is a Japanese
visual novelA is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
developed by
KeyKey is a Japanese visual novel studio which formed on July 21, 1998 as a brand under the publisher Visual Art's and is located in Kita, Osaka, Japan. Key released their debut visual novel Kanon in June 1999, which combined an elaborate storyline, an up-to-date anime-style drawing style, and a...
and originally released as an
adult gameAn or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
on June 4, 1999, playable on a
Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. An all ages version for the PC was released in January 2000, and was later ported to the Dreamcast,
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, and
PlayStation PortableThe is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
. The
Kanon Standard Edition was released for the PC as an adult version in November 2004 and an all ages version in January 2005. Both
Standard Editions are playable as a DVD-ROM and incorporate the extra graphics added to the earlier all ages version of the game, added support for
Windows 2000Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
/
XPWindows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, and other technical changes such as more save slots. The
gameplayGameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
in
Kanon follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the five female main characters.
Kanon has been adapted into
light novelA is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
s,
drama CDsRadio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
, and two
animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and
mangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series. The first anime is a thirteen episode TV series that aired between January and March 2002; this version includes a one episode
original video animation, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
(OVA),
Kazahana, released in March 2003. Both the original anime adaptation and the OVA were produced by the animation studio
Toei AnimationToei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
. The second anime adaptation, created by
Kyoto Animation, abbreviated , is a Japanese animation studio located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1981, became a limited company in 1985 and then became a corporation in 1999. Presided by Hideaki Hatta, the company is affiliated with noted studio Sunrise and is also parent to the studio...
, contained twenty-four episodes and aired in Japan between October 2006 and March 2007; this series was first licensed by ADV Films, but the license was transferred to
FunimationFunimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
in July 2008 and is released in English. The second TV adaptation plays on the association between
Kanon and the musical term
canonIn music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
by using
PachelbelJohann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
's
Kanon D-dur, or
Canon in D major, as a background piece at certain instances throughout the series.
In the October 2007 issue of
Dengeki G's Magazineis a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
, poll results for the fifty best
bishōjo gameA , or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive anime-style girls". These games are a sub-genre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience....
s were released; out of 249 titles,
Kanon ranked fifth with seventy-one votes. According to a national ranking of how well bishōjo games sold nationally in Japan, the original
Kanon release for the PC premiered at number two in the ranking. Three years later in June 2002, the original release ranked in again at forty-five, and then again at forty-six the following two weeks.
Kanon has sold over 300,000 units across several platforms, not counting the PSP release.
Gameplay
Kanons
gameplayGameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the game screen which represents either
dialogueDialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point" where he or she is given the chance to choose from multiple options. The time between these decision points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. Gameplay pauses at these points and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction.
There are five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. To view all five plot lines, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices during the decision points to progress the plot in an alternate direction.
Jun Maedais a Japanese writer working for the software company Key; he has majorly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the visual novels the company produces. His birth name in kanji was written as , though there is no change in pronunciation...
, who worked on the scenario for Kanon
, commented in March 2001 that the Japanese public may have fallen under the impression that Key makes soothing games because of Kanons influence, but Maeda affirmed that there was not one person who worked on
Kanon who thought that.
One of the goals of the original version's gameplay is for the player to enable the viewing of
adult scenes is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
depicting Yuichi and one of the five heroines having
sexual intercourseSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
. Later, Key released two editions of
Kanon without the erotic content. The versions that include the adult content include one explicit sex scene in each of the five main story routes, 50-75% of the way through, excluding one fantasy scene. Outside of these, there are two scenes with
nudityNudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
which use the same
CGsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
.
Yūichi Suzumotois a male Japanese novelist originally from Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Japan, though he now lives in Osaka, Japan. As of 2006, he works for Aquaplus, known for being the publishing company of Leaf. Before going to Leaf, Suzumoto worked at the publishing company Visual Art's as a scenario writer for...
, a scenario writer who worked on later Key titles, commented that the sex scenes in
Kanon are very self-contained, and can be easily removed without altering the story. Maeda was asked what he thought if the sex scenes had been written to promote
human reproductionHuman reproduction is any form of sexual reproduction resulting in the conception of a child, typically involving sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. During intercourse, the interaction between the male and female reproductive systems results in fertilization of the woman's ovum by the...
, but he remarks that it would not work in games like
Kanon or
Air.
