Just watched the legitimate release of the 2006 Kyoto Animation version of Kanon. Root had given me the older 2002 Toei Animation version as fansubs years ago and I liked the general premise, but remake version is definitely better in both writing and animation quality. ADV Films, who did the legit release of the Air series for the USDM has released the first 4-episode volume of Kanon, with the second volume due out in February.
If you’ve seen the Air series or Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, you will be familiar with Kyoto Ani’s work. The character designer for both Air and Kanon is the same, and her younger sister was the character designer for Haruhi. The remake has a lot more humor – whether it be from simple character interactions, timing, or even overt slapstick – it makes the original series feeling like a dried husk devoid of life and substance. Even with all the same CV actors as the original, the writing is so much better that the characters come to life instead of just going through the motions to tell the story. So far, it seems that unlike the original, the fact that the characters have missing pieces of memory makes more sense, but that may be because I’ve seen the original through to the end. The better character designs and acting boost the moe factor up considerably.
JN Productions did the project translation, so the subtitles are much better than what used to come out of ADV Films. I didn’t bother listening to the English-dub audio track, so I don’t know how bad or terrible it is.
This is definitely going to be one of the best USDM anime releases of the year.
MSRP $30/average street price around $22. It is available for rent at Collector Maniacs. Interested? Buy it here.
Four out of Four Transforming Alien Sex Robots of Death tm.
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