Kanon (2006) - 07: Runaway and Kitty's Fuga

Title:Kanon (2006)
Episode:07: Runaway and Kitty's Fuga
Synopsis
fuga (from latin "fuga" = "flight/escape") - type of contrapuntal musical composition, begins with a theme stated by one of the voices playing alone, the remaining voices enter one by one, each beginning by stating the same theme while the previous voices have already switched to other elements.

Makoto again attempts to pull a prank on Yuuichi in the middle of the night, but again is thwarted by Yuuichi. The following morning, to celebrate Makoto getting a job, Akiko-san provides her special (and nasty-tasting) jam for Makoto's toast. Yuuichi and Nayuki head to school where Nayuki spots a small, friendly, stray cat. Despite her allergies, Nayuki goes to pet the cat and pays the price.

At school, Kaori is concerned about Nayuki's allergies and Kitagawa-kun does as well. However, he is more interested in being with Kaori. Meanwhile Yuuichi once again meets Shiori in the school courtyard, then has lunch again with Mai and Sayuri. After school, Yuuichi is crashed into again by Ayu for a brief encounter before she takes off, leaving Yuuichi to meet Makoto.

Makoto and Yuuichi discuss her new job briefly, followed by Makoto attempting to break away from going home with Yuuichi, only to follow him at a distance. After Yuuichi confronts Makoto about this, the stray cat from earlier shows up and takes a liking to Makoto. She is unwilling to touch or hold the cat until Yuuichi bribes her with a pork bun. Later on the way home, Makoto reflects on how animals get abandoned after being domesticated and drops the cat off of a bridge, where it somehow survives landing on a passing truck. This leads to Yuuichi getting angry with Makoto, who being upset runs away.

Makoto doesn't return home that evening, so Yuuichi decides to go looking for her. He can't find her and decides to ask Mai if she's seen Makoto. Mai suggests checking Monomi Hill, where indeed Makoto is with the cat. Makoto passes out and Yuuichi carries her home, followed by the cat. On the way home, they run across a fox but otherwise make it back with no problems. When Makoto wakes up a bit later, she's stunned to find herself back in this house, but seems to find herself appreciating this new family she has.

Comments
[Devil Doll, 2006-11-18]
Let's name this series "K6" (for "Kanon 2006") and the original series "K2" for "Kanon 2002"... everything feels more realistic in K6 than in K2: The characters are more plausible, the events are more plausible (such as the notebook's destruction this time), the mood is less the one of a comedy. Then again, that's what made K2 the outstanding event it was: You didn't see it coming what would happen during the final set of episodes.
What's more, with Yuuichi acting more maturely his mistakes become less acceptable. He missed the chance to accompany Ayu home in episode 6; he didn't ask any question about the demons so far although at this stage Mai must know he cares about her. He didn't ask Shiori any question either. He didn't ask Akiko what she found out about Makoto at the police... Time passes, and Yuuichi observes the events without understanding anything. How can Ayu look so young when she claims to be Yuuichi's age (which we know is true)? Too many questions not posed, at least for my taste. The Yuuichi in K2 was more "active". And it was more appropriate for the "K2 Yuuichi" to not socialize more with his class mates (and instead running around to meet Shiori or Mai) than for the fully grown-up "K6 Yuuichi" now. "K2 Yuuichi" was somehow "playing an adventure game" (that suddenly turned out to be more serious than he ever dreamed of); "K6 Yuuichi" is doing nothing in particular, which disappoints me. K2 had Yuuichi be desperate that Nayuki ruined his chances of getting a new girlfriend - that's not even a vague idea this time. In a way Yuuichi is asleep just like Nayuki... and he isn't even aware of it. But we need him to wake up at a certain point.
Makoto's permanent pranks are beginning to get on my nerves. She's the dominant character for quite a while now, despite having been the least significant charakter in K2! But hopefully I won't have to endure that girl much longer. We don't have enough active characters at this stage for a real "kanon": Kaori and Kitagawa sidelined (except for a short appearance this time), Nayuki sleeping permanently, Mai reduced to cryptic remarks, Akiko knowing a lot but not telling anything (and instead offering her "special" marmalade...). Which leaves Yuuichi handling two more or less interesting brats, plus the mysterious Shiori.

