Last Modified: February 18th, 2006
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Kanon was first released in Japan for PC in 1999. It was published by Key and it garnered them major attention Japan as the game sold very well, the game was followed the next year by the hugely popular game 'Air'. A family friendly (minus hentai content) port to the Sega Dreamcast console was released on the 13th of September 2000 and this was followed by a Playstation 2 release of the all-ages version on 28th of February 2003. There is no official English translated version of the game, although a fan project is currently underway. Fan translations have already been released in China and Korea.
Due to it's popularity it has been turned into a huge franchise, this includes an anime series based on the game (13 episodes aired on TV in 2002, along with an OAV), manga, numerous soundtracks, novels and drama CDs featuring the characters. There is also a vast range of dojin and hentai dojin works based on the game and anime available which reflect it's popularity. Characters from the game have made cameos in games such as Glove On Fight and more, which shows how well recognised they are.
A young man, Yuuichi Aizawa, gets off a train and leaves the station as he enters a town that is blanketed by snow. He left the area seven years ago and has now returned to his memories that he left behind. Although his past is blurry in his mind, the girls that still remember him and that he had relationships begin to help him remember. While this happens, the bad memories of his past also begin to come back, and will eventually haunt him.
Yuuichi Aizawa - The story of Kanon is set around Yuuichi, and the events in the game are seen through his eyes. Seven years ago he moved away from his family, and has moved back to his aunt (Akiko Minase) and his cousin (Nayuki Minase). He is a very friendly character, but doesn't understand the sensitivity of girls or remember anything about his early childhood.
Mishio Amano - One of Yuuichi's classmates, keeps to herself and is usually very shy. She knows something about the character Makoto Sawatori's past and although she is not a major characters in the game, she does help Yuuichi.
Mai Kawasumi - She is in the third year of the high school that Yuuichi attends, she is very quiet and carries a sword to fight off invisible demons that are haunting the grounds of the school that they attend. She is best friends with Sayuri and will do anything she can to protect her, it is in her nature to fight for everything that she loves.
Jyun Kitagawa - A classmate of Yuuichi, serves no real purpose in the game although he does help character development throughout. Has a crush on Kaori Misaka. Hardly featured in the anime adaption of the game.
Sayuri Kurata - Mai Kawasumi's only and best friend. She comes from a well-off family but was strictly raised, which has meant that she is very much like the family who treated her so harshly. A tragedy in the past has meant that she is now much nicer to people and enjoys being friendly. She addresses Yuuichi with honorifics when she talks, showing respect.
Kuro - He is the head of the student council at Yuuichi's high school, everyone looks up to him and praises him due to the fact that he comes from a rich background. He blames everything bad that happens on Mai Kawasumi because she is too quiet to defend herself. He wants Sayuri to join the council so he can spend more time with her.
Akiko Minase - The mother of Nayuki Minase and the aunt of Yuuichi Aizawa. She is very kind and takes care of the house that they live in. Yuuichi stays with her and he has become very important to Nayuki due to her not having a father figure in her life.
Nayuki Minase - The cousin of Yuuichi Aizawa, she adores both Yuuichi and her plus frog which is named Keropi. She is in Yuuichi's class and enjoys living with him, they were extremely close when he was around seven years ago and she is still in love with him, even when his heart is somewhere else.
Kaori Misaka - Nayuki's best friend, constantly angry for some reason with her classmate Yuuichi. This started when he asked her about a girl with the same surname as hers. She is the sister of Shiori Misaka and does well in her studies at school.
Shiori Misaka - A freshman at the same high school as Yuuichi but she rarely goes to school due to her being ill. She has to take large amounts of medication to due to this.
Makoto Sawatari - Met Yuuichi in town, she claims to have lost her memory but all she knows is that she hates him. Can be extremely immature at tries frequently to play practical jokes on Yuuichi. She enjoys reading his manga and eating meatbuns. She found a cat in the same town that she met Yuuichi and has named it Piroshiki (apparently the word meatbun when translated to Russian).
Ayu Tsukimiya - Yuuichi runs into her in town unexpectedly as she is stealing taiyaki to eat (a light snack made of jam and pancakes). She does not attend high school and was introduced to her favourite food by someone 'special' seven years ago. Yuuichi ends up falling in love with her, and she reciprocates this. Although her sad story tragically interrupts their relationship as it is progressing.
The original soundtrack to the game was composed by Shinji Orito and Jun Magi, was published by the Key Sounds Label and was released on 25th of October 2002. The translated listing of tracks on the CD is below.
The animated series based on the game has had many music releases, the first of which being 'Kanon TV Series : Soundtrack Vol.1' released on the 5th of May 2002 and the latest of which being 'TV animation "Kanon" Orgel de kiku Sakuhin Shu' released on the 25th of July 2003.
The Sega Dreamcast port of the game included cheats for users to find easter eggs and previously unaccessible material. These include:
In-game Reset Cheats: Press A + B + X + Y + Start during game play to return to the title screen.
Sound Test Cheats: Successfully complete the game with a good ending.
CG and Music Test Cheats: Successfully complete the game to unlock CG mode and music mode options.
The game was ported to the Mac and Linux platforms by fans who studied the AVG engine (an engine created by Visual Arts to enable other companies to produce visual novels) that the game was based upon and then created a clone of AVG32 for Linux and BSD systems, it is named Xkanon. The port runs on the latest versions of both Linux and Mac OSX.
The character of Ayu Tsukimiya is extremely popular and recognised in both Japan and the West. The character has had cameos as playable character in many dojin games and has had more appearances outside of the original Kanon than any other anime or h-game character ever.
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