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Overall thoughts on Kanon and each of its routes.


Yoyo

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Hello everyone again, I'm the new guy that had posted that huge text dump of an analysis about the miracles of Kanon the other day.  I definitively recommend reading the analysis, if only to humor me lol, as there tiny amount of crossover with this post.  Not enough though to ruin your enjoyment of this post you do decide go ahead this one first. With that said, the post here is a summary of my thoughts on Kanon as a whole and goes through each route respectively.  There will be spoilers but not majors one in my opinion.  In case you haven't played Kanon and you're reading this now, I suppose that my post here can count as a review of sorts.  Now that we're done with introductions, let's begin. 
 
  First off,  I think it's only appropriate to start off this overview with the main heroine Ayu Tsukimiya.  Despite her name brining up imagery of the moon, she's clearly representative of the Sun's Warmth with her beaming personality and happy go lucky nature.  With these traits in mind, I find Ayu to be the most charming heroine in Kanon and I can see how, in real life, it wouldn't be all that hard for a person to fall in love with someone like her.  In my case, I really enjoy the type of people that can light up a room with their smile and Ayu definitely ranks up as one of them.  

 

 Furthermore, Ayu's voice actress, Yui Horie (who happens to play another main character that makes a childhood promise in the harem comedy Love Hina), performance here in Kanon really out does herself in portraying such a sweet and innocent girl.  I especially loved how you could hear, in her voice, every little emotions Ayu has.  This could not have been that easy of a feat as Ayu's quite the energetic character and though out the story, she's quite literally running and jumping into people. Moreover, I would go so far to say that Yui's acting is one of the prime reasons I like Ayu so much as she does that great job with her. I'm glad in this case that Key casted her to be Yui and it was great to finally hear her second major voice role.
 
  Now going onto describing my thoughts on Ayu's route,  I feel its well-crafted with genius moments of comedy and her story does a great job of selling how charming Ayu is.  My problem with it, however, is that I feel all the flashback sequences with Ayu and Yuuichi in the past made the story feel sappy.  In Kanon's defense, I may have enjoyed Ayu's  story more if I haven't watched the anime and being able to compare her route to everyone else's.  In this case, I definitively feel that you probably get the most feels out of her route when you don't have any expectations.  I did though find the idea of pinky promises to be very cute though.

 

 On the positive side of things, Ayu is incredibly fun to be around and her dates with Yuuichi are some of the best in Kanon.  My more memorable moments with her include: Yuuichi's first meeting with Ayu where she has him running away from the Taiyaki stand owner, the baking cookies incident and, going out to watch a horror movie with Yuuichi.  In all three cases, it's Ayu's puppy dog excitement and enthusiasm that really wins me over as I couldn't help but love these things about her personality. Had Ayu's route the whole way been like this, I probably would rank it higher than I do.  I would currently place it third above Makoto's and Nayuki's route.  
 
  Overall though, Ayu's has a great but not perfect route to me.  I chalk it up to maybe a matter of taste though because despite how much I praised Ayu, she shares in the same problem Saber from Fate/Stay/Night has for me.  They're two people I'm especially very fond of but they don't make my heart skip a beat the way the other heroines do. In their cases, I see myself supporting of their love and I can root for them but when it comes down to choosing,  there're just other girls I like more (Rin and Mai for F/S/N and Kanon respectively).   
 
  Moving the discussion to be about Nayuki now, I really had high expectations for her, at first, because of the interaction she has in the prologue with Yuuichi.  Having seen the anime, I know the emotional arc's in her story revolved around that of Unrequited Love.  To put in perspective from my PoV, the majority of my favorite girls in anime (Yamanda from "Honey and Clover" and Ami from Torodara in particular) come with backstories that has their feelings for another character not being returned in kind.  I have a strong emotional attachment to such characters as I can totally relate with them being that, the story of my life has been one giant unrequited love story.  With this in mind,  Nayuki, being a prime example of the above, I thought would really shoot up in my listing by the time I finished her route.

