Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafsnail
Surely it's what you'd call a "hint". Without someone apparently pretending to be two people you'd probably never even start to think about the possibility that Shannon has other personas in the story.
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See, you'd think that, but it's not true. If that were what Kanon is actually doing, that'd be a hint, but that isn't actually the function he serves.
The only logical reason you'd conclude one person is two people is "Battler never sees them together." However, that's an extremely meta interpretation and the only reason most people believed it is that they'd already seen the author do something similar. At the time, that was the sole evidence that Kanon served any such function in the story; indeed, in ep1-4 he appears to serve particular narrative ends, but those are largely distinct from Shannon's (who, herself, appears to serve particular narrative ends, but has stronger evidence that she's behind the scenes doing things).
There is
no evidence anywhere that actually demonstrates there is a person pretending to be two people. Even "Human Beato" in ep2 was often theorized to be another person, not necessarily even in disguise (i.e. "Beatrice" was just Shannon was one theory, which was apparently close to the mark but not quite there). There is no evidence to suggest, say, that somebody has changed clothes (a necessity to a Ninja Shkanon theory). Or that Shannon or Kanon is doing something that only Kanon or Shannon was supposed to know about or do.
Take Kanon out of ep1-4. What do you lose?
- Someone else would have to be involved with the chain lock trick in ep1, but Genji is there and there's more than enough time for almost anyone to have done something.
- Kanon's death in ep1 wouldn't have happened, but his death was also not particularly necessary. Narratively, it can be skipped.
- The subplot with Shannon in ep2 (which could be implemented another way to suggest something's different about Shannon), and the romance with Jessica (which literally has no purpose but shipping to the overall story).
- Kanon's position in the ep3 chain of closed rooms. Not necessary because as long as Shannon is the first found, she can do the exact same trick. Kanon's slot can easily be filled by Nanjo or anyone really.
- Kanon basically doesn't even need to exist in ep4. Nothing he does is important to the story. The red about him being the ninth victim is apparently completely irrelevant if ep7 and ep8 are to be believed, so that wound up appearing to be a critical reasoning hint that went absolutely nowhere.
I mean... come on man. You lose more critical narrative details removing Hideyoshi from the story, and Hideyoshi barely even does anything.
Kanon is pointless. Ryukishi basically acknowledged this in his treatment of him in ep7-8. The only conclusions I can even draw about why he's there are: shipping, poorly executed cheap trick, and pandering to Higurashi fans.
Someday I should post my list of characters I would completely excise from Umineko. Most of them are magic characters, but I'd totally cut Kanon too. Ryukishi's need for an editor is kind of obvious I think.