Canaan

Synopsis:

With biological terrorism on the rise, reporter Minoru Minorikawa is sent to Shanghai to an upcoming Anti-Terrorism Conference and is accompanied by fellow reporter Maria Osawa. During a local festival Maria witnesses a man in the audience fall victim to a strange death by writhing in pain and spurting blood before collapsing. Even though he is unnoticed by the public as he just seems part of the rowdy crowd, when Maria goes to examine the now non-moving body she is also unaware that two men donning costumes have drawn their guns with Maria as the target. Before she meets her demise, a woman runs up to Maria and grabs her hand to help her escape by rushing them both into the populous and also avoid a bullet that was meant for her. Maria then realizes her savior is Canaan, an expert in combat training, a skilled markswoman that can utilize the ability of synesthesia, and also... Maria's best friend. Even though Canaan has no time to explain the situation, Maria has just become the unwilling participant in a bio-terrorist plot to destroy the worlds leaders.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 13


Review:

Using mindless violence, unexplained deaths, blood, and an emotionally devoid female lead, Canaan wastes no time gaining your attention and manages to keep it for the entire series. Even though Canaan is an anime that uses the typical indestructible heroine, she's part of a much bigger story that has enough mystery and interwoven history that is all comes together as a well thought out story. But Canaan herself will remain indifferent to the audience as she and everyone else that becomes involved with her are not the main driving force behind the anime as it will rely more on it's somewhat complex story rather than trying to use characterization to divert the audiences attention. Another interesting aspect as you're watching the show is that you'll find yourself hating to admit it, but the enemy starts to become more interesting than the shows protagonists as they almost seem to have a valid point to their driving force to their path of destruction. With this the anime tends to balance everything out quite well and when put with nicely choreographed action scenes, it's got enough tenacity to push you through all 13 episodes without so much as taking a break.

Great animation, a plot that never falters, fluid action scenes, and enough female gunplay to make any man with a pulse happy, Canaan is one anime that is worth your time. Just don't be expecting to really connect with any of the shows characters as that's not the point here but more or less just to tell one hell of a tale.

Canaan (opening)

Recommendation: |Above Average|