Setting and themes
There are several important locations featured in the
Kanon story, though the location names are seldom mentioned explicitly in Key's works. The time of year the story occurs in is during winter, and since it often snows periodically over the course of the entire story, the city is always presented covered in a layer of snow. The
shopping districtA shōtengai is a style of Japanese commercial district running along a certain street. Shōtengai often connect to the nearest train station. Most suburbs and towns of Japan have shōtengai of varying size, and larger shōtengai may take the form of covered arcades that are blocked off to traffic...
is featured throughout the story when the characters go into town, and especially whenever Ayu appears in the early story. The high school where Yuichi and the other main characters attend, including the school grounds, is shown predominantly in Shiori's and Mai's stories, and is otherwise a general setting where Yuichi interacts with other characters.
There are recurring themes that appear throughout the story. A music theme is present, as the episode titles from the 2006–2007 anime have parts in their titles related to music, such as
overtureOverture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
and
introitThe Introit is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and Gloria Patri that is spoken or sung at the beginning of the celebration...
.
MiracleA miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s play a large part in the story; Kanons plot line and characters are influenced by various instances where miracles occur. The act of promising and keeping promises is found throughout the story. Yuichi eventually makes important promises to the five main girls while at the same time fulfilling past promises he had made with four of them when he used to visit the city as a kid.
One of the
motifsIn narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
in the story is
amnesiaAmnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, or memory loss; three of the main characters—Yuichi, Ayu and Makoto—suffer from amnesia in varying degrees; this is used as a plot device to advance the story. Another motif deals with the favorite foods of the five main heroines.
Newtype USAis a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime and manga . It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985 with its April issue, and has since seen regular release on the 10th of every month in its home country...
stated in an article on Kanon that, "it's when the characters are eating something really tasty that they seem most beautiful and alive," despite the somber setting and overall tone of the series. These five foods of choice are:
taiyakiis a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, or cheese. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside....
(Ayu), strawberries (Nayuki),
nikumanNikuman is a Japanese food made from flour dough, and filled with cooked ground pork or other ingredients. It is a kind of chūka man similar to the Chinese baozi , also known in English as pork buns.Nikuman are steamed and often sold as street food...
(Makoto), ice cream (Shiori), and
gyudon, , is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with dashi , soy sauce and mirin . It also often includes shirataki noodles, and is sometimes topped with a raw egg...
(Mai).
Principal characters
The player assumes the role of Yuichi Aizawa, the protagonist of Kanon. He is a cynical seventeen year-old high school student, and is known to play jokes on the girls his age he knows and interacts with throughout the story. Despite this, Yuichi is very loyal and will go to great lengths to please others, even at the expense of his own time and money. He generally has a selfless personality and does not ask much from others in return for what he does for them.
Ayu Tsukimiyais a fictional character and the main heroine in Key's adult visual novel Kanon, followed closely by Nayuki Minase who is the only Kanon heroine to appear with Ayu on three of the official game covers released by Key. Ayu was created by Naoki Hisaya who wrote her scenario for the visual novel, and...
, the main heroine of Kanon
, is a short, strange, and mysterious girl immediately recognizable by her winged backpack, red hair band, and tendency to refer to herself with the masculine first-person pronounThe Japanese language is unusual among major languages in the high degree to which the speech of women collectively differs from that of men. Differences in the ways that girls and boys use language have been detected in children as young as three years old ....
. She has a fondness for eating taiyakiis a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, or cheese. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside....
, and is notorious for her catchphrase, , which she mutters as an expression of various negative emotions such as frustration, pain, and fear. Yuichi's first cousin Nayuki Minase, another of Kanons heroines, has been in love with him since childhood, and must learn how to deal with her feelings, especially with the threat that he may fall in love with one of the other girls. Nayuki talks noticeably slower than those around her, and has constant trouble waking up in the morning except on a few occasions when she is up before Yuichi, much to his surprise.
Yuichi is accosted a few days after arriving in the city by Kanons third heroine Makoto Sawatari, a young girl who has
lost her memoriesAmnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, but despite this she is sure that she holds a grudge against Yuichi from when he last visited the city. Makoto has a mischievous side and constantly plays pranks on Yuichi. She has an affinity towards the spring and once wished that it would stay spring forever. Yuichi coincidentally runs into Shiori Misaka, another heroine and first-year high school student suffering from an unexplained illness since birth. Her affliction has caused her to become very physically weak, and she is almost always absent from school because of it. She tries to be strong in the face of her condition, and gets along well with others, even though she does not know very many people her age due to her condition. The fifth and final heroine in Kanon
is Mai Kawasumi, a third-year student of the same high school that Yuichi attends. She has a cold attitude towards almost everyone, but despite this, she is actually a very kind and caring person; she "punishes" someone who makes a playful joke about her by giving them a light karateis a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
chop to the head.
