Da Capo: Kanae Kudou

It’s… a… TRAP!

Kudou-kun, Da Capo’s resident crossdresser. I have a weird enough penchant for characters of this type (no I’m not going Brokeback on myself), mostly because you can really only do this in fiction. In real life, I have not seen any convincing crossdresser that would fool me into thinking that he/she is actually of the opposite sex.

And with Kudou having given basically NO love in [Da Capo Second Season->] at all, I decided to give his… I mean her scenario a quick run.

Disclaimer: I’ll be addressing Kudou as a guy at first, and then a girl afterwards accordingly when Junichi finds out about it.

Tsukkomi

To “boke” friends Junichi and Suginami, Kudou-kun was the ultimate “tsukkomi”. It basically means that Kudou always gives the much-needed comeback sarcasm out of the often weird antics of the two. To the others around them, Kudou is often perceived as the most sane guy of the three, and one would wonder why he befriends Junichi and Suginami too much. Kudou is leagues ahead of any guy in the school. He’s smart, kind, and totally drop-dead bishounen. His face is almost like a girl! Almost the equivalent of [Kotori->da-capo-kotori-shirakawa], Kudou is the beloved school idol.

Kotori

Speaking of which, Kudou is rather close to Kotori himself. Too close for comfort, if I may say so. Early in the game, Junichi sees Kotori and Kudou very fit for each other. Kotori and Kudou talk and agree with each other a lot, and you could say that they look girl best friends. Events with Kudou and Kotori on it are more or less similar to [Kotori’s scenario->da-capo-kotori-shirakawa], except that Junichi is more inclined to agree or be with Kudou instead of Kotori.

Ladies’ Man

Kudou is so much of a gentleman actually. He associates with oh so many girls of Da Capo, in that Junichi is almost always teasing him to go find a girlfriend in one of them. For example, Kudou associated with Tamaki, Miharu, Nanako, Sakura, and even Alice. Junichi always pairs Kudou up with each girl, but that’s probably because Junichi himself is envious that Kudou has such a very sophisticated air in him.

I mean, his rather formal way of speaking, the way he holds his chopsticks, and even his general composure can make any man envy. I mean, this Kudou guy can win ANY girl he may like in Da Capo Plus Communication! Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be interested in girls.

The Second Button

There’s this Japanese high-school thing wherein apparently a girl asks a guy they like for the second button of his school uniform during graduation day. Kudou, quite interested with Junichi, tried to ask for his second button without arousing any suspicion. How did he do that? Well, by creating this imaginary girl who’s “supposedly” in love with Junichi! Kudou acted as some sort of bridge, and it worked out somehow without Junichi suspecting anything.

Brokeback Time!

Not interested with having a girlfriend, you can hear his stories of rejecting one girl after another. It is almost of the same caliber with Kotori’s, I guess. But then this set of incidents happen that may make Junichi… er… totally in love with Kudou!

The rain was heavily pouring after class, and Junichi didn’t have an umbrella. Thankfully, Kudou has one, and it is big enough for two people. But still, some kind of tension between them broke out when Junichi notices the smell of Kudou’s hair. Kudou seems to be using feminine shampoo! Kudou defends himself by saying it was his sister’s shampoo, but then again, Junichi has a sister too, and he never uses his sister’s shampoo.

While that only aroused Junichi’s interest, this is where it really begins. At another day, Junichi actually saw Kudou and a girl in the park. The girl confesses her love, but then Kudou rejected her, saying that he already has a relationship. The girl runs away, obviously sad. Junichi scolds Kudou a bit for being kinda cruel, lying about having a relationship when he has none. Kudou answered back by saying that he really has someone he likes. Kudou said to Junichi, “The person I like is… you, Junichi”. O MY GAWD! Junichi was so surprised (mostly because Kudou looked kinda serious), but then Kudou says that it’s just a joke, and laughed all the way! The ultimate “tsukkomi”!

