Seven years ago Yuuichi left Japan because of his parents' jobs. In the present, he has returned to Japan, and is living with his aunt and cousin. Yuuichi doesn't remember much about his childhood or his old hometown, but as time passes he meets various characters which he has interacted with in the past. And his past is definitely a mystery, with many strange things that take place in the present: a girl that claims he has made a promise with her to eat taiyaki, a girl that comes to take revenge on him and a red hair-band that he cannot figure out why it is in his possession. What is it that he has forgotten, and why?

Kanon is probably one of the best (if not THE best) anime I have seen, due to the plot and the dramatic climax. The story is slow to unfold, but once it does it draws you in. I feel that the story, and the anime on a whole, would have been better if some of the minor characters were omitted. They cluttered the plot and didn't really add to the ending. Oh and if anyone out there knows where to get an official Kanon winged-backpack, please let me know.

Kanon is based on a renai game by Key. The anime, fortunately, has no ecchi content. The show is basically all about the main character, Yuuichi, returning to the town he left behind 7 years ago and meeting the people he left behind again. These people are not your normal girls (they are all girls though- big shock). Basically the show is all about who they are and exploring the story of the interesting female characters. All in all, a nice heartwarming and sometimes sad story. Animation isn't very good, though.

seriously, forget this one. Its all but a big clot of characters who literally make no difference to the anime. Its short, only 13, so I guess thats the plus side... skip this, AIR (done by same studio) deserves more attention from fans since the animation is much better, music, plot, voice,... basically it just beats this series, hands down.

This was the first anime series I saw that was based on an h/love adventure game which was actually really good. And it's among pretty scarce company such as Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, maybe Tsukihime (didn't live up to the game but compared to a lot of others it did a good job), Da Capo (another maybe) and Air which I think is better. And Air happens to be from the same company (I keep forgetting which game was made first). This, like the aforementioned series I didn't expect much from going in because of the lack of quality in their predecessors/peers (except for Air, this was great so I expected it to be, and it is even better). But I was pleasantly surprised by what is still one of the most touching anime series out there. At the time, the only thing I can remember seeing that was more emotional was Saishuu Heiki Kanjo. But I'm almost convinced that Saikano as it's called, was just trying to be as sad as possible. Everything in this series was great but the music (opening and endings that is, I felt like the rest was more neutral in quality, it worked well but I didn't feel like buying the soundtrack or anything) might not be to the tastes of the contemporary anime fan due to their downbeat nature. Personally I think they help add to the sad beauty of this snowy anime. The only mildly interesting thing I have to note is that I think this anime, as most based on love adventure/H games do, used the "true" ending of the game. Unfortunately I can't say I really cared for that ending myself but I bet that most people were glad to see it. In conclusion, I would reccomend this anime chiefly to those who can appreciate a good love story, or to people who have seen any of the other series I mentioned and want more like it. On that note check those ones out if you want stuff similar to this. I would personally rank the shows I mentioned with Air being number 1, though I'll have to see the ending to see if it lives up that, this being 2, Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien being 3 and Da Capo or Tsukihime come down to taste for 4 and 5. Da Capo is on the whole alternately lighter and darker than the other series, but it's mostly pretty fluffy. That's another review though.