The Fantasia of Reminiscence

The Fantasia of Reminiscence is the eighth episode of the 2006 anime series Kanon.

Synopsis
The episode begins with Nayuki going to school early to practice for the upcoming track meet. Yuichi asks Makoto what she plans on doing with the cat he brought home, which she says she wants to keep. Makoto gets a quick response from Akiko, who tells her she can keep the cat around. Yuichi decides to give the cat a name, which he finds difficult since Makoto wants the name to sound cute. He eventually settles on "Piroshiki", or pork bun in Russian, which Makoto accepts despite it being another translation for the Japanese name Yuichi had suggested earlier.

Makoto decides to take Piro with her to work. She tells Yuichi that the cat may have been responsible for her getting some of her memory back since it led her to her wallet.

At school, Yuichi runs into Mai and thanks her for pointing him in the right direction to find Makoto in the previous episode. He asks her if she knows anything else about Makoto, though she insists that it was just a hunch. Mai tells Yuichi that Mishio possibly knows more about Makoto's situation.

After school, Yuichi takes Makoto to the shopping district to buy her some pork buns to cheer her up after she tells him the nursery school told her not to bring Piro back with her.

Later that evening, Makoto desperately tries to get Yuichi's attention and starts acting more dependent on him. Yuichi remembers that he knew a Makoto Sawatari before, but she was an older girl he had a crush on as a child.

The next day Yuichi meets with Mishio and asks if she could befriend Makoto to help bring back some of her memories. She tells Yuichi that if there was anyone who knew anything about Makoto, it was him. She suggests that she knew him a long time ago, only in a different form.

Makoto leads Yuichi up to Monomi Hill to the place that the two parted ways back when Yuichi was younger, causing Makoto to attack him without knowing why save that she remembers feeling betrayed the last time she was there.

At home, Nayuki tells Yuichi that Akiko has been searching for Makoto's parents, though she couldn't find anyone or even a missing person report. Makoto tries to get Yuichi to spend time with her by reading a manga together, which he initially doesn't want to do but agrees to after seeing how low Makoto's reading skills are. At the end Makoto is in tears, though Yuichi thinks the story is another bland shoujo manga.

At dinner, Makoto has trouble holding her chop sticks, dropping them several times. Later that night, Makoto comes into Yuichi's room looking for Piro, who she finds sleeping under a blanket. Yuichi tells her not to bother Piro and let him sleep, prompting Makoto to climb into Yuichi's bed. While asleep, Makoto mutters something that triggers another flashback from Yuichi's past when he nursed a fox back to health while staying with his aunt and cousin.

Yuichi meets with Mishio again, who tells him that Makoto is in fact not human and that she had a similar experience before. Mishio explains to Yuichi that Makoto was the fox and she could only see him again by sacrificing her memory and her life. Mishio says that eventually Makoto will become physically weak and have a difficult time acting like a human. She leaves and tells Yuichi not to get her involved any further.


 * Yuichi Aizawa
 * Nayuki Minase
 * Akiko Minase
 * Makoto Sawatari
 * Mishio Amano
 * Mai Kawasumi
 * Sayuri Kurata (cameo)
 * Piro

Locations
City of Snow

Yuichi's High School

Minase Residence

Monomi Hill

Trivia

 * A Fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation.

Quotes

 * "I'm sure you'll get your answer in a second." Yuichi
 * "Okay." - Akiko
 * "Wow, it really did only take a second!" - Makoto
 * "I may not look like it, but I know what girls like." - Yuichi
 * "Isn't Piroshiki a Russian deep fried meat bun?" - Akiko
 * "Forever and ever... I thought we would be together." - Makoto
 * "I'm sure she came here only to see you." - Mishio
 * "Right now, you are in the midst of a fleeting miracle." - Mishio