Since then, Kudou is on Junichi’s mind all the time. That joke confession, and with Kudou having a girly face, I think you could pass it on as if it were a real confession of a girl to Junichi. And so, naturally, Junichi is confused! Something’s not right! He’s infatuated with a guy! Shounen-ai alert!

First Kiss!
This following event completes the circle and takes the cake for Junichi’s, er, ‘homoformation’. Kudou was absent during Physical Examination Day (where nurses get your vital statistics) due to a cold. The next day, he came to school, apparently still coughing. Kotori and Junichi are quite worried, so Junichi took him to the nurse, and he promptly thanked him. After class though, Junichi returned to the clinic to find a sleeping Kudou. His ghey hormones started to rise up, he’s trying to supress it, but…

Kudou, half-asleep, suddenly held Junichi and embraced him! And… kissed him! O MY GAWD!

The ultimate shock for Junichi. His first kiss, stolen by a guy! Kudou woke up, and knew nothing about the event that happened.

Rumors

With Junichi’s continuing puzzlement on how he feels towards Kudou, the classmates are now rumor-mongering about them. Of course, on the top helm is Suginami. The way Junichi blushed at the sight of Kudou, the day after the “First Kiss” event, already gave a hint to him. Suginami now calls Kudou, Junichi’s “prince”. The other classmates follow suit with their suspicious stares on the school’s new… er… shounen-ai couple?

Still feeling confused, Junichi met Kotori in the sakura park, and surprisingly, confided and talked about his problem in love. Kotori took a very educated guess, and asked if the person he loves is Kudou. Junichi is surprised, but then Kotori said the usual “love advice” which is following what your heart feels. Usual, as if this kind of love is heterosexual. This indicated to me more than ever that Kotori really knows about Kudou’s true gender.

The Eventual
One day, Junichi got victimized by Suginami and Miharu’s running antics, hurting his finger in the process. Junichi went to the clinic and… found the nurse examining the chest of someone who is obviously a girl! Normal reactions aside, that “girl” was actually… Kudou!?!

Junichi, after treating his finger himself by the nervous nurse’s request, went away and pondered on what he saw. It was clearly Kudou… and yet, it was clearly a girl’s body! O MY GAWD! (so many OMG moments now). Kudou Kanae is a girl!

That night, Kanae called Junichi up by phone, confirming that indeed, she is a girl! She asked to meet up with him the next day to tell everything.

The Truth

Junichi went to sakura park to wait for Kanae. She indeed appeared, but this time, she is not crossdressing. She wore a traditional dress. Kanae is totally girl! Anyway, she went on to talk about her family.

Apparently, she’s an only child of a traditional Japanese family that spanned generations. She was trained to be formal and perfect in morals and behavior. Along with that, this rule, that she must not have any “illicit romance” in school. And so she is forced to conceal herself as a male. Everytime her true identity got found out by many, she would have to change schools. It’s quite a cruel thing, but I guess tradition prevails.

Knowing this, Junichi’s love for Kanae only grew stronger. Kanae doesn’t like to transfer to another school anymore, mostly because she found true friends, and a lover too. Eventually they found their feelings toward each other, and so they became lovers, albeit hidden from everyone, because nobody else should know that Kanae is actually a girl.

Rumors II

But because of the ongoing rumors, many are still thinking that Junichi X Kanae is a homo relationship! Even Mako confronted Junichi. In any case, Suginami did warn him about this… or rather, him being unfaithful to his “prince”. Suginami actually saw him with Kanae -the girl version- in the sakura park the other day. Of course Suginami doesn’t know yet, but then he’s giving advice on being faithful. Clueless Suginami it seems.

Being that clueless as well, the classmates now laugh at Junichi X Kanae everytime they go out during lunch period. It’s incredibly embarrasing, and so they go to the school roof where they can be alone for themselves. For a few days, they eat lunch together, with bento cooked by Kanae, being so much of a happy couple.

But then something happened. Junichi and Kanae was actually caught in the roof by a classmate kissing! O MY… ehem… ok moving on. This embarrassed Kanae a LOT, and so after talking it over with Junichi, they decided not to show their affections at all in the school.

