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.
