Kanon - 2006 - Episode 12 Discussion / Poll

[Lumir]

This episode was without a doubt top quality. It kept me on the edge of my seat, while it delivered comedy/seriousness/mystery.

What a trip this episode took me on... i want to see more!!!

[Knavinusa]

Aha, so it seems my predictions about Shiori's sickness being more than it seems is on the right track so far.

I just had to give this ep a 10. The ballroom fight was just so unexpected and well-animated. It gave a lot of insight on the seemingly "minor" characters of Kanon as well.

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by Richard 23

Actually that's unfair. He did give this episode a 5. He must have really liked it! ;-)

A 5, you say?!

*shock. awe. disbelief. It's not possible...is it?*




Anyway, just finished watching this one. What can I say that everyone else hasn't said? Well, at least now I know where the animation budget for the last two episodes went. Top-notch quality animation from the KyoAni we all know and love, and the handling of the interleaving storyline is stellar, as usual.

Some thoughts for Episode 12:

1) It's almost a pity that once again, Nayuki has been left out of the parallel advancing of storylines, but I guess it couldn't be helped.

Spoiler:

After all, the bulk of her storyline was always meant to be done in conjunction with Ayu's, so there's nothing to be done there, even by KyoAni.

However, I do wish she would actually wake up for once and start showing some angst though. At this rate, if she only starts being angsty when it comes time for her arc, it would be too sudden. I'd like to see KyoAni start to gradually up the angst-meter on Nayuki, please.

2) Also, at the beginning, around 2:40 to 2:53, when Ayu and Yuuichi were talking about ghosts....on the second viewing, I found that highly ironic, given what was about to happen later at the ball.

3) Ayu's new outfit fits her SO well. Why can't she wear more girly clothing more often?

4) KyoAni missed out on Yuuichi's joke of Shiori having Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket. What a shame.

5) The first time I saw Shiori's nameless classmate (in the blogs, that is, before I watched the episode proper), I almost thought it was Shiori herself. I was kinda hoping KyoAni would do an original and introduce that girl into a role as Shiori's version of Mishio. But I guess that's not gonna happen.

6) Or come to think of it...KyoAni pulled off an original by having Mai give the initial foreshadowing about Makoto to Yuuichi, in place of Mishio. Why couldn't they have pulled off another original, and have Mishio give the initial foreshadowing about Shiori to him instead?! I mean, they're both freshmen, aren't they? And Key never did specify that they weren't in the same class. It would have been an excellent way for KyoAni to tell the story of Kanon better than Key, the original storyteller! Argh!

7) Bond, James Bond indeed. I'm somewhat less familiar with recent anime than most of you guys here....so tell me. Has there been in recent memory a male lead as manly as Yuuichi is? He's just become the symbol of manhood in the anime world right there!

8) The dance scene was fantastic for the most part...but the hip-jerking section was a little out of place, in the sense that Nayuki's track-team running looked a little out of place in an earlier episode. Brilliant animators KyoAni may have, but I think they need to do a little more studying of the movement of the human anatomy.

9) Did someone say earlier that the people in the ballroom were, uncharacteristically for KyoAni, static? But they were also all looking in the same direction; I'm inclined to think they were stunned at seeing Yuuichi and Mai dancing. Another one of KyoAni's subtle ways of covering up their lazy animation.

[Greenish Growth]

Originally Posted by Thelastguardian

How should I say this, hmm, yes here it is- Unless you live at a place with a latitude higher than 70' North (aka in the North Pole), you ain't gonna see constellations like this.

It is impossible for anyone in japan to see this celestial sphere in Feburary. The horizon would have cut Ursa Major(おおぐま) into half. Furthermore, assuming that the characters are looking at the night sky vertically, the time should be around 11:00AM, not 4 AM.

The correct way (as in 4:00 am) to look at that picture of the celestial sphere would be to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise. Then you will see Auriga (ぎよしや) at the bottom of the picture. Ursa Major's Altitude would be around 55' at NW direction.



It is definitely a goof on KyoAni's part ^_^;;

It seems fairly accurate to me. Kanon takes place in January so let's call the episode as being in "Janauary 15th" for a generic date to check on. I live in Los Angeles and just went out to check the sky. California is the same latitiude as Japan (or is it longitude I always get the two confused).

It's true they used a much wider area of the sky than you're expected to be able to see with your own vision, but I don't think they necessarily have to show that point of view. Ursa Major is quite high in the sky. It moved quite high after the earth rotated it into view. That view of the sky is as if you pointed a very wide angle lens camera almost straight up and took a picture. I'm taking into account that the earth will have rotated this point of view a little further to the west over the course of the next 23 days. Of course they don't show any structures on the horizon at the bottom of the screen where Orion is.

PS: And they have Saturn in that picture. Can anyone find it? ^_^

Where is it? I don't have enough time to check for it with all the stuff I have to do.

[Richard 23]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Mai finally smiled. And kept on smiling to the end.

