[VN REVIEW] D.C.5 ~Da Capo 5~

Title : D.C.5 ~Da Capo 5~

Release Date : 27 January 2023

Total Playtime : 84h 36m

VNdb : https://vndb.org/v46116

Da Capo is a relatively renowned franchise in the Visual Novel industry. The first installment, Da Capo (aka D.C.), was released as far back as 2002. Yes, it is a 21-years old franchise with five main installments ongoing, and even more numerous fandisc (spin-offs). Heck, the first three title even got adapted into an anime at some point.

Da Capo 5 (hereforth D.C.5), on the other hand, is the latest installment released just earlier in 2023. It has (so far) no English translations, and therefore played in pure, unadulterated, raw Japanese—which means a higher possibility of few misinterpretations due to my immature knowledge in 日本語.

As a forewarning, D.C.5 is my first entry into the franchise, and I have but only several clues regarding what Da Capo (when Da Capo is written, it means the franchise) actually is from VNdb, other reviews, people who have played, and the MVs scattered about. To be completely honest, I was pretty intrigued to enter Da Capo but the sheer number of titles made me hesitant to jump in. As for why I start from D.C.5 as opposed to D.C. or the critically acclaimed D.C.III—that would be because of Sakuragi Mizuha, our main heroine.

"Her graceful figure fall, behind her a scene of serene madness from the blooming light pink petals. When I first laid my eyes upon her, a surge of warm nostalgia surged, even though this is my first encounter with this girl"

Basically, I fell in love at first sight.

Enough to overturn my paranoia over the looming dread of Da Capo's inscrutable world.

Before we begin the actual review, I will provide a brief overview over Da Capo to give an idea of it and easier time pointing out several points later. While each main title could seemingly be a standalone, Da Capo happens in the same universe and are interconnected with each other—creating a pretty inscrutable story in which the relationship of every character could be traced back and make for a pretty complex diagram. Bear in mind that this is merely general information on the world of Da Capo I have gathered without playing the actual VN(s). Spoiler alert.

Da Capo

The main theme of Da Capo, much to my belief, is the promise of departure and encounter. The story of Da Capo mainly revolves around high school, romance, and magic. The previous two makes up for most of the content, but the true magic lies in the involvement of the supernatural abilities each characters have. The magic itself is not the typical elements and/or physical magic, rather one that operates on the subconscious—conceptual magic. Da Capo doesn't shy away from memory alteration, time manipulation, world-crossing, and dream magic. These so-called magic, is also something that can be passed down generation to generation. Together, it creates a dynamic storytelling in which generations of magic users are interacting with each other, fulfilling their promise driven by their love for someone.

The thread in which everything connect is rooted in the Sakura Tree which blooms all-year long, standing on a spot where mana converges, performing a unique magic along. Over there, is the place where the encounter between our characters awaits.

With that explained, let's get to D.C.5.

Premise

D.C.5 tells the story of Kujou Souma, a boy living alongside 3 other girls inside the island of Kagamijima, the place closest to the sky. He was sent during childhood to live in the island as a representative of Kujou Family to train as the future bloodline of magic user. There, he live and grow along with the representative of the main family, Tokisaka Yukina, and the sisters from another branch family, Yasaka Menoa & Yasaka Kako.

Souma is the inheritor of the magic of Kujou Family—ナギの魔法 (nagi no mahou) —the magic to stabilize the state of an object and reflect its true form. Since childhood, he has been training to become a magic user through both physical and mental training. One day, when he was playing on a hill together with his peers (the 3 girls), the sky teared apart and a looming dread of calamity, 黒無 (kokumu; black nothingness), spilled out of it—threatening to destroy their world. Together, they tried to repel the kokumu, but it ended with Kako and Souma fainting, with Souma taking the brunt of sealing the kokumu within his heart, eating away at his life. Thus, the ones with complete intact memories of what actually happened were only Menoa and Yukina who also had been present back then.

