My rating: 9/10
The story revolves around Yuuichi Aizawa, who moves in with his cousin in a cold, snowy town. Though he often visited the town as a child, he has forgotten much of his time there and slowly recovers his memory of what took place before. Throughout the story, Yuuichi becomes involved with the lives of many girls, each of which with their own issues and most having their own connection to Yuuichi in some form. As Yuuichi spends more time in the town, he steadily remembers more and more of what had happened to him in his past and there are quite a few emotional plot twists that take place, both with events in the present time and recollections of significant moments in Yuuichi’s past.
Kanon is very drama oriented, there are many touching scenes and Kanon can really pull at your heartstrings. All the same, it can be pretty lighthearted at times, and in particular it can be pretty amusing early on. One major thing I noticed was that Kanon 2006 had much more comedy than Kanon 2002, and a lot of that can probably be attributed to its longer run time.
With a series like this, it’s necessary to have a strong cast of characters, and Kanon does not disappoint with that. Yuuichi certainly makes for a good protagonist, but it’s really the girls who steal the spotlight. Many of the girls have their own characteristic quirks and sayings (Ayu’s “uguu” and Makoto’s “auu” for instance). There are five major girls who have a significant impact on the story: Nayuki Minase (Yuuichi’s cousin who cares deeply for him), Ayu Tsukimiya (a close friend that Yuuichi played with in years past), Makoto Sawatari (an amnesiac girl who carries a grudge against Yuuichi), Mai Kawasumi (the quiet, subdued girl who fights demons), and Shiori Misaka (a sick girl who rarely attends school). All of these characters get a great deal of development and growth, with each having their own arc that focuses on their stories.
I enjoyed Kanon quite a bit, and this is expected since I’m a huge fan of Clannad. I could definitely see the parallels between the two and Clannad was definitely influenced by a number of Kanon’s tropes, in areas such as setting, characters, and even the plot itself in a few ways. This was even apparent between Clannad and Kanon 2002, but there were even greater similarities with Kanon 2006 because the two were both made by the same studio (Kyoto Animation), which I have come to appreciate as a great anime studio from what I have watched. Though Clannad has supernatural elements of its own, Kanon is driven far more by them and this becomes more and more clear as the story progresses.
Story: 8/10
Animation: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Entertainment: 9.5/10