Kanon Review

2023-12-31

I'm dreaming.

January approaches yet again with a new year, and that brings certain things to mind. The passage of time, the friends that've stayed by your side, the good experiences you've had, and the bad ones, too. For me, it just reminds me that I haven't really done anything with myself yet. And that's fine, I know I'm getting somewhere. Maybe not very fast, but I'm getting somewhere. The space between years always seems to carry with it a certain kind of motivation, though. It's this motivation that led me to binge-reading the classic 1999 Key visual novel, Kanon, for three days straight.

I came out of it, not really feeling anything. Which is fine. Binging is always the worst way to experience something, but maybe my heart is just frozen over.

Either way, though, I still enjoyed the experience thouroughly. The cast in the game feels very alive (heh) and charming, which is probably one of the most important things to nail down when the majority of the content in your visual novel is going to be the day-to-day interactions with these characters. Even those who seldomly speak, such as Mai, were enjoyable in their own right. They have their quirks about them, some might call them simple, or stock, but there is a certain undescribable magic which managed to pull them together.

I think this is why I believe in the concept of soul, at least when it comes to games and the like. There's just a passion and sense of fun with the writing that elevates the entire experience.

The atmosphere of Kanon is palpable, as well. I seldomly see snow any more, but I felt pulled into the dreamlike winter wonderland presented by it. There's a hazy presence in the game, like Yuuichi is constantly staring down at the face of something he'd rather forget, repressing the sight. The dreamlike aspect is only further suported by the multiple instances of supernatural phenomenon which are never really called into question. In an otherwise normal world can you have demons, fox-spirits, and a girl who can steal from the same Taiyaki cart multiple days in a row without being caught. Well, maybe that last one wasn't supernatural, but I thought it was funny.

The presentation was really nice. I understand that Hinoue Itaru's artstyle is a bit of an acquired taste (hell, I literally had a friend describe Ayu as a "disgusting bug" when I sent a gif of her in casual conversation today), but it falls well on me. There's something about it that is extremely charming, but I don't think I could put it into words. The soundtrack is pleasing to the ears, and really captures the wintery feel of the game. The melodies in the tracks present fly by like snowflakes, beautiful for a moment, then moving onto the next.

And in case you didn't know, Kanon isn't just a heartfelt trip through a town steeped in ... it's also an erotic game. Win.

The H scenes didn't really service the plot all that much, they felt obligatory in a sense. I do think that one could make the case for one in Shiori's route being something that could've been elevated by different execution, though. Confirming the existence of the girl so fragile as to disappear in the slightest breeze. Other than that, though, I didn't really stretch my mind enough to try and think of ways that the content could've served the narrative. The scenes themselves were so short that I found myself really not caring about quality. Though, in Ayu's, there was one CG that had me bewildered, and that's all I'll say about that.

But, oh well. Onto the actual routes themselves, I suppose.

It's admittedly a rather weak start with Nayuki's route. Her character wasn't very intersting to me, and I found that the themes of transience and loss and the messages that were tied to were executed better in the routes that followed. The route's implementation of a miracle resolution feels less set up or deserved than the other routes (especially in the face of Makoto's, wherein there is no such miracle, which works in its favor.) It does serve, though, as a fitting introduction into the world and feel of Kanon. I can't dislike it, but I can't find myself able to say that it stacks up against any of the other routes in the game.

Though with all the negative things I have to say about it, I feel I have to say that there is no better fit for a first route than Nayuki's. Her route takes aspects of the experience that you may have taken for granted, and turns them on their head by the end to introduce the tragedy. The way it does this, by removing Nayuki's mom from the narrative, reminds you of all the scenes before that featured her and her kindness, something that's put in genuine danger. It sets the precedent that the game isn't afraid to take what joy it has to offer and make it melt away unceremoniously, only accelerating in pace the more one tries to grab onto that fleeting feeling, like grasping tightly onto snow in your hand.

