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Rating: 9.4/10 (slight quality drop but better story)

Impressions:

Yup, Makoto was once a fox. I believe Yuuichi helped her in some way all those years ago, which made her attached to him. However, he was forced to abandon it when he left town. Sadly, I strongly believe that Makoto will die, as the only other Key game I know, Air, manages to kill of everyone with no trouble, so there shouldn’t be any problem with her death this time. Except ONE thing: it’s TOO early! They can’t kill off such a main character so early in the show! Well, actually they can since they did it with Air, but there will be a vast emptiness to replace Makoto, and I don’t want to accept that. Even if she doesn’t die and returns to being a fox or something, the show would still be missing her. This is why they should’ve merged the stories together more to destroy the threshold that will be her death. At least involve some other characters so that the climax to her story would happen in the beginning of another. But then again, I love drama and I can’t wait until these sad things unfold. Even if a whole episode is spent on showing Yuuichi and the others crying or something, I wouldn’t mind. However, I hope everyone doesn’t lose their memories of Makoto or something, since that happens a lot in fantastical storylines where some mystical being dies.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Rating: 9.1/10

Impressions:

Firstly, I’d look to draw your attention to this post by Retsgip made some time ago regarding Yuuichi and his antics. He presents a good argument about how much of a jerk he is, and has also attracted a nice long discussion in the comments section. My counter-arguments are also there. Please have a read of the post and comments if you haven’t done so already, since I think it provides a very in depth insight into Kanon, but mainly the lead character, Yuuichi.

Anyway, this episode is a lot more enjoyable than the last. The motion fluidity still upholds the overall quality, but the design consistency dropped slightly as I noticed a few funny shots where the characters didn’t look right. It’s hardly noticeable anyway, and the captivating story more than makes up for this slight lapse in animation quality. I think I’ve fallen in love with Makoto now (her character I mean ¬.¬) While her ‘auu’ is not nearly as cute as ‘uguu’, she simply presents funnier and sadder material at the same time, but both add towards her overall significance factor. I think it’s almost been proven that she is some kind of fox, fox-spirit, fox-incarnation, were-fox or some other fox related being. It’s been said before that her ‘auu’s, fangs and red hair all resemble a fox. This is all true, as well as her mannerisms, amnesia and general behaviour. Mai seems to be well aware of what Makoto is, for she is able to accurately guess where Makoto went after she disappeared. Another thing, is the hill that Makoto ventures off to the same hill as the one where Nayuki and Yuuichi went in the first episode? If it is, that definitely has some significance. It seems like the appearance of the fox when Yuuichi is carrying Ayu home indicates that the members of Ayu’s species want her to stay on the hill where she belongs, rather than return to the human world. There’s still the mystery of Makoto’s connection with Yuuichi, and I suspect he did something bad to her before she is human.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Impressions:

Not quite as good as the last episode, and I’ve noticed that the quality has not been up to the standard that episode 1 set, but highly enjoyable nonetheless. I also can’t believe KyoAni used the same frame for Makoto’s prank as the time when she tried to put konyaku on Yuuichi’s face. Ah well, at least they make the effort to make everything as natural as possible, such as the slight swing of the shoulder when characters are walking, the different time settings for how often characters walking in one scene are different (which is indicated by the bobbing up and down, as well as the various feet shots while walking). I’m also a bit disappointed in Yuuichi. A lot of people started disliking him last episode, but I found his attitude then quite fine. However, I thought he crossed the line this episode. Him teasing Ayu like that when they were watching the movie was pretty cruel, and I doubt a mere ‘thankyou for today, it was fun’ would be enough to fix things in real life. And to think Ayu was looking forward to the movie so much in the morning. I also think he doesn’t treat Makoto too well, but he seems to be willing to listen to Mai’s advice and start treating her better soon. I was really hoping he would pat Makoto on the head and console her or something after the miso soup bath incident, but that didn’t happen. But Yuuichi is bound to start treating her better next episode…I hope. Makoto’s teary face at the end of the episode was so sad…

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Impressions:

Episode 5 was fantastic! It was mainly due to the humour, as the progression of the story stayed at a similar pace as always. What’s more is that the humour was created from real jokes, not exaggerations or distorted faces that anime usually uses. There was one exception, when Makoto started chucking stuff at Yuuichi for walking in on her bath. That though, was a complete parody of all the times that scene has happened in anime history, when he said ‘where did you get all this stuff from?’ Hilarious…=) Yuuichi’s pranks played on Makoto were priceless too. *Sigh* Yuuichi is so evil! I was thinking how funny and awesome it’d be if KyoAni threw in a Haruhi or Kyon cameo just for the sake the dreamers out there, including me. It would be even better if they created a joke episode where the Kanon characters and Haruhi characters meet and interact with each other, just for the hell of it. Well, that probably won’t happen but the cameo appearance has a high chance of happening. KyoAni did it with Air as well, showing the Kanon characters briefly as Misuzu’s classmates (I wonder when KyoAni actually decided to do a remake of Kanon).

