Kanon 2006 - Ugly on the Inside
Posted on November 13th, 2006 by retsgip - 3,121 Views
*lights a match and tosses it on some oil*
I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time now, and I’ve been hesitant to post because this IS a 20+ episode series (real reason–scared of the flames!!!). I can’t accurately judge whether or not my feelings now will be the same in the future, or if Kanon will take an about-face and fix everything I think wrong with it, although this seems highly unlikely. So think of this entry as my tentative feelings towards Kanon and why I dislike it so.
Disclaimer: I’m a first-time Kanon viewer. I haven’t read the manga. I haven’t watched the 2002 version, although I have it (characters too ugly for my tastes). My viewpoint is purely of someone watching it for the first time in all its ugliness glory.
I’ll start off by praising Kanon 2006 a little before I try and argue my stance. I’m simply amazed at how beautiful the artwork is in the 2006 version compared to…well, anything really. Kyoto really went the distance with this one, and it’s paid off immensely. I love how the characters have new clothing every episode, or how the quality seems to be consistently A+ material (at least for 6 episodes). The humor is pretty well planned, and heavy in sarcasm and wit. Two qualities that I absolutely love when coupled with humor, but sadly, has also spawned a sourced of my dissatisfaction.
Yuuichi
I pretty much boiled it down to one character, Yuuichi. At first glance, the guy is great. He’s basically a Kyon clone with more girls to choose from, a different environment, and a different approach to his sarcasm. The latter of the three personality traits is what really gets to me. He has no regard for other’s feelings, thinks mostly for himself, and is highly critical of others. Sure he’s not a spineless sovereign of his harem (subliminal harem kinda like SHnY) like most of them are, but he’s not exactly the best guy for the job either.
I’ll try and present some examples of him pretty much being a dick and disregarding other’s feelings with his actions. This also tightly resembles him only thinking for himself.
The first one that comes to mind, and is probably the strongest to me, is when he was pulling Ayu’s jacket away in the movie theater. Sure, this kind of thing is considered a form of flirting if the girl is actually having fun and is flirting back, but that’s not what it looked like to me. I saw her being scared as HELL and trying to get her jacket back like some possessed E. Honda. When I saw this, I gave a small chuckle because I did this same thing years ago, but the big difference was that the girl played along and I only did it ONCE. For god’s sake, give her back her jacket if she’s that attached to it. This also fits into the thinks for himself category as well, because he’s being mean to her for his own enjoyment. Seriously, she’s not having fun at all.
Makoto is easily the most picked on character in the show, and naturally it’s all done by Yuuichi. She brings a lot of it onto herself, but the problem that I see is that Yuuichi barely has an ounce of compassion when dealing with her. I can’t really talk about him being a dick and not mention the Porno magazine scheme. A lot of people have screen shotted or quoted (or whatever) this but I think its ridiculous. She’s a fucking “amnesic patient” for god’s sake (at least to their knowledge), and she doesn’t know what porn is. In my book of morals, you just don’t do shit like this to people who are less fortunate than you. Again, this was all for his own self gratification in knowing that Makoto would be extremely embarrassed. This kind of thing is actually hurtful to the one being targeted. Showing someone their lack of knowledge so bluntly is hardly compassionate or even relatively helpful in any way.
Forcing Makato to eat the strange gray object-thing was kind of over the top, especially since he knew she’s probably eat it. This one is definitely her fault, but again he showed her how low she is on the totem pole. I’ve kind of gotten tired of these constant blows to her self-esteem and have started to see them all as mean and hurtful. I can’t be the only one who thinks this. I’d be immensely disappointed if everyone was laughing their heads off at Yuuichi constantly owning Makoto. The fact that he spoiled her plan should be enough, no need to go the extra mile and do more. Remember, currently Yuuichi thinks that she’s struggling to find herself due to amnesia yet that doesn’t really stop him. And what the fuck he hit her…
Those are some of the big examples, but most of the others are just small tiny things that happen here and there that kind of just put me off. Mostly, it’s his attitude(his smirk is hella sleazy) and the way he goes about everything that really kind of just pushes my buttons. I feel like he’s got this perpetual smirk, like he’s above the world and isn’t shy about letting everyone know it. Part of this could spawn from the fact that he gets away with everything, but I also feel that the things he say reflect this rather well. It is also reflected in the way he judges people and their personality traits when he’s got problems of his own.
