Kanon 2006

Posted by in Anime Video Reviews | Tags: , , | 39 comments

I was told that Kanon 2006 was going to be a very sad and tragic anime but it turned into one of the biggest moe fests I’ve seen since Clannad. Even though that came later. It is very sad though…


Also Check out Koopiskeva’s AMV Twilight, It’s what got me to watch this show. Maybe it’ll do the same for you. Youtube it here as well.

Buy Kanon 2006 now!

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  • Plotclaws

    Nice review ark. I’ve never heard of this show but I may check it out. Speaking of which it’s been a really long time since it hasn’t snowed in november here. Since the thirties I heard.

  • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Mario1-7 Mario1-7

    Best Reviewer on the site.. Ark you have just confirmed that with me. I have the same box-set and I am not a fan of the dub because as you said it doesn’t sound right… I still like Cal. And for people who want to stream this Awesomeness here ya go.
    http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=45

  • Arkada

    @Plotclaws
    The thirties eh? I never actually looked it up, I just assumed the smog melted the snow before it hit the ground. I grew up north of Toronto so I’m used to snow before halloween even, though thats usually a stretch.

    I miss the snow…

  • Arkada

    @Mario
    Ya didn’t need to put that link there ya know, I did have it up top….^_^”
    Glad you liked the review

  • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Mario1-7 Mario1-7

    Yeah Dude I didn’t notice at first my bad. I am glad you liked Kanon I see you said you would haf to decide whether you like Kanon or Clannad better, I had that fight with myself as well and Clannad came out on top. The After Story was perfection Minus the lack of Fuko in the opening.

  • Firecat

    If I blow the snow northbound, maybe that’ll help? I don’t want it T^T

    Although I must thank you for answering a question for me. I found a flash animation that used a clip of the little girl with the winged backpack and I’ve been trying to find out what anime it was from. Big thanks, Arkada! ^w^ <3

  • Dorcas_Aurelia

    Spoil the series in the opening clip? What’s with that, Ark?

    Also, Kyoto Animation didn’t invent moe, they just popularized it. Ever seen Moon Phase? The insert booklets that came with the individual volume releases contain transcripts of interviews with the Japanese staff and cast that outright ask what they think moe is.

  • The Shades

    Awesome Review as always. Ironically, i’ve done an interview with Koopiskeva myself. Fun guy. still chat with him from time to time.

  • nevercomemonday

    I actually tried to watch this a while ago. I only got to episode 12 because I was sooooooo bored the entire time. Nothing important seemed to happen. Because of the review I might try and watch the rest of it just to see if I’m missing anything…maybe.

  • Malakye

    Now don’t be mad at me Ark.. I know you said that comments should be from only our viewers, but this time I have to comment! Despite your Black Lagoon’s crazy awesome opening, this is now imo your best Glass Reflection! Like I said to Professor when he did Midori Days. “I really like to see people review series they loved.” Also the AMV at the end helped it along well! You made Koop happy! That I am sure of. I swear when I get some free time I’m going to sit down and watch all of Kanon 2006! :3

  • nagato316

    You’re absolutely correct, Ark…Love Hina was a “steaming pile of donkey doo”…but Kanon OTOH I’ve been meaning to check out for some time, so thanks for reminding me why I should.

    Also, that AMV…So. Freaking. Awesome. It’s a perfect (albeit unofficial) “trailer.”

  • lyzl

    I didn’t like this review that much. I really wanted to know what Kanon was about and how good it was, because I’ve seen Clannad and Air and wanted to see if it’s worthwhile to complete the trio. I mean, I knew there was moe, but what about plotlines, character development, etc. I would have liked to hear more on those, I think.

  • http://devilangel11795.deviantart.com/ devilangel11795

    i cant watch it!! yyyyy!?

  • Forganesolid

    …………….Must not rage a the ruining of the entire plot within the firsxt ten second of the review for anyone who hasn’t seen the show…….must resist the urge!!!!

    I love all of your reviews…seriously…I tell all of my friends to watch you first on the brigade because of the quality and work you put into you reviews….but I….just…..don’t….know what to say…..about this one…

  • Celtickiller01

    first of all i do understand that the show does have a moe scense to it but thats not what its about. i feel the show is more about the emotions you encounter while watching.

    as for you forganesolid, i have to agree with you. Arkada has done some quite amazing reviews in the past and he was the first one that i checked out when i created my account. but with this one i was alittle disappointed with it.

  • heenato

    To be fair, though, The AMV has the exact same moment at the beginning, and I didn’t really get much of a spoiler out of that, out of context, and it was so fleeting, that I’ve already forgotten most of it.