 

  I ended up disappointed, however, as I realized her character didn't have a lot of substance beyond playing the butt monkey of Yuuichi's banter.  Like at first, she was really entertaining in how she interacted with the main character. This dynamic started to wane though as the route progressed.  She then becomes boring, to me, as Yuuichi's developing feelings for Nayuki has him laying off teasing her. This loss of comedy then has Nayuki fall back on her three gimmicks of:  Saying and getting excited by cute things' Being really sleepy; and talking in that really s-low (emphasis on slow) quirky manner of speaking.  None of which really perks my interest in the least.
 
  Out of the three gimmicks though, there is one that actually elicits a response from me but, it's not a positive one.  To be precise, I can't stand whatsoever the slow speaking mannerism gimmick at all.  As I'm the type to listen to voice clips a couple time and enjoy the dialogue, it becomes a pet peeve of mine when characters are made to speak slowly.  I feel it’s awful storytelling to have to sit and wait for actor to deliver their lines for a short amount of dialogue. To give another example other than Nayuki, I despised Sakura in Fate/Stay/Night during her route for this as it made a page of Dialogue take five minutes when it took me half a minute to read. Nayuki on the other hand though, wasn't as bad as Sakura but she didn't change my mind either on how much I dislike that mannerism.  
 
  It’s a good thing though that I did like her voice actress performance as I feel she did splendidly despite the role's shortcomings.  In this case, I feel that her character Nayuki failed to really show off her talent.  I suppose though that this is the one time that I liked the Dub of Kanon's anime direction more with Nayuki.  The american voice actress there still has her sound sleepy and speak with a low voice but it's not noticeably slowed down which I really liked.  In the visual novel's defense though, Nayuki's Japanese voice actress didn't fail to deliver when things really mattered in the story and she made the ending of Nayuki's route a pleasure to listen to.
 

  Talking of Nayuki's route, I felt it was a mixed bag as her date scenes were very meh to me and uninteresting.  For example, the café scene with the strawberry sundae's is pretty much Nayuki gawking over ice cream and Yuuichi just taking it in. I don't find that to be fascinating for one but, the real problem for me here is that Kanon relies too much on her gimmicks to try to win you over.  In the vast majority of these dating scenes, I feel Nayuki's route lacks conflict or drama to make them attention grabbing or memorable.  I'll admit though that I was very fond of the study sessions she had with Yuuichi in her route.  They're the only time in Kanon that its canonical to a route where Yuuichi actually studies as a student like he's supposed to lol but I digress.  
 
  I will say though, on the upside, that Nayuki's route was made worth reading with the eventual Yuuichi's and Nayuki's confessions to each other.  Their scene on the balcony and the Train station, during the confession, gave me goosebumps upon seeing how romantic their speeches and dialogue were to each other.  That was the kind of stuff I wish, in real life, I would find myself situations in and actually be smooth enough to come up with speeches like that to say.  Then again, I might be just as embarrassed as Yuuichi is at the end of her route after saying all that lol but I digress. The point is, I loved how everything was beautifully executed and how Nayuki's unrequited love story resolved in the end.  The payoff here really saved the route for me but, I still have to say that her route as a whole is the weakest one in Kanon and ranks last place.
 
  On a side note though about Nayuki's relationship with Yuuichi before I continue to discussing Makoto; I'm very  understanding of the way the Japanese use the romance between cousins as a unrequited love plot device.  It's very simple way of making a potential couple's love be frowned upon and yet, have the characters be far enough apart, for the audience, to entertain the notion of a romantic relationship between them.  So generally speaking for me, I don't mind this story trope as I suppose most westerner's like myself would normally be. 

 

  Now bringing back the discussion to that of examining Makoto, I actually enjoyed the Asuka from Eva look alike as I like Tsunderes on a whole.  I especially enjoyed her opening lines to Yuuichi as it made Makoto seem to be more epic than a girl her age would suggest.  This made me think that if there's something to Makoto character,  subtlety wasn't one of them.  She was definitively more likeable to me than Nayuki because of this as she made things happen.  It’s a shame though that in the course of the story she doesn't interact with Ayu.  I definitively would have like to see both their energetic nature play off each other, with Ayu's sweetness and Makoto's reckless abandoned, for some great comedic moments. 
 