Story
Kanon
s story revolves around a group of five girls whose lives are connected to the same boy. Yuichi Aizawa is a second-year high school student who had visited the city where the story takes place seven years prior to Kanons beginning. The story opens on Wednesday January 6, 1999 when Yuichi arrives in the city and is very detached from it and its inhabitants. Prior to his return, it is decided that he is to stay with his first cousin, Nayuki Minase, and her mother, Akiko. After his long absence, Yuichi has forgotten almost everything except minor details of what happened seven years before and is in need of being reminded of what he left behind. Nayuki initially tries repeatedly to jog his memory, but is unsuccessful. Throughout the story, as he learns about the supernatural undertones of the city, Yuichi is reminded of the events of seven years ago.
On the day after Yuichi's return, he is out with Nayuki who is showing him around city. Nayuki remembers that she has to buy things for dinner, but Yuichi is reluctant to go into the store with her, arguing that he might get lost. Moments after Nayuki leaves him waiting on the sidewalk, a strange girl named Ayu Tsukimiya collides with him with little warning. Upon recovering, she drags him away to a nearby café and confesses to inadvertently stealing a bag filled with
taiyakiis a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, or cheese. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside....
after being accidentally scared away by the salesman before she had a chance to pay. Yuichi drags Ayu back to the salesman, where they both apologize for the trouble, and Ayu is forgiven. They decide to meet up again another day and Ayu scampers off. A few days after he has been in the city, Yuichi is accosted by a girl named Makoto Sawatari who has
lost her memoriesAmnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, though still remembers that she has a grudge against him from when he last visited the city. After she collapses in the street, he takes her home and learns about her situation. Akiko gives her permission to live with them for the time being, which is against Yuichi's plan to hand her over to the police.
Another girl who is connected to Yuichi's past is Mai Kawasumi who attends his high school as a third-year. She takes it upon herself to fight and defeat
demoncall - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s at night while the school is deserted. Due to this, she is constantly blamed for accidents because she never denies them, being too sincere to say anything and knowing that no one will believe that there are demons in the school. Yuichi coincidentally meets a fifth girl named Shiori Misaka for the first time who he gets to know along with the other four heroines in the story. She has suffered from an unexplained affliction since birth which makes her weak to the point of missing school because of it. Yuichi starts to talk with her more after noticing her in the school courtyard one day. It turns out that Shiori stands outside on the school grounds nearly every day because she wants to meet someone dear to her.
Development
After leaving
TacticsTactics is a Japanese visual novel studio which specializes in the development of dating sim and eroge style games. Tactics is actually a branch of the joint company Nexton. Their debut release was a game entitled Dōsei in mid-1997, followed by Moon. in the same year, and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e in...
under
Nextonis a Japanese software company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novel video games for a nine game developers that Nexton is partners with. The company is located in Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Japan...
, most of the team that had been involved with
One: Kagayaku Kisetsu eis a Japanese adult visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and released on May 26, 1998 playable on the PC for Windows 95. Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel company Key. The game was later ported to the...
formed the company
KeyKey is a Japanese visual novel studio which formed on July 21, 1998 as a brand under the publisher Visual Art's and is located in Kita, Osaka, Japan. Key released their debut visual novel Kanon in June 1999, which combined an elaborate storyline, an up-to-date anime-style drawing style, and a...
in 1998. Key's first project once under the publishing company
Visual Art's, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
was
Kanon. The planning for the visual novel was headed by
Jun Maedais a Japanese writer working for the software company Key; he has majorly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the visual novels the company produces. His birth name in kanji was written as , though there is no change in pronunciation...
, and
Naoki Hisaya, born , is a Japanese screenwriter who has worked for Tactics, Key and Siesta, but as of 2006, he is a freelance writer. He is well known for being the main writer of the popular visual novel Kanon while working under Key. Additional works include Moon., One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e, and Moon Childe....
who were also the two writers for the scenario used in the game. Art direction was headed by Key's artist
Itaru Hinoueis a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the software company Key. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named...
who worked on the character design and computer graphics. Further computer graphics were split between three people—Din, Miracle Mikipon, Shinory—and background art was provided by Torino. The music in the game was
composedA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
primarily by
OdiakeSOdiakeS is a Japanese composer from Tokyo, Japan who has worked for a variety of visual novel companies. His first work was on the game One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e under Tactics. When the staff of One left Tactics to create the company Key, OdiakeS became a member of Key and had a hand in the musical...
and
Shinji Oritois a Japanese musical composer originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the software company Key. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named Leaf where he contributed to four games...
.
Kanon was the first and last visual novel developed by Key that two of the main staff—Naoki Hisaya, and OdiakeS—worked on before pursuing a similar line of work in other visual novel studios.