Currently, all of them are students of Kagami Academy and living their daily life peacefully. One day, Souma went to Mikagami-ko—a clear lake in Kagamijima with a huge Sakura tree that have never bloomed standing in its epicenter—to train his meditation with Menoa. At that time, the Sakura Tree that previously never bloomed suddenly blossomed in an instant into a full, glorious bloom. Along with it, a mysterious girl suddenly appeared over the Sakura Tree and fall graciously in front of them. The girl claimed to have lost her memories and couldn't recall her birthplace nor family. Sensing the indubitable trace of magic and from the girl's appearance and her suspicious origin, Menoa decided to closely watch her under the pretext of taking her in to live together.

Common Route

Total Playtime : 9h 59m

The narrative structure of D.C.5 can be split into two parts: common route and actual route. The common route serves as a starting point to introduce the character and environment that will appear throughout the story. Much of what happens here establish as a foundation which leads to the actual route in some way. The transpired events are considerably light-hearted with no conflict nor significant problem incited, one might find it to be boring—if not for the ever-present Suginami that really, carries it along with Haruto for their comedy routine. Aside from those two, the banter of the main cast is quite standard with nothing distinguishing. The saving grace is that because four of the heroines live under the same roof with Souma, there's at least a complementary daily life dynamic between school and home.

想秤の桜 (Hakari no Sakura)—the mysterious tree capable of appraising the thoughts of every student present.

The main drive of the common route would be Kagami Academy Festival—or Kagasai. The heroine you choose to interact with decide whether Kagasai will be a cultural festival (bunkasai) or a sport festival (taiikusai). In fact, the story began to branch just before Kagasai started. When faced with the choice for the first time, you'd be greeted with only two heroines—Kako and Akari. The rest of the heroine is locked until you finished the route of either one. This probably served as a gentle introduction before you enter the bigger picture of the plot—otherwise known as Da Capo shenanigans. In contrast, this result in Kako and Akari's route relatively tame and bland in comparison, which I will talk about later.

The choice system works in an unlocking system. There are four choices given throughout the common route. The fourth choice decides whose route you would enter, and the available choice will depend on who you have chosen on the previous three. Unless you are an absolute zen with no worldly desire, I suggest to stick with a single heroine throughout common route.

Other than that, it's your good old common route with pretty small cast and limited background to work with.

Interlude

This review will attempt to summarize every single route including several personal opinions regarding each route and the story as a whole. The review will be rather fixated on the narrative aspect as it is the main point of interest of Visual Novel and my personal objective when playing one. I will also use the Cry-Meter™ to rate each route.

[Cry-Meter Scale]

• 0 — Not emotionally moving, did not cry
• 1 — Understand the emotional point, but not emotionally moved
• 2 — Emotionally moved, did not cry
• 3 — Squinted eyes accompanied with deep breaths
• 4 — Traces of tears on corner of eyes
• 5 — Tears welling up, did not weep
• 6 — Head slightly facing up, holding back tears
• 7 — Shed tears intermittently and silently
• 8 — Tears flowing relentlessly
• 9 — Weeping with wails in-between
• 10 — Grief-stricken, heart-wrenched lamentation

Cry-Meter Scale (Subject to change).

The review will be done by the order I have played. I will give my recommended playing order by the end of the review for a maximum enjoyment—subjectively through my sense as someone with high expectations, objectively through the bigger picture of Da Capo.

八坂可子 / Yasaka Kako

Total Playtime : 16h 3m

Our resident little sister and home-cook with an eye for details. Actually, not our little sister, but rather Menoa's. Since Menoa is the more talented magic user, Kako did not inherit the Yasaka Magic and can only do as far as creating charms & accessories imbued with magic. Add the fact that she also shoulder the burden as the youngest and inexperienced out of everyone, she tries her best to be useful and to catch up—a hardworking, earnest, strict-but-forgiving girl. This route is thematically centered around letting go of your past and insecurities.

She does make for a great housewife material.

