Kanon ep.05

November 3, 2006 | 18 Comments

Out of the first five, this is definitely the best episode for the series. The pacing is right, the transition from different character is smooth, and the comedies are spot on. I really like the fact that Yuuichi is completely evil in this one. The pranks that he pulled on Makoto is clever. The pranks also provided hints that there is more to Makoto in the subtlest kind of way. And with the revelation that Mai provided at the start of the episode, I think the theories that I have about Ayu and the other characters are not that far off. As a side note, I've just replaced the images so now they are better in quality than the ones that I originally posted here. To begin with, there isn't that annoying logo in place.

The episode begins with Ayu saying that she sees a dream, a dream in which she's waiting for someone. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, she's sitting on her own on top of a small bench. However, the person did not come even though it's been hours, days, and years. In the present day, Yuuichi is surprised to see Mai holding a sword and wonders if she's in some kind of theatrical club. He tries to confirm that the two of them met the day before yesterday but she stays silent. After some uncomfortable moments due to the fact that he can't engage her in conversation, Yuuichi suddenly hears a strange noise coming from behind him. When he turns around to see Mai, however, she charges towards him and knocks him aside before moving forward with her sword and slices something in the air. Yuuichi is confused to see this and asks Mai what was it that she just did back then. Mai has no choice but to explains that Yuuichi that she slays demon.

After the opening, Yuuichi goes back to his house and returns Nayuki's notebook to its happy owner. Because his body is freezing, Yuuichi decides to take a warm bath and decides to pose in front of mirror, for some inexplicable reason. Eventually he opens the door to the bathroom but he is surprised to see a naked Makoto in the bathtub. After some quiet and uncomfortable moment, Yuuichi gave Makoto a "Yo" and apologises for not realising that she's inside. However, he follows it up by telling Makoto that he intends on joining her in the baththub. Makoto immediately yells outloud and starts throwing things at Yuuichi despite his explanation that it was a joke. Makoto then runs away from the bathtub after successfully hitting Yuuichi with a metal bucket. After the bath, Yuuichi realises that Makoto is waiting to return to the bath. She tries to criticise his lack of common sense but end up sneezing and being called Makopii by Yuuichi.

Before she can return to the bathroom, Yuuichi asks her if she can say, 「魔物を討つ者」- Mamono wo utsumono (those who slay demon) ten times and Makoto foolishly agree to do it until she tongue twisted the words. Makoto swears revenge but ends up hitting her own legs with the door when she tries to close it. That night, Yuuichi lies in his bed when he hears Makoto sneaking in front of his door while sneezing quietly. Yuuichi decides to drap his body next to a wall while Makoto enters the room and when she goes pass him, she grabs her from behind and takes her back to her room. Much to Makoto's surprise, Yuuichi tells her that she better sleeps and gets well from her flu. He even tucks her blanket. The next day Yuuichi is having his breakfast with Akiko and Ayu. He finds out from his aunt that Nayuki was doing her homework until late so Akiko allows her to sleep a bit longer. Makoto is also still sleeping due to her flu.

Yuuichi eventually realises that Ayu is sitting with him and Akiko around the dining table. Once he gets an explanation from Akiko, Yuuichi prods Ayu to try Akiko's jam for an out of this world experience. After breakfast, Ayu departs again and yet no one bothers to ask her if she's not going to school. After Ayu left, Nayuki appears on the front door so Yuuichi tells her that she better hurry up but she ends up sleeping against the frame of the door. At school, Nayuki is still sleeping and by the time Yuuichi wakes her up, she realises that all of her classmates have left the classroom. After parting ways with Nayuki, Yuuichi meets Mai again and tries to ask her to explain about the whole ghost business but she doesn't respond to his questions. Their non-conversation, however, comes to an end when Mai's friend, Sayuri, comes looking for Mai. When she wonders if Yuuichi was talking to Mai, he jokingly tells her that it was a confession of love