  Continuing onto Makoto's backstory, I was definitely charmed of the idea behind Makoto's miracle.  There's obvious parallels to that of "The Little Mermaid" with a character wishing to become human but, I like the spin Makoto's route puts on the idea in that she was first a Fox that he raised as a child.  In this case, I found Kanon's take here interesting enough for me to be more emotionally invested because; there's actual history involved between the Makoto and Yuuichi.  I also really enjoyed the idea that the fox would want to reunite with her owner after their force separation.
 
  I'm sad to say though my thoughts on her route are not as positive. I admit it does a great job of setting you up to become fond of Makoto, with her childish antic's and mischievousness, to only then break your heart with her routes ending as she slowly withers away.  This sounds great on paper, even to me, but I really don't like story routes that has the MC act like a parent figure and has his love stem from this guardianship.  I had very much disliked this storytelling in Key's previous work in "One" where the main character, Kouhei, does pretty much the same thing with another character called Shina.  Repeating the same concept here for Makoto didn't change my mind on the matter but, I do feel that it was handled much more tastefully in Kanon.  Maybe if Makoto was his age I wouldn't have minded it as much or if Nanase was there to buy her a whole lot of Nikuman (That's a One reference for you guys xD).
 
  Overall though, I did enjoy the whole of her route more than Nayuki's and she ranks 4th place in the cast for me.  The one pleasant surprise I think I should mention about her route though was the character Amano.  For someone that's a minor character, I keep thinking about her, "Why does this girl have such a beautiful voice?"  The whole time she was speaking to Yuuichi, I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew voice actress.  Turns out it was Maaya Sakamoto of  Oshino Shinobu fame of Monogatari and Ryougi (Freakin) Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai.  I recommend if you ever play through Makoto's route (again for those that read it) to pay attention to that quiet girl.

 

Moving away now from Makoto, I found the next girl in Shiori to be the most refreshing in the cast in how relatively normal she was.  While I suppose she's actually slightly more eccentric than Ayu, I feel Shiori in comparison to the rest of the characters was made to be the least moe.  She doesn't have vocal quick like Ayu and Makoto nor the personality gimmicks of Nayuki and Mai.  The best I can think of about her that stands out is having a catchphrase of, "I dislike people that say/do such things." 
 
  As for Shiori herself, I really liked how Key uses her as a mouthpiece to commentate on the situations of her route.  She's very genre-savvy and uses this knowledge to better sell her more emotional moments in the story.  Prime examples in this cases are when she first meets you outside the school saying (I'll be paraphrasing), " Seeing a missing girl after long case of Illness is something like out of a TV drama," and at the park, "I think this part in the drama would be the kiss scene."  In these cases, the conversations really helped make her route more unique than the previous three heroines in that it respects your intelligence as a reader.
 
  With that in mind, I also feel that Shiori's emotional payoffs are more intellectual in nature and in general, she strikes me as much more clever girl than the rest of the cast.  Where she isn't as charming as Ayu, I feel she more than holds her own, against Ayu, in how she keeps Yuuichi off balanced with her quick wit and unpredictable nature.  This made Shiori for me standout, in a positive way, as a character I looked forward to reading about despite being a personality type I'm not normally fond of.  I suppose that if you didn't like Shiori, she can come across as a smart Alek but I'm glad in my case that she strike me as someone likeable.

 

Continuing forward, Shiori is the only girI feel that was able to go toe to toe with his antic's and kept you guessing what she will do next.  To put it more frank terms, she's easily the most independent of the girls and isn't so reliant of Yuuichi's interaction to move the story.  I really appreciated that about her and it kept me interested the whole way through her route  This is unlike the previous three routes where I found myself at times tuning out of Makoto's, Nayuki's, and Ayu's story events.  I suppose that because of the way her character is, it avoided for me the pitfalls of the other routes despite the low hype ceiling her date scenes had.
 
