Yoyo

You're going in places, leave before you lose your humanity

I hope we fixed the issue for you, @Zalor

Preface:  I love this picture from the Picture Dramas of Code Geass with everyone smiling and enjoying school life at Ashford academy.  Even C.C.  looks to be cheerful for once and it's probably because she finally got to be president of the Pizza club.  I can't help but to show a smile on my face every time  I see it.  Truly, its such a sad dream of what never came to be.
 
  Long time no see everyone.  I doubt that much of anyone missed me but I appreciate that you're taking the time to read this.  I was asked by a friend, in real life, why I haven't written another thought piece in such a long time (he didn't realize though I wrote all the Kanon threads here at Fuwanovels though lol)  and from that resulting conversation, here I am again with another analysis.  As for the focus of today's topic, it's about Code Geass.  I hope you all will enjoy reading and will post comments below, if only to humor and say I suck lol.  That said, let's begin.
 
  Code Geass, for those that don't know,  Is a show from the mid-2000's (2006 and 2008 to be precise) that was released in the full swing of the "War on Terror" years phase of American involvement in the Middle East. Despite being an anime produced by a nation that had no real involvement in that theater of the world, I feel that Code Geass is a rather exemplary example of the kind storytelling that dominated that era.  You see in the show huge military interventions, terrorism, masked resistance fighters, and the blurring of the lines of friend and foe.  The differences from the then Western shows, however, would be that the show has Japan be proxy for the conflict of the middle East and has the protagonist be the Hero of the show's resistance group.  
 
 Moving on, The setting of Code Geass is an alternative world where Japan is conquered by the "Holy Britannian Empire" who serves as the stories parallel to the United States of America.  As for why the Britannian Empire does this, Japan is world leading producer of a special energy source called "Sakuradite" and nearly 70 percent of the world's supply is produced there.  This is very allegorical to the idea that the United States really invaded Iraq was for Oil and not for disarming Weapons of Mass Destruction.  In this case though, Britannia doesn't seek to justify its actions outside obtaining the monopoly Japan has for the glory of the empire.
 
  Talking of the Empire, the main character is a discarded Britannian Prince by the name of "Lelouch vi Britannia" and at the start of the story, is assuming the identity of a normal student name, "Lelouch Lamperouge".  In some ways, Lelouch is very similar to the infamous terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, as Osama was a well-regarded Saudi citizen that was considered to be royalty by proxy due to his closeness with the royal family of Saudi Arabia.  In Lelouch case, he's actually is a prince but he's 11th in rank and 17th in succession.  This makes him relative nobody in the royal family political affairs and even more so with his mother's death as she was a common born peasant that rose in rank due to her marriage to the Emperor.  However, what Lelouch and Osama they both share in common is that they are both exiled and disowned by their homeland.  
 
  Continuing on, Lelouch missions, in his life, are to get his revenge on the royal family for killing his mother and making a better world for his sister, Nunnally, who was blinded and paralyzed during the same assassination attempt that took his mother's life.  If I were to sum this up in another way, Lelouch motivations in other words can be summed up as, "This world can be put to rights."  He wants justice to be done for his mother's death and create a world that would allow Nunnally to live freely without worry of being killed like his mother was.  In a sense, he lives to reject his father's creed of, "The Survival of the Fittest" as the current world wouldn't allow someone handicapped, like Nunnally, to live and enjoy what life has to offer.   
 
  I suppose though that this may bring to mind again the analogy with Osama Bin Laden despite my thoughts that the creators didn't quite intend that.  Still, it's eerie to think that if one were to think empathically about Osama, what he wanted was the removal of western influence from the Middle East.  I imagine that in his eyes, conflicts like those of Afghanistan in the 1980's were results of western meddling and would become a formative experience on how to best help his fellow Muslims. This then in turn would escalate to ever amounting violence to achieve these goals despite whatever well-meaning intentions he may have had.  With all this in mind, he's a lot like Code Geass protagonist and it could play to the intentions of the creators for putting Lelouch to be in the moral gray area with the audience.  
 
  However, A better analogy to Lelouch than Osama may be actually Kiritsugu Emiya from Fate/Zero.  Despite the latter being published after Code Geass and having its anime adaptation not be made until several years further, I feel they're concurrent characters in that time of Japanese storytelling as the prologue of Fate/Zero was actually finished before even Fate/Stay/Night.  This would make Kiritsugu as a fleshed out character predate Code Geass's Lelouch but that's story for another time.  The point is here is that both are characters motivated by righting the world's wrong.
 
  In the case of Kiritsugu, he chases a miracle that's the Holy Grail  and would stop at nothing to obtain it.  He does so because he wishes an end to suffering and believes whole heartedly in such an ideal.  Lelouch's wish I likened to be the same way as there is nothing obviously wrong about making a world that's kind outside having to kill to make it happen.  Like Lelouch, Kiritsugu believes that any sacrifice would be worth any cost as the results would outweigh them.   This would be especially true for them because of how unfair they perceive the current system to be.  For Kiritsugu and Lelouch, if the current system is a failure, it would be wrong to accept things as they are without doing anything to change them.
 
  This then brings to mind the power of Geass that Lelouch obtains in making a contract with C.C.  The power of Geass is referred to "The power of Kings" and while it may not be the omnipotent wish granting device that's the grail, Lelouch's new ability gained from the contract is still a miracle in itself.  His newfound capability, of enforcing the absolute obedience of one command, grants him the power to finally be able to challenge his father and by extension, shape the world to his liking.  This of course firmly puts him in the path of challenging the world's strongest Superpower and starts the story of Code Geass in earnest. 
 
   Now to cite another character to Lelouch's situation, Light from "Death Note" comes to mind in how he wishes to change the world too with his new found power.  In Light case, he uses the power of the Death Note to murder criminals around the world and cultures the resulting fear from his action to deter future crime.  This in turn makes Light public enemy number one and makes the world's law enforcement agencies work together to stop him.  Unlike Lelouch though, Light had no prior tragedy or formative experience that would shape his actions other than coming from a family of Law enforcement.  If anything, Light shares more in common with Lelouch's older brother "Prince Schneizel" in both their approach to doing what's right and thinking how's their action is justifiable.  
 
  Speaking of Prince Schneizel, he serves as an could have been of what a possible Lelouch future if he wasn't struck with his mother's tragedy.  Where Lelouch is always thinking of a better future and is constantly reminded of the sacrifices that had been made along the way, Schneizel thoughts operates on the "End's justify the Mean's" mentality.  Having suffered no personal calamities, Prince Schneizel observes everything only through an objective observer point of view and always makes impartial decisions.  This is at odds with the mindset Lelouch, in the course of his life, have come to developed.  The reason being Lelouch, seeing the tragedies around him, always had placed the well-being of those he cared about at the forefront of his mind and, his resulting actions always have been motivated because of this as to avoid the prior disasters of Lelouch's life.        
 
  Prince Schneizel and Light on the other hand, use their cold, calculating brilliance in pursuit of a goal they think will save the majority of people.  They're both always looking to the now and enforcing peace rather than putting trust to the future.   Light and Prince Schneizel also lack the empathy that Lelouch has, despite their same level of prodigious intelligence,  as they're detached on emotional level and feel that this lack of involvement makes them the better objective judge of what's right.  This in turn makes them makes them have a lower opinion of the rest of humanity and in their actions, makes a grand assumption on the behalf of everyone despite voices of dissent.  With Prince Schneizel, it's the use of the Aerial Fortress Damocales, and its Fleija arsenal, to bring fear of annihilation to the world over if anyone one was to resort to conflict.  
 
  This subjugation through fear, however, would be denying of a kinder world and making of life a happy adventure as everyone would be under the threat of Damocales.  If anyone was to step out of line, then obliteration would be the result.  Though then the world then would be without war and bloodshed, the humanity would fall into stagnation as there would be no hope and therefore, no future as you can't have one without hope.  It's because of this Lelouch seeks to stop Schneizel on the same grounds that he stopped his father, the Emperor.
 
      Bringing up the Emperor, his plan was nearly the same as Schneizel in that he sought universal peace but the details lay differently from his son.  Instead, the Emperor had made plans to slay the collective unconscious of humanity and eliminate the walls of separation of everyone thoughts.  In other words, he was taking a page out of Gendo Ikari's playbook in EVA and bring forth Human Instrumentality.  And for those that don't get the EVA reference, the emperor pretty much was going to have Humanity be of one mind and end individual persona's so that there would be an end to conflict.  On a side note though, Gendo and the Emperor share the trait that they're an awful parent to their respective son but I digress.   
    
  Progressing on, the Emperor is also motivated like Gendo in seeing their past love ones again and they're motivated in obtaining what they lost.  They no longer care about the present as Gendo and the Emperor think all will be made right by their actions.  No matter what lives are lost or suffering made, it will be made irrelevant once everyone souls are united as one.  Of course though, in both stories their respective son rejects their plans and while I don't remember Shinji's explanation [Writer Note: I seen end of eva like ten times and I still can't be bothered with Baka Shinji conversation with his Mom/Rei as I stop paying attention at that point] why he rejects instrumentality, I really love Lelouch's dialogue and explanation in rejecting his father's plans.
 
