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「Shining Star」
After three episodes, Kanon’s arc finally comes to a close. Given its progression, I question whether three episodes was really necessary to begin with though. Looking back, they probably reiterated her insecurities a lot more than they had to to get that point across, and also took the better portion of an entire episode to show how Keima was being supportive of her — something that Ayumi’s arc managed to do just as well in a single episode. While some viewers will likely appreciate the extra time invested, I actually felt it worked against the emotional finish they were going for. Rather than getting the comedic material out of the way early, it was riddled throughout and kind of upset any sort of build-up that was established. An example of this was when Kanon went to great lengths in showbiz to get Keima to notice her, which led to her tendency to disappear coming up. It was a bit unusual since it never got any tangible explanation except the Ghost in the Shell parody here, but did make for a good cliffhanger to leave off on at the time. More importantly, it resulted in a serious take on Kanon’s troubles. Whether intentional or not, that build-up was quickly made light of with all the focus on her fans from Elsie’s investigation and Keima’s goofy support shortly afterward, before things got kind of serious again with Kanon going missing just before her big performance. In short, it was this flipping back and forth between these two moods in the past two episodes that kind of ruined it for, because it made it seem like it could’ve dragged on for as long as they wanted it to.
Having seen the whole story now, I can safely say that it was the cause of my confusion as to what sort of direction this story was taking in the previous episode anyway. After following that relatively long and somewhat “messy” progression, my expectations of this arc had naturally gone up, under the assumption that the writers would have a twist in store to make it all worthwhile. As such, when the conclusion turned out to be the most straightforward one to date, it felt like a bit of a letdown. To be fair, winning over Kanon did have its moments after Keima filled the role of supportive guy who helped her overcome her insecurities. However, it wasn’t anything special along the lines of what only the “God of Conquest” should be able to pull off and that was ultimately what led to my disappointment with this arc. This was after he already said he “sees the ending” last time and how he mentioned that it was crucial to his plan to find Kanon first, only for it to end in a way that any guy who isn’t as dense as a brick could have figured out. Keima really didn’t have to do too much in this one, as it wasn’t anything remotely close to carefully scripting out a fruits basket for Ayumi or a private party with Mio. Even with the backstory of Citron and showing that ex-members Lime (Hidaka Rina) and Yuri (Uchida Maaya) are supportive of Kanon’s solo career, I still wasn’t really feeling the emotions behind this one. I definitely feel it could have made more of an impact if the screenplay writers condensed the first two episodes into one, before wrapping things up with this episode.
With that said, I still felt this was an enjoyable arc, which could have been better if they didn’t beat around the bush so much. However, I get the feeling the extra time was for Kanon’s music, which relatively new seiyuu Touyama Nao was (probably) cast for to sing. Kanon sure did have a fair amount of songs, but the only one I really liked was “Love Call” performed here. “Happy Crescent”, which doubled as the ending theme for this episode in a super extended version, is just too happy-go-lucky for my liking, and even Citron’s “Koi, Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu!” was kind of silly with its lyrics. I did like how Kanon did a short performance of the latter in an empty venue at the very end though, simply because it showed she was appreciative of Lime and Yuri’s help to get her to where she is today. Lastly, I have to say that I don’t find Keima in the anime nearly as arrogant as he came off in the first few chapters of the manga I skimmed. This is likely due to the fact that he isn’t portrayed as being too over confident in his abilities and has started to show signs that (the lips of) real girls aren’t so bad. At this rate, Keima’s going to end up being the one that falls for the girl, even though he’s supposed to be the “player”. He’s such a male tsundere.
* I prepared five full-length shots time time around. They’re images 13, 14, 19, 28, and 35 for those interested.
INS1: 「らぶこーる」 (Love Call) by 中川かのん starring 東山奈央 (Nakagawa Kanon starring Touyama Nao)
Watch the INS!: Download, Streaming ▼
ED4 Sequence
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ED4: 「ハッピークレセント」 (Happy Cresent) by 中川かのん starring 東山奈央 (Nakagawa Kanon starring Touyama Nao)
Watch the 4th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼
Preview
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INS1, 1:19 and 2:14
My face when I heard Love Call for the first time. Holy crap that was good 0_0
I could just be that I read the manga previously, but I kinda liked how everything was built up like this. The mix of silly and serious is something that I like about TWOGK in general.
Though…I have no idea why Citron was thrown in at all. It never happened in the manga and did nothing but set up the last few seconds of the ep.
I couldn’t agree with you any more Divine.
The past 3 episodes have been far too drawn out to give any sort of emotional backbone, for me at least. Which is somewhat ironic given that she had more screen time, so the I/viewers should’ve been more sympathetic to her.
