Kanon - Nayuki Minase Route & Character Discussion

[EisenKoubu]

I don’t know what’s weirder: For someone to consider that belief to be universal in this day and age (even if it’s an old game) or expecting this particular one to be upheld in an eroge of all things.

Part of criticism is questioning the logic of actions made or words spoken in a fictional work from one’s own unique perspective. I don’t expect people in real life to uphold the same beliefs I do, nor do I expect them to carry those beliefs into their artistic works. After all, the Kazoku Collective regulations imply that ideas, not people, should be the subject of criticism. And if I were looking at this as simply an eroge, I wouldn’t be analyzing it at all. I despise eroge because they naturally conflict with my belief that sex is a sacred act specifically and divinely reserved for the bonds of marriage.

That aside, my personal impressions also lead me to believe that Akiko, despite her impossibly benevolent demeanor, still lacks the ability to properly discipline her daughter so that she doesn’t get into messes like the one she wormed her way into in the first place. It doesn’t mean she’s a bad mother, only a flawed one. I mean, what parent is perfect? I do agree that she’s doing an impressive job as a single mother, but even so, a single mom can’t carry the entire weight of parenthood on her shoulders without at least stumbling in some places.

Loosing a member of your family surely is something hard, especially if it is your father or your mother. I’m lucky to still have them both, but I have 3 friends who have lost one of their parents in the last 6 years (they are 19 btw). From what I’ve seen, I’d say Nayuki overreacted. Yet, I don’t want to sound like an expert because as I said, I haven’t experienced it myself. Also, I guess people might react to that in many different ways.

I can relate to this. I’m glad to still have my family with me, although I’ve had pets die before. I’ve been to funerals, I’ve seen the pain on people’s faces when they’ve talked about deceased loved ones. But I think the emotional disconnect I felt at her mother’s accident wasn’t out of inexperience, it was out of poor investment. I don’t have much of a reason to care about Akiko because she’s practically Jesus. She isn’t very relatable, does very little to advance the story on her part and doesn’t have an interesting character beyond, perhaps, her ‘special jam’. So, it’s a little hard to care, especially on the grounds that I know that on the third day she will rise again through Key Magic.

Not to say that you’re wrong. Frankly, the reason I’m the least bit harsh on all my criticisms of this route is because of my deep analytical perception of Nayuki, making this event in my eyes more of a karmic comeuppance to drive in the moral of the story, which is fine in my eyes but perhaps not someone else’s. So, in the spirit of criticism, I agree to disagree.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that this method, doesn’t prevent mistakes, it prevents people from repeating mistakes. Therefore, Akiko’s ways are incapable of preventing major mistakes which might only happen once in a lifetime but might have an effect that will last for the rest of one’s life.

In this fashion, horrible outcomes of some actions are not taught, leading to Nayuki living her life happily thinking that everything will work out and no horrible things will happen.

Exactly. Remember the times when Akiko questioned Nayuki about what ‘strange things’ Yuuichi was saying, and she said it was nothing? Nayuki prefers avoiding conflict as much as Akiko does, but this passive approach doesn’t do much to emphasize how horrible the consequences will be for a single poor decision. Besides, as I said, humanity is a forgetful race. It’s only a matter of time before ignorance for the sake of innocence voids the question of ‘Why? For what reason should I not do this? Why am I wasting my time?’ from the mind.

[SanjiSanada]

Oh Nayuki, such a sweet, loving, sleepy girl. The brightest part of her route is her herself. I really love her character even though there isn’t that much to it. She’s just a sweet girl who can’t help but be incredibly sleepy. It starts off really well with them getting close to each other and Yuuichi then buys her a marble? Nayuki sure has a strange idea for a present for herself.

Yuuichi finally starts to remember his past with Nayuki after she uses her previously gifted marble to restore the snow bunny they find and she clues him in on it being important. Snow bunnies don’t have any luck I suppose, one being destroyed by Yuuichi years before and them finding a crumbled one by their school. Why must you hate snow bunnies Kanon?

Now flash forward and Yuuichi takes her back to the station and apologizes to her for what he had done 7 years before. I was so glad Yuuichi did something like this because Nayuki had taken his response as him hating the town and her for the past 7 years before he returned. I feel this is the highlight of the route and where a major theme of the route comes in to the spotlight: forgiveness. She bears the wound Yuuichi gave her for the past 7 years but she still forgave Yuuichi and brings herself to smile for him and be herself, allowing their relationship to grow into something more.

