Kotori….

    bell
    Reply

  11. finally got a chance to d/l and watch. I’m a little annoyed how the sudden appearance of Nemu was with little fanfare, but then again I’m 80% anti-Nemu.

    Just to answer the question about Nemu being the new nurse, as far as I can remember she’s like an year younger(?) than Junichi yet was in the same class year as him. My guess is that she graduated way ahead of time in medical school, being a genius of sorts, however far-fetch that might be. It’s really the only logical one I can think of in how Nemu can already be a nurse (or nurse in-training) while still the same age as the rest of the gang. =/

    I think my biggest problem about Nemu suddenly coming back is how everyone in Junichi’s group took it pretty well. The way DCSS setup the whole Nemu and Junichi “break up”, it seemed like things ended badly between the two. Apparently not, though, after seeing open arms of literally everyone but Kotori. There better be some serious backstory about why Nemu left and how people adjusted (esp Junichi) in the initial happening of said event. If not… well…

    Possible plothole aside, my other complaint comes in the form of Kotori getting the short end of the stick here! I mean, she spent two years getting Junichi back on his feet (suddenly having KGNE flashbacks) but once his “true love”(???) comes back Kotori got pushed away. What’s the deal with THAT? There better be some action from Kotori or I swear…!!!

    If only Kotori was more aggressive, I would have loved to see her stake her claim of Junichi in front of Nemu… the resulting drama would have been sweet! Alast 90% of Horie Yui roles aren’t like that, Kotori being one of Horie’s “standard” roles. Not complaining but Kotori channeling some Naru (from Love Hina) vibes wouldn’t be a bad thing at this point either 😉

    moyism
    Reply

  12. Don’t count Kotori out quite yet, I’d say. In fact the way the direction pictured her return makes it pretty clear that her part is yet to be completed. Folks, no anime can afford to picture a character so perfectly sweet, caring and positive and then give her the short hand of the stick twice. No, if they wanted Nemu to take Kotori’s place again, the direction would have had to show Kotori _accepting_ Nemu’s return in a positive way. But that’s what did NOT happen, contrary to the slightly “fake” Kotori resolution from episode 1.

    We clearly have a Mitsuki revival here, with the added difference that Kotori obviously didn’t “usurp” Nemu’s position. I feel do-ra-ma coming up 🙂 … and while I was rooting for Nemu in the first season, I’m cheering on Kotori in this one. The way they depicted her in ep6 is giving me hope that she is actually a valid contender for the main price.

    Mentar
    Reply

  13. Anyway after thinking about it… yeah i agree with Mentar Nemu is back way to early….. i say that the show will end with Kotori this time… the producers wouldn’t be so stupid to spend their budget making nemu x junichi loves scenes but rather more on character development.(they can just save half of their budget and make an ova if they wanted to show the love scenes of nemu and Junichi) so my guess is that there is more than meets the eye. Maybe Kotori may go into a coma of sorts… like an accident??? and Junichi will feel that after those two years of standing by him, Kotori is indeed the woman for him…. of course the sakura petals in the op song also pose a question the power of the sakura tree will be back??? this time used by Aishia?? Anyway this are just speculations… I really hope they do give Kotori a chance and let her have her man this time round…

    cyw1988
    Reply

  16. Personally, I have no doubt that Nemu will end up with Junichi. Those following DC 1 will understand that there’s no way the 2 years Junichi/Kotori spent can overwrite the lifetime that Nemu/Junichi shared (culminating to that very intense Sakura incident) Any other response would cause Junichi to be a callous cad, undeserving of both DC goddesses’ affections. However, I do find Nemu’s return premature. Kotori/Junichi’s relationship is not at a level where Kotori can contend reasonably with Nemu. I was kinda hoping they will push their relationship to that edge of committment before bringing Nemu back (to drive up the angst/drama factor). Unless something of KGNE proportions occurs (as suggested earlier), Kotori is unfortunately no serious competition. Nevertheless, I’m rooting for Kotori to put up a spectacular fight (even though I can’t really expect her to win).

    Stripey
    Reply

  21. I see DCSS pulling a Fukuda -> Shinn Asuka (Gundam SEED Destiny) with Kotori. Basically they go “Here’s a new heroine” with Kotori at the beginning of the series, and then out of the blue “Oh, screw Kotori, after all the time we spent on her, here’s your “new” heroine.” Frankly, I was quite disgusted by it, it brought out too many bad memories of GSD…

    Shinji103
    Reply

  22. Okay, I know I am very late to watching this series but if anyone reads this and understands please help me understand a few things.

    1. Why did it seem the first episodes were implying like Nemu was dead, almost like they were continuing from “Da Capo if” OVA (FYI, haven’t watched that yet)?

    2. Perhaps the fan subtitling was wrong, but they made it seem like she (Nemu) went to college, quit, joined nursing school, and came back to the island to be a nurse-in-training at the high school where Junichi is. (this is a high-school right?) does the series EVER explain this? (later episodes?)

    3. Finally, does anyone else feel like this is a soap-opera where they suddenly just bring a dead character back with some lame excuse? (i.e. – she wasn’t really dead because …)

    Dante83
    Reply

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