Kanon 2006 vs. AIR. Comparisons and Similarities

[Ascaloth]

I know this part of the forum is specifically meant to cater to Kanon topics, but I feel that having such a thread, discussing a different but closely related anime series to Kanon, has its merits. There are certainly plenty of superficial similarities between Kanon and AIR; both are derived from KEY's games, both are works of Jun Maeda, both are adapted by KyoAni, and because of that, both have exceptional animation etc. etc.

However, there are also other, deeper similarities between Kanon and AIR that I believe is worth discussing about, and I also believe that such discussion would help viewers of both series to appreciate them all the more, through the act of putting one in the context of the other.

I refer you to this post I have made, in the "Kanon 2002 vs. Kanon 2006: Images, Script, Story, Animation, etc." thread:

In actual fact, the choices Yuuichi makes in Kanon regarding each of the 5 girls is very, very similar to that of the choices made by another male lead in another anime series, in regards to the latter's 3 girls. Can anyone guess who that male lead is, and what that anime series is?

Yes. It's none other than Kunisaki Yukito, of AIR.

Yukito helps Kano exorcize the grief of her past life from herself, allowing her to shake off the baggage of the past and live free. He helps Minagi reconcil with her mother, and to reconcil with herself at her own guilt for Michiru's fate. And ultimately, he sacrifices himself to save Misuzu's life, and indirectly, to end the cycle of reincarnation and suffering that each of Kannabi no Mikoto's incarnations are fated to go through. In Misuzu's case, again there is the slight hint of romantic love involved; but once again, Yukito gets involved in the troubles of all 3 girls because, in the end, he's just like Aizawa Yuuichi; just isn't bloody heartless enough to stand by and watch someone suffer, without bloody well doing something about it. In the end, he doesn't really get any of the girls, does he? Nope; but he's achieved so much more, and changed the lives of three other people as a result.

That is the task lying in front of Yuuichi right now; except he's got to do even more work than Yukito, what with 2 more girls than Yukito to trouble himself about and all. Well, at least he isn't in any danger of having to sacrifice himself. :p

If you have watched AIR, compare it to the events of Kanon, and it would be easier for one to truly understand for the first time why Aizawa Yuuichi does as he does, and at the same time less likely to misunderstand Kanon as 'just another harem series, and a poorly-done one at that'. And that is why I have come to my conclusion that Yuuichi can achieve the best results for both Ayu and Nayuki, the 'best endings' if one may say so, without actually getting either of them as a romantic partner.

This is the kind of discussion I hope to encourage amongst the board's posters, through the creation of this thread. I await your response.

[panzerfan]

Hmm...
Johann Sebastian Bach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach)'s Orchestral Suite No. 3, movement 2 in D major, BWV 1068 was not featured in AIR.
Johann Pachelbel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Pachelbel)'s Kanon D-dur is prominately featured in Kanon 2006.

[Vexx]

I'm beginning to think Kyo-Ani actually has that sort of ending in mind

A so-called "non ending" (if you mislabel Kanon as a harem anime, that is). Yuuichi refuses to forget Ayu, saves her (with Nayuki's alert) -- and Yuuichi is *friends* with Ayu, and Mai, etc.... but Nayuki's hopes are not dashed - Yuuichi takes her confession under consideration.
As I type that, I find it a bit less likely unless his approach to Nayuki changes in the next pack of episodes because so far, she's been purely "family"....
On the other hand, even in the TOEI version ... Yuuichi didn't really turn her down and his language with Ayu in the hospital was ... vague ... even when they meet after her haircut, he's treating her ambiguously. Of course, unspoken context is just part of what makes interpreting japanese drama so mind-wracking at times.

I suppose its a credit to KyoAni that even though I know the game, the TOEI, and the manga ... I'm still unable to discern where they're going to take the ending :)

[frad113]

Just a quick thought: it seems as though Air's summer contrasting Kanon's winter is not coincidental. And I also just realized that Misuzu and Sayuri have the same seiyuu (but that's off topic anway :)).