  Talking again of routes,  I feel that Shiori's is a excellently written and well executed soap opera in visual novel form.  Where the other routes, with the exception of Nayuki's, go into lengths about how special happenings that can't happen in real life, Shiori's is surprising grounded in believability.   I like though how in Kanon  her route subverts the normalcy with having Shiori being the soundboard for the exposition dumps of what a miracle is.  The thought experiments she tells Yuuichi reminded me a bit of Fate/Stay/Night and Kara No Kyoukai, of Type-Moon fame, even if they were on the light side compared to them.  
 
  The best parts of her route for me though actually doesn't concern her but that of her sister Kaori.  Where Kaori is a character you see often in the common route and tag along with Nayuki in others, I really liked her break down scene she has with Yuuichi in Shiori's route.  I also liked how she serves as the 3rd party dealing with Shiori impending death and she really brought a layer of depth to the route helps the route succeed.  
 
  It's such a shame though for me that she isn't a dateable character in Kanon.  She's easily the girl that I most wanted to go out with and she even has Saber's voice actress to boot.  Ayako, Saber's and Kaori's voice actress, really does bring her Waifu best into the role.  I have to say though it's much more akin to her earlier role as Lafiel from Crest of the Starts.  So for all you Saber fans, you're not going to hear her be all pouty and have that stick in the mud personality type she's famous for lol.  In my case though, I actually saw "Crest of the Stars" before Fate/Stay/Night and I actually prefer her previous famous roles performance being applied to Kaori but I digress.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed Shiori route and her character. I would rank her story as the second best in Kanon due to how solid the writing was.  I feel though that Ayu's route was more enjoyable at times than Shiori but, it’s the lack of negatives in Shiori's that I give her the place over Ayu.  Ayu though does give her a run for her money on just sheer force of personality and its only barely that Shiori wins.  I suppose it’s a testament how good the route is for Shiori and it goes to show that you don't have to go for broke to succeed.      
 
  Going now to discussing the final story, Mai's route is, without any doubt in my mind, the best in all of Kanon.  I say this because, it’s the most thematically complex as Mai's story combines all the narratives of all the other heroines into one route.  Furthermore, This amazing depth to her story makes for a magnificent read that long holds up, like Zalor says in his Analysis on Mai, on the intellectual level after all the emotional feels start losing their impact.
 
  I'll start with my thoughts on Mai. I have to say, at first, I was very much set against Mai as her taciturn personality reminded me of Rei, from EVA, whom I hate with a passion.  I'm typically not a fan of characters that show no emotion as I very much prefer lively character as I'm attracted to the exaggerated.  For example, I really like Ayu because her character totally fits the billing, of being exaggerated, as she's very over the top in sharing her affections and showing her emotions through her audio quirk "Uguu."  Mai, on the other hand, is the total opposite of Ayu as she only speaks when spoken to and when she does, it's in a small burst of words said in a low voice.
 
  The reason though I decided to give Mai the benefit of the doubt was because, I strongly believe in my main man Spike Spegiel, of Cowboy Bepop fame, words: "I like (a girl full of mystery and) a woman who can kick my ass."  In Mai's case, an enigmatic girl that roams the school at night and, does it carrying a sword really fitted both Spike's and my criteria of a good time. I then resolved myself to ignore the Rei comparisons in my head and give Mai a fair chance.  I'm glad in this case she didn't end up disappointing me, unlike Nayuki, and by the end of her route, she had become my favorite heroine.  I suppose though that Mai's long black hair, flowing front bangs, and green eyes also really helped in winning me over as I'm a sucker for that look. 
 

 

Talking more in-depth about Mai, I really did enjoy the payoff in seeing Mai progressively open up, bit by bit, from her quiet shell.  In this case, I really loved seeing how, from her humble beginnings of only answering Yuuichi with a single word, Mai would eventually able to carry small conversations with him however brief they maybe.  This character evolution I felt was unique to her route and while it's not my favorite mode of developing a character, it lead me to be far more fond of Mai, even more so than Ayu, as I felt that Yuuichi and me worked to gain that special relationship with her.  Everyone else I felt remained the same person with the exception of Makoto and that wasn't exactly a positive in her case as she devolved.
 
