I watched Kanon around the end of August for two reasons: it was from Key, meaning it had been on my list for quite some time, and a friend of mine kept bothering me to get to it, so I figured I ought to appease him. So this is our day six. The Basics Episodes: 24Genre: Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, SupernaturalAired: October 5, 2006 to March 15, 2007Directed by: Tatsuya IshiharaProducers: Kyoto Animation, ADV Films, FUNimation EntertainmentOpening Theme: Florescence by Miho FujiwaraClosing Theme: Flower by Miho Fujiwara The Review The Story: Yuuichi Aizawa hasn't been to the city where his aunt and cousin live in seven years, and hasn't seen them in all of that time. When he ends up moving to live with them, it turns out most of his memories of the people he knew and the things he did are completely gone. As he meets a number of girls besides his cousin Nayuki, those memories begin to return. Much like some of studio Key's other works (Clannad and Air), Kanon is focused on a single male lead and the way he interacts with the girls around him, particularly the things he does for them. In this case, a lot of the focus is on his memory failure, and the series is chock full of lightbulb moments where he remembers something very important. Of course, because it's from Key, a lot of the lightbulb moments are also very depressing. At heart, Kanon is a story of friendship with a smidgen of romance thrown in for good measure. The Characters: As the main character, Yuuichi is a pretty good guy. He tends toward teasing the females in his life—yeah, he's no Casanova (<--a phrase I never expected to use in my lifetime). However, he also goes to some amount of trouble for them. Besides him, there are four girls I qualify as “main”, meaning they have full arcs of their own. They are, in no particular order, Mai Kawasumi, Shiori Misaka, Makoto Sawatari and Ayu Tsukimiya. Each girl is lovable in their own right, with their own depressing storyline. Of course Nayuki is something of a main character, but her arc runs alongside one of the others and seems to take the backseat. Honestly, if you don't get teary over at least one of these girls throughout the series, you probably have no soul. The Music: While I was watching Kanon, I was frequently distracted from paying attention to the characters and story merely by the background music. It's all completely beautiful, and sometimes I probably wouldn't have cried if not for the perfect juxtaposition of events and the music surrounding them. Now, this made a whole lot of sense once I was looking at the credits for the series and found Tchaikovsky's “Sleeping Beauty, Op. 58” listed. That explained so much. So really, the music here was altogether lovely. On another music-related note, all of the episode titles had to do with musical terms—Silver Overture, Requiem Atop the Hill, Midnight Oratorio. I found that to be a really fascinating aspect. Conclusion?: As is typical, Key produced a masterpiece. The characters are wonderful to watch, easy to fall in love with, become attached to and cry for. The typical style of artwork used shined, and Kanon had what is probably my favourite anime snow of all time. For people who love feel good series, Kanon might not be right for you (though it would be better for you than Air). On the other hand, for people who love emotional rides, beautiful scenery and girls who are entirely too easy to adore, Kanon will be a great fit. Another great aspect of the series is that none of the girls have stories which are too similar, so there's no sense of “haven't I seen this before?”. My rating: 9/10. I'm not giving it a less than perfect score because there was anything wrong with the series. There really wasn't. The only reason I personally can't view it as a 10 is that I watched it after both Air and Clannad, and both of those series hit me a lot harder than this one. If I end up watching it again it'll probably become a 10, though.
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