Release history
Kanon was first introduced in Japan on June 4, 1999, playable only on a
Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
as a
CD-ROMA CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
. The next year was followed by two separate releases: an all ages version released on January 7, 2000 for the PC, and the first consumer console
portIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
of the game for the Dreamcast on September 14, 2000. The second consumer port for the
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
was released on February 28, 2002, and featured different cover art for the disk case. After the PS2 game sold enough units, two years later on December 22, 2004 a cheaper version for the PS2 also known as the "Best Version" went on sale for about half the original price. The PS2 Best Version was bundled in a "Key 3-Part Work Premium Box" package together with the PS2 Best Versions of
Air and
Clannad released on July 30, 2009.
The
Kanon Standard Edition was released on November 26, 2004 with added support for
Windows 2000Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
/
XPWindows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
as a DVD-ROM. Only this version and the original release contain pornographic scenes. Three months later on January 28, 2005, the same game was released with the
adult is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
content removed. A
PlayStation PortableThe is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
(PSP) version of the game went on sale in Japan on February 15, 2007. The first release of the PSP version came with a special DVD featuring a message from five of the voice actors and a recompiled opening video from the video game version. The five voice actors on the DVD included:
Mariko Kōdais a seiyū, J-Pop singer and radio personality born on September 5, 1969 in Miyashiro, Minami Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She graduated from Kasukabe Kyōei High School and went on to major in Communications at Tamagawa University in Machida City, Tokyo, graduating in 1990...
as Nayuki Minase, Akemi Satō as Shiori Misaka,
Mayumi Iizukais a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer who was born in Tokyo and grew up in Taiwan and Yokohama. Iizuka is a member of Gekidan Wakakusa and Tokuma Japan Communications....
as Makoto Sawatari,
Yūko Minaguchiis a Japanese seiyū from Tokyo who is affiliated with Aoni Production.-Notable voice roles:* Princess Apricot in Bosco Adventure * Yumi in Blue Sonnet * Yawara Inokuma and Kaneko Inokuma in Yawara!...
as Akiko Minase, and
Tomokazu Sugitais a Japanese voice actor employed by Atomic Monkey. Best known for his role as Gintoki in Gintama, he also voices Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. He is also one of the three hosts on the radio show Bururaji promoting the videogame Blazblue which is produced and released on Nico Nico...
as Yuichi Aizawa.
Yui Horieis a popular Japanese singer and voice actress. She is sometimes affectionately nicknamed by her Japanese fans.She hosts a radio show called and is the founding member of the singing group, Aice5. She is also a member of the band Kurobara Hozonkai, with the name YUIEL...
as Ayu Tsukimiya voiced the short introduction of the DVD, but was not featured in the contents of the DVD itself. A downloadable version of the PSP release via the
PlayStation StoreThe PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
was released by Prototype on October 9, 2009.
A version playable on
FOMAFreedom of Mobile Multimedia Access is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services being offered by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo...
and SoftBank 3G
mobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s was released by Prototype through
Visual Art's Motto, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
in May 2007. In the original release, there was no voice acting for the characters, but in the later versions produced for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, full-voice acting was included to heighten the experience. The only exception was Yuichi, who was not voiced in either version. However, the PSP release features voice acting for Yuichi, provided by Tomokazu Sugita. An updated version of
Kanon compatible for
Windows VistaWindows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
PCs was released by Key on July 31, 2009 in a box set containing five other Key visual novels called Key 10th Memorial Box; this version, like the other PC releases, contains no voice acting and was rated for all ages. Another updated version compatible for Windows 7 PCs called
Kanon Memorial Edition was released on April 30, 2010 rated for all ages.
Light novels
Five
adultErotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of human sexual relationships which have the power to or are intended to arouse the reader sexually. Such erotica takes the form of novels, short stories, poetry, true-life memoirs, and sex manuals...
light novelA is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
s written by Mariko Shimizu and published by
Paradigmis a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan. The company mainly publishes novels based on adult visual novel video games....
were released in Japan between December 1999 and August 2000. The cover art and internal illustrations were drawn by
Itaru Hinoueis a female Japanese artist from Osaka, Japan, and is one of the founding members of the software company Key. Hinoue's choice of her pseudonym stems from the manga C by Shō Kitagawa; the protagonist in the manga was named...