  As to now discuss Mai's route, I really enjoyed the change of pace the route provides from the rest of Kanon.  A good example are the night meet ups at the school where Yuuichi and Mai fight the demons. I felt the atmosphere behind those scenes to be a much more Feels based Tsukihime adventure which, to me, is a huge compliment as that's my second favorite Type-Moon story after Fate/Zero. I also feel the comparison to be appropriate as the major turning points and resolutions of their stories revolve around the secretive night battles only the main characters know about.  The major difference between the two though is that Kanon is a lot less action packed than Tsukihime but, it still does a great enough job to be satisfying with the fight scenes.

 

  Now shifting directions to talking about the day route, I really like Sayuri as the supporting actress to offset Mai's lack of interaction at school.  I felt she was a much more mature Ayu and I wish, like with Kaori, she would have had a route even if the book had to cut Makoto's or Nayuki's route.  That's how much I liked her and the voice actresses behind her as she's Tenjo Utena from (freakin) Revolutionary Girl Utena.  That's amazing that someone of her talent would be in the role of supporting actress but, she definitely brought her money's worth to the role of Sayuri.  I suppose though that Key would later rectify this as casting her as Misuzu in Air but I digress.  
 
  Going back to discuss the day route proper, I really liked the Sayuri and Mai dynamic.  I would go into further lengths why I like them but I felt everything I could say, Zalor already did an amazing job in explaining why their relationship and backstories are so great in his analysis.  I would be just retreading what he said if I tried to explain here and it most likely wouldn't be as good.  So, I'll instead just talk about some key moments I really enjoyed about them.
 
  One, I really enjoyed the (Tri?) date they had at the ball.  Where I appreciated in Nayuki's route Yuuichi actually studying since he's a student, I love the idea that he actually involving himself in school life.  We also get to see a heroine actually dress up for an occasion and Mai really looked good.  I suppose though I have a lot of feels revolving the event as it’s the only part in the anime that I can re-watch time and time again.  The other part for my fondness of the scene I suppose is that Mai looks so much like Nanase in the ending of One and I see it thematically, for Nanase, she got her dance in.  On another note, I feel the same way about Ayu getting Tayaki as Akane in One goes on a wild goose chase and she never eats one which is the biggest tragedy in that book lol but I digress. 

 

The other key moment isn't all that important but it through me in for a loop in that, it was the only route that had any Yuri CG in it lol.  As a Yuri fan, I don't read books like Kanon or One to fall in love with a waifu.  I actually just read them because they come highly recommended but, I live my life thinking about the fiction I read,  "Why do I want another guy outside myself getting the girl?  If the girl is the main event of any book for guys, why not have two to double the enjoyment?"  So imagine my surprise when, in my mindset that there wouldn't be any, Key dropped in that Yuri fan service lol. It was surprises like this that kept me engrossed in Mai's story and, the reason why I rank it the best (even without the Yuri) as none of the other girls route had that X factor.
 
  Other than that, I should talk about Mai's story as a whole.  I feel that I just love everything  about it and I can't really cite a negative thing about it.  That's how good it was for me and this with the mindset that I don't like Rei-like characters.  So if there would be skeptic to question the quality of Mai's route, it would had been me.  Had Kanon had been just Ayu's and Mai's route, I felt I would have been gotten my money's worth as that's how filling and great Mai's route is.  I mention Ayu though as I felt that Mai route is still a story that best plays off the experiences you have with another girl to subvert your expectations.
 
  Now, if I were to go into details about what I liked about it, I would have to cite my previous analysis on Miracles and Zalor's Mai/Sayuri analysis as they provide many of the reasons why I do.  Being that this Overview of Kanon is already huge as it is, I'll only go into some of the details that I felt we didn't cover in those analysis.  I still recommend  checking out the two analysis to be more understanding why I like Mai's route the best though.
 
