Otakuism

While searching Hongfire for the Demonbane fanbook (which I did eventually find somewhere else. Great stuff) I stumbled upon the completed translated Kanon manga, which I eagerly read up in a day. As you can guess this manga was probably released back when the first anime aired so it’s pretty old. Still an excellent read for Kanon fans though. You can get it here.

If you don’t know by now Kanon is the story of Yuuichi Aizawa and his return to his always snowy hometown after eight years. The problem is that Yuuichi doesn’t remember his time there and all the people he met, so he has to gradually begin to remember everything. Of course this being a love story Yuuichi meets several girls including his cousin Naiyuki, the taiyaki obsessed Ayu, the silent Mai, the cute yet aggresive Makoto, and the terminally ill Shiori. The manga is split into two volumes with a prologue and epilogue with four chapters, one for each girl. I’d be lying if I said this manga offers a complete version of the story. It’s cute none the less.

The most endearing part of this adaptation is the artwork and humour. The parts I loved the most was all the funny moments interspersed throughout the work, made even better by the incredibly cute (or moe I guess) artwork. At first I though all the characters looked to young, or short really, but after awhile it really grows on you. Now for my complaints. Before I said this doesn’t hardly cover the whole story and that is very true. Keep in mind though I’m comparing this to the anime. The only charcters that get a complete story are Shiori and Ayu. Shiori’s I think is complete because it follows the anime and her story is pretty short anyway’s. Ayu’s is of course complete because it follow’s her scenario and ending, just like the anime. That leaves Mai and Makoto with the short end of the stick. Mai gets off pretty lightly, as they include the dance scene, but then it ends there. There’s none of the crazy sequence with the kid in the wheat field. Personally I never figured out what that was about but I figure it’s important to her development. Now Makoto get’s shafted completely. Her story is fine up until right after the part where she runs away and Yuuichi finds her. You see the manga ends her story right after that. No her getting sick and having to leave, or Yuuichi realizing she’s the fox he saved as a child. Her story just ends and she’s a background character through the rest. It never even tells why she hates Yuuichi at the beginning. That really annoys me as a Makoto fan. Also I guess you could say Naiyuki get’s shafted as well because Akiko never gets hit by a car and there’s none of the Ayu jealousy, but I was never sure what Naiyuki’s story was. Is her’s really a full scenario in the game? She still appears predominatly throughout though for those who like her.

See? Humour.

In the end even if this isn’t the best adaptation of the Kanon story it’s still a great read none the less. Will definately keep you occupied for a couple hours. Man I’m really starting to get into the Kanon spirit. I’ve rewatched those promos and have been listening to the ED theme on loop for awhile. Kanonism will beat Haruhism yet I say! 18 days and counting.