[Balzac]

Spoiler for Da Capo III in its entirety:

Though I may be just a seeker of visual novel-class comedy, there are some franchises which, despite their overall content, have me buying them purely because the developers had made a noticeable game in the past that was more than the average "interesting" and contained elements which in some way appealed to my tastes. One of these is Circus, most notably their Da Capo series. The first game outlined for me a core foundation of what a galge is and I was thus amazed to see it being built upon and streamlined in many other later visual novels. Da Capo II later made me a fan through its use of continuity (that, and their own brand of humor) that is quite an uncommon sight in the area of visual novels. If nothing else, it showed how a harem situation isconcluded and its effects skillfully averted even as the original continues to persist as a game of its own. (Differentiated from the likes of fandiscs, spinoffs, etc.)

Da Capo II further laid it on thick with their characters, some of which have become entrenched in my ten-years worth of bishoujo (and some bishounen) reading as standout characters. Anzu, Nanaka, and later Akane and Aishia in P.C. are examples, and they continue to persist as constructs in my mind of how secondary characters are adeptly handled.

And so here leads me to the characters of Da Capo III. What follows is untempered opinion, of which I am unapolegetic in leaving unedited and raw.

Spoiler for Heroine Views:

Each of the heroine stories are distinctly Da Capo in style and manner, from the simple issues of Charles to Aoi's dilemma.

My first issue, and I'll lay it now, is that most of the characters are bland, tired copies of other existing characters without a prominent quality to them. Not a quirk of personality, speech, philosophy, even a penchant for being overly annoying which makes them stand-out as characters of their own. To put it bluntly, they aren't "unique", and while nostalgia for each character type might be the intent of the developers here, I as a fan am personally put off by the atmosphere evoked here, even in spite of the whole all-out magic business.

The only character with more than the ounce of originality was Ricca, and even then she didn't strike me so much, perhaps her "air" as a character was more of a secondary character than what is advertised. About the only thing which later made me "like" the character was the implication later on in da capo, where my view didn't change to "like" like but "oh, so she might be...oooh". Again, appealing to the fan's nostalgia which worked - but only here.

Second are their routes - generic, generic, generic. The most dynamic and "alive" was Aoi's, and even then it received an unjust treatment which made me literally laugh in my seat later on after the game transitioned immediately to da capo, and BAM the whole mess is expositioned (made that a verb intentionally) without regard for the previous route. Normally I treat drama as the odd, underachieving kid at gym class, but I can't help but lend sympathy to the characters for the unwieldy handling of their roles in their respective routes.

In terms of relevance to the overall "story" Charles and Sara have the least of it. Sara gets the shorter end of the stick here, as the whole route is all about proving herself to her family, and where have we heard that sort of thing before? Charles has at least the distinction of showcasing Kiyotaka's powers, but again the premise is generic, and I can claim to seeing the last scene with her brother before.

Ricca and Himeno - now there's a slight upgrade at least. Ricca falls nearest to the previous two, but some aspects of her route including her de-aging process, the whole issue with her friend and her dealing with the fog, make her at the very least relevant. Which thus leaves Himeno as a higher sort of route in my opinion. Although it too has a "tired and true" formula and its drama is passable, it showed off more of Kiyotaka's personality as a character. Himeno herself as a heroine is almost an amalgamation of all the previous "sister-types" in Da Capo - with all of the good points and none of the negatives.

In my opinion, Aoi shines as a character better in the prologue, as she falls into the same trap as the others when we come to her route. While the radio segments of her route was amusing, the way the drama was escalated only to fall into a valley of heartwarming before pulling out the drama again and concluding in a very unsatisfactory way as I detailed above.

And is Ian supposed to be a tsundere or something?

Moving on to each routes, none of the routes stand out as particularly engaging, as Circus enjoys the use of such devices as a seesaw of heartwarming and then (intended) prolonged drama to lay out the story of a route. The only route which I particularly liked was Da Capo, and then it was only speaking from the standpoint of a Da Capo fan treated to the "cameos" that appeared, and the implication towards the end of the true status of each of Da Capo III's heroines. As explained in the above spoiler, the mechanic of "repeating" had little impact as the end of one route abruptly led to the next, which came off as jarring even if the intent was logical. (more time to focus on after-effects, Sakura's memory dives)

I may be remiss in saying thus, but Da Capo III is a game which one enjoys either as nostalgia or genuinely just admiring each of the heroines and their personalities while turning a blind eye to the many flaws. There are many more words I can describe the Da Capo III experience, but I feel that it can be boiled down to:

A flawed gem, with facets that need a lot more polishing.

Now, the previous games aren't flawless in their turn, but Da Capo III is like taking the gem of Da Capo II and carving off some of its outer parts unskillfully ending up in something that looks like Da Capo II, isn't Da Capo II, and in the end isn't as great as Da Capo II.

Was it a waste of money? I'm pondering that at this very moment.

Sakura never catches a break, doesn't she? Not in D.C., D.C. II, nor even here. I think she got the shortest end of the stick through the whole franchise.