Some quick examples of his criticisms: Making fun of everyone’s mannerisms (sleeping, uguu, auuu, etc.) multiple times, criticizing Makoto for staying at the house, being overly stern with Makoto (”You should reflect on what you’ve done.” as he stands over her), making Makoto get a job, criticizing Ayu for eating at the house. Yet, what does he do? He hasn’t show that he’s that responsible at all. I see no validity behind his words. The sad fact is, he’s not working yet he has plenty of free time, he’s living in the house which isn’t his, and he eats their food. Most of his “jokes” target peoples personality traits as well. He’s not a stand-up comedian, he shouldn’t get away with shit like that.
The Females
Another thing that really bugs me is that practically none of the girls have any backbone. Yuuichi tosses an offhand comment at them and they open their legs. I’m like wtf?! There’s three females that I see that don’t fall for his schemes, and that’s Akiko, Shiori, and Nayuki. Akiko isn’t really targeted by Yuuichi, so I guess she’s not a fair candidate, but I like her so I decided to toss her in there. Shiori surprised me because she teases Yuuichi. Yeah, that’s right, someone finally fights fire with fire. Every time she says an offhand comment, a part of my soul that died earlier on due to Yuuichi’s madness, finally revives itself. Nayuki pretty much just ignores him and sometimes tosses some comments back at him as well. Usually it seems like she’s SO clueless(or asleep) that his comments don’t affect her, so at least she wins in that aspect. Considering that most of the content has been Makoto and Ayu, that leaves a lot of legs being opened.
I also feel that most of the girls lack depth. I don’t know if this is because we haven’t seen much of their past yet, or if they’re actually being shrouded in mystery. Either way, I feel like the girls are all fairly similar, but each have catchy mannerisms. I only see a small difference outside of those mannerisms to uniquely distinguish each female from the other, and I’m not so sure if that’s a good thing. Ayu and Makoto’s personalities and the way they handle Yuuichi are practically the same. Nayuki barely interacts with him but she just sleeps all the time. Mai is kind of like Nayuki in that she doesn’t interact with him that much. Shiori is unique in almost every aspect when compared with the other girls.
Ending With More Praise
Even among all this bad, I still have fun watching this anime. Some of the scenes are funny, and as I mentioned like 1000 words ago, the artwork is absolutely dazzling. I’m REALLY hoping for more development amongst the females. I can deal with Yuuichi as long as I have other things to supply me some depth and enjoyment. I’m not giving up on it, and I really hope by the end of the series, I’ll be posting another entry about how my mind was changed.
Edit: I got lost in the length of my post and forgot to mention (thought i did ooops) that I understand that Yuuichi has his caring moments. As Son Gohan pointed out, he helped out Ayu and Akiko, which is the only time I’ve seen him truly help someone. Although, I could easily argue that it would have been extremely rude for him not to help Akiko with the chores. He’s not a total leech, just ungrateful. As for Mai, I believe he has ulterior motives to his late night food excursions. Mai is one of the few girls that I think he’s interested in. He also put Makoto to bed when she was sick, which I thought was rather caring.
Comments/Concerns would be much appreciated. Please try to refrain from spoilers or at least use *spoiler* so I can come back to it later. Don’t be afraid to bash me, flame me, or hate on me any chance you get. I honestly want to see how people truly view the situation, or people just don’t really care.
P.S. If you read this entire thing, I love you. That’s love-love, not like-love.
-Retsgip
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I think the point being raised here is just how much of a Asshole Kyuuichi (Kyon-Ichi) really is. I am going to play the ignorant card and just say straight off, I respect and admire many different anime art styles (Gankutsuou, Plastic Little and Last Exile just some examples), but the Kanon/AIR Shit just doesn’t do it for me. That shit is Ugly, instead of going moe for the girls, I feel like shredding them off…yes Im a Jerk in that respect, but seriously! (to avoid any counter-hypocritic comments assembling in your mind).After seeing this guy in action, I think he strives to be a “Manly” guy of his harem.
