story

plot

settings and themes

Setting and themes

There are several important locations featured in the Kanon story that are based on those of the city Moriguchi, located in Japan.

The time of year the story occurred in was during winter, and since it often snowed periodically over the course of the entire story, the city was always presented covered in a layer of snow. The covering snow helps to develop the mysterious mood that the story flows through.

There are recurring themes that appear throughout the story. The episode titles from the 2006-2007 anime have parts in their titles related to music, such as overture and introit. Miracles play a large part in the story; Kanon's plot line and characters are influenced by various instances where miracles occur. The act of promising and keeping promises is found throughout the story. Yuichi eventually makes important promises to the five main girls while at the same time fulfilling past promises he had made with them when he used to visit the city as a kid.

One of the sub-themes in the story is amnesia, the loss of memory; three of the main characters — Yuichi, Ayu and Makoto — suffer from amnesia in varying degrees; this is used as a plot device to advance the story. Another sub-theme deals with the favorite foods of the five main heroines. Newtype USA stated in an article on Kanon that, "it's when the characters are eating something really tasty that they seem most beautiful and alive," despite the somber setting and overall tone of the series. These five foods of choice are: taiyaki (Ayu), strawberries (Nayuki), nikuman (Makoto), ice cream (Shiori), and gyudon (Mai).