Fresh on the heels of the revived uguu~ phenomena, Kyoto Animation smacks on another potential armageddon – AUU~
But oh, let’s not forget the flowy blonde hair, or the toothy grin. It’s gao gao stegosaur meets nyoro, all packed into one lolitastic package. It’s the birth of AUU FANG-TAN – how can the fanboys resist!
The original Kanon had all that stuff already, but the trend never caught on – Makoto 2006, however, has all the background to be the next anime superstar. People loved Misuzu-(big)chin, and Tsuruya-san retains a megas-big cult-following – KyoAni reloaded their ammo quick for Kanon 2006 and pumped out a modern-day adaptation of this foxy chick.
That’s pretty clever. But that’s as far as the references go, right?
Well, this IS KyoAni…and they poured on the references in episode 2, many of which you all have pointed out. It did indeed add to the overall entertainment value of the episode – but was it appropriate? Could all those references have possibly hurt the episode, and the show in general?
Take Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, for instance. Overall, a terrific show and funny as hell – but don’t you get the feeling it could have been better? The episode shuffling gimmick was confusing for us all, and I’m not sure it worked out all that great. A means to an end, I suppose, as the not-so-infamous Kyon x Haruhi smooch scene was meant to be the climactic end. As awesome of a show as it was, I couldn’t help but feel that sometimes, the writers were just trying too hard to be clever – and in the process, seemingly cheapened something that could have been so much better. By loading on all these references, doesn’t it seem like Kanon is doing something similar? It is not able to maintain enough self-contained interest such that it needs to reference other shows to remain fresh?
No, I think Kanon 2006 can do it. The Matrix-like symmetrical docking dodging during Taiyaki Heist II was great, and the buttnaked art teacher shows that KyoAni can still pull off random moments with the best of them. And, to KyoAni’s credit, the references were well timed, however slightly out of context.
But…there were too many. Enough to make people forget, if only for a moment, that this is Kanon, not Kyonichi Aizawa no Yuuetsu. Enough to distract audiences from the fact that Kanon is supposed to be great by itself (thereby prompting a remake), not an attention-whore. Just like how the silent yet kick-ass Yuki was a more popular character than the supreme being Haruhi-sama herself (Saimoe 2006 has Yuki beating out Haruhi 1112-991), maybe the more discerning fans have a greater appreciation for subtlety rather than blatant overloading.
To be fair, however, I could just be looking too much into it. Maybe Kanon should only be taken at face value, the humor going as far as “stressed cleverness” and never into the realm of “absolute hilarity”. But then again, KyoAni just doesn’t seem content on having Kanon be “yet another harem anime.” They are, in fact, remaking a somewhat memorable anime into what they hope will become an immortal one.
Does Kanon have the potential to become immortal? Sure, as long as it’s able to carve out its own place separate from SuzuHaru, and not lose sight of its own identity. If we’re still referring to him as Kyonichi by episode 24 – doesn’t that mean Kanon 2006 was just one big expensive sequel to a much better show?
It’s all up to the ones named Auu Fang-tan and Kyonichi. For now, at least.
-jaalin