As rumors of Junichi X Kanae die down, rumors of Kanae X Kotori resurface. Not much of a problem at all, as Kotori already knows about Junichi and Kanae’s relationship, I think.

Weakening

Their secretive relationship is really quite a problem for the two. It’s like “you and me against the world”. Kanae’s family shouldn’t know, and the school shouldn’t know too, or else Kanae should be transferred away. Kanae doesn’t want that to happen, as she found true love, but then they wonder for how much more should they suffer like this.

Their problems are taking a toll not just emotionally, but for the case of Kanae, physically as well. Remember, she’s acting as a guy, so she needs to do strenous activities, like Physical ED classes. Furthermore, concealing her chest would have negative physical implications too. And she’s already in her teen years too, a fragile time for girls. Kanae starts to weaken, and one day, she fainted during PE. Junichi helped her to the clinic again, but he got scolded because he shouted at a teacher in the process (he was really panicking that time). After the scolding, Koyomi talked to him about Kanae. She knows about Kudou too, and is also deeply worried. Koyomi then talks about some sort of solution, but then it is up to Junichi and Kanae themselves, so they should talk about it seriously.

“Goodbye, Asakura”

So Junichi decided to talk to Kanae about the solution. That night, they went to the school. Kanae asked Junichi seriously, that if he really loves her from the bottom of his heart, then the solution will come. Junichi showed his true love towards her, and so Kanae… bid him goodbye. She disappeared leaving him alone at school.

Goodbye? Junichi is confused. For an entire week, Kanae didn’t come to school. Really worried, Junichi decided to call Kanae by phone, but the one who answered wasn’t Kanae. It was an old woman, who said that Kanae is just fine and needs some rest. Clearly showing his affections, Junichi talked to this old woman with a generously worried tone, even shouting at her sometimes. After the call, Junichi came to his senses, and told himself how bad that call was. Who was that old woman anyway? Well, you can already guess…

The Reunion

And so the day of reckoning came. Koyomi came to class with two news. One is… Kanae Kudou has officially dropped out from school. This sends the class confused, especially Junichi. Koyomi asked him to calm down, because her second news is…

Suddenly, Kanae Kudou, now wearing the girls’ school uniform, appeared before the class! The classmates were confused at first, but then they understood later. Kotori was happy that she can now address ‘Kudou-kun’ by ‘Kanae-chan’ this time. Suginami finally understood the situation, but then again he may have known all along… who knows? And finally, Asakura is very happy to meet his beloved Kanae again.

Epilogue

Apparently, Junichi is now supposed to meet Kanae’s family. Actually, the entire week that Kanae was gone, she was actually convincing her grandmother that Junichi is the destined guy for her. It turns out that their family rules wasn’t that cruel after all. As long as Kanae found “true love”, and not “illicit romance”, the family will support it. Her grandmother was actually the old woman Junichi talked to over the phone, and hearing that Junichi is the real deal, her grandmother agreed to their relationship. Of course, this means that they are already engaged.

Happily ever after.

THE END

It could have been better, but nice scenario nonetheless. It was kinda devoid of the magic of the sakura tree, and so this seemed like a typical crossdressing story piece. The really fun part is when Junichi is going all homo on himself! What if Kudou was really just that… a guy? It would have been freaking hilarious! But then again, I wouldn’t play a BL game… at all.

So there you have it, the Kudou Kanae we would have wished to see in the anime. Thinking about it, this and other Da Capo Generation One girls needed more anime screentime. I hope there would be some third season or something, but I guess with Da Capo II already around, it may not happen. Too bad.

Sidenote
This post of mine was sitting in my drafts for TWO FREAKING YEARS. I needed it to get the images, but I lost my copy of D.C.P.C. back then. Now some magical force got me to find it today. Is this some kind of (dangerous) blessing in disguise? Someone trying to force me to play classic Da Capo? Mmmm… Sakura’s original scenario… should I?