[Richard 23]

I would only add to this that Air and Kanon are both set in real world places in Japan:

Air (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=28738)

I know I have links to a page or two that show Kanon's real world places but I'll edit my post when I find them again... Or someone else will be gracious enough to dig them up.

[Raniie]

What do you get when you combine Sayuri with Mai? Tohno Minagi from Air.

[Skane]

What do you get when you combine Sayuri with Mai? Tohno Minagi from Air.
Michiru would be a better bet, since her VA is the same as Mai's. ^^; Sayuri's VA is the VA for Misuzu too.

Cheers.

[Raniie]

Well, wasn't really aiming at seiiyu similarity, but the actual character. Sayuri's character is cheerful, sweet, and caring. Mai's character is calm, timid, and her vocal tone, I guess. When you combine that, along with their facial figure, you get Tohno Minagi. Tohno Minagi has Sayuri's facial figure, personality, and hair, along with Mai's vocal tone and personality (even Mai's blue ribbon). :D

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9752/sayurirl3.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5157/maiji1.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8851/tohnominagidb8.jpg

[shinn_asagiri]

true, the face and the way she talks are similar to mai, but hair, personality and body are saiyuri

[Areguzanda]

I know one thing that AIR and Kanon (2006) have in common.
they are 2 of the best Anime Series I've seen ever!
:)

[shiro83]

Air = Summer
Kanon = Winter

Opps. It is mentioned already...

[Dagger]

To be honest, I wish that KyoAni had been able to animate the AIR and Kanon stories in the order that they were made as game. AIR is so incredible that, as much as I enjoy Kanon, it's hard to avoid comparing it to the superlative experience I had when watching AIR.

One thing that handicaps Kanon in comparison to AIR (as an anime, not as an eroge) is the number of girls. The rather small number of girls in AIR made it much easier for me to suspend my disbelief, get totally immersed in the story and forget that I was watching game-based material. Although they took care of each girl's arc separately and had to take some liberties with what happened in the game, the anime progression somehow seemed quite natural to me. It might not have been a 100% perfect adaptation compared to Kanon 06, but it's because of this that it sucked me in so much.

In Kanon, I just can't forget that I'm watching a story that was adapted almost painstakingly from its game source. I think the 06 version could have been even better if they animated it in reboot arcs (like Higurashi) rather than try to weave the stories together. First of all, even calling it weaving is a bit silly because the show is still separated into clear arcs. Rebooting the anime each time would have at least gotten around the "what about Mai & Sayuri?" and "what about Shiori??" problem. KyoAni's writers have done some superficial attempts at making the girls' stories flow together, but they're always careful not to do anything that might seriously change the stories as they're presented in the game. I'm not going to get into whether this is a good thing or a bad thing etc., but if they wanted to take the route of reproducing the game as faithfully as possible, rebooting would've worked better IMO.

It might be just me, but it seems like the stories in Kanon lean more toward romance than the stories in AIR.

[Sai the Dreamer]

But that doesn't necessarily work in Kanon's case. See...

This hasn't been animated yet! Go back if you haven't played the last game.

Nobody in Kanon has the ability to "reboot" the world whenever they feel like.AIR and Kanon are two completely different watching experiences. AIR leaves you with a warm feeling, accompanied by complex and omnipresent tragedies. Kanon is the opposite in that it leaves its mark as a cold beat to the side, along with simple, yet brutal, tragedies. Or in other words, I don't think Kyoani's really done anything wrong... most people only like either the AIR way or the Kanon way, not both (unless you're me). :p

[Dagger]

Huh, that's an interesting point. It's true that I love AIR but appreciate Kanon. Now, if I'm more of an AIR person, how do you think I'll feel about Clannad? :p

[Sai the Dreamer]

I haven't actually played any of the Key games, due to having fairly poor Japanese knowledge, but I'm guessing that'd be a different watching experience as well. It has even more girls than Kanon, however their stories apparently span across multiple years, so at worst the continuity errors would be resolved. :p

[Ascaloth]

To be honest, I wish that KyoAni had been able to animate the AIR and Kanon stories in the order that they were made as game. AIR is so incredible that, as much as I enjoy Kanon, it's hard to avoid comparing it to the superlative experience I had when watching AIR.

