[Archon_Wing]

That is a lot of text! And now that I think about it, where the hell did Mai get her sword from, and where does she keep it during the day?

Also, they (Key) sure have an obsession with food and wings. Oh, and snow.

Originally Posted by XGeneral2000

I don't think I've ever formally reviewed this series, so here goes.

Spoiler for Shiori:

In terms of her character, Shiori is the only girl in Kanon that can speak to Yuuichi on equal footing, and that gets her massive brownie points in my book. Every time she forced Yuuichi to admit verbal defeat was glorious. She never gets flustered, or speechless, or incoherent. She subtly reflects Yuuichi's shit right back into his face every time. I love that part of her.

Yea, I was like "wow, nice counter trolling" :P Shiori has a great philosophy on how to experience life, and I'm sure out of the cast, she'll be the one that parties the best.

Overall, I'd say that Kanon was the most melodramatic of the three Key/KyoAni productions. If there's a show that is designed to wring you like a towel of your tears, it's this one. Sometimes, it got it right, and sometimes, it felt like too much. Overall, however, an excellent show.

Kanon, to me, is also the hardest one to watch for these reasons. It's the epitome of Key's excesses, and one's mileage will vary.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I just finished watching Kanon 2006.

I made a long review of it over here on my blog.

That's exactly what I thought--- santa outfits, lol.

That being said, you brought up one major edge Kanon has over the other key animes. Did they forget how to animate kisses or what?

That's also a nice big Mikuru parallel you drew; the more mature and attractive version of Makoto!

And yea, the anime's indecisiveness in having Yuuichi get close to everyone did hurt the final conclusion a lot. It almost yearns for a Kanon After, but that's just me.

Originally Posted by Konakaga

Ya, I agree with is in part why I also felt Angel Beats[7th to me] was only little bit better than it cause I felt it used most of it's time better comparatively, and it had a baseball episode, I mean what kind of key series doesn't have a random baseball episode?
Edit: Also I should mention I felt the middle of the series Mai/Sayuri/Shiori portion was better than good deal of Angel Beats, but a whole level I felt Angel Beats did better to make that clearer.

I felt that Kanon used its time better when it mattered the most, though. -That being said, all 4 Key anime suffer from pretty awful pacing issues at one point or another. Clannad S1 actually had the best, but that really depends if you like Fuko or not.

Spoiler for Slightly off topic comment to Triple_R/Archon Wing:

If Clannad was to make up/alternative for Shiori and Yuichi's romantic ending not being address, then does that mean Angel Beats was to make up for Mai and Yuuichi's, I mean Kanade was an odd quiet girl with a blade, has a bizzare power, is very mysterious, and has a vague relationship with a girl with 'yuri' in her name .
Edit Here too: She also waited a really long time for Otanashi, and Otanashi had even lost his memory like Yuuichi.

Spoiler for Angel Beats!:

Yea, I kinda pointed that out in my own Angel Beats review. You can view Kanade as a spiritual successor to Mai, being misunderstood and all. But much like the Makoto/Yui comparison, the version over in Angel Beats is a bit more open and had more clearer thoughts on both sides.

Now according to wiki, Jun Maeda wasn't in charge of Kanon, but contributed a bit to the Mai/Makoto's storyline. It all makes sense then. He just loves those silent gamebreaking characters. If Mai wasn't bad enough when it came to being ridiculously overpowered, Kanade is even worse.

That being said, it also leads to the same problem... The story tries to consistently hammer in the fact that:

1.) d00d She's totally awesome! And it can get a bit overboard. Particularly in Kanade's case. Hey Mai's blade was cool, so let's have a character with dual blades!!!111111 And then more random abilities (plot devices) get invented, lol.

2.) The other issue is that they also must insist that both are pure and innocent, and really the victim that can do no wrong. That's not really a bad thing, but it screams "HEY feel sorry for her!!"

In other words, sometimes I feel like they are getting way too excited over these characters. In Angel Beats, I think someone went way overboard and skewed the focus a bit. Now this is actually a strength and a weakness. Most of the goodness of Mai's arc comes from this, but it can backfire in a few cases, like the auto-revive hax in the end.

Then again, being subtle is just not a feature of Key stories it seems.