Alternative TitlesSynonyms: 428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de~ Tokubetsu Hen, 428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de~ Special Chapter, 428 ~Fuusasareta Shibuya de~, 428 the animation Japanese: カナン
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 13
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jul 4, 2009 to Sep 26, 2009
Duration:
23 min. per episode Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.721 (scored by 9957 users)
Ranked: #6302
Popularity: #184
Members: 20,408
Favorites: 186 1 indicates a weighted score
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SynopsisOosawa Maria is a Japanese photographer currently working in Shanghai, China. Along with her partner Mino, she searches for potential newsworthy stories throughout the city. When strange events occur at a local festival, Maria and Mino immediately investigate. Quickly, the two are immersed in a battle between unknown masked men and a strange, white-haired woman. Just when Maria is about to be caught in the crossfire, an old friend by the name of Canaan appears and helps Maria escape. But a sinister plot over a deadly virus soon develops, and Canaan learns she must confront her past if she wants any chance at stopping the perpetrator and saving her friends.
[Written by MAL Rewrite] |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Canaan
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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tehnominator
131 of 182 people found this review helpful
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13 of 13 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
The Bible speaks of Canaan, a son cursed for his father's sins, left to bear a mark upon his skin for all to see. Canaan is the "Land of milk and honey", a paradise for those who traversed the desert with Moses, populated by the accursed descendants of Canaan. Canaan is a symbol to remind the worn and weary to keep hope and not give in to despair.
This is the importance of the concept of "Canaan" to the anime CANAAN.
CANAAN begins as a high octane adrenaline rush of an action anime with slight political intrigue set in the darkly beautiful and vicious streets of Shanghai. This place is an exotic paradise to those who can see beyond the crime and grime. It is home for those who see it for all its ugliness as well. It is a safari of ruffians, the wild and spirited, and the violent.
Who sees this more than Osawa Maria, a photographer who tries to capture the true and horrible beauty of life around her on camera? Who sees more than Canaan, a young woman whose sight allows her to regard the world in colours that we can never comprehend? Who sees it as something to be owned and destroyed more than Alphard, a terrorist who has grand plans for getting rid of the weak and assuming power and control over the strong?
The anime follows those who are cursed and takes the story back to the land of the accursed. CANAAN focusses on the bio-terror presented by people who are "blessed" with powers greater than the average human (or in one humorous instance, does nothing worthwhile at all). They each hail from the same unnamed land, but it is a place affected with the deadly Ua Virus. Those afflicted bear the marks upon their skin, a natural tattoo to show the world that they are blemished. These people are cursed for the sins of their "fathers", whether it be in the literal or figurative sense.
CANAAN is not an anime about its story; it is an anime made for its directness and plot. The actual story leaves many open ends, unexplained events and unclear developments, but prioritisation of this is not what this anime aims to accomplish. It is a violent ballet from start to finish. In a dance, words, feelings and thoughts are expressed by movement and action; CANAAN's method of storytelling follows the characters as they convey their emotions through brutal and beautiful acts of violence and through inaction that reveals their inevitable helplessness. To try to search for something deeper is to be looking for something in the daylight with a flashlight--unnecessary and not recommended.
CANAAN is commendable for its beautifully choreographed fight scenes, car chases that will take your breath away and leave your heart pounding a mile a minute, quirky, offbeat sense of visual humour littered around unrepentant violence and darkness, and the contrasting imagery that reflects its themes. The action is this anime is fluid and downright impressive. Hand to hand combat, gun showdowns, and knife fights are extremely common and yet never once has a fight scene in this anime fallen short of being simply stunning. This is a carnival of colour, celebrating beautifully rendered settings from the gorgeous yet dangerous Chinese metropolis to the dusty deserts of the Middle East.
This anime also comes with a lovely score accentuated with the air of conspiracy. The music aches with strings, winds, and brass that speak of intrigue and contained passion. The frenetic energies of the anime are captured by its background music and it even comes with an energising and rough OP theme and a reflectively melancholy ED theme. The possibly most astounding aspect of the sound is the voice acting. The seiyuu truly show you what professionalism is as they give life to their characters.
Speaking of the characters, CANAAN comes with an eclectic and eccentric cast, from the titular character right down to even the recurring background comic relief characters.