The romantic development is questionable at best. Kako, who cherished her childhood memories and memento given to her by Souma, had hid her feeling because he was engaged to Menoa. The catalyst for her overflowing feeling is nothing more than Souma helping her prepare for Astronomy Club's event on Kagasai. On the other hand, Souma simply wish to help her out of sense of obligation as a ghost member of the Astronomy Club after seeing her commitment. Sadly, the event itself doesn't matter and completely overshadowed by Suginami's absurd yet even better event. Rather, I could only remember what Suginami and Haruto did all along instead since it was way more interesting than simply chatting together in clubroom preparing documents and marking papers. It's quite a dull early half.

Naked bonding between sisters is always nice, though.

Later on, they became a couple and proceed to icha-icha for quite a long while. Nothing really remarkable. Since everything passed with no goal nor conflict in mind, it feels aimless and hard to engage with. The slightest hint of character development shown was after Fumino commissioned Kako to create a charm for her friend, by which later Kako finally found her calling to be an accessory-maker and came to term with her sense of inferiority. In an attempt to deepen her character, she was given the task to taught kids regarding accessory-making, and interacting with someone's dog at local garden, which doesn't really do much.

Midway, I abandoned hope and truly wish it will end soon. With the only three other heroines actually coloring her route mysteriously gone, it began to weather at my patience. There’s some awkward “Everybody’s missing but we can’t really do anything” mood going, clearly an attempt at withholding information so as to not spoil other routes. Sadly, it only created a hardly believable situation with questionable character behaviors. This will be a pretty common occurrence in other routes, but Kako’s has it worst with just how sudden it was and how the couple seems to pay the strange coincidence no mind. In fact, it was used as a chance to develop their relationship since…there’s no one else at home.

R18 expansion where?

But then, the sky cracked. And holy, was that a twist to behold.

It was then that the whole incident several years ago came to light to the reader for the first time, and yet it is but a fragment of memories with unreliable narration. Perhaps an attempt to keep the rest of the twist saved for other route—yet it managed to imbibe the sense that you finally took your first step into the world of Da Capo. In a grand show to crystallize Kako's effort to change we had painstakingly went through, she manipulated a magic bullet using the memento she had never let go to close the cracked sky and drive back kokumu, the thing that hurt both her and her beloved in the past.

The sky cracked, and everyone was bamboozled.

Now, despite how gloom the route might seem, Kako have an easily memorable character BGM: "兄さんは仕方ないんですから" ("Can't be helped if it's you, brother"). The springy, playful melody fits her personality, while the overall vibe exudes the innocence of a younger partner. Once you listen, you are in a fun time together with Kako. The alternate version, "少しだけ素直に" ("Just a bit honest") instead have that tinge of melancholy over cherished memories. As the title implies, it usually plays whenever Kako become honest about herself, as we gain a deeper understanding of her worry for something she could never be.

If I had to give a praise for Kako's route, then it would be how it left the reader with even more questions. Why did the other heroines disappear? What in God's name was kokumu? What was the full story behind the incident several years ago? It truly amped up the anticipation to begin the next route—and leave Yasaka Kako for good.

Cry-Meter : 0/10

Verdict : She lives up to her name, in the worse way/10

白河あいか / Shirakawa Aika

Total Playtime : 13h 10m

Shirakawa Akari is supposedly the only daughter of Shirakawa Family, a conglomerate house which played a big role on the development of Kagamijima. Her finesse befitted a noble upbringing and charm, yet her true self is more than meets the eye: a clumsy, athletic, sincere sweet-lover. Considered to be a flower on top of a hill in school, she strives to live up to her name and reputation—hiding her true self in the process. Another thing that she hid, was her power to read people's emotion, which she herself had mixed feelings about using. This route thematically centered around learning about yourself and the acceptance of others.

白河灯莉 (Shirakawa Akari)…?

Because Akari is, in fact—Shirakawa Aika, the body double of the sickly Shirakawa Akari, true daughter of Shirakawa. She was given the role since childhood, and in fact have always been a close friend to the person she pretends to be. Aika felt indebted to Akari because of two things: Her mother—bedridden and in coma for years, were taken under the care of Shirakawa, and Akari herself was the only person she could take off her mask without any worry.

