I shall start taking a different approach on my thoughts for each episode from now on.
I don't really see where the drops in quality are, but then again I've only gone through it once, so if anyone would care to point it out to me, please do. Storyline-wise...this episode is just about as different from the previous 8 episodes, as night is from day. If anything, I think of Episode 9 to be the true turning point of Kanon; knowing that there are plenty of sceptics out there who are watching Kanon for the sake of bashing it, I will now endeavour to state that if this episode doesn't make them change their minds about Kanon, then nothing ever will, and they should give it up and stop torturing us with their cynical words.
First off, I am a 20 year old male...and by the time of the Yuuichi-Amano bridge scene, I was already fighting hard to keep the tears from flooding. It is...just that powerful. Overall, all the scenes of Makoto's increasing degeneration was done wonderfully, and the more she declines, the harder is the emotional impact on me. Of course, the fact that I'm currently watching the Japanese drama serial <<One Liter of Tears>> only makes me all the more receptive to the slow, wrenching tragedy unfolding for Makoto, but fact remains is that this is the defining moment, for me. This is what Kanon is truly about.
Now that I'm done being all mushy, I'll focus on the one thing that I find lacking in this episode; once again, no Ayu or Shiori, and no Mai this time around, either. Actually, I think it's fine that Mai is not there; she'll just be stealing what's left of Mishio's role if she appeared anyway, and I don't particularly mind Shiori being absent either; she has totally no bearing on the Makoto arc as well, so her presence would merely be wasting time. However, it's the absence of Ayu I feel keenly the most; why, you ask me? Simply because Ayu had the chance to interact with Makoto back in Episode 4.
Now, I realize that more likely than not, their chance meeting is a purely KyoAni addition; it probably never happened in the game, and so by right, Ayu should not have that much of an impact on the Makoto arc either. However, from the way I see it, this part of Makoto's arc was a fantastic opportunity to do some fleshing out of Ayu's character on the side, but one that KyoAni failed to take advantage of in this episode. The way I see it, those two had actually drummed up a nice level of rapport in Episode 4, but KyoAni failed to build onto it further by having Ayu come in, and perhaps even assist Yuuichi in taking care of the ailing Makoto. If she had done so, it would have been a shining opportunity to showcase a more mature, more caring side of Ayu, and thus leave first-time viewers with another, and hopefully better impression of Ayu's character than the immature little girl the sceptics (not unreasonably, to be honest, at least as far as this series has run so far) think of her to be.
The other thing I might want to gripe about is Nayuki. It is not for nothing that some are starting to think that this time, Nayuki hardly looks like being part of the family this time; Yuuichi does most of the work in taking care of the convalescent Makoto, and Nayuki doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of assistance. Granted, it was the same thing in Toei Kanon; however, the one thing about the flawed structure of Toei's rendering of the Makoto arc is that it sometimes serve to cover up some other flaws it might otherwise have. In this case, the Makoto arc in Toei Kanon runs for a grand total of one episode; with such limited time, the rushed pacing makes one forget that Nayuki wasn't there. However, with the slower, somewhat more realistic pacing of KyoAni Kanon, Nayuki's general absence in most of the scenes is all the more jarring. At least the complicated looks she gives Yuuichi is very well done, but otherwise, her lack of doing much of anything makes her look like an outsider, of sorts.
So, with all these, what's my final score? 9 out of 10. Because, despite this episode's flaws, I am not blind to the fact that in the end, this episode achieved what it set out to do; focus on the main storyline of Makoto's decline, and doing it well.
Fansubber
, but considering the nature of the whole scenario and show I guess thats beside the point.