[Ascaloth]

Didn't have time to say this, but now that I'm back home, I'll say it.

I don't usually give out 10s for episodes that aren't at the peak of the drama. This episode proved the adage of "there's always a first time for everything".

[Owaranai Destiny]

Finally done with episode 12 (Thanks to Mentar for telling me about Tokyotosho).

The humor:
-Nayuki never fails to deliver, with her Keropi and her face suddenly drooping onto the table. While I could not fail to laugh at this part, I have to agree in part with Ascaloth's comment about the angst meter for Nayuki. Even so, I do hope that the later episodes will show that instead.

-Mai's "bento nod". Can't help but laugh at how cute and funny Mai was in that segment. It almost seemed as though she lives for food.

-Shiori's mini-pharmacy. Although it wasn't as humorous as the first two for me, I could imagine what kind of expression Yuuichi would make had he not suffered from a brain freeze attack.

The development:
-Ayu's opinion of Nayuki. so far I don't know what it really means eventually, but I believe it can come into play for Nayuki's or Ayu's arc.

-Kaori's cold attitude when asked about her family. We already know that there's something she doesn't like about them in the previous episode, but this one was...Well, she doesn't have that regal, cold aura about her for nothing.

-Shiori's cute classmate. While she seems to be a minor character, I've got a feeling she will show up again in Shiori's arc later on and thus let us possibly know more about Shiori.

The entertainment:
-"Honey bear" and "Chubby Tanuki". I never thought Mai would actually listen to Yuuichi's strange advice and do that.

-The dance. Definitely. From here we see exactly Yuuichi can be as suave as he wants to. Move over, James Bond. The expression on his face when he saw Mai was priceless (probably mirrored mine ) The lipstick on Mai was a nice touch too.

Aside from that, the interaction between Mai and Yuuichi proved to be quite interesting, especially about the parts where Mai gets perked by the mention of the monkey and where she refuses to leave Yuuichi, despite her getting more comfortable with interacting with Sayuri and more notably Yuuichi. I particularly think the chops on their heads were silly until I realise that it is perhaps an indication that Mai was actually reacting more to the two of them and being more open about her feelings. Put perhaps Nayuki or Ayu in her place and they will probably blush or speak out instead.

Points to Yuuichi for speaking out against Kuze. I easily foresee the latter becoming perhaps one of the most (or probably the only) hated characters in the Kanonverse. Well, I guess it's the self-righeousness that's exuding from him the moment he opened his mouth twice in the episode, especially for the last minute of it.

As for the dancing...Well, it takes the cake for this episode. Perhaps the lesser emphasis placed on the background characters was to amplify the fact that Yuuichi and Mai were really the stars of the show. Perhaps that justified Mai's name for what she can do and increase Yuuichi's 'Man-o-meter'.


The preview seems very interesting too. Seems like Yuuichi's taken to try to help Mai by doing the thing he thinks best:

Spoiler:

Fighting together with Mai to understand what this 'demon' is actually after.

Throw Ayu into the mix, and Sayuri's 'sweet-nothings' with Yuuichi (just j/king...probably some more important information we get to know about Mai), and we have plenty of viewers ravenous for the next episode of Kanon 2006...including me.

Need them tako-weiners soon too. 10/10 for this episode, hands down.

[Lilith]

Ohh so those moves (Yuuichi dancing with Mai at 19:30 I think... look at SweetHoney's GIFs) are actually real moves? My pervert side smirked when I saw him "humping" her (thought it was fanservice).

[Ascaloth]

While Nayuki's angst-meter is still looking rather low for the time being, I don't know how much higher Yuuichi's macho-meter can go. However, there IS something that could really boost it up even further, and maybe it's just me, but I would really like to see it animated...

Yuuichi getting into a fight with Kuze. Come on, think about it. Kyoto Animation. If anyone can do a brawl realistically and yet brilliantly, these guys would be the one. And who wouldn't like to see Yuuichi land one on the student council president's cheek on behalf of a girl (Mai, or perhaps even Sayuri)? That would shoot his manliness way up high.

Contrast 2k6 Yuuichi's manliness with his 2k2 counterpart, where his first meeting with Kuze was to ask him if he could be seated, and he gets pulled away by Nayuki and Jun before he could commit a "gaffe". A world of difference, man. A world of difference.


And maybe some other things they could include in an OVA as a joke (added lines are in bold):

1) Kuze: I'm the student council president, Kuze. For you not to know me, you mustn't be a "normal" student, either.
Yuuichi: Oh, so that's the attitude this school's student council president takes towards a student who just transferred her and doesn't know his left from right?
*Kuze is mad but tries not to show it*
Kuze: .......who are you?
Yuuichi: The name is Yuuichi. Aizawa Yuuichi. ~ just about every other James Bond movie out there.

