Moé Moé Rabu

• On the way to the hospital, Yuuichi and Nayuki pass by the accident scene. Nayuki is shocked to see strawberry cake strewn on the ground amongst her mother’s belongings. The doctors tell them that Akiko’s life is still in danger, so Yuuichi and Nayuki stay in the waiting room for hours until they hear Akiko’s condition won’t change for a while, so they return home.
• At home, Yuuichi finds a hungry Piro and starts to make breakfast for everyone. When he serves Nayuki she begins to blame herself for what happened since she wanted to eat strawberry cake. Yuuichi calls her an idiot but Nayuki doesn’t respond and locks herself in her room. Yuuichi heads to school since he needs to inform their teacher, so he leaves a plate of food outside Nayuki’s door.

• At school, Kitagawa runs up to Yuuichi and tells him that he’ll help in any way he can, and whilst walking out of school, he sees the melted snow bunny and remembers what he did to Nayuki seven years ago. Upon returning home, he finds the plate of food untouched and tries to get Nayuki to unlock her door. But Nayuki simply tells him to stop and leave her bag at the door.
• Sitting in his room, Yuuichi looks at the photo stickers of everyone with Makoto and wonders if Makoto would brighten the mood if she was here. Realising Nayuki remembered the snow bunny incident all this time, Yuuichi questions why he was crying that day. Although he can remember about Makoto, Mai and Nayuki but he feels that he is forgetting something very important.
• The next day, Yuuichi heads to the hospital again leaving Nayuki a plate of food at her door again. Returning from running some errands, Yuuichi he is greeted by Piro and heads to Nayuki’s room, where he finds the food partially eaten and the door unlocked. Opening the door, he finds Nayuki curled up next to the window. She tells him to get out as she wants to be alone. Yuuichi changes the subject to cooking and accidentally comments how his doesn’t compare to Akiko’s. He decides to confront the issue and reassures that Akiko will recover.
• Nayuki then asks Yuuichi if he can make a miracle happen. She then tells him how she has always been with her mother for many years in this house. Despite not knowing her father’s face, she wasn’t lonely since her mother was there for her and was able to make it this far. But she feels because of her it’s her fault, she is alone. Yuuichi says that she isn’t alone she since has her friends from school including himself, but Nayuki calls him a liar for having forgotten her for seven years. Having not replied to any of her letters, she thought they didn’t make it to him. Nayuki tells when she went to the station to pick him up; she was scared that he had forgotten her name.
• Yuuichi reveals that he remembers what happened seven years ago with the snow bunny and apologises for it. Asking for forgiveness, he hands to her the red marble he bought for her, but she doesn’t take it. She refuses to let him stay by her as she can’t smile anymore and starts to cry as she remembers that she was always with her mother. She yells at him to get out which startles him enough to drop the marble.
• Lying in bed, Yuuichi thinks about the miracle and how insensitive it was for him to say he is there especially after what he did to her for all these years. He starts to remember that something similar happened a long time ago and that someone got hurt badly and that he couldn’t do anything.
• Seven years ago, Yuuichi went to meet Ayu at the tree and was bringing a present for her. As the two were eating taiyaki, Ayu reminds him that today is not their last day since they promised to meet again. Yuuichi reassures that they’ll meet again and even said that he’ll introduce his cousin to her the next time he comes. Later on Ayu has climbed the tree again and Yuuichi thought it would be a good time to give her the present and calls her to come down. However a huge wind blew by and caused Ayu to lose her balance. To Yuuichi’s shock, Ayu fell off the branch and fell onto the ground below. At first Ayu felt a lot of pain but soon told Yuuichi that it suddenly doesn’t hurt anymore. Also she realised that she could move her body at all and started to worry that she couldn’t play him Yuuichi anymore. They tried to promise that they’ll play together, but because Ayu couldn’t move her arm, Yuuichi took Ayu’s hand and did the pinky promise for her. After making the promise, Yuuichi says that Ayu had to let go to fulfil the promise, but she didn’t respond. He found Ayu had passed away and he cried out her name in tears.
• Suddenly woken up from his dream, Yuuichi remembers what happened seven years ago at the tree. Grabbing Ayu’s backpack and the angel doll, he runs out and bumps into Kitagawa who came to visit. Yuuichi tells him that he remembers about Ayu and asks him to look after Nayuki, then heads off towards the forest. With a snowstorm blazing through, Yuuichi makes his way to the tree stump looking for Ayu. Not finding her there he proceeds to walk through the snowstorm calling out her name until he collapses.
• Lying there, Yuuichi begins to wonder if he can go to where she is and apologises to everyone. Having fainted in the snow, a figure shows up approaching him; that figure is Makoto. She walks over to him, hugs him and calls out his name just as a bright light shines in front of him. Opening his eyes, to see this light, he closes them again and sees a scene of him giving the present to Ayu seven years ago. The present was the red hair band, and Ayu said that she’ll wear it the next time they meet, and the two make a promise on it.

Preview:

Impressions

Truly one of the most saddest episodes in the series. Nayuki is one of my favourite characters and it breaks my heart seeing her act like that. Even though this is a part of it but in KyoAni’s version, it’s more dramatic in a sense. Although I don’t blame her for the way she acts as Akiko is an important part of her life and I’m sure people would act the same way.

In essence there is two parts to this episode. The first half being Nayuki’s stage of self-accusation and depression and the second is Yuuichi’s remembrance about Ayu. The way Ayu’s accident was presented left it rather confusing questioning if Ayu is really dead. The scene at the end with the red hair band makes it even more confusing as it doesn’t seem to fit into the timeline of events. The conclusion of the series right now is shrouded in mystery, even now we don’t have a clue to who Yuuichi will end up with, but even if he doesn’t I would find it a rather unfulfilling ending.

Also with Ayu’s accident, I find it rather sad to see how it went, despite knowing that she was going to fall. Although there was no blood, seeing the colour of her eyes fade away and passing away in the middle of the pinky promise was pretty dramatic.

The reappearance of Makoto was a big surprise. I’m not exactly sure what her return symbolises except for the concept of miracles. Or perhaps if could be Makoto’s strong feelings for Yuuichi that brings her back in his time of need. But it was nice to bring her back even if for a moment. But this also brings to question will Mai and Shiori make another appearance?

Next week appears to be the finale of the series. Although I can’t see how everything can be concluded in one episode, but even if KyoAni do, what of episode 24? I rather hope it’s not like a recap, like Air, but more of an aftermath. Well it’s too hard to guess at this point so we’ll have to wait till next week.

Kanon Merchandise of the Week

With the speculation that the series is ending at 24 episodes, I best dish out everything I have really quick. So this week it’s not just one book, it’s three! Yes, two character books and a game book. The two characters are Ayu and Nayuki and the game book pretty much covers the aspects of the game from staff interviews, sketches and a complete walkthrough for all the girls scenarios. This concludes the Kanon Visual Fan Book, next week you’ll be in for a BIG surprise.

Ayu Character Book

Nayuki Character Book

Game Guide Book

Kanon Visual Fan Book