I was fairly amazed at the number of actual songs that Kanon/Toyama Nao had to sing, the songs weren’t all that bad, nothing I would put on my playlist but the standard was relatively high.
I thought the best thing about this arc was the GITS parody, but then I’m a sucker for those kind of things.
they never showed us what happened with the citron in the manga though this wasnt so bad…
I was a bit surprised when the mirror talked, I almost thought the anime was gonna spoil the none manga readers about… something…
anyway we are now headed for the next girl, shiori, I wonder if they are gonna extend to 3 eps like kanon though its doubtful since there isnt much things for them to add unless they show us stories from some books and reveal some background for her.
They did put some information about Citron in the manga. It is is the “Kanon After” chapter/4koma. It was included with the volume that ended her arc. The anime gives more detail on why Kanon was so insecure and wanting to be noticed. I for one actually enjoyed this arc. Though it could have been faster, the laid back pace seems to me foreshadowing of a long running series. (We have no idea how long TWGOK season 1 will run but season 2 has already been anounced! Meaning a possibility of season 1 running up until season 2)
Ahh, yes, I have come to like Kanon during this episode.
Keima is a lot colder in the manga and while it might be less plausible I kinda enjoy that version of him more than the flustered one they are going for here…
I agree with you mr/miss.
Anime keima is way too human while Manga keima is colder with the girls, keeps his cool in most situations and overall feels godly.
Maybe the guys doing the anime are trying to make him colder/more systematic as he progress with the captures
Yeah, for a person who’s supposed to be emotionless, Keima sure got flustered when Kanon hugged him!
for a new seiyuu ,she did a good job
well, Ayumi’s episode/arc was way more entertaining that the whole kanon arc… the good thing is Ayumi is seen more often in the future.
This 3th episode felt quite fillerish, some (non-manga) backstory, then the capture (quite long) and then again some filler/fanservice songs (dunno, 1,2 perhaps 3… I just skip them).
so who is next? the library girl or the karate/judo (or whatever it is) cat-loving girl
“He’s such a male tsundere”
totally said that in irc the other day. He perfectly executed that facet of his personality in this episode.
Citron’s little acapella in the beginning of the episode sounded nice though.
Likely gonna be library girl. If they follow the manga storyline. The other one hasn’t been shown in the OP yet.
I’m quite surprised that they choose now to introduce a part that won’t be revealed until later. Would explain why they stretched out Kanon’s arc from two episodes to three episodes. With the introduction of Citron though, I do think Kanon’s actions are a little easier to swallow now.
The girl who follows Kanon will likely be a single episode and then we’ll move on to some good plot revelations after that me thinks.
This was a good episode.
It’s made this show a success–the fact you don’t feel ‘monster of the week’, (or in this case damsel of the week), vibes every episode. Keima is a kind guy, you can tell that in the end he ends up caring for the girl and honestly tries through his own way to make her feel better.
I agree, though I supposed it is to be expected that he is all soft and shy beneath the mask of indifference and cockiness he puts on (probably in order to hide his insecurities). Like Divine neatly put it, Keima is indeed looking to be a male tsundere as he discovers that real life girls aren’t that bad after all. Less interesting maybe, but REAL. 😉
As for the episode itself – I’m not sure what to think now. At first I liked it but from this blog post I’ve realized the many flaws of this arc, so again I’ll go with my anime watching mantra: if you liked it, don’t dissect it too much.
I really thought I was watching K-ON near the end… not being offensive to K-ON fans of course… the songs were good, but we are not here to watch live performance, and I really prefer a band anyway…
Have to agree that this episode is bit of letdown as Divine said… I thought the use of musical symbols were cool, but they failed to make them meaningful anyway…
Hope next arc is good 🙂
If you ask me,
Show Spoiler ▼
nah, he loves yokkyun
that song, “love call” was it? it’s pretty damn good for an insert character song, wouldn’t mind it on my ipod (unlike the rest of the crappy/generic idol music)
Just to clarify. The insert tracks are:
All 4 You
Love Kanon
Happy Crescent (happi kuresento)
The titles are shown at the end credits of ep 5.
Oops.
My mistake, there were another set of songs on ep 7 including Love Call. There was also Koi Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu.
Right, just like I mentioned in my post. 😛
I agree with you, this song was real sweet and more touching as well.
I don’t mind the length compared to the other girls because of the music. My fave song was Love Kanon. It was cute when they showed the little girl singing in ep 5. That made me think if parents dress their kids like that in Japan. They do, but then the father comes around looking like some wanna be rapper or a sleezebag in a track suit.
Can’t wait for the full length songs to come out.
A bit drawn out but still a nice ending.
All of the insert songs were really good.
Can’t wait for Keima to get his cougar hunting skills on.
