Anime Review #1: Kanon (2006)

  
One cool December, a boy learned to love.

And I’m not even talking about any anime series yet.

I was with my brothers (I have four, all younger than me) one Christmas eve when they told me about this anime series entitled Kanon. Apparently, they all fell in love with its rollercoaster storyline, despite it being a romance anime and them being young men, and they urged me to watch it as soon as possible. It didn’t disappoint.

Kanon was, at that time, one of the best anime series I have seen in a long time. It was the first (and so far only) anime to have me so much involved at what was happening, that when the story turned sad, I felt sad, and when the main character was happy, I, too, was ecstatic.

Okay, maybe it got me teary-eyed on more than a few occasions. Alright, alright, I might have cried, too. But all 24 episodes of Kanon are all worth it, and soon after watching the entire series, I found myself watching everything all over again.

Kanon has two versions, one released in 2002, and another in 2006. I personally have only watched the 2006 version, since according to my brother, it was the better of the two. Afterwards, I did a little bit of research on the differences of the two versions, and indeed, the 2006 Kanon is what I would recommend myself. This is because apparently, the 2006 version is less straightforward and spoonfeeding as the 2002 version, it leaves you with missing gaps of information to keep you thinking, but in the end answers all your questins.

In fact, let me give you a bit of a teaser. The following is the first of many monologues of one of the main characters, Ayu, right after the opening theme song of the very first episode:

“A dream… I’m seeing a dream. The same dream I see every day. The endless dream. The red snow. The world stained in red. The small, crying child was blocking the red sky. I wanted to wipe away his tears, at least. But the hands wouldn’t move, and the tears trailing down the cheeks soaked into the snow, and…. all I could do was watch. It was so painful… and so sad.”

Watching for the first time, these words would mean nothing. But right after watching episode 24, go back to this scene and you will understand what I mean when I say that Kanon’s storyline is simply… elegant.

Kanon is a story about a young boy, Yuuichi Aizawa, who returns to a city he frequently visits as a child. As a high school transferee, he was to stay with his aunt, Akiko Minase, and her daughter and Yuuichi’s first cousin, Nayuki. Upon his return, we learn that Yuuichi has almost no memory of the city he grew up in, only remembering bits and pieces, minimal details of events that occurred in the past (in particular, an event that is always mentioned happened “seven years ago'”).

Nayuki tries to remind Yuuichi of what he should be remembering, but to no avail. During the course of the series, Yuuichi meets four other girls: Ayu Tsukimiya, Makoto Sawatari, Shiori Misaka, and Mai Kawasumi, who all have had important relationships with Yuuichi in the past.

As the plot progresses, the bits and pieces are put together and the entire events of “seven years ago” is revealed in what I still believe is the best climax and best anime series finale I have ever seen.

While Kanon is based on an adult game by the company Key, the anime version sticks to a general patronage audience, making the series purely romantic with a lot of mysteries and twists.

I won’t say anything more about the storyline as it might ruin your viewing experience. I recommend that you don’t read summaries because they will take away the surprises (and there are a LOT). Watch it, and watch it again. Enjoy!

Seiyuus in this Anime that you might know:

• Sugita Tomokazu (Yuuichi Aizawa), the show’s biggest star, also voiced Kyon (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Renkotsu (Inuyasha), Hideki Motosuwa (Chobits), and several minor characters in Bleach.
• Yukari Tamura (Mai Kawasumi) is a very popular seiyuu who has voiced numerous characters, including Tenten (Naruto), Ranpha Franboise (Galaxy Angel), Misha (Pita-Ten), Mei Sunohara (Clannad) and Rino Randou and Pucchan (Gokujou Seitokai).
• Yui Horie (Ayu Tsukimiya) also voiced Naru Narusegawa (Love Hina), Eri Sawachika (School Rumble) and Tsubasa Hanekawa (Bakemonogatari).
• Mayumi Iizuka (Makoto Sawatari) also voiced Kasumi or Misty in the Pokemon series.

Ratings:

• Graphics: 4/5 (nice art, much better than 2002 version, can still improve)
• Story: 5/5 (perfect)
• Voice:4/5 (main cast is great, supporting, not so much)
• Music: 3/5 (opening theme is good and very suitable, but that about it)
• Entertainment value: 3/5 (some parts can be dragging)

 

You can buy Kanon DVDs at Amazon via the following packages:

• Kanon: The Complete Series regular packaging.
• Kanon: Complete Series Box Set S.A.V.E. (2010)

Credits:

• Wikipedia and AniDB for some information.
• Google for the first photo.
• The image with Yuuichi and the five girls were created by fudepen using screenshots from the anime series.