  First off, I really enjoyed the romantic payoff to Mai's route.  To be precise, I love the dialogue between Mai and Yuuichi right after he gives her the bunny ears.  That was on par with Nayuki's route confession and in some ways, more was more satisfying due to how much more Mai's story was tragic than Nayuki's.  I also really enjoyed the parts after she stabs herself and he has that simulation run in his head had she lived past graduation with him.  It was those imagined, small bits of happiness that struck a chord with me and, his near decision to only live in his memories brought flashbacks to One's "Eternal World." Which, by the way, would reinforce my points in my analysis on how Mai's is the thematic successor to One but I definitely have to digress here on that.
 

Second, I found the story of Mai as a child at the hospital to be the most heartbreaking of all the heroines.  I mean no one dies in it and successfully resolves but, it still tugged at my heartstrings more than Ayu's route who I feel was created with the exact purpose to do so.  It's definitely the reason why I side with Mai more than any of the other girls even if it means their death, which would be in the cases of Shiori and Ayu if he ignores them to go on Mai's route,  as I feel sympathize with Mai's dilemma.  Not to say that I have personal experiences like Mai but, I just really feel for the mother and, I can't help but think what If I were to be in her shoes with a child.  That's why I guess I feel the most for Mai's route as its parent going to leave their child rather than a kid losing a friend.
 
  Oh, there is also one thing I think I should mention about the hospital scene.  I wonder if Mai's power is a thematic successor to the "Invisible Power" that Key's Creative Team used in the visual novel, "Moon" as its only useable by girls and, by being exposed to extreme stress.  If and when I get to finishing the book, which seems will be a long while at the soonest as my current play will hit a bad end sadly, I probably write my thoughts on whether Key maybe reused the idea for Mai.
 
  Third, I just like how the route gives off that aura that Mai's is special and not like the way other heroines are.  I mean it as like she's truly a child of destiny linked by fate to Yuuichi.  More metaphorical way might be to describe Mai as Moses to Yuuichi being Aaron who in the bible is the one that actually performs the miracles that lead the Jews out of Egypt.  In this case, Mai is the person the story sets apart but its Yuuichi that is literally the hero, as in more than just a protagonist,  as he is the one that embraces the miracle.  This is opposed to the other routes where he just enjoys the results of them and it speaks more to me romantically that he's proactive in this case.

 

  The fourth and last thing I would want to talk about Mai's story isn't the narrative itself but the voice actress, Yukari Tamura.  She really nails her performance in playing her in real life friend Yui Horie "Ayu's" foil.  I'll admit that it was a shock to me to hear not be so bubbly and be my voice waifu ( I'm particularly fond of her Jibril and Amane Suzuha roles)  but I got accustomed to her take on Rei so to speak lol. Where Yui Horie will always be one of my girls, err favorites lol, I had always more been a Tamura fan as she typically exemplifies that exaggerated acting that I really love.  In this case, she still proved her acting chops to me in performing in a role that's the complete opposite of what I know her for and it was refreshing to see that. 
 
  Not to say that you don't see her trademark acting style in Kanon.  The time you see her act more like herself is at the end where she plays child Mai.  I also wouldn't put it past Yukari to have gotten the role of Nanoha because of the work she did here I can easily imagine being great resume material.  Regardless of if that being the case, I would suppose that the bigger significance, of her child voice acting, here would lay the groundwork of her voice of Rika from Higurashi Naku no Koro Ni.  Rika is practically the evolved concept of Mai's power and I find it fitting that Yukari has that role in Higurashi.  I further find it appropriate that she play Rika as I remember reading somewhere that the maker of Higurashi cites Key as his biggest inspiration.  I find it amazing in this case that the influence of Mai, if what I read is true, to carry over into Higurashi in Yukari's voice acting.

