Summary:
Seven years ago, Ayu had been admiring a doll in a UFO catcher, so Yuuichi tried to get it for her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do so, though he had promised it as a present. Yuuichi wakes up from this memory and exits his room to find Ayu in the hallway. After teasing her about ghosts, he accuses her of looking for valuable things, but it seems that she just wanted to go to the bathroom. They end up going onto the veranda and looking at the stars, though Yuuichi stays away from the railing because he’s afraid of heights. Ayu admits that she’s also weak in high places, but the veranda is fine. She then starts talking about how beautiful and gentle a person Nayuki is, wishing to become like Nayuki when she gets older. To her shock, Yuuichi reveals that Nayuki is the same age as both of them, but he also tells Ayu not to worry because she has her own good points. The next morning, Yuuichi displays a sleeping Nayuki to Ayu and tries to wake her up, but that leads to Nayuki’s head accidentally smacking into the table she’s sitting at. After Nayuki leaves for school early, Yuuichi tells Ayu that she should also hurry, but Ayu claims that her school allows her to attend and come back whenever she wants. Yuuichi finds it hard to believe that there’s such a convenient school and warns her not to be late anyway as he leaves.
On the way to school, Yuuichi catches up with Sayuri and Mai, the latter of whom he asks if she remembers tonight is the dance festival. She answers him with a “honey bear” which Yuuichi eventually remembers is because he told her to say that in place of a “yes” answer in order to be cuter. After Mai walks on ahead, Sayuri tells Yuuichi that she feels Mai is similar to herself and also to him. She doesn’t understand it very well, but suggests that it might be because Mai carries a burden. Later in the day, Yuuichi brings Shiori ice cream again, and she admits that it’s her favorite food. When she offers him some, Yuuichi scarfs it down, but then gets brain freeze. Shiori suggests that he do a handstand to get better, but since he feels he can’t do it here, Shiori goes through all the medicines in her purse. In the end, Yuuichi goes with the handstand because he’s got the dance tonight and can’t get sick. On the topic of the dance festival, Shiori also wants to go, but decides not to because she’s sick. When Yuuichi goes back into the building, a first-year girl asks him about Shiori coming to school. According to her, Shiori hasn’t been sick, but has been absent since the entrance ceremony of the first semester when she fainted. The girl refers to Shiori by her family name Misaka, which Yuuichi has heard before. He makes the connection to Kaori, who has the same last name, but when he asks her about Shiori being her little sister, Kaori claims to be an only child. After Kaori leaves, Yuuichi asks Nayuki about it, but she didn’t know that Kaori had a sister since Kaori doesn’t talk much about her family.
Yuuichi gets his tuxedo from Sayuri during lunch and then goes home until it’s time for the dance festival, catching Ayu and Akiko on their way out to do some shopping. As he watches TV, Yuuichi falls asleep and dreams of seven years ago again. This time, he remembers asking Nayuki for money and then finally getting that doll for Ayu. She promised to treasure it and thanked him, causing Yuuichi to say that she had cheered up. When he had first met her, she hadn’t smiled because she said she lost her mother. Ayu admitted that she didn’t think she would ever completely get over that, but she did feel that she would forget the sadness. Yuuichi then wakes up from the dream and realizes that an entire hour has elapsed. He makes his way to school in his tuxedo and finds Mai and Sayuri amongst the crowd. Mai in particular looks stunning to him. He and Sayuri end up teasing her and go into a comedy routine with her. After Sayuri gets called away by friends, Yuuichi gets Mai to blush by saying that he thought he was looking at a different person when he saw her. The two of them then get interrupted by a guy who introduces himself as the student council president Kuze. He makes a point to warn Mai not to cause trouble and spoil this event. Mai reveals later by the refreshment table that she’s not angry because what Kuze said was true.
Yuuichi thinks that Mai should dance with someone and suggests the desperate Kitagawa, but Mai refuses. She wants Yuuichi by her side because she’s not used to these places. When the music starts up, Yuuichi decides to extend his hand to Mai to dance. Once she takes it, he leads her onto the dance floor, and the two become the only couple actually dancing. Their movements impress all the other students who start commenting on how pretty Mai is, meaning that Yuuichi’s original plan of improving Mai’s image worked. She thanks him for it, but then senses something coming. Windows and glasses suddenly start breaking and something knocks over a table. The demon appears to be headed towards Sayuri and is throwing aside everything in its path. Mai tries to save her friend, but it’s too late: Sayuri gets thrown against a wall. As Yuuichi tries to get Sayuri to open her eyes, Mai retrieves her sword and starts fighting the demon. She makes a jumping stab at it, but the demon disappears, leaving her sword stuck in the ground. Unfortunately, the student council president Kuze now blames Mai for everything.

