Kanon

Watching this anime made me want to play the game. Originally a hentai game by KEY for the PC, its popularity has caused ‘sanitized’ version of the game to appear on consoles such as Dreamcast. I quote, “If you don’t cry playing Kanon, it’s because you don’t know Japanese.” This, of course, is not a game review but an anime review and I did not cry watching the anime. (Though some parts of the anime were REALLY moving) However keeping in mind that this originally was a game helped me understand some of the inadequacies found in the anime.

Kanon is not an anime for everyone. Some general traits you should possess before venturing forth.

1. Fondness for kawaii Japanese girls looking like 13 when they are 17.
2. You liked Tenchi Muyo, Love Hina, aka 1 guy versus many girls scenarios.
3. You think having eyes as big as half your face makes them expressive.

Kanon is a romantic drama revolving around one guy and his interaction with five girls. If you looking for action, skip this review and go to Scryed. It is also not strictly a comedy. The lighter moments of the anime are more attributed to the kawaii-ness of the individual girls rather than hilarious circumstances like in Love Hina. This kawaii-ness carries a strong Japanese flavour to it and if you don’t think 17 year old Japanese girls going “Hidoi yo!” (You are so mean!) are cute, you may not like Kanon.

Kanon is an ambitious anime. It did what the game could not do and did not do. In the game, you only get to pursue one girl at a time, hence only the story of an individual girl is fully revealed (Hmm… if you play the PC version more than the story is revealed, anyway I digress). The anime attempted to weave the individual stories of the 5 girls into a seemingly continuous story. There in lies one of the flaws of this anime. The story feels heavily segmented and transition between these segments feels somewhat forced. Some aspects of the stories were also inadequate. I managed some supplement from a walkthrough on the game Kanon, enriching the individual tales of the five girls tremendously. But, don’t get me wrong. The individual stories of the five girls are still powerful and moving. The only problem is integrating these 5 powerful elements may not give you Voltron.

I loved the characters in Kanon. All the five girls are powerfully attractive in their own ways. (Beware, I’m biased, I’m into Japanese flavoured kawaii-ness) A great deal of detail was injected into both the characters and the story that makes Kanon highly rewatchable. I learnt several details that enriched my views on the world of Kanon during my second sitting of the anime. For example, that preamble on dreams that begins almost every episode? I found it meaningful only after I finished the series. There are also some twists in the anime too, so my advice would be to avoid potential spoilers for the maximum enjoyment of the anime.

Kanon is currently one of my favourite top 10 anime though it is flawed and would not get a very high score if I were to award one. But I personally found it highly enjoyable because of the immense story and the engaging characters. After all, Tsukimiya Ayu is on my top 20 favourite anime characters list.