You gotta be kidding me, he has got as much moral integrity as the Squid in After Class lesson and the Doctor in Night Shift Nurses. As Rets mentioned, he is basically a Leech behaving like an absolute jerk. Some people prefer Kyonichi over the original, citing that he says what men think out aloud. Sorry guys, but try doing that shit in real life =p. Kyon’s a much accurate depiction of what guys irl are like. Kyonichi’s a bastardized and glorified harem overlord for fanboys to project themselves on. In that case, I may as well project myself as a Gundam-Piloting GARtender, if you don’t mind. Another important point raised is that smirk. You see that smirk all the time in Anime. HENTAI Anime. Thats pretty much the “IMMA DO WHATEVER I WANT TO YOU, GET AWAY WITH IT AND THEN HIT YOU LIKE WHIRLWIND” smirk.
In a sea of Kanon hype, I am proud to say that although some parts may have been gorgeously executed, its still the same shit all over again. It may very well be because I am a Haruhi fanboy/zealot/terrorist that I reject this Kanon/Air stuff KyoAni is responsible for, it may very well be that I can’t get over just how ridiculous some of the girls look, and also why the male lead has as much spine as the School Bully who gets secretly violated in his bedroom every night. I am well aware that by stating all of this, I am essentially just participating on another aspect of fanboyism, using Haruhism versus Kanonism….but hey, this IS the Comments section afterall
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Of course if I had it my way, the Title would read: “Kanon 2006 - WTF LOL”.
Also, I know that there is a large Kanon following, Brace for Impact Rets. But you did a brave thing this evening, no, Freaking valiant thing. I support this post 100% and I also encourage all Kanonist fanboys to send letterbombs to my residence. If I were to die from all these attacks, then I will die happy knowing I smacked Kanon good, for the gloriously overworked abomination that it is.
I would love to see a scenario where Yuuichi tries one of his tricks on Suzumiya Haruhi. That’s be an awesome sight. Anyways…
Yeah, Yuuichi’s been gay lately, but he’s not all that bad. Even though Yuuichi has no right to tell Makoto to get a job or anything, he wanted her to do it not for the pay but so she could learn some skills to function in society. I’d say that’s a pretty good opportunity for her to learn, and since she’s still quite young, she wouldn’t do it unless an authoritative figure encouraged her to do it.
I’ve read that in the original, Makoto actually succeeds in most of her pranks, but in that version, Yuuichi is a wimp so it’s expected. However, I definitely do not like how Makoto’s self-esteem is being diminished, as you said, but I think it’s more of a plot point and hint as to what’s about to come (regarding Makoto of course). I think Yuuichi is going to soften up quite a bit really soon now. Mai’s comments about Makoto seem to be getting to him now.
I love seeing Shiori flirt back with Yuuichi, if you call it flirting. It turns out that she’s not all that shy as everyone thought. I wonder if that person she’s always waiting for is actually Yuuichi. And about Ayu, Yuuichi’s criticizing her during breakfast, I’d say, is purely harmless fun, and Ayu does seem to enjoy it as a way of having fun with her childhood friend. However, that movie incident was indeed uncalled for, and I was pretty pissed off at Yuuichi for doing it. Nevertheless, it was still made to look like nothing more than a joke since Ayu didn’t seem to mind afterward.
And just as another word after reading Darkshaunz’s comment, I don’t think the characters are ugly at all. I liked Air and now I love Kanon, but that’s just me.
For sure Danny. I’m really hoping he softens up to Makoto. If so, a lot of my beef with him will start to melt away, but it still doesn’t change the fact that he did those demeaning things to her. It shows his true nature.
I agree that the job was good for her, but he didn’t really convince her that it was a good thing before sending her off. He also doesn’t have a job himself which to me is pretty stupid.
I think Ayu not caring is because she’s fucking brainless. Its actually a reoccurring theme with ALL the girls. They’re all fucking brainless. Its what allows Yuuichi to mop them across the floor every 5 minutes.
@Danny: To each his own, champ. I just get turned off by the character designs. Not because they are not conventional/tradintional. They just don’t appeal to me. What’s attractive to me may be completely horrible to another person. Of course Im going to say Beauty lies at the eye of the Beholder, and in this case, if you have the ability to like Air/Kanon…more power to you.
Cheers.
I am a first-time Kanon watcher like you and I am enjoying the show so far.