 To quote Lelouch, "I've fought for all the things I've wanted to protect. [To His father] I don't acknowledge you or your way of thinking.  Why do people lie? It's not to just create conflict.  It's because they have purpose.  Change doesn't happened in an exposed world.  That's not called living.  Turning a world full of memories into an equal, complete and closed world.  That's not what I want.  You two believe that's a good thing.  But you're pushing kindness onto people.  It's no different from Evil intentions.  [The Emperor:  The future lies beyond the Ragnarok Connection.  The kind world Nunnally spoke of.] No.  What you're talking about is a world only kind to you!  But I'm sure what Nunnally wanted was a world where people would be kinder towards other.  [Emperor again: Even if that's true, what can you do?.... You can't win against God with the Power of Kings.]  Even so, I want a future!  I still refuse your world."   
 
  I find this to be magnificent reasoning on Lelouch's part as to embrace the future, believe in the people around him, and most of all, rejecting an false salvation that ignores the happiness of people.  This definitively pulled on my heartstrings and I felt it’s a scene, for me, that was only matched by both Kiritsugu decision to reject the "Third Miracle" towards the end of Fate/Zero and, Madoka's wish to give hope to all magical girls by eliminating the concept of witches, at the cost of her existence, in the end of Madoka Magica.   In all three examples, the common theme tying them together is the fact they all reject the idea that only a cruel fate lies ahead of them and they accept the consequences that come with them.
 
  In Kiritsugu's case, he loses his family and eventually his life due to the curse of the grail.  For Madoka, she can no longer co-exist with her family and friends as she turn into a concept that lives to ensure the prevention of witches.  Lelouch on the other hand, has to deal with a New World Order that's about to be instituted by Schneizel and of which, brings the topic again full circle.  This now though finally brings to the conversation of the person that needs mentioning if we're to discuss Lelouch in full, Suzaku.
 
  Suzaku occupies a special place in Code Geass as being the foil and rival of Lelouch throughout much of the series.  He is Lelouch's first friend and yet the same person that would every time come to interfere with his plan.  The reasoning behind this for Suzaku is that they have come to opposite conclusions on how to change the world.  In Suzuaku case, he is the one that actually kills his own father because in his mind, this would save the most about of Japanese lives.  The reason why he thought this was because his father had been the Prime Minster of Japan and he was committed to the idea of Total Resistance against Britannia's Numerical and Technological superiority.  Suzaku logic, in this case, dictated that without his father's leadership, all resistance would falter and a swift peace would come to be despite the ensuing humiliation the Japanese will feel at being conquered.   
 
  This then comes to be true after Suzaku's resulting assassination of his father.  He then up to the start of Code Geass seeks atonement for having committing crime of murder and joins the Britannian army as a Honorary Britannian.  In doing this, he already sets himself apart from Lelouch in that he seeks to change the world for the better by joining hands with the system despite knowing the unfairness of it.  His catchphrase, "The results obtained through the wrong methods are meaningless," is a prime example of his mindset of what he believes to be the correct course of action.  This is the total opposite of Lelouch wanting to tear down the system and rebuild anew.
 
  For Suzaku however, if he had choose to be like Lelouch, that would mean he would be rejecting the point of killing his own father and making that sacrifice meaningless.  To put it another way, the results of his actions would come to mean nothing and rather than forsaking his path, he would rather follow it to its bitter most conclusion if need be.  This is very evident in Suzaku actions as he's reckless with his own life and seeks death often in an attempt to assuage his own survivor guilt from murdering his father.  
 
  However, this starts to change for Suzaku as he would makes friends with Lelouch's childhood love, "Third Princess Euphemia" and in some ways, starts to again believe in himself.  I would say that his development here in his mentality is that, "To have no choice but to kill is the worst way!  No one can be saved like that!,"  to quote Keichi from Higurashi.   You can see the major difference in Suzaku, from Lelouch, is how vastly he holds the sanctity of life compared to his old friend.  Furthermore, you can see Suzaku tragedy had made him an idealist akin to Shirou from Unlimited Blade Works who also wishes to see the everyone happy/saved. They both also happen to share similar cases of Survivor Guilt and their operatus morendi revolve around no one having to suffer like they had to.   This is unlike Lelouch who seeks a more selfish desire of retribution and acts more pragmatically, in regards to the world, but, it's at least not to the extent the Emperor or Schneizel do.
 
  Going back to Suzaku,  I feel he's also a great example of, "It takes pain to know kindness," in action.  Another perfect analogy for him, along with Shirou, would be Yukinoshita from "SNAFU" as she's too a trouble individual that internalizes her pain and seeks to help others out with the empathy of similar circumstances.  Shirou sums up the three in his quote, "I don't want to regret anything.   I want to make all the tragedies that happened into meaningful things by believing my path is right."  Of course, Suzaku and Yukinoshita are on the unbalanced side of things, with Suzaku the worst off of the three, in handling their own suffering.
 
  Still, Yukinoshita serves as a good comparison in understanding mindset even with the comparably less tragic backstory.  All we have to look to is in her debut scene with the main character Hikigaya, of SNAFU, in her conversation when she says, "It's because he doesn't recognize his own problem.  [Hikigaya:  What's with all this telling me to change?  I don't want anyone telling me who to be.]  That's what we call running away. [But changing would be, "Running away from the current situation," wouldn't it?  Why can't you accept someone is now and was in the past?] Because then… Because No worries would get resolved.  No one would be Saved!" 
 
  If we were to tweak the conversation a bit, this could have be construed to be one of the many conversations Suzaku has with Lelouch as Zero.  In some ways, Suzaku and Yukinoshita can come off as self-righteous, which in many cases turns out to be the case in each respective series, but it’s a mindset formed from wanting a earnest desire to help others so they can save themselves despite, never admitting it aloud.  Those that preach of saving others often are the ones most needing of being saved and in Suzaku's case, it's the definitively the case as his memory of murdering his father still plagues him well into Code Geass story.
 
  Unfortunately though for Suzaku,  what overwrites that painful memory for him is another greater tragedy in losing Euphemia and worst of all, it was his best friend was behind her death (Note: we later find in season 2 that it's actually V.V. doing).  This of course has him face off with Lelouch and at the end of it, succeed in capturing him at the end of season one.  I would go on about this development but honestly, Suzaku becomes more of a side character in season 2 as Lelouch comes to bring the world against the Britannia.  The resulting actions there on makes bigger roles for the Emperor and Schneizel that Suzaku role slowly shrinks that of a witness to Lelouch's actions though, he becomes an instrumental ally for Lelouch at the end of the series.  In the end though, it doesn't replace the fact that Suzaku isn't as integral to the development of season 2 as he was in the first and therefore, a lot less interesting to analyze him in it.  
 
  Overall,  I hope you enjoyed my analysis.  I tried my best in making this as interesting as possible by offering as much of my own insight as opposed to just recapping the story of Code Geass.  This in turn though made this Analysis way longer than I originally intended and spent far more time in its creation than I liked.  Still, I'm quite happy with this finished piece and having done so, fulfilled my friends request.   Please if you have any comments or your own analysis to add, please post below.  I'm looking forward to any and all your responses
 

Well there are many ways to go about things like these, all of them legal of cours.....*cough, COUGH*
I wasn't implying anything....put down the phone....don't turn me in just yet!!
 
You'll never catch me alive pigs!
 
#NOREGRETS 
 
Ps: I never watch dubs, always subs. For me there is no question about it, original voices are the best way to go and the only one as well.  

I am, I really need to get to it. For some reason I always ended up forgetting about it

Yes I'm part of Facebook Group for Visual Novel
Don't worry I have plans to rewatch it again

Mmm... to be honest, I think you are over-analyzing... especially since Britannia is straight-out the British Empire, since America just happened to inherit its globe-trotting resource-plundering from them in our world.  That unique combination of colonization by conquest, mercantile excess, and aristocratic paternalism and privilege are... obvious.  The social elements involved are pretty blatant, and when you include later installments, such as the Akito story, this 'countries of the past in the future' theme is also present, with the EU very much resembling post-revolution pre-Napoleon France, lol. 
 
 

I like the part where that one girl masturbates on a table 

I have missed you Yoyo and very good analysis
I have just seen little bit of Code Geass long time ago but it was not my cup of tea

Preface:  I love this picture from the Picture Dramas of Code Geass with everyone smiling and enjoying school life at Ashford academy.  Even C.C.  looks to be cheerful for once and it's probably because she finally got to be president of the Pizza club.  I can't help but to show a smile on my face every time  I see it.  Truly, its such a sad dream of what never came to be.
 
  Long time no see everyone.  I doubt that much of anyone missed me but I appreciate that you're taking the time to read this.  I was asked by a friend, in real life, why I haven't written another thought piece in such a long time (he didn't realize though I wrote all the Kanon threads here at Fuwanovels though lol)  and from that resulting conversation, here I am again with another analysis.  As for the focus of today's topic, it's about Code Geass.  I hope you all will enjoy reading and will post comments below, if only to humor and say I suck lol.  That said, let's begin.
 
  Code Geass, for those that don't know,  Is a show from the mid-2000's (2006 and 2008 to be precise) that was released in the full swing of the "War on Terror" years phase of American involvement in the Middle East. Despite being an anime produced by a nation that had no real involvement in that theater of the world, I feel that Code Geass is a rather exemplary example of the kind storytelling that dominated that era.  You see in the show huge military interventions, terrorism, masked resistance fighters, and the blurring of the lines of friend and foe.  The differences from the then Western shows, however, would be that the show has Japan be proxy for the conflict of the middle East and has the protagonist be the Hero of the show's resistance group.  
 