I was very surprised when they actually became lovers. I didn’t think they would take that step but lo and behold, it happened. I was also surpised how afterwards they just treat each other as if nothing had happened. Then again they didn’t give much time to reflect on it with the accident coming up. Also, I have to say that Nayuki getting up before Yuuichi and repeating what she has the alarm clock say to wake him up in the morning was so sweet and endearing. I absolutely loved it.[quote=“Totoro_Futaki, post:24, topic:1968”]
It also felt sad, how Akiko’s brutal accident didn’t affect him in any way when he heard about it. To think that he’d at least be a bit heartbroken over his own aunts accident
[/quote]
My personal reasoning for this is that he is trying to stay strong so he can take care of and set an example for Nayuki during his little time left to show Nayuki that she can’t just lock herself away. She is going to have to face the fact that her mother isn’t there to take care of her and that she needs to learn to stand on her own before he has to leave.

That being said, I find it very interesting that the date disappears after the accident. Do you believe it is meant to signify anything? I believe it’s suppose to show the eternity that life must feel like to both Yuuichi and Nayuki, waiting to hear that aunt Akiko is going to be alright. Those few days felt somewhat depressing, wondering if Akiko was going to make it or not without a word from the hospital. I felt so bad for Nayuki, losing what was the only family she ever had and the only person she could count on; not knowing whether her mother is going to make it.

This is where I feel the other major theme of the route comes in to play:Togetherness. Yuuichi knows that he can’t afford to leave Nayuki alone but with her avoiding him, he doesn’t want to be alone either and chooses to keep going to school for that reason. I believe that if Nayuki had come out of her room, Yuuichi would have stayed home and tried to comfort her to the best of his ability like he does on the day before he leaves, even though he was absolutely abysmal at it.

This right here is the other highlight of this route. I was caught off guard by this and it’s such a beautiful message. I’m so glad Nayuki found the courage to go to the station and that Yuuichi waited the entire day, hoping that she would come to see him. Yume no Ato playing in the background was such a great choice as well. Nayuki keeping the message on the alarm after that is so adorable too. There is one thing that bugs me though. Do you think aunt Akiko knows the full extent of Yuuichi and Nayuki’s relationship? Either she just doesn’t know they are lovers or she does and either doesn’t say anything because she is so kind and accepting or she just lets them have their own privacy.

All in all, I enjoyed it but feels very flat. Like the impact it’s going for doesn’t reach the heights it was intended for. Especially with how quickly the final week passed by. It became hard to sit and empathize with a lot of what’s going on as it doesn’t really get reflected on and lasts such a short amount of time in comparison to the rest of the route, of which not a lot actually goes on. Nayuki herself really saved this route from being a complete bore since all her quirks really struck the right notes with me. She’s a very endearing character and I’m thankful for that.

[HeliosAlpha]

Bookclubs really don’t fit on my plate right now, so I’ll just throw in a small thing to think about. The story in the present day and 7 years ago mirror each other. Yuuichi was sad and rejected Nayuki crushing the bunny in the process. After the accident, Nayuki shuts herself inside her room rejecting everything. This also relates to the parallel between the bunny and the cake brought up by @EisenKoubu. The bunny is thrown to the ground by Yuuichi, and the cake is indirectly destroyed by Nayuki(It’s a stretch but she blames herself for it at least). The pictures are obviously made to be similar with the crayon style and matching color palette’s of white, red, green. I think connecting them through repetition rather than symbolism is more easily digestible. And in the end, Yuuichi ties it up by finishing the whole thing in the place where it started. This of course breaks the cycle as young Nayuki didn’t manage to bring Yuuichi out of his slump. Repetition is a big part of kanon -hence the name- so what do people think of the circular nature of the plot?

[Mogaoscar]

Repetition is a big part of kanon -hence the name- so what do people think of the circular nature of the plot?

Oh, that’s pretty obvious, yet I didn’t notice it until I read your post. If I remember well, in the anime, they kind of justify the title by saying that at a cafe, the music playing was “Canon in D Major” from Pachelbel. I didn’t find this scene on my playthrough, so the plot circularity / event repetition is a great way to justify it. Also, I think that Air gives this sort of feel too: (Air vague spoilers) there were a cursed man and woman, whose curse was inherited by another man or woman in the next generation (very vague explanation).

So maybe, during KEY’s early period, they wanted to make emphasis on this particular event repetition topic.

Do you think aunt Akiko knows the full extent of Yuuichi and Nayuki’s relationship?

I’d say she does know, even though she rarely asks direct questions to anybody, Akiko gave the feeling that she knew what was exactly happening around her.

That being said, I find it very interesting that the date disappears after the accident. Do you believe it is meant to signify anything?

I wouldn’t say that there is any intended meaning. The date usually disappears once you have entered one character’s good ending route. It happens other KEY games. Still, we are free to speculate about it, so I’ll say that it disappears because after the accident, both Nayuki and Yuuichi loose their context. They no longer know what is eactly happening, and not showing the date might indicate disorientation.

