Kanon is a story set in a snowy town of Hokkaido. The main protagonist, Yuichi Aizawa is returning to the town after being away for seven years. You discover over time that he used to visit during summer vacation back in grade school, but he does not remember anything from his past. Yuichi Aizawa moved in with his Aunt Akiko and Cousin Nayuki Minase to finish out high school.
Kanon
4 Stars
Kanon is a story set in a snowy town of Hokkaido. The main protagonist, Yuichi Aizawa is returning to the town after being away for seven years. You discover over time that he used to visit during summer vacation back in grade school, but he does not remember anything from his past. Yuichi Aizawa moved in with his Aunt Akiko and Cousin Nayuki Minase to finish out high school.
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Over the course of time, Yuichi reunites with several girls who turn out to have a great deal with his past and future. Ayu Tsukimiya, a fun-loving girl from Yuichi’s childhood reappears by running into him on the street; she is stuck in a haze, and does not remember much from her past. Makoto Sawatori shows up unexpectedly and begins attacking Yuichi for no apparent reason. After the attack, Yuichi brings her back to the house and she is welcomed into the household by Akiko and Nayuki, where they learn of her extreme amnesia. Nayuki Minase is Yuichi’s Cousin, but she also has always been in love with him. Nayuki is also a great athlete and is in the same class with Yuichi. Shiori Misaka, sister of Kaori, shows up outside of Yuichi’s school in the courtyard waiting for her sister that never comes. Over time, Shiori and Yuichi become close, allowing her to confide in him about her illness. Mai Kawasumi, a very quiet and often understood, third-year student at the same high school as Yuichi. Mai remains silent, slowly explaining herself as the series progresses. Mai’s one and only friend until Yuichi came along was Sayuri Kurata.
The main girls in the anime cause the plot to be ripped into five pieces. With a plot in so many sections it is hard to fully grasp everything, although, Kanon does a fine job at explaining things plainly. The use of flashbacks and clues allows you to follow the story with ease. The flashbacks are used to show when a memory has been rediscovered within the character. Yuichi slowly remembers bits and pieces of his past, which included Nayuki, Ayu, Makoto and Mai. Yuichi had known each of these girls, and either completely blocked out their memory or parts of it in Nayuki’s case.
Ayu, as you will discover, was a girl he had promised to return to after the school year let out again. But what Yuichi does not remember until the very end was that Ayu had an accident right before he left town, she fell out of the large tree in the forest clearing. Makoto was once a fox who he befriended before the Kanon story started. Mai was yet another friend from Yuichi’s past. Yuichi had deserted each of these girls, where they continued to think about him, creating their own insanity. Yuichi helped each of the girls in the story in some way. Ayu eventually recovers from her comatose state, kind of a sappy ending though. Makoto died but only after she accomplished every wish she ever made thanks to Yuichi. Mai, after defeating the demons she believed to be attacking her and Yuichi returned to her happier self. Shiori finally recovered from her illness after Kaori accepted her as a sister, which is all she wanted from the start. Moreover, Yuichi finally realized that he had hurt Nayuki all those years ago.
This is my first hardcore romance drama, and I have to say that it was a pretty confusing anime series all together. You never fully understand Mai’s demons, Makoto’s ability to become human then finally vanishing, Ayu’s ability to detach from her comatose-self and I am still left wondering why everyone had such horrible cases of amnesia. Kanon was sappy, tear-filled and most certainly strange. The plot was incredibly difficult to follow, especially with all the amnesia involved, although I did like the flashbacks. It seems that many people agree with the 4.5 out of 5 star rating on this anime, but I cannot seem to figure out why. I did not particularly enjoy this anime, but maybe I just need more action to enjoy something.