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I’m Sorry, Mai

21 Comments |
January 12, 2007
| Television

I’ve been known to say, “I don’t care much for Mai’s story.” Repeatedly. The fact that Mai is so popular among Kanon fans has always baffled me, to be honest.

Until now, that is.

After watching the conclusion of Mai’s arc in the most recent episode of Kanon, it suddenly dawned on me: I do like Mai’s story. I think it’s incredibly moving. I love the way it’s structured. I won’t say the journey isn’t frustrating at times, what with her story not coming into focus until the very final moment, but… well, it’s a nifty trick. When the entire weight of Mai’s story comes crashing down on you in a matter of minutes, you can’t help but be moved.

So, what gives? It’s not like Kyoto Animation made changes to Mai’s story. They followed the game fairly closely. And even though the Toei version of Kanon kicked a lot of the details of Mai’s story to the curb, all of the core elements survived intact. Is Ishihara Tatsuya just that good of a director? I suppose he is, and it clearly shows in the conclusion of Mai’s arc, but that’s really not it. Once again, what gives?

I don’t like Mai, that’s what.

Mai’s a tough nut to crack, that’s for sure. How can a parade of moe stereotypes like Kanon have an ice queen character like Mai? Yes, I know “ice queen” no doubt pegs someone’s moe meter somewhere (what doesn’t?), but if you lined all of the Kanon heroines up and played a game of, “one of these kids is not like the other ones,” the game wouldn’t be much of a challenge. Ain’t nothing moe about Mai.

Or is there?

Well, before someone shouts, “Are you some kind of fucking idiot? Of course Mai is moe!”, let me say this: yes, she is. It’s just that I didn’t quite realize it until now. Was Mai moe in the game? Sure. But to what extent? It was there, of course, but Mai’s moeness is so subtle that it doesn’t come across particularly well - especially when every other girl in Kanon is “moe-ing” with the brightness of a thousand suns. And the first anime series? As I said before, a lot of the details of Mai’s story were lost in the first anime series, and amongst those details was her personality. Or, to be more specific, the moe aspects of her personality.

Thankfully, Kyoto Animation brought the moe back… and proceeded to jam it down our throats. To be honest, I was a bit weirded out at first. “Is this really Mai? What’s going on?” But, as time went on, I grew to like the “new” Mai. And even though Mai’s arc was the one I was least looking forward to this time around, I’m now sad to see it come to end.

Once again… bravo, KyoAni?

Year in Review: Kanon

16 Comments |
December 30, 2006
| Television

2. Kanon

Do you know how much snow has fallen in Denver since I left town a few weeks ago? A lot. Around three feet, in fact. The place must be crawling with sad girls right now.

So, while watching the most recent episode of Kanon, I experienced something unexpected: pangs of homesickness. I longed for the the chill of a cold winter day. The sound of snow crunching under my feet. Treetops glistening. Sleigh bells ringing. You know the drill.

But, at the same time, Kanon has been therapeutic - not only as a connection to home, but as a connection to the past. After all, this isn’t my first Kanon “experience”. And when I look back on my first experience, I see an anime fan on the brink. Sure, I was already head over heels in love with this stuff at the time, but you see… well, it was around that time I first realized I wasn’t merely an anime fan, but an anime nut. Whether I should look back upon that moment with delight or horror, I honestly can’t say.

Hence, you could say Kanon is an exercise in nostalgia for me. For a lot of people, however, it’s something entirely new. I’m actually a bit envious. Kyoto Animation has done a fantastic job with the show thus far - so fantastic that I wish I was experiencing the magic of Kanon again for the very first time. You Kanon virgins are lucky folks.

Then again, I suppose us Kanon veterans are pretty lucky, too.

Mysterious Town, Indeed…

10 Comments |
November 10, 2006
| Otaku

Excuse my nerdiness for a moment, but…

It’s never explicitly stated, but the setting for Kanon is assumed to be an unknown town located somewhere on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. Yes, I know Key used the real city of Moriguchi, a suburb of Osaka, as inspiration for the town in the game, but seeing as that area only receives a minuscule amount of snow each year, it’s fairly obvious the story can’t actually take place there. I suppose it’s possible the story could take place somewhere along the Sea of Japan coast, as yearly snowfall totals there rival those of Hokkaido. However, it’s clear the people of Kanon are accustomed to prolonged cold, and the architecture of the town and surrounding landscape suggest Hokkaido, so… it’s probably Hokkaido. One can reasonably assume it’s at least north of the 38th parallel.