It’s true that “Kyonichi” sometimes goes a bit over the edge with his jokes, but you forgot to mention his caring side. He helped Ayu to search for her “lost thing”. He tried to help Shiori. He brought the bento to Nayuki on his day off. He brought food to Mai at night, etc.
I don’t see him as a leech. He is staying at her aunt’s house, he is not a complete stranger like Makoto or Ayu! He also helped Akiko with some chores.
As for Makoto, I don’t feel any compassion for her. She attacked Yuuichi for the first time, she is always the one who tries to pull a prank on him and she IS living as a parasite at Akiko’s house. I laughed every time Yuuichi retaliated on her.
I hope you will continue to follow the show. From what I’ve heard, the real deal is going to start soon.
Fair enough. I added the section i forgot about the “caring” sides of Yuuichi. I do understand where you’re coming from though.
I’m glad you find the Yuuichi moments funny. I actually laughed when I first saw them, but it slowly dawned on me that i was laughing at some pretty heavy shit. I felt like I was back in high school being cool by teasing people. Then again, I’m somewhat of a feminist for a male, so maybe i’m overly sensitive about these things. Which brings me to another question: Do girls actually like this version???
Since around episode 4, Yuuichi’s “the girls are mine, I can do whatever I want with them” has really got on my nerves. If we must have harem building, I’d rather see it done with more finesse; even Shirou was more careful with the girls than this. It also seems to me as if Akiko has become the ‘deputy harem builder’; she had the movie tickets for Yuuichi and Ayu, a job lined up for Makoto- it wouldn’t surprise me if she made sure the school was unlocked for visits to Mai.
Would you really call this a harem? Sure, Yuuichi does HAVE a harem, but the show is clearly not orientated in the same way as a harem would. For instance, no one except maybe Shiori likes Yuuichi (I mean lust-like, not friend-like or whatever) and Yuuichi definitely isn’t serious about anyone either. Sure he flirts, but that’s as far as it goes. Although I do admit, this show would be more shounen than shoujo, if it had to be classified as such, though it seems that the real thing’s gonna start soon. So far, nothing much has happened except character interaction and development, plus a few hints about the girls’ mysteries. I don’t know but the target audience might change as the show shifts to what it’s really about now.
I’d have to agree with what Danny said. He kinda expressed how I feel.
That’s a little too sinister. After all, I don’t think Yuuichi is scheming at anything at all, and it’s just him.
Besides, as others have stated, Yuuichi does have his caring side, and I believe it would show even more when the time comes. All that bullying of Makoto, is just his way of dealing with and teaching her. After all, it IS her that comes to his room trying to pull some trick each night. A bathtub full of miso soup? (btw, it isn’t some weird grey thing, it’s a proper japanese ingredient for one of their dishes)
To me, he comes across more as using his snide remarks to connect with people, yet knowing when the limit is, when it really hurts. I would believe the girls understand there’s nothing sinister.
Oh, and i also wonder if it’s a western and eastern culture thing. This is how i feel as a asian guy.
I believe the depth of the girls are all coming soon.
@Danny: I am definitely sure that its a Harem. Obviously, a dictionary definition won’t be contextually relevant in this sense. However, all the girls have focal attention on one male character: Yuuichi. The keypoint here is, the male lead doesn’t have to reciprocate anything to the girls for their attention for them to belong in his harem. I don’t think there is an argument as to whether the girls would be submissive to his demands in any case, as I am sure all Kanon fans know they would be. Hence, a handful of girls which have one male in common which they would be gladly obliged = Harem. Once again, it depends on where you draw the line for the harem genre, but it should be clear in this case.
Agreed with you that this show would be more Shounen, after all, the male lead is “Dominating” (He is flexing his manliness over the girls, regardless of how you see it), which would otherwise defer from the Shoujo genre if you are comparing with Utena, Cardcaptor Sakura or Sailormoon. Also, with regards to the target audience, I am assuming its AIR/Kannon 2002 fans, Kyoto Animation Enthusiasts, Kyon VA fans and Harem (the genre in general) fans.
@TedFox: Right you are my comment was quite over the top. BUT! That’s what I was aiming for. Surely they don’t open their legs at his every whim, it was more of an exaggerated metaphor of what really happens. Their legs opening is more like their acceptance of his comments without reprimanding him.