 Moving on, The setting of Code Geass is an alternative world where Japan is conquered by the "Holy Britannian Empire" who serves as the stories parallel to the United States of America.  As for why the Britannian Empire does this, Japan is world leading producer of a special energy source called "Sakuradite" and nearly 70 percent of the world's supply is produced there.  This is very allegorical to the idea that the United States really invaded Iraq was for Oil and not for disarming Weapons of Mass Destruction.  In this case though, Britannia doesn't seek to justify its actions outside obtaining the monopoly Japan has for the glory of the empire.
 
  Talking of the Empire, the main character is a discarded Britannian Prince by the name of "Lelouch vi Britannia" and at the start of the story, is assuming the identity of a normal student name, "Lelouch Lamperouge".  In some ways, Lelouch is very similar to the infamous terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, as Osama was a well-regarded Saudi citizen that was considered to be royalty by proxy due to his closeness with the royal family of Saudi Arabia.  In Lelouch case, he's actually is a prince but he's 11th in rank and 17th in succession.  This makes him relative nobody in the royal family political affairs and even more so with his mother's death as she was a common born peasant that rose in rank due to her marriage to the Emperor.  However, what Lelouch and Osama they both share in common is that they are both exiled and disowned by their homeland.  
 
  Continuing on, Lelouch missions, in his life, are to get his revenge on the royal family for killing his mother and making a better world for his sister, Nunnally, who was blinded and paralyzed during the same assassination attempt that took his mother's life.  If I were to sum this up in another way, Lelouch motivations in other words can be summed up as, "This world can be put to rights."  He wants justice to be done for his mother's death and create a world that would allow Nunnally to live freely without worry of being killed like his mother was.  In a sense, he lives to reject his father's creed of, "The Survival of the Fittest" as the current world wouldn't allow someone handicapped, like Nunnally, to live and enjoy what life has to offer.   
 
  I suppose though that this may bring to mind again the analogy with Osama Bin Laden despite my thoughts that the creators didn't quite intend that.  Still, it's eerie to think that if one were to think empathically about Osama, what he wanted was the removal of western influence from the Middle East.  I imagine that in his eyes, conflicts like those of Afghanistan in the 1980's were results of western meddling and would become a formative experience on how to best help his fellow Muslims. This then in turn would escalate to ever amounting violence to achieve these goals despite whatever well-meaning intentions he may have had.  With all this in mind, he's a lot like Code Geass protagonist and it could play to the intentions of the creators for putting Lelouch to be in the moral gray area with the audience.  
 
  However, A better analogy to Lelouch than Osama may be actually Kiritsugu Emiya from Fate/Zero.  Despite the latter being published after Code Geass and having its anime adaptation not be made until several years further, I feel they're concurrent characters in that time of Japanese storytelling as the prologue of Fate/Zero was actually finished before even Fate/Stay/Night.  This would make Kiritsugu as a fleshed out character predate Code Geass's Lelouch but that's story for another time.  The point is here is that both are characters motivated by righting the world's wrong.
 
  In the case of Kiritsugu, he chases a miracle that's the Holy Grail  and would stop at nothing to obtain it.  He does so because he wishes an end to suffering and believes whole heartedly in such an ideal.  Lelouch's wish I likened to be the same way as there is nothing obviously wrong about making a world that's kind outside having to kill to make it happen.  Like Lelouch, Kiritsugu believes that any sacrifice would be worth any cost as the results would outweigh them.   This would be especially true for them because of how unfair they perceive the current system to be.  For Kiritsugu and Lelouch, if the current system is a failure, it would be wrong to accept things as they are without doing anything to change them.
 
  This then brings to mind the power of Geass that Lelouch obtains in making a contract with C.C.  The power of Geass is referred to "The power of Kings" and while it may not be the omnipotent wish granting device that's the grail, Lelouch's new ability gained from the contract is still a miracle in itself.  His newfound capability, of enforcing the absolute obedience of one command, grants him the power to finally be able to challenge his father and by extension, shape the world to his liking.  This of course firmly puts him in the path of challenging the world's strongest Superpower and starts the story of Code Geass in earnest. 
 
   Now to cite another character to Lelouch's situation, Light from "Death Note" comes to mind in how he wishes to change the world too with his new found power.  In Light case, he uses the power of the Death Note to murder criminals around the world and cultures the resulting fear from his action to deter future crime.  This in turn makes Light public enemy number one and makes the world's law enforcement agencies work together to stop him.  Unlike Lelouch though, Light had no prior tragedy or formative experience that would shape his actions other than coming from a family of Law enforcement.  If anything, Light shares more in common with Lelouch's older brother "Prince Schneizel" in both their approach to doing what's right and thinking how's their action is justifiable.  
 
  Speaking of Prince Schneizel, he serves as an could have been of what a possible Lelouch future if he wasn't struck with his mother's tragedy.  Where Lelouch is always thinking of a better future and is constantly reminded of the sacrifices that had been made along the way, Schneizel thoughts operates on the "End's justify the Mean's" mentality.  Having suffered no personal calamities, Prince Schneizel observes everything only through an objective observer point of view and always makes impartial decisions.  This is at odds with the mindset Lelouch, in the course of his life, have come to developed.  The reason being Lelouch, seeing the tragedies around him, always had placed the well-being of those he cared about at the forefront of his mind and, his resulting actions always have been motivated because of this as to avoid the prior disasters of Lelouch's life.        
 
  Prince Schneizel and Light on the other hand, use their cold, calculating brilliance in pursuit of a goal they think will save the majority of people.  They're both always looking to the now and enforcing peace rather than putting trust to the future.   Light and Prince Schneizel also lack the empathy that Lelouch has, despite their same level of prodigious intelligence,  as they're detached on emotional level and feel that this lack of involvement makes them the better objective judge of what's right.  This in turn makes them makes them have a lower opinion of the rest of humanity and in their actions, makes a grand assumption on the behalf of everyone despite voices of dissent.  With Prince Schneizel, it's the use of the Aerial Fortress Damocales, and its Fleija arsenal, to bring fear of annihilation to the world over if anyone one was to resort to conflict.  
 
  This subjugation through fear, however, would be denying of a kinder world and making of life a happy adventure as everyone would be under the threat of Damocales.  If anyone was to step out of line, then obliteration would be the result.  Though then the world then would be without war and bloodshed, the humanity would fall into stagnation as there would be no hope and therefore, no future as you can't have one without hope.  It's because of this Lelouch seeks to stop Schneizel on the same grounds that he stopped his father, the Emperor.
 
      Bringing up the Emperor, his plan was nearly the same as Schneizel in that he sought universal peace but the details lay differently from his son.  Instead, the Emperor had made plans to slay the collective unconscious of humanity and eliminate the walls of separation of everyone thoughts.  In other words, he was taking a page out of Gendo Ikari's playbook in EVA and bring forth Human Instrumentality.  And for those that don't get the EVA reference, the emperor pretty much was going to have Humanity be of one mind and end individual persona's so that there would be an end to conflict.  On a side note though, Gendo and the Emperor share the trait that they're an awful parent to their respective son but I digress.   
    
  Progressing on, the Emperor is also motivated like Gendo in seeing their past love ones again and they're motivated in obtaining what they lost.  They no longer care about the present as Gendo and the Emperor think all will be made right by their actions.  No matter what lives are lost or suffering made, it will be made irrelevant once everyone souls are united as one.  Of course though, in both stories their respective son rejects their plans and while I don't remember Shinji's explanation [Writer Note: I seen end of eva like ten times and I still can't be bothered with Baka Shinji conversation with his Mom/Rei as I stop paying attention at that point] why he rejects instrumentality, I really love Lelouch's dialogue and explanation in rejecting his father's plans.
 
 To quote Lelouch, "I've fought for all the things I've wanted to protect. [To His father] I don't acknowledge you or your way of thinking.  Why do people lie? It's not to just create conflict.  It's because they have purpose.  Change doesn't happened in an exposed world.  That's not called living.  Turning a world full of memories into an equal, complete and closed world.  That's not what I want.  You two believe that's a good thing.  But you're pushing kindness onto people.  It's no different from Evil intentions.  [The Emperor:  The future lies beyond the Ragnarok Connection.  The kind world Nunnally spoke of.] No.  What you're talking about is a world only kind to you!  But I'm sure what Nunnally wanted was a world where people would be kinder towards other.  [Emperor again: Even if that's true, what can you do?.... You can't win against God with the Power of Kings.]  Even so, I want a future!  I still refuse your world."   
 
  I find this to be magnificent reasoning on Lelouch's part as to embrace the future, believe in the people around him, and most of all, rejecting an false salvation that ignores the happiness of people.  This definitively pulled on my heartstrings and I felt it’s a scene, for me, that was only matched by both Kiritsugu decision to reject the "Third Miracle" towards the end of Fate/Zero and, Madoka's wish to give hope to all magical girls by eliminating the concept of witches, at the cost of her existence, in the end of Madoka Magica.   In all three examples, the common theme tying them together is the fact they all reject the idea that only a cruel fate lies ahead of them and they accept the consequences that come with them.
 
  In Kiritsugu's case, he loses his family and eventually his life due to the curse of the grail.  For Madoka, she can no longer co-exist with her family and friends as she turn into a concept that lives to ensure the prevention of witches.  Lelouch on the other hand, has to deal with a New World Order that's about to be instituted by Schneizel and of which, brings the topic again full circle.  This now though finally brings to the conversation of the person that needs mentioning if we're to discuss Lelouch in full, Suzaku.
 
