The island of Hatsune, where cherry blossoms are in bloom all year long.
There are people who study such mysterious cherry blossoms,
and also there are people who lead normal everyday lives.
Even if the cherry blossoms never stop blooming, there is no difference in people’s lives.
A girl came back as if she was guided by the scent of those cherry blossoms.
Kazami Academy is located in the middle of such a normal world.
There was a boy with the mysterious power to produce Japanese sweets out of nowhere and to experience other people’s dreams.
Far from being ordinary, yet far from being extraordinary.
—- The dream that her favorite wizard dreams about —-
The school idol who loves Japanese sweets,
the demanding, yet clingy sister,
the spaced-out friend,
the old friends in the dreams,
and the friend who is called “a puppy dog”.
– The beginning to the end –
When they all meet at the academy near the graduation time, the love story begins.
– The end invites the beginning –
The cherry blossom petals are dancing in the air.
They are dancing as if there is no tomorrow.
Extremely slowly,
without even a sound.
The petals, which remind me of wings of an angel, make me think about eternity.
“What a poet I am……”
D.C. ~Da Capo~
D.C.～ダ・カーポ～
Publisher : Circus
Release Date : 28 June 2002 (JP) 24 May 2007 (EN)
Length : Medium (10 - 30 hours)
Genre : Visual Novel, Eroge
Rating : Ranked #31 (vndb.org)
Scored 80.5 (KirikoPoll)
Platform : PC
The game is centered around the protagonist, Asakura Jun'ichi, who lives with his sister Asakura Nemu on a fictional japanese island named Hatsunejima peacefully attending the local Kazami Academy. His childhood friend and cousin, Yoshino Sakura, returns to the island Hatsunejima after moving to America several years ago. Most of the main stories revolve around the magical unwilting sakura tree, it's powers and mystical connection to the main characters.
.: Screen Shoots
.: Review
In something of a change from normal visual novel traditions, Asakura Junichi isn't your typical protagonist. Well, okay, he is your typical visual novel protagonist in many ways, quickly proving himself to be a rather lazy and apathetic individual with a line in quick wit and sleeping in as late as humanly possible. However, on the flip side of that coin he does have a couple of rather unique abilities to his name - firstly, the ability to see the dreams of others, and secondly the arguably less useful skill of creating snacks out of thin air.
It might seem a little odd to say this about a visual novel, and perhaps it's more evidential of my own indecisiveness or desperation to please everybody all of the time, but from my experiences playing Da Capo is hard. I played through the game in its entirety twice without any outside help, and each time I found myself faced with one of its "wishy-washy" endings, hanging out with a male friend or just enjoying some kind of innocent friendship rather than establishing any sort of life-long romance with someone. Although choosing which girl you want to "target" seems simple enough, as it soon becomes clear where they tend to hang out most of the time, the game also seems to throw enough curveballs to make pushing towards one particular route pretty difficult, which could well leave you reaching for a walk-through for the game if my experience is anything to go by.
Visual
Visually, Da Capo's artwork can be wonderful on some occasions but frustratingly lacklustre on others, with an inconsistency which is a little jarring in itself - most of the CG scenes look great though, and there's no denying that the game's character designs are gorgeous, so that alone may be enough to tempt you to part with your hard-earned cash. (Score: 9/10)
Gameplay
Where Da Capo adds a little more frisson to its multiple choice game play method is in the sheer number of choices available. Rather than simply throwing up the occasional "how should I respond to this question?" choice, Da Capo splits its protagonist's days into several chunks - the day begins with Junichi's alarm clock going off at a time of your choice (from three selections), so that you can be an early bird or lazy slob at your choosing, and most days also allow you to choose where you want to go, whether it's choosing a place to spend your lunch break on a school day or where to hang out at the weekend. At one point the game even takes this to a playful extreme by presenting you with a multiple choice exam paper that will most likely have you scrambling to search Wikipedia if you actually want to take this frivolous addition seriously. With these mechanics in place, it's your job to guide Junichi through an important part of his life, through graduation from one school through to the beginning of another and beyond, although of course all of this is somewhat secondary to setting your sights on the girl of your choice. (Score: 8/10)
Story
Interesting. You will find your own word when you play Da Capo. (Score: 9.5/10)
Music
Absolutely brilliant music works by yozuca*. The typical music is subtle and soothing. There are little bit problem with Sakura's route's sounds, but overall it's good. (Score: 8/10)
Overall
We can't deny that Da Capo is a popular game, hence the production of sequels, spin-offs and adaptations as part of its franchise, but for us it doesn't manage to find itself a place in the higher echelons of the growing English translated visual novel market. It isn't a bad game, and it has its moments, but there isn't really enough on show to make it a must-play game in our books.
Overall Score: 8/10
Gameplay
Where Da Capo adds a little more frisson to its multiple choice game play method is in the sheer number of choices available. Rather than simply throwing up the occasional "how should I respond to this question?" choice, Da Capo splits its protagonist's days into several chunks - the day begins with Junichi's alarm clock going off at a time of your choice (from three selections), so that you can be an early bird or lazy slob at your choosing, and most days also allow you to choose where you want to go, whether it's choosing a place to spend your lunch break on a school day or where to hang out at the weekend. At one point the game even takes this to a playful extreme by presenting you with a multiple choice exam paper that will most likely have you scrambling to search Wikipedia if you actually want to take this frivolous addition seriously. With these mechanics in place, it's your job to guide Junichi through an important part of his life, through graduation from one school through to the beginning of another and beyond, although of course all of this is somewhat secondary to setting your sights on the girl of your choice. (Score: 8/10)
Story
Interesting. You will find your own word when you play Da Capo. (Score: 9.5/10)
Music
Absolutely brilliant music works by yozuca*. The typical music is subtle and soothing. There are little bit problem with Sakura's route's sounds, but overall it's good. (Score: 8/10)
Overall
We can't deny that Da Capo is a popular game, hence the production of sequels, spin-offs and adaptations as part of its franchise, but for us it doesn't manage to find itself a place in the higher echelons of the growing English translated visual novel market. It isn't a bad game, and it has its moments, but there isn't really enough on show to make it a must-play game in our books.
Overall Score: 8/10
.: Download
Mediafire Links: here
Fileserve Links (4 parts):
Fileserve Part 1
Fileserve Part 2
Fileserve Part 3
Fileserve Part 4
.: You call me 'niisan', but you love me? Strange... :.
Fileserve Links (4 parts):
Fileserve Part 1
Fileserve Part 2
Fileserve Part 3
Fileserve Part 4
.: You call me 'niisan', but you love me? Strange... :.