Definitely the route with best romantic and character development in D.C.5. In the early half, Aika was clearly conflicted between her genuine wish to be loved by Souma not as Akari and her devotion as Akari's body double—both important things she held dear were clashing. The way it was written tickled my shoujo soul, conveying well the embarrassment and excitement of being together with someone you like. And yet, I felt endeared everytime Aika flashed a bitter smile filled with sadness, torn between a wish to continue and fear of losing her relationship with Souma. The build-up leading to the reveal was slow, one might even call it obvious. The reader was hinted at something that Souma hadn't know, leaving them anticipated. The climax—or anticlimax, would be when both of them had affirmed their own feelings and Aika decided to bring Souma to Akari, revealing everything. Learning that Souma actually love her as Aika and not Akari gave the two of them a chance to redeem their misunderstanding and finally get together.

To be completely honest, Aika is every bit perfect.

The latter half then follow along Aika's attempt to accept her own qualities, experiencing things she had held back ever since childhood. The emotional bit now instead focused on Aika's background—how grateful she was and how she wished to be like her mother. Later, it leads up to her working part-time job at Tsukimi Dango with Souma, a famous desserts café in town. The development neatly wrapped as we now know her love for sweets stemmed from her longing towards the sweets her mother used to make, and it is her own wish to work as a confectioner. During the final conflict, she was tasked with creating a new menu for the café. Thus, recalling back her mother—the source of inspiration, her lover—the source of courage, and her cherished other—the source of motivation, Aika created a menu she could only think of as a part of herself. The proof of her growth as a person, presented right before her beloved mother.

Haha! You thought everything's just gonna end there? Jokes on you! Cry as you wish!

Aika's design is beautiful, very beautiful. Her presence alone took the centre of attention with elegance albeit clumsily, a reflection of personality gap she bore not just metaphorically, but also literally. She also has the most fitting voice actor for her personality. All complete with her character music, 「自分らしく、お嬢様らしく」 ("Be yourself, like a young lady"), 「あくまで自然体に」 ("Simply be natural"), and*「心と向き合って」* ("Facing the heart")—each representing the state of situation she's in the story, the grandiose string diminish in as you go further until nothing but a sweet, heartwarming, honest melody of a piano left. Personally, I love her leitmotif out of everyone else's.

Aika's route is the only route which didn't involve any form of conflict from the magic user families, and by extent the Da Capo shenanigans. The whole route is solely focused on her and her alone, which allowed for lengthy, in-depth character development that every other route lacks. It is better to proceed with this route having no expectation of Da Capo shenanigan to happen, and simply enjoy it as a heartwarming story of a heroine with slightly convoluted background. I truly recommend playing Aika as the first route, a shame that I didn't.

Cry-Meter : 3/10 (Route); 7/10 (Epilogue)

Verdict : Heartwarming tale of acceptance with an endearing, lovely girl/10

八坂愛乃亜 / Yasaka Menoa

Total Playtime : 12h 18m

Self-proclaimed genius great magician, Yasaka Menoa, is every bit as she said. Gaudy, flashy, and haughty though, would be something she won't admit. She's a tsun-ojou heroine. This route is thematically centered around the pain and consequence of solitude.

A genius at both learning and magic since childhood, Menoa believed on her superiority over everyone else she'd call "bonjin (average person)". Not only she inherited the magic of Yasaka Family at a young age, she's also capable of harnessing a magic unique to her—パス移動(pasu idou), a magic capable of traversing between world lines born from different possibilities. Menoa then grew to become a patronizing and dishonest figure, believing that the "genius" must shoulder everything an "average person" cannot do and they need not concern themselves.

Menoa is engaged to Souma through an agreement both of their parents made without their consent. The both of them didn't make a big deal out of it and simply remain as a family and close friend. Menoa played the role of that haughty kid who actually cares for everyone but pretending not to, while Souma was the guy who knew about her dishonesty and attitude, reminding her "don't go too far". This dynamic will be important to the plot and their relationship development later into the story.

But no matter where, seeing a tsun-goes-dere is world-renowned satisfaction.