  Suzaku occupies a special place in Code Geass as being the foil and rival of Lelouch throughout much of the series.  He is Lelouch's first friend and yet the same person that would every time come to interfere with his plan.  The reasoning behind this for Suzaku is that they have come to opposite conclusions on how to change the world.  In Suzuaku case, he is the one that actually kills his own father because in his mind, this would save the most about of Japanese lives.  The reason why he thought this was because his father had been the Prime Minster of Japan and he was committed to the idea of Total Resistance against Britannia's Numerical and Technological superiority.  Suzaku logic, in this case, dictated that without his father's leadership, all resistance would falter and a swift peace would come to be despite the ensuing humiliation the Japanese will feel at being conquered.   
 
  This then comes to be true after Suzaku's resulting assassination of his father.  He then up to the start of Code Geass seeks atonement for having committing crime of murder and joins the Britannian army as a Honorary Britannian.  In doing this, he already sets himself apart from Lelouch in that he seeks to change the world for the better by joining hands with the system despite knowing the unfairness of it.  His catchphrase, "The results obtained through the wrong methods are meaningless," is a prime example of his mindset of what he believes to be the correct course of action.  This is the total opposite of Lelouch wanting to tear down the system and rebuild anew.
 
  For Suzaku however, if he had choose to be like Lelouch, that would mean he would be rejecting the point of killing his own father and making that sacrifice meaningless.  To put it another way, the results of his actions would come to mean nothing and rather than forsaking his path, he would rather follow it to its bitter most conclusion if need be.  This is very evident in Suzaku actions as he's reckless with his own life and seeks death often in an attempt to assuage his own survivor guilt from murdering his father.  
 
  However, this starts to change for Suzaku as he would makes friends with Lelouch's childhood love, "Third Princess Euphemia" and in some ways, starts to again believe in himself.  I would say that his development here in his mentality is that, "To have no choice but to kill is the worst way!  No one can be saved like that!,"  to quote Keichi from Higurashi.   You can see the major difference in Suzaku, from Lelouch, is how vastly he holds the sanctity of life compared to his old friend.  Furthermore, you can see Suzaku tragedy had made him an idealist akin to Shirou from Unlimited Blade Works who also wishes to see the everyone happy/saved. They both also happen to share similar cases of Survivor Guilt and their operatus morendi revolve around no one having to suffer like they had to.   This is unlike Lelouch who seeks a more selfish desire of retribution and acts more pragmatically, in regards to the world, but, it's at least not to the extent the Emperor or Schneizel do.
 
  Going back to Suzaku,  I feel he's also a great example of, "It takes pain to know kindness," in action.  Another perfect analogy for him, along with Shirou, would be Yukinoshita from "SNAFU" as she's too a trouble individual that internalizes her pain and seeks to help others out with the empathy of similar circumstances.  Shirou sums up the three in his quote, "I don't want to regret anything.   I want to make all the tragedies that happened into meaningful things by believing my path is right."  Of course, Suzaku and Yukinoshita are on the unbalanced side of things, with Suzaku the worst off of the three, in handling their own suffering.
 
  Still, Yukinoshita serves as a good comparison in understanding mindset even with the comparably less tragic backstory.  All we have to look to is in her debut scene with the main character Hikigaya, of SNAFU, in her conversation when she says, "It's because he doesn't recognize his own problem.  [Hikigaya:  What's with all this telling me to change?  I don't want anyone telling me who to be.]  That's what we call running away. [But changing would be, "Running away from the current situation," wouldn't it?  Why can't you accept someone is now and was in the past?] Because then… Because No worries would get resolved.  No one would be Saved!" 
 
  If we were to tweak the conversation a bit, this could have be construed to be one of the many conversations Suzaku has with Lelouch as Zero.  In some ways, Suzaku and Yukinoshita can come off as self-righteous, which in many cases turns out to be the case in each respective series, but it’s a mindset formed from wanting a earnest desire to help others so they can save themselves despite, never admitting it aloud.  Those that preach of saving others often are the ones most needing of being saved and in Suzaku's case, it's the definitively the case as his memory of murdering his father still plagues him well into Code Geass story.
 
  Unfortunately though for Suzaku,  what overwrites that painful memory for him is another greater tragedy in losing Euphemia and worst of all, it was his best friend was behind her death (Note: we later find in season 2 that it's actually V.V. doing).  This of course has him face off with Lelouch and at the end of it, succeed in capturing him at the end of season one.  I would go on about this development but honestly, Suzaku becomes more of a side character in season 2 as Lelouch comes to bring the world against the Britannia.  The resulting actions there on makes bigger roles for the Emperor and Schneizel that Suzaku role slowly shrinks that of a witness to Lelouch's actions though, he becomes an instrumental ally for Lelouch at the end of the series.  In the end though, it doesn't replace the fact that Suzaku isn't as integral to the development of season 2 as he was in the first and therefore, a lot less interesting to analyze him in it.  
 
  Overall,  I hope you enjoyed my analysis.  I tried my best in making this as interesting as possible by offering as much of my own insight as opposed to just recapping the story of Code Geass.  This in turn though made this Analysis way longer than I originally intended and spent far more time in its creation than I liked.  Still, I'm quite happy with this finished piece and having done so, fulfilled my friends request.   Please if you have any comments or your own analysis to add, please post below.  I'm looking forward to any and all your responses
 

I haven't seen Code Geass yet though I was told to many times, I gotta get to it. 

Unintentional click-bait ftw 
When I was in Taiwan a few weeks ago, I found a Kanon doujin from the year 2000 or 2001. All the other doujins that were explicit had a warning that they were, but this one had a nice innocent looking title picture of the Kanon girls, and no such warning. Well I was deceived. Long story short, can confirm that it exists 
 

It's been great talking to you as well. I'm going to respond to you via PM, as there is a lot of non-Kanon related stuff I want to talk to you about. 

Before I start, I'd like to offer my own apologies in replying late too.  In the meantime between your two posts (which I will reply to in the other thread in due time) I have written actually two analysis but just posted for Facebook.  I wrote one for Nisekoi as at the time rumored to been ending soon and Code Geass which I had just finished.  I haven't posted them here as it was more for my friends on Facebook to read but I plan to repost my Code Geass one here with some touch up.  It was a great show btw and I wonder if you would read my analysis on that.
 
  The other reason for my delay has been that I been trying to read Air despite saying I was going to finish Moon.  I figured because its summer that it would be an appropriate book to read but I've been making slow progress as its been WAY TOO HOT lately to want to have a laptop resting on me to read it.  I will say though I really do love Misuzu,  based from what little I had read, as she reminds me of a much more interesting Nayuki and on a visual level, I just love the long bangs she has like Mai did in Kanon.  I plan to write a analysis once I finish it but that may be a long way off.
 
  Now going back to the subject of Kanon, I like how you refined my observations on Yuuichi to liken him to be a conductor for miracles.  While I can approve of that, I feel that it's written in a way that still supportive of Ayu being source of miracles.   I still find myself rejecting that notion on the basis because of the circumstances Ayu and Mai has with Yuuichi.
 
  For example, Ayu throughout much of Kanon is the one that meets and departs Yuuichi.  You see this in the first flashback Yuuuichi has where she bumps into him crying and in the present time line where she's running away with the Taiyaki.  This is the complete opposite when it comes to Mai as Yuuichi is the one that always visit's her and then leaves after their night is over.  I find this important as its Ayu always involving herself in Yuuichi's life while with Mai, Yuuichi makes it his business to be by Mai's side.  To clarify, Ayu's fate is one of being drawn to Yuuichi and its Yuuichi's fate to be involved with Mai.   If there was to be a miracle for Ayu, I would think it has to be one where she comes to be with Yuuichi than having a power for herself. 
 
  Furthermore, Ayu has a remarkable circumstance that is near exactly the same as Mai.  The reason she even meets Yuuichi is because she's crying in grief over her mother's passing away and is roaming the town.  If we were to take this event literally, Ayu failed, unlike Mai, to use her power to save her own mother's life.  Looking at it another way, Ayu may not have a power of a miracle to save lives or change fate.  Kanon may not give us specific details on miracles but I find it odd that Ayu isn't shown to be special like either Makoto or Mai through her own backstory.  If there was a time to sow the seeds of her being unique, I think it would had been during this time.  
 
  Continuing on, we know that Yuuichi, Before moving away for seven years, that he makes a promise with Ayu to play again.  The scene following that in the flashback talks in detail how he purposely made an illusion of being able to give a gift to his first love and how happy she was in receiving it.  He then goes on to say that he chose to reject reality and accept this story as to not damage his heart even more.  What I find amazing, in his monologue to himself, is that Yuuichi here reminds me REMARKABLY similar to Mai's rejection of her powers.  I find myself here, because of this, believing that maybe's Ayu's dream is Yuuichi's hope he had seal himself in his heart.   This isn't any stretch of the imagination either as Mai was able to make a seal space also for her power and cherished place.  I can see this easily being the case with Yuuichi too with Ayu. 
 
  Talking of comparing Yuuichi to Mai, I can see similarities of Mai's dilemma in Ayu's route but with Yuuichi facing the problems Mai has.  In this case, it's Yuuichi the one struck with a tragedy and rejecting a part of himself.  It just comes to be that, for Yuuichi, there's someone else that convinces that part of himself to come to terms.  This makes me believe even more that Ayu is really a normal girl and that for the other routes ending such as Nayuki and Shiori, the other major correlation is that YUUICHI himself is very much invested In those two people.  For Nayuki happiness, it's for her sake that Akiko recovers from the accident and with Shiori, that she is able to overcome her illness so they can spend their lives together.  
 