One thing that handicaps Kanon in comparison to AIR (as an anime, not as an eroge) is the number of girls. The rather small number of girls in AIR made it much easier for me to suspend my disbelief, get totally immersed in the story and forget that I was watching game-based material. Although they took care of each girl's arc separately and had to take some liberties with what happened in the game, the anime progression somehow seemed quite natural to me. It might not have been a 100% perfect adaptation compared to Kanon 06, but it's because of this that it sucked me in so much.

In Kanon, I just can't forget that I'm watching a story that was adapted almost painstakingly from its game source. I think the 06 version could have been even better if they animated it in reboot arcs (like Higurashi) rather than try to weave the stories together. First of all, even calling it weaving is a bit silly because the show is still separated into clear arcs. Rebooting the anime each time would have at least gotten around the "what about Mai & Sayuri?" and "what about Shiori??" problem. KyoAni's writers have done some superficial attempts at making the girls' stories flow together, but they're always careful not to do anything that might seriously change the stories as they're presented in the game. I'm not going to get into whether this is a good thing or a bad thing etc., but if they wanted to take the route of reproducing the game as faithfully as possible, rebooting would've worked better IMO.

It might be just me, but it seems like the stories in Kanon lean more toward romance than the stories in AIR.

Wouldn't doing 'reboots' only make the feeling of it being adapted from a VN even stronger? That would totally defeat the purpose of attempting to adapt a VN-based script into another medium in order to create the illusion of a living, breathing world; that was what KyoAni was really intending to do with their "interweave" aspect in the first place.

And if you're still under the mistaken impression that Kanon thus far has been seperated into 'clear arcs'......then you simply haven't been paying enough attention. Clear focus on one girl at a time, that I can agree with, but to pin the 'clear arcs' label on 2k6 Kanon is equating it to the 'modular' system used by the 2k2 piece of crap, which 2k6 is most definitely not; if you rewatch it from the start, you should be able to see more than one girls' stories advancing at the same time, for the most part of 2k6. This is in contrast to 2k2, where the focus shifts 100% onto one girl at a time, and all other girls are pretty much forgotten until their turn comes up; in other words, the girls in Toei Kanon were used only as plot devices, while the girls in KyoAni Kanon receive a constant dose of character development, all the way from the start up until the end of their story no matter what time or order in which it took place.

On the other hand, as much as I loved AIR (TV), I felt that KyoAni committed a Toei-level mistake in the Dream Arc segment; as impactful as Kano's and Minagi's stories were, they contributed almost nothing to the eventual main arc, which belonged to Misuzu's. Moreover, they were their own stories in their own right; the events of one arc hardly affected another arc. Because of that, I actually experienced the 'adapted from VN' feeling much more strongly during AIR than I ever did for 2k6 Kanon, at least in the Dream Arc. There were times when I felt that AIR (TV) would have been better off if they just axed the Kano and Minagi segments altogether.

Nevertheless, because KyoAni had all of 7 episodes to tell the stories of 3 girls (even less than what Toei had to work with for their worthless 2k2 adaptation of Kanon), and also because KyoAni didn't promise an 'interweaving' at that time, I'm willing to forgive them for that. Still, if I were to compare AIR (TV) and 2k6 Kanon, and judge them on the "living, breathing world" criteria, I'll say that 2k6 Kanon has been more successful at that.

[Sai the Dreamer]

On the other hand, as much as I loved AIR (TV), I felt that KyoAni committed a Toei-level mistake in the Dream Arc segment; as impactful as Kano's and Minagi's stories were, they contributed almost nothing to the eventual main arc, which belonged to Misuzu's. Moreover, they were their own stories in their own right; the events of one arc hardly affected another arc. Because of that, I actually experienced the 'adapted from VN' feeling much more strongly during AIR than I ever did for 2k6 Kanon, at least in the Dream Arc. There were times when I felt that AIR (TV) would have been better off if they just axed the Kano and Minagi segments altogether.

Edit: Whoops, confused myself again. o_o; Disregard what was here.

I'd be lying if I disagreed with you. But it wouldn't be a Key game without the harem, would it? :p

[Ascaloth]

Edit: Whoops, confused myself again. o_o; Disregard what was here.

