OP Sequence

OP: 「Last regrets」 by 彩菜 (Ayana)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 Mirror 1 (20.9MB, XviD)

Summary:
Aizawa Yuuichi arrives by train to a town where he waits for someone in the snow. That person arrives and comments on how the snow has piled up on him, but that’s because Yuuichi has been waiting for two hours. It’s been seven years since Yuuichi has been here and seen her, so the girl wonders if he still remembers her name. At first he says Hanako and Jiro, but he shows that he does remember that her name is Nayuki as the two go off together.
In a dream-like state, a girl remarks that she sees a dream, one that she sees every day – an endless dream with red snow and a world dyed in red. A small child was crying and she wanted to wipe the tears, but her hand didn’t move. The tears flowing down became soaked up by the snow, and unable to do anything but watch, she felt sad. Someone had said that it would be ok, to not cry, and had made a promise. The dream became dyed in another color. “It’s a promise.”
Yuuichi wakes up in an unfamiliar room and tries to remember where he is. In the hallway, he finds Nayuki looking for her school uniform, which he remembers is being washed by Natsuki’s mother Akiko. But first, she instructs him to say ohayou gozaimasu (good morning) in the mornings. Although it’s winter break, Nayuki is the captain of the track and field team, and has club activities today. And since it’s freezing outside, Akiko brings out a basin of hot water to melt the ice on the front gate. As Nayuki is leaving, Yuuichi asks her to show him around town after her activities.
Yuuichi spends the morning shoveling snow and recounts how Akiko is his mother’s little sister. He had come to this town to play when he was young, and it’s been seven years leading up to this reunion. Nayuki eventually returns home and takes Yuuichi out to see the town. She wants him to become familiar with it since he’ll be living here from now on for a long time. Yuuichi doesn’t know about a long time, but he thinks that he’ll live here until at least his high school graduation.
Nayuki takes Yuuichi to show him the school where he’ll be becoming a student, then by the hospital, and then into town. They run into Misaka Kaori and Kitagawa Jun, two of Nayuki’s classmates. Kaori is actually Nayuki’s best friend and Jun clearly has a crush on her. However, Kaori is only using him to carry her bags, so Yuuichi calls him her bag carrier. Jun then tries to keep Yuuichi away by claiming Kaori for himself, but she responds by stomping on his foot and leaving. After Jun chases after Kaori, Yuuichi suddenly has a flashback of a forest dyed in grey, but he is knocked out of it when Nayuki calls his name.
When the two go to a hill overlooking the city, Yuuichi admits that he doesn’t really remember the place or his previous experience here, causing Nayuki to feel that he’ll surely remember little by little. She notices that there’s a fox behind them and tries to approach it, but it runs away. Nayuki is about to say something, but then she claims to have forgotten what. The two then make their way to the market, but Yuuichi insists on waiting outside. She goes in only after telling him not to go anywhere.
Just as Yuuichi is feeling that he’s experienced this seven years before, a girl comes out of nowhere and runs right into him. She looks ready to cry, but she instead pulls him along as she runs away from someone. They go into a cafe where the girl explains that she had been buying taiyaki when she realized she didn’t have her wallet. By chance, a cat had gotten close to the taiyaki, so the owner had yelled to get the cat away. The girl had been so surprised that she had run away at that point.
Realizing that the girl is at fault, Yuuichi makes her go back and apologize. Afterwards, he asks about the wings that are attached to her backpack. The girl doesn’t know what he’s talking about and proceeds to turn around in circles trying to see the wings. When she does finally see them, Yuuichi calls her strange. As they are parting ways, the girl introduces herself as Tsukimiya Ayu. She’s surprised to learn Yuuichi’s name, but claims that it’s nothing. Ayu wants them to meet again and makes it a promise. Those words trigger a flash of a memory in Yuuichi’s mind, but nothing more.
Once Ayu runs off, Yuuichi realizes that he left Nayuki and so he goes back to the store. Nayuki isn’t happy with him because he lied to her about staying there. It’s not until later that night when Akiko tells them not to argue, that Nayuki finally forgives him. She thinks it’s ok since she had left him waiting at the train station yesterday. Before bed, Yuuichi notes that he needs an alarm clock, so Nayuki offers him one of her many clocks. She ends up giving him one with a cat on it and instructs him to say oyasuminasai (good night) at night.
As he sleeps, Yuuichi has a dream about his past. Nayuki had wanted him to go with her shopping so that he could help carry the bags. She had made him promise to wait outside the store, but after she went inside Yuuichi had been run into by a crying girl. Unable to figure out why the girl is crying, Yuuichi had asked what her name was, and the girl admitted it was Ayu. Her crying was drawing a lot of attention, so Yuuichi took her hand and ran off with her.

