Ayu Tsukimiya

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Ayu Tsukimiya (Japanese: 月宮 あゆ, - Tsukimiya Ayu) is a character in the Kanon series. She is the main female character in the series' marketing, and the ending of every completed adaptation of the game has her as Yuuichi's love interest. The currently airing anime by Kyoto Animation also heavily hints that her ending will be followed.

Ayu is a cute girl who is actually the same age as Yuuichi, though she looks and acts younger, according to him. She has a fondness for taiyaki, and is often found around the market square. Her moral sense is questionable, but she never means any harm, even though she thinks that she can do whatever she wants without repercussion. Ayu is also very friendly towards the other girls, and in the Toei Animation version of Kanon, does not seem to realize that Nayuki is jealous of her.

[edit] Ayu in the past

Ayu Tsukimiya was a young girl that Yuuichi Aizawa knew from the past. He met her crying in the middle of the town square, where she introduced herself as "Ayu"; when asked for her surname, she also said "Ayu". To get the girl to calm down he bought her some taiyaki, which in turn became her favorite food. Before parting, the friendless "Ayu Ayu" asked Yuuichi to promise to meet her again, so they could eat taiyaki together.

Yuuichi, of course, came back every day and they eventually became very close friends. One day Ayu came across a claw vending machine, and a small angel doll caught her eye. Yuuichi eventually won it for her, and when he gave it to her he declared that the doll would grant three wishes for her. However, it had to be a wish that he could make happen.

Ayu's first wish was that they could go to school together. Although Yuuichi couldn't fully grant that wish, as he lived far away, he told her that the forest could be their school. The meeting place would be a large tree they liked to play around, and climb on. They could come whenever they wanted, there would be no homework, eat whatever they wanted for lunch (Ayu always ate taiyaki), and there would be no teachers to boss them around. Ayu's second wish was a much more simple one, as she asked simply that Yuuichi would never forget her. Ayu then wanted to save her third wish for the future, so she and Yuuichi buried the doll in a glass jar, much like a time capsule. She wanted somebody who "wanted the doll with all their heart" to find it, and get the final wish.

One day, while Yuuichi and Ayu were attending their "school," Ayu was sitting up in the tree when a gust of wind came and knocked her out of it. She ended up falling on her head, which caused her to go into a seven-year-long coma. However, from the revelation of the accident to the ending of the series, the viewer is led to believe that she is dead. This accident is what caused the young Yuuichi to suppress his memories of his childhood.

[edit] Ayu in the present

The Ayu that appears in the anime and game is really a manifestation of her dream, and her wish to stay with Yuuichi. Throughout the series, there are a lot of hints that she is stuck in the past, such as not knowing what a cell phone was and believing that businesses from the past are still there. Akiko Minase, Yuuichi's aunt, is taken aback by the appearance of Ayu, takes note of everything that Yuuichi remembers, and muses that Ayu must have been waiting for him.

Yuuichi then begins to wonder about this mysterious Ayu. He only barely recalls her being his friend from the past, and forgot about the accident all those years ago. He asks her where she goes to school, and Ayu happily takes him to the tree. Once she realises that there is no school there, reality begins to hit her and she realises that she isn't really there either. This implies that Ayu can only continue living in her dream, as long as she believes in it. Once she knows that this is all just a dream, her fake reality crashes and she disappears.

After this, Yuuichi finally remembers what happened all those years ago. He remembers that Ayu 'died' and he goes into depression. At the same time, the Toei version splices in the piece of Nayuki's storyline where Akiko gets into a car accident and is hospitalized. Yuuichi remembers the doll that Ayu buried, and gathers his friends to go find it.

Once he gets it, and his friends leave, he stays at the forest until Ayu appears again. They have a tearful reuinion, where Yuuichi reminds her of the angel doll, and that she has one more wish. Ayu says she wants to use her last wish to make a miracle, and to save Akiko. Yuuichi asks her if she's sure about that, and requests that she uses her final wish to come back and go to a real school with Yuuichi. Ayu brings up a third option; she might wish that Yuuichi not remember her at all, and move on. After this, Ayu doesn't say which wish she chooses, and simply vanishes again. Her final wish is something that is disputed amongst fans. Did she use it to save Akiko, or save herself?

At this point, the story cuts off in the game if the player, as Yuuichi, has not chosen all the correct answers for Ayu's storyline. This is the bad ending, and the player is left to believe that Ayu is either dead or forever comatose.

Yuuichi is then ready to leave this town, and is just about on the train to go back home, when Nayuki runs up to him and tells him that somebody has been waiting for him for a long time in the hospital. He races over there to find Ayu in a coma. When he holds her hand, Ayu finally wakes up after all those years.

[edit] Ayu's cultural impact

Ayu Tsukimiya has appeared in many works outside of Kanon, has been stated as the one dating sim character with the most appearances ouside her own game, and has come to represent Kanon itself. Below are some examples of parody, homage and inspiration drawn from Ayu.

• Ayu has appeared in countless dōjin games such as Glove on Fight and Eternal Fighter ZERO.
• Megatokyo, a webcomic that takes much of its inspiration from Kanon, puts Ayu in a few of its scenes. In strip 67 "Saving Points", Ayu is shown eating taiyaki and then crashing into Makoto, another Kanon character. In strip 224 "packing away", the artist draws himself wearing Ayu's backpack, mentions Kanon and says her catchphrase "Ugū!"
• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi has one episode that parodies Kanon. In it, Yui Horie, Ayu's voice actor, plays a girl that is a clear take-off on Ayu.
• Air, the anime adaptation of another of Key's video games, inserts Ayu into the story. Here, along with Nayuki Minase and Makoto Sawatari, Ayu is a regular girl and Kano Kirishima's friend from school.
• Ayu has been referred to as "the original sad girl in snow", and many scenes featuring such girls borrow from Ayu's story and those of the other Kanon girls.