Good effort on the image merging…
I don’t mind the extension cause I’m a fan of Kanon and Shiori.
4 episode for shiori’s arc please…
I doubt they can draw her arc to be that long, at most probably 3 eps
unless they make something like add her making her life into some sort of fantasy story or something(my guess)
and Show Spoiler ▼
im assuming you read the manga right? judging from you knowing shiori
I’d expect Shiori’s episodes to be 2 at the most~
if they dont add more scenes/history like kanon’s
I rechecked the omake at the manga about kanon and it showed that the members looked annoyed when kanon got the spotlight, maybe they finally forgiven her and gave her their support.
a bit too long arc, but the insert songs make up for that!
Kanon is one of my favorite girls so I’m glad that she got extended time. I also found this episode to be emotional but mostly so at the end with her insert song. The actual story part with Citron and being invisible I could relate with (mostly being invisible) but it seemed like she was a bit whinny since she was an idol and clearly that meant that she wasn’t as invisible as she thought.
But- she is still one of my favorites. She’s one of the ones I remembered most from the manga in comparison to all the other girls. Though, the capture scene in the manga felt more dramatic with how Keima acted. I don’t mind the fact that they are trying to show that he is just another guy and he’s not completely unaffected but I hope they go back to showing him being completely uninterested in the ‘real’.
And the music was amazing~ <3
That insert song is my favorite so far.
Also, on a side note, I think the reason that Kanon got so much coverage has to do with the current arc in the manga.
It’s probably because Kanon…
Show Spoiler ▼
Still, they did a pretty good job with the lyrics and insert songs. Wouldn’t have guessed it was new Seiyuu, but I’m pretty new. Anyways, I’m glad they took a while to finish Kanon. I wonder if they’re going to cut a few girls….
i felt that 2 episode is all kanon arc need in order for the perfect ending, they probably wanted to put in more of kanon song and hopefully able to make some more money from the cd sold, this is the only explanation. the other explanation will be Show Spoiler ▼
The Kanon arc in the manga didn’t felt like it could make 3 episodes.. then again the insert songs could have made the difference. I hope the anime would continue until Kanon’s role becomes important again.. ^_^
Wow. If you don’t mind my asking: How do you make full-length screenshots? Or, for that matter, how do you get such high-res screenshots?
The expressions Keima shows in this episode are so adorable. I love the idea of a tsundere boy slowly having his ice heart defrosted!
Your player should have a function to do so. I use SMplayer and VLC and GOM as backups and all have buttons or keys to press to take pictures. Maybe someone knows a better way, but that’s how I’ve done it in the past. If you want higher resolutions, you need to get a video with higher resolution.
onwards to a nicer arc. The current amagami arc was a letdown and this arc definitely could have used only 2 eps instead of 3.
I was pretty disappointed in this arc as well and agree with pretty much every thing you said, although I’ve never been a Kanon fan in the manga either. On the other hand, Kanon looked pretty cute on stage and it gave me a new impression of her that I like that I didn’t see in the manga.
Oh yeah, I read, I think it was on wikipedia, that a second season has been given the green light for this anime which has me pretty excited. The first season has some of my favorites in ayumi, the rich girl, and shiori, but there are some pretty good arcs I think in the second season too like the normal girl and the student teacher, and some new demon characters, for anyone that’s wondering. Sorry but this manga has been running for so long I’ve pretty much forgotten the names lol.
Those full length shots look really nice.
You’re the tsundere here Divine, you and everyone here full well know this sideboob and thoses armpits, and the preview pic were worth the 3 episode wait.
Nah seriously I was also disappointed in the end.
I’m a little surprised they threw in a hint Show Spoiler ▼
of whats to come, but it’s so subtle I think most new viewers won’t notice it. But yeah I could of lived without all this Citron junk. Wish this series would move a little faster through the manga. Show Spoiler ▼
thanks for pic #35, it’s beautiful to see it full.
to remind some guys again, season 2 was already confirmed
now its time for shiori…
the last of the first batch next is a new OP showing the next batch…
Meh. I loved this 3 episodes since Im a Kanon-fan.
@RyougaZell
YEAAH KANON ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really liked the pacing of the first episode of this arc since it ended with a cliffhanger. (which I’m upset that they didn’t end up explaining it) This episode felt like a half episode that was stretched.
I liked all the songs though. The episode just felt kind of week.
I agree the extended treatment is most likely to give the songs air/promotion time. Overall the arc is the most enjoyable for me though, so it works.
Even in the Manga, Kanon’s arc was somewhat of a passing let down. In fact, I completely forgot about her until she became a crucial part of the story later on down. Personally, there’s only two gals in Keima’s harem that I’d like to see a coupling with, but from the ED, I don’t think neither of them will show up in the anime.