This is where I feel the other major theme of the route comes in to play:Togetherness. Yuuichi knows that he can’t afford to leave Nayuki alone but with her avoiding him, he doesn’t want to be alone either

I would say so too, however, this topic is quite generic so I didn’t give it a whole lot of importance. If anything, you could say that what makes this topic a bit unique in this route is the fact that both Nayuki and Yuuichi feel lonely despite living in the same house and loving each other. Still, this situation doesn’t last long so there is no time for the Visual Novel to solidly impact the reader.

Nayuki herself really saved this route from being a complete bore since all her quirks really struck the right notes with me. She’s a very endearing character and I’m thankful for that.

Despite the fact that I might give the impresion that, for me, Nayuki is a stupid, childlike and overconfident character, I also think that she is very funny and lovable. Her silly jokes and voice intonation made the route.

[Naoki_Saten]

And if I were looking at this as simply an eroge, I wouldn’t be analyzing it at all.

And neither would anyone else here. Here’s the thing: It’s an eroge for marketing reasons. The H-scenes are not related to the story or the true nature of the characters, which you can tell by how out of place they feel. Kanon is not the kind of game where the heroines run around telling dirty jokes and talking about how badly they want their cherry popped all the damn time. We’ve discussed this issue over and over in the H-scenes topic.
My point is: it makes little sense to blame any of the characters for the existence of those scenes.

Do you think aunt Akiko knows the full extent of Yuuichi and Nayuki’s relationship?

At the very least, she definitely knows about Nayuki’s feelings, since this girl has been in love for almost a decade and is really easy to read. For example, if you refuse to let Nayuki show you around school, you get a dialogue with Kaori where she reveals that the moment Yuuichi entered the classroom for the first time, Nayuki was smiling brighter than ever before, or something along those lines.

when you’re patiently waiting for a greater happiness, how long is too late? Is it possible to love or be happy with something, or someone, again after growing to hate them?

“You’re terrible. …to say something like that now… it’s not fair… Even if you suddenly say something like that, I don’t know…”

This one’s really complicated. If I let my inner pessimist speak, I’d say it takes less than a year to stop caring about people you have no contact with. Time is really cruel in that regard. So in this particular scenario, Nayuki’s perseverance is definitely extraordinary. On the other hand, us humans tend to get really hung up on dreams. Trying and failing is discouraging enough to stop us from dreaming most of the time, but simply waiting for our happiness to come to us on its own is way easier.
If you grow to hate something you used to love… argh, I don’t know! On one hand, if hatred wins over love, it’s because the hatred is stronger. On the other hand, if the hatred originated from love, it should be possible to dig that love back up from its core.
However, in this particular case, Nayuki never did grow to hate Yuuichi. She welcomed him with open arms when he returned, hoping he’ll regain his memories. And most importantly, she only blamed herself for getting rejected back then. She apologized and she wanted to try again the next day. If there is any part of Yuuichi that Nayuki ever hated, it’s his tendency of disregarding her or not keeping his word. What was the harshest thing Nayuki ever said prior to Akiko-san’s accident? It’s “Liar.”

[kyuketsukimiyu]

Yay! Nayuki route is check~

I liked this route if for no other reason than I was fangirling over Nayuki a lot and it was a fluffy romance. I’m a fan of the spacy character archetype that really is just looking the world a bit differently and has different priorities - Nayuki doesn’t fit this perfectly, but the start of her route is Yuuichi basically figuring out she doesn’t really always wear her thoughts on her sleeve.

so what do people think of the circular nature of the plot?

This circular nature of the plot is generally Kanon’s greatest strength for me. Most of the strongest points come from when the story uses Yuuichi’s reliving past events in attempt to do better than his childhood self. I would say that because some of the parallels in this route are a bit of stretch it actually detracted from the tension and emotional heights I was able to reach. Between the strawberry cake not really being something Nayuki ruined with her own hands, and that Yuuichi waiting for a day at the station doesn’t really emotionally equal the 7 years Nayuki was waiting, I ended up finding the sentiments sweet and enjoyable, but not fully satisfying.

My favorite part of the cycle is that Yuuichi leaves the snow covered town 7 years ago, forgetting his time there, and in a lot of ways it feels like the town and time was frozen all that time, because he returns to the snow covered town with all of the things he left unresolved were still problems frozen in time in people’s hearts. It isn’t until the cycle is broken - like when Nayuki went to Yuuichi at the station - that they break through stagnate frozen winter and it becomes spring and he gets to make it to the epilogue!