 

With all that now said, I like to congratulate you, the one or two people that actually bother reading this to the end aha, to the place "Where the Wind Reaches" to quote the ending theme of Kanon.  I'm very appreciative of the time you took to read this and I look forward to your comments, even if they were to say I suck lol.  Overall though, I'm just glad that this post is finally done as it took the entire weekend and then some to finish.  In this case, I definitively did it for Mai as I honestly didn't love the other characters enough to warrant writing everything I did.  It just happens that I feel Mai stories is best viewed when you experience all the other routes first and that's why you see my thoughts on all the other routes.  All I just need is that meme now that has the photo frame with a couple pictures of her to make this complete xD.  Anyways, Thanks again for reading and I hope there will be some of you that would discuss Kanon with me.
 
[Some Afterwords:  I added the "girl full of mystery" part in the Spike quote in ( ) because its actually Shiori line when you meet her at school.  I just find it cooler to say when you combined both of them together.  The problem though is that I can't say Shiori Is my main guy because she's not and neither is she my main girl lol.  So to make the quote sound much cooler and avoid the clunkiness of having to quote Shiori, I decided it would be better to credit her in the afterwords.
 
Also, I want to give some last words to people that skipped straight to the end and read this here.  This Overview was not worth the weekend spent writing it xD but, It made for good writing practice.  Though I really do hope that people will take the time to respond, I'll be fine as it was good practice in getting back to writing shape as II was real rusty xD. I suppose though looking at it another way, definitively sorting my thoughts on Kanon will stop me from thinking for a long time in wanting to reread it xD and I can use my time for more useful things…. Like sleep lol)

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2 minutes ago, Novel21 said:

This was very amazing review and you was very honest with it, you make me want to play Kanon again.

I agree at Ayu it's very cute and beautiful girl, I love her very much myself.

I love Ayu voice myself:D 

The funny thing about Ayu is that whenever she got mad, I thought to myself, "Okay Hanekawa, Enough with the lecturing xD" as she's also the cat in Bakemonogatari.  I actually much prefer though Yui in the role of Ayu as I love how sweet she is there while in Bake, I dislike how fake Hanekawa comes across though I suppose it's more the writing than Yui fault.

 

Other than that,  thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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You are very welcome:D

the truth it's at I start play Kanon 3-4 years ago or so, right after I finish watch Kanon anime and after I played little bit, I didn't feel motivated to play anymore and I stopped playing Kanon.

I tried to play Kanon again one years after that but I still didn't feel motivated to play it.

But I know this would be different since I feel more motivated to play it again.

It could say it was you so motivated me to play Kanon again.  

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To be honest, I only played my favourite heroines: Ayu, Shiori and Makoto. The game feels so very ancient today. Awesome opening music though, and my favourite "The fireworks of winter".

I think that the anime is easier to watch, the pacing and structure are good.

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17 hours ago, Novel21 said:

You are very welcome:D

the truth it's at I start play Kanon 3-4 years ago or so, right after I finish watch Kanon anime and after I played little bit, I didn't feel motivated to play anymore and I stopped playing Kanon.

I tried to play Kanon again one years after that but I still didn't feel motivated to play it.

But I know this would be different since I feel more motivated to play it again.

It could say it was you so motivated me to play Kanon again.  

To be fair in my case, it actually felt like homework of sorts as I had no motivation either but I'm big key Fan.   I felt I should get a primary experience on all their works to better understand the stories they make.

 

In This case,  I really enjoy how their writing style evolves with each book they made.   It's a world of difference in just comparing One and Kanon, for example, as Kanon I feel is the major label debut with a much more polish story and art.

 

Where I still I like One's dating more and it's heroines,  I feel Kanon is league's better with its refinement and polish of the story telling.   Its the book I feel first really captures their trademark style and "One" was the practice or rough draft for their ideas.

14 hours ago, Okarin said:

To be honest, I only played my favourite heroines: Ayu, Shiori and Makoto. The game feels so very ancient today. Awesome opening music though, and my favourite "The fireworks of winter".

I think that the anime is easier to watch, the pacing and structure are good.

