Canvas 2: Nijiiro no Sketch

5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Surprisingly Entertaining

I didn’t really like harem anime series, but I actually liked Canvas 2. In fact, I think I looked forward to watching it. That’s really surprising, because normally I would avoid series that had ero-game written all over it. It was really interesting to see how Hiroki, the main character, would interact with the girls in his life, a lot of them under-aged, I might add.

Like your usual harem anime, Canvas 2 had ecchi scenes complete with unnecessary shower scenes and panty shots, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I didn’t mind it at all. As a ... conservative girl, I would detest any hint of fan service thrown my way, but truth be told, it wasn’t that repulsive. I’m not sure if ecchi fan boys will like or hate that.

Anyway, as expected, girl characters dominated the cast. I liked all of them, except Elise. I found her to be really irritating and fickle. I know Kiri isn’t charismatic enough to be Hiroki’s girl friend, but I really didn’t want Elise to end up with his cousin. You’d think I’d be used to cousin relationships after all the anime I’ve seen this year alone, but I kept hoping that Hiroki wouldn’t pick Elise. The fact that she kept calling him “onii-chan” made me think that Elise saw Hiroki as her older brother more than her boyfriend.

I was surprised to find Aya Hirano in the cast list. I guess her role as Sumire Misaki is one of her lesser known roles. Usually when someone says Aya Hirano, you think of Haruhi Suzumiya or Misa from Death Note. I thought that the voice she had for Misaki was closer to her real voice. Takahiro Sakurai, one of my favorite male seiyus, is also in the cast list. He did a great job of portraying Hiroki.

Animation wise, it was actually pretty good. It’s simple, and when I say that I mean there’s nothing that special about it. The art design is pretty similar to what everybody has seen in anime so far. I do love the wide variety of colors after all. It wouldn’t be as good if it didn’t have a whole spectrum of colors. It is an anime about art, after all.

The music, as expected, is cutesy. I realized that the opening song, "Plastic Smile (Niji-iro guitar version)", was sung by Honey Bee[YURIA]. I read somewhere that her work is used in a lot of adult video games, so I guess they picked the right woman to sing the opening song. I actually liked it, it was quite catchy. The same goes for the ending song, “NA NA IRO" by Sweets Tankentai. I learned both songs right away so I can sing with it when I watch Canvas 2.

I guess I watched it mostly because I wanted to see who Hiroki will end up with (and I cheered for Kiri the whole way). It was really fun to see him go back and forth between the two girls that captured his heart, and even if I have harem series before, this is the first time that I was seriously concerned on who the main guy will pick. I think that it’s the same for those who have seen this anime.

First of all, this is the first harem anime that I watched that I liked so much that got me into making a review for it.

Story:
The story is quite nice and somehow unpredictable. If you've watched Da Capo, it resembles most of it. But the way the story is presented, and the story itself, has a unique touch to it.
Even though it's harem (I don't like harem animes anyway) this is entertaining to the point that I really watched 11 episodes in one sitting and I never included this anime in my Dropped list. I gave the story a 9 because I enjoyed it so ... much; even though others doesn't like its ending, I personally have nothing to say about its end.

Art:
The art is better than other harem animes, and it's just good. It may not be the best, but the art is great.

Sound:
I couldn't remember other music here, but the opening and ending songs are nice because it actually gives a very simple feeling to the anime.

Character:
The characters have different strengths and weaknesses and it was presented in the story in a way that the main guy character is always involved in them.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed it so much that I loved it!

Overall:
This is one harem kind of anime you might want to watch... ^_^

In the year of 2005 the japanese animation production companies made quite a few animes, one of them is called Canvas 2. Why it is called Canvas 2 is probably because it's based on Canvas ~Motif Of Sepia~ (an OVA which I suppose was originally planned to be hentai, but they were feeling extra original and didn't make a hentai, instead they made the masterpiece that is known as Canvas ~Motif Of Sepia~, do not be fooled, I was being sarcastic), but it's not really a sequel. I guess they thought it was witty to add the 2 even though it's not an actual sequel. ... I can't begin to stress how original and inventive it is that they added a 2 to their title "Canvas". It blows my mind.

It's called Canvas with a 2 added because it's somehow about painters and a highschool that takes extra care of their art club... or something. There's this guy in this school who's something like a trainee teacher and takes care of the art club. For a school who specializes in art and suchlike they sure are lax with their art teacher. Ah well. Let me get to the point though, this anime is so bad I don't even know where to begin. BUT! It's actually so bad there's some qualities (bad ones of course) almost worth watching this anime for.

Let's start with the screenplay; it is an abomination, I mean, I swear to you right now and right here that I, the one sitting infront of my computer typing up this review, could have done a much better job. I'm not even joking. The thing is, the screenplay is overall of such poor quality that I can't really explain why it is bad, it's just that what the characters say, how they say it and why they say the things they say is just plain dumb. It's poorly timed, it's poorly written and for all I care they could just aswell have talked about planting sunflowers for the entirety of the series.

Let us continue with the story. If I must take the story seriously for the first time since I started watching the anime, I would say it's very fleeting. It's unevenly paced and mostly it's about nothing at all. Two episodes were dedicated to make an omelet with rice. Yea that's right, two episodes. I'm not joking. Canvas with a 2 added tries to be cute aswell, it tries to be moe, but the thing is, it fails at this in such epic proportions that it really becomes funny. But what I can say above all else is that this entire anime feels really, really ridiculous. The script, the story and every single character are ridiculous.

Foreseeable is a good word, it's a word that fits in with almost every single harem ever produced. Canvas with a 2 added is one of the most foreseeable animes I have ever watched though. I knew exactly how 75% of the scenes in Canvas with a 2 added had to offer were going to play out, and that is not exaggerating.

Now, in harem anime there's always several girls liking the same boy, since Canvas with a 2 added is a harem it is the same deal here. It's just that, you know, you usually expect to find out why people like other people, in Canvas with a 2 added it's a complete mystery and I mean that's cool... I suppose. But then you have the male lead who is one of the most stereotypical male leads in a harem or in any genre I've ever seen and you just think to yourself; why?

Now, let's end this on a high note. No, you know aswell as I do this is not going to end on a high note, the reason being; there are no high notes in this review nor are there any high notes in Canvas with a 2 added. The art and animation in Canvas with a 2 added is horrendous, really, reallly, really horrendous. That means it's bad. There are many stills in this anime, usually in anime you find that stills are fairly detailed with vivacious colours because stills (a non moving picture/frame) are cheap to make and doesn't even require animation if you really feel like saving some money, but in Canvas with a 2 added the stills are usually a school building, that I swear to Tom Cruise I could do better with some crayons on a white piece of paper, and then some green and blue for the grass and sky. You know, stuff you expect from 6 year old kids in first grade doodling during their first ever art class. (Did you catch the intentional dis I just dished out towards Canvas with a 2 added HAHA?) You might think I'm being too harsh or disrespecting the key animatiors and painters, but no, I seriously am not.

In conclusion; my review do this anime justice, Canvas with a 2 added truly is as bad as I'm describing it to be.