The fact that this is early on in the series is exactly why I’m not dropping it. I have no doubt we’ll see some major development with the girls which will no doubt help push Yuuichi to be a better, caring individual. If he doesn’t, then my position will still stand.
“yet knowing when the limit is, when it really hurts”
This is exactly the issue that I was arguing against in my entry. It seems we have conflicting views on how far Yuuichi takes his jokes. He may be trying to connect with others via sarcasm and wit, but I don’t think I’d want to be his friend in real life if I had to watch him treat girls like that.
In terms of culture, hmm, sure maybe. Although I’m also rare among my friends and generally the people around me. I’ve seen plenty of females treated like crap and putting up with it. Perhaps I’m just hypersensitive, meaning the difference could be our past or our personalities rather than our cultural backgrounds.
You bring up some valid points though. It is important when looking at this anime to keep an openmind. The material inside of it is just barely pushing the envelop, which causes people to float in the middle but also allows people to accept or reject it.
Haha. your points are quite valid as well.
I’m surrounded by quite a few female friends, and I’m a little like Yuuichi, though less mean and less witty. But I’m quite sure it doesn’t qualify as a harem, so maybe i understand a little more of where He is coming from.
That’s what I loved about Air and now Kanon! You loved it plenty, or you get totally disgusted with it, and wonder why so many people loved it.
Culture wise… many have written about Yuuichi… so I was wondering if that’s a contributing factor. haha. So u’re definitely not rare.
To Yuuichi’s defence one should notice that he has some amnesia on his own, which means something very bad must have happened to him in the past (or he was hit one time too often on the head). This might have changed him in more than one way, maybe here lies the source for his sarcasm. Sarcasm can be used to avoid too much intimacy (okay, it doesn’t really work here, granted). Through some of his actions one can see that he is still a nice person like his younger self, and some other actions are, as has been said, over the top. It’s a shame that the girls don’t fight back so that he (and we) can’t find the border which he shouldn’t cross. I fear he’ll have to learn it the hard way, i.e. when it’s too late change what is done.
And in the end, don’t forget that this is anime. Anime almost always goes over the top. That’s what we like and that’s what we sometimes hate.
Hehe, Yuuichi was quite the player in the past too, with his ‘what, a confession of love already?’ (I think it was something along those lines, or am I thinking of something else?) And Retsgip, I don’t think many people would want to be Yuuichi’s friend in real life either. But then, I’m sure there are hundreds of characters like that as well. I don’t know about any of you guys, but as much of a Haruhiist I am, I sure wouldn’t want to be one of Haruhi’s play things in real life either.
Oh and Darkshaunz, fine it is a harem. If I were to write a review for this show, I would put ‘harem’ as one of its genres, but if a friend were to ask me what Kanon is about, I’d instinctively tell them the genre first, but I definitely wouldn’t say harem. I don’t think harem is the main genre here. In this case, harem controls more the setting and characters, and does not influence the plot as much, while the animes where harem is the ‘main’ genre, the plot would be heavily influenced by the genre, as well as every other aspect. It’s like saying an anime is of the fantasy genre. Normally, that would mean the story is probably some sort of quest/mission or journey, where the protagonist fights several minibosses before coming up to the final boss and saving the world. But in a case where the show is, for example, exactly the same as Death Note, but the fantasy is much more extreme, the genre of fantasy doesn’t determine the plot, and so I wouldn’t call it the main genre.
Just so you know, Kanon is based off a game not a manga…I don’t even think there’s an “official” Kanon manga. There’s soo many of them (and so much doujinshi) that you can’t really go off and read the manga and have anything make sense (since artists can handle stuff differently based on their POVs.)
It seems like blah right now because the series is so long they’re stretching it out. If you wanna cut to the chase, swallow it and just watch the 2002 version…although I know once you see the KyoAni watching the 2002 one becomes even more difficult.
Let’s not group Yuuichi with Yukito (AIR).
Sure, Yukito can be a bit sarcastic at times, but it’s made apparent from the beginning that Yukito is a seriously disturbed individual. And to his credit, he makes an effort to change his attitude and to live for others, and not just for himself.
Yuuichi, on the other hand, has no such excuses. He’s one of the more rude, hypocritical, and self-serving individuals I’ve seen this season. And he never seems to suffer any consequences, which makes it painful to watch… if you’ve been a victim of bullies like Yuuichi, you’ll know what I mean.