  Overall, I suppose my argument here is that Yuuichi is more than a conductor miracle but rather, a source of miracles himself.  In Ayu's case, it would the make sense that her wish would come to be as Yuuichi also wants to be with Ayu.  This would then also support the implication in the anime that Ayu's last wish is Yuuichi's wish too.  Furthermore, it would explain why Ayu goes away In the other routes as Yuuichi heart goes to focus on a new love and is no longer bounded to Ayu.  Ayu's then last wish then can be explained literally by Shiori's ending statement, of her route, that Ayu's last wish really was a gift for staying that long within the dream because of Yuuich's power keeping her there.
 
   In the end though, I might just be in the mindset of denying Ayu's power but I rather believe that it's because Yuuichi making his own miracles.  The story makes Yuuichi to be a special person and all the developments relating to Ayu can be traced back to him.  Where at first I was thinking it was because of Mai's power helping him, I think Yuuichi always had a power like Mai and IT COULD BE THE REASON that Mai's power mark him as someone capable of accepting her.  In this case, Yuuichi is Mai's boy counterpart that uses his power to protect himself rather than self-destructive means.  Regardless though, his potential for miracles could be the reason why he can accept Mai to begin with as he's unique like her.  
 
  So now to bring things to conclusion, its Yuuichi potential for a miracle that Ayu is able to tap into one and make herself reconnect with him.  I could be distracting myself though with analogies with Mai and that Ayu just has her own different miracle but,  the events in the story always has Yuuichi playing some part in her miracle.  Even the third wish, the one that is used to change a cruel fate, is based on the promise that he makes to her that's limited to what he's capable of.  I would find it to be a major problem story wise if its because of a supposed Ayu's innate power that a wish is granted when it should be Yuuichi doing so.  With that said, I find it easier to believe that Ayu was blessed with Yuuichi to be in her life and there lies the miracle that becomes the foundation for everything else that follows.
 

I'm going start with a bit of correspondence before I get back to talking about Sayuri and how she relates to my now new experiences with Air.
 
  I want to say that, for me, Kanon was the anime that brought me back into anime as it came at a special time I moved back to my hometown though I'm sure I must have said this earlier elsewhere.  The thing I may have left out, however, I was prior in a japanese culture rejection phase as I was really big into, at the time, western comics and animation.  I'm sure it was fueled by my former home forum apathy towards stuff release here in the west and my futile attempts in convincing them to give them a chance.  Regardless though of that, it was a great many years had I finished an anime in its entirety and despite even then having felt the story was a bit sappy, I really fell in love with it.  I say it was my second anime coming though wouldn't really get big into it maybe a year or two later.  
 
  Moving on, I read only two of the stories (Narcissu and Swan Song) of what you suggested but I'll agree with you there that they are masterpieces.  In Narcissu case, I actually read your analysis of them and I had been quite a long time a fan of yours because of them but it's only now that I can tell you lol.  If anything, I been wanting to either to cross examine your analysis or just write one from scratch from my perspective.  The only problem though as been all my writing efforts been put into Kanon and that my last re-reading of it was last year.  I felt that if there was a time for it, it would had been then when my memories were really fresh.  I just may have to if only to talk about how much I love Himeko, as a person I feel has a significant impact on my own life as someone living and breathing, but it probably has to be after I finished Air.
 
  As for Swan Song, now that's a book so deep that made me lose my faith in humanity aha.  It's the book I would accredit my current sense of wanting to be an ally of justice as to prevent such tragedies.  In all seriousness though, I really love that book but it was so intense that I had to take a massive break for a long time reading dark stuff.  Its only now that I feel enough time has passed that I can reread it this year during the winter.  The reason being, I do want to just reread it but also to see if I got the true end.  I don't think I was such a noob back then not to consult a walkthrough but I heard you had to get a bad end before getting the true end.  I'm curious if the end I got where the MC passes out in the church when the sun starts to show is the true end.   You can tell me if it is or not as it might save me some time in the long run lol.  
 
  Other than that, I have to say I actually place a high enjoyment factor in the reading of visual novels outside the anxious feelings I get sitting still.  I love having a soundscape as it drowns out any lingering mental noise I have and just adds to the immersion factor.  My most real problem however is trying to read more than one visual novel at a time.  It irks me to have a setting clash like a horror story like Higurashi be read after something like Air as it cuts into my immersion factor.  I suppose it’s just me to want to fully concentrate on one thing as to not miss out on the details.    Overall though, I say the vast majority the books that captured my imagination (Like Tsukihime, Steins;Gate, Saya No Uta, One, and even F/S/N despite my mixed feelings) are considered to be popular choices yet, I feel part of the fun in reading them is to connect with the community fan base.  I suppose this in the long run has kept my enjoyment high with visual novels as I'm able to become friends with other fans and in the case of Key works like One and Kanon, I actually immerse myself in playing their doujin fighting game "Eternal Fighter Zero".  It's quite fun really even if I haven't net played but I suppose I'm just a big fighter fan to say.
 
  Moving on, I feel like all the time I spend listening to Japanese music like the Vocaloids and the themse songs to anime along with watching Anime in subs, I definitively could have learned the language and enjoy them even more.  I love the language itself as it sounds distinctive and beautiful to my ears in a way my parents first language, Spanish, doesn't.  Maybe because it's in Spanish that you have to be able to Roll your R's that I gave up trying a long time ago to learn that makes me want to learn Japanese as it doesn't sound like you would do that often.  Even if the case isn't like I imagine it to be, I love it enough to want to learn it so I can enjoy the culture more.  It’s a shame though I can't take classes where I'm at as the local colleges don't offer it as a course.  I maybe instead of watching anime, I should just use the time to look up lessons lol but I digress.
 
  Now to back to discussing Sayuri, that's cool that I was able to convince you.  Where there was not much to Sayuri's indiviual story, I do feel that it was a nice job of Key to give her some time of her own and to give us the reader the answer to why Sayuri wrist was weak after we learned from Mai during the kendo training.  I wonder though, with that in mind, if Key would have maybe thought to do something like that with Kaori as she was the one I wanted to date most lol.   Regardless though, I did certainly feel a connection with Sayuri and I wonder if Key thought they could do something more with Sayuri themselves.
 
  I say this because I been reading Air and Misuzu, I'm guessing the main girl of Air, reminds me of the mannerisms of Sayuri.  I could be just be imagining things as they share the same voice actress and its obvious there will be some overlap.  But still, I feel the way she goes about talking is practically Sayuri if only that she doesn't refer to herself.   Then again, I do see a lot of Nayuki in Misuzu also she shares the same laughing quirks and just acts in a way I imagine a more childish Sayuri would that wasn't plague by losing her younger brother.  Of course, please don't spoil if you know if its defintively is or not the case as I'm only 2 days into the story of Air xD.
 
  Overall though, it's been great having these discussions with you and I feel you've been the only person that has ever really quite kept up with my analysis.   Not in like the comprehension level but being able to intellectually correspond an answer back with your own insight.  I'll be the first to admit though that I have had not joined places, prior to here, that prides itself on intellectual prowess either xD.  Still, I'm glad I was able likewise to made your acquaintance and I hope to hear a response from you soon.

Regarding what you said before this (about the conversation that Yuuichi had with Sayuri), I always saw that as cancelled out by the very ending, the CG. Which, as you know I associated with a clinging to her past, and despite trying, not being able to successfully overcome her traumas. But I have to say, you've convinced me. I think you are right, she is thinking about not only Kazuya in a positive manner, but truly has found him in her relationship with Mai and Yuuichi. 
Also, your habit of finding more fun sinking your teeth into the subtitles of a work than the actual process of reading I can very much relate with. I really liked the Kanon 2006 anime, and it was the first anime I watched that got me interested in the mediums of anime, manga, and VNs. In a very real way, I feel that the Kanon changed my direction in life. Through the interest in anime I got from Kanon, I later found an interest in broader (and more traditional) Japanese culture, and from there started learning the language. And the Kanon anime was really the starting point of all that. 
So because the Kanon 2006 anime held such a special place in my heart, I felt obligated to read the VN. So Kanon was my first VN, but too be honest with you... While I think the story of Kanon is very good, I think the anime presents it in a much more interesting and fun way. The VN really is kind of a bore a lot of the time. (And it was actually my second ever VN, Yume Miru Kusuri, that got me hooked on VNs during my teenage years). So I understand you when you said, "I learned to love it", lol.
However, the issue of enjoying analyzing more than the actual reading, is something that I have a lot more for books. I don't enjoy the process of reading actual books so much, but I love thinking about their contents. But for a long time, VNs used to be the only written medium that I actually really enjoyed the process of absorbing. Admittedly, while VNs were the only written medium that I actually ever found fun, only a handful of VNs I found were good enough to achieve this. In fact I can list them for you now, (Swan Song, Symphonic Rain, Narcissu, Yume Miru Kursuri, Sayonara wo Oshiete). I've read a decent amount of VNs, but those were the only ones that I really had a special affinity for. 
Furthermore, I think my loss of enthusiasm for VNs really came when I started college. I like to enjoy VNs by reading them in practically one sitting, all at once. And once I started college, I no longer had time for that. And without the luxury to read a VN all at once anymore, I just gradually lost interest. Another reason I think I lost interest though is because around a year ago I put a ban on myself from reading translated titles. The purpose of this was to improve my literacy of Japanese through a semi-immersive environment. And while good study practice, it felt more like work than fun. During those times I probably spent way more time looking at my electronic dictionaries than the actual VN. Sayonara wo Oshiete was the only untld VN that I truly finished, and that was because the story was so fascinating that I eagerly worked through it with a dictionary to find out what happened next.
As somebody who started out learning Japanese from a literary and perspective, but then later on took actual classes. I recommend at least taking a year of classes before tackling VNs (this advice isn't necessarily geared towards you, just me venting a bit, lol). A lot of people in the VN community promote the idea of "Study Japanese grammar, then read VNs with dictionary assistance". But doing it that method as I started out is painfully slow and honestly dull. By taking at least a year of classes first, you can then read manga, VNs, etc without having to constantly look up the most basic shit. You will still read super slow with a dictionary, but at least it will be more tolerable. Also, by taking classes, you can learn to actually speak the language too. Which is necessary if you actually want to communicate with Japanese people irl. 
Sorry for that little rant. But anyway yeah, having been a part of Fuwa for a while, and also having lurked on other VN sites. I think most VN fans find more fun in the actual reading than in the analyzing, which is why I think there exists relatively few analysis of VNs. And one thing I'm sure that you've learned from this, is that once you are done with writing the analysis, you have read and reread scenes in the VN so much that you become kind of sick of them. For all of the VNs I wrote analysis of, during the process of writing the piece, I would reread scenes over and over again to make sure I knew what I was taking about. Also to find to key quotes. And by the time I finished, I couldn't stand the VN for at least a week. But after a month, my love for the VN completely recharges and I appreciate that I went through the effort of writing my thoughts down.  So I think it is totally worth it, but it is definitely a difficult process.   
 
