I mentioned this in my introduction post that Kanon is my absolute favorite Key work and I’ll go more in depth here. Kanon was the last Key anime adaptation I watched before getting into the visual novels and it completely changed my life. I have had horrible things happen to me in my life and it has had permanent effects on me. For the longest time, I would wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and ask myself “are you sure you can make it another day?” It might sound like I’m making too much of a big deal out of it, but without Kanon I might not have made it. I owe it my life. Kanon taught me to let go of my past, accept everything that’s happened, and find new meaning with the people in my life. Its message had a profound impact on me as a person, and it has shaped who I am today.
Emotional reasons aside, Kanon has more of my favorite characters than any other Key work. To crank out the numbers, Rewrite has Shizuru at my #2, Clannad has Kotomi at #3, and Little Busters has Rin and Saya at #6 and #13. Kanon has Makoto, Nayuki, Shiori, and Ayu all in my top 12, with Makoto reigning supreme at #1. Just ignore the fact that Mai is one of my least favorite Key characters ever…
Kanon also made me love winter somehow. I fell in love with the atmosphere of Kanon and now I find myself cherishing the cold. I remember spending school snow days at home reading the Kanon visual novel, and those are some of my fondest memories. If anything, Winter makes everything else even warmer. The warmth of home, and the warmth of huddling with someone you love are things I now associate with winter. And I can thank Kanon for that. Not to mention, the very idea of winter brings up memories of Kanon, and I’m always up for thinking about Kanon.
I’m not very good at going in depth on stories but the story of Kanon is fantastic, there you go. Each route, except for Mai’s, ranks at the top of my favorite Key routes. (I’ll edit this if I ever have something of value to say on the routes).
The soundtrack is my favorite Key soundtrack and maybe my favorite soundtrack of anything. Every track matches the atmosphere of Kanon perfectly, and they easily elicit emotion in me just from hearing them. When it’s cold, I like to take walks outside while listening to the soundtrack. Last Regrets is one of my favorite anime/VN openings, and Yuki no Shoujo is easily my favorite visual novel character theme.
I don’t know if I would say that Kanon is objectively better than Little Busters or Clannad, but I definitely connected to it in a way that is thousands of levels above any other Key work. It’s message quite possibly saved my life and helped me meet people who continue to change and better my life today.