Quote:
Originally Posted by orion
Of note, our favorite poster gave this one a "4".
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Without stating his reasons for it, once again. As cowardly as ever, I see.
Well, so I've finally figured out why exactly it is that I'm always behind the loop when it comes to downloading new subbed episodes; apparently, being located in Singapore entails being located in a "black hole" of European Net data distribution. Which means it doesn't matter how I'm getting it, I'm going to have to deal with slow DL speeds in any case. Just my luck, huh?
Anyway, finally finished watching Episode 16. And as once again, everyone else has snatched my lines, there's not much else left for me to say. Still, some thoughts:
About the Shiori arc. While Shiori's story isn't exactly my top favourite amongst the five (actually, I don't really HAVE one.
), it's the kind of story that I do have a soft spot for. You see, my first forays into Asian "tragic stories" were through works that more or less used the same theme: girl with terminal illness about to die, male protagonist does his darndest to make her last days comfortable and, most importantly of all, happy. It first started with the Korean drama serial "Autumn in my Heart", and then one fine day, I found the VN "Kana: Imouto".
That was a life-changing experience, it was. Catalyzed by the impact that "Kana" had on my life, I started from then on to look out for similar storylines; "Narcissu" was my next find, one in which I'm incidentally still waiting for the release of the sequel. After that, I watched the Korean movie "My Girl and I" when it aired in Singapore; it was this movie that drove me to search for the source material that it was adapted from, leading to the discovery of the spectacularly good "Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu (Crying Out Love In the Center Of The World), and "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu (Be With You)". But even then, I remembered while I was reading a review of "Kana", there was someone who mentioned it and "Kanon" and "AIR" in the same breath. Intrigued, I went a-searching for it....to come up with the fact that those two VNs were untranslated, and thus out of my reach for the moment.
However, I also did find a mention of a Kanon anime series that had aired years ago; the anime series I would later come to learn of as Toei's 2k2. So, I watched that one...and while it was a fine enough watch on its own, its storyline didn't particularly stand out to me. Having had some experience in these kinds of storylines, I was puzzled; the Kanon anime seemed to be a fairly generic, not particularly outstanding story to me, so I was wondering; how could it be that with such a storyline, Kanon could receive such accolades as I've seen everywhere on the Net? I could only shrug, and move on to my next find; which incidentally was "Ichi Rittoru no Namida (One Liter of Tears)", a story whose impact was only multiplied by the fact that it was a real story.
Guys, see the pattern in my viewing habits yet? Anyway, not long after that I heard something that made me exceptionally happy; the announcement of a remake of Kanon by Kyoto Animation, complete with 24 episodes and the promise that they'll recreate the story faithfully as it should always have been. Only then did I realize that the Kanon I watched back then, the one by Toei, seemed generic and even mediocre, because it was made
that way by Toei.
So, I waited with everyone else for the coming of Kanon 2k6, with high expectations. Expectations that KyoAni would deliver the story faithfully, and that the original storyline was indeed as good as it got all those accolades for.
I wasn't disappointed. Not yet, so far.
As it were, having had a background knowledge of all the storylines through Toei's Kanon, and my own research which turned up a FAQ on the Kanon game itself, I finally had an idea what the original story was supposed to be like. And of all these stories, I liked them almost as equally....but Shiori's story occupied a soft spot in my heart, for it was her story that came the closest to what I had experienced before. A cynical one might say that it just proves a lack of originality (although even that point could be debated), but as for me, I'd say that Shiori's arc holds nostalgia within it for me. And more than anything, that is what I like about it.
In any case, for this episode? I'll give it no less than a 9; the abrupt termination of Mai's involvement in the rest of the story is just too big a flaw to ignore. But otherwise.....excellent.
On another note, we were debating in Episode 14 whether the sisters in Sayuri's flashback were in actual fact the Misaka sisters, were we not?
Well, there was one who said that could not be the case since the younger one looked too much smaller than the older one to justify only being a year younger. And when I said that it's entirely possible due to
someone else said that her illness only worsened one or two years ago, as far as he remembered, so there's still some doubt about that.
Anyway, both Shiori and Kaori confirmed that the former has had a weak body since birth....which meant the illness had been ravaging her throughout her life. And while I'm no medical expert, and in fact my theory is based entirely on what I knew from "Kana" and "Narcissu", my theory is that having a chronic illness this severe in one's early life has a direct impact on the said sufferer's growth. Both Kana from "Kana: Imouto" and Setsumi from "Narcissu" are said to look smaller and younger than their actual ages no matter what age they were at that time, so I'm thinking it's entirely possible that the same applies to Shiori as well. Therefore, why she looks so much smaller than Kaori in Sayuri's flashback (if indeed it was them), why she looks the youngest of all the other girls in Kanon (despite being only one year younger than most of them), and quite probably why she'll remain small and loli-like when she grows up to be of adult age.
If she survives, that is.
Yes, people. Unlike Toei 2k2, this time I'm not entirely sure that Shiori will survive this time round. Personally, my belief is that Shiori's story is structured in a way that it would become more poignant and full of meaning if Shiori doesn't make it.....it is for the same reason that I believe Ayu would survive, incidentally, for on my part, I believe Ayu's story is structured such that it would sound better if she actually survived.
This would be my personal opinion, so your mileage may vary. If anyone wishes to discuss this further, I'll be happy to oblige...but not here, not in this thread, not now.
This holds even more true in Shiori's case since her history with him is the briefest of them all. Kaori is the more important character in the resolving of Shiori's arc.
Fansubber
How will this be any better than Toei's version where Mai just disappeared off the face of the Earth until the Ep14 special?
Making Mai the healer didn't allow her to stay in the scenario. (Looking at the issue from this angle Toei did have a better chance to improve that aspect, so it's a pity they didn't do that.)
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