Moving onto Shiori's route, it does way more setup, and as such, pays off more. To the reader, I think it's glaringly obvious the entire time that she is suffering from a terminal illness, but this fact is lost on Yuuichi. It creates a sort of tension that builds up throughout the entire route, coming to a head with him realizing the truth of Shiori's situation. It's powerful, and with the suddenness of the tragedy in the last route, one is left wondering if Shiori will be left to the throes of this brand of tragedy as well. Miraculously, though, she turns out alright. The outcome is so unlikely, that Shiori ponders the status of her own reality. One is left to imagine how true that sentiment is, as every route delves further and further into unrealistic phenomenon.

The topics covered using Shiori, though, are very real, heavy, and grounded. The aspect of her illness and the effect that it has on her relationships with her family are something that feels very realistic to me. The longing to just live normally, even though the situation is so dreadfully upside-down, and your time just keeps ticking down more and more. As I said before, it's terribly forboding in its execution. You'd almost think that with the differing approaches to tradedy in the narrative, these two routes were written by different people. They weren't, though.

The next couple of routes, Makoto's and Mai's, were, though. The routes written by Jun Maeda in Kanon take on a feeling different than the rest of the game. It's in the routes written by him that you get the majority of the overt supernatural content within the game. They take directions that you wouldn't expect, and hinge on premises that really make the routes shine. Maeda follows through entirely with these scenarios as well, not afraid to take them to their most tragic conclusions. I find the focus more on character-inflicted tragedy instead of circumstancial tragedy more gripping, too, as all the circumstances in Mai's and Makoto's routes are a result of their own will and actions, rather than the world pushing it's will onto them. The slow burning out of Makoto's humanity was something to behold. As someone that worries about their own cognition daily, the gradual regression of her mental state and decline of her humanity hit home for me in a way that I have only seen rivaled by the existential and horror-tinted lenses of Denpa works.

I do think though that the flashback at the end of Mai's route was something that could've been better implemented. It didn't really feel cohesive with the rest of the route as I was reading it the first time, though maybe I'll start to look on it more fondly with repeated reading. I do want to say that I don't think the content in it was bad, though. I like the focus it gives to Mai, I just have to wonder if it could've been implemented in a way that made it fit better with the rest of the content in the route. Her route in general appealed to my sense of intrigue more than anything, it feels like one of the more ambitious stories told out of the bunch.

Ayu's route is the last route and the the shining jewel of Kanon, though. There isn't really a single narrative that the game has to tie together with a true route, but this route is the longest and the most connected to Yuuichi's backstory with the town and the people there. It also cleverly pays off on some dialogue that you've heard near the beginning of the common route leading into Nayuki's, but have probably skipped over it in subsequent playthroughs to get to the other character routes. Despite being long, though, it doesn't overstay its welcome. The buildup to finding out the truth about Ayu had me on the edge of my seat.

And despite the finality of everything, the very end of that route inspires a sly smile as it pulls out one last miracle. It's a resoltion that fits in with the style of the entire game so much that I can only describe it as Kanonesque. Take that neologism to the content-slash-media discussion table now, huh. Remember11 is Kanonesque. Real take. But, seriously. It makes you realize the final truth of dream that was being seen through the entire time, right before ending it, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I would rank the routes against eachother as such. Ayu > Shiori > Mai > Makoto > Nayuki. Nothing much else to say there, but that's just how they stacked up for me. And not that number ratings matter, but I put it as a 7/10 on my VNDB.

Overall, I thought this game was a really good use of my last remaining bits of 2023. A taste of what's to come, I guess. It's convinced me that I think I want to do a deep dive into KEY's works in 2024. I've been chipping away at Rewrite+ for a while, but I don't think I'm going to end up finishing that game for a long time. I think I'm going to tackle AIR next, and with what I've seen, I think I'll really enjoy it, too.

I think I'm gonna drink a little bit now.

Happy New Year, everyone.