Do you think aunt Akiko knows the full extent of Yuuichi and Nayuki’s relationship?

Yeah, Aunt Akiko knows everything. Seriously - I find it impossible to think she is not aware - but she would only talk to them about it if they asked her about it directly.

When you’re patiently waiting for a greater happiness, how long can you wait until it stops becoming important to you?

but by the time she has it within her grasp, she’s forgotten why she asked him in the first place. Her actions became more and more selfish, until she settled for a half-baked

My take is more that apologies don’t really fix everything, but forgiving someone can be the foundation of moving forward. She forgave Yuuichi, but that didn’t change the fact that they were in a new relationship she was surely still feeling out when her mom was suddenly on the brink of death. There was not enough there for her to just know she can lean on Yuuichi - so with the balance of her happy life on the line she felt unsupported and withdrew. The burden was then on Yuuichi to prove that he would wait for her - which was really brought redemtion for Yuuichi’s past mistake and allowed Nayuki to emotionally feel like she can depend on him.

[therationalpi]

I honestly don’t have much to say about the route itself. I like the circular nature of the plot, I think the romance is believable and sweet, and it’s a good first route for the story because it doesn’t delve too deep into the mysteries of the setting, leaving those for other routes to explore. I will say that I love the kiss by the station with the “Nayuki…I can’t make miracles happen…” speech. That is basically like a straight up wedding vow, and I think it really works well.

As for Nayuki’s character, though, there’s definitely a lot to say. First off, Nayuki is very popular. Like, just judging by the amount of fan art of each character, she’s arguably more popular than Ayu. She’s got a lot of interesting quirks: she sleeps in late, she’s speaks really slowly, she loves to run, she loves cats even if she’s allergic to them, she regularly states the obvious, and she’s gullible. Add to that the fact that she’s the first character we meet, she’s a spurned childhood friend, and she’s got some family ties to the MC, and you’ve got a recipe for ultimate moe!

Nayuki has a lot of attachments to snow. It’s the second character in her name, she says that she loves it, and our introduction to the character is her commenting that Yuuichi is covered in it. Her character song is even titled “Shoujo no Yuki (Snow Girl).” And just like the snow, Nayuki is an ever present part of Kanon, our anchor in the common route and serving a supporting role in pretty much every character’s arc.

Speaking of Nayuki’s character song, “Shoujo no Yuki” is a very upeat track, almost relentlessly cheerful. A very good match with her character, at least outside of the drama of her own route. The arrangement that’s found as a bonus track at the end of the OST is also a nice touch, and I think it’s the only arrangement that’s actually found on the OST itself that isn’t in the game.

All-in-all, while Nayuki’s route might not have any really amazing revelations or stray too far from the common route in general, I think Nayuki is one of the more compelling characters in the visual novel.

[Kanon]

Prologue

Nayuki’s route starts as soon as the VN starts, Yuichi teasing her, being and overall dick, not knowing he’s actually really worrying the girl who’s genuinely afraid he’s completely forgotten her. That’s an opening scene right there, immediately tying into one of the last scenes of a route while also properly establishing itself as an opening scene. My dick is frankly rock solid.

January 8th

“Hey bro do you remember this path hey bro you haven’t just known me for a few days HEY BRO REMEMBER?”

Nayuki fishing asap and hard for Yuichi to remember things.

January 19th

“Feels like a date to me EY LUICHI?” “Feels like siblings to me”

Wheeeeeee. Nayuki making him buy something for her because that’s what you d-d-do on a d-d-dato, Nayuki really is good at this subtle implication thing. Yuichi is also great at not noticing it at all.

January 21st

That said ‘you probably forgot because you were sad wink’ is the subtle starting to loosen up, going for a more direct assault, directly provoking a memory, probably because she’s too tired to give a shit.

January 22nd

Kitaaaaaaaaa, for a Nayuki only playthough, this day marks the debut of the wonderful Fuyu no Hanabi(Winter Fireworks), this music is a special little thing, generally linked only to flashbacks, although the scene itself is entirely in the present, you’d think it seems out of place, but the snow bunny is incredibly important to the past between these two, being present when they last saw each other. To Yuichi, and first time players, the scene and music with it might not seem like much, but when you’ve got the full picture, the music playing here is a fantastic nod and very subtle foreshadowing to thinks to come.

Not done with new music this day however, as the couple step onto the balcony for the first playing of Kaze o matta hi(The Day I Waited For The Wind), the atmosphere of this scene is fantastic, the dark blue colours, the dramatic slow music, it is ill fitting for the extremely casual conversation the two are having, but the combination of it and the atmosphere makes it feel like so much more.