I'd be lying if I disagreed with you. But it wouldn't be a Key game without the harem, would it? :p

Planetarian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetarian:_Chiisana_Hoshi_no_Yume), a KEY game released in 2004 after CLANNAD, featured only one girl, if you could call her that. Moreover, it had no choices; by KEY's own definition, it was a "kinetic novel", which meant it was just one whole story all the way.

Would you call it any less of a KEY game? ;)

[Dagger]

...in other words, the girls in Toei Kanon were used only as plot devices, while the girls in KyoAni Kanon receive a constant dose of character development, all the way from the start up until the end of their story no matter what time or order in which it took place.

That's my problem with it. Sure, they show up before their stories begin, and I can forgive the consecutive focus on one girl at a time as being a necessary evil, but the disappearance of Mai, Sayuri and even Shiori is awfully hard to ignore. If they'd had a longer episode run, they could've put more buffer episodes in between each story. I only mentioned rebooting as an approach because it removes the need for buffer episodes, and maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but that way I'd be better able to treat each story as a story in its own right and as part of a canon. I mean, if we're striving for adaptive accuracy, the game player would have experienced each story that way, wouldn't he?

In AIR I didn't mind Kano and Minagi disappearing because 1) they never actually went anywhere, technically speaking, 2) their problems were completely resolved (as opposed to, say, Shiori's), 3) Yukito was not portrayed as being particularly close to them at all, whereas Yuuichi was much, much more deeply emotionally invested in all the girls preceding Nayuki and Ayu.

In fact, the way Yukito--as a traveler--got involved with Kano and Minagi and eventually Misuzu reminded me a lot of episodic travel stories like Kino no Tabi and Mushishi. Perhaps that's why I accepted his interest in Kano and Minagi's troubles & his ability to solve them and felt that his interest in helping them was due to a general human goodwill & rapport & sympathy toward them rather than a more personal bond. Each time, in fact, his role was really to turn the girls toward those with whom they needed to bond most (which in every case ended up being female family members). In that way, he remained a benevolent outsider until he irrevocably plunged himself into the thick of things, deciding that he cared enough to go over his head & that there was no going back, by becoming Sora. Until Misuzu's condition became dire, he was able to remain a cool head and a relative level of detachment. That's why the brisk progression of arcs made absolute sense to me.

Kanon is inevitably much, much more personal. In AIR, Yukito meets with two "successes" before Misuzu's issues begin emerging full force. In Kanon, Yuuichi gets slammed time after time, but the limited number of episodes requires that he shift focus (if not recover?) very swiftly after each girl's story. And thus I find it harder to swallow the movement from girl to girl. Again, keeping them in the story after their individual stories ended would have done a lot to ameliorate this--and I'm not just talking one-line cameos from spirits. ;)

[Mgz]

they have different setting, AIR setting is in a small coastal town, while Kanon 2006 is in a big metropolitan city

[Sai the Dreamer]

Well... that's an exception. :p Let me rephrase: I don't think KyoAni is willing to remove the harem aspect of their adaptions, because for their Key-turned-anime series that do feature harems, it's a major aspect of their storyline. Know what I mean?

[Ascaloth]

Well, since the point of KyoAni's adaptation is to be as faithful as they possibly can without breaking internal consistency, that kind of goes without saying, you know? ;)

Nevertheless, to say that 'harem' is a major aspect of the storyline is a bit of a misnomer; say the word 'harem', and people invariably think about Love Hina-style angst, whinging, face-to-boob antics and the such. In fact, most definitions of 'harem anime' comes with the prerequisite that the male protagonist does his best (and invariably fails) at successfully juggling all the girls at the same time.

Amongst us Chinese, we have an expression that literally translates to "one feet on each boat"; in its own context, it refers to someone who's standing on a boat with one foot, and another boat with his other foot; it's the Chinese equivalent of "having your fingers in many pies", as it were.

