Kanon ep.13

December 29, 2006 | 31 Comments

This is a bit of a disappointment after last week's dance party. I thought some scenes look a bit sparse this time around. Thankfully the fight scenes still look quite good and fluid as usual. It helps that Sayuri's screen time has been increased this time around. Unfortunately, Yuuichi seems far more interested in Mai than in Sayuri. Not that it really matters since the default girl will still be Ayu. I do wonder how Kyoto Animation is going to show that Yuuichi is more interested in Ayu than the rest of the girls when so far he hasn't shown any interest in her. This episode is a good example where if he has a choice, Yuuichi prefers to spend more time with Mai than he does with Ayu. Or is this an exceptional case because this episode happens to be within Mai's arc and therefore Yuuichi's action always gravitates towards Mai?

The episode begins with Nayuki asking Yuuichi if something happened at the dance party last night. She thinks he's been acting strange since he came back last night and worries everyone including Ayu and Akiko. Yuuichi denies this and claims that it's just in Nayuki's imagination. Before Nayuki can come up with a retort, she sees Kitagawa passing them in a hurry. Apparently he's been summoned to the student council in regards to last night's incident. Kitagawa explains that Kuze wants to expulse Mai from school after what happened last night. Upon hearing this, Yuuichi runs to the school but when he gets to the student council room, he finds out that Sayuri is already there, telling the council that Mai must have her reason for wielding the Katana that night. When she can't come up with a reason for this, Yuuichi comes in and tells them it was an attraction. Kuze is not convinced about this and asks Yuuichi who commissioned it.

Much to Yuuichi's relief, Kitagawa appears behind him and claims that he's the one who asked for the attraction, effectively setting Yuuichi and Sayuri off the hook. Later on, Yuuichi finds out that Kitagawa made that false claim because Yuuichi was in trouble. He also didn't want a beautiful girl like Sayuri to look sad. This causes Yuuichi to realise that Kitagawa is actually a nice guy. Sayuri immediately thanks Kitagawa, causing the guy to blush. After Kitagawa left for class, Yuuichi asks Sayuri what she thinks about last night's disturbance. Sayuri claims that she doesn't understand what happened but thinks that it was just a prank. Their conversation comes to a halt when they see Mai walks across them. That afternoon, Yuuichi meets up with Shiori again and he remembers what the other girl once said about Shiori. He, however, decides not to ask Shiori about it and instead tells her that there is someone called Misaka Kaori in his class.

Upon hearing this, Shiori asks Yuuichi if he's in the same class as her sister. Yuuichi explains that strangely when he asked Kaori about it, she claims that she's the only child in the family. Shiori looks shocked and sad at first but she quickly pretends to be happy and tells Yuuichi that the Kaori in his class probably just happens to share similar name with her sister. Shiori then tells Yuuichi that she loves her sister and when she gets healthy, she wants to go to school together with her. Their conversation then comes to an end when the bell rings, indicating that Yuuichi must return to the school. Before Shiori left, Yuuichi asks her to play with him one day. He's a bit busy right now (read: too many harem, not enough time) but it should be okay once things calm down. While the two make a promise with each other, Kaori can be seen watching the two from inside the school with unreadable expression on her face.

At lunchtime, Yuuichi realises that if they had made a mistake back then, this would have been the last lunch the three of them have together. Sayuri, however, laughs this off and tells Yuuichi that even if Mai stops coming to school, she'd still be her friend. After lunch, the three bump into Kuze on their way back to class. When Kuze wonders why someone like Sayuri would protect someone like Mai, Sayuri tells him it's because Mai is her best friend. Kuze is unhappy to hear this and tells Sayuri that if something happens again, Sayuri will be in trouble as well. Mai is not happy to hear this and warns Kuze that she won't forgive him if he tries to hurt Sayuri. Later on that day, Yuuichi can be seen practicing his Kendo skill when all of a sudden, Mai throws a bucket into his face. When Mai asks him what he's doing, he explains that he's going to join her in the fight next time. His sentence got cut off when a fire extinguisher flies to his face.

Thankfully Yuuichi manages to hit the object with his wooden sword before it hits his face. However, doing this causes the extinguisher to explode and spread its content all over him. Mai then left after telling him that he's not good enough. Yuuichi is fuming to hear this and continues to think about it even when he goes to the city. He happens to meet Ayu so he asks her about the whereabout of her school. Ayu claims that it's a direction towards the forest. Despite how strange this sounds, Yuuichi decides to change the topic into Ayu's missing item, which she still unable to find. She also thinks that it's probably not in this area. Yuuichi then gets the idea to bring Ayu to see Mai at school. He reminds Mai that she once told him about Makoto's place so maybe she can help Ayu finding her missing good. Mai, however, tells the two that she can't say anything and even if Ayu finds this item, there wouldn't be any meaning to it.

