Kanokon

Posted Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 08:26 by animesempai

Summary:

Kanokon's story revolves around Kouta Oyamada, a young first-year high school student who moves from the country to the city and thus transfers to Kunp? High School. On his first day at his new school, a beautiful second-year female student named Chizuru Minamoto asks him to meet her alone in the music room. When he arrives, she tells him that she is in love with him and accidentally reveals to him that she is in fact a fox deity. From that day on the two hang out together, and Chizuru constantly hangs on Kouta which embarrasses him greatly due to others watching. Soon after the story begins, a wolf deity named Nozomu Ezomori transfers into Kouta's school and class. From day one, she is all over Kouta which serves to embarrass him more and cause Chizuru to become annoyed at her new competition for Kouta's affection. Source:Wikipidea

Story: 3

The recently-concluded Spice and Wolf successfully featured a cute changeling who falls in with a human male in a relationship with potential romantic tension.It's the ecchi high school version of Spice and Wolf! Actually, in all seriousness ... it's just ecchi and high school. For those who can't get enough of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed (literally) moe girls, Kanokon has come to fill that void.Xebec's latest addition to the wild and wooly world of shonen romance takes a more explicitly sexual tack than is usual, but douses any ecchi sparks with a pair of limp leads and a moldy, shopworn premise.

Animation: 4

The Animation what you may called a cute and rossy cheek version of power puff girls. It was simple and not to fancy the animators didnt even use some CG or digitals....The series gets a single point for warm pastel colors in the artwork. Visually, the animation is average or worse—except for the fanservice scenes, of course. About shoving her (Chizuru) breasts in some boy's face and flashing her panties at him?

Music: 6

The theme songs will be just as quickly forgotten as the singer who performed them. Anyway. The calm, radiant beauty of Kanokon's soft-focus lighting and soundtrack is exquisitely affecting. I like the background music it was calm and gentle but sometimes it doenst match when eechi part kicks in. Unlike the opening the ending songs sure is nice..