 

Sorry it took so long to respond. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten. 
I think your point about Ayu never having met Makoto and Mai, was very interesting. I always assumed that because both Mai and Makoto possess miraculous powers of their own, that Ayu's was not needed. But the fact that they never even met Ayu is another good reason why her miracle wasn't used on them. And I think this is an interesting deviation that the VN has from the 2006 anime. The 2006 anime seems to imply that Ayu's last wish, was Yuuichi's last wish. So what ever he wished for, is what would happen. But in the VN, the wish is more clearly based on Ayu's desire. Hence why it only happens to people she met.
As you seemed to conclude, Yuuichi really is the catalyst for all the miracles in Kanon. And what makes this so significant, is that he is unaware of this. Not only is he unaware, but he is very much presented to the reader as a normal guy (almost a self-insert). But if we take Mai's words to heart, there is something special about Yuuichi. But it seems that only the Heroines are able to see this. And because the story is in first person, we, much like Yuuichi himself, do not see what is so special about him. To us, it seems that these miraculous things happen around him. But perhaps there is something miraculous about him.
In fact, the miracle of Ayu's ghost did not manifest until Yuuichi returned to the town. Ayu may have been desperately waiting for Yuuichi for years, but it was not until Yuuichi physically returned to the town that her ghost appeared. Theoretically, if the power for her to create a ghost of herself sub-consciously was all hers, then she could have done so at anytime. She could have had the ghost manifest and wander around the town for years, waiting for Yuuichi in the real world. But it is only when Yuuichi returns, that she is able to create this ghost. There are only two possible explanations. The most common interpretation (the one the anime implies), is that her desire to meet Yuuichi again was so strong, that she could sense his presence. Thus subconsciously she knew that Yuuichi was not in the town, so she didn't put the effort to create a manifestation of herself to search for him. That is, until she sensed his return.
But the other possibility, is that she was unable to create a manifestation of herself to search for Yuuichi, until he returned. This reading suggests that Yuuichi carries some sort of miraculous aura around him, that gives birth for the opportunity for these miracles. Or if I were to further define what I mean, I think Yuuichi is like a conductor (like an electronic conductor) for miracles. He is incapable of creating any himself, but he has the ability to enhance the power of those who are capable. 
In the case of Ayu, she clearly holds the power of the miracles that relate to her. The Ayu that everybody sees is clearly a projection of her subconscious. But the ability to project such a realistic version of herself, may have to do with Yuuichi's presence enhancing her power to do so.
In Mai's case, it is established that she has the power to save life, and to even create demons. But she is only able to unlock the ability to use her power to save herself through Yuuichi's presence.
And lastly, regarding Makoto. Makoto's power was to create a temporary human form. But through her own raw power, she could only create a form of herself that would get weaker, die, and disappear. But because of Yuuichi's presence, her power is made strong enough where she can be reborn.
So to conclude, I think there is something miraculous about Yuuichi. And I think this subtly is overlooked in the 2006 anime adaptation.
Once again, I am so sorry that it took this long to respond. Simply put, I did not have the mental energy until now to write a thought out and articulate response to your response. I hope that the wait has not been in vain.
PS: Code Geass is a really fun ride, hope you enjoyed it ( you have probably finished it by now).     
 

I first want to first off discuss the ending routes miracles a bit more in detail in relation to Ayu.  It's Shiori route that she gives a genre-savy and slight 4th wall breaking dialogue to Yuuichi about how the life they can be living is a dream of someone. To quote her, "Like, somebody's dreaming about me, about us,  and they can have one wish granted, anything.  Only within the dream, obviously.  Well, of course she couldn't just have a wish granted for no reason.  Like, when she first started living in the dream world,  she couldn't do anything but cry.  But if she kept waiting in the dream, forever and ever… Then maybe she'd have a chance.  Maybe it would be given to her, kind of like a present, after she'd been waiting so long.  So she can have any wish she wants granted.  Absolutely anything.  Like, say… Maybe she could help someone who was really seriously ill with her one single wish."
 
   In this quote, Shiori doesn't say anything about the power being Ayu's but rather, something given to her.  Ayu's small miracle, if we used this also for the basis of Nayuki's route ending, is only within the dream to ask for a wish to be granted opposed to granting a final wish.  This is very much in line with the third wish that was promised to her by Yuuichi.  I find this to be an important distinction as it doesn't make Ayu particularly important other than sharing a fateful encounter with Yuuichi.  At least, not special the way Mai and Yuuichi (which I will explain coming up later why so).  
 
  Moving on, we know that all the heroines have a concurrent history with each other.  This means that everything prior to Yuuichi return did happen like Ayu's accident and Makoto being a fox he took care of.  The divergence point though is when he does arrive and Kanon becomes a bit like Schrodinger's Cat.  I figure all the routes are all legitimate ends and they all do happen but, it's how the player makes the choices that it proceeds to arrive at a heroines end.  If this is really the case, the chances of Key setting apart a true route and leaving it to the player to delve deeper into the story to realize one look slim.  Yet, there are some things to keep in mind why the possibility remains.
 
  For this example, I'll use Tsukihime as it's a contemporary VN, to Kanon, that was released just a year after Kanon's release.  Tsukihiime has five heroines just like Kanon and has a main character, Arcueid, whose route is the true end.  Yet, we find all the major background information of why the events of Tsukihime happen the way they do in the last route. In this case, Tsukihime and Kanon share the same in common in that their last route you can gleam why there stories evolve the way they did. 
 
     In the case of Tsukihime, it's in Kohaku's route that you find she's responsible for releasing the main villain from his imprisonment and corrupting his thoughts so that she can gain her revenge on the Tohno family.  Yet, you're not able though to reach her route and find this out until you played through all the other heroines route.  The way I find the two similar, Kohaku's and Mai's route, is in how relatively isolated Mai's route is from the other girls along with, being the route that is thematic opposite of the main girl.  Very much like the same way Kohaku's arc goes about a different direction from Arcueid the Vampire Princess action story,  Mai's route differentiate itself by being a moody, thriller compared to the slice of life, fantasy of Ayu's.  The point being here is that the routes accomplish different goals from the main route by being thematically different.  
 
   To return the story back to Kanon, Mai's route show's miracles happening.  Because all the stories are concurrent, we know that the world of Kanon is a miraculous place though I suppose you can learn the same from Makoto's route.   The difference here though from Makoto's is that Mai's power explains what Mai's miracle really is to Yuuichi.  The conversation goes as followed with the [----] areas being where Yuuichi says lines.
 
  Mai's power Sat. 30 January:  [Is that your answer or that of the Mai right now?]  Both, we've always needed you [Why, even though it was such a short period of time] … That's her power. [Power?] … Yes, Mai's true power.  Her ability to say, 'He's the one' and trust in him.  [….And that's me…?]  …Yes.  That's why you came back, Yuuichi… To the place we can no longer visit… Yuuichi, you were called, I'm sure of it, because of Mai's power… I was born on that day, from her, an honest prayer…  Since, I couldn't stay with Mai no matter what...  Her hope… The hope that somewhere in the world there would be a person who could teach her to like herself. [But everything had started here….Now, everything is over…isn't it?...] … But we can start over from that time… Even ten years of time can be taken back… because Mai is still the little girl  from back then… So, Please take care of future Mai.  If you meet her again, she'll think the same thing. That you are the one.  Okay? [Yeah]  Then. Let's introduce ourselves. [To whom?]   And promise.
 
  Mai's power here reveals to him that the power behind her miracle is that of how earnestly she can believe.  This would also back up in the flashback her statement about believing her mother wouldn't die/will not die as she cites herself as wishing it with all her heart.  Furthermore, this establishes as a past event the creation of a wish resulting from Mai.  This in turn shows that it’s a concurrent happening with the rest of Kanon and that it co-exist with Ayu history with Yuuichi.  
 