Our first entry into the Da Capo shenanigans, the route addressed its main conflict right out of the bat. Menoa couldn't care less about Kagasai and seemed to always have something to do after school. The narration teased a lot about something going on behind her disappearance. Yet, a lot of it remain vague and often cut-off abrupt by unreliable narration. Sadly, this went on for quite long that it's hard to keep yourself engaged. In fact, it might be a major factor on why the earlier part of the route is so bland despite its interesting setup.

Upon reaching the turning point—where Mizuha regained her memory (and proceed to leave for good), the sky cracked once again it was revealed that Menoa had been traversing between worlds in search of a method to eliminate the kokumu for good. With a deadline (quite literally dead, but still hidden in this route), Menoa pushed herself and made a lapse in her judgement during one of her attempts. Remembering the promise he made during childhood, Souma managed to rescue her—breaking down the wall of solitude she had built since a long time ago.

Know that living in solitude does not equate to leaving other unworried.

The latter half instead brought the relationship development as they begin to trust more in each other until eventually becoming lovers. I must say this route felt clearly lacking in the romance department despite the amazing setup from its exposition. The way it was written made Menoa's character so monotonous and boring, with very minuscule—if any, development on her as a character. It seemed as if they were transitioning from their initial dynamic instead of building on top of it. I was a bit disappointed since they clearly have potential to be something more than just generic teens in love.

Once we reach the last bit, it turned out a hidden twist still remain. Menoa, now with Souma, continued their attempt to find a method to eliminate kokumu which led them figuring out that Hakari no Sakura had been accumulating mana in every world lines*.* With a clue on their hand, they finally could perform a magic capable of suppressing the kokumu—at the cost of erasing the existence of the user. A last spurt of emotional rollercoaster ensues and one of them had to activate the magic, leaving a branch of Sakura with insurmountable condensed mana in its wake. Crying ensued until the end.

A five-minute attempt of evoking emotion which ultimately failed.

Menoa's design was…childlike, to say the least. It may as well try to flash how her story is about growing up from the childishness that is thinking you can do everything alone. Which is exactly how her character BGM progression sounds like. 「傍らに人無きが如く」 ("As though no bystander exist" ) feels nonchalant and showy just like a kid. 「孤独の観測者」 ("The lonely observer") played on a minor key with two melodies cutting one another, accentuating the underlying motive behind her showy leitmotif. 「天才としての」 ("As a genius") returns to her leitmotif with mellowed-out piano, pointing out the optimistic loneliness of Menoa. A great complement to her character, though not the best.

While her demeanor and appearance doesn't sit well with me, Menoa's background and personality blends really well with the bigger picture of the plot. Being the only one capable of traversing worlds and seeing just what sort of change was in the realm of possibility is a recipe for tragic lone hero. You can clearly see where the author tried to bring the story and how it would evoke your emotion. Sadly, it is executed poorly for too long with so many unreliable narration and withheld information. While it made for a pretty suspense-filled narrative, the story relied too much on one big twist which was already obvious and tried to explain it with an unclear magic system over a short time—giving rise to confusion as opposed to sympathy due to how abrupt and out-of-nowhere the reveal was.

Cry-Meter : 3/10

Verdict : Monotonous writing kills otherwise great plot/10

常坂雪那 / Tokisaka Yukina

Total Playtime : 13h 39m

Hoo, boy. Resident Tokisaka's oldest member, the most respected figure everyone looks up to. Being the oldest meant she have to be the role model for our main casts. Cheerful, hard-working, and thoughtful, Yukina's mere existence lighten her surroundings in a very admirable manner. Her motto was simply to see everyone having fun, and if she had to burden the less__fun part, she'd gladly do it—a truly reliable person. Not only she had to lead by example at home, she was also the student council president and the head of Tokisaka Family. Her life had been one full of constant expectation, even from childhood. This route is thematically centered around the price of borrowed time.

