To be honest, I found this amongst other stories under my smut hunting for my 1990s aesthetic project on Mangarock.
I've seen most shoujo and josei stories, hell, according to Mangarock, it is shoujo manga but after I've finished reading this in one sitting, I could say a few things:
Hell no, this is different from most shoujo ones because this was heavier, realistic unlike shoujo that is usually idealistic. This is only genre wise.
Plot and character wise, god I love from the very beginning to the last, it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Every single scene. All realistic characters who I appreciated. Music and its history as the centre point, bits of misadventures and smut even with incest at last to have me not knowing what to think and expect.
At first, I thought Tendou was the MC but lmao. Anyway, I was Tendou supporter in the beginning bc of great stories but as Mikami said, Tendou was not ballsy enough so he was out of picture for a while. As Mikami and Kanon were actually good pair as to support each other, I find myself veering to this ship but once I learned about Mikami with Kanon's mom, well, idk what to think honestly. At this point, Tendou became better and supporting all while she was at her worst from the first to last, so I changed back. Kanon's late mom, Gara, was at fault here so it's understandable Kanon had lost it at everything and everyone but Tendou thru his words have slapped her back to the reality, proved that everyone (literally) had equal share of their own struggles.
The ending wasn't confusing at all, it's rather satisfying to me. Unlike some have said here that it felt like a cliffhanger. As it has shown: Mikami had accepted everything, gave the closure we all needed thru the eternal symphony that summed up the entire manga: music itself as the authentic, unbreakable bond between him and Kanon, which she eventually understood. Just like Kanon's with her late mom, Tendou, and Mongolia. Fair enough, I think.
Aesthetic wise, esp. in volume 1, Mongolia thing to include for the story, it was honestly very 1990s thing to do at that time. The style did have some leftovers of 1980s, but definite enough to stand on its own: softer, yet still rough but not as rough as 1980s were. 2000s and 2010s are way too soft tbh. Nice panels also, with neat bubble texts as usual from this genre. I did year and age math in my head as I read this for aesthetic sake lmao so this may not that important for some heh but anyway, this manga was released around 1995. Mikami was 33 (1961-62), Kanon was 19 (1975-76), Tendou's unknown. Mikami did it with Kanon's mom when he was 14 around 1975 right. Kanon saw Mikami's 1980s and 1970s pics, esp. his 1980 pic that got me chuckling, because he looked like he just came out of Blue Lagoon (1980).
My fav scenes, hard to say but according to my screenshots thus it has to be Mongolia stuff at its first and last, how Kanon was totally a straight shooter unlike most female MC around that time even today if it were shoujo: she who did come at Tendou to pay her debt to him, next with the stranger in that unknown Kanon hotel in Tokyo, then Say Anything (1989) like rainy scene around telephone box where both Kanon and Mikami eventually caved in (I think). Kanon's mom. The eternal symphony. What else.
No wonder Saito won the award in shoujo genre for this manga in 1996. Which clearly proven how she loved music thru this manga and she did have a knack of storytelling. I don't understand why isn't this josei genre as it fits more compared to shoujo honestly but ok. I'm surprised these comments here are some years apart in between, so I guess it's really that underrated.
That's all for now, I think.