But this is the day that keeps on giving, and rightly so, at this point there is no turning back, you’re in Nayuki’s route. Winter Fireworks comes out once again for it’s true purpose, a flashback scene. The sketchy CG being the only image is great, it invokes seeing the memory from Yuichi’s eyes, as Nayuki patters on about snow bunnies, before she finally gets to the point with ASA DAYOOOOO

(From this point onward, I will no longer mention dates, we’re in Nayuki’s route)

Nayuki’s horoscope tells her her luck will be bad for the next week. I concur. Her mom getting hit by a car is pretty shit luck.

The next balcony scene is once again wonderful, Yuichi pretending he’s Tomoya and hating the town, the snow, while Nayuki tells him upfront that she loves these things. And then Yuichi tells himself upfront that he loves this narcoleptic girl. And this is where the extremely short routes of Kanon rears its head, maybe people, myself included, would think that this is too early for a bombshell like that.

Damned if it isn’t good to have that followed by Nayuki saying the same thing in the flash back immediately after though. Too bad Yuichi is a fucking savage and smashes the shit out of her bunny, and feelings. It’s with the full flashback you realize how horrible his teasing is in the Prologue, how her last memory of the guy is him ignoring her and killing her bunny, and he comes back only to pretend he doesn’t even know her name.

The conffespologize is good shit, but better is the next balcony scene, with the music finally really suiting the content of the scene, and Nayuki’s laughably weak requests for Ichigo Sundaes to make up for it. It’s true to the simple nature of the character while also supporting how she does love him enough to not be mad for 7 years of nothing.

OOPS H-SCENE. The H-scenes of this game are a magical thing, they’re absolutely hilarious, I choose to always play some more fitting music over them, the theme for this playthough will be Metal Gear Rising Revengence music, the track for Nayuki’s H-scene I have chosen to be Collective Consciousness. Some of my favorite quotes from this one are:

“AY YO NAYUKI GET NAKED” “BUY ME FOOD” “K SURE” “AIGHT”.
“I want to replace the pain I’ve caused her all these years(with my dick)”

Nobody is going to say the having Nayuki quote the alarm clock scene is top tier stuff. Shortly followed by Yuichi calling her fat.

Hello Ayu what are you doing here this is Nayuki’s route I’ll get to you later.

We need some despair, lets hit mom with a car. The scenes following this are good, Toudo Kougen playing as Yuichi just kind of lives though his day, and the realization that Nayuki actually broke the day after, leading up to Yuichi entering her room.

“…do miracles happen, Yuichi?”

He doesn’t answer this question, she doesn’t even press him for an answer, but it reeks of Kanon. All references to miracles in this route so far have been in reference to Nayuki getting up early, someone she’s always dismissed as not a miracle in the slightest. But when a real miracle is needed, Yuichi can’t even think of a sentence. Not right away.

The last day begins and oh baby is it good, deliberately invoking that glorious prologue, the skys which had been clear for the past two days are thick with snow, Yume no Ato plays for the first time in a long while, the scene is the same. The parallel is wonderful, someone up there mentioned how Kanon likes to repeat(I’ve found my time short as of late, I’ve not been able to full read all the posts of this thread) and this is yet another example of that, for the big finale scene to so deliberately and effectively invoke the very first scene is fantastic.

The glorious Alarm Clock that’s been with us the entire game saves the day, it’s very interesting that Yuichi ends up saying he can’t do miracles, going back on the absolute certainty he told Nayuki that Akiko would get better, and instead focusing on what if she doesn’t, focusing on being a reason for Nayuki to smile again. Kanon may truly be a story of miracles, but this route certainly supports that even if you need one, you can go on if it doesn’t happen.

Nayuki Epilogue

Umaretate no Kaze(A Newborn Wind) is some good stuff, I don’t believe it shows up anywhere but Epilogues, and of course, being remix of the ED theme it shouldn’t have to, the Kanon soundtrack I find, while weaker than a lot of other Key stuff, is certainly fantastically used in game. Yuichi makes one last reference to miracles, with him examples being such simple things like Nayuki’s smile. Stuff like that makes Nayuki the perfect starting route, the miracles are simple, and the route heavily invokes the first scene.

Nayuki’s Character

Nayuki is wonderful, the dozy cheerful ditz is generally a good character, her personality shines extremely strong but despite all that, she’s incredibly simple. Along with it’s Atmosphere another thing Kanon really shines at is it’s Character and Nayuki is a great example of that. The route is much like her character, it’s extremely barebones and basic. Unfortunately this does have it’s flaws, because I have nothing more to say about Nayuki.

Akiko’s Character

Good Morning Yuichi-san.