However, KEY games, despite their large, 'haremish' cast of girls, do not follow this kind of rule; typically, the protagonist settles on one girl (if at all), and that's that. This has translated over into both KyoAni adaptations of KEY games; while both Yukito and Yuuichi are made from the same mould of male leads (just can't keep their noses out of the businesses of sad girls in snow/summer), there is usually no doubt that they're going to settle for one in the end, as opposed to juggling them all.

On another note, of course KyoAni wouldn't want to remove the 'harem' aspect of their KEY adaptations; doing so is tantamount to cutting out entire stories altogether. And while AIR might survive that kind of treatment, Kanon definitely wouldn't. In any case, I don't see why that is so bad. :p

[Skane]

I would be one sad fella if they had axed Minagi from Air(TV). If you want a more Misuzu-centric version of Air, watch Toei's movie adaptation of it. Let us Minagi-fans have some scraps of animated goodness to nibble on. :p It must be my curse really, I never seem to have the main girl as my favourite.
~~~~ ~~~~

I feel that Kanon(2006) might have been even better if they had adopted a 39-episode approach( meaning a 3-cour length), but given that this is their first 2-cour attempt, I guess it might have been too much of a risk to the budget juggling.

Each arc in Kanon takes about 3 hours to complete. If we were to subtract one hour for the common-path and overlaps, this means about 11 hours of material. With each anime episode clocking in at 20 minutes, this means 33 potential episodes, but that is too generalised, since content like action scenes can be shortened or lengthened( not to mention that we are hearing, not reading this time).

As it is, they are still having trouble fitting in all the material within 2-cours, and no, it is not Makoto's fault. There really is that much material. We are talking about 5 girls after all.

It would be a dream if KyoAni ever decides to make a remake of Air(TV). :heh: I doubt it will ever happen though... since people would be clamouring for other Key-game adaptations( and sequels to FMP! and SHnY...)

Cheers.

[Ascaloth]

I would be one sad fella if they had axed Minagi from Air(TV). If you want a more Misuzu-centric version of Air, watch Toei's movie adaptation of it. Let us Minagi-fans have some scraps of animated goodness to nibble on. :p It must be my curse really, I never seem to have the main girl as my favourite.

Actually, Minagi was my favourite AIR girl, too. I wasn't really advocating that the best alternative was to axe her arc altogether; I was just saying that, with the way KyoAni handled it, at some point I started thinking that Minagi's arc served no purpose to the main storyline as a whole while I was watching AIR (TV).

In such a case, there really are two ways to go about solving this problem; axe her's and Kano's arcs altogether (like Toei did, the bastards), or somehow find a way to "interweave" their arcs into Misuzu's such that it seems like they are contributing to the main story. Of course, since KyoAni never made the "interweave" promise at the time they did AIR (TV), I'm not about to fault them for that.

I feel that Kanon(2006) might have been even better if they had adopted a 39-episode approach( meaning a 3-cour length), but given that this is their first 2-cour attempt, I guess it might have been too much of a risk to the budget juggling.

Each arc in Kanon takes about 3 hours to complete. If we were to subtract one hour for the common-path and overlaps, this means about 11 hours of material. With each anime episode clocking in at 20 minutes, this means 33 potential episodes, but that is too generalised, since content like action scenes can be shortened or lengthened( not to mention that we are hearing, not reading this time).

As it is, they are still having trouble fitting in all the material within 2-cours, and no, it is not Makoto's fault. There really is that much material. We are talking about 5 girls after all.

It would be a dream if KyoAni ever decides to make a remake of Air(TV). :heh: I doubt it will ever happen though... since people would be clamouring for other Key-game adaptations( and sequels to FMP! and SHnY...)

Cheers.

That was my idea too; even with 24 episodes, KyoAni's Kanon certainly still struggled with pacing at times. Even so though, we must take into account that this is practically KyoAni's maiden effort at a two-cour series; it's already a huge risk for them, and asking them to give it a 3-cour run would be asking too much of them. Therefore, I'm fairly content with what they can give, at this point. It's not just the budget juggling; as you also saw for yourself, the 24-episode length meant that it already has problems keeping the attentions of the 'couch potatoes'; those who simply can't be bothered to use their heads, and expected Kanon to be mindless entertainment.....only to be 'disappointed' when it turns out to not be the case. 39 episodes would just have overwhelmed, and consequently choked out even more of the target audience. Yes, it would delight the veterans, but economics still apply to KyoAni, godly as they are; it is a case of diminishing marginal returns we're looking at here, and 39 episodes would more likely than not push the marginal returns to negative values.