Later on that night, Yuuichi asks Ayu to go home on her own since he wants to do monster-hunting with Mai. Ayu is afraid to do this but Yuuichi tells her that there'll be monster coming to this place soon. In order to assure Ayu, Mai gives her a Senbei and strokes the girl's face with her hand. After Ayu left, Yuuichi wants to know what that was all about but Mai claims that it was just an encouragement to Ayu to do her best. Mai also thinks that Ayu is a strong girl, a statement which Yuuichi doubts considering how scare Ayu can be of things like ghosts and monsters. Mai, however, tells Yuuichi that unlike her, who was unable to wait, Ayu is still waiting. Their conversation then comes to an end when she senses a demon. She asks Yuuichi not to move while she runs towards the demon itself. Despite the warning, Yuuichi ends up getting involved in a battle and can barely defend himself until Mai comes and slices the demon.

In the aftermath, Mai scolds Yuuichi and tells him that she doesn't need him doing unnecessary thinks. Yuuichi points out that she saved Mai but Mai thinks it was unnecessary action. Yuuichi is unhappy to hear this and tells Mai that she doesn't seem to care that he and Sayuri worry a lot about her. He goes on accusing Mai of ruining the dance party and Sayuri's dress. And yet her expression doesn't change one bit now. Yuuichi thinks he's an idiot for wanting to protect someone like her. Even then, he'll still come back here tomorrow because he is a fool. He admits that he knows she's a good person and he likes spending time with her. Mai, however, doesn't respond to any of this and leaves as Yuuichi tells her that both him and Sayuri loves her. The next day, Nayuki is half-asleep like she usually does so Yuuichi has no choice but to watch over her. Thankfully for him, she wakes up completely when they walk together towards the school.

During lunchtime, Yuuichi doesn't talk much and when Sayuri asks him about it, he admits that he and Mai are having a fight. In order to change the topic, Yuuichi asks Sayuri when she and Mai became best friend. Because of this Sayuri tells him that it started when they were still first year. Back then a stray dog came to the school ground and scared everyone. Mai came to the rescue when she startled the dog with a shovel. Later on, however, Sayuri finds out that Mai gave the dog her own bento. That afternoon, Yuuichi finds out that Sayuri wants to buy birthday present for Mai so the two go to the city and decide to get Mai the biggest stuffed animal they can find. Unfortunately, the biggest stuffed animal in a shop is in the shape of an ant-eater. However, after finding out that the store owner has had it for 3 years, which is the same amount of time that she and Mai have become friends, Sayuri decides to buy the stuffed animal.

Since it's too big to carry to school, Sayuri tells Yuuichi that they should just bring it to Mai's house after school tomorrow. Later on that night, Yuuichi comes to the school to visit Mai again like he said he will. Out of interest, he asks Mai if she has other friends apart from himself and Sayuri. Mai admits that there was someone a long time ago but right now, this person has gone just like the others. Their conversation comes to a halt again when Mai senses something approaching. This time around, however, there are two demons coming to the area. Yuuichi decides to take on one of them to stall time for Mai even though she already told him not to do things that are unnecessary. Since the demon that she battles run away, Mai goes over to kill the other one quickly. In the aftermath, Mai informs Yuuichi that the one that the demons after is Yuuichi not her. The episode then ends with Mai asking Yuuichi who he really is.

Preview

Impression:

Mai startling the dog with the shovel reminds me a story about two giants. Giant A wants to become friend with humans but naturally, they are afraid of him. Because of this, Giant B suggests that he'll scare the humans so that Giant A can come in and save the day, thereby, sealing him as a hero in the eyes of the humans. Anyway, my point is that, I wonder if Mai actually set the dog inside the school so that she'll be more favourable to other students. Maybe the scene where she fed the dog wasn't so much of her getting to know a wild animal but more like she's thanking the animal she knows well. I'm most likely wrong about this but considering the fact that she doesn't have many friends, the act of saving her school friends from the dog did earn her a best friend: Sayuri. This brings me to the demon part of the story. When I first started watching this series, I thought that the demons are actually a product of her imagination.

Unfortunately the series then reveals that there are some supernatural element in this town and now even other people have seen something rampaging through the dance party. Despite this, I can't help but wonder why the demon only presents when either Mai, or as suggested in this episode, Yuuichi, exists in a particular room. The reason I'm not convinced that it has a lot to do with Yuuichi is because Mai has been doing her demon hunting for a long time now. While I can believe that one or two demons may target Yuuichi, I don't believe that they've been around because they are waiting for him. Speaking of waiting, this episode heavily suggests that Ayu is probably in a coma somewhere, waiting for Yuuichi to return. It's been suggested before through those opening speeches about dream and her waiting for someone but Mai's words in this episode solidifies that theory. Now, if only I can figure out what Mai meant about her unable to wait.

© memento 2003