Kanon (video game)

Did You Know?

• The game's story uses amnesia as a plot device for Yuichi, Ayu, and Makoto.
• The 2006 anime uses Pachelbel's Canon in D major as background music at certain points.

Characters

Yuichi Aizawa is a cynical 17-year-old high school protagonist who often plays jokes on girls his age but is loyal and does not ask much in return. Ayu Tsukimiya is the main heroine, created by Naoki Hisaya and designed by Itaru Hinoue. Nayuki Minase, Yuichi's cousin, has always loved him and must cope with the possibility he may fall for another girl. Makoto Sawatari is a young girl who attacks Yuichi early in the story but is taken in as a guest at the Minase household; she has lost her memories but remembers her name and believes she holds a grudge against Yuichi from his past visit.

Shiori Misaka is a first-year high school student with a lifelong illness that makes her physically weak and often absent; she loves drama and invents reasons for events. Mai Kawasumi is a third-year student at Yuichi's school. Akiko Minase is Nayuki's mother and Yuichi's aunt, who takes in strays like Makoto and accepts lame excuses for her behavior. Kaori Misaka is Yuichi and Nayuki's classmate and class representative, intelligent and knowledgeable but unaware of supernatural events. Sayuri Kurata is also a character in the story.

Development

Most of Kanon's development staff originally worked for the visual novel publisher Nexton under the brand Tactics. After releasing the brand's third game One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e, most of the Tactics staff left Nexton to work at another publishing company where they could have freedom for their next project. Itaru Hinoue, who had previously worked at Visual Arts, introduced Key's founding members to Visual Arts president Takahiro Baba, who granted the developers the desired freedom.

They officially transferred to Visual Arts and formed Key on July 21, 1998, starting production on Kanon. Planning was headed by Naoki Hisaya, who also wrote scenarios for Ayu, Nayuki, and Shiori, while Jun Maeda wrote the routes for Makoto and Mai. Art direction was led by Itaru Hinoue, with additional computer graphics by Dinn, Miracle Mikipon, and Shinory, and background art by Torino. Music was composed by OdiakeS, Shinji Orito, and Jun Maeda.

Kanon was the first and last Key visual novel worked on by Naoki Hisaya and OdiakeS before they pursued similar work elsewhere. The game was released as an adult game on June 4, 1999, in limited and regular editions for Windows. An all-ages version followed on January 7, 2000. Updated versions include the Kanon Standard Edition (November 26, 2004), an all-ages Standard Edition (January 28, 2005), a version in the Key 10th Memorial Box (July 31, 2009), and the Kanon Memorial Edition (April 30, 2010).

Adaptations

Five adult light novels written by Mariko Shimizu and published by Paradigm were released between October 1999 and August 2000, each based on one of the five heroines, with cover art and illustrations by Itaru Hinoue. The novels were titled Yuki no Shōjo, Egao no Mukougawa ni, Shōjo no Ori, The Fox and the Grapes, and Hidamari no Machi. Paradigm re-released them under the VA Bunko imprint starting June 27, 2009, removing erotic scenes and adding new content by Shimizu. A sixth novel for Sayuri Kurata, Kanojotachi no Kenkai, was released on March 31, 2011. Key also collaborated with TI Tokyo to release the Kanon Trading Card Game, showcased at Comiket in winter 1999, later expanded to include the Air Trading Card Game.

Reception and legacy

It re-entered the top 50 in June 2002 at rank 45, then 46, and again at 41 in early July 2002. The Kanon Standard Edition premiered at number 16 and remained in the top 50 for two months at ranks 47 and 35. Its all-ages version premiered at number 42, rose to 35, then dropped off. The Dreamcast port sold 42,379 units in its first week, ranking fourth among console games in Japan that week. Kanon has sold over 300,000 units across several platforms, excluding the PSP release. The first PS2 release in 2002 received a Famitsu score of 29/40. In a Dengeki G's Magazine poll of 249 titles, Kanon ranked fifth with 71 votes. Characters from Kanon have appeared in dōjin games such as Eternal Fighter Zero and Glove on Fight. Ayu Tsukimiya also appears in strip 67 of the webcomic Megatokyo.