Preview:

I don’t think that the screencaps, particularly of the battle scene at the end, do this episode any justice. Kyoto Animation did a fantastic job with the dance scene and the subsequent fight, and it’s really something you have to see yourself to experience.
As unfair as it may be, Mai looks to be in a lot of trouble now. Kuze turned out to be a rather hateful character who was just waiting for a reason to blame Mai and now he’s got all the evidence he needs, regardless if the events seemed supernatural or not. It is of course a lot easier to sympathize with Mai since she was only reacting after seeing her friend get hurt. We know that most of the damage wasn’t her fault, but Kuze definitely doesn’t see it that way.
This episode didn’t concentrate quite as much on Mai as I thought it would. Aside from a good bit of Ayu memories, they also set up the Shiori/Kaori connection, meaning that it still doesn’t quite feel to me like we’re fully in Mai’s arc like it did in the last four episodes of Makoto’s arc because the focus isn’t yet entirely on Mai. That’s not really a complaint though because I don’t know how they’re going to structure this series and how long each girl’s story arc will go for.
Incidentally, Kanon is one of the few series not taking a break sometime in these next two weeks. Episode 13 will air next Thursday, December 28th, at its normal time.

39 Comments

  1. Ahh, I love the dress Sayuri wears during the dance segement. It’s nice to see it redone and everything along with Mai’s.

    I was wondering whether they were going to have Yuuichi actually do the training in the series or if they would just cut it. It’s nice to see them throw it in though, hopefully they delve more into the Mai arc then I expect them to. And hopefully they’ll actually let Sayuri get her past in a bit, now that would be nice.

    Likkun
  2. I just noticed this was only their second time playing “Shoujo no Ori” through all of the Mai scenes. It just sort of bothered me, accounting of how many times it pops up during the game in the Mai section.

    Since it isn’t really shown at all, Sayuri is fine. She wakes up near the end and sees Mai taking the punishment for the damages again. Plus, she shows up in the preview, it looks like they’re going to go into Yuuichi’s training/Mai’s birthday now. Should be a fairly good episode next week then.

    Likkun
  3. There were 2 deaths in this episode, first Nayuki died at the kitchen table, then Sayuri died at the hands of the ghost, poor U1, all the girls he get involved with die, just like Captain Kirk /joke

    mikemil828
  4. rofl, i just hate the damn president cuz he accuses Mai for wrecking everything, the freaking blind moron. and NO SAYURI DOES NOT DIE!!!! She is merely rendered into a coma for the rest of the series…lol j/k…i think…?

    Harouki
  5. Hey Omni, you should have put a picture of Sayuri in all her livelihood in the preview screenshots. It seems like she had more fans then I thought.

    Sayuri = Not Dead, Not Injured, Just in a bit of shock and more worried about Mai then ever.

