Summary:

Yuuichi is greeted back home by Ayu, who notices that he’s not looking so well. Going to his room, he thinks about how Kaori told him about informing Shiori that she won’t live to her next birthday. Even if she did live until then, it wouldn’t be much longer than that. Kaori hadn’t told anyone else except Yuuichi since he became friends with Shiori, and she notes that Shiori smiles when she’s with him. Ayu interrupts Yuuichi’s thoughts by coming into his room because she felt that it’d be better to be by his side, but the two don’t really say anything to each other. The next day at school, Yuuichi notices that both Kaori and Shiori are absent. Afterwards, he finds himself atop Monomi Hill thinking to himself that he can help search for a lost item, and he can help fight against demons, but he can’t do anything similar in Shiori’s case. Addressing Makoto, Yuuichi asks what it’s like to be her and wonders what he can do for a girl with only a little time left. By chance, he runs into Shiori by the fountain on his way home. She explains that she used to come here to play with her family when she was young. Back then, she had eaten ice cream with her sister, and she now wishes to do that again. Shiori then tells Yuuichi that with more time, she probably would have liked him more and more, even though she shouldn’t like anyone. When Yuuichi asks her about her sickness, Shiori says that it’s not something medicine will make better, so she doesn’t remember the since it has no significance.

Shiori eventually admits to avoiding Kaori because she feels that that’s all she can do for her sister. She also has one request for Yuuichi: to treat her like a normal girl. This is because when she’s with him, she can return to the happy times in her memories. After he agrees to be like a brother to her, and the two are ready to part ways for the night, she reveals that she’ll have something surprising for him tomorrow at school. As she starts to walk away, Yuuichi calls out to her and asks if it’s really too late to do anything and if she could possibly recover. Shiori’s answer is that it’s possible with a miracle, but they’re called miracles because they don’t happen. At home, Yuuichi finds everyone already asleep, including Ayu in his room. He realizes she was waiting for him, so he carries her back to her own room and puts her to bed. The next morning, Ayu is still sleepy because of a scary dream she had during the night. Yuuichi notices later at lunchtime that Shiori isn’t waiting for him outside, and he’s very surprised when she shows up at his classroom door wearing her school uniform instead. Although Kaori walks out at the sight of her sister, Yuuichi goes with Shiori to the cafeteria for lunch. Shiori explains that she got her doctor’s permission to come to school until next Saturday – the day before her birthday. In any case, she tries the curry even though she can’t handle spicy food because she wanted to eat the same thing as Yuuichi. Afterwards, she suggests that she bring a bento tomorrow for both of them.

Kaori returns home later that night and is greeted by Shiori, but Kaori ignores her sister. She silently goes back to her own room and falls to the floor with her back against the door. The following day at lunch, Yuuichi finds that Shiori made two big boxes of food just for him and only has a small portion for herself. The two go out together for some ice cream after class, and Shiori notices the odd stuffed animals in the window of a store. She’s wants to go inside, but Yuuichi catches sight of Kaori first and chases after the elder sister. He tries to persuade her to have tea with him and Shiori, but Kaori claims that she doesn’t know a girl by the name of Shiori and then walks away. While he was away, Shiori went inside the toy store and talked to the old man who ran it, but she didn’t have enough money to buy anything. This is actually the same store that Sayuri bought the stuffed giant anteater from, and thinking about this reminds Yuuichi of how Mai told him that the person who is turning away from the painful things is someone close to him. After getting Shiori’s preference for stuffed animals, Yuuichi goes home and counts how much cash he has. Ayu interrupts him to tell him that the bath is open now and notices the wallet he’s holding. Yuuichi meanwhile comments on how Ayu put on her hair band right after she took a shower, and Ayu reveals that she got it from a person very important to her. Getting back to Shiori’s birthday, Yuuichi tries to get present ideas from Ayu, but they all revolve around taiyaki. In the end, Ayu suggests that Yuuichi do something that’ll make Shiori happy, making Yuuichi realizes that being with Kaori would accomplish this. He feels that this is the one thing that he can do for Shiori.

Preview:

My general sentiments toward this episode are that it was ok, but nothing terribly exciting or dramatic. There’s plenty of cute Shiori moments, but I still don’t feel very attached in any way to the character. I’d even say that I feel more sympathetic towards Kaori than Shiori. Maybe that’ll change next episode or the episode after (I’m not sure how long this arc is supposed to go). I did find it interesting that Yuuichi visited Monomi Hill to do some thinking and “visit” Makoto. If nothing else, it shows that Yuuichi still keeps her in his mind even though she’s been gone for a little while now. There was also the talk of miracles not happening that Shiori had with Yuuichi, and it reminded me of and contrasts to the talk he had with Mishio at the end of the Makoto arc. Perhaps Shiori will indeed get a miracle…
Next week is Shiori’s birthday. The piano piece in the preview and that clock striking midnight make me think that Shiori’s time might be up.

29 Comments

  1. yay! im d 1st! kawaii! shiori looks cute wearing the school uniform.. but still, nayuki is cuter. and oh.. mai too. XD Is shiori really going to die? guess i’ll prepare some hankies again.. ^_^v

    whitey-chan
  2. next week preview seems like the end of shiori’s arc for me..
    while she’s only got 3 episodes for her arc, mai and makoto got 5 of it.
    a bit unfair for shiori fan, if you asked me…

    hanyu
  3. Wrong. Makoto and Mai are 4 episodes for their stories. The main focus didn’t shift for Makoto until episode 7 to 10. Main focus didn’t shift for Mai until Episode 12 to 15. There was a lot of previous build up for Shiori’s story, specially on episode 11. Main focus didn’t shift for Shiori until episode 16 and her story will most likely end on episode 18. While she does get 1 main focus episode lesser than the others. Shiori’s story doesn’t need to be dragged out that long. As her story won’t really allow it anyway. She’s a time bomb ready to go off anytime, due to her illness.

