Loved the episode. Mai didn't get all the attention this week, but the entire ballroom scene was fantastic from beginning to end. Once again kudos to KyoAni for their work.

The ballroom dancing was very impressive and the subsequent fight that follows it is not bad either. The Sleeping Beauty Ballet theme was very appropriately used for the scene.

First half has been a good mix of flashbacks and new revelations, including the all-important angel mascot. Also, with Shiori's family name revealed, it looks like she'll be coming in after Mai.
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/27/...n315aj7.th.jpg
萌え死にしましたよもうorz

Mai's tsukkomi chop is probably her strongest weapon, against us viewers, that is. :heh:

The dance and battle scene in the second half was beautifully done, particularly the transition part from the dere dere dance scene to the serious crisis with the one broken glass causing an 180 degree change in atmosphere. Mai's naturally flowing dress/hair during the dance/fight was a pleasure to look at as well. Great expressions too.

We could end up seeing Sayuri's story next episode, or maybe soon. Its only short, and i believe its needed to fully finished Mai's story.

I love those two Mai blushing scenes. (*^_^*)

They are so subtle. If I wasn't looking for them I almost might have missed seeing them. :)

Chibi Ayu is moe, but chibi Nayuki just stole the flashback scenes.

("But..but that's all the money..."" It will be very troublesome for me...""But you are going back next month!...."


ランク： EX+++

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Also the studio sort of hinted the conflict between Nayuki and Ayu. The game implictly tells you that, but I have a funny feeling that the anime will have its own original material on this.

Anyway, in addition to the usual Ayu route, we somehow jump-started Shiori's route in the middle of Mai's route. This is actually a good choice as the real Mai route's story doesn't start until the very end of her route. The stuff before Mai's end story are a bit bland imo.

And it looks like we will be going into Sayuri's route for sure as well (seeing how Yuuichi busted into the office to argue with the president...).

Sayuri is, of course, cute as always (The preview! Kiss her you fool!).



Years from now, people will look back at Kanon and say "ahh you can feel the producer's love for anime just from the animation".
For example, as Shirori was busy scooping up her ice cream you can see that her hand was being resisted by the ice cream! Compare this to, say, the wonderness of the Moon Carbage....
And the dance scene! Words alone can't describe it. It looks better than most OVA and anime movies in theaters! I can now finally understand why the animation quality dropped in the piror episodes- the studio needs the budget+time.

And Mai's expression is priceless. Most studios are afraid to portray the female characters in bad light; KyoAni, on the other hand, clearly showed the shocked, then angry (and disgust, and regret) expression of Mai. From before Sayuri got hit (Sayuri's fearful expression was well made as well- it wasn't in the game. KyoAni decided to make their own version of Sayuri's expression), to the end of the episode where Mai stands alone in the ballroom- this sequence impacted me more than any other scenes so far in Kanon.

As for Shiori's classmate- she is cuter than I expected. That's very good XD

There are many more stuff i can exclaim upon on, but I will leave those to others ^_^

It's obvious that no one else can see the monsters except Mai, and by tying Mai to Makoto's mircale (Mai being the one to tell Yuuichi to stay with Makoto, where to find Makoto etc), it makes Yuuichi's strong faith in Mai's words of the existance of monsters and his desire to get to the bottom of the problem a lot more believable and less contrived, and not the cliche harem lead just being a goodie goodie to any girls he sees and believing them based on "gut feeling".

Anyone here still like to question that as mere throw in fanservice, and the reason for the interweaving approach?