  Thinking deeper, I want to bring up is that, if we are to take Mai's power literally where she says, " 'He's the one" and trust in him"; then, Yuuichi had all along Mai's blessing ever since their meeting in the wheat field.  I feel this to be true in a broad sense but the lines immediately after can only be taken in the context of Yuuichi being summoned to Mai's cherished place.  The point remains however that Mai had always believed in Yuuichi despite denying her power.  And just by believing, Mai is known to create miracles.  These phenomena shouldn't stop just because she's denying her power.
 
  Moving the conversation back to Yuuichi, this would set him apart not only just in Mai's eyes but as someone special within Kanon.  I wouldn't though say that he can actively tap into a miracle the way Mai can.  I feel it's more that he's the one that can make thing happens.  In the case of Ayu, he makes a promise to play with her again and the miracle is that it does happen.  I feel Ayu is only in the dream as to make true on the promise Yuuichi made.  Furthermore, the third wish is only important as "who Ayu knows." 
 
   This is an important distinction as Ayu never meets Mai or Makoto in any route.  Where I said before it could be because they're capable of their own miracle, it may just be that she doesn't know them to think on their behalf to make a wish. In all the other cases, she made friends with Nayuki, Akiko, and Shiori to justify in making one last wish for them.  Had she known Mai, she may have wished that she doesn't die from bleeding out and with Makoto, make a wish that she could stay a human with Yuuichi.  In this case, I feel it's Ayu that's a selfless and kind person to think of others before herself.  That's why in the other routes, she doesn't think of using that last wish to leave the dream.    
 
  When it comes to Ayu's own route,  Yuuichi makes a surprising statement saying, "No matter what miracle it was from, Ayu and I met in this city." This is, by the way, said after he realizes that Ayu shouldn't been able to meet him because of past circumstances but still did anyways.  Continuing on, I find this to be of interest because of the background wish Mai has about Yuuichi.  Where I'm not so sure now how much active influence this actually has on Yuuichi, I feel that Yuuichi himself is special person even without it.  After all, Mai's power sets apart Yuuichi as someone capable of accepting her.  This could be because he may be unique in a way similar to Mai and Kanon, as a story, down plays it lest it takes away from the heroines stories.
 
  With that Yuuichi's statement in mind, I feel that the story is acknowledging that the miracle responsible for Ayu could be anything or anyone, not just Ayu herself.  I also feel it becomes more profound when you think of them in context of some Ayu's last words, right before she disappears, of, "I wanted to be with you longer, Yuuichi…  Is it mean of me to make a wish like this?" There's no mentions after these lines that Ayu is focusing on making them come true.  She's just confiding, albeit very heartbreakingly in a very feels worthy tender moment, what her wish would be and how much she wants to be with Yuuichi.
 
  On another note, Ayu breakdown there reminds me of the situation Shiori has when she confesses to Yuuichi how scare she was.  They're remarkably similar circumstances brings me to think again that Ayu is not responsible for the miracle as in her own route because she's desperate for one herself.  The one thing they do share in common is that Yuuichi is the one they confide in.  
 
  Now to bring everything I discussed together, I feel that Ayu is not responsible for the miracles and it's not necessarily Mai's power either.  Where I do think Mai's blessing has influence on Yuuichi,  I feel now that it's because of Yuuichi that miracles happen.  At the very least, it would knock out  Ayu as being a definitive true route book wise and goes to reinforcing my original point that she's not responsible for the miracles in Kanon.  It’s a shame though that my further discussion of the matter near extinguishes Mai's route possibility of being a true route based on just in-text evidence.  I suppose though that the biggest winner is the protagonist and he doesn't even realize it except for in Mai's route.
 
  Other than that, I mention this in your analysis but I think you undersell Sayuri's catharsis and inner qualities the same way she does about herself  lol.  I feel the subtext to her route is that Sayuri is stronger than she lets on to others and herself.  She also says in-game to Yuuichi that she finds it surprising that she even harbored such self-loathing back then.  This shows by the time Yuuichi shows up and her friendship cemented with Sayuri, she has progressively moved away from just being defined by her depression.   I find though your thoughts to be accurate about Mai.
 
  In the end though, that's just my opinions on both matters. What stands out clearly however is that I care too much about proving my points and I doubt the time spent researching/discussing my points was justified lol.  I hope at the very least you see some merit in what I had to say and reconsider some things from my PoV about Kanon.  If failing that, at least be thoroughly entertained by this analysis.  
 
Some Afterwords: While  I do eagerly await any response, though its Zalor that I wrote this for in expectation of his return thoughts,  I feel that I'm very near in reaching my closing chapter of my life with Kanon lol.  I really want to move on to something new and I actually had been binge watching Code Geass R2 to serve as a palate cleansor.  The change of pace that show provides gave me the motivation to stick a little longer with Kanon lol but I can't wait to return to Moon, the other pre-Key novel.  I feel that book is their most psychological and in-depth story.  It makes wonder if they will ever make another story like it.   Anyways, I'm looking to the comments.

Right after Sayuri says "This is my goal," she continues to explain to Yuuichi, "Sayuri has still a long way to go.  Sayuri will do her best.  So please, wait a little longer."  I feel this provides ample evidence that she's acknowledging there is a problem and is reassuring Yuuichi who asked, "I can't replace Kazuya but, can you at least treat me the same?" Where I can see why you point out Sayuri is clinging to the past, there's evidence here that shows that, despite the three years she had with Mai, she's only barely still getting started.  Of course it would seem like she's not letting go because of this but in her defense, most of us don't in real life, and the best we can hope for is coming to terms with our sad moments like Sayuri does in Kanon. 
 
  Moving on, Yuuichi's immediate thoughts upon hearing Sayuri words are: "I couldn't say anything.  I couldn't even blurt out an apology.  I felted ashamed for not understanding it earlier.  Maybe it's something Mai doesn't even know.  Those unspoken words." As a first party observer witnessing Sayuri's story, he provides primary commentary within Kanon on how insensitive and thoughtless it was asking Sayuri to treat him the same as Kazuya.  I take this as an indirect way of Kanon telling readers that Yuuichi's been under estimating how far Sayuri has come and how hard she works knowing she can't live that way forever.  I feel that it would be unwise to ignore this subtext in determining her ending as it's evidence of coming to terms with Kazuya.
 
  Furthermore, Sayuri follows up to Yuuichi thoughts and says, "Someday, I'll use those words.  Though, Sayuri doesn't even know when that will be.  But someday, surely…. (She then says here to imitate a greeting) Morning, Yuuichi-kun. Like that."  Though she admits that doesn’t feel comfortable yet to dropping the politeness with Yuucihi, she provides the proof of concept of when such a day will come.  Yuuichi, in her eyes, is very close in crossing over the threshold of being familiar with Sayuri and she is telling him here that it’s a definite possibility she will start calling him the way she does Mai.  Yuuichi response here after that is a simple, "Don't worry, I'm in no hurry.  Just take your time."
 
 With all this in mind, I actually have to disagree with you that the ending CG is contradictory to a happy end.  The subtext in the previous conversations provide a strong reasoning why we shouldn't look at it melancholically.  Furthermore, the literally last words of Sayuri, "Isn't this… what I always wanted?   The happiness I've been searching all this time," I feel is ample evidence that the CG is a happy one.  If we're literally following her line of thought, she's thinking that all she ever wanted to do with Kazuya, she's obtain with Mai and Yuuichi. This is a line of interpretation that's powered by the subtext of how she emerged, with the knowledge of how to be happy, from her depression, by becoming best friends with Mai, and the current every day happiness she's experiencing.   
 
  To look at it another way, I definitively think that Sayuri is thinking about her brother.  THE MAJOR difference however is that she's thinking of him in a happy manner.  The thoughts of him there no longer pains her and she can think back on him now, after becoming friends with Mai and Yuuichi, cheerfully.  Just because Sayuri still has feelings for him and remembers him, it doesn't mean that its cruel fate that shackles her to the past.  If anything, I think it's giving her strength now to continue happily forward much as for his sake as her own.  
 
  Other than that, I don't see too much significance that Sayuri's happiness is tied to Mai and Yuuichi.  I feel what's more important is that her miracle of happiness is achieved through them.  She saves herself through them and that's what is crucial about her ending.  Furthermore, there is the fact the Sayuri is a supporting actress to Mai's story and Yuuichi, in being a decent human being, can't ignore Mai for Sayuri as he'll have to turn a blind eye to the night fighting at school.  In this case, it's literally, "Love unlike justice, which cannot lose, DOESN'T have to WIN."  A Yuuichi that chases a love that involves Sayuri could only end badly for Mai.  I imagine Sayuri wouldn't do that to Mai like she says at the end of Mai's route. [Edit:  It’s a lot like the case of Toradora where Mai's voice actress Tamura plays the character Minori.  Minori has obvious feelings for Ryuji but sees her best friend Taiga loving him just as much, if not more, and decides to let Taiga have him as she needs his company more than her.  I feel its likewise in this case for Sayuri.] 
 
  To further clarify, Sayuri is plenty happy as she is and I don't see that as a tragedy.  She doesn't need Yuuichi the way Mai does nor does her rasion d' tere for living revolve around being accepted like Mai.  Sayuri's miracle here is that she actually does find people she can make happy and therefore bring herself to be happy too.  In summary, Sayuri has been longed saved way before Mai was in my opinion. It's just that her tragic past still clings closely to her and still has its influence.  Just not enough though, to me, to justify saying that Sayuri isn't happy or doomed because to it.  On a side note, I suppose she can be less self-deprecating to better signify better the happiness she is living in.
 
