Catching up to: Canaan (9)
nekosasu | September 3, 2009 | 5:15 am
Even though Hakko
Canaan. Canyaan. Canyawn.
I’m really having a lot of trouble with this anime. And I don’t even know why. It’s boring, yet it’s interesting. But it’s boring. But then again…
So far, I have been trying to find anything worth noting about this anime, but there isn’t much. There’s the outstandingly awesome quality, the occasional funny jokes, the fanservice quota, the yuri revelation minute, and the bits of heart-wrenching drama. While other series fare just fine with these few elements, CANAAN doesn’t. In fact, I’ve spent more time trying to understand why this anime doesn’t impress me at all (besides the quality).
I’m thinking.
MATRIXAAN. Or, yet another copied and overused instance of bullet time.
Still thinking.
Doesn’t she know I like pettans? Well… I’d eat “them” nevertheless.
…
One of mankind’s biggest mysteries: how can she eat that thing that’s twice as big as her gaping mouth, without besmearing her entire face, heck, without even touching her lips?
See, that’s why I can’t just drop this anime just yet and call it quits.
I kid, the story and the execution are lacking. Not good, but not bad, either. Just… unimpressive. Bloody average. There was action – lots of it actually – but nothing really stood out. I watched 9 episodes, and except for the last two I watched today, there is absolutely nothing I can comment on because I can’t even remember anything interesting. In fact, I think this is the anime I’ve made the least screenshots of while watching (and those are partly which make me recall what happened). Well, except Yun yun, I simply love her. Not only for her pettan features, but because she’s simply fun and hilarious. Glad to see her back in episode 9.
Although, speaking of which, episode 9 was almost good. Almost… weren’t it for those ridiculous BB guns. I mean, ep 08 was a drought of action (one of CANAAN’s good points was missing), but in 09 we get an interesting batch of information upvaluing the story (finally, we can see a little more of the point!), a hysteric Mid-Boss Liang Qi who was about to turn into a martyr, and then comes Alphard and that clown called Cummings who are ruining the whole episode with their LOVE faggotry. And Liang Qi still survived. That’s scandalously pathetic… although, then again she might provide me with some more laughters in the next episodes with her undying LOVE.
Hell, this girl could rival Lelouch in making the worst grimaces. She could even… be Lelouch herself!
Edited paragraph for your improved understanding. I could start ranting about the story and shit, trying to investigate the reasons why this anime doesn’t thrill me at all, but I won’t empty the sack onto you guys yet. I’m half-asleep as I am writing this (5:26 AM, my slumber started one hour ago when I started watching ep 08), and I just wanted to give you a small update of the impressions of this anime. I am still planning to watch it to the end, and then review it. Edit: Until then, please take these comments with a thick grain of salt (sic) and hopefully, your rage will turn into curiosity, and will make you look forward to the review. In the meantime, I’ll keep listening into Mint’s Cloche’s Canaan’s cute voice.
I don’t know. At first, it was all the hype “TYPE-MOON ZOMG”, then came the first episode “QUALITY ZOMG”, “ACTION ZOMG”, “Story meh”, and it kept riding on that wave all along. I wonder if the last three episode will still be able to redeem this series, but I seriously doubt it. The only question I am thinking of right now is, “what if this anime was not by Type-Moon?”, and I am pretty sure it would have been ground into powder, into nothing. Guess it’s another overrated branding fail…[1]
— Ah, one thing that I remember… no wait, it was in episode 8. Or 9? The whole concept of the Borners having to work for the Snakes in order to receive their antidote reminded me so much of Ar Tonelico 1, where Tenba rewards their working Reyvateils with Diquility, a life-extending agent. I guess the only difference is that the Reyvateils had many other options to get by, and even if they worked for Tenba, they wouldn’t have been treated like shit! …yeah, that was something actually noteworthy about Canaan. Ugh… I better stop.
—— MATA II MONO MITSUKETA!! The OP. That’s all.
Notes- Nooo, I’m not looking at you, Kyoto Animation… *stare* [↩]
I have no idea what in the fuck you are talking about. Average? Where are you getting these ideas? Where is this vast wealth of anime that is like Canaan?