Now, Kanon obviously takes place during Winter (for the most part). And, as of Episode 6, one can assume the time of year is somewhere around mid-January. Why? The Japanese school year is typically split into three terms, beginning in April. Breaks between terms occur in Summer, around New Year’s, and in late March. Yuuichi transfers into Nayuki’s school at the beginning of a new term, and given the time of year, one can safely assume it’s at the beginning of the final term in January. Granted, some locations in Hokkaido are snowpacked until April, but the snow is usually melting by then. And, besides, April marks the beginning of a new school year… Yuuichi clearly transferred into an existing class.

So, where am I going with this? In Episode 6, Yuuichi promises to meet Ayu in front of the train station at 5:00 PM for their movie date. Beforehand, he drops by the school in search of Nayuki, only to bump into Shiori instead. There, they talk and admire the sunset until a bells ring in the distance, signaling that the time is 5:00 PM. There’s just one little problem…

At no location in Japan north of the 38th parallel is the sun visible at 5:00 PM in the middle of January. At the earliest, sunset occurs around 4:00 PM. At the latest, sunset occurs around 4:45 PM. Either way, the sun is long gone by 5:00 PM.

Now, should Kanon actually take place in Moriguchi (damn global warming!), the sun would be visible at 5:00 PM in the middle of January… for about 5 minutes. It definitely wouldn’t be a good 30 degrees above the horizon as depicted in the image at the top of this post.

Of course, none of this is important, but given KyoAni’s standard attention to detail, I found it amusing, especially when you consider how explicit the scene was about the time of day. Although, if the scene played out in a similar fashion in the game (I don’t really recall those sort of details), I suppose it’s Key’s fault, and KyoAni should be commended for respecting the integrity of the original material despite its logical inconsistencies. Bravo, KyoAni?

Call Me Onii-chan…

12 Comments |
November 3, 2006
| Television

As I’ve mentioned before, Kanon is moving along a lot faster than I expected. Episode 5 just drives this home…

For one, it looks as if the show is about to hit Makoto’s story pretty hard. There’s still a lot left to her story, no doubt, and until I see a certain yet-to-be-introduced character pop up in a next episode preview, I can’t say, “Oh, this is it!” At the same time, I don’t see how KyoAni can stretch her story out for very long. Compared to the Toei version, the remake has been dropping hints about Makoto left and right, reinforcing my belief that KyoAni considers its audience to be primarily composed of Kanon veterans (no reason to play your cards close to your chest if everyone’s already seen your hand). Anyway, I suspect we’re only a few episodes away from having her story resolved.

As for Mai, her story is so involved that it can be slowly unraveled over time. In the Toei version, however, there wasn’t enough time to slowly unravel things, so we got stuck with a string of episodes in the middle of the show that focused almost solely on Mai alone - and, even then, certain details of her story were left untold. It didn’t work out all that well, and it proved to be my least favorite part of the show. This time around, however, KyoAni has all the time in the world. It’s possible they may choose to dive head first into Mai’s story once Makoto’s story is out of the way, but the option to take a more leisurely pace exists, at least.

Moving on to Shiori… very little of her story has been revealed thus far. Her story is actually pretty simple once its out in the open, but it takes awhile to reach that point. There’s a major aspect of her story that’s only barely been hinted at so far (provided you already know what to look for). Like the Toei version, I suspect we won’t see the resolution of her story until much later in the show.

Ayu is the grand finale, so I expect she’ll just continue hanging out in the background, snarfing taiyaki until the show’s final act. And Nayuki? Beats me. One of the interesting things about Nayuki is that’s she’s always there, and her story is one that slowly comes into focus over time. How KyoAni plans to resolve her story (if at all), I don’t know. That’s still three or four months away.

Oh, and I have to say this: Yuuichi 3.0 is quite the player. In fact, I think he’s actually differentiating himself from Kyon at this point (perhaps that was the intent?). Kyon was never this smooth.

UPDATE: Something that just came to mind… the Toei version of Kanon didn’t do much with Ayu’s story until late in the show, but her story (parts of it, at least) plays a role in the stories of two of the other girls. So, it’s entirely possible KyoAni may hit on her story a bit earlier than expected. I wonder how they’ll handle that?

Sad Girl Watch: Day Two

14 Comments |
October 26, 2006
| Otaku

No sad girls. Perhaps they got stuck in traffic.