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My contention still remains that when Da Capo first came out, it embodied everything wrong with visual novel conversions at the time, and Da Capo Second Season just accentuated all the flaws and lopped off the few good things about the first season. Da Capo II, while uninspiring, was at least something refreshingly different for the franchise, but Da Capo II Second Season was just the same old fairytale crap again. This... well, I had two completely different (and surprising) reactions to this that can be basically split into half episodes.
First half of OVA 1
Three points:
1. OH GOD Nemu is dead! YES!
2. OH GOD Kotori deserves better than Jun'ichi.
3. OH GOD this is boring.
Second half of OVA 1
Holy crap, that was about as close to genuinely dramatic as I think Da Capo has ever reached. I was completely surprised with myself, but I actually felt for these characters as they were, in essence, burying Nemu for a second time. Maybe it was the overwhelming emotions, but Da Capo's characters have never been compelling enough to work on just emotions by themselves. I guess it was because all the emotions were under the surface, but still displayed clearly enough that the audience had an idea what each character was thinking. Only Kotori was truly explicit with how she felt. It was a more subdued presentation of emotions and angst, which isn't typical for this franchise, since it tends to be so overwrought.
It could be an aberration, and I suspect it is, because, as I said, I just don't think DC's characters are nearly compelling enough for truly absorbing and moving drama. They only have one more OVA to cram in some character development to turn it around, and, in the case of Jun'ichi particularly, they'd need to pull off something monumental to make him sympathetic before the end of the next OVA. Well see what happens.
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