Moé Moé Rabu

• After kissing each other, Ayu apologises to Yuuichi for ignoring his feelings, but Yuuichi says that he loves her. Ayu then says that she has loved Yuuichi since a long time ago and that if he can love her then she thinks she can love him back forever. Seeing how Ayu feels, Yuuichi thinks that they should regain the seven years they waited until now. They then agree to meet at the same spot after school, just like they used to.
• Arriving home, they find Nayuki helping out Akiko with dinner. Ayu wants to help but Nayuki says she doesn’t have to since she wants to do something nice for her mother.

• That night, Yuuichi has a dream about seven years ago, this time being two days before he leaves. The two had gone to the tree, which Ayu had climbed again. Making sure Yuuichi would grant her wishes with the angel doll, she is about to make her second wish. But Yuuichi wakes up before we find out her wish.
• The next morning, Yuuichi is shocked to see Nayuki awake, but it just so happens that the next competition is coming up soon so she has morning practice. Yuuichi leaves for school with Ayu and before parting ways, Ayu reminds him about meeting after school.
• The two meet up after school, with Yuuichi arriving late, and Ayu wants to go to “that place”, though Yuuichi doesn’t understand and he thinks it’s the shopping district. Yuuichi brings up the suggestion of holding hands, Ayu is too embarrassed to do it, but she eventually holds his hand.
• When it becomes night time, the two are sitting at a bench after spending time looking for Ayu’s lost item. Ayu starts to think that it maybe better if they don’t find it as she thinks that it’s something she doesn’t need if she’s happy. She doesn’t mind if she doesn’t have it now and can look for it when she needs it.
• With a change of subject, Yuuichi asks Ayu why she always uses “boku”. Ayu explains that she’s always used it so Yuuichi tries to get her to say “ore”, which she does with him end up laughing. He tries again by getting her to say “atashi” but doesn’t find it as amusing, but Ayu realises that he’s making fun of her.
• At home, Yuuichi walks in to find Ayu trying on Nayuki’s uniform since her school doesn’t have a uniform. Talking about Ayu’s school, she again explains that her school is on the hill outside the city, but Nayuki wonders when a school was built there.
• Reading in his room later, Yuuichi hear a knock from his balcony and finds a snow-covered Ayu there. Ayu wanted to talk to Yuuichi but used the veranda as she didn’t want to wake Nayuki up with her footsteps. He calls her an idiot, but claims that is what he likes about her, making him equally an idiot. After hearing Ayu says she wanted to see him since she felt lonely by herself, Yuuichi kissed her on the forehead. Standing out on the balcony covered in a blanket, Yuuichi has taken an interest in Ayu’s school and the two decide to go to Ayu’s school tomorrow afternoon.
• The next morning, Yuuichi leaves with Akiko as she has to do something related with work. Wondering about what her job is, Akiko asks Yuuichi about how he doesn’t remember seven years ago. She claims that it’s nothing much but does mention that a tree got cut down.
• When afternoon comes, Yuuichi and Ayu are eating taiyaki at the bench. Ayu brings up the question what if she was Yuuichi’s first love, though his answer is that he’d want to change it. Being embarrassed, he admits that his first love didn’t work out. Ayu is curious about his first love so Yuuichi explains that she is someone older than him, but doesn’t remember anything except something sad happened. Seeing that Ayu is worried, Yuuichi asks her if she is happy right now. Ayu says that she is, but feels uneasy at times. She is afraid of the happiness as she is worried that the reality in front of her is a dream. Though Yuuichi tells her that now is not the same as seven years ago, even when winter ends and spring comes, he’ll be in this city with her. This causes her to cry on her taiyaki.
• Heading up to Ayu’s school, Yuuichi becomes more unsure of a school out this far, but Ayu insists there is one as she went there today and met her friends. Seeing the clearing up ahead, all they find is a tree stump. As Yuuichi remembers what Akiko said, Ayu is in shock and approaches the stump. Questioning about her being there or not, she was sure that there was school today, so she checks her backpack only to find it empty. Yuuichi rushes up to Ayu to ask what’s wrong, but Ayu simply runs off saying she has to search for it.
• Yuuichi grabs Ayu’s backpack and chases after her. He finally found her digging the ground with her bare hands. She tells him that she is looking for her lost item but says they can look for it tomorrow. Shaking, Ayu says that she can’t since the night may not end. Seeing how serious Ayu is, Yuuichi places his coat on Ayu and helps her dig. After leaving many holes around, Yuuichi thinks they should search again tomorrow. As he is getting Ayu’s backpack, she starts to apologise and thinks that they won’t be able to meet again. Having finally met after seven years she apologises again. Turning around to find out what she is talking about, Yuuichi finds that Ayu has disappeared leaving only his coat behind. Standing there in shock, her last words echo in Yuuichi’s mind.