, the artist who drew the artwork in the visual novel. The basis for each novel was one of each of the five heroines and had titles that were taken from the musical themes pertaining to each character in the original game. The first two released were and in December 1999. The third was released in April 2000 and the fourth novel was entitled
The Fox and the Grapes (Makoto), released two months later. The final novel entitled was released in August 2000. Paradigm re-released the five novels in conjunction with
Visual Art's, formally , is a Japanese publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Art's has developed the game engines their brands currently use, including the current engine, called Siglus, and older engines RealLive and...
under their VA Bunko
imprintIn the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
, which removed the erotic scenes, starting with
Girl in the Snow on June 27, 2009, and ending with
A Sunny City on December 26, 2009. To make up for the missing erotic content, Shimizu wrote additional content for each volume. A sixth novel entitled for the supporting character Sayuri Kurata written by Shimizu and illustrated by Zen was released on March 31, 2011. The original releases of the novels sold over 500,000 copies in Japan.
Drama CDs
There are three complete sets of
drama CDsRadio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
based on
Kanon, containing five CDs each, for a total of fifteen CDs; these drama CDs were released over the course of three years, between September 29, 2000 and April 26, 2003. The first two sets focused on each heroine separately per CD; the cover of the album would depict which of the girls was to be presented. The third set did not follow this format, but instead were
anthologyAn anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
drama CDs which depicted Akiko Minase on the cover of the albums in this set.
Manga
The first
Kanon mangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
was serialized in
MediaWorkswas a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks' main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. The company was merged with ASCII...
' manga magazine
Dengeki Daiohis a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by ASCII Media Works under the Dengeki brand. Many manga serialized in Dengeki Daioh were later published in tankōbon volumes under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint. The magazine is sold every month on the 27th...
between the December 2000 and July 2002 issues sold on October 21, 2000 and May 21, 2002, respectively. The individual chapters were later collected into two separate
volumes, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
published by MediaWorks under their
Dengeki Comicsis a manga publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works and is aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label which publishes a lesser number of manga volumes...
label released on September 27, 2000 and July 27, 2002. The story was adapted from the visual novel version that preceded it, and is illustrated by Petit Morishima. There are six chapters in total, three in each volume. Aside from the
prologueA prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
in volume one and the
epilogueAn epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
in volume two, the other four chapters concern four of the main heroines. From chapters one through four, the main heroines presented are: Shiori Misaka, Makoto Sawatari, Mai Kawasumi and Ayu Tsukimiya. To make up for Nayuki not getting a chapter of her own, the story is altered in that Nayuki is in most of the scenes Yuichi is in. The first manga is different than the visual novel in that Shiori's, Makoto's, and Mai's stories are not told in their entirety. Near the end of each of these girls' stories were originally intended to give the viewer the remaining answers, but the manga version ends these girls' stories prematurely. This was due to the manga putting more focus on Ayu's story.
The second manga, under the main title with the subtitle
each regret of Kanon, was serialized between volumes two and seven of the Japanese manga magazine
Dragon Age Purewas a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. It was first released on January 30, 2006 and was initially sold quarterly. Starting with the sale of the fourth volume on April 20, 2007, the magazine was sold bimonthly until its final issue, the fifteenth volume released on February...
published by
Fujimi Shobois a Japanese publishing company that specializes in the publication of light novels, manga, role-playing games and collectible card games. The company started in 1991 as a subsidiary of Kadokawa Shoten.-Magazines published:Light novel magazines...
sold between June 29, 2006 and October 20, 2007, respectively. The story was adapted from the visual novel version that preceded it, and was illustrated by Kinusa Shimotsuki. The first bound volume was released in Japan on April 1, 2007 and focused on Nayuki's story. There were five chapters in volume one, starting with a forty-six-page chapter one, followed by two smaller extra chapters twelve pages long each. Chapter four was forty pages long, followed by a six page epilogue. The second bound volume was released on December 8, 2007 and focuses on the other four heroines. There are four chapters in volume two, one for each of the other heroines not featuring in volume one, starting with Makoto's thirty-eight-page chapter, followed by Mai's with eighteen pages, Shiori's with twenty, and finally Ayu's with forty-eight pages.
There have also been many releases of manga
anthologiesAn anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
produced by different companies and drawn by a multitude of different artists. The first volume of the earliest anthology series, released by
Ichijinshais a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the name Studio DNA which main purpose was to edit shōnen manga. In January 1998, Studio DNA became a public company and...
