Silver Overture

Silver Overture is the first episode of the 2006 anime series Kanon.

Synopsis
The episode begins with second year high school student Yuichi Aizawa getting off of a train that has just arrived at the City of Snow. Yuichi is then met at the station by his first cousin, Nayuki Minase, who's mother, Akiko Minase, has agreed to let Yuichi stay at her home due to familial circumstances. When Nayuki arrives, it is revealed that Yuichi has been waiting on a bench for two hours. Yuichi appears quite insensitive to his cousin, though he reassures her he was only joking when he seemingly forgets her name.

Next, we hear the voice of a girl who is trapped in a never ending dream, claiming that her surroundings appear to be tinted in red. She then notices a crying child obscuring her view of the sun. As much as the girl wants to help the child, she finds that she can't use her hands, and can only watch as the child continues to cry while she attempts to speak to him to no avail. At the end of her monologue, the girl notes that the color of her surroundings has shifted colors from red to white.

Yuichi wakes up the next day in the Minase Residence, though he seems to forget where he is until he hears Nayuki out in the hall. When asking what she was doing, Nayuki says that she is looking for her school uniform, which had just been washed by Akiko. Nayuki wastes no time getting her uniform on, telling Yuichi that even though it is still winter holiday for her school, she is a member of the track team, which meets even when classes aren't in session. While waiting for Nayuki, Yuichi helps Akiko with shoveling snow off of the sidewalk.

When Nayuki returns, she shows Yuichi around the city. One of the places they go to is Nayuki’s school, which will also be Yuichi’s starting the next day. Yuichi is surprised to find so many students at school, which Nayuki says is due to the large amount of club activities they offer. As Yuichi and his cousin begin walking away, we briefly see two girls, one of which is revealed to be Mai Kawasumi, who is kneeling down to pet a stray dog. They also pass a hospital, along with another girl named Shiori, who is seen talking to who appears to be Kaori.

Now at the shopping district, Yuichi meets Kaori and Kitagawa, two of Nayuki’s classmates. Kitagawa then asks if Nayuki was also on a date, much to the chagrin of Kaori, who claims the two just ran into each other despite Kitagawa clearly holding shopping bags for her. After introducing themselves to their new classmate, Kaori and Kitagawa leave. Yuichi then has a flashback in which he sees a large tree in the middle of a forest, which he has trouble understanding the meaning of.

The two then go to Monomi Hill. Yuichi, looking over the town from the hill, says that he feels like he's forgotten several experiences that he had seven years ago, and is doubtful of whether he even liked the city or not. Nayuki tells him that he’ll start remembering things eventually. She expresses her love for the city, and hopes that Yuichi will someday come to love it just as much as her.

Nayuki then notices a fox in the distance. She attempts to get closer to it (much to Yuichi’s dismay), but the fox eventually runs off into the woods. Nayuki retorts Yuichi’s comments by mentioning a legend about the foxes of the hill. When Yuichi asks her how the legend goes, Nayuki admits that she forgot as well.

The two go back to the shopping district because Nayuki needs to buy some ingredients for Akiko. As Nayuki is about to go into a grocery store called Food Shop Cosmos, Yuichi insists on staying outside, saying he’ll probably get lost in the store. Nayuki tells him not to leave without her, to which he agrees. Nayuki then remembers that they had the same conversation seven years ago. Nayuki goes into the store, leaving Yuichi to wonder if what she said was true.

Just then, a short girl with reddish-orange hair runs into Yuichi. She hastily gets up and leads him away to a café to hide from someone she says is chasing her (Pachelbel's Canon can be heard playing in the background in this scene). Yuichi finds out that she ran off with a bag of taiyaki without paying for it, which was only because she panicked after discovering she did not have enough money. After learning this, Yuichi brings the girl back to the taiyaki stand to apologize and pay the owner.

After leaving the cafe, the two decide to spend some time together walking around the city. Before he goes home, Yuichi wants the girl to pay him back. She then tells him her name is Ayu Tsukimiya. When Yuichi tells her his name, she pauses before responding, as if she just remembered something. When Yuichi asks her what's wrong, Ayu dismisses it, thinking she must be mistaken. Yuichi then promises Ayu that they will meet near the train station again, which helps Yuichi remember that he had a similar conversation seven years ago.

After Ayu leaves, Yuichi rushes back to the grocery store, remembering that he promised Nayuki he would wait for her outside. Yuichi comes back to find Nayuki sitting on a bench with her head turned away from him. Yuichi tries to explain what happened, but Nayuki insists that he lied to her. Later that night, Nayuki forgives Yuichi and calls it even, as she was late when he was waiting for her at the train station at the beginning of the episode.

While unpacking his things, Yuichi discovers that he doesn't have an alarm clock, prompting Nayuki to offer him one from her large collection. As Yuichi drifts off, he starts thinking about the girl from his flashback but can't remember who she is. In Yuichi's dream we see younger versions of him and Nayuki going to the store, which ends up being similar to what happened earlier. While waiting outside for Nayuki, a girl bumps into him. Yuichi notices that the girl is crying and tries to calm her down. After Yuichi introduces himself, the girl tells him her name is Ayu. Yuichi then decides to take Ayu somewhere else after a crowd starts gathering, thinking that he was fighting with her. The episode ends with Yuichi dragging Ayu off to the train station so they could talk about what was bothering her in private.

Characters

 * Yuichi Aizawa
 * Nayuki Minase
 * Akiko Minase
 * Ayu Tsukimiya
 * Shiori Misaka (cameo)
 * Kaori Misaka
 * Jun Kitagawa
 * Mai Kawasumi
 * Sayuri Kurata
 * Taiyaki Shop Owner

Locations

 * Minase Residence
 * City of Snow
 * Yuichi's High School

Trivia

 * An overture is an instrumental introduction to an opera.
 * Shiori actually makes her first appearance in the episode as a cameo, conversing with Kaori in the background.
 * The moving company logo on Yuichi's boxes roughly translates to "White Bear Movers".

Cultural references

 * When Yuichi and Nayuki are about to cross the street, a tram passes by. The tram has an advertisement for the peach drink Misuzu drinks in another Key series, Air.

Quotes

 * "It's been seven years. So do you still remember my name?" - Nayuki
 * "When I was a child I often visited this city. It's been seven years since I last saw Nayuki and Akiko." - Yuichi
 * "Uguu~" - Ayu
 * "Liar." - Nayuki
 * "Watch out for cars." - Akiko
 * "I just don't remember much about the old days." - Yuichi
 * "The foxes on this hill are special." - Nayuki
 * "I remember going through this same scenario before." - Nayuki
 * "You're right! I have wings! Cute wings!" - Ayu
 * "It's slowly starting to dawn on me, but... You're a weirdo, aren't you?" - Yuichi
 * "Uguu! No, I'm not!" - Ayu