Preview:

Impressions

Well we hve finally reached the climatic point of Ayu’s arc and I am damned impressed on how KyoAni have presented it so far. Although some questions have been answered, there are some new questions that are brought into the story now. But for those who haven’t watched the Toei version or played the game I won’t spoil it for you. With the discovery of the tree we can see that this was the same place that Yuuichi and Ayu were playing at when they were younger, but it brings to question of why the tree is now gone and what Ayu is exactly. It also brings the question of what her second wish is.

Though now with Ayu disappearing, we’re still in the Ayu arc, but it appears that it’s also the start of the Nayuki arc. This is what I’ve been waiting for. Though from the looks of things and from reading other blogs, Kanon may be slated for 24 episodes with the last two possibly being recaps, similar to that of Air. With the pacing of the story so far that may be true. Even though we may be starting the Nayuki arc, I think at this point is when Yuuichi starts to remember the things that happened seven years ago especially with Ayu.

The conversation about Yuuichi’s first love is rather interesting as well and is somewhat new to me. The memory shows a girl with a ribbon and she is older than him. But with a sad event relating to it could mean that it is Nayuki, but then it wouldn’t make sense with the Nayuki arc. The only girl that wears a ribbon is Ayu but then that doesn’t make sense either. So I am rather intrigued by this.

The cinemaphotography is awesome as usual, though I like how screenshot 4 is done as it shows a growing distance between Yuuichi and Nayuki. Even though it appears that Nayuki has given up on Yuuichi it seems rather heartaching that she is helping Ayu, even to the point of lending Ayu her uniform for Yuuichi to see. I really do hope to see more from Nayuki in the next few episodes especially now with the disappearance of Ayu.

It just seemed so weird seeing Ayu wearing Nayuki’s uniform, but then I thought the same thing when Air had the cameo appearance. There have been cameo appearances by other Key characters so far throughout the series but I was hoping for Clannad character cameos. Heck it could be a hint of a Clannad TV anime series, though one can only hope. Below is a full shot of Ayu in uniform.

And apparently this week we have reached 100 uguu’s.

Kanon Merchandise of the Week

This week’s merchandise item has got to be one of the rarest items that I have ever found. What you see here is a 1/8 figure of Ayu made by Clayz. This was released WAY back in 2002 when figure quality wasn’t as good as it is today and it’s one of Clayz earlier releases. This is so old that Ayu isn’t even attached to the base. Right now she is stuck there with blutak. With this one in particular, you have to drill holes in the base and under her feet and use the plugs supplied.

How did I get such a thing you ask? Well when I was in Japan, my dearest Roobar, another friend and I went to visit Shingo from Heisei Democracy. He took us to his local hobby shop and my word it was a treasure trove of rare items. Roobar just happened to have found this for me and I ended up buying. If I recall I paid ¥3800 for this.

Though the wuality isn’t exactly that great, but it’s still a rare item. Such a shame that I had to throw away the box that came with it. There is also a Nayuki version of this and if I saw that in Japan, I’d buy it just for the heck of it.