Otakuism

And so the dream ends. A fitting conclusion to an overall perfect series, though, I found it lacking in places. I don’t like how the episode tried to cover almost a two year time span in 24 minutes. While it was nice to see the gang grow-up, I thought it was weird how it would take Yuuichi that long to figure out how to wake Ayu up, or that Mai would withhold her clue for almost a year. Or, hell, why did Akiko wait so long to tell Yuuichi Ayu was still alive? I prefer Toei’s way of doing it, which was quick and to the point. All Ayu needed to wake up was for Yuuichi to be by her side. And why did Ayu need the wheelchair at the end? Realistically speaking maybe she would need it, but this is anime. I don’t want it to be realistic. Toei also did that better, showing a smiling Ayu running at the end.

There were also a little too many miracles this episode for my liking. Oh, Akiko’s all better now! Must be a miracle. Oh, Mai and Sayuri healed faster than normal! Must be a miracle. Oh, Shiori’s not dying anymore! Must be a miracle. That in the end all the miracles were linked back to Ayu’s wish was fitting, showing how much Ayu loved Yuuichi, but it wasn’t necessary. It’s not like Mai and Sayuri’s injuries were that serious, and Mai could of just used her healing powers. In Shiori’s case, I always thought it was implied that all Shiori needed to get better was the love of her sister. Kind of cheapened that. And Akiko could of still been in the hospital recovering. I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot, but that’s how toei did it. Having Nayuki take care of her mom in the hospital and discovering Ayu was alive that way. Though, that takes the fun out thinking of Akiko has the mastermind behind everything.

Oh god Mai is moe!

I know it sounds like I hated the final episode, but it wasn’t that bad. Really the highlight was seeing everyone again. Shiori in school clothes, Kaori and Kitagawa, Mai cosplaying as Yuki, etc. I liked how it hinted at where everyone’s lives were going. The animation seemed a touch better too. I loved the scenes of the town and how it changed through the seasons. Could it of been handled better? Sure. I feel it was too ambitious of Kyoani to try and cover such a long length of time realistically. Maybe that was how the game handled it, but I doubt that was the case. At least Kyoani managed to wrap all the important aspects up in the end.

Overall, Kanon was a success, one of the most perfect adaptions possible. It included every bit of story it could, surprising me in some places where I thought I knew what would happen. The animation was gorgeous with truly breath-taking scenes of a snow-covered town. There’s not much snow in winter where I live, so that was a real treat. All the girls were undeniably moe, with their own cute mannerisms and noises. I learned more about each of them, too. I came to appreciate Mai’s story more and the tragedy in it. Makoto’s is still my favorite, both storywise and character-wise. There’s just something about the tsundere foxgirl that gets to me. I hope it’s not her reqressing to a child at the end. That’d be pretty bad on my part. So Kanon fulfilled what is set out to do, adapt a game even better than previous attempts. There are some bumps in there, but I think it succeeded on all counts. A definite watch for any anime fan. I doubt it will be licensed, though, and spread to a larger audience. Not that it matters to me anyways.

Guess now I have Lucky Stars to look forward to from Kyoani, along with a Clannad adaption sometime in October. That will be nice to watch, since I don’t know Clannad’s story at all. Man, Kyoani really needs to animate a shounen fighting series. They do such awesome fight scenes, but they go to waste in all these eroge adaptions. Not that that’s a bad thing.

And so shall life continue Kanon-less…