hontou ni sou omou?

Indeed, Miss Taiyaki-uguu. I haven’t been reading or blogging about Kanon to avoid spoilers thus the total media blackout. Not having seen the Toei version, my knowledge of the game/series was limited to 1) ‘Sad girls in snow’ 2) Mai x SaYuri FTW and 3) the remake is by KyoAni. And I did enjoy it. Kanon did surprise me a few times. In a ‘Wow! I should have seen that coming!’ delighted way rather than a ‘WTF!? SUNRISE KNNBCCB!’ sort of surprise. And the series succeeded in transmorgifying my dislike for most of the Kanon girls, often via a short scene, into sympathy and even adoration.

At the beginning, I was wondering: ‘How sad can these girls be?’ Various ROFLMAO jokes and Kyonichi sarcasm were running amok and the whole atmosphere seemed pretty light-hearted. The real miracle of the series was that no one actually died from eating the Akiko Jam, which is probably made from the missing Minase head of household.

I did find Makoto irritating at first but then the pieces started to fit together. Her ‘auuu’ (vs the uguu), her love of playing tricks on Yuuichi (or, at least, trying to), her delight at a simple bell (nothing to do with siscon), Amano’s bitterness, shadowy forms and bright eyes at the hill in the night, her memory loss. Then the belated realization that she’s not just an annoying brat but a soul with much love and a willingness to sacrifice everything for a fleeting moment of reunion and companionship.

Even the side characters are interesting and have distinct personalities. The parallels between Makoto (small) and Makoto (big) just brought a poignant smile to my face. Sawatari Mikuru oneesama banzai! BANZAI! BANZAI!!

By the power of Out of Context: So glad that I am able to reach them now.

And hard too.

I was also completely surprised by how Kitagawa became a Good Guy. I had rated him as a Taniguchi due to his, albeit justified, outrage at Yuiichi’s harem building and being completely house-trained by his Not Girlfriend Kaori. Making a fool of himself at the Pachelbel cafe with a demand but without explanation from Yuiichi. Sticking out his neck for Mai. Who would have even expected him to hold a position of responsibility in the students’ council? But his greatest moment of glory was in episode 17: ‘Yuu-iccchi~! Ohiruyasumi da yo~~!’

LOL when Mai turned into Yuki Nagato reading about Stripey. I had always been inclined to like SaYuri and Mai simply because of the implied yuri. Mmmmm… yuri. The exchange about whether SaYuri or Mai was the oneesama was pretty sweet too. Despite her strong silent archetype, Mai could also be extremely cute, hachimi-kuma-san! While SaYuri was nice and had a lovely reduce-knees-to-jelly ‘Ahaha~~’, I did think of her as a bit of a simpleton. Which is why I didn’t her Sad Story bearing down the street just as I turned the corner and it left its tyre marks on my back.

Sick girl with terminal illness and very limited time is pretty clichéd. How the hell were they going to make this interesting? Well, it did spawn some funny Impz comics. I was won over eventually because it was Shiori’s lack of time, rather than gratituous symptoms of The Impending End like lots of coughing, that framed her cuteness and elevated her to an embodiment of moé.

For most of the series, I probably looked at Nayuki in the way Eri regards Tenma: Nice girl and friend but oh what a nitwit. Mainly from the way she spoke: Aa~nyuu~~… Piro~~! Fighto, da yo~~ and felt she deserved every bit of bullying from Yuuichi.

But actually hor, she quite steady one. I was just as surprised as Yuuichi.
Nayuki I like. I like very much now.

Ouch.

The impact was somewhat reduced by the familiarity of the image though…

IT CAN BE DONE. IF FOR MY MASTER.
Fighto~ da yo~

Ayu was cute, funny and uguu but I just couldn’t see how she could be the Chosen One (until the penultimate episode) even though the OP and ED clearly indicated so and the story was moving teleologically in that direction. But I did not have a WTF reaction to the Kiss for two reasons. Firstly, the context was set in how both shared a deep wellspring of pain. That kind of thing can bond people in an instant, like the way it did for SaYuri and Mai. Though, of course, it can be hugely destructive when two negative psyches meld, hacking, slashing, clawing, freezing each other as we plunge through the abyss for what seems an eternity before finally mercifully hitting the bottom and the end, the wasted lives and years utterly shattered and spent as life, other lives, go on by. But none of the characters in Kanon are really negative.

Secondly, the kiss was a retrodiction, that Yuuichi and Ayu had that past which formed their current bond and basis of attraction, and a harbinger for the tantilising promise of the retrieval and renewal of that past. For sometimes love is not always easy and the road can be long, bending in often unexpected directions and winding into deadends, which can make interesting viewing too.

There was a great gentleness about the last episode that was consistent with the series’ atmosphere, its characters and story. I don’t think it was intended to be a tearjerker but I did feel the urge to put Kana Ueda’s rendition of Snow Rain on repeat play.

The mixing of the miracle and dream reminded me of Zhuang Zi’s parable of the butterfly. But more to the fore of my mind was how Yuuichi will regret making fun of Ayu if she grows up to Ama Shigure proportions! ;)

Overall, an enjoyable series, ahaha~~ Now… can anyone tell me where to find some damn taiyaki in London?