    Great review, Ark. I’ll have to check this out when I get some time. Horray for Funimation’s stream.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/ChosenOfKagami ChosenOfKagami

    I’d just started watching Kanon 2006 about a week ago. I’ve only gotten through about 2 or 3 episodes, but I absolutely LOVE it. Uguu~

    And lovin’ the epic reviews, as always. =P

  • Dorcas_Aurelia

    But, heenato, the AMV is an AMV, this is a review. It’d be like telling people Ouran High School Host Club ends with Tamaki and Haruhi getting married (if it had actually happened).

  • Forganesolid

    Exactly! AMV’s are usually made for the fans of the show…I.E. people who have already WATCHED the show to enjoy. Whereas Reviews are meant to have no spoilers included in them soas to give an idea of what the show is about without giving any major plot or anything away. This reviw gave away the plot behind each character in the intro.

    This review, while not bad per se, was not technically a review. All that was focused on were…Moe…which if we haven’t heard enough of it from JesuOtaku about this show, wasbrought up again and again when that is not the major focus of the show. The moe is there in the same way that comedy was there in Fulletal Alchemist.

    And the English dub, which really makes no difference in the show whatsoever…if anything I prefer the English dub BECAUSE it doesn’t sound anything like the overused term MOE (evil term. The first place I ever heard the term moe (hatred) was when I watched Ouran High School Host Club and they define it as the power of Feminine love.

    This review didn’t cover anything actually important to understand the show before watching it. Which is why I say it is not technically a review. Why? I don’t know please tell me Arkada. I really want to enjoy this review, but ended up ranting to the wall in my house for about a half hour after watching the first ten seconds of the review…..SPOILER!!! Why didn’t you mention anything about the characters except the main character?…and even then you didnt tell about how much he had to cope with. You didn’tutter a word of the sarcastic humor used. Technically you didn’t even DEFINE the word moe so we could actually understand what it is. Which wikipedia doesn’t eve have the definiton to so I doubt that anyone her actually knows exactly what it is…….RANTING!!!

    Seriously, you could have shot this series to hell and I would have still enjoyed it if you had actually talked about the show, plot humor, or anything else that mattered.

    Sorry….I am so sorry….I was just very disappointed after looking forward to this review for so long. Please forgive me! =(

  • Vixen

    Hey guys~ Here’s my two cents in on this review. And yes, Forganesolid, this IS a review.

    I think you guys mean the little intro where the girl narrates what each of the girls are (fights demons, fox, etc.) when you refer to the spoiler, so let me address that first: What would YOU have said in this review in order to get audience’s attention hooked into this series? Without spoiling, that is. Honestly, answer me that question if you complained about the spoilers.
    Tell me which scenes in this anime you would have used; describe them, quote their dialogue word for word, and try to do so without explaining WHY the scene is so sad while attempting to make it sound interesting to the audience. Example: “She is sad because she lost someone dear to her” is boring.

    By and by, I haven’t seen Kanon before and had no interest in it UNTIL I saw this review. As far as I’ve looked over the comments, the only people who consider it a spoiler are those who have seen the show already. Okay, so we now know that the moe girl in this anime are actually more interesting characters than their outward appearances would initially give off. Where is the problem with this? The only reason I want to see Kanon now is BECAUSE of this review. So it did its job, right? To explain enough about an anime in order to help the audience decide whether or not they may enjoy it.

    Forgane, my main issues with what you said is thus:

    You seem to see Moe as a bad thing, because yes JO and us other reviewers tend to complain about it. But Moe isn’t ALWAYS bad thing. It’s a style that we feel has been overused lately, and therefore we get annoyed with it. We have been recently bombarded with CUTE where, at times, it should not belong or becomes the premise of an entire series. THAT is bad Moe. This Moe is important in making the characters endearing, and therefore strikes an emotional chord with terrible things occur to them.

    Forganesolid: “This review didn’t cover anything actually important to understand the show before watching it. ”

    I’m sorry, but what exactly do you determine as “important”? Arkada gave a summary of how the main character enters the setting, how and why he meets the girls that make up the rest of the cast. He explained the original twist that the anime has on the harem genre and therefore makes it stand out. He explained why there are some traditional funny moments as to be expected from harems, but added that this was, as he said, a cushion for the tragedy that takes place. Therefore, the audience is warned that despite how Moe it looks, it is actually a deep storyline that hits one emotionally. It’s NOT silly Moe. It’s NOT overused cutesy Moe. It is GOOD Moe because yes, there is such a thing as it. There are always two sides of a coin; there’s bad mech shows and good mech shows, there’s bad shojo and good shojo, there’s bad moe and good moe.

    Back to the important things Ark addressed – like how every story arc involves a lighthearted intro with a new female character, ending in a dark twist. Is that not important information to understand before watching it?