    Likkun
  6. One of frustrating thing here is why no one was capable of seeing the obvious, that something unseen was wrecking havoc in the hall in the first place, while everyone was quick, and somewhat falsely, to judge that Mai was the one physically causing damage to the entire hall. Even if they can’t see the monster, they saw where things were breaking and where Mai was at that time. The Conclusion of majority of the students were just not logical based on what they know, for no one except Mai knew the ‘real truth’ behind the ‘Monster’.

    wontaek
  7. mikemil828: “poor U1”
    hahahahaha…
    nice 1, never notice it before…

    anyone got news about the next 2 episode??? will Mai chapter end in the next episode???
    seems kinda short for Mai story…

    tyllon
  8. Well, if they’ll do it like in the old anime
    Show Spoiler ▼

  9. Thank god i’m not the only one that thought the student council president was a moron. I mean come on, did he think Mai teleported and broke all those windows or something?

    The battle as well as the dance were extremely well done, as one would expect from KyoAni.

    I about laughed my head off when Nayuki died at the table though, lol.

    Waaaaa
  10. No kidding. Why would Mai go through so much trouble to sabotage the dance. And why would she toss Sayuri against the wall? I don’t know though. The president has got such a vendetta against Mai that all he will probably do is lobby for her expulsion. That being said… I pulled out the older version of Kanon just to see this episode. Comparing the two, KyoAni wins hands down.

    Oh and it is a miracle that Natsuki didn’t die after the hit to the head that she took LOL

    Yuri rocks
  11. Incidentally, Kanon is one of the few series not taking a break sometime in these next two weeks. Episode 12 will air next Thursday, December 28th, at its normal time.

    You mean episode 13 right? because 12 just got subbed

    Rai
  12. Sugoi! Sugoi! Sugoi!

    KyoAni sure knows its business very well. As Onmi pointed out, KyoAni did a great job with the dance and then with the fight. C’mon, is obvious now that Mai isn’t 100 % responsible for what happens around school, that’s clear now. Damn you Kuze.

    Somebody please, get my a tissue, I need to wipe my tears.

    Syaoran Li
  13. Mai was great in this episode. It was so funny to see her react to a joke (tapping Sayuri’s and Yuuichi’s heads). I love the volors of this episode’s ending parts.

    Why hasn’t anyone pointed out: SHE’s finally smiled….or is make=up hiding her.

    Avisch
  14. Its just much easier to blame the easiest target than to incorporate a fantastical idea. “It *must* have been Mai’s doing…”
    The student prez is just doing what many politicians do… find some scapegoat to lay ills apon to divert from his own shenanigans. Basic meme of “burn her, she’s a witch!” just modernized.

    I loathe people like student prez….

    Putting that aside, Mai’s dance and fight is one of the most lovely christmas presents I’ve gotten.

    Vexx
  15. Ayu FINALLY gets a new outfit!!!
    Nayuki sure made a loud bang on the table (and shes STILL ASLEEP!?)
    Shiori has a really really really big pocket….
    And most importantly, Mai owns, enough said 😛

    P.S. for those who wanted to know, the title of the next few episodes are as follows:
    14 ひびわれた協奏曲(コンチェルト) ~concerto~
    15 かくれんぼの小奏鳴曲(ソナチネ) ~sonatina~
    16 真夜中の聖譚曲(オラトリオ) ~oratorio~
    17 姉と妹の無言歌 ~Lieder ohne worte~

    being said, Mai’s arc will end on ep 16, Oratoric of the Night

    Bloody Nightingale
  16. O.o It’s only the second time he’s appeared in the remake, and Kuze’s already coming off as scary.

    Ahaha, Mai’s so cute in this episode! ^^ Before all the demon stuff, anyway…I, for some reason, got a feeling less sympathetic with this Mai in comparison with the original Kanon’s for that particular scene…that’s my opinion, anyway.

    Shiro
  17. Okay, so the music that was playing in the background for the dance is totally from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.

    I haven’t seen that movie in years, not since I was little, but I remember that song. It’s when the prince guy is singing to her in the woods, I think the song was called “Once Upon A Dream”.

    Anyways…yeah. Just thought I’d point it out since I recognized it. I would have assumed that it was a piece that Disney made, but maybe not since I don’t see a japanese show just randomly taking a score from a disney film. o_O

    Tori

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