hontou ni » CANAAN

CANAAN Review

Zyl — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:11:02 +0000

I had great expectations of this series but, by the third episode, it was clear that things were not going to be Kara no Kyoukai-level epic. I did enjoy the great fight scenes especially the toilet catfight, not less because of the combination of wet girls, ass grabbing and Alphard-oneesama's gorgeous evening gown.

Characters

The series also had some memorable charas like Liang who wowed me with her crazy yuri jealousy, Cummings with his pellet gun fetish and Declaration of Love! that really showed Vash and POTUS who is Boss, Alphard who just drips the kind of Casually Evil Oneesama Hawtness that really floats my boat. Despite some gripes about both of the 'good' gals, Canaan x Maria do make a lovely couple - their different kinds of dumbness are perfectly compatible and they are genuinely crazy about each other but don't go crazy on each other.

Story

Where this series disappointed was the mishandling of the plot details which could have brought it to another level of greatness. I wanted the links to be explored between Maria's memory loss, Shibuya, Ua/anti-virus, Alphard. This was particularly irritating as it was alluded to several times and I expected it to be a major plot point but it was not addressed at all in the end.

While I appreciate how leaving some loose ends does wonders for the longevity of a franchise by leaving room for speculation, there's fancock teasing done well and there's fancock teasing done badly - this is a case of the latter because it was made to look like crucial backstory that would come to the fore for climax or catharsis but was passed over without even an Ahaha~♥ handwave. I also had the vague impression that the quality of the animation (especially the fight scenes) dipped somewhat - perhaps it was hard to come up with something to top abovementioned toilet catfight.

Judgment

Despite all that, the series did not have any serious disqualifications so I'm happy to say that I enjoyed it very much once I moderated my expectations and would recommend it to anyone interested in a girls x guns series with a dash of goofy yuri subtext.

Zyl's Rating: 4/5
(Please see the Guide to Kabitzin's Ratings for explication)

CANAAN 13 (Final)

Zyl — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:54:08 +0000

Summary:

Things turn around for the 'good' gals on the train; Canaan activates her full vision hack and Alphard, who - unlike Liang - hates being seen through, is badly unnerved and the fight goes badly for her. Meanwhile Yunyun, making a sugoi run - like an Egyptian - rescued Maria in less than 30 seconds. What sugoi powers an extra appendix confers! Canaan finally understands that Alphard has, like Liang, said been a captive of the past. To rub salt into the wound, Canaan has broken free and moved forward with the power of ~~yuri love~~ friendship. By a series of plot contrivances, Canaan tries to save Alphard from falling off the train but she declines, performing extreme tattoo removal, leaving Canaan with just an arm.

Maria wakes up safe and sound while Yunyun is already working on her next part-time job. Maria/Canaan realize that while she cannot have the hawt lesbian s3xx0r with Canaan/Maria, they decide to do the Voices of a Distant Star feelin' ur heart from afar and via email/sms type of relationship. Somewhere in an airport, Alphard is still alive and still moves like a phantom. Maria has her own photography exhibition, featuring the two Canaans. Some time later Canaan is still taking orders from Yuri and the target is a one-armed woman.

Reaction:

If Alphard wanted a snake curse removed, she should have asked Oshino! She could have even gotten the curse returned to Siam FTW. I was LOL when Alphard lost her cool after seeing Canaan look at her with everything power; I was just imagining that now Canaan knows about the bear print panties that she loves so much and wears all the time but is too embarrassed to flaunt.

I can't believe that Maria actually got together enough photos for an exhibition either, personally I'd rather go for a Maria Ozawa exhibition. But getting clear shots of Alphard and Canaan must have been a big scoop, especially for the former who managed to troll POTUS and the Veep - wouldn't Langley et al have something to say about her exhibition? And Yuri is so bitter, she probably still has zero friends and probably ordered the hit on Alphard because she is so pissed about Alphard skipping out on their picnic day-to! And I bet she's keeping Alphard's arm somewhere a la the Terminator's arm at Cyberdyne Systems Corporation where it forms the prototype for a new line of Oneesama-power vibrators.

CANAAN 12

Zyl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:49:20 +0000

Summary:

Maria gets a better sense of Canaan's fear, doubt, insecurity - the Dark Side they are not apparently do not lead to - but proof of her humanity. Maria finds a hallucinating Canaan in the streets and proceeds to offer handholding and sleep together therapy. The next day the girls board the train which is then boarded by the Snakes impersonating security forces. Canaan chats with lots of dead people while Alphard chats with Maria and tells her of her role as the one who levels up Canaan. Maria is shot while taking Alphard's photo; she and Yunyun are bundled into a compartment with a bomb while Alphard and Canaan have another one of their flirt fights. Maria decides to sacrifice herself, getting Yunyun to detach the head compartment with the bomb and her in it which speeds ahead, leaving the rest behind.

Thoughts:

I am utterly outraged that we were cheated, yes! CHEATED!!!, of Maria x Canaan snuggling in bed scene. Neither are the most brilliant charas but goofy yuri fanservice makes everything better. And they blew the chance to make us love-love this love-love couple just a bit. It was nice to see Maria do something selfless and break out of the passive, girl-to-be-rescued mode even if she is still the damsel in distress. Though it has to be said that Canaan is in a whole lot of distress herself. I'm mainly watching this show for Alphard (and Maaya Sakamoto) now and still keenly feel the loss of Liang Qi and Cummings.

Hopefully the show will be able to wrap up decently even though the show is speeding towards a trainwreck - I am a tad worried by how, if you add some train signalling sounds and a folding chair of despair, we could have Evangelion Ep 25 (or was it 26?). I'll forgive whether turns up as long as we get at least one happy yuri love-love couple ending though.