Tokisaka Yukina was a talented magic user since childhood. Her aptitude for magic led her become the inheritor of the magic of Tokisaka Family—時遡の魔法 (Tokisaka no Mahou), a great magic capable of interfering the time axis of an object. Not limited to simply physical object, Tokisaka Magic could also alter an event as far as erasing their existence, of course with an even greater price. It is a great magic that could alter the world itself. Later on, this will be pivotal for the story, and a big clue to the interconnectedness of Da Capo.

What lies hidden may be a garden of flower or a ticking time-bomb—or both.

Yukina's route brought the most memorable Kagasai arc. The story began with Hakari no Sakura judging that both sports & cultural festival had the same student tally. Upon witnessing the abnormality of this, Yukina as the student council president immediately decided that both sports & cultural festival would be held. Even though knowing how much it would burden her and her student council peers workload, she replied with "But everyone can have fun this way". Yukina even suggested the student council to also participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event, roping in Souma along the way under the pretext of helping out.

Along the way, it was hinted that Yukina hid something from Souma for a long time, and that there was an underlying reason why she earnestly pushed for the Kagasai agenda. The juxtaposition of this pairs well with the student council's activity for cultural festival—filming a romantic drama about undoing a past accident(gee, I WONDER what that implies). Despite claiming it was her first, Souma had gotten captivated by Yukina's sincere and impressive act, like she herself had gone through the tragic experience. Later on, after some Suginami shenanigans at the sports festival, the arc climaxed with Souma confessing to Yukina under the starry sky, affirming both feelings to love each other.

"It would be nice if this could continue forever."

The romance development was built upon a pretty much solid foundation and therefore proceed quite smoothly. To the unassuming, her aggressive approach seemed to be quite the gap, but the way it so subtly twined with the actual reason behind her demeanor was really impressive. Here and there, hints were dropped that Yukina had only a limited time to be together with Souma. Which led to the ultimate reveal that she had been suppressing kokumu that reside within Souma ever since the incident several years ago at the cost of her lifespan. Ultimately though, it was just a temporary workaround, since the rate at which kokumu ate away at Souma's life was accelerating. Both her and Souma were on a limited time before it broke out, and as if not enough, Yukina suddenly went on a coma for days due to overusing the Tokisaka Magic.

After Yukina woke up, she realized that there was no other way to prevent the worst from happening. In a last futile attempt to delay the outcome, she activated her magic once again to suppress the raging kokumu inside Souma while also inheriting the Tokisaka Magic to him in the process. Unlike the previous instance, Souma sensed the magic this time was different because Yukina had to pay the price of erasing her existence.

An equal exchange of time is a universal emotion-trigger.

Later on, we went through a depressive stage of the story, which I had never expected D.C.5 would have. But after a brief recalling of the plot devices setup throughout since the beginning, Souma managed to pull off the one-great magic. Combining both Tokisaka no Mahou and Nagi no Mahou, Souma managed to erase the kokumu inside him and turn back time to the state before Yukina's collapse. Big crying ensued as Yukina silently understood just from a single "It's okay now".

Yukina was actually the heroine with least impression on me from the common route. Typical honor student onee-san trope with nothing much standing out from her appearance, a character which relies heavily on personality to be liked. Reflecting that, 「いたずら心と生徒会長」("Mischievous-at-heart Student Council President") was also the least impressive; a generic school life BGM with an air of noblesse and youth, the surface of Yukina. The alternate, 「そっと、優しく」("Gently, kindly")was simply a slow-piano tugging at your heartstrings, but in a hopeful way.

Actually we haven't talked about the "pen", but it's better to experience it yourself. Now I am crying.

Yukina's route has one of the best dramatic developments I have seen. The way their relationship develops, the slow reveal of the truth, and the agony stemming from helplessness at the conflict was beautifully intertwined. By the point Yukina went fwoosh, I was expecting a time skip or some out-of-nowhere deus ex machina to appear and give us happy ending. I am very glad I was wrong. It is arguably the best route in D.C.5 in terms of completeness, coherence, and narration.

Cry-Meter : 8/10

Verdict : A rare case of world-changing power of love done properly/10

桜来瑞花__/ Sakuragi Mizuha

Total Playtime : 17h 02m (+ Common Route Replay)

Alright, here we go. This one will be a journey. In a lot of ways, there is a bunch of things I want to say about this route more than the route itself. Expect a lot of commentary.