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Impressions:

Kanon still holds up its quality, though I thought the running and walking sequences could have been better. Even so, it’s still far better than a lot of ‘average’ anime out there, so I’m not complaining. The animation studios have to cut some things as this is the first time KyoAni is doing two-season series. So far, the heavy character development has been entangled with slight plot movement, though I can never tell what’s important and what’s just there to entertain the viewers. For example, Yuuichi taking the bento to Nayuki during practice. What was that? Was it an excuse to let the viewers see a bit more of Nayuki’s life? Maybe it had something to do with the storyline later on, or it could have just to fill in time with unessential but enjoyable events that all slice-of-life and drama animes have. Of course, part of everything builds up as lead ups to mysteries and solutions. That’s one of the things Kanon does very well, and that is to organise everything so all the little occurrences build up to something or create the gateway for something bigger to happen, yet make it seem like everything is normal and perfectly coincidental. And like I always say, I can’t wait for the next episode (this show is one of the few animes I really wish I could marathon; it’s just too irresistible).

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Impressions:

Hey, it looks like KyoAni’s taking up Lucky Star, the 4koma manga next year as their next production! Sadly, only 2 chapters of the manga have been scanlated and the group seems to have dropped it, though maybe another will pick it up with KyoAni’s announcement. Anyway, Ayu Ayu now has a new challenger: Makoto-chan! It’s Uguu~ vs Auu~ as everyone has already pointed out, but uguu still pwns auu and always will! The ultra-moe Ayu is still my favourite character, simply because she is sooo kawaii! Makoto reminds me of Asuka, once again like ALL of you have said too…Yes, her red hair, fiery attitude and radianting arrogance paints a spitting image of the Asuka herself (by the way, I am saying this in a good way). Even so, I like Rei better, but for some reason, even though Rei = Yuki, I like Haruhi better, who is more like Asuka, and therefore more like Makoto, yet I like Ayu more, and no I am not a pedo, she is in the same year as Yuuichi! Oops, got a bit off topic hehe…Anywayyyy, I am extremely please with this episode; it retained the quality, feel and comedy seen last episode, and plot-wise, the events that took place were much more interesting too. I loved seeing Makoto and Yuuichi make war on each other at home (I wonder how old Makoto is now…) Next episode, Ayu meets Makoto and I wonder what will happen. I’m also curious as to see whether Ayu and Makoto have some connection with their own stories. There’s also Shiori, who we don’t know much about (for those who haven’t seen the original Kanon of course…) Ah…so many not-so-sad ’sad girls in snow’.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Impressions:

Another awesome episode – better than the first if you ask me! The quality is still more than excellent, as expected of the gods of art KyoAni! The characters got more of an introduction this episode, which was good. (heh, Yuuichi seems to be getting quite the harem, with all the female characters at school plus the girl at the end of the episode). I don’t find the pace slow at all because I’m enjoying every moment of it. I’m glad there’s a sense of humour in the series as there were quite a few times when I couldn’t help but crack up. I loved the alarm clock Nayuki gave Yuuichi – she probably gave him that one as it was the least noisy. Now we know why she has so many alarm clocks, and they’re still not enough lol. Then there was the scene where Ayu runs into Yuuichi again – they had attempted to jump out of the way but still collided (and Yuuichi’s expression was once again hilarious). The face Yuuichi made when he found out Ayu was the same age as him was also a laugh. Ah…I’m so glad this show is funny in that way; it just makes you feel good watching it (with the outstanding art, fluidness and quality).

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Impressions:

That was amazing! Everything from Yuuichi on the train to the end of the preview was perfect. Quite a few people say that the episode was very slow and dragged on too much. If I were to think about it, I would agree with that, but my incredibly biased reasoning tells me that if the story progressed quicker, the series would have to cut short, would completely devastate me as this first episode has instantly hooked me. The quality is extremely high, as expected of KyoAni, who love to focus on the little details. The blinking, walking etc. Just from watching this first episode, I can say this will most likely be my favourite this season, and possibly even this year (which means better than Suzumiya Haruhi!)

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Popularity: 16% [?]