Canaan Review!

xARTURIAx’s Anime Reviews

-Canaan–

Type-Moon’s Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi have teamed up once again to create a new, action packed, thrill-ride, titled Canaan. Canaan, a 13-episode anime series, is based on one of Japan’s best selling, and greatly awarded, Nintendo Wii title “428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de”. Also a Kinoko Nasu story, 428 introduces us to the main plotline of the Canaan anime series…but of course, I’ve never had a chance to play this Wii game (stupid regional coding crap…). Even with this factor, this anime seems to have summed up the basis of the 428 plots pretty well, and with its recent US release on to Blu-Ray and DvD, Canaan is sure to spawn its own collection of fans. As stated before, the series presents itself as an action-packed ball of gun slinging joy  (if that makes any sense at all…), and for those who are fans of Kinoko Nasu’s other works (Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Witch of the Holy Night, just to name a few) his newest animated series will surely not disappoint! 

Plotline: 8/10

Canaan presents itself with a ridiculous plotline that doesn’t seem to make any sense at all at the beginning of the series…but that isn’t how anime works, now is it? Although a bit difficult to understand at first, the plot line starts to unravel throughout the series. As characters are introduced, we as the audience begin to see different pieces of their confusing histories fitting together. It is made VERY obvious that there was a previous story developed before this series took place, which I found a bit annoying at times. I didn’t play the game…I have no idea how these main characters know each other…but…I-I really don’t care!! The plot kept my attention, and certainly kept me guessing, which I adore in an anime series!

About midway through more confusion struck with the introduction of the Alphard, and her group of…terrorists? To put it simply, the series centers on a mysterious virus being released (during the 428 game scenarios, I believe), a group of terrorists spreading the virus/experimenting with people, and a victim of the attacks timidly running around taking pictures. The introduction of “new” characters once again makes it VERY apparent there was a prequel involved. The plot seems to skew a bit, but in the long run, everything is summed up in a pretty interesting way. It simply couldn’t be a Nasu plotline without a very strange way of being presented, right?

Characters/Voices: 7/10

This is where I was really disappointed in Nasu. For someone who is known worldwide for his character development, Nasu didn’t really seem to shine here. Don’t get me wrong, I still ADORE the characters within the series (Alphard is a badass), but they didn't seem to “stick out” as much as his other character bases. Canaan is an assassin/mercenary, quiet and brutal when it counts, and Alphard is the leader of a terrorist group, bent on destroying everything Canaan stands for. Basic stuff, I suppose. The other characters don’t tend to have much of an impact on the main plotline but are more-so there to mess with our emotions throughout the story. (“She had such a nice ass!” –Mino-san) The only character that seemed to stand out the most was the main character Maria Oosawa. Although pretty useless, Maria showed the most personality out of all the characters. She may have run around screaming “Sugoi!” half the time, but that's just what makes Maria, Maria! To put it simply, Maria really shaped the bases of the other characters (Canaan being the most apparent).

As for voice acting, I have no complaints. The voices fit the characters perfectly…but I have yet to hear the English cast…so this comment is only for the Japanese cast. NONE of the characters have voices that are truly annoying, and the script is well written. If you’re one who only watches anime for the voice acting, Canaan is definitely one that should be watched.  

Animation: 10/10

This is where Canaan really steps it up from a mediocre anime to something really entertaining. The action scenes are truly flawless and certainly a treat to watch. The animators really did a great job illustrating every detail down to the last movement. Canaan does a great job of representing Type-Moon’s skill in the animation department, and will NOT disappoint any fan of action anime. The characters are great looking, even when being shot at, blown up, and contorting their bodies into weird ass positions. Detail is, once again, key to the looks of each character…and I love that! Canaan does not only look great, but details EVERYTHING! Very good, and very pretty to look at!

Overall: 8/10

For a 13-episode series, Canaan could best be described as a little action-packed treat for a cold day. Not the best currently out on the market, but definitely not the worst! If your thing is action anime Canaan BETTER be on your list to watch. The characters may be a bit “blah” at times, but that certainly does not ruin the seiries as a whole. Getting through the entire series will not take long at all (because you’ll want to watch the next episode almost immediately), so I recommend this anime to anyone who just wants to watch a new series. It’s fantastic, and easy to cosplay…believe me, I know! ;D