Akiko is extreeeemely bare in the VN and I know you guys have had a bit of a fussle and bussle over her up there. Akiko is simple and likable, much like her daughter, unfortunately she lacks the screentime to truly be any more than that.

Overall

As I said in Nayuki’s Character, the route is extremely simple and barebones, focusing more on the character interactions than any ongoing situation, the drama is a 15 minute ride at the end at best, while it suits Nayuki, and like I said, makes it a fantastic first route, I do think it leaves a lot to be desired as a story in general. I do like it but ultimately it’s just never been a huge thing to me.

Sorry for the fairly bare post and lack of responding to anyone, you guys have said a lot of things I’d want to say because I’m so behind and lacking in time hopefully I can bring more to future route discussions.

[Aspirety]

https://kazamatsuri.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/6/651d500bd31847a34e9a114bdd5f33fa6c66082e.mp3

Adapted from @NotKyon’s upload, I made this more alarm tone friendly. I’ve been using it to get up each morning~

[HeliosAlpha]

http://puu.sh/p7HzI.mp3

For people who want their moe to sound less shit.

[Aspirety]

The shittiness adds to the genuineness! That second one would never wake me up.

[Pepe]

Now that the podcast is done, I still feel compelled to write something about Nayuki’s route. Well, I quite like the discussion, despite how controversial it had been. I honestly think none of the thoughts given on here about the route are wrong, they are simply just unique. While some of the others may have had pretty stringent opinions, there is still some truth to be told in the concepts given.

I personally liked the romance in this route. While reading the climax, it kinda irked me how Nayuki just suddenly decided to get off her slump and head to Yuuichi in the station. But when they finally showed the alarm clock recording, I just melted~ Definitely agree with @therationalpi in that they straight-up felt like wedding vows.

That aside I think the message of the route was also conveyed pretty well: miracles can’t happen, but as human beings, we can each support each other to help push us through the bad times; and that kind of message, I feel, is very down-to-earth and I quite appreciate that as well.

As for the whole Nayuki’s past with Yuuichi thing, well… I honestly think that it wasn’t some deep-seated grudge that she was holding for 7 years. I have no proof for this, but I personally feel that she was able to get over it. She probably realized that something sad happened to Yuuichi that caused him to be in the sour mood that would make him toss away that Snow Bunny; and I think that realization allowed her to forgive him in her own way, during the 7 years they were apart. In that sense, I think the whole “7 strawberry sundaes and I forgive you” was quite realistic; she already forgave him a long time ago, and she was genuinely still in love with Yuuichi, after all these years.

I just wish more focus was put on her love for Yuuichi, rather than it being a simple “crush”. Like, they could have expounded more on her liking Yuuichi as he is now, thus her falling in love with Yuuichi; or flashbacks towards what made her fall in love with him in the first place (after all, she does admit that he hasn’t changed much). I think that would’ve made the romance a lot stronger and more memorable. But hey, it was short and got the message in a concise way, so I think I can’t fault the game for that.

[Sonic112003]

I might have been late to the podcast but I wanted to post my overall thoughts about Nayuki’s route. It was a simple but yet sweet route and the relationship between Yuuichi and Nayuki were always funny to watch and how they interacted with each other. They always tried to bicker back and forth about trivial things and sometimes I wonder about why Yuuichi has to be so mean to her but it was probably his nature to tease her as he saw fit. It is hilarious to see how Nayuki act when she gets sleepy and when she loves to eat strawberry jam with her toast while Yuuichi has to get her going to school on time.

Getting into the route, I noticed how Yuuichi had changed his feelings about the cold when Nayuki had asked him at the beginning if he was used to the town, even though he hated it from the start. As I read through earlier posts, I wanted to talk about the significance about the snow bunny and the strawberry shortcake. I think the snow bunny had referenced to the seven years ago how Nayuki had felt for those times she had spent with Yuuichi and wanted to tell him how much he cared him, despite the fact that Yuuichi was hurting with despair. For Yuuichi to toss the snow bunny away from her made it felt like there wasn’t anything for him that could break away from the feelings that he wanted to bury deep along the town itself. I didn’t realized that Yuuichi had mentioned earlier when he said what if their roles were reversed and that would he be able to wait by the bench for all those seven years in that she would reject his feelings toward him. As for the cake, it was stated that it was Nayuki and Akiko together that they lived in the house, how it was always them to take care of each other, and for the incident to happen on such short notice that the emotions that she held all for the seven years came tumbling down and why Nayuki was angry at Yuuichi that he never took into consideration of how she felt for him and it may have been wrong for him to say that he loved her.

