Kanon 9 - Waiting for the end?

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Going down cap'n! We're going down! Red alert! Red alert!

Makoto's situation continues to worsen as we reach the last of the single-digit episodes of Kanon. She is now the star as her arc kicks into full gear; although it's questionable how long it, and her, will last.

Perhaps, despite all the bad news, she may live, however. It is up to the viewer to decide at this point what kind of a series Kanon is, a happy one or a sad one, and I as one who have watched it twice can say with confidence that whatever you pick, you're wrong.

The exact details of what and why, however, shall be left out. Kanon 9 drops the foreshadowing for events in the way future, instead focusing on unwinding most of Makoto's plot. As such this post has no major spoilers for those who have completed up to the 9th episode, and is safe to read. Let's move on!


The chopsticks saga continues as Makoto continues to lose her strength, this time with plenty of focus given to it. In case you forgot why we get a time-burning flashback to Amano explaining who (what) Makoto is, and what's about to happen to her.


Makoto and Yuuichi walk around and talk about random things, as always. Makoto seems, true to prediction, naive and not knowing of her fate at all, while Yuuichi is significantly more melancholy than usual. Knowledge can hurt sometime, can't it?

Bonus points if you can find anything important with Makoto waiting for spring. There's a connection there; I just can't find it. Makoto wants a cameo in the cast of Clannad? (For those not in the know; each Key game represents a season. AIR is summer, Kanon is winter, and Clannad is spring.)


Yuuichi also recounts for the viewers the full tale of his story with the fox back in the loli days. He took in Fox-Makoto and cared for her because of the injury she had (left picture). Eventually, though, Yuuichi had to ditch his harem (both human and animal now) to return back to his own town. Much strife and sadness ensued. Don't think he was any happier about it either.

(But there's another reason why...)


Yuuichi embarks on his first shopping spree for the Kanon girl of the month, offering to buy Makoto anything she wants; he could just pawn it off after she bites it, anyway (not depicted in anime). The camera shot freaks Yuuichi out by showing a bunch of really expensive jewelry and stuff, but eventually Makoto makes her way to, wait for it...the 100 yen (dollar) store. Man, there goes that suspension of disbelief: I can understand foxes transforming into girls, I can understand having a large harem when you're 10...but a girl, offered anything she wants, going to the dollar store? Nuh-uh.

Actually, though, the bells are vaguely important to Makoto's character and plot.


We also get another Vaguely Important Scene when the theme of the picture booth is introduced for the third time; the first two being 1) Makoto's pictures, and 2) Amano across the street from it. Why does Makoto like the picture booth so much? Don't ask, but keep it in mind.


Makoto continues to weaken, as we get a cute little scene where Yuuichi has to brush Makoto's teeth for her, while she makes cute non-"auu" sounds. (speaking of, we've been missing the "uguu" master lately) Open your mouth and close your eyes...


Makoto goes to sleep, and Yuuichi runs off to contemplate the infinite again. He's stopped going to Mai for help; he does believe, as she says, that she can offer no more help. So he goes back to Monomi Hill to sit around and wonder. Oddly enough, he's being followed. By Makoto, who doesn't look too bad with her hair down. She doesn't want to be left behind again - you should know what the first time was. Oddly enough, she isn't supposed to remember the first time. Yuuichi notices this too and -


Disarming glomp ensues as Yuuichi tries to stop the flow of time. He's way in the denial state right now, not wanting himself nor Makoto to remember the whole, y'know, 'she's a fox' thing. It's a bit of an issue.


Another recurring theme seems to be Makoto being left alone, as Piro leaves her the next day, sending her off on a desperate off-camera search. People and things seem to be leaving Makoto left and right, and her situation isn't getting better at all.


She falls ill, to a fever! Now remember, the #1 rule of anime is that it is never, ever, just a cold or a fever or a cough, with the exception of One Episode Sicknesses. We'll come back to this point later.


Makoto also begins to devolve mentally, as her sentences become shorter and more "Auu"-filled. And you thought that word was cute. You're going to be hearing a lot of it. Although, we do get more cute Yuuichi feeding Makoto scenes.


And back to Amano. She explains everything! How am I supposed to spoil you guys now? How lame. She mentions, among other things, the importance of a fever, in that Makoto's going to die how strong Makoto's feelings for Yuuichi are, in that Makoto should have died earlier, and the singular occurence of fevers, in that Makoto's going to be dead very shortly. Currently, all signs point to no for Makoto.


She also talks about the backstory of the 'youko', the spirits like Makoto that take on fox, and then human, forms. They are apparently bad news, which is doubly true for Kanon; you should know that Makoto is only the beginning. Yuuichi's got plenty of calamity to go.

Also, Amano gets all sad about her loss again, and talks about how much agony Yuuichi (the viewers) is going to go through. He vows, like the harem man he is, to fight through it, and be optimistic. Fighto dayo!

Wait, wrong character

Wait, there's Nayuki! There we go. Yuuichi explains everything to Akiko and Nayuki. Surpisingly their heads do not explode, and they take it in rather calmly. Akiko explains how she knew Fox-Makoto back then, and how much Fox-Makoto likes bells. Perhaps the factor that helps them understand (or at least, pretend to), all this is some of the strange events that have happened seven years ago...


But oh yes, we get a storm brewing too at this rate within the harem. Yuuichi, as we all know, is spending an incredible amount of time with Makoto and ignoring the rest of his harem. Nayuki, the ever cheerful is beginning to note this, with her sad expression at seeing Makoto sleeping on Yuuichi's shoulder. The odds are low for Makoto and high for incest-licious Nayuki to come out the overall winner though, and really at this point it's still a free-for-all, so she shouldn't need worry too much.

But then again, they could go Shuffle! on you. It's funny, that I produce more questions than answers, isn't it? Hey look, there's another one.


And back to the manga scene at the end, as Yuuichi reads the Romance Manga With No Title yet again. This time, Makoto's reversal of fate is quite apparent. Last time, she mentioned how it would suck for whoever married the romantically-inept Yuuichi. This time, she wants that person to be her.

Now, that'd be a very interesting harem hurricane, if the other girls get wind that their man got married to a fox. We'll see if that happens shortly...

-CCY