    You should be happy and not bitter. Toei’s Kanon 2k2 really rushed her story, which made Shiroi a least favorite character for me. KyoAni version allows me to finally be able to enjoy understanding her more.

    It looks like Nayuki and Ayu’s story will come soon… with 8 episodes left, once we hit 18.

    Raniie
  4. Even when it’s slowed down though, I still don’t like it. In the game, it’s the one story that I never really enjoy playing through. It’s not because I dislike Shiori as a character, but it just doesn’t seem to grasp me like the others do. That and I figured whatever story came after Mai’s arc would seem a little dull.

    Likkun
  5. I am very worried for everyones,even Yuuichis health because everyone keeps continuously sitting on freezing cold benches.They can catch serious illnesses on their lower body parts that way.Here in Stockholm we at last got weather as in Kanon,but we can`t sit on benches,calm waters freeze to ice cover,and functioning water fountains are unheard of.But i still love this anime,what i just wrote about is not the only unnatural thing in it`s story.

  6. Oh shoot, I just noticed the next episode was going to be on February 1st. Gotta give them credit for timing that pretty nicely. That makes it pretty obvious now that she has to die next week.

    Likkun
  7. …you know…I never understand that characteristic ‘shy/easily embarrassed girl’ anime character pose where the girl holds her hands in loose fists in front of her face/mouth area…

    …is that suppose to like mean…’back off I fluster easily so I’ll fight you off’ or something…really look kind of combative…

    Zzz...
  8. I think with all these people dying… or not, as it may be (Makoto and Mai respectively) having a longer arc would ruin the effect — it is sad because we don’t get enough time with Shiori to really see… no, let me reword that — it is sad because when she’s gone (assuming she will be — she might not… at least not so soon, we might see an entire month pass by through her arc before she dies at the end of the next episode or something) we’ll feel we haven’t spent enough time together. (Sorry for the long sentence.)

    http://www.omni.fullgod.com/image/Kanon/Kanon%20-%2017%20-%20Large%20Preview%2002.jpg .>

    cbhl
  9. Hmm… my use of angle brackets ended up getting half of my post eaten…

    Anyways, regarding the image… preview 02, linked above… it looks like shiori is about to cry. Maybe it’s just me. Anyways, the prognosis looks… unfortunate.

    Which means more drama. And crying. *sniff*

    cbhl
  10. gah.. some wonderful screen caps this time. Looks like a soft, gentle episode (though with a bit of Ayu/Nayuki angst). Shiori is just gushing the “moe” so I’m going to be surprised if the viewer’s don’t get their hearts shredded in the next episode.

    vexx
  11. >>Er, why can’t they just use Mai to heal Shiori? Or would that be too convenient? lol.>>

    I’m pretty sure then Mai said that she could not use her power for a while, Kyoani was plugging up this particular plot hole. Guess some people didn’t notice this…..

    Anyway Omni’s comments prove once and for all he prefers ice cold bitches over quasi-imouto’s any day. j/k. Still you have to wonder, how considering how selfish and cold Kaori especially since she isn’t the one going to die, Omni can be more sympathetic to her than the astonishingly-cheerful-given-the-situation Shiori.

    mikemil828
  12. Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, is that you cannot judge a character UNTIL you see the full story… Of course, there’re times when not even the background story and justify their astions now… We’ll see…

    Chaos2Frozen
  13. DAM YOU KYOTO ANIMATION! STOP MAKING CUTE GIRLS! YOUR MAKING IT HARDER FOR ME TO PICK ONE! first mikuru now the kanon girls! stop it!! i don’t count the FMP girls because Gonzo got it first. I HATE YOU KYOTO ANIMATIONS!…..keep up the good work please.

    Rai
  14. >>Still you have to wonder, how considering how selfish and cold Kaori especially since she isn’t the one going to die, Omni can be more sympathetic to her than the astonishingly-cheerful-given-the-situation Shiori.

    I can understand why Kaori is being so cold. I don’t think you’ve ever had a best friend tell you that he or she is not going to live for very long. I’ve had two, and it was very numbing. I had the very strong urge to just walk out and ignore that person, or pretend nothing was wrong, because I couldn’t be strong for the both of us.

    krazy
  15. @Kaito: Mai was injured and is down and out for a while…. it is also unclear whether she still has any healing power.

    General:
    Kyo-Ani has a knack for producing packs of girls that ALL float my boat. Thank goodness Yuuichi only has to solve their problems, not necessarily “pick” one 🙂

    About Kaori.. I’m wondering how many posters bashing her have had a very close relative die a slow death? None, I’m betting. Self-denial and avoidance by the siblings because every time they LOOK at their sibling they burst into tears or have a nervous breakdown… not too uncommon. Is it good for the terminal sibling? Not really, but they often understand why the other can’t handle being with them. The real tragedy is for the one who survives once there’s no chance to say goodbye properly.
    I was lucky… I actually got to say farewell to my little brother who died at age 12 after some serious avoidance on my part — I can rationalize that I was trying to survive my first year in a difficult college but to some extent I was avoiding the problem that I would just start streaming tears everytime I talked to him. In working with support groups later in life I learned just how common Kaori’s situation is, its a natural human defensive response … a win for avoiding immediate pain but a fail for the long term.

    Vexx

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