I feel you on the the old school look but its still a huge step up from One visually.  I also think the Background CG also does great job of holding up to test of time but I did at times craved more modern styles.  It's at least better though than most Nukages released even now lol.

 

Other than that,  I feel I'm more moved by the ideas behind a route more than sometimes a character.  That's why Mai wins best girl for me as the plot really captures my interest as opposed to Ayu who I really love but don't like her route as much.  So I dont fault you for sticking with the girls you like but I'm OCD with 100 percent and I also stick around for all the girls route if I like the writer.  I wouldn't be playing Fate/Extra to 100% now if wasn't a fan of Now for example xD

 

Fire works of winter I agree is a great track.   I think the OST in general is superb but I'll be the first to say that there's probably only two or three tracks that's amazing to be iconic to me.  Remants of a dream and Waiting for the wind would be the other two (aside Fireworks) but City in sunshine I give honorable mention as its Ayu's de facto theme.

 

Finally about the Anime,  I love it and it's good recommendation but I myself don't like telling people to watch it unless their Key fans.   I couldn't give you exact reasons why I came to feel that way without rewatching it but,  you cNt go wrong either in watching it I suppoose lol.

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Yui Horie is such a perfect Voice Actress that almost any anime she's in goes up a rating or two just by her presence. Glad you noticed how important she was to bringing Ayu to life (coincidentally her voice acting in Love Hina which you mentioned is THE reason I became addicted to anime.)

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43 minutes ago, ittaku said:

Yui Horie is such a perfect Voice Actress that almost any anime she's in goes up a rating or two just by her presence. Glad you noticed how important she was to bringing Ayu to life (coincidentally her voice acting in Love Hina which you mentioned is THE reason I became addicted to anime.)

I feel Yui was the reason I was able to finish golden time as the scond half SUCKD big time and was such a disappointment being it was maker of Torodora.

 

So Yeah,  Anime does get better with just her presence.  I should mention Though that it's her Tsundere B that's second to None as her Naru and Koko (Kaga? I forget the name from Golden Time) were prime examples of what I mean.

On a side note, Had Monogatari (I'm actually really behind as I haven't watched Tsuki OR past that) let Yui be black cat mode for all conversations,  she be best the best girl even with the likes of Maaya Sakamoto and Chiwa Saito.  This reminds me,  I should definitely one day make a favorite Voice actress thread and ranking to finally sort my own thoughts on whose the best of all time.

40 minutes ago, Novel21 said:

Good said Yoyo and I never have played One, but I might give the VN a try one day:D

Trust me that past the late 90's PlayStation era CG's,  the book is great.  I practically love all the girls in it (wasn't much a fan of the mute girl and the middle schooler but that's another story) and they rank as some of my most favorite routes of any book.  To put in perspective, I like 4 then more than I do Saber and I freaking have a wall scroll over the door of my restroom of her (The front going in side for those that have dirty thoughts xD).  Saber is literally the first face I wake up to use the restroom.   So yeah, the girls are awesome and well written if they can compare to Saber.  Plus, it's more of Key's writing if you like them.

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14 minutes ago, Novel21 said:

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^_^

You're ahead of Me as I haven't read Air and I'm not even finish with Moon.  Which reminds me,  I feel I see a lack of Moon discussions and that book I feel is the most Raw Key novel ever.

Like, it's the Anti key Feels lol.  Like imagine all that sappy "Shot right through the Kokoro" and "Unlimited Feel Works" of all their stories then have it be flipside upside down to where you lose your faith in humanity lol.

On another note, I feel it stands out too just because how modern the character tropes still feel from a story back from 1997.   I suppose the concept of a tsundere was probably well established as Asuka Langely Soryu was already a popular character but,  one of the girls reminded me of more later Tsun like Rin.  That's my take though.

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45 minutes ago, Okarin said:

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?

You're not wrong but I mean the case of Moon's Haruka.  She reminds if anything of Kaori in Kanon and the book 'One" kind of skips having a character like her.  As for Makoto, She seems to me like if she was a more childish Nanase.  That's my take though

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