On another note, I wonder just how KyoAni is going to go about CLANNAD, should they ever try to attempt it......sounds like a nigh impossible task to me. :heh:

[Skane]

CLANNAD has clearly defined segments of different timelines. Divide those into multiple seasons. It has its' risks, but the alternative would be total butchery of the source material.

ADD] Short of them making an extremely long season. Say a 4-cour run, at minimum. I can't think of any ero-game adaptation that was longer than 2-cours in one season( Da Capo had two seasons with each season being 2-cours in length), let alone 3 or 4. :heh:

Cheers.

[Storm-and-Fire]

One common point that stroke me when I first watched Kanon: a dream that never ends. Both Misuzu and Ayu have a dream that does not end.Hmm... I'd thought of more common points, but I have forgotten. ^^;

[ChrisCaboose]

I don't know if this has been mention but Makoto Sawatari, Nayuki Minase and Tsukimya Ayu were all in Air. I found it a surprise myself. But they are in it.

[Raniie]

Yup it has been mentioned before in the [Kanon - Image Thread (wallpapers, fan art, gifs, etc.)] Thread, but haven't on this thread.

Most of these are mentioned from the Image Thread, here's a recap:

Air:
http://apollo.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210437/210437-4d6.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210437-4d6)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210503/210503-223.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210503-223)
http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210499/210499-7be.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210499-7be)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210481/210481-25e.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210481-25e)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210468/210468-0b4.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210468-0b4)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210482/210482-1b3.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210482-1b3)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210484/210484-b36.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210484-b36)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210568/210568-3c7.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210568-3c7)
http://apollo.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210661/210661-566.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210661-566)

Kanon:
http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210500/210500-a0b.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210500-a0b)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210554/210554-c80.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210554-c80)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210558/210558-791.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210558-791)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210485/210485-0f4.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210485-0f4)http://apollo.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210524/210524-dde.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210524-dde)http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210486/210486-787.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210486-787)
http://apollo.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210665/210665-e60.jpg (http://www.divshare.com/download/210665-e60)

Of course, that's not all the references.

[Ascaloth]

Kanon:
http://athena.divshare.com/thumbs/2007/03/10/210554/210554-c80.jpg

You know, I suddenly realised this particular screenshot from the Ep24 preview looked a LOT like a screen from Narcissu (http://narcissu.insani.org/).

Gimme a moment, and I'll go dig up that screen for a side-by-side comparison....

EDIT: Here we go,

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/HyperionEnergy/narcissu_b.jpg

HUGE difference, I know, but the general feeling IS the same....

[CrowKenobi]

You know, Shuffle! ran with the same theme too.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2383/shufflegameopendrj3.th.jpg (http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shufflegameopendrj3.jpg)

I read somewhere about the importance of sunflowers, but I have forgotten it. :p

:cool:

[Dagger]

My opinion from posts #12 and #19 has started to alter as of (the ULTRA AMAZING) episode 23. Ultimately the ending will determine how I feel about this, but I finally, finally sensed the stories & themes coming together in an organic way under the embrace of Ayu's story. Not to completely cheesy about it...

This is definitely an anime that works better if you're already familiar with the story, I think, but that will make rewatching it all the sweeter.

[Tiriel]

Have you ever noticed that Misuzu and Makoto have the same clothes? :)