Yuuichi does have his kind moments but it seems like he’s (1) trying to fend off his guilty conscience or (2) picking up a downed opponent so he can slam him to the floor again.
@Danny: Touche. Yuuichi controls a harem (that was the technicality I was so clinical about :p), but that doesn’t make the main anime theme harem. I am going to have to agree there. So we’re all cool that “Technically” Kanon is a Harem, but from a viewer standpoint, its more of a romance comedy (per se).
I guess with special cases like Death Note, its probrably some hybrid genre like thriller/fantasy or something along those lines. But once again, I wholeheartedly agree with you that calling Death Note under the generalization of the “Fantasy” genre doesn’t do it justice, and much the same case with Kanon.
Kudos.
Reading this made me glad I stopped watching Kanon after the second episode. That said, from what I have seen the girls struck me as so damn annoying and immature that I wouldn’t have minded Yuuichi or anyone making fun of them all the time. This would have become a borefest after an episode or two, I guess but somebody has to pay for the series being so full of moe that it’s almost killing me.
@Danny - I see where you are coming from but why not just call spade a spade? The genre certainly does not have to predetermine the plot, it just gives you an idea of what to expect. If you can guess the plot based only on the genre, that just means the plot is a cliche and if you can’t guess that does not mean the anime does not fall into the given genre simply because of this. The fantasy genre refers mostly to the setting and in theory can have nothing to do with quests and so on. The plot can be anything you like, even a very complicated and deep one but the movie/book/anime would still remain a fantasy one as long as it meets certain requirements. The problem is the perception of the people who don’t know much about the genres in question and for whom harem is just Love Hina and its clones and fantasy is Harry Potter and the likes. And “main genre” seems like a moot point to me when most things one would call masterpieces contain elements from many different genres.
I see no problems here ^^, though … Kyon > Yukito > Yuuichi imo. That’s in terms of character appeal. Yuuichi’s situation is interesting, but there isn’t the appearance of “much happening”, so, for me, Kanon is simply a nice/fun watch.
TedFox: Pushing the envelop is the way to go. Even when you hate something (i don’t hate this anime) you have to pay attention to it. So then you get lovers and haters, but either way its publicity. We love to love and love to hate. Either way theres love somewhere in there.
saibotlieh: Good point, I often forget that Yuuichi kind of is going through a “rough” time as well, i guess. It is also very possible that he uses his sarcasm as a shield to protect himself from something that happened in the past. Still I find it hard to swallow, even with that excuse.
Matrim: The fact is that Kanon isn’t THAT bad, I just have problems with subtle issues contained in the material it presents. It tries to be fairly light hearted and fun, and pulls it off most of the time. Soon it should get more serious, i think. And we’ll start seeing more of the character’s pasts etc. As it stands though, I don’t feel like I’ve connected with any of the characters because maybe there’s too much happening at once? It’s not that bad though. I’d still rank it above a lot of the other animes this season.
Ryan A: ;p lets hope something happens soon, which I think it does.
Danny: I’ve actually used that line before, and yes it works. There are many variables which could either kill the joke or make it awesome. For one, they need to be the playful time, and you need to KNOW that for a fact. They can be a friend of yours who knows your sense of humor (in this case Yuuichi doesn’t really know Ayu i think when he says it so he’s lucky) or well the girl you’re interested. If she’s interested in you and you pop a line like that she’ll get completely flustered. Of course, you might also get the: “Uh, no.” which is why I’ve only said it to maybe a handful of people in my entire life. I’ll hand it to 6year old Yuuichi though, he’s definitely advanced for his age. It wasn’t till high school that I started being sarcastic. (yes this is one of the lines that I actually enjoyed coming from his mouth)
Holy crap there’s like 3800+ words in the comments now (thank you wordcount) which is more than twice the amount of the original post. Hehe, this has become a forum almost. And just to get this clear if anyone is interested, despite all the bad things about Kanon, especially Yuuichi’s attitude, I still LOVE this show, and it is definitely my favorite this season.