I do agree that the route could have taken a better approach in the ending because it felt short and it was resolved too quickly. I liked how “Yume no Ato” was playing at the end where Nayuki came to Yuuichi just like the beginning but the roles had changed and the text where Yuuichi would promise to be her strength and that she would need him to be dependent on him. They do make a great dynamic with each other, even though they do act like more a brother and sister relationship. I would rate her route a 3 out of 5 and I hope I was not be too critical with her route despite the late post.

[Takafumi]

I was super sick for like a week, so I’m a bit behind. Also I have a birthday coming up, so if I don’t rush these things I might fall further behind… But hey, I’ll still join in the posting since the memories are fresh in everyone’s mind.
The full thing is on my blog, but I’ll post the analysis section here. It refers to a couple things in my overview of the plot, but it should work standalone.

Instead of going over the little details we can look at, some of which I briefly went over in my story post, I will instead focus on a big idea that is present throughout Kanon.
First, let’s talk about the repetition. This is a pretty big thing in Kanon, but Nayuki’s route exemplifies it. We learn of Yuuichi’s past by reliving it through Nayuki’s eyes. While we aren’t given a concrete explanation of what happened in the past, we can put together the basics of it. Yuuichi loved someone, they got into an accident, and Yuuichi blamed himself for both the accident and for his inability to help. He smashed Nayuki’s bunny and her attempts to help him, and then he ran away from it all and forgot. In the present, Nayuki loved Akiko, she got into an accident, and Nayuki blamed herself for the accident and for her inability to do anything. I feel like Akiko’s cake being smashed is kinda shoe-horned in, and Nayuki doesn’t really try very hard at stopping Yuuichi, plus she doesn’t run and forget, as much as she wants to. This leads to a little theory I have about this route…

Nayuki wanted Akiko to be hospitalized. More than wanted, she wished for it to come true. I believe that something in the setting of Kanon can grant wishes. My evidence?
One, Nayuki acted suspiciously wary on the day Akiko got into an accident, for no reason. I don’t want to believe this is just awful writing, so this is the best explanation.
Second, the monologue at the end from the anonymous dreamer says that their wish (which we can assume is the safety of Akiko) is the final wish, but it is their only wish. Saying both of those things is redundant if this was the only wish to come true, so there must have been preliminary wishes. I’m gonna say it wasn’t Yuuichi who made a wish, because his wish was to forget about the town. However Nayuki’s biggest driving force throughout this route was her desire to understand what happened to Yuuichi seven years ago. The best way to understand is to be in that same position, and she needs closure on that traumatic event. Sure Yuuichi and Nayuki were together now, and sure they repaired that snow bunny one time, but Nayuki still doesn’t understand why Yuuichi was so different that day (although it’s implied she knows who Yuuichi liked and what happened to them if you go back through the route.)
So Nayuki wishes for Akiko to be hospitalized, she goes through what Yuuichi went through, but in the end she doesn’t go as deep into despair as Yuuichi did and breaks the repetition to be with Yuuichi. Someone else wishes for Akiko to get better, and the family moves forward.
If you want further convincing, think back to my mention of the song Afterglow, and what Yuuichi said during the scene with that song playing. “It’s as if it were a dream.”
Afterglow signals the miracle is taking place. It signals the wish is coming true. With the stories of Kanon you can choose to believe that the miracles signaled by Afterglow are real, or you can believe they are a dream. In this case, you can believe that either Yuuichi and Nayuki lived on with Nayuki never really getting over her trauma of the past, you can believe that the two stayed together happily without Akiko with them, or you can take the ending for face value. Currently this idea may not make 100% sense to you, but keep these ideas in mind throughout the rest of the VN and you will realize that the endings of Kanon aren’t so simple.

[Karifean]

I wish I had things to say about this route, but I don’t, really. It all just kinda happened for me. I like Yuichi, I like Nayuki, but nothing in the route really interested me much. The character interactions fell rather flat for me, which left very little else to appreciate much. Doesn’t help that Snow Girl was a pretty boring character theme. Special note to Winter Fireworks though. The moment that track started playing I literally stopped in my tracks and for a short while did nothing else but listen to it, and so far it’s my favorite track of the OST.

Perhaps I’ll come back to this route when I’ve finished Kanon and the characters are more dear to me and I can find more things to appreciate in it, but for now it’s a 2/5 for me.

[bionic]

Ehehe I started reading really late but I’ll still try…

Overall I thought this route was okay. Up until around the 25th, it was mostly the same thing every day, Nayuki struggles to wake up, they go to school, they come home. I found the repetitiveness boring, especially since the same 3 or 4 songs kept playing (by the end I came to like them though). There might be some analysis for that pattern but nothing came to mind.

