It' the same character design as we've all seen in Air and Clannad. Big, glassy eyes, with proportionately large tears. It's nothing new, but it is polished. Animation wise, it's what we know of from Key. Hair whipping through snow, blades of grass, and orbs of light. No striking animation sequences, or dynamic animation at all except for a fight that Mei gets into, but nothing special.
Sound - 6
Kannon is rife with pseudo-ambient music and music box themes that would make Enya decry the milquetoastness of it all. The opening and ending are forgettably familiar. There was one good jazzy piano piece that seemed to show up when an obstacle was revealed that was quite good. If only the rest of the music had that charm and added that much texture.
Characters - 4
As has been said these characters are stock. We've seen them all, the sick girl, the loli, the comedy duo, the rich girl, the blond-only-other-guy-in-the-whole-show, the relative with a crush, and on and on. It's all so bland. Mei (quiet girl), gets it right, Yuuichi (the main character) is a weak person that pretends to be strong, hurting everyone around him without a modicum of self awareness. His selfishness disguised as selflessness knows no bounds and no one ever dares to call him out on it. In fact, everyone loves him for it. This phenomena results in the show having no character development for the main character at all. In fact, I only think that one character "develops" and it was just her behavior suddenly changing. Shiori's (sick girl) lack of knowing the name of what's ailing her is the main example of the lack of thought and depth that writers put in characters. Of course, they only want viewers to shed tears, so the most superficial of characters is all that's needed if they can make you cry, right?
Story - 4
Wrong. If Kanon were a horror story, more would make sense, because, just like every other Key series, Kanon systematically tries to murder every focus character in the male protagonists' Messiah Complex wake. Except that they don't even have the ball to stick to a single death in the show; moments later the writing backtracks (once it scored the tears from viewers hearts) and magically brings characters back to life.
If I took this show seriously, I would think that this was some horrible misogynistic fantasy about a boy who is the only person capable of saving all these girls lives within the span of what? Two months? Once Yuuichi has saved the girl of the arc, we don't hear of them ever again until the end when, of course, we have to have the pussy parade to show how much the protagonist has accomplished. Kanon is the worst offender in the Key series of trying to have some pseudo-metaphysical lore intertwine with the plot in that it directly affects these characters in the most mindboggling plot twists. Faith healers, fox spirits, girls with magical wishes? Furthermore, the overall plot development is set aside for the gir of the arc stories so that, by the last four or five episode they try, in futility to make the story work.
To confess, accept and lose someone you love all in the same episode, without any buildup whatsoever, what is that supposed to do? Am I supposed to feel bad? The writing doesn't let characters organically grow with one another in exchange for the "mystery" factor so that, once the leads are together, you ask yourself, What makes her more special than the others?...you forgot about all of these girls, and didn't remember them until it was too late. It's the same with her. Why is she special? Ridiculous.
Enjoyment - 3
So Kanon left a bad taste in my mouth. I actively avoided this show, because I already knew what was going to happen once I read the synopsis, and guess what? I was right. I couldn't even get behind the one character that I should have liked, Jun, because he was so randomly placed, and had little impact on the story. If anything, I had to drop my score of Clannad, because whatever originality I saw in it vaporized the moment I completed this show.
Overall - 4
In the show, the writers try to draw a comparison between Kanon and Pachabel's Canon in D. If only Kanon could be so groundbreaking; instead it comes off as merely derivative and uninspired. It is clear that Kanon was a testing ground of ideas, characters and setting for the more thematically tight (if also anemic) Air and Clannad. Kannon forgoes plot, character, and logical development for trite gimmicks intended for the emotionally immature to shed tears of empathy, leaving the show is thematically vacant and lacking ambition.