  Overall, this is why I think Sayuri isn't a tragic character nor is her ending.  I just wonder if my line of reasoning and evidence is compelling enough evidence to convince you.  I'll admit though to having feelings, in trying to prove my own analysis, that I'm selling short the misery Sayuri did experience.  But, I think Sayuri's route is complex enough, despite the 30 minute playtime, to intellectually dwell on whether if she is or not happy at the end of Kanon.  I'm just on the opinion she is.
 
  Now ignoring the talk of analysis for a bit, I can understand the feelings of not being enthusiastic for visual novels like you used to.  I took like a year and a half to finish the last VN before Kanon for me to finish.  For me, I get restless siting in one place and visual novels I feel are a very passive hobby that doesn't distract me from those anxious feelings.  That's why I took a long break as I just sick of using my free time looking at a computer screen despite enjoying the stories very much so.  
 
  In the case of Kanon,  I felt I was driven to have a primary experience of the story after watching the anime.  Every step of the way though it felt like a tedious chore and a homework I gave myself.  In other words, I really didn't enjoy my time with Kanon lmao despite more than 8k words I dedicated to the story.  I have my OCD about following a creators work chronologically and being a completionist about finishing what I started to thank..  
 
  As for all my posts, I decided to write everything I did so that in my discussions with everyone, I can sort all my feelings on the matter Kanon lest I want to start reading from page one again.   I rather have fun in showing someone else my interpretations  and learning something new from another person view point than go over the same boring material.  I say boring in this case as I read the book so much that I'm sick and tire of it lol.
 
  Overall, yeah I feel you lol and that I'm not very active part of a community either.  I just decided to join Fuwanovel's in hopes that someone here actually read Kanon.  I used to be a big forum goer back in the day however.  That's why I'm so used to writing these big posts as I had ran the debate tournaments, RPG sections, and writing forum.   Sounds like a lot of work, and it was, but I felt I was more satisfied writing and talking  about subjects than actually reading or watching the stuff people brought up in conversation lol.  I suppose this made me a boring conversational partner that could just talk about nothing forever lol.  Anyways, I'm looking forward to your response. 
Afterword: I realized that I forgot to talk about your reasoning about why the Analysis is the way it is.  I don't think the information dump on what occurs in Mai's route is the problem but, its the lack of one 
Afterword: I realized that I forgot to talk about your reasoning about why the Analysis is the way it is.  I don't think the information dump on what occurs in Mai's route is the problem but, its the lack of one to one ratio of your own supplemental insight.  Not to say that you should make everything balance but, I feel it would add more for the primary reader's enjoyment to hear more of your own thoughts than what just Kanon/Yuuichi says about Mai and Sayuri.  That said, it serves as a good refresher and it accomplishes that goal well. 
  Now for some off topic stuff, I have now written more on the discussion of Kanon than I have for my love of Type-moon, Monogatari, and freaking Madoka Magica.  All three of them I own stuff of and seen their animes countless times.  I love them a whole lot more than I did with Kanon, especially Madoka Magica which I think is Flawless, but, I feel Kanon just became one of those stories I worked to love like I did Elfen Lied.  
Now, that's a story I know I liked but wasn't in love with, Elfie Lied that is, but ended up wanting to have a complete understanding of it.  So like with Kanon, I read the whole manga and discussing it at lengths with friends that matched the intensity of my Type-moon and Madoka Magica love. I suppose , in these cases, that both works are like cats  in that it takes effort to love and that's what makes the love more special than what comes naturally. 

Haha, I can totally relate in reading perhaps too deeply into Mai's route. And while I do disagree with you on your "True route argument", I definitely agree with you when you said "Mai's route is the most in-depth and complex of all the routes". This is certainly true, and Mai's route has fascinated me for quite a while. 
Mai's route is certainly isolated from the other routes. That fact that you could never even meet with Mai once if you read the other routes only emphasizes this. As you pointed out, she is a precursor to Ayu. But I do not see how the two are connected at all. Furthermore, if there were a "True Route", I don't see why it would not be Ayu's. Most of the endings in the VN are connected to the last miracle she grants (Nayuki, Shiori, and of course Ayu herself). 
However, while I can't buy the argument that Mai's is the "true route", I don't feel it matters whether her route is or not the "true one". What is true, and what we both agree on, is that hers is the most interesting and has the most complexity to it. And I would agree that while Mai is an incredibly tragic character, Sayuri is even sadder (If you are curious about why I think this, I elaborate in my analysis of Mai and Sayuri). At least Mai can get a happy ending, even in Sayuri's side route, she has no happy ending if you think about it. But what I find even more fascinating than that, is that both Sayuri and Mai are fundamentally intertwined.  
What is most tragic about Mai, is how she is destroying herself. She fights the Demon's out of denial, and more than anything, self-denial. She hates herself, and feels that she is irredeemable. And it is in this horrid depression that she and Sayuri are fundimently connected. They both hate themselves, but love the other. But neither can make the other truly happy, as they are sub-consciously connected by their self-loathing. Only with Yuuichi's intervention can Mai ever attain happiness again. And only with Yuuichi's involvement will Sayuri even begin hating herself less.
 
Back on point to what you were arguing. If I understood it correctly, you were saying that Mai wanted Yuuichi to achieve a sense of closure with Ayu so that he can then emotionally dedicate himself to Mai. At least, that is how I understood this sentence that you wrote
" Mai's power, in this case, may allowed Ayu  a chance to reconnect with Yuuichi and give him a sense of closure so he can be better equipped emotionally to help Mai. "
But I think this is forgetting that Mai is completely self-involved. She would never think of something so elaborate like that, because she is too busy self-loathing to involve herself with other people. Infact, that is the very essence of the tragedy of Mai. That she is too busy hating, and destroying herself, to involve herself with anybody (and this includes Ayu or any of the other heroines). The only person (other than Yuuichi) that she is capable of involving herself with, is another individual who hates herself just as much. 

Hey man, don't worry about responding a bit late. Especially with me, as I am no longer as active as I used to be. 
Also, your criticisms about a lot of the article having too much summery is completely justified. At the time I wrote this, I wanted people who had not read Kanon (but didn't care about spoilers) to be able to understand it. So I included a lot more summery then I should have. Also, I wanted people who hadn't obsessed over Kanon as much as I had, to remember the key points that I would be referencing. In any case, this was my first serious analysis of a VN, and I my over inclusion of summery was admittedly a key fault. 
Regarding the rest of what you said, particularly about Sayuri. I see how you could see her ending as happy, especially with her last words. But I think what makes the ending particularly complex, is that the final CG does contradict a happy ending. She claims to be looking forward to the future. But we see no proof of this. She still refers to Yuuichi formally (if I remember correctly), and her last thought, is of remembering her brother. Thus showing that while she claims to be looking towards the future, in reality she is still hindered by her past too much.
Another crucial point, is that Sayuri can not be happy with only Mai, or only Yuuichi. She requires the two of them. And this seems to be true of Mai as well. In both of their respective endings, all three of them end up together. Mai and Sayuri have an inseparable relationship, but they are incapable of giving each other true happiness. Yuuichi is needed for them to all finally be happy. But unlike Sayuri's ending, Mai's is very clear that she has found her path to happiness. While Sayuri's route contradicts her well meaning words with the final CG. 
This is all I have to say for now. Unfortunately it has been a while since I have last been able to seriously close read Kanon. But I'm glad to have run into you. You are probably the only other person I have met who loves Kanon to the same degree I used to. And at this current state in time, you have probably surpassed me. As over this past year, I have lost a lot of the enthusiasm I used to have with VNs. But it will remain a story that is close to my heart, and it is really nice to know that there is somebody else out there that loves it enough to write thousands of words about it.  For the longest time I used to be alone in this obsession with Kanon. I honestly do feel that it is the strongest work by KEY (even better than Clannad in my view).  

Well it's finally done. In side the spoiler contains a literary analysis of Mai Kawasumi and Sayuri Kurata from the visual novel and anime Kanon. I explore the complexities of their friendship through analyzing them as individuals. I don't want to say any thing more because of spoilers. Speaking of spoilers, if you have not watched the Kanon 2006 anime, or read Mai and Sayuri's routes in the Kanon Visual Novel then you have been warned. However, if you read Mai's route without reading Sayuri's, I personally wouldn't stray away from this paper as Sayuri's route is only around an extra 30 min - 60 min of original text. So I don't think you would be spoiling yourself from much, but in the end it's your choice. This paper does not spoil any other character routes.  
 
A few notes about how I incorporated quotes: 
 
1) Non-Directional Translations created the English patch for the Kanon visual novel, so my quotes are of their translation. 
 
2) After I finish a quote I cite the character's route by writing their name, and then I include the in-game day that it was said. For example: if Mai said "I like Usagi-san", and the in-game day was January 15th. I would write it like this: Mai said, "I like Usagi-san"(Mai, Jan 15). This is significant because... (It's not).
 

I have not played Air VN yet but I have watched the anime and I loved Air very much, it was such touching anime to watch, I have plans to rewatch it again

But Makoto is a tsundere done right. Her attitude is even justified by her backstory, and then leads to drama and feels. Most tsunderes are tsun just because, why not?

Of course I love Key VNs, who don't love Key VNs in the first Place.
I would really like to play Little Busters again but I'm waiting for Perfect Edition to come out