Kanon Review

story 2/10

Kanon is quite possibly the most generic dribble ever to come out of a dating-sim series, as far as the romance goes. It is filled with the most stereotypical characters: an annoying, whiny, yet needy girl, a clutz that sounds like a 5 year old, who also acts like one, the outcast, the girl who is inevitably dying, etc. In addition to the textbook romance type story, the series can't decide what kind of show it is. It ranges from generic romance, to weird supernatural/horrorish (which ends up being LAME and unrealistic), and also a depressing tragedy of sorts related to death. Quite a bit of the plot is unrealistic, which makes the romance seem even more fake and game-related. And that's really what this series comes down to... it doesn't try to hide the fact that it's based on a game. You know how some series like this, you know they are based on a game, but they still might seem like it could be real life? Not so in Kanon... it literally feels like it was adapted right out of the game. Good? Not as far as I'm concerned.

Not to mention, the crux of the entire series (Yuuichi and his random amnesia) is never even explained!

animation 4/10

I've seen a lot of series in this genre, so it isn't like I am discriminating against this one only. I don't mind the dating sim look, but Kanon is just bad. The character designs are utterly terrible. Yuuichi is the best example, I think. Very pointy face, eyes that aren't the same size as anyone else in the show, but also very horizontal looking and wide. Hair that looks like a toupee. Female designs are totally generic and boring, with textbook eyes that take up half the face, hair that looks exactly the same on each person (including parents, who look like they are 15 too). Barely any shading was done with characters, especially the faces. Combined with the dot of ink that comprises the nose, the characters themselves are just not attractive to look at from an animation standpoint. Also, the hair shading was fairly ridiculous and bad looking (such as a horizontal white line across parts to indicate the light shining off of it, I guess?).

Besides the hideous attempt at character design, the rest wasn't too bad. Attention to detail was fairly well done, such as the reflection of the characters in a store window. Backgrounds decently done. The colors used were fairly random, sometimes good, and sometimes very dull or bad looking.

All in all, extremely average animation.. not in the sense that it looks old and bad, but that it is EXTREMELY generic. Plus the awful character designs.

sound 4/10

Completely standard textbook dating-sim game music. The occasional vocal track is played, but usually piano type tracks were played.

Voice actors I guess accomplished their goals, with syrupy sweet little girl voices for most of the characters, making them seem even more childish and immature than they might have been. There are barely any males in the series, but Yuuichi's voice was fine.

characters 2/10

As you surely remember, I mentioned already that the characters were incredibly generic and textbook. Honestly, you are so emotionless towards them because of how generic they are, that I can't give this score anything decent. When finding out a character is terminally ill, I rolled my eyes and thought "of COURSE they needed something like this in the show". You understand every character from the beginning, because you've seen it all before. Many times, in other series. The relationships between the characters seem paper thin and are uninteresting. Yuuichi's choice seems random, which some people might enjoy over the type where you know exactly who he will choose. In addition, the sense of fantasy that is thrown in occasionally makes you not able to take it seriously. I like fantasy shows, and I also like drama/romance type shows. But putting random bits of fantasy into a romance show just makes it unrealistic, and you can't take it seriously.

overall 3.5/10

If there ever was a good place to use the word "asstacular" it would be for Kanon. I forced myself to finish this show because I've wanted to see it for awhile, but my god, it was difficult to watch 13 episodes (plus the Kazahana special). It's literally just like watching any other dating sim.. whether it be Memories Off, or "With You", or (MUCH BETTER) Kimi ga Nozomu Eien... but instead of being short like the first two, it's 13 episodes. I have no idea how anyone would want to sit through that much of generic dating-sim action, myself.. but maybe you'd enjoy it. Usually the redeeming factor of these series is the animation, and it didn't cut it for Kanon. Dave, at one point, was talking to me and saw Yuuichi's face on the screen and said something along the lines of "wow, that guy's face is messed up".

As far as rewatchability, I hated this one, so what do you think?

Bah. I wouldn't touch this one with a 10 foot pole again.