Kanon (2002 anime)

The first Kanon anime was produced by the Japanese animation studio Toei Animation and directed by Takamichi Itō. Thirteen episodes were produced and aired in Japan between January 31 and March 28, 2002. Later, a single original video animation (OVA) episode entitled "Kanon Kazahana" was released in March 2003. The anime series and OVA used the songs "Florescence" and "Flower" for the opening and ending themes, respectively. While it does not appear as the ending theme in the first twelve episodes or in the OVA, the game's ending theme "Where the Wind Reaches" is used as the ending theme for the series in episode thirteen. Additionally, the game's opening theme "Last regrets" is played near the end of episode thirteen during the flashback scene.

The first anime adaptation under the title Kanon is produced by the Japanese animation studio Toei Animation, directed by Takamichi Itō, written by Ryota Yamaguchi, Makoto Nakamura, and Michiko Yokote, and features character design by Yōichi Ōnishi who based the designs on Itaru Hinoue's original concept. Thirteen episodes were produced which aired after midnight between January 31 and March 28, 2002, on the Fuji TV Japanese television network. Except for episodes three, four, and seven, the titles from the episodes are named for tracks on the visual novel's original soundtrack. The episodes were released to Region 2 DVD between April 1 and October 2, 2002, by Frontier Works. Spanning seven volumes, each volume contained two episodes except the first which had one. The series was re-released as a seven-disc DVD box set on December 22, 2004, by Frontier Works in limited and regular editions in Japan. In March 2003, an original video animation episode was released on DVD containing the single episode "Kanon Kazahana" also produced by Toei Animation and directed by Takamichi Ito. The episode is set at the same time as the last episode of the anime series. The DVD was released via a promotional campaign and was given to anyone who bought all seven DVDs for the first anime series. Two pieces of theme music are used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Florescence", and the ending theme is "Flower"; both songs are sung by Miho Fujiwara.