under the title
Kanon Comic Anthology, was released in November 2000 under their
DNA Media Comics label. Volumes for this series continued to be released for another two years, ending in December 2002 with the fourteenth volume; an additional fifteenth volume was released later in February 2007. Ichijinsha also released two more volumes of anthology collections of
four-panelthumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s entitled
Kanon 4-koma Kings in April and June 2001. Softgarage released an anthology in a single volume in December 2002 entitled
Kanon Anthology Comic. In April 2004, Ohzora released an anthology composed of works based on both
Kanon and
Air entitled
Haru Urara: Kanon & Air. Between June and August 2004, Ohzora also released five separate volumes of manga based on
Kanon drawn by five separate artists. Ohzora later collected some of the previously published manga anthologies into two volumes entitled
Kanon Anthology Comics Best Selection released in December 2006 and January 2007. Additionally, Ohzora released another thirteen volumes of an anthology series entitled
Kanon under their
Twin Heart Comics label. The now-bankrupt publisher Raporto also released twenty-one manga anthology volumes entitled
Kanon under their
Raporto Comics label between November 2000 and October 2002. The last manga anthology, a collection of four-panel comic strips released in a single volume by
Enterbrainis a Japanese magazine publisher established on April 1, 2000. Enterbrain magazines are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan...
entitled
Magi-Cuwas a Japanese manga magazine published by Enterbrain and was sold monthly on the twenty-fifth. The name comes from the phrase Magical Cute. The magazine was first published on April 27, 2001 under the title Magi-Cu Premium. It kept that title for three years until 2004, when it was changed to...
4-koma Kanon, was released in January 2007 under their
MC Comics label. Each of the anthology series are written and drawn by an average of twenty people per volume.
Anime
The first
Kanon animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
was produced by the Japanese animation studio
Toei AnimationToei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
and directed by
Takamichi Itōis a Japanese anime director.-References:...
. Thirteen episodes were produced and aired in Japan between January 31 and March 28, 2002. Later, a single
original video animation, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
(OVA) episode entitled "Kanon Kazahana" was released in March 2003. The anime series and OVA used the songs "Florescence" and "Flower" for the opening and ending themes, respectively. While it does not appear as the ending theme in the first twelve episodes or in the OVA, the game's ending theme "Where the Wind Reaches" is used as the ending theme for the series in episode thirteen. Additionally, the game's opening theme "Last regrets" is played near the end of episode thirteen during the flashback scene.
Starting in 2006,
Kyoto Animation, abbreviated , is a Japanese animation studio located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1981, became a limited company in 1985 and then became a corporation in 1999. Presided by Hideaki Hatta, the company is affiliated with noted studio Sunrise and is also parent to the studio...
, the animators of another
KeyKey is a Japanese visual novel studio which formed on July 21, 1998 as a brand under the publisher Visual Art's and is located in Kita, Osaka, Japan. Key released their debut visual novel Kanon in June 1999, which combined an elaborate storyline, an up-to-date anime-style drawing style, and a...
game-turned-anime,
Air, decided to animate a new adaptation of
Kanon. This version, directed by
Tatsuya Ishiharais a Japanese anime director from Maizuru, Kyoto working for the Japanese animation studio Kyoto Animation.-Series directed:*Air Series Director*Aka-chan to Boku*Clannad *Fushigi Yuugi...
, aired between October 5, 2006 and March 15, 2007 on the Japanese television broadcasting station
BS-iis a satellite broadcasting station headquartered in Asakaka Gochome, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its channel name is BS-TBS . It is a member television station of Japan News Network.-Channels:*Television: BS-TBS is assigned BS161ch - 163ch....
, containing twenty-four episodes. ADV Films announced on September 21, 2007 at the
Anime Weekend AtlantaAnime Weekend Atlanta is an annual three-day anime convention held in the Atlanta, Georgia area, typically in the month of September. Since the first convention in 1995, Anime Weekend Atlanta has become one of the most attended anime conventions in the United States and as of 2010 it has been the...
anime conventionAn anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels...
that they have officially licensed the second
Kanon anime series. ADV had previously posted a trailer for the series in August 2007, but was soon taken offline once the news had been spread on the Internet. The first English-dubbed episode was made available via streaming online at
Anime News NetworkAnime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
between December 23 and December 30, 2007. In July 2008, the licensing rights of the second
Kanon anime were transferred from ADV to
Funimation EntertainmentFunimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
who continued to produce the series in North America.
The second TV
Kanon animation features the same
voice actingVoice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
cast as the original version released in 2002, with the exception of Yuichi and Kuze. This version is longer at twenty-four episodes instead of the previous thirteen, and has updated animation quality. Unlike the first anime, the actual theme songs from the
Kanon game are used for the second anime's opening theme, ending theme and soundtrack. There is one song featured as an insert song in episode sixteen that did not come from the visual novel titled "Last regrets (X'mas floor style)" by
Eiko Shimamiya, born April 20, is a female J-pop singer and member of the production group I've Sound since their first album. She is best known for singing the opening themes of the anime series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Eiko also handles a school called Shimamiya Size in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan...
from
I've SoundI've Sound, or simply called , is a Japanese techno/trance music production group based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. Led by Kazuya Takase, it features the talents of seasoned "sound creators" and many different female vocalists, known as to their fans....
