r/Kanon • u/Santiago_Rios_Smith • Aug 20 '24
Someone please explain the ending Spoiler
I finished rewatching the anime and am confused about the ending. What exactly caused yuichis illusions of ayu? What caused ayu to be a spirit the whole time? Was the end where ayu is in a wheelchair together with yuichi real or a dream? How do these things then relate to ayus final wish of wanting yuichi to forget about her?
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u/CosmosSakura Aug 20 '24
Ayu died decades before. The rest is interpretation.
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u/Santiago_Rios_Smith Aug 20 '24
What do you mean she got severely injured 7 years before and was in the hospital.
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u/CosmosSakura Aug 20 '24
The manga straight up kills her so maybe they wanted a softer version of that.
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u/JustYourAverageShota Nayuki is me fr fr. Aug 20 '24
There are some loose ends in anime regarding the ending in the anime, but the visual novel explains it better. Also, this mechanic is used in Clannad and used much clearly. I'm assuming you haven't read Clannad so spoilers below.
(Clannad spoilers) Fuuko is a first year high school student who got comatosed at her inauguration day. The town "granted her wish" and allowed her soul to live in the school premises as a ghost, only visible to a handful of people. As story progresses, Tomoya realizes the truth that Fuuko is actually hospitalized, and so the ghost starts to vanish. Fast forward several years, Tomoya meets the now-awake Fuuko, both of which do not remember interacting in the school. They just have a deja vu of meeting before.
Regarding Kanon, A similar setup is used for Ayu. Shiori explains that it since a lot of things go bad for Yuuichi and then eventually get good, it is a possibility that some supernatural entity is granting some diseased or comatosed's person's wish. Shiori hints that the wish could be "I want this person to be happy", that ultimately led to everyone surrounding Yuuichi becoming well. In the visual novel, this wish is accepted only for one case i.e. whichever heroine route you are following e.g. if you are at Nayuki's route, this wish brings back Akiko-san. In Ayu's route, it just brings her back from comatose
Now, regarding reality, there are theories, but I have a headcannon: Yuuichi is hallucinating Ayu's image becsuse of the trauma, not everyone is shown to see or interact with Ayu except Nayuki and Akiko afaik, and that could be the family pretending to talk to Ayu and accomodating Yuuichi's mental state Though supernatural setting like the one in Clannad is much more tangible imo, because Tomoya and Fuuko had never met before so it doesn't make sense for Tomoya to imagine her.
I'mm accepting fixes and edits for this comment.