After that was the H-scene, which felt really forced and came out of nowhere, and like @Kanon said, it was instigated rather quickly. Another thing that I felt happened too fast was the Akiko incident. After she got hit they stopped showing the date(I think…?) so I thought Nayuki’s route was starting, but then about 5 minutes later it ended and Akiko was alive and well, so I was really confused for a minute. Not sure about this but I think they continued to play the happy morning music the day after which also struck me as weird.

I really enjoyed the Yuuichi-Nayuki parallel, where by the end they were doing things that the other had done, like Nayuki waking Yuuichi up.

I don’t really have anything to say about the romance, other than I thought it was fine.

I think I’d rate it 3/5, for general enjoyment but some confusion.

(made it through without eating the jam…yaay)

[StarfishBender]

Just from the 2006 anime, it’s not that obvious that there is a Nayuki arc as such but I thought it was quite well integrated into Ayu’s arc in the last few episodes. Yuuichi isn’t really mature enough to know how to handle Nayuki’s irrational guilt but then how many of us would really know how much to be proactive and how much to back off? Of course Nayuki is genuinely remorseful and emotionally shattered and I had a lot of empathy for her at that point, anyone who has lost or believes they are losing a parent will feel some small degree of guilt.

I like @therationalpi 's comment about Naruka being an anchor in the story; the most solid, dependable and apparently “normal”, least traumatised of the principle younger characters that Yuuichi had upset all those years ago. It was all a bit quick but I was glad that this was resolved by Nayuki managing to make her feelings known, because even if she wasn’t being entirely rational she and Yuuichi needed this catharsis.

And…Sleepy Nayuki is a definite candidate for best girl - she’s adorable in a sinister waiting for two cars to crash kind of a way

[LittleBraver]

This was really a good route to start Kanon off with, I think. I enjoyed being introduced to Kanon through a route established on a sense of familiarity. It felt like they were just living and enjoying life until something suddenly went wrong, which is kind of just how life goes. And that is what this route felt the most like to me. An idyllic, day to day, happy couple’s life. And the accident may have felt totally rushed and sudden but like I sort of said, I think that’s the point. When you’re living life happily with a routine and not a care in the world, all it takes is one sudden moment for everything to be thrown into disarray. Perhaps I’m just giving the route the benefit of the doubt. But I don’t think it’s poor pacing. I think it being sudden is exactly the point. This wasn’t the most engaging route, but I think that was kind of the point, and I think it did a lot to help establish Yuuichi as a character.

As for Nayuki herself, I think she’s pretty cool. Like most of Kanon (and as I found out, most of Key’s earlier works) you can tell she’s a character centered around an archetype instead of being built up by a few. So I feel people’s enjoyment of these characters will largely center around how they feel about the archetype, but I enjoy Nayuki’s goofy, sleepy, doting self. Even with the familial relation, I felt she was a good fit for Yuuichi and the romance was pretty cute. And I really enjoyed the end, how Yuuichi and Nayuki’s “ways through the darkness” ended up being reflective of each other.

[Pobuddymax]

Nayuki’s route was a great introduction into Kanon in my opinion, but had many faults that held this route back from what it could have been (I say this but I love the route). For starters, the ending was completely rushed. One second you’re living happily, the next Yuuichi realizes he has feelings for Nayuki. He then remembers how Nayuki confessed to him as a kid and decides to do the same thing. Nayuki doesn’t know how to respond but later returns his feelings. Yuuichi then thinks about whether his love could survive if his and Nayuki situations were switched. Well what do you know now Akiko’s hit by a car. I feel to some extent the ending needed to go somewhat fast but at the same time pacing could have been better. Even with these problems, I loved the route because of its themes. The idea that people can’t make miracles, but that you can support each other through the tough times so you’re able to make it without one. It’s a simple idea but it really hits home in the context of the story for me. Yuuichi isn’t able to solve Nayuki’s problem. But similarly to how Akiko supported Nayuki all her life, Yuuichi too could become a force similar to her in Nayuki’s life.

Now for some final random thoughts
Nayuki was really cute. Her sleepy face was perfect and so were her pajamas.
Nayuki’s va did a great job at portraying Nayuki’s emotions when she’s bother at her highest and lowest. From her cheerful uns to her weak voice within her room. More on the scene in Nayuki’s room. The ost mixed perfectly to show just how weak willed Nayuki was in that scene. I started tearing up the more I read hearing just how quiet her always cheerful voice was.

Overall, Nayuki’s route struggled to keep its pacing right near the end, not that it was that bad. There’s been far worse pacing in vns. Even with its faults, it had a strong theme of supporting those around you that really hit home for me, leading to an overall great route.

I’ll add my rating of the route once I finish the vn as a whole and reflect on each of them.