's first album
RegretRegret is the first compilation album by Japanese music production unit I've Sound and volume one in their Girls Compilation album series. Released on December 24, 1999, the album is a collection of songs they have produced for various adult PC games. It features vocals by Aki, Ayana, Eiko...
. Other songs are used from the
arrangeThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
albums released over the years, which include
Anemoscope,
Recollections,
Re-feel, and
Ma-Na-External links:*...
.
Music
The visual novel has two main theme songs, the opening theme "Last regrets", and the ending theme , both sung by
Ayanais a Japanese singer-songwriter. She debuted in 1999 as the singer of the opening and ending themes to Key's visual novel Kanon. In 2000, she formed the two-member group Blue Velvet with Shūichi Aoki. She later became a guest vocalist for I've Sound and appeared at the Nippon Budokan on October 15,...
. The lyrics for both songs were written by
Jun Maedais a Japanese writer working for the software company Key; he has majorly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the visual novels the company produces. His birth name in kanji was written as , though there is no change in pronunciation...
, and arranged by Takase Kazuya of
I've SoundI've Sound, or simply called , is a Japanese techno/trance music production group based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. Led by Kazuya Takase, it features the talents of seasoned "sound creators" and many different female vocalists, known as to their fans....
. The five heroines have
leitmotifA leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s. Ayu's theme is ; Nayuki's theme is ; Makoto's theme is "The Fox and the Grapes"; Shiori's theme is ; lastly, Mai's theme is .
The first music album released was
Anemoscope which came bundled with the original release of
Kanon in June 1999. The next release was a single, "Last regrets/Place of wind which arrives", which contained the opening and ending themes plus
arrangedThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
versions of three
background musicAlthough background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
tracks and a male vocal version of the opening theme. A compilation album containing tracks from the two albums was released in December 2001 called
Recollections. The game's original soundtrack was released in October 2002 containing twenty-two different tracks along with short versions of the two theme songs. A piano arrange album was released in December 2003 called
Re-feel which contained five tracks from
Kanon and five from
Air. Excluding the first two albums, each of the albums released for the visual novel version were released on Key's
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Key Sounds LabelKey Sounds Label is a Japanese independent record label formed in 2001 as a brand of the publishing company Visual Art's. Key Sounds Label was formed to catalog and release music related to visual novels produced by the brand Key, also under Visual Art's, known for developing such titles as Kanon...
; this is due to the first two albums being released before the label was formed.
The first anime's first original soundtrack was released in May 2002, and a second followed in July 2002. The first anime's opening theme is "Florescence" and the ending theme is "Flower", both sung by Miho Fujiwara; the
maxi singleA maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an a-side song and a b-side song.-The first maxi singles:...
containing the anime's opening and ending themes was released in June 2002. An album containing
music boxA music box is a 19th century automatic musical instrument that produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned teeth of a steel comb. They were developed from musical snuff boxes of the 18th century and called carillons à musique...
arranged tracks of music from the first anime was released in July 2003 called
Orgel de Kiku Sakuhin Shū. The albums released for the first anime were produced by
Frontier Worksis a Japanese company specializing in the creation and distribution of media related to anime, such as producing OVAs, radio dramas, drama CDs, anime soundtracks, or other related products...
and
Movicis a Japanese company which specializes in the publication of trading cards, figures, CDs, and other general media related to the anime industry. Movic is a part of the Animate group.-Anime involved in:*Ah! My Goddess: The Movie: Production...
. A single was released in commemoration for the second anime called "Last regrets/Kaze no Tadoritsuku Basho" which contained the game's original opening and ending themes in original, short, and remixed versions; the album was produced by Key Sounds Label.
Reception and legacy
According to a national ranking of how well
bishōjo gameA , or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive anime-style girls". These games are a sub-genre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience....
s sold nationally in Japan, the original
Kanon release for the PC premiered at number two in the ranking. Three years later in June 2002, the original release ranked in again at forty-five, and then again at forty-six the following two weeks. The original release also made the ranking after that at number forty-one in early July 2002. The
Kanon Standard Edition premiered at number sixteen in the rankings. The
Kanon Standard Edition remained on the top fifty list for the next two months, achieving the rankings of forty-seven and thirty-five. The all ages version of the
Kanon Standard Edition premiered at number forty-two on the national ranking, went up to thirty-five the next month, and did not appear on the rankings after that. The Dreamcast port sold 42,379 units in the first week and was the fourth top selling console game in Japan for that week.
Kanon has sold over 300,000 units across several platforms, not counting the PSP release.