http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8023/airkanonza0.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=airkanonza0.jpg)

[Ascaloth]

I think someone mentioned earlier that KyoAni seems to have a tendency towards fantastic-looking all-white summer dresses and sunhats. As well as how in real life, such a combination doesn't work as well in real life as they do in anime. :p

[Rengemaru]

I don't think it's fair to compare Air TV and Kanon 2006. Since Air's story was given half of the time given to Kanon's story. Keep that in mind

[shiro83]

Air: Gao (Misuzu)
Kanon: Uguu (Ayu), Unyuu (Nayuki), Ahaha (Sayuri)

Edit: Kanon: Auuu (Makoto)

[K3cT]

I wouldn't say that Kano's and Minagi's arcs have nothing to do with the main story of AIR. I guess you arrive at that conclusion due to the way the plot unweaves, which is significantly different compared to Kanon.

Let's first start from the game tagline because I thought it sets up the story pretty nicely
She is waiting in the air.
What does this tell us? AIR is ultimately about the girl trapped in the sky, about Kanna and the search of Yukito, as Ryuuya's and Uraha's descendant to find her, to fulfill the long-forgotten promise of the past. One thousand summers later, we have Yukito who is obviously in doubt about his destiny because he has no way to know the truth about his quest. The game and anime to a certain extent also does this job well by setting him up as a cynic.

So how do the stories of Kanno and Minagi contribute to his quest? The supernatural events each girl experienced helped Yukito and us as the viewers, to establish that the legend of the winged girl and therefore, the story about her trapped in the sky is more than a mere folklore. Perhaps it wasn't so apparent in Kano's arc but Michiru, in Minagi's arc, made it clear that she had met this particular girl and borrowed her feather to physically manifest herself in the real world so she could keep her older sister sane.

Therefore, I thought it's perfectly fitting to jump straight from this Dream arc into the Summer arc as a way to tell us the viewers, "Hey, you know, this winged girl also has her own tragic story". Otherwise, we would be oblivious to the main nature of the story of AIR.

[niwasatou]

Air: Gao (Misuzu)
Kanon: Uguu (Ayu), Unyuu (Nayuki), Ahaha (Sayuri)

Edit: Kanon: Auuu (Makoto)

You forgot Niha(ha) for Misuzu. :p

[Jeiku]

I originally posted this in the AIR cameo topic, but only realized that this thread was here. In that case:

Oddly, in episode 24 of Kanon I had a fleeting thought that Ayu in the wheelchair was an allusion to Misuzu. Other sub-similarities include Ayu and Misuzu having their hair cut, as well as being pushed along by the ones they love the most. The major difference is that the two girls' conditions were heading completely separate ways. I'm not saying it was intentional since I have no idea, but it was probably the closest the 2006 version of Kanon had gotten to a Misuzu reference.

[Vexx]

Sunflowers represent "summer" and the prime of life. They're popular in summertime ikebana arrangements.
They're also the symbol of nuclear abolition but that seems irrelevant here.

They do seem to be used almost as much as cherry blossoms (which are symbolic of spring, renewal, and the transience of things).

[jack781217]

As people mentioned earlier, AIR and Kanon differed in that in Kanon each arc are weaved among one another, where as in AIR there is only a little connection.

That makes me think that Kanon is better than AIR. When I watched AIR, it appeared to me as though "Now the story of Kano/Minagi is over, let's move on to Minagi/Misuzu." If my memory serves right, Kano and Minagi never appears again after their arcs are over. The fact that Kanon has a better intertwined storyline makes it flow more naturally.

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And...about "gao" and "ugu" and other various sound...Key is really obsessed about assigning special phrases to girl characters...on one hand it expresses the individuality of each girl and in a way serves the fans. But on the other hand, too much emphasis on these "individualities" weakens the "spcialities" of the main characters, namely Ayu and Misuzu.

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EDIT:

Just a off-topic mentioning, both animes have long OP, over 6 minutes. I still marvel at the fact that Last regrets, despite its shortness in lyric, could have a similar length as Tori no Uta...
Other than that, the OST of both animes are great as well...Key's working in bgm is really good

[kazune-kun]

What do you get when you combine Sayuri with Mai? Tohno Minagi from Air.

oh yeah :eek:

[kazune-kun]

http://apollo.divshare.com/files/2007/03/10/210437/AIR0001.jpg


Which AIR episode was this? Or was it the movie? I cant remember

[Skane]

~snip~

Which AIR episode was this? Or was it the movie? I cant remember
Ep02 of Air(TV). (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=31379)

Cheers.

[kazune-kun]

I cant believe I missed this.. thanks! :D