The episode was good and probably (almost certainly) the one which most provided clues about past happenings, hence the best one for serving the purpose of building a background, or if you prefere, the one putting together the major number of puzzle's pieces until now.
It was nearly perfect until minute 22:00. Note that I already knew of what was going to happen to Akiko, so emotionally the last scene didn't have a great impact on me (while I guess it would have had a terrible one in the opposite case). Despite this though, I was truly disappointed in the way they chose to show that scene. I mean, what is left of subtlety? Was there really a need of showing that scene in that brutal way?
If anything I think at the scene with Sayuri and the demon in episode 14: they showed Sayuri, the demon approaching, Sayuri again and then the cam zoomed away. And that's what I think they should have done in this case.
Everything was fine, from the teacher calling out Yuuichi and Nayuki to Akiko approaching to cross the street, and especially the cake on the ground with that shade of red, but I'm of the opinion that the scene of the crash should have been implied, and not actually showed (maybe a close up of Akiko with a frightened face, then a zoom out, and then the cake, perhaps an ambulance ... that's the way I had handled the scene).
When I saw it, I'd swear I had already seen a similar scene (as for being sudden yet violent) in another situation. Reading I see it was it was mentioned, it was from a teathrical movie.
Well, I can't explain it well, but I think that KyoAni had bad taste this time. The 9 I was going to give to the episode becomes an 8. But I will take it into account when considering the overall rating of the show, since in my eyes they completely failed conceptually, and the scene was so not in tone with the rest of this re-adaptation, and I just found it to be gratuitous, for the sake of spectacularity - so KyoAni not alike. This is coming from one who does watch a lot of horror and thriller movies, so it's not that I'm frightened or someghing. That's not the point. It's just that I'd like the things to be in the context they belong to, exactly as it didn't was here.
Usually I worship KyoAni, but this time I had to say this much. Perhaps, if I was a first time viewer, my reaction would have been different.
Back to the 21, this feeling matured throughout the last episodes, but especially came out with this: I've come to like Nayuki a lot, and to sympathize with her as much. All the girls of Kanon 2006 have had at least a glimpse of happiness, so I really hope that will happen to Nayuki as well (and this despite Ayu was my favourite character in 2002 and still I loved her in 2006).
Another note is that this show is penalized a lot by the "week by week" formula. It is so plently of indepths that it should be marathoned. Also, I regret I have watched 2002 version 3 years ago. It actually ruined my experience with this wonderful piece of art. And still it is not finished.
Enjoy, first time watchers until you can
I laughed the first time I saw it along with a "WTF!!" The director could have done a better job of making the crash scene more serious looking instead of it being so random/funny, unless that's the way it's done in the original story.
Focus people. The accident is going to be a catalyst. It is not the main point of Nayuki's arc.
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