ED Sequence

ED: 「風の辿り着く場所」 (Kaze no Tadori Tsuku Basho) by彩菜 (Ayana)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 Mirror 1 (17.4MB, XviD)
Well the OP and ED haven’t changed from the Prelude DVD, but I decided to upload them anyway in case you wanted to see the version with credits. Both OP and ED are sung by Ayana, and while I like both songs, I like the ED slightly more.

Preview:

So this is KyoAni’s version of Sad-Girls-In-Snow Kanon. Although I know a bit about the story, I haven’t seen much of the previous anime or played the game, so most of this will probably be new to me. Kyoto Animation pretty much met all my expectations for this first episode in terms of plot of production quality, though I kinda wish the Prelude DVD hadn’t spoiled me so much on the high level of quality. Come to think of it, Kyoto Animation’s been doing a lot of ~13-episode series lately (SHnY, FMP TSR, AIR), so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle a 24-episode show.
Actually, there’s a lot of similarities with KyoAni’s Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. For one, I just couldn’t stop being reminded of Kyon by Sugita Tomokazu voicing of Yuuichi. He’s got that same Kyon attitude here (which is a good thing). Then there’s how much Ayu resembles Mikuru. See the comparison shot (idea courtesy of this blog). In fact, young Ayu crying reminds me even more of Mikuru, mainly because of the crying and the long hair.
So I’m pretty sure I’ll be following this series. The only thing I have left to say is Uguu~! Those parts of the episode were just so cute. Now we can discuss whether Uguu or Gao is better 🙂

80 Comments

  1. is this the same story as the first kanon series or is it different. B/c I didnt watch the first series, if its the same im not gonna watch the first, ima watch this instead…

    Guest
  2. Guest – It’s a remake, same story – though I hope this time they’ll concentrate more on Makoto and/or Mai. (Damn you for stealing their time, Ayu! *hides from angry mob* ;-))

    Haven’t been able to see the raw yet, but judging form the screencaps, it looks as great as expected.

    P.S.: Gao! 😉

    Gloranor
  3. I thought this episode completely sucked! I don’t understand why everyone and their momma’s mamma is going nuts over this. It’s just avgrage, plain jane, nothing stands out.

    Haku
  4. Nyoooo, i came in sixth. XD. Anyways, i’ve never seen the original Kanon, but the remake looks really good. And i’m so excided to Tomokazu Sugita’s performance~~ He is my second favorite male VA.

    Ai-Tan
  5. Edit: Seventh. XD. I’m surprised to see, that small girl’s wings. I don’t know her name, is it Ayu? I’m not too sure. Anyways, since they’re more grown up now, i wish she didn’t have the wings. o_O. ^^

    Ai-Tan
  6. 1. Yeah, its a REMAKE of the original series
    2. Its following the GAME story more closely this time.

    Meaning, every ‘big’ thing in the story is EXACTLY THE SAME because the original show followed all the important parts of it correctly. So if you like mai or makoto, they will be IN the show more, but will not be any more important to the story then they originally were.

    Basically, this is going to be the original series, but more in detail. Because the original focused only on the major points of the story rather then the entire game.

    Ai-Tan: more grown up? Wings? The wings are on her backpack, they are plastic, they are just there to symbolize further things. Plus, they are the same age as they always have been.

    3. As i said, nothing is different other then the art and the details. Other then that, teh story is exactly the same as the game and the original series.

    4. In regards to not watching the original because your watching this one…..i dunno. Its got its own qualities that will shine in comparison to the remake, so its definately worth checking out. Not that theres really anywhere to get it these days cuz its so old now.

    5. Akiko homemade jam MAX! This time around, they are just going to follow the game more closely. The original left out pretty much EVERYTHING other then the main points, this time its going to feel like a LOT of fillers…because, well, thats what its gonna be. Which, in no way, is a bad thing with a show like this.

    Anyway, love love Kanon, love love Akiko! Ill be blogging this on my Mai mousepad i got with my purchase of the game! woooo

  7. I love Kanon, I hope that many spanish fansubs pick the proyect, but even if no spanish fansub pick it, I’m determined to watch it even in english, can you tell us the differences in the storyline between this version and the other one?

    P.D: I like uguu! better 🙂

    Ransom
  8. COME ON PEOPLE!!!! AGAIN!!! the first one was nice,BUT COME ON!!! IF YOUR GONNA DO SOME THING OVER MAKE IT A DAMN SEQUEL OR SOMETHING =EXAMPLE “GUNBUSTER2” BUT THIS!! AGAIN?????……JEEEZZ!!! YALL MUST REALLY LOVE THAT GAME….IT AINT GONNA CHANGE NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    BROOKLYN OTAKU
  9. I think this remake is really nice for ppl who never saw the first one

