I watched Kanon 2006 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.
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 anime 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 2006 anime is a story of friendship with a smidgen of romance thrown in
for good measure.
The Characters: Kanon (2006)
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: Kanon (2006)
While I was watching Kanon anime 2006, 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.
Kanon (2006) | |
| Episodes | 24 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Supernatural |
| Aired | October 5, 2006 to March 15, 2007 |
| Directed by | Tatsuya Ishihara |
| Producers | Kyoto Animation, ADV Films, FUNimation Entertainment |
| Opening Theme | Florescence by Miho Fujiwara |
| Closing Theme | Flower by Miho Fujiwara |
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