As for this episode: I have no clue how K6 will look to someone who doesn't know K2, but I see a problem now. We know the nature of Mai's issue, and we know who Makoto is, so it makes sense that Mai should know something about Makoto if and only if both are "compatible", meaning both issues are "existing in reality". But Mai's demons being invisible (unlike in K2!) gives us the impression they're not "real" (but only imagined by Mai) which undermines the logical connection between these two issues which allowed Mai to take over Amano's role so far. And just when I see this, what happens? Amano appears! Shouldn't she be redundant at this point? Some parts of the storyline appear even more confusing to me than they were in K2. Then again, had the demons been visible, Yuuichi would have made Mai his top priority like in K2, completely dictating the order of events (Mai's problem would have had to be taken care of first), which apparently isn't the intention of K6 (and I'm hoping for a lot more depth of handling that issue this time, so I can't really complain about this twist of events...).

AstroNerdBoy (20 Nov 2006)

Last episode, I was troubled by the recovering of ground as far as story goes combined with a real lack of progress in any of the girl's stories. For episode 7, I didn't feel that we were going over the same ground again and I finally think I understand why the writers keep having us touch all the girls. They appear to be establishing continuity and reminding the audience that certain things will be going on even if we don't see them for a bit. I can live with that providing we get story or character growth.

That leads me to this episode. We had the visits with all the girls, but Makoto was the focus as her story looks to be heading into high gear. Makoto had been getting on my nerves a bit which I hated because I loved her so much in K2. But the writers finally began having her open up beyond the annoying, spoiled, "must pull a prank on Yuuichi" mode. Yuuichi again makes his clue-dropping remarks about Makoto and she ends up reflecting on how people treat animals, specifically those who are abandoned. Why Mai would know where Makoto was hiding is a mystery to me, but seeing all that happened made it worthwhile to me. And I liked how Amano-san finally made a decent cameo appearance.

Yuuichi's annoying "mean oniichan" routine was mellowed in the end, to my relief. I'm hopeful that the writers will use the events in Makoto's story to cause Yuuichi to grow more, thus giving more impact to the remaining girl's stories. As DD rightly noted, Yuuichi, while mildly interested in these girls for their oddness, is mostly detatched from them at this point. It is weird for a girl to be constantly looking for something that she can't remember. It is weird that she doesn't know modern technology like cell phones. It is weird for a sick girl to always appear in the school at noon, yet not appear sick. It is weird for a girl with no memories to remember that she has a grudge against him. It is weird for a girl to stand watch in a school with a katana fighting something only she can apparently see. So he raises no questions because ultimately its of no concern of his. But as I said, I'm REALLY hoping that will change at the end of Makoto's story.

Next week appears to be all Makoto. I hope they make the best of it.


(Comment by Devil Doll: If all of K2 still holds true, then technically speaking Makoto is exactly what Mai is an expert for... that's why I have a problem with Yuuchi not being able to see Mai's opponents: If they're only imagined by Mai then Mai's connection to Makoto in fact doesn't make sense, and we do need Amano in the story.)

AstroNerdBoy adds: Now that I've thought about it, it is possible that Yuuichi just hasn't seen Mai's opponents yet. His eyes may not be opened yet, but his dealing with Makoto may indeed open them. And I think that Amano is needed because of her relationship to Makoto. But that's just my opinion and we'll see where it goes.


Stretch:

As funny as it is at times, I'm getting impatient for something major to happen. Mai continues to be on the lookout for demons, but none appear; what's-her-name continues to hang around the school, even though she's supposed to be sick; and so on. Should I be on the lookout for subtle clues? Surely this will be a 26-episode series, otherwise how can it afford to move along so slowly? The audio/subtitle synchronization problem of the fansub seems to have been fixed.

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