Kanon – Thoughts about the Shiori arc
I’m not totally sure I like where they took the Shiori arc.
Seriously, I get attacked by girls all the time…so annoying
What I mean is that I appreciate the open ended way they finalized her story. We don’t know if she died or not. I think the implication is that she did because, after all, she did leave a “farewell” note. That implied to me that she wasn’t planning on seeing Yuichi again.
Actually, the farewell note was for us.
In the context of why we watch anime it doesn’t really matter what happened to Shiori because that isn’t actually the reason the story was told. There was an underlying message there. It could have been as simple or as complex as the view wanted it to be. The creator of the story may have meant that message to be something totally different than the message that was ultimately conveyed through several layers of translation.
I do feel that this part of the story was done well, whether I liked it or not; of which I’m still not totally sure. The story, that is.
I took from this story a key element. I focused on Kaori. Some may find that a sibling being cold to her dieing sister was unreasonably unreal. This being an anime “unreal” is a term that applies quite readily, but the act wasn’t what I was focusing on. It was the underlying motives that were interesting.
The majority of people cannot simply control their emotions. It’s quite impossible to simply feel happy when you are sad. Conversely, it is equally not likely that we are able to become sad when we are happy simply through sheer will. We can tame ourselves though. The best among us can only ignore what we feel, but those thoughts and emotions still reside within. It is not so much a meta-substance as actual substance which cannot be simply discarded.
Kaori’s story (I do mean Kaori here) reminded me of the simple fact that people are more likely to run away from their issues than openly confront them.
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I have a suspicion that they are going to off Ayu in the next arc. That may be the end of it for Kanon. Ayu fans are something like 175% of its audience.
Edit: 02/07/07 – corrected a few typos
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1. Shiori isn’t dead yet, and I doubt she will die at all. The former is evident simply from viewing the next episode preview, which shows Yuuichi praying whilst saying Shiori’s name – his evident desperation would be faintly ludicrous unless Shiori was still alive and fighting to stay alive. The latter I conclude because (a) KyoAni have gone with all the girls’ ‘good’ endings so far, and Shiori’s good ending has her surviving and (b) Shiori’s story is constructed in such a manner as to render her survival the only possible outcome. Kanon’s key theme is that miracles happen when people desire them enough or are willing to pay a price for them; in that respect, Shiori’s story is about her journey from wishing for death (the boxcutter suicide) to deciding that she wants to live, and the role Yuuichi plays in engendering that change in her. Her line about miracles not happening is presented in Kanon as an irony – she can’t get hers because she doesn’t really want it, but once she does, she can.
2. Ayu won’t die simply because her plot is never written for her to die. Her bad ending is, like Shiori’s, inconclusive and abrupt simply because it represents little more than a game over screen for the player – something that is achieved only because the player has messed up some of his or her decisions. Her story leads logically to her survival. Moreover:
3. Ayu’s story is going to be the last KyoAni animates; it represents the only ending that can tie logically into the other girls’ conclusions. Nayuki, like Toei, will have her story intertwined with Ayu’s because her story cannot exist on its own in the harem format that KyoAni have created.
You make some excellent points. In particular, I wasn’t basing my thoughts on any of the productions previous work. Also, I have a really bad habit of not watching the previews of the next episodes. I’m also an OP skipper.
Given you excellent points, I’m not going to say that I don’t believe there is not a chance of her death because I see some benefit to the story if she does with regard to Yuichi’s character. I’ll just say that you make it seem far far far far less likely.
I think the suspicion I have is more my fear that they are going to “off” Ayu because I really don’t want that to happen :-)
I agree; I see a lot of benefit to Yuuichi’s character if Shiori were to die. I just don’t think that KyoAni are going to give him that kind of development because he doesn’t receive it in the original game. KyoAni have been nothing if not faithful to Key’s work, and Key’s Yuuichi is no different in Shiori’s story than he is in Ayu and Nayuki’s.
In order to accomodate the grieving process one would consider to be an inevitable side effect of Shiori’s death, KyoAni would have to substantially alter the progression of Ayu and Nayuki’s respective story arcs and write quite a lot of original material – something they’ve also shied away from. They’d also need to do something about Kaori, because she plays a role in Ayu and Nayuki’s stories.
That’s why I just don’t think Shiori’ll die. It’d just require too much rewriting and tinkering – things KyoAni aren’t really very fond of – and for no real purpose except to inject a level of realism into a series that was never really meant to have any (a key theme is magic hiding in the everyday, after all).
“I think the suspicion I have is more my fear that they are going to “off” Ayu because I really don’t want that to happen :-)”
I get those kind of suspicions aaaall the time. xP But yeah, seriously, don’t worry.