Enter nameless girl, a phantom-like girl appearing out of thin air coinciding with the sudden full bloom of the Sakura Tree of Mikagami-ko after a thousand year of silence. The girl, quite visibly committing an act of magic, came to this world with only a vague sense of responsibility and nostalgia remaining. She lost every memory regarding herself. No name, no home, no relatives. Thus, she became Sakuragi Mizuha, provided with a place she could call home, and met people she would eventually call as family.

Hum your song, lonely one.

To lack a memory, means to lose half of what makes yourself, I'd say. But a newborn's lack of memory thereof can only mean they would gain one. A blank slate, so to speak. Mizuha clearly had no qualms with missing her memories, and she herself admitted a lot of this seemed new to her. We begin our story with the heroine clearly missing her memory, as we create new ones in the process of retaining her original memories. Throughout, there was nothing revealed whatsoever regarding her memories nor her amnesia. Mizuha simply…spend her daily life carefreely, innocently. Until the reveal, that is, which took an unbelievable amount of suspension of disbelief to take in.

Her route consisted of two__distinct parts. Pre-reveal, and post-reveal. The former, she had no recollection of her memories; the latter, her memories returned all at once. During the pre-reveal, all the story had to offer was simply following along Mizuha's pace as she sated her curiosity and experienced new things. Hardly anything remarkable with most of the interaction seemed rigid and contrived, especially ones involving characters other than the main couple. I sense a similar writing style with Menoa's route. Nothing was revealed nor given a clue about Mizuha, so in terms of plot advancement, it was near-zero. As for romance development, I'd even beg to call it hard to believe. The way both characters fell for each other seemed to be forced rather than a natural outcome. Without any conflict occurring and the heroine basically have no motive and/or goal, it's truly hard to imagine anything resembling romantic love could blossom. Yes, even the Suginami shenanigans and the raising local wild-cat bit felt forced, made even worse with trying to attach a life lesson while at it. By the end, writer had to put in the "I don't know why but I felt like I love her" card, which is a huge let-down in my personal judgement.

Declare your feelings, loveless one.

Now, post-reveal, without any sign, out of-nowhere, ooga-boogaloo, the Sakura Tree withered (almost ripped apart, in fact) and—may the grace of deus ex machina bless me, Mizuha regained her memories. Ensued with a short while of an unnecessary drama which didn't serve any purpose other than to develop confusion. Reveal came along with an insane load of exposition thrown in on a crisis. Was it tragic? Yes, it was. Did I feel any sympathy for Mizuha? No. Could it have been done in a better way? Absolutely.

Sakuragi Mizuha turned out to be a powerful magician from a world aptly namedサクラの国 (Sakura no Kuni), a world similar to the one Souma was in—ミズの国 (Mizu no Kuni). She was born from a bloodline of magic user with the paramount duty to maintain the balance of mana between the two worlds, ensuring that both remain in equilibrium otherwise both would be destroyed. In order to fulfill this duty, she had to live in solitude for a thousand years in the space between the two worlds—カガミの国(Kagami no Kuni), where the concept of time and season itself doesn't exist. First, she had to live in solitude since her magic was unique to herself and falling in love would deteriorate her magic power—eventually rendered useless later on. Second, she casted a magic that prevented herself from aging, as her role must be maintained for as long as she existed until a suitable inheritor of her magic appear. Third, Kagami no Kuni was the most useful place to notice a change in mana equilibrium between the two worlds, but required a significant magic power and ability to traverse between world itself to reach, not something an average magic user could do.