What makes Canaan herself better than being a "killer with a tragic past" is that this does not consume her entire characterisation (ironically, unlike Alphard). She has a personality outside her persona. Canaan, despite being a killing machine, is rather warm-hearted unlike other cold killers. What makes her an attractive character is not simply because of her skills or abilities, but because of that warmness within her; something that most other people except Maria or those who actually get to know Canaan are not able to see. What we have is someone not wanting isolation, but wanting interaction.
The tortured heroine Canaan has an almost innocent demeanour through her lack of socialisation. Life has given her endless experiences. Living, however, is something she is not used to, and she finds a bit of humanity and normalcy in her relationship with the pure-hearted and optimistic Maria. Maria sweeps people along with her, her radiance is something that gives Canaan's darkly colourful world some light.
Then there is the antagonist, Alphard, a woman whose every action seems to be related to a cruel game she plays where only she knows the rules. Alphard develops unlike the traditional "big bad" in an action anime since despite her malevolence and harshness, she seems to be on another plane of understanding than most of her villainous cohorts. While her motivations seem rudimentary, her actions are grand. She wants the world to recognise her.
Each character in CANAAN is driven by another one as a form of affirming their existence. Canaan needs Maria just as Maria needs Canaan. Alphard needs Siam, and having lost that, she turns her interests to Canaan. Even the minor characters are motivated by their emotions for another, such as Mino for Hakkoh, Hakkoh and Santana for one another, or the extremely and increasingly insane Liang Qi with her warped affections for Alphard and her sadomasochistic relationship with her underling Cummings. Perhaps the only character not thematically driven by another is Yun Yun, but she exists almost outside of the anime, despite being so involved with every major faction. Much in the way the Fool exists in King Lear, Yun Yun is a static character who lives and shines within her scenes and not beyond that. Even stagnant characters like the taxi driver or the idol who shows up now and again aid in containing the world that is created in CANAAN.
While they may not extend into being three-dimensional characters, CANAAN's characters have fully developed their existing dimensions; they are characters whose actions, feelings, personalities and ambitions mirror that which you would find in characters in a play, something not uncommon in the best of theatre. And CANAAN certainly is a theatrical anime, with its high tension, over the top action scenes, and hyperbolised drama.
This is an anime that succeeds in being exactly what it is: pure action. Digging for something deeper is possible, but is not what this anime wants from its audience. Complicated plots interest you? You shall not be finding that here. CANAAN is rooted in its basics and is driven by singular themes. Love and hatred, hope and despair, trust and betrayal--these are all extrapolated upon and are at the core of every character interaction and plot twist in this anime. Simply, CANAAN is an exciting, explosive viewing experience.
While there may be more questions raised than answers given, the most important and truly the only question CANAAN ever poses to the audience, is ultimately answered. Just who or where or what is "Canaan"?
"Canaan" is an identity. It is a person. It is a place. It is a parable. It is the potential of a promise. It is much more than just a name. read more
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babyboy
38 of 68 people found this review helpful
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13 of 13 episodes seen
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| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
Right from the start, a certain "emptiness" can be felt as the general atmosphere. In a ravishing, but flawed universe set in Shanghai and later the deserts of the Middle East, a puzzling battle between several parties takes place.
Amidst this chaos painted with many sentiments, an impressionistic tale of friendship, unrequited love and subconscious search for one's true nature. This hollow in the heart of each character isn't easily filled and tends to expand to the anime as well, leaving it flawed and to be taken as-is, without any resolve to tie up the loose ends.
Story: 7/10
Plot itself is original. The "real world" conflict involving terrorists, secret organizations behind the government of USA and Japan, with a dash of genetic experiments (this is dealt in a realistic fashion) isn't often seen in the ocean of "slices-of-life", stories with supernatural phenomena and fighting animes. Bad thing is - it likes to open a lot of doors to deepen the personalities of characters, but does little to at least hint to a sensible reason behind some actions they take. This spot is usually supplemented with a variety of colors and their associations the main protagonist can see and the ongoing search for the meaning behind the name Canaan and its relation to the actual character of its bearer.
Art: 9/10
Flashy, fluid, consistent. A select number of eye-pleasing color makes the palette of CANAAN. Action sequences show the character motions in their entirety rather than resorting to "epileptic" lines in the background as the means of portraying speed and resolve (a major plus).
