Kanon (visual novel)
Most of "Kanon"s development staff originally worked for the visual novel publisher Nexton under the brand Tactics. After the release of the brand's third game "", most of Tactics' staff left Nexton to pursue work in another publishing company where they could have the freedom to produce their next game. Itaru Hinoue, who had previously worked at VisualArt's once before, introduced Key's founding members to the president of VisualArt's, Takahiro Baba. Baba gave the developers the freedom they desired, and they officially transferred to VisualArt's where they formed Key on July 21, 1998 and started production on "Kanon". The planning for the visual novel was headed by Naoki Hisaya who was also one of two scenario writers with Jun Maeda. Hisaya wrote the scenarios for Ayu, Nayuki and Shiori, while Maeda wrote the routes for Makoto and Mai. Art direction was headed by Key's artist Itaru Hinoue who worked on the character design and computer graphics. Further computer graphics were split between three people—Dinn, Miracle Mikipon, Shinory—and background art was provided by Torino. The music in the game was composed by OdiakeS, Shinji Orito and Jun Maeda. "Kanon" was the first and last visual novel developed by Key that two of the main staff—Naoki Hisaya, and OdiakeS—worked on before pursuing a similar line of work in other visual novel studios.
Kanon Pokajanen
The "eirmos" (Greek for "model" or "chain") is a paraphrase of one of the nine canticles found in Scripture, usually taking a specific verse or the general idea in the biblical song. Here are the list of the bibilical canticles with their traditional names:Normally the second ode is omitted owing to its severe nature. The most notable exception to this is in the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete which is chanted during Great Lent. In most canons, including the present one, there is no text written for Ode II and therefore there is not an Ode II in "Kanon Pokajanen". The numbering, however, does not change as shown in the outline below for the entire piece:"Kanon Pokajanen" exhibits characteristics of Pärt's tinntinabular style. The piece remains almost exclusively in D minor, deviating only in particularly expressive passages and sometimes final cadences (e.g. the piece ends with a Picardy third on D).Overall, the melodies and harmonies remain fairly static throughout the piece. Variation is created through alteration of the dispositions and roles of the various voice parts. The odes build toward each intermezzo section, treating it as a small climax. The Prayer after the Canon is the most intense of all the climaxes, paralleling the prayer's function.