The first thing I noticed was how absurd the writer treated Mizuha's amnesia as simply a tool to indefinitely delay the plot twist, or reveal. Unlike in Kako's case, which despite her lack of memory during the incident several years ago, we were shown the memory to bolster her admiration for stars and fear over kokumu that remained. The reader is given information that the character didn't know so we could have an easier time to sympathize_when the _reveal came. In Mizuha's case, both the reader and the character doesn't have a single clue about her memories before the reveal, making it really hard to sympathize with her later on. When the reveal happened, only she understand what she experienced, and the reader is left without any basis to actually sympathize with what she had gone through other than a brief exposition. With a hard time sympathizing her memories that we couldn't relate, the only remaining impression after was simply "Now, what?". Memories are in the end, an intangible, unchangeable object. Her memories shouldn't have been the twist, it supposed to be a device to build upon the twist.

Second, the fact that the route is simply a pre-prequel. Later on, the final scene, after-credits, epilogue, and sequel gave us hint with a lot of time skip happening. We were simply beginning with how we met Mizuha in this timeline. There were various scenes throughout the route that indicated a story that haven't been told. And the reader was just left to speculate. The thing that irked me was that it was teased at the beginning and the end, and the story in-between served no purpose in explaining both. Which you can hardly guess, means that this story is incomplete.

This parting is only the beginning.

Phew.

Mizuha is pretty. I like her appearance. I like her personality. I like her tragic background. I like her aloofness. I like her straightforwardness. I like her confidence. In terms of atypicality, Mizuha shone with her unique personality. The comedic value of her response persisted even until the end, and at times

Her character music…may be somber and tinged with loneliness, but that in itself made for an interesting juxtaposition. During the pre-reveal, it always struck me questioning why she had such a happy outlook and admittedly feels happy herself, but the BGM simply told otherwise. It sorts of made sense post-reveal.

Great character. Contrived development. Incomplete story. End of review.

Cry-Meter : 5/10

Verdict : My heart scream, falling from the sky of expectations/10

Epilogue & Sequel

Once you get to finish all of the routes, the Epilogue option is unlocked. The story told about the continuation after each ending. Rather than an epilogue, I suppose it's closer to an afterstory. Some new information regarding the plot is still given. You'd probably end up with more questions than previously. Goodness, they really don't want this to end, don't they.

After you finish the Epilogue, the Sequel option is unlocked. For those that follows Da Capo, this might be the reward for your hard work. All the cameos, references, and thread that connects with the previous title as well as future title are given, vaguely of course. It did well on making me interested more in Da Capo, and now I have D.C.4 quite high on my priority backlog.

As for the content of both, I will refrain from including them. I'd rather you experience it on your own for true Da Capo experience.

(Or talk to me directly if you want to have an in-depth discussion full of spoiler, lmao)

Conclusion

D.C.5 serves you with a platter of high-school romance riddled with magic components as integral part of the story. The romance-to-magic relevance ratio though, varies with each route. While it may result in a more diverse content, it also makes the content disordered thematically. At one, you have a brilliant combination of both like in Yukina's route. At another, you have a mess of narrative plot like in Mizuha's route. Add the fact each ending left some unexplained plot holes and unclear exposition. A part of me was always left unsatisfied with how incomplete the story was, even after finishing everything.

D.C.5 tried to pull off a multiple route mystery plot by intentionally withholding important plot points while giving hints through vague lines and unreliable narration. Disappointingly, it usually ended with an un-cathartic plot device for an explanation, resulting in loss of the suspension of disbelief. With such loose and flimsy explanations, it's quite hard to create a firm imagination to build upon the mystery, leading to inconsistency in the settings and incoherence in the bigger plot.

Other than Kako's route, I found each route to be quite enjoyable to play throughout. Personally, I'm truly impressed how each character's BGM fits their respective design. Also as expected of Da Capo, the insert songs are amazing to listen. 暁に祈りを(Akatsuki ni Inori wo) and かなしみリフレイン (Kanashimi Refrain) definitely left a mark in my memory with how melancholic it was. I still cried everytime I listen to the lyrics of めぐり逢えたね (Meguriaetane), and probably could cry even harder had I already played D.C.4. Truly a #trueroute# moment.

Is it worth the total playtime? If you have a decent Japanese comprehension and can withstand thrown-together magic system, then by all means yes.

Recommended Playing Order : Aika > Kako > Menoa > Yukina > Mizuha

Final Verdict : Wait for the fandisc/10