Sound: 8/10
Voicing is good, but I can't really say it's anything more than that; in my opinion, there isn't anything exceptional to it. OP and ED are catchy and fit the anime well, surely worth mentioning.
Character: 7/10
They are memorable and lively. Their actions are often confusing though, it's as if the makers of the anime wanted to add weight to their personalities by somewhat random and radical behavior but along the way forgot to fit all the reasons to support those.
Enjoyment: 6/10
Here CANAAN fails the most; to put it shortly, although technically you are supposed to be captivated by the bustling plot, action and general turmoil, you simply are not. I found myself often drifting away and forgetting what I was watching, by which time it was difficult to get back and realize what the hell was happening.
Overall: 7/10
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Recommendations
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Mysteries, conspiracies, and tons of action in between, both Noir and CANAAN are excellent anime that contemplate the natures of trained and skilled assassins, looking for the human in those whose humanity has been shot to bits by a cruel upbringing in a harsh and violent world.
Both Canaan and Kirika are excellent gun fighters who have yet to mature and understand the concept of valuing life. However, while Mireille opts for "tough love" to teach Kirika how to adapt, Maria uses kindness and gentility to teach Canaan. And of course, both series have resident psychos who are obsessed with the protagonists in some way or the other.
Each anime has amazing amounts of fluid fight scenes and breathtaking action. While the action in Noir is more stylised and the action in CANAAN is more brutal, they each have scenes that will had you on the edge of your seat with your hearts racing a mile a minute with tension and excitement.
Despite CANAAN being more of an adrenaline rush and Noir having a more languid pace, they both are spectacular anime that delve into the psyche of those trained to kill and their humanisation through reaching out to people.
Great characters, excellent fight scenes, strong female casts, and of course, lots of insane villains make Noir and CANAAN both must-sees.
Girl with gun, action, mystery.
Both are about women, who are natural born killers.
Both of them despite of their future seek for normality.
Start off with girls who are prodigious at killing (especially with guns). Add some mystery that a main female duo is trying to unveil. Don't forget some form of symbolism to unite the female duo, such as cat's cradle or a music box. Throw in some mysterious pasts and strong yuri undertones, and you're either talking about Noir or Canaan. It could be either.
Pretty similar storyline, characters and genre but not the same. They both have a Yuri Theme.
If you liked Noir police theme, the pj relation, you'll love CANAAN.
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Violence, women, violent women, need I say more?
Girls with guns, intense action, and people actually dying when shot. Both main femaile leads are skilled with guns and are very agile.
CANAAN and Black Lagoon have very much the same feel to it.
Both the main characters are bad-ass women with guns with a lot of good action, both series are mainly located in a urban city in China and are well illustrated.
They both have a sense of dark organizations doing things behind the scene, though Black Lagoon has it less and doesn't have any fiction things (like non existing viruses and such)
CANAAN and Black Lagoon are both very awesome series to watch if you like action and gunfights.
they both have cool gun fighting
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Opening Theme"mind as Judgment" by Faylan
Ending Theme"My heaven" by Annabel
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Related ClubsPisoga, Anime in Blu-ray, MAL Rewrite, Maria Oosawa Fanclub, Liang Qi-sama Club, Yuri is the Ultimate <3, Animania, Haruka Tomatsu Fanclub, Canaan (character) Fanclub, Maaya Sakamoto fanclub, Tattoo Anime People, Canaan, Female Badass!, Animemangatr, Sugoi Desu Webzine Club, Chix with Guns, Miyuki Sawashiro Club, Unrequited Love Club , Epic Taxi Driver F.C., We don't like fringe!Watch Anime Together Club Headquarters, Canaan Fan Club, Alphard FC, Fang-tan, Type-Moon, Silver, White, Gray-Haired Characters Fanclub!, No life without CANAAN., Alphard Alshaya FanClub, Super-Powers Anime Club, +anima fan club , ~ Shoujo-Ai & Yuri ~, Girls With Guns FC, Canaan (d)F.C., ♡♥♡FaVOrTEe AnImE/mANgA CouPLe♡♥♡, Strongest, MARIA x CANAAN IS SUGOI, SUGOI, SUGOI~! see all
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