I still wonder WHY they’d suddenly jump into the kiss - or at least the full lips-on-lips thing, especially after Jun’s comments about dating grade-schoolers. There’s still not enough buildup here, and whether he’s dreaming about these memories or actually consciously recalling them, I’d have liked to see a BIT more buildup, like a kiss the next episode so we’ve more time to roll everything onto that stage.

At this stage, I would still consider it Kira killing Athrun without warning and with just a few flashbacks, in Episode One, rather than him trying to kill Athrun in Ep 29 after Tolle bites the dust.

< – is the person who checks everyday to make sure that no legitimate comments are coming up instead of being spam karma-ed.

*grumbles* no worries!

“Whether or not he remembered her as the girl he made a promise to, all those years back, doesn’t matter unless he’s remembered it.. and at this point, he doesn’t appear to be in full possession of all the memories which count, much less a ‘like’ which goes beyond ’she’s cute and lives with me and is pretty sweet if a tad odd’.”

He’s actually in possession of all the memories bar two - and these tend to be of a somewhat negative nature. The recollection of Ayu that we see at the beginning of episode 19 details Yuuichi and Ayu’s relationship at its brightest; hence, I would say that Yuuichi IS in ‘full possession of all the memories which count.’ At the very least, he remembers enough to know that there was a romantic attachment between them. Certainly, it would explain his sudden bashfulness around her in this episode (this was the first dream memory with overtly romantic undertones, after all).

That’s probably why Shiori’s was always my favourite story, even though Ayu is my favourite girl.

It’s just that it appears very suddenly - it’s like a Gundam SEED where Kira killed Athrun back in Episode 1 instead of merely staring at him in disbelief; there was no buildup of angst, combat, or other things to make something like that happen then… and it’s similarly shocking here because it just comes out of the blue, like a UFO that suddenly lands on a girlish boy strolling in the mountains, killing him in the process.

It is actually quite common for amnesia victims IRL to alter their personalities, and their interactions with others as their memories resurface, and certainly it is a plot device used often in fiction. In any case, it is the past relationship in Kanon that inarguably is meant to provide the backbone of the present one; not just with the case, but ain all other respects, Yuuichi’s dreams/ memories constitute all the development his relationship with Ayu is given. As she is the girl of his memories, so he becomes the boy.

You argue that he essentially forgot about the past, but then remembered it thus leading to the kiss. My reasoning is, this is highly improbably and unrealistic. Sure, this is an anime, but what bothered me and many others is that it was a little “too” unrealistic. Even if U1 did finally remember his past with Uguu, he wouldn’t kiss her on the spot. Emotions do not resurface that quickly, nor do they manifest with so little buildup. If any reason were probable, it would be the psychological explanation of his misattributed wave of powerful emotions (grief over Makoto, almost Mai and almost (?) Shiori) towards Uguu.

Now if this was Mai, I could maybe understand that… at least they’ve HAD some past together, some scenes together, which led to that cute ’sleeping on Yuiichi’ thing back before she tried to kill herself.

He’s not gonna make that mistake again with Haremette #4.
He’s gonna start at second base with Ayu-Ayu in hopes of hitting third before she croaks.
Accusations of lolipedo be damned.

So the kiss out of was all part of a prudent and logical plan that represents the goal of all seventeen year old boys; and that goal is to get some.

Now in no ways am I saying that the two don’t have feelings for each other. From Uguu’s standpoint, I can take the idea that she has essentially not changed since her child self, and views U1 in the same light as she did before. U1 however, does not convince me. Sure, he constantly has flashbacks to Uguu and his past relationship, but that still doesn’t flesh out any feelings he might have.

He may have loved her once, but KA never shows any buildup oh his and her relationship (bar this episode). It is true. The two live under the same roof and spend much time with each other, and thus may have connected, but KA doesn’t ever “build up” to it.
Now in regards to the flashbacks being this missing link, I still am not convinced. I’m sure U1 may have already pieced his and Uguu’s past together, but once again, it is never fleshed out.
For example, this is the first episode (that I remember) where Uguu and U1 have many instances of one-on-one interaction. She talks to him about him comforting her in the past, and how she will reciprocate this, etc. I skimmed through the episode, and there are only two instances of such a flashback: the intro and the segment in the middle with Uguu on a tree. For an episode that is finally Uguu centric (that is even up to debate, since 1/2 is Nayuki), that still isn’t enough to lead up to a kiss.

Then, late one afternoon, they both expose some very raw, painful emotions, to the point where they’re both near tears, and suddenly that rush of emotions leads to a kiss. I find that very plausible myself. Not that there is MUCH romance there, but that you have two people who are hurting and grieving, and find some comfort in one another. Just consider all the stories of people sent to comfort a grieving friend after the loss of their spouse who suddenly find themselves wrapped up together. Is this REALLY that different?

… even then, U1 has those flashbacks with every girl he’s ran into (sans Nayuki) during this series, yet he has not gone blush/romantic/smooch with them.
If the two of them really did realize their past feelings for one another (even this is up for debate), the sudden kiss is still awkward. If I loved a girl when I was in elementary school (that is… if you can truely love in that mature, romantic sense at that age), I still wouldn’t suddenly kiss her if we ran into each other and realized it.

Even though a Nayuki ending still doesn’t seem possible to me (slim chance from what I take, even though some others think these turn of events increase the Nayuki ending chance), I’m still gonna cheer for Nayuki, haha.

Too bad all of the girls are too one-dimensional and boring.