Much to Yuuichi's surprise, Mai does not deny this so he has to prod her into telling Sayuri that the whole thing was not true. So Mai belatedly tells Sayuri that it wasn't a confession. Since Yuuichi is there, Sayuri decides to invite him to have lunch together with her and Mai. Outside, Shiori can be seen walking into the school ground on her own. Back to Yuuichi, he is now having a picnic inside the school with Sayuri and Mai. After introducing himself to Sayuri and Mai, Yuuichi begins to gulp the food that Sayuri has brought with her. Upon tasting the food Yuuichi approves Sayuri....to become his wife. What a flirt. Sayuri giggles to hear this and tells Yuuichi if she can become his wife just by making good food then every girl can become his wife. Moreover, Sayuri feels that she's not that clever so she won't be a good match for Yuuichi. The two suddenly realises that while they flirt, Mai has been gulping foods quietly.

In order to connect with her better, Yuuichi decides to ask Mai what she wants to eat. When Mai tells her that she'd like Tamagoyaki (sweet fried egg), Yuuichi puts some onto a plate and give it to Mai. He then pulls all of the bento box to his side and tells Mai that if she wants to eat something, she can ask him about it. As a result, Mai has no choice but to ask Yuuichi for 'Tako-san Wiener' (Sausage in the shape of an Octopus). Upon hearing the request, Yuuichi asks Mai if she likes 'Tako-san Wiener' so Mai tells him that she doesn't hate it. When he asks if she likes Tako (Octopus) or Wiener (Sausages), Mai tells him it's Sausage that she likes. When he finds out about this, he wonders if Mai hates Octopus but Mai is not sure about it. Sayuri laughs upon seeing this debacle and decides that Yuuichi is an interesting individual. While Shiori is still waiting patiently outside, Sayuri invites Yuuichi to have lunch with them again someday.

Not surprisingly, Yuuichi doesn't refuse the idea of having free lunch with two girls. He tells Sayuri that he's infatuated with her food. Oh, for crying outloud, I didn't know that Yuuichi is a smooth-talker. Anyway, Sayuri asks Mai if she'd mind having lunch with Yuuichi again but since Mai doesn't care either way, Sayuri decides to make portion for 3 people. Lucky Yuuichi. After bidding goodbye to both girls, Yuuichi notices Shiori standing outside. Just like the double-dipper that he is, he decides to make a move on her. Yuuichi once again tries to find out Shiori's family name but she tells him it's a secret so she asks him to just call her "Shiori". Yuuichi agrees to do this if she calls him "Onii-chan" (big brother). Much to his surprise, Shiori is willing to play along and calls him "Onii-chan". XD After admitting that this is embarassing, the topic change into Shiori taking medicine. Shiori suddenly realises that Yuuichi is indeed acting like an older brother.

Yuuichi is surprised when he finds out that Shiori came all the way here to meet him. When he asks her why she'd do this she tells him it's because he's an interesting person. Shiori then changes the topic into snow and wonders if Yuuichi likes it. He admits that he hates it while Shiori actually likes it. Because of this she invites him to make snowman. Yuuichi warns her that she'll catch a cold from doing this. Moreover, for someone who's been living here, surely she's make it before. Shiori claims that she never made a big one on her own. When asked how big she has in mind, she tells him it's 10 meter. Shiori, however, starts to sneeze due to cold so Yuuichi tells her that she'd better off going back home and rest. On his way home, Yuuichi meets an excited Makoto who tells him that she's gotten better so she's off to buy some Tofu. When Yuuichi is concerned if she can go back on her own, Makoto tells him that she's an adult, not a child anymore.