2) *From 17:21 in Episode 12, Yuuichi is still pissed at Kuze, and is eating as much as he could to bankrupt the student council (at least that's what I think he was doing)*
Yuuichi: Eat! Must eat! Have to eat more!
Yuuichi: Damned, I'm still pissed.
Waitress carrying wine glasses on a tray: What would you like, sir?
Yuuichi: Vodka-martini
Waitress: Shaken or stirred?
Yuuichi: Does it look like I give a damn? ~ 007: Casino Royale

[npal]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

Waitress: Shaken or stirred?
Yuuichi: Does it look like I give a damn?[/B] ~ 007: Casino Royale

Off-topic but that was a James Bond sacrilege. Yuuchi likes it shaken, as any other decent James Bond of old.

[Darcean]

i give this episode a 9 =), excellent episode overall! too bad there's gonna be no episodes next week =(

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by Darcean

i give this episode a 9 =), excellent episode overall! too bad there's gonna be no episodes next week =(

...I thought Kanon's going to air through the Xmas period?

[Vexx]

My understanding is that Kanon and Negima!? are a couple of the few to keep broadcasting through the holiday period. I guess we'll see soon enough. I expect the fansubbers will be doing holiday stuff anyway

[Kinny Riddle]

AH! Mai blushing!!! KAWAII!!! (Fanboy swoons for 10 minutes... )

She doesn't even blush that much in the game, so seeing her blush has really knocked me over, badly. Not to mention her doing hand chops on Yuuichi and Sayuri's head consecutively.

Originally Posted by Thelastguardian

From this episode :

Spoiler for image:

Geez ( ;^_^)

I noticed they're all animal names as well. I can already imagine Mai adding a -san after each constellation's name if she ever mentions them.

Originally Posted by Cyz

Once again Yuuichi's sarcastic attitude helped diffuse the situation between Kuze and Mai. Lol! When Kuze is critcizing Mai, Yuuichi easily handles him w/o a sweat. You should've seen Kuze's defeated face. Go Yuuichi!

If you haven't played the game, you ain't seen nothing from Yuuichi yet.

Spoiler for What Yuuichi will do:

If I read correctly, I think Yuuichi basically gave Kuze a good taste of what his fist tastes like. (That is if you picked the correct choice, of course.)

KEY never bothered to illustrate Kuze's face in the game, so good job to Kyo-Ani for managing to accurately portray the scheming bastard look for Kuze.

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Spoiler for image:

Everything makes sense now.

MAI IS FIGHTING SAI!!! LOLOLOL.

If you're interested, Sayuri is voiced by Kawakami Tomoko, AKA Shindo Hikaru, AKA Disciple of Sai.

So Mai has the Hand of God on her side as well.



Besides Mai, the episode focuses a lot on the other girls as well:

Nayuki's heavy sleeping sees her banging her head on the table, hardly.

Ayu actually feeling proud that she could order a children's meal.

Loli-Nayuki and Loli-Ayu, enough said.

According to Yuuichi's narrative in the game, Shiori's pocket is a fourth-dimensional bottomless pit.

It's pretty obvious Kaori's hiding something about Shiori, but I won't reveal anymore here.


Overall, the dance and subsequent fight with the invisible demon compelled me to give it a 10. But if possible, I'd like to give it a 20 just to see Mai blush. Ah~~

[martino]

This was a very good episode, however I still wish for more action scenes with Mai since we haven't seen anything special so far...

But she was too damn cute and sexy in that dress, and when blushing I thought that I was going to melt...

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by martino

This was a very good episode, however I still wish for more action scenes with Mai since we haven't seen anything special so far...

But she was too damn cute and sexy in that dress, and when blushing I thought that I was going to melt...

more action huh? i hope we get to see more when the demons attack again in the next ep and this time she will be more agile in her mini skirt than a long dress...and that dress she tore up must have cost a bomb must have gone out of sayuri's paycheck

[toxic_trance]

k..someone pls explain me why n o why did Yuichi wake up poor Nayuiki at 5:37 in the morning. His school starts at 8 or so, and he was ready by 5:37???

Plus something that bothered me even in the 2002 version, why the hell do people hold Mai responsible. Isnt it obvious something else was destroying all the tables and decoration??

[Tenson]

Originally Posted by Thelastguardian

From this episode :



Geez ( ;^_^)

Wow... my Astronomy major can actually come to some use! Incredible! LOL

This a Starmap of Tokyo on Jan 15, 2007 at 4:32am looking due east with a telescope on a equatorial stand. (reads... why the image is title to one side)



I think they did a pretty good job comparing the two

The starmap is produce by Stellarium, an incredible planetarium program which I highly recommand

[Darcean]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

...I thought Kanon's going to air through the Xmas period?

Looks like i was wrong.. it is airing next week.. was just assuming because most of the other series were not airing.

[guuchan]

Originally Posted by toxic_trance

k..someone pls explain me why n o why did Yuichi wake up poor Nayuiki at 5:37 in the morning. His school starts at 8 or so, and he was ready by 5:37???

In this episode? Where did you see it?