Ryan A, I don’t think Yukito is in the same class as Kyon and Yuuichi. But between those two, I’d say the last episode made me rethink my views on who is better. Also, after reading the novels, I’d say Kyon is a funner character to watch. It’s just that his sarcasm is entirely in his head and he doesn’t hurt anyone with it. But you could also call that being weak, depending on who you like better; Yuuichi or Kyon.
Matrim, of course the plot is cliche if you can guess it from the first 10 seconds of the OP, or something like that. But the thing is, some cliches are just done so excellently that we forget it’s just another generic whatever show. Or, there are times when a viewer sees a genre for the first time, which means he can’t say it’s cliche or generic. I’m not sure what exactly you’re arguing, but I’m just saying that Kanon is an exception if you can guess the plot, mainly because it’s so well done. I would watch any anime regardless of how overused its plot is, as long as it’s as beautiful as something like Kanon. There are also people who like a certain genre and have accepted that the same plot is going to be used over and over again.
Following from what dsong said, I agree, Yukito cannot be compared to Yuuichi. Firstly, Yukito is not a normal person, in the sense that he lived his life on the streets and performing for people to earn some food. He probably hasn’t had any real interaction with a girl his age either. Yuuichi, on the other hand, is just a naive, fun-loving high school boy, who knows no better. I think that when something serious starts to happen, Yuuichi will mature like lightning.
Retsgip, I think Yuuichi was depicted like that in the past just to strengthen his present character. I doubt that the same line was used in the 2002 version. It also shows that he is perfectly comfortable with being around girls. When was the last time he blushed because of a girl again? And speaking of that, I’m extremely glad that the blush is not overused (or used at all?). Anything that uses it too often cannot be serious…
[…] After watching the last episode of Kanon 2006, I have to agree with Retsgip that Yuuichi really annoys me in this and the last episode. […]
[…] Firstly, I’d look to draw your attention to this post by Retsgip made some time ago regarding Yuuichi and his antics. He presents a good argument about how much of a jerk he is, and has also attracted a nice long discussion in the comments section. My counter-arguments are also there. Please have a read of the post and comments if you haven’t done so already, since I think it provides a very in depth insight into Kanon, but mainly the lead character, Yuuichi. […]
Yuuichi is less ugly in this episode, but KyoAni made up for that by making Makoto more ugly. Looks like it’s holding steady on the ugly-meter.
Still, it will be tough to top the 2002 Yuuichi - his actions in episodes 11-13 put him pretty close to the level of Rin in SHUFFLE!. Couldn’t quite catch Takayuki, however.
This show is ugly from top to bottom and I have no intention of watching it.
Well if you still think he is a jerk of any kind after ep 11 there must be something seriously wrong with your head. Personelly I don’t see Kyon’iichi’s antics as being all that mean or whatever it seems to me as if he’s just playing around. When he finds out Makoto’s going to die he stops messing around. Personelly I like this show just as much as Haruhi and if you don’t like it well thats your problem lols
@by: Makoto’s uglier than on the original anime version? Something’s wrong with you…
@Matrim: they are not immature, they just act like kids, and that’s different from your standard childish.
@6sis6: that wasn’t very convincing…
I kinda agree that sometime his joke goes too far but I thought the part when he said Uguu was awesome. =P … You might hate it, though, I know a lot of people feel differently. Also, we are getting too involved in comparing between Kyon and Yuuichi. They play a different role. Remember that as Yuuichi start interact with the girls and remember about his relationship with them, he’s maturing in the process as well. Also, I do think some points about the female and his criticisms on Ayu’s and Makoto’s manners aren’t quite as valid.
Yuuichi has changed a considerable amount from the first few episodes (and from when i wrote this). He doesn’t have time to be a dick anymore because he’s too busy bouncing between girls and trying to resolve their problems.
My view of the anime has changed considerably, but I still don’t hold it as highly as everyone else seems to.
[…] A few months ago I wrote Ugly on the Inside, which was obviously a skewed view of what really takes place inside Kanon. I’m not saying I was wrong in my assessment of the series, because clearly Yuuichi was being a complete dick up until Makoto started dying. Yes, I’ll hand it to him for changing from the hurtful humor to a more harmlessly humor-filled self. I’ll blame the writers for all the bumpiness I felt and will give the benefit of the doubt by saying that they were “figuring out how they wanted to portray Yuuichi’s character.” […]