Upon hearing this, Yuuichi tells her that in that case, he'd like to ask her to buy him 'Ero-hon' (porn magazine). Makoto clearly doesn't understand what 'Ero-hon' actually means so Yuuichi just tells her that it's magazine for adult and gives her some money to buy it. >:) He also tells her that when she gets into the book shop, she just have to ask the book seller for an 'Ero-hon'. Makoto is excited to hear this and wants to read the book as well. A few hours later, Makoto returns back home, looking angry and embarassed for having to buy a dirty magazine. Yuuichi tells him that she's just a kid and that's why she's embarassed because an adult woman will be fine with it. Makoto thinks Yuuichi is lying but her interest quickly changed into the Niku-man (Pork bun) that Yuuichi has in his hand. Makoto is excited when Yuuichi asks her if she wants to smell it. Before she can eat the bun, however, Yuuichi pulls it back, telling her that she can only smell it.

Makoto wonders if Akiko made it but Yuuichi tells her that he bought it and so is the manga. He decides to show it to Makoto and she seems to be interested to read it. Yuuichi is surprised to see this, wondering if this is the first time Makoto read a manga. Makoto asks him if she can borrow the manga and Yuuichi doesn't mind. The only thing that is left is the Pork bun, which Yuuichi bought in the shopping mall. Once she finds out about it, Makoto decides to buy some as well. A few hours later, Yuuichi finds out that Makoto didn't just buy one bun but a whole box. Yuuichi tells her that if she eats all of these, she won't be able to eat dinner so he decides to 'help' her eating some of it. Makoto, who's too transfixed with her manga, does not realise this and simply agrees when Yuuichi asks her if he can have it. Later on, Makoto runs back to Yuuichi's room angry that he ate her Pork bun. Yuuichi claims that she told him to have it but she knows he lied.

Makoto, however, becomes distracted when Yuuichi poits out that there's a leftover pork meat on her face. Makoto immediately wipes it with her hand and licks said meat from her hand. Upon seeing this Yuuichi tells her that everything that she does makes her look like an animal. Akiko then comes to the room asking her about the Tofu but as it turns out, Makoto has used the money to buy the Pork bun. Akiko, however, doesn't mind since she feels sorry for Makoto who lost her memory. That night Yuuichi goes back to school for some 'ghost extermination' and to bring Mai some Onigiri. When he tries to ask Mai if her sword is real, however, a ghostly figure lurks behind him. Mai, however, uses her sword to reveal that the figure is just Makoto trying to pretend to be ghost. Upon seeing Makoto, Mai decides to pat her on the head because she thinks Makoto wants to be patted. Makoto wants to return home but because she's afraid, Yuuichi decides to accompany him. Before he left, Mai asks him to be kind to Makoto.

Impression:

It feels as if all of a sudden this episode makes everything a lot more easier to understand. It's obvious now that the narration at the start of the episode belongs to Ayu. There is even a shot of her silhouette during the sequence. I find it strange though that no one in the series wonder why she doesn't go to school while everyone else of her age do. Even Akiko doesn't ask Ayu about this. Unless, of course, she knows all along that there's something unusual about Ayu. After what Mai said about her ghost slaying activity, then I think it's safe to assume that there are spirits roaming around in this town. In that case, it is highly likely that Ayu is a spirit herself. I do wonder why so many people can see her though if this is the case. Normally spirit would only be seen by someone close to her. In addition to this, the ghost that Mai eliminated was not visible to human's eyes (or rather, the viewers') while Ayu is clearly visible to the viewers.

I also think that Mai knows there is something about Makoto that is not right. One can argue that she doesn't know porn magazine because she's just a kid. However, for a kid not to know about manga in Japan is quite rare. This means that she's either a spirit like Ayu or some kind of manifestation. Either way, it was fun watching her losing her temper to Yuuichi time and time again. Speaking of Yuuichi, he sure is quite a player in this episode. Not only he tries to get into bath with Makoto, he also flirts with Sayuri, has keen interest in Mai, and still has time to entertain Shiori. It's a good thing that Ayu or Nayuki is not around or else he'll be in great trouble. Kudos to Tomokazu Sugita for making the character so much fun. I don't know how the old version Yuuichi was like but judging from what others have said, it seems he was less entertaining than this new version created by Tomokazu Sugita. Overall, this is the most entertaining episode thus far.

Preview

On next week's episode: Makoto getting a job?

© memento 2003