The first PS2 release in 2002 was reviewed by the Japanese video game magazine
Famitsuis a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
where the game received an overall score of 29/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 7, 8, 7, and 7).
Yūichi Suzumotois a male Japanese novelist originally from Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Japan, though he now lives in Osaka, Japan. As of 2006, he works for Aquaplus, known for being the publishing company of Leaf. Before going to Leaf, Suzumoto worked at the publishing company Visual Art's as a scenario writer for...
commented in an interview in March 2001 that he felt the end of
Kanons story could be summed up as "the prince and princess live happily ever after. The end," resulting in an ending that does not expand on what could possibly happen afterwards. In the October 2007 issue of Dengeki G's Magazineis a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
, poll results for the fifty best bishōjo games were released. Out of 249 titles, Kanon
ranked fifth with seventy-one votes.
Characters from Kanon
have appeared in several dōjin games, also sometimes called , are video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups , more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of independent video games. Most of them are based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations...
not directly based on the Kanon
series such as the Eternal Fighter ZeroEternal Fighter Zero is a dōjin fighting games for Microsoft Windows produced by Twilight Frontier, including characters from the visual novels Moon., One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e, Kanon, and Air...
game by Twilight FrontierTwilight Frontier is a Japanese doujin game developer. They are noted for making high quality derivative works of other games.-Productions:...
where most of the playable characters either came from Kanon
or from an earlier KeyKey is a Japanese visual novel studio which formed on July 21, 1998 as a brand under the publisher Visual Art's and is located in Kita, Osaka, Japan. Key released their debut visual novel Kanon in June 1999, which combined an elaborate storyline, an up-to-date anime-style drawing style, and a...
game entitled Oneis a Japanese adult visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and released on May 26, 1998 playable on the PC for Windows 95. Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel company Key. The game was later ported to the...
. The dōjin game Glove on FightGlove on Fight is a doujin boxing video game released in 2002 by Watanabe Seisakujo . . The game features characters from various sources, including anime, dating sims, other doujin, and a company mascot...
featured at least two Kanon
characters: Ayu Tsukimiya and Akiko Minase in a fighting style game along with various other characters taken from other media. The character Ayu Tsukimiyais a fictional character and the main heroine in Key's adult visual novel Kanon, followed closely by Nayuki Minase who is the only Kanon heroine to appear with Ayu on three of the official game covers released by Key. Ayu was created by Naoki Hisaya who wrote her scenario for the visual novel, and...
in particular is known to appear in works outside Kanon
, such as in strip sixty-seven of the webcomicWebcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
Megatokyois an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
where Ayu is shown eating taiyakiis a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, or cheese. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside....
.
Five days before the first PS2 release for Kanon
, a PlayStation 2 printer called Tapis MPR-505 went on sale which enabled the user to print out game screens. Kanon
was one of the three games supported at launch, the other two being America Ōden Ultra Quiz
from DigiCubeDigiCube Co., Ltd. was a Japanese company established as a subsidiary of software developer Square on February 6, 1996 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The primary purpose of DigiCube was to market and distribute Square products, most notably video games and related merchandise, including toys,...
and Marle de Jigsaw
from Nippon Ichi Software.
The second Kanon
anime series was reviewed at Anime News NetworkAnime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
where Theron Martin commented how the series is a "formulaic moe haremfest", and how the moe aspects of the series may make viewers "feel like they're drowning in a vat of gooey cuteness". The series is described as being similar to the anime television adaptation of Air
, saying "Like Air
, the first four episodes can be simply summarized as 'male lead arrives in town and kills time interacting with cute girls.' Unlike Air
, however, these interactions can occasionally be very funny." Martin also compares Kanon
to the anime adaptation of Shuffle!is a Japanese visual novel developed by Navel. It was originally released as an adult game for Microsoft Windows on January 30, 2004. It was subsequently followed by an all-ages release for the PlayStation 2 and an expanded adult release for Windows...
which is described as "bombing" where Kanon
"works". The reviewer chalks this up to the characters "endear[ing] themselves to the viewer...far better than what Shuffle!s do." Martin cites the transition between humor and serious content as a defining feature of the series. However, Martin comments how one of the series' flaws is how it "overplays the mundane cutesiness and moe cards at times" causing little to happen with the plot. Yuichi is described as being "too erratic to be fully credible" or easily believable. Despite the series' drawbacks, Martin still describes the series as "one of the best moe-centric series to date" and lauds Kyoto Animation's production values making
Kanon "one of the prettiest-looking anime series of the past year". Martin adds another series comparison, citing
Kanon as the "polar opposite of
Gurren Lagann", which deals primarily in its action-oriented content.
External links