Ignore the fact I'm the last one on earth to watch this series, and avoid spoilers please. Thank you.At the third mark here, and D.C. seems to be backing off the torrid pace of it's first episode a bit.The first eight episodes seem to be the usual character introductions, with everyone getting a bit in the spotlight. Oddly enough most of the episodes only seem to be about 15 minutes long; and even the "24-minute" 8th episode seems broken up into two segments; one part "side episode", another part clip show.Yeah, clip show, at the 8th episode. It summarizes pretty much all you knew about the characters already, with maybe a few plot hints dropped for the two Important Harem Characters (Sakura and Nemu). All in all the fact that we're getting a recap already sort of summarizes my current view of D.C.; for the love of God Haruhi haven't used this gag in a while whatever, this show has potential in reams...it's just not using it. More on that and a look at the standing of the series bets after the jump.The magic element feels sorely underused so far - Jyunichi's (I think it took him 5 episodes to get a first name?) powers of seeing dreams or whatnot have only been used twice, once in the first episode and again in the cat maid episode. Not sure if him conjuring up an egg or whatnot in episode one counts as well.It's also been implied in the clip show episode that Sakura (or at least some relative of her) has magic powers of her own, which will probably come into play down the home stretch. Sakura herself is making her status as a contender very notable; anyone who thinks she's blood-related is probably pretty dense, given her awfully flirty advances at the beach. She feels like she could be a bit Ayu in nature, having the typical "Eternal Loli" trait of stunted growth since x years ago; oddly enough, she stopped growing six years ago, the magic number for this show. For those who have watched Kanon, you know what I mean when I say I think we might have another Ayu on the cards.Sakura seems to have a lot of preliminary signs pointing towards her winning, not least the First Girl Wins (counting the flashback), the remarkable mysteriousness around her, and that she's quite flirty. But Nemu's the one that seems to be passing, as I've heard the term passed around, the most "keepalive checks", that is, she played a large part in interacting with Jyunichi in pretty much all the episodes so far. She has her mysterious as well, with that bell around the neck (and probably something else as well). In the end, it's largely up in the air, at least between these two - and it should be. My money's still on Nemu, although if there's one worry it's that she's peaking early.As for a second look at the rest of the harem, I've been proven sorely wrong in counting Miharu useless. She has an interesting twist in that the real Miharu pulled an Ayu or something (how many Ayu references?), and so the Miharu we see is a robot one. Which is interesting, although it hasn't been played on too much outside of her intro episode. She's still a bit annoying, except now because she's so bananananananananas for bananas.Quiet Girl in the Window has yet to really come into play, although her cat appears to be the one that transformed into Hopelessly Inept Nekomimi Maid. Maybe we'll get a link-up on this later.Of the maid herself, since she's a stay-at-home she hasn't played a large role in things, so we're just waiting on that arc.The same goes for Kotori the Idol as well; although it really bugged me that she's not singing so much as humming. Cheap. She seems to be racking up the confessions nicely, though, and I'll be dissapointed if Cool Harem #2 (I'm horrible with names, huh?) doesn't follow through with his bet from episode 1.The green haired sisters, Mako and Moe, are an interesting if not altogether typical pair. Mako, the younger, is predictably more towards the tomboy and brash side, while Moe, the older, is more...uh...refined and kind. They have racks to match your imagination of those two as well. Moe is doing a decent job at living up to her name (is that any coincidence?) at this point, the best of anyone in this series. She's not as fully awesome as I would have hoped; personally I think the whole fanservice angle to her is a bit detracting. Re: anime animators; I get it about the large breasts already. They bounce. And they're squishy. Enough. Maybe that's why there's so many lolicons nowadays - although I have no intentions of turning to that side either. I like Nayuki-style Moe, though.Jyunichi seems like a bit less of a jerk than the first episode showed him to be, although he's certainly still a complainer; "What a drag", at least in the subs, appears to be his catchphrase now. But he seems to have nice intentions.And damn it, that odd shaped cat is everywhere after all.What I really miss about D.C. though, from the first episode, is that daring edge to it, that side to it that messed with your head and gave you two or three false kiss sequences. The recent episodes of D.C., like 6-8, have been very predictable, to me. Hopefully the story will kick into gear soon now that the character episodes are done with (although, if the comments on the last post are correct, I might have to wait a bit). D.C. has lost its status of The New Awesome for now, but certainly it can work its way back up. After all, other anime of this type (hi, Shuffle) have had completely junk first halves and still ended up quite impressive.But, what lesson does that teach? Give Nemu a boxcutter and all will be well?Kidding... mostly.-CCY(Needs more meganekko...except, y'know, girls?)
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