izigame.me

Kanon which is 25 years old this year is considered a landmark in the visual novel medium from the 1990s, often mentioned alongside other influential works from the time like YUNO and EVE Burst Error. It solidified a new genre, the "nakige" and it would create the foundations for later works not just from studio Key , it's influence would be felt through many other visual novels. Ryukishi07 for example listed Kanon as one of his influences when writing his legendary Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni series.
Kanon tells a story of miracles, and the importance of memory and human connections.
It is a work of magical realism (though closer to naturalism).
Magic and fantastic beings are almost seamlessly integrated into the narrative. The story jumps back and forth in time, memories of past years haunt the present. Characters who are supposed to be dead intervene in the lives of the living. All this is done as a means of penetrating and exploring its themes.
Kanon's miracles are used in an effort to peel away the unessential and bring out a greater richness to the mundane human relations of these characters daily lives.
It is actually quite difficult to describe the level of emotional intensity of this work in a brief synopsis. The plots are relatively simple and the dialogue is very bland. In lesser hands, the direction of Kanon; and one could add Clannad and Little Busters (the Key works I have read specifically by Jun Maeda), could have faltered very badly and made them all just another entry in the long catalogue of forgettable works.
For example, Makoto's route, which I feel is the best route in the game overall, your initial response is to disregard her irritating bratty behavior as she plays prank after prank on our lead. By the ending of her route though, I challenge the reader to not look at bratty kids who play pranks on others in the same way ever again. Her behavior masked a desperate but immature yearning for some semblance of an emotional, social and physical connection.
Similar for Mai's route. One can almost justifiably dismiss her character as a kuudere archetype with peculiar quirks, who kills monsters on the side. The existence of monsters stems from a children's game, a manifestation of her desire to develop a friendship in her youth with a boy which she has affection for. It is only a fleeting moment though and she has barely enough time to establish the necessary connections to rid herself of her loneliness.
One can dismiss Ayu and her questionable intelligence, her apparently superficial comments and remarks often hide a far deeper personal meaning which come through with full force when they are recontextualized later on in her route.
Kanon presents some of these particular moments with extraordinary sensitivity.
I wasn't really taken In by Nayuki's and Shiori's routes unfortunately and found there melodrama rather bland.
I must lament that the overall weakness of Kanon stems from a lack of a broader world view outside of these self-contained lives. It far too often falls into the traps of escapism which are too prevalent in this medium. This expresses itself here where it relies too much on an emotional appeal to the heart.
These remarks can very well be extended to other Key works. Which to a greater or lesser extent have similar characteristics. With a notable exception of Clannad's "After Story" route, the works inadequately explore the real world and this is their major pitfall, or if it does, it is within the narrow confines of very specific problems - normally dealing with the anxieties of the lives of teenagers.
Despite these obvious limitations which is more a product of the cultural environment which Maeda and co were working, there are definite highlights in this story which make it worth experiencing.