Characters: 4.5

Where to begin... To start with, Chizuru is nothing but a raging sex drive crammed into a pair of boobs and a butt (the three of which get more screen time than her face), and Kouta hasn't the personality that God gave a dead twig. The set-up—ordinary boy hooks up with cute monster in the midst of some sort of inter-monster conflict—is deadeningly cliché, and the series takes place in that romantic fantasy land where hot girls throw themselves at boys like lemmings into the sea. Even the ecchi content is undermined by the fact that the sexual dynamic between voluptuous Chizuru and prepubescent Kouta is really, really creepy. SOME INFO on the CHARACTERS: Kouta Oyamada ( Oyamada K?ta?) Voiced by: Mamiko Noto Kouta is the protagonist of the story. He moves from the country to the city in his first year of high school, and on his first day of school, he discovers that the second year girl Chizuru Minamoto is actually a kitsune. He used to live with his grandfather before moving. Kouta generally has a moderate personality and is indecisive. Apparently, his parents are dead and he lives with his grandparents. He loves Chizuru, but does like Nozomu too. When he was younger, he almost drowned in a river and now has a fear of swimming. Chizuru Minamoto ( Minamoto Chizuru?) Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi Chizuru is a second year female student at Kouta's school. She appears to be a normal, albeit big-breasted girl, but is in fact a 400-year-old powerful kitsune (when she reveals herself, her hair goes from black to blond). She is constantly hanging around and on Kouta, though he is the only male she acts genuinely towards. She loves Kouta very much and wants to enter a "relationship of sin" with Kouta. Nozomu Ezomori ( Ezomori Nozomu?) Voiced by: Miy? Takeuchi Nozomu is a first year female student at Kouta's school who first appears in the second volume of the novels. She has short silver hair, and is in fact a wolf deity. She has an older brother named Saku. She is in love with Kouta, and is a rival of Chizuru's for Kouta's affections. While she cannot compete with her in terms of breast size, Nozomu does refer to her brother's pornographic magazines which feature such things as sadomasochism, and cosplay among other things. She lives by herself in an expensive penthouse apartment. She is a serious glutton when it comes to food. Secondary characters Tayura Minamoto ( Minamoto Tayura?) Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga Tayura is the younger brother of Chizuru, and is Kouta's classmate. When they first meet, Tayura is jealous of the relationship between his sister and Kouta. Chizuru says that he is suffering from a sister complex. Tayura looks much older than many boys his age. He enjoys teasing his older sister and Kouta by calling them "love birds". Like his sister, he too is a fox deity. He is generally has a calm and cool personality. Whenever he tries to get closer to Akane, he is given the cold shoulder, though he himself has stated that it is okay with her being cold. Incidentally, he has a small interest in masochism. Akane Asahina ( Asahina Akane?) Voiced by: Chiwa Sait? Akane is the class representative of Kouta's class, and wears glasses. Due to this, she has a high sense of regulations, and therefore disagrees with Kouta's and Chizuru's close high school relationship. She is on good terms with Kouta, and worries about his relationship with Chizuru. She warns Kouta to watch out for Chizuru, though she might be jealous of Chizuru's body. Rin Nanao ( Nanao Ren?), Ai Nanao ( Nanao Ai?) Rin and Ai are twin first-year sisters at Kouta's school, and first appeared in the fifth volume of the novels. Originally, they were given the task to assassinate Chizuru, but did not go through with it since she was still "only a kid". They are nearly identical except for their slightly different hair styles. They use chains when attacking. Omi Kiriyama ( Kiriyama Omi?) Voiced by: Takashi Kond? Omi is a second year student at Kouta's school who is in fact a wind spirit with the power to control the wind. Omi was once the bitter enemy of the Minamoto siblings. In the fourth volume of the novels, he succeeds as the gang leader of the delinquents at his school. He hates the friendship between Kouta and his friends, and does not speak much. Mio Osakabe (Osakabe Mio?) Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki Mio is a second year student who hangs around with Omi. Due to his short stature, he is often mistaken for a grade school student and has even received multiple confessions from grade school girls. He is in fact half frog spirit and can heal quickly. While he did not have a name originally, Omi named him from a combination of his own given name and the Omi's home town's name. He is on good terms with Omi. Ry?sei Kumada ( Kumada Ry?sei?) Voiced by: Kenta Miyake Ry?sei is a third year student who has a distinct cross-wound over his left eye and was a gang leader of the delinquents at school before Omi took over in his place. He is in fact a bear spirit. In the fourth volume, he graduated from high school, but soon changes his name to Suisei Kumada (?? ??, Kumada Suisei?) restarts high school as a first year student. Iku Sahara ( Sahara Iku?) Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya Iku is a social studies teacher and is Kouta's homeroom teacher. She is prone to making silly mistakes and is very childish. She is in fact possessed by a y?kai and thus has dissociative identity disorder as an effect. She has to conceal her true identity to Chizuru, and investigates the spirits and deities at school. Takao Yatsuka ( Yatsuka Takao?) Voiced by: Takashi Matsuyama Takao is the gym teacher at Kouta's school, and has a scary face. Like Iku, he too is investigating the spirits at school. He is very wise, and gets along with Yukihana. Saku Ezomori (Ezomori Saku?) Voiced by: Y?to Kazama Saku is the older brother of Nozomu who makes his first appearance in the second volume of the novels; like his sister, he is a wolf deity. He usually drives a motorcycle around town. Minori Mitama ( Mitama Minori?) Minori makes her first appearance in volume three of the novels, and refers to herself as Kouta's younger sister. Nue ( Nue?) Nue makes her first appearance in volume three of the novels. She is also a y?kai and is seen together with Minori. Tamamo ( Tamamo?) Voiced by: Naomi Shind? Tamamo makes her first appearance in volume three of the novels. She is Chizuru's mother, though not related by blood. She is a golden-furred Nine-tailed fox deity and is very powerful. She is a manager of a hot-spring hotel deep in the snowy mountains. Occasionally when business is slow, she manages a beach-side restaurant. She gets along with Kouta, though does sometimes meddle in his relationship with Chizuru. Yukihana (??, Yukihana?) Voiced by: Risa Hayamizu Yukihana makes her first appearance in volume three of the novels. She is a ninja who works under Tamamo at her hot-spring hotel. She has an honest personality. In volume seven of the novels, she becomes a teacher for the handicapped at Kouta's school. When working as a teacher, she goes by the name Hanadai Yukino (????, Yukino Hanadai?), and if someone calls out to her using the name Yukihana, she will say she is not that person. She can manipulate snow storms and uses a gleaming sword in battle; she is very strong. Okata ( Okata?) Okata is a y?kai who is the head of the Sahara family; her true form is that of an old woman. She has survived for thousands of years. Source: wikipidea

Overall: 4.375

The extreme bust volume of the heroine or the extreme boyishness of the hero...? I can't decide which made me detest this new animated adaptation of a light novel series more. The respective dominant physical features of the two main characters made things seem perverse in a fashion that adolescent content (panty flashes, brief nudity, sexually suggestive language, and one very wet kiss) alone does not seem to indicate. It's hard to say why anyone would find this appealing—maybe it's the whole "Aww, but it's a fox girl, and that's cute!" thing. But what exactly is so cute about shoving her breasts in some boy's face and flashing her panties at him? The second half of the episode is particularly nauseating, as fox-Chizuru starts coming on to Kouta in a way that approaches borderline porn. One could probably guess the entire plotline for the rest of the series from here, as Kouta will continue to run like hell from Chizuru's. O well maybe its a worth while watching i guess........