Disclaimer: this is, like my recent post on Ichigo Mashimaro, a serious review, one for which we shall ignore that I watched Toei’s Kanon. But first, let me get three things out of the way:

Stop being pussies and kill her off for once, will you?

Stop being pussies and keep them from graduating, will you?

Helloooooooo Nagato.

Now that that’s taken care of, I’d like to refresh you on the topic of a post I made a day or two after watching episode one of Kanon 2006. Here it is, in all its prejudiced glory: post#135. In the post, I compare what I knew at the time of Kanon 2006 to the AIR TV series, concluding that Kanon 2006 might have a slight edge.

In the end, which was better came down to a matter of personal aesthetics: summer or winter?

Having had my heart completely stolen by AIR, I would like to continue to support the series well above any rendition of Kanon. This post may be as much about AIR as Kanon—I haven’t structured it yet. Forgive me my laziness. I just wrote two in-class essays.

First, let’s get the bad out of the way. I’d like to lay some guidelines with which I approach this review, and I don’t want to upset any of you with sudden pronouncements of “wtfemo!!” or “lolstupid.” Point one: serious shows are serious. They take themselves seriously. It’s always a problem, and Kanon 2006 isn’t the only show that suffers from it. The main reason why comedy shows and happy shows are so… comedic and happy… is that they don’t lace their offerings with drama and emo.

Kanon 2006 is, on the other hand, well along this spectrum, being one of the more laughably emo shows there is (it doesn’t quite reach SaiKano level, but it beats most of its genre). It only trumps AIR in this respect (and thusly fails in comparison) because it has more emo than AIR, being twice as long.

The story of Kanon is trite. Being a genre setter, we all know it. It’s boring. Plain. Depends too much on making the audience cry, and should it fail the pathetic appeal, it looks stupid. Such is life.

With that said, shall we take the plunge?

There are two reasons why I watched this show: Key and Kyoto Animation (recently mockingly named KeyAni, which is hilariously accurate, given their Clannad endeavor). I’m a Keyfan without actually being one; as I said before, AIR won my heart. I don’t know who works for Key, I don’t have shrines to their character, I don’t even like their stories. But the fact that KyoAni’s rendition of AIR grabbed my heart earns them some credit, and they haven’t failed me with Kanon. Not that I was expecting much, it being Kanon, but come now. It wasn’t so bad, was it? As for Kyoto Animation… they did two of the Full Metal Panic shows, AIR (which grabbed my heart), and, of course, the notorious Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, a show that is adored by many, loathed by some, and that I just honestly flat-out dislike. If what I loved about Fumoffu was execution, and if what I loved about AIR was atmosphere, and if what I enjoyed of Suzumiya Haruhi was that concert scene, there’s a strong indication that I appreciate Kyoto Animation. There’re no two ways to it.

So where does that leave Kanon?

Kanon’s emo story (disarmingly realistic for something so fantastical) and girls with issues fit the AIR bill perfectly. People (in the midst of) dying? Lovers torn apart by circumstance? Memory loss? Girls with issues (9/11 of AIR’s female cast, 8/10 of Kanon’s)? Stupid supernatural stuff? Illnesses that aren’t real? You get the picture. Key didn’t let me down.

Kyoto Animation also didn’t let me down. From episode 1, I was watching mainly for the execution and art. KyoAni’s animation is incredibly fluid and their backgrounds beautiful. The “camera work” is also consistently great. Execution, as expected, was near flawless, countless scenes merely of people talking to eachother made works of art. Am I praising it too much? Most likely. I really like the work KyoAni does. It stands out.

Some scenes come to mind… most of the scenes with Mai’s monsters, the scene in which Kaori came home and ignored Shiori, some of Nayuki’s dialogues in the last couple episodes…

Yeah. KyoAni did me proud.

And did I enjoy Kanon?

Yes. I enjoyed watching this show. It’s not good anime in my eyes. It lacks the power AIR had for me, and that might just have to do with the fact that I’d already seen Kanon. Did it work its emo on me once before, and was it incapable of doing it again? No, I don’t think so. Many of the scenes really got to me, but nothing made me cry. I cried when Misuzu struggled on the beach. I cried when Aozora played. But for Kanon? Yeah… no. It had strengths, but wasn’t quite there.

A good friend of mine whose opinion I’d respect if she weren’t a Haruhi bandwagonist says she cried every episode since 14 or something. Maybe I’m losing my emoness and can’t cry as readily as I used to. What can I say?

I like the cold, and always have, but I’m not about to write an essay like this about how Kanon made me fall in love with snow.

It’s this kind of thing that makes me think to myself, “hey, that’s pretty cool!” I thought that when the Atlas-class ship in Kiddy Grade turned out to be a transformer. I thought that when Ootori Kyouya of Ouran fame made a shitload of money by the last episode. I thought that when the Mobius strip in Higurashi unwound itself. And this cheesy little ending shot most certainly made me think it.

So what’s there to say?

The last episode brought a lot of loose ends together, and ended almost disgustingly happily. Everyone’s alright. The references to miracles showed that even if their premise is stupid, they can do good story telling. Whoopdeedoo. Seriously, this show made me smile with the final episode, and there were fun points along the way, but the general feeling I have left over is “meh.” I didn’t even have the spirit to write this post in French.

I don’t really want to insult anyone who liked this show. I understand the experience of having Key emo magic worked on oneself. It’s always bugged me that people insult AIR, though I’ve managed to overcome that in recent times by finally putting into words why it’s so awesome. I believe you can find those words in the abovelinked essay.

Kanon?

In my honest opinion, not good. If you’re the kind of dumbass who watches everything I diss just because I dissed Haruhi, go ahead and watch it. It won’t hurt you too much. Unlike those other shows I diss. Like Haruhi. That one’s a killer.

Finally, the “uguu~” count for this show: 113. I guess this is the “thing I worked hard on…” my contribution to the community, you could say. Some contribution. Hah.