Back in March, fellow blogger Wonderduck contacted me with a request: help him bring an AMV idea to life. Two months, countless e-mails, and many a frustrated “uguu~~” later, and it lives! Of course, Wonderduck should be credited for putting in the longest hours. All I did was answer questions and find new and creative ways to crash Adobe Premiere.
Anyway, as the image above suggests, it’s a Kanon video. And a rather clever Kanon video, at that. You can read a full description of the video here, and, if you’re curious, you can download it here.
Be advised that the video contains spoilers from the show.
Speaking as a (lapsed) AMV editor, I have to say that’s it pretty impressive for a first video. It’s a lot more polished than my first video, at least. If you have any comments, feel free to leave them either here or at Wonderduck’s blog. Also, if you happen to be an AMV.org member, you can also leave a comment there.
If you’re not yet sick of hearing me talk about Kanon, make sure to check out the latest episode of the Mistakes of Youth podcast. I joined host Wildarmsheero and fellow anime blogger Gareth Bayer for a chat about the show yesterday.
Many thanks to both of them for the interesting discussion!
When Kyoto Animation’s remake of Kanon was first announced, the reaction from some fans was hostile. For example, some fans of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi were angered by the possibility production for the remake had cut their favorite show’s broadcast short. Meanwhile, some fans who didn’t care for the original anime adaptation of Kanon questioned how a remake could ever improve on something they found so fundamentally flawed to begin with. And, of course, there was no shortage of fans who couldn’t understand why a remake of any anime series would be a good idea in the first place.
You don’t hear much of that anymore.
Anyway, I’m extremely happy with how Kanon ended. I think the final episode did a spectacular job balancing each girl’s epilogue from the game with what new material was presented. I also found the pacing to be acceptable. Trying to cram a full year’s worth of material and closure for multiple characters into a single episode is no easy task, and I’ve seen anime directors (even talented ones) simply throw their hands in the air and give up when faced with such situations. I’d actually commend Ishihara Tatsuya for his work here, as I thought the pacing in the final episode was about as good as it could get. It was definitely an improvement over his work in Air, which featured clunky episodes from start to finish.
And, looking at the show as a whole, I find that I’m more enamored with Kanon than ever before. I’ve even come to better understand and appreciate certain characters. Obviously, there were aspects of the story that were better handled in the original game. There were even a few bits and pieces that worked more effectively in the original anime adaptation. But, if Kyoto Animation’s take on Kanon was my first and only exposure to the franchise, I think I’d walk away just as enchanted with the story and attached to the characters as any veteran fan. That’s how good a job they did.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. But, I suppose there’s a little something to look forward to, at least.
Oh, and Nayuki fans? I feel your pain.
I don’t want to spoil the latest episode of Kanon for anyone, so I’m going to be intentionally vague here…
I thought the way the episode’s final scene was constructed was nothing short of amazing, given how it deals with multiple time frames. Think about it: the scene seamlessly moves from Yuuichi and Nayuki in class, to Yuuichi’s childhood flashback, to Yuuichi and Nayuki being called out of class, to, well… you know. You might say, “Well, that’s nothing special, really,” but I thought it was remarkably well done and designed in such a way to give the scene as much impact as possible. I mean, as if the flashback sequence itself wasn’t heartbreaking enough…
But, at the same time, the scene’s climax bugs me. Or, to be more specific, the moments leading to the scene’s climax. It’s as if the Director gave us entirely too much opportunity to mull over what was about to transpire by loitering on that distant shot for such an artificially long time. But, I already knew what was coming, and I suspect the same could be said for a lot of people watching the show. So, perhaps it was all for the sake of keeping the Kanon veterans on the edge of their seats.
For those of you new to Kanon, however… what did you think? Were you genuinely surprised? Did the pacing of the scene seem awkward in any way? Or were you too shocked to care?
You know, I absolutely adore this image. It’s the perfect desktop.
I really wish there were more Japanese magazines and mooks that solely published images like this one. Megami is fine and all, but the T&A gets old after awhile. I suppose Newtype and Animage typically publish “clean” artwork, but they have a habit of covering it with ridiculous amounts of text. What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on the originals.
I guess I’ll have to hop a flight to Kyoto and go dumpster diving for hard drives. If I remember correctly, those go out on the third Tuesday in August in years when the Emperor’s age is a prime number (assuming above average snowfall). Or was that old tennis shoes?