    As for those who saw the first one, I think the animation alone warrants a rewatch. For those who doesn’t like this idea, they are not being forced to watch it so I don’t know what’s the big deal

    deltazechs
  10. ….. it looks just like the first one ” even the girls are the same ” so is the story the same all the way ??
    what is the point in doing it again ?? the first one isn’t old !!…… “the girls ayes are still too big ” O_O;
    hmm… how come every anime like this ” one boy and too many girls” will have the same brown haird guy ?? is this some requirement for harem animes ?? why can’t he be blond or really goodlooking LOL ^ ^
    sorry I’m just being silly .

    anyway I’m watching this .
    thank’s for the pic’s

    jojo
  11. yay~!!!!!!!
    i love the animation, beats the old one by sooo much
    and yes kyon!!!!
    umm…anyone else think that AYU looks like MIKURU, and yuuichi looks A LOT like kyon?
    oh., an ‘gao’ is more subtle than ‘uguh’, but i think i like uguh better.

    mootab
  12. I too saw Kanon before Air, but I have to say GAO FTW.

    For those people who saw the original may not get much out of this remake except for the better animation, but if your a Kanon fan then its a definate whatch. I’m whatching this purely for more Nayuki.

    SRTargets
  13. considering how this show is 24 episodes instead of 13, we can expect new stuff ;p

    nyways im glad they made a remake, kanon was imo the best drama show ive ever seen partly because it didnt overuse dumb drama plots that always come back and just look stupid thats present in every drama animes. Especially school romance dramas.

    Drayen
  14. ” -Uguu! That’s just so cute… Now we can discuss whether uguu or gao is better”
    DEFINATLY you would love daa! daa! daa! 😀

    Stay focus people my reviews will come later.reason:
    “TOO MANY ANIMES AT THE SAME TIME” -> I AM FEELING LIKE A CHILD IN A CANDY STORE 😆

    tensai_otaku
  15. Is this just going to be a carbon copy of the first series? I really hope they do a different storyline. A series that’s less than 5 years old really shouldn’t need a straight up remake where everything is the same.

    Sakuragi
  16. Tallon:

    I know that it’ll follow the game more closely – the point is, the game had a (good) ending for all of them – and in the original anime, they ended with Ayu’s ending (meaning, it was the main ending, the other were side stories).

    For that matter, they also haven’t included Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    Gloranor
  17. Finally got around watching my raw.

    Well, what can one say – beautiful, of course, visually as well as musically. And Yuuichi really reminds me of Kyon – Voice (obviously), expressions (screencap 4-2, anyone?).

    All in all, as expected 😉

    Gloranor
  18. in regards to earlier comments regarding a visual novel. the visual novel has 2 segments to be bought. one is the original which had hentai in it and the other is the all ages version. though both were really good and i saw in this episode that certain aspects from the MANGA were followed such as showing the charectors and giving a ton more dialouge between yuichi and nayuki. also following the visual novel was ayus apparent surprise along the lines of her backpack.

    all in all i must agree this episode appeased me more than the original.. but then…i had to wait on commercials since i had to watch it originally on bs-i korea with subtitles.

    however…im not complaining in the least. ^^

    dan
  19. I’ve watched the previous anime a few years ago and was surprised to learn that they were doing a remake a couple of months ago. I do wonder if they are going to go with the Ayu route again. I didn’t like her before but Kyoto Animation’s version is so nice that I might change my mind. Though I’m hoping they’d go for another girl this time.

    haggis
  20. That was fast…. in less thanb 24 hours; two groups already show us their skills and love for this series. I think Kanon is going to beat Death Note for sure.

    I’m so happy with this new series… and like how Kyon does a good job as Yuuchi.

    Let’s keep dancing.

    Syaoran Li
  21. Not knowing the game nor the old anime, I was wondering why this shows was that hyped.
    And..
    OMG This was great, for the first seconds to the last one it was great, thank you so much KyoAni for this fantastic job.
    On an other thing, OP roxx

    jokaa
  22. I finally watched this and all I have to say is simply amazing. Honestly it was like I was playing the game again. All the music is there all the dialog is too. So yeah watching the first episode left me in tears, that’s how good it was. It’s gonna be a great 24 weeks.

    sealouse
  23. im tremendously happy with this episode.. maybe cuz im such a fan of slice of life shows, and the fact tat i havent seen the original Kanon. the plot and pace were perfect and its KyoAni xD.. cant ask for more than tat! looking forward to your future blog posts on this 1!

    Aesir
  24. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m still undecided between Uguu and Gao, mostly because I didn’t catch it. =/

    Great opening episode. Too bad it doesn’t have the Suzumiya hook (the film). >=D

    Pakxenon
  25. I despise the dead girl.

    Go snow girl.

    Fox girl is teh gay as well.

    Go snow girl.

    Sword girl isn’t bad as well.

    Go Sword girl.

    Scarf girl… is alright.

    Semi-go scarf girl.

    asdfsadfasdf

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