Ask John: What is Kanon?

Question:
I’ve heard people talking about Kanon a lot, and they loved it. What, exactly, is it about?

Answer:
Kanon, an adults-only love simulation game produced by Key Visual Arts, premiered in Japan on June 4, 1999 and quickly became a phenomenal best-seller. While the original Kanon PC game did contain a fair amount of graphic sex and nudity, its emphasis on sentimentality, romance, cute girls with distinct characterizations, and ultimately story helped it, along with other contemporary hentai PC games including Comic Party, Pia Carrot, Air, and To Heart, transcend its roots in pornography and generate a massive fan base devoted to the characters and emotional depth of the story. In early January 2000, Key capitalized on the sudden popularity of Kanon by releasing an edited, all ages PC version of Kanon. The increasing success of Kanon as a mainstream romantic drama led to an all ages suitable version of the game on the Dreamcast, released on September 14, 2000, and a version for the Playstation 2 released on February 28, 2002.

Kanon was then adapted into a 13 episode TV series that premiered on late night Japanese television on January 30, 2002. The average response to the TV series among American fans seems to be quite positive; however, I personally found the TV series very condescending and sexist. The PC dating simulation roots of Kanon were obviously apparent in the anime TV series as the show focuses on a relatively nondescript young man with virtually no past who moves into a small town seemingly populated by entirely attractive young women who appear, and even physically exist only to interact with him. Throughout the TV series, main character Yuuichi encounters a number of cute young girls and helps them solve their relationship and other similar type problems by serving as alternately brother and boyfriend to them. Relationships are dealt with innocently, as a type of innocent, platonic idealized romance, which makes the show accessible and superficially non-offensive. However, while the drama may be occasionally somewhat affecting, the overall impression the anime creates is disturbingly sexist and patriarchal. Women in at least the Kanon TV animation exist for no purpose other than to enrichment Yuuichi’s life. As each small sub-plot concludes and Yuuichi concludes his romantic entanglement with each girl, the girl seemingly, and even occasionally literally, ceases to exist. At least in the Kanon anime, women have no personality or history or individual existence apart from their relation to the main character. Like a PC dating simulation game, the entire world revolves around Yuuichi, and the entire world consists entirely of attractive young women who have personal lives and histories only when such individual circumstances somehow effect or relate directly to Yuuichi. In effect, the entire world of Kanon consists of Yuuichi and various girls that exist only to occupy Yuuichi’s time and attention and be rescued or otherwise assisted by him.

Individual fans certainly have a right to make what they want of the Kanon anime, and perceive it however they choose to. I’ll readily admit that the series did have some effective moments and memorable characters. However, I seem to be among the minority number of viewers that found the show, on the whole, underwritten and underdeveloped, and too heavily skewed toward the conventions of Japanese bishoujo PC games to be totally effective and entertaining as a mainstream anime TV series.