Goodbye Mai, you will be missed =(

And so concludes Mai’s arc, meaning she’ll be pretty much non existent from now on, barring a graduation scene of some sort. Such is my only gripe with Kanon, characters get a massive surge of screentime only to be stuck with cameos for the rest of the series. I guess KyoAni is really trying to stick to the anime’s ero-game roots *shrugs*

Episode Rating: 8/10

This episode serves mostly as transition between arcs (Mai -> Shiori) so it was somewhat uneventful.

Kyon’ichi and Ayu pay a visit to Mai and Sayuri, who are recovering from the recent events. While at the hospital they bump into the walking pharmacy Shiori, no doubt picking up some more prescription drugs to add to her arsenal.

Ayu and Shiori are going through the formalities of introduction when Shiori’s doctor passes by. She gives Ayu an intrigued “don’t I know you from somewhere” glance but shrugs it off when asked, then excuses herself and leaves with Shiori.

Cut to the next day, Nayuki has gone to practice and Akiko seems to have slept in, leaving Ayu to attend to the breakfast meal. As Kyon’ichi hungrily walks to school, Ayu chases him down in a panic, screaming something about Akiko being sick. A short check up later reveals that it’s just a common cold, so Kyon’ichi leaves Akiko to Ayu and heads to school.

House of Lies!

The next day Akiko is all better so Kyon’ichi decides to go on a date with Shiori, it is here that we learn that her sickness is not just a common cold. Apparently she’s had a weak body since birth and hasn’t been able to attend school normally as a result.

BOOM! Headshot.

Later that night Kyon’ichi gets a phone call from Kaori, who has something important to talk about. The topic of conversation is Shiori, of course, Kaori admits that she is indeed her imouto. However, due to her being terminally ill, Kaori chooses to ignore her existence, not seeing the point in becoming attached to someone who has death in their near future.

Thoughts

Somewhat of a “meh” episode, while not exactly filler, it was full of information that most people have already figured out.

The “dramatic” revelation of Shiori’s sickness being much worse than it seemed and Kaori being her sister should come to no surprise, Kanon veteran or not. Kaori’s seiyuu wasn’t very convincing in the final scene either, so the impact was just that much less.

I thought the date sequence was pretty well done. The music set an especially happy mood, starting from the upbeat tune during the snowball fight and easing into a remixed version of the OP. It should set up a nice contrast for the drama to follow, what with Kaori giving Shiori less than a week to live. Angst ++.

By no means a bad episode, but I can’t help but compare it to the awesomeness of the Mai arc conclusion, which it had little chance to compete with. Here’s hoping for some A-grade drama/angst in the upcoming episodes, and that Kaori’s seiyuu learns how to cry.

Do I sense plot hints? KyoAni you sly devils

Whatever happened to my uguu~ count =\

Aside: Whoever keeps vote bombing DVD on the poll, please stop T_T

~ Shirukii ~