    ForganeSolid: “And the English dub, which really makes no difference in the show whatsoever…”

    That sentence made no sense whatsoever. Are you saying that opinion on the English dub doesn’t matter? Or that the English dub did not change the tone of the anime itself? Because it does. The only way the English dub would not make a difference in the show whatsoever is if they used the exact same tones of voices and the exact same dialogue as the Japanese cast did, which of course is impossible due to the language difference and the fact that the English version had to change the script around so that English dialogue could fit in mouth flaps.
    ForganeSolid: “I really want to enjoy this review, but ended up ranting to the wall in my house for about a half hour after watching the first ten seconds of the review…..SPOILER!!! Why didn’t you mention anything about the characters except the main character?…and even then you didnt tell about how much he had to cope with.”

    You basically just said – ‘You said too much in the first ten seconds! Why didn’t you say MORE?’ – did you not? Again, Forgane, with your infinite wisdom, how would you have explained the main character and everything he has to cope with? Is it not implied that the main character has to go through a decent amount of hell what with the fact that he is lacking memories, his childhood friends start out moderately happy and then their story arcs all take a turn for the worse… Do you see how contradictive that all sounds? Please, since apparently the above review spoiled the entire anime SO BADLY, go ahead and feel free to write out everything YOU would have loved to have heard said and described.

    ForganeSolid: “Technically you didn’t even DEFINE the word moe so we could actually understand what it is.”

    Again, you seem to think that a reviewer’s job is to speak slowly and spell everything out for its audience as if they’re unintelligent lumps of genetic material. Ever hear of the phrase “show, don’t tell” ? He shows examples instead of defining it. Comparing the English dub and the Japanese dub was even a proper example!

    I know I sound harsh typing this, but I am not trying to bash you. I just want to point out that your claims come off as contradictive and you did go far, whether you intended to or not, when you said that Arkada’s hard work was not a review. /I/ have been told that my reviews are not review enough, and that is perfectly fine with me because I don’t have enough experience yet in this kind of project. But Arkada, Professor Otaku, and of course JO are very capable reviewers and they know what they are doing. To even say such a thing in response to something someone worked so hard on is not only ignorant, but also disrespectful. I am certain that Arkada will simply take the comment in stride as a proper reviewer should when it comes to criticism, but I cannot keep such silence.

    Again, I invite you and anyone else who complains to please post below if you can do any better.

  • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Mario1-7 Mario1-7

    The Review was perfect. There shouldn’t be any complaints.

  • notrogersmith

    I found Arkada’s comparison of the sub and dub useful, enough so that if I ever do see Kanon, I’ll probably listen to the dub, since I’m personally not that fond of the high-pitched cute voice (at least when it’s used unironically). And really, that’s the sort of information I’d want from a review.

  • Rin

    I’ve never seen Kanon before but I think I want to see it now.
    You are absolutely fantastical!
    Your reviews always make my nights better. (:

  • Dorcas_Aurelia

    Holy crap, Vixen, did you write enough?

    Of course people who haven’t seen the show don’t know it’s a spoiler, they don’t know what information is hidden on account of they haven’t seen the show. And, really, it’s almost deceptive to attract viewers with the final episode summary of what’s happened because the scenarios don’t revolve around those particular elements nearly so much as you’d think.

    As for important things: A review should be more than just a plot summary, it should explain how the narrative elements were handled, whether the characters were portrayed well or not, if the dialogue was entertaining or thoughtful, the quality of the animation (since the interlacing on this particular video was pretty ugly but the and we didn’t really get to see much movement in the clips). If I just want to know what a show is about, I can look up a synopsis on ANN or MAL. People watch reviews to get opinions about a show.

    “Moe” is rather a tricky subject to define, because few people agree on a definition if they even know the word, but, “show don’t tell” is a tool for creative writing, not informative pieces.

  • MeggieMay

    While I’ve not seen all of this version of Kanon, I do own it in its original R1 release format(ADV Single release 1-5 and Funimation v6). I did want to point out something. Kanon 2002, which I saw prior to this version being made, is also Moe in style, though the male protagonist looks like Jay Leno’s love child. That series made by Toei (13 episodes) and is not as good as this version (serious understatement), though I did think they handled the “girl with the winged backpack” storyline better (you didn’t know what the twist really was until the very end on that but seeing the ending is known by many in Japan there was no reason to go that route in the 2006 version).

    Anyway, the Moe look of the show was to be expected since Kanon, like Air, are originally H Visual Game Novels from Key and the games artwork is matched in both shows. Clannad was Key’s third game and first non H game (though I believe both Kanon and Air also have non H game versions now) and they have other Visual novels not yet animated IIRC. Since Kanon first came out as a Visual Novel in 1999, Kyoto Anime obviously didn’t create Moe. I’m guessing Key didn’t create Moe either (Wiki seems to think the term, as it is now used, dates to the early to mid 1990s but it’s Wiki so YMMV). BTW, you misspelled Kyoto at least once in the end credits which I only mention because I thought you’d like to know that at least one person read them :-) .

