There are five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. After Mai's scenario is completed, a replay of her route will offer an additional choice to play through Sayuri's back-story. Jun Maeda, who worked on the scenario for "Kanon", commented in March 2001 that the Japanese public may have fallen under the impression that Key makes soothing games because of "Kanon"'s influence, but Maeda affirmed that there was not one person who worked on "Kanon" who thought that.