Kanon is easily one of the most famous and influential visual novels in existence, spawning many copycats and racketing Key, its producer, to otaku-culture stardom. So does it live to the hype? Well...yes, it does, for the most part anyway.
The novel's plot revolves around Yuuichi Aizawa, your typical "average high-school student" eroge protagonist, going back to a town that he visited many moons ago, where he established varying relationships with several girls. He goes back to the town after his parents go to Africa for business reasons, and ends up in relations with these girls yet again. The game is mostly a slice-of-life drama, with a few magical elements thrown in. The girl themselves have pretty interesting personalities, if a tad too archetypal, and Yuuichi himself can be pretty funny at times, although he's rather bland and boring on the whole. So what, exactly, is wrong with this game, you ask?
The non-dramatic stuff, that's what. While the non-serious scenes aren't horrible, they're nowhere near great and tend to be ridiculously repetitive and tedious, particularly on Makoto and Mai's path. If listening to archetypal characters blather on and on about the exact contents of their bento boxes isn't your idea of thrilling plot, you definitely won't enjoy the majority of this VN. The humor is also pretty hit and miss, with some gags running on way too long, like the "can't wake up" joke on Nayuki's storyline.
The actual drama, however, when it rears it's head, tends to be bloody fantastic, if a tad melodramatic. Makoto's story, in particular, actually succeeded at making me cry, a rare feat for any work of fiction. I played the original adult version of this game and found the sex scenes to be pointless and really un-sexy, so I advise you play one of the "bleached" versions.
Many folks will shrug off the idea of playing Kanon due to it's dated artwork and inane conversations, but beyond that lies a elaborate tale of love and miracles, one that should surely be read at least once by any fan of the eroge/visual novel genre. Overall score: 8.5/10.
Great drama, mediocre slice-of-life
Kanon is easily one of the most famous and influential visual novels in existence, spawning many copycats and racketing Key, its producer, to otaku-culture stardom. So does it live to the hype? Well...yes, it does, for the most part anyway.
The novel's plot revolves around Yuuichi Aizawa, your typical "average high-school student" eroge protagonist, going back to a town that he visited many moons ago, where he established varying relationships with several girls. He goes back to the town after his parents go to Africa for business reasons, and ends up in relations with these girls yet again. The game is mostly a slice-of-life drama, with a few magical elements thrown in. The girl themselves have pretty interesting personalities, if a tad too archetypal, and Yuuichi himself can be pretty funny at times, although he's rather bland and boring on the whole. So what, exactly, is wrong with this game, you ask?
The non-dramatic stuff, that's what. While the non-serious scenes aren't horrible, they're nowhere near great and tend to be ridiculously repetitive and tedious, particularly on Makoto and Mai's path. If listening to archetypal characters blather on and on about the exact contents of their bento boxes isn't your idea of thrilling plot, you definitely won't enjoy the majority of this VN. The humor is also pretty hit and miss, with some gags running on way too long, like the "can't wake up" joke on Nayuki's storyline.
The actual drama, however, when it rears it's head, tends to be bloody fantastic, if a tad melodramatic. Makoto's story, in particular, actually succeeded at making me cry, a rare feat for any work of fiction. I played the original adult version of this game and found the sex scenes to be pointless and really un-sexy, so I advise you play one of the "bleached" versions.
Many folks will shrug off the idea of playing Kanon due to it's dated artwork and inane conversations, but beyond that lies a elaborate tale of love and miracles, one that should surely be read at least once by any fan of the eroge/visual novel genre. Overall score: 8.5/10.