    As to the question “is Moe bad?” brought up by another poster. My feeling is no, in and of itself Moe isn’t. When done well, like with this show, I rather like it. The problem every other show Anime show these days coming out of Japan is Moe and what that’s lead to is a glut of horrible shows with Moe style artwork. The same malaise has effected most sub-genre’s of Anime over the years but this one is heading for it’s second decade and that’s starting to get on some Western viewers nerves.

  • AnimeMan

    I initally wanted to avoid this series thanks to this one guy on YouTube who plugged it WAY too much. Thank you Arkada for giving an honest review instead of fanboy raving. Also, YUNA BOOTY IN THE BACKROUND!!! WOOT!!

  • lyzl

    I hate to say this, but I’m agreeing with Dorcas_Aurelia in the “debate” here. Only because I’m a big fan of Arkada’s reviews am I criticizing them. I don’t know about the spoiler part, as it didn’t seem spoilerish to me, but even after reading all of Vixen’s arguments, I still wish more attention was payed to how good the series was on the story/characters level, rather then hearing a rant on moe. I mean, I’ve seen Air and Clannad, so I understand what I’m getting into moe wise, but I wanted to hear more about what makes it different/special. I’m still very much looking forward to future reviews, this one just didn’t work for me.

  • Bigdonkey1

    excuse me. my name is made of Flint.

    it is not non existent nor is it burn to a cinder

    thank you

  • fulltvalchemist

    so many contradictions Moe, Harem, Tragic shouldn’t mix this well.

  • Teh Jrn

    What!? Me!? You recomend it to me!? Wait, my names isn’t william? Well, I watched this review late so I just now saw all the controversy that this one started. It even sent Vix into a rant. All that aside I really liked this review and it really interested me in a series I probably would have never thought of seeing otherwise. If there are spoilers in this review, I couldn’t tell all that much. And by the time I start watching it I will have probably forgoten them anyway. To find a good anime that is both moe and a harem anime is hard to come by. If Ark is endorsing Kanon so much this it’s deffinitly worth checking out. Ark, you havn’t steered me wrong yet!

  • Zion Kraze

    What am I waiting for? For FUNimation to let someone that’s from the UK to watch it!

  • Takeshi

    I found this to be agood review and then i watched this and man i thought the ending to Wrestlemania 20 was sad but this was the equivalent of when Mitsuharu Misawa had a heart attack in the ring after taking a backdrop suplex.

    And to clarify for those who arent wrestling fans Wrestlemania 20 ended with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were celebrating their tile victories and a year after it happened Eddie died and 2 years after that Benoit killed his wife, son and himself.

  • Prede

    I haven’t watched this review yet (sorry I will don’t worry), but people are complaing about this dub? Are you kidding me? From the episodes I’ve seen it’s an AMAZING dub. I cannot comprehend someone having a problem with this dub in any way. People disliking this dub is likely to make my head explode…you must be kidding right? Please tell me your kidding…

  • asimpson2006

    I didn’t think Love Hina was that bad, but that’s not the point here. I liked Kanon, I have yet to watch it sub, but I will sometime in the future. I did like the English dub even if it was demoe’d but it made the series a bit more serious overall.

  • Shree

    I’ve never seen this Anime… actually before this review I’ve never even heard of it, but the Anime looks EXACTLY like another one I watched a few years back that depressed me for MONTHS, called “Air”.
    I’m scared to watch Air again and now I’m a little scared to watch Kanon… even though I’m probably going to go out and buy it now because… I respect your opinion and want to see what you do.
    Thanks in advance for my future depression :3

  • Shmooglavoue

    I just started looking at your site today, and since my name happens to be William, that joke at the end gave me shivers.

    In any case, you seem to be a pretty good reviewer in terms of anime. At the very least you don’t focus on popular shows and instead look at more obscure stuff, which is far more interesting.

  • Shmooglavoue

    PS. I also happen to be Canadian, so the line afterwards made it all the more awkward…

  • http://www.facebook.com/KyleC4 Kyle Cotton

    WHY WHY SO MUCH MOE. Give me more unique idea like Soul Eater, Outlaw Star, and other anime that take unique aproaches. even though I did like Fruits Basket… wait NO DAMN IT STAY FOCUSED!! remember Guns, epic Battle, adventure. I WILL NOT CAVE TO THE Moe GENRE!!!

  • Blackmesaboy

    Huh. I’m guessing you would rate from very sad to sad: Kanon, Clannad, Air. I felt very sad watching Kanon but I’m not sure I ever really cried (i probably did but I don’t remember). I know for a fact I cried at the end of Air (I blubbered) and I know I cried multiple times in Clannad. For me It would be Clannad, Air, then Kanon. Loved the review. Very good points. :)