I don’t know what it takes you to get excited, but if you find Canaan boring, I just don’t know how to help you. I can name maybe three shows as exciting as Canaan, and unless those are your three favorite shows or something, you’re fucked – there’s nothing left for you to watch.
I mean, what have you said here. ‘It’s boring and it’s exciting.’ Congratulations on telling me absolutely fucking nothing about the show. Please, for god’s sake, right now, rewrite this post, and tell me exactly what bored you about this show and exactly what you liked. EXACTLY.
Because right now, this post is just meaningless to everyone. If I’ve never watched Canaan, this post says ‘I randomly found parts of this show boring and other parts good, so I have no idea what to tell you about it’, and as a fan of the show, I can’t reason with you. I can’t say ‘okay, I understand why you didn’t like it or found it boring’ because you’ve made all these sweeping generalizations. Instead, I am just left to be filled with intense rage.
What this all tells me is that you didn’t try. You didn’t make any attempt to enjoy Canaan – you just watched it. You didn’t try to look into it, or get interested in it, or look at it from another angle. You just watched it flatly and didn’t take any of it in. Not only does that seem like a meaningless watching experience, but it seems like one in no way worth talking about. And if I’m wrong, please prove me wrong! Tell me how hard you tried, how after this and this scene you were hopeful, but then this and this scene dragged you down.
I want to understand these things. I cannot relate to these general statements. Instead, all I can think is ‘fuck this bastard for not liking Canaan, we obviously have nothing in common and I should never read his blog again.’ That is genuinely the emotion I get from a post like this.
Zomgosh it’s like Haruhi raeg time again! Don’t flame me, I’m neutral.
Canaan is mostly about the yuri subtext (at least for me). If you are not really into that then it’s harder to enjoy the show lol.
Don’t cave to that nonsense. I thought the post was reasonable. I feel the same way. The designs are attractive, the animation has never taken a dip, the premise is intriguing, the yuri subtext is indeed delicious, and the action is downright amazing when it’s happening. And yet, Canaan fails to be thrilling. I think the main reason I (and maybe you?) are still going is the expectation or anticipation that it’s going to blow wide open and be great for the ending. It has the potential — remember the opening episode?
If, in fact, you were able to satisfy everyone’s favorite mustachioed ball of rage by saying definitively WHY you don’t feel something for Canaan, you’ve in essence solved the problem! It’s apparently less than the sum of its parts, and if someone actually does have the answer why, I suggest you forget about telling digiboy and just forward it on to Type-Moon and PA Works.
>>True, I could as well just say “well, take it or leave it”, but that’s not really my style, either.
>>Time and again, I’ve been told to write what I want, how I want, to have fun in blogging. And that is what I am doing, and no single angry man can change that.
Now you are contradicting yourself.
>>Of course, I could adapt to nowadays’ picky readership (some more than others), and start doing stuff everyone does, but I would not have fun doing so.
Look, I’m not telling you to take all the fun out of your blogging or try to appeal to everyone, that would be fucking horrid and not even possible. However, a post like this that is a statement aimed at no one should have no appeal.
I wish you’d stop trying to make me into a bad guy with your replies – you downplay the value of my words by trying to stuff this bad persona on me. I can’t help but feel that you can’t be reasoned with, and that you don’t care what your readers have to say. Call this me analyzing your personality from just a bit of information but, uh, that’s what happens when you blog.
Dude, sounds to me like you are forcing him to write what you want to read. It doesn’t work that way, he writes in his blog and you choose whether or not to read it.
If you don’t like it then you can choose to help him, but you can’t force him to write a new post just because you or others didn’t like a post.
That choice would be up to Neko, would it not? I’m just saying if you don’t like a post or you feel like it isn’t enough try to kindly help instead of angrily attempt to force him to rewrite an entirely new post.
Canaan is okay for me, likewise sometimes I feel the urge to watch it asap, sometimes I take my time.. And Liang Qi is a crazy bitch!
Well, honestly, taken for what it is, and not expecting revelations and massive plot resolution, the final 3 episode (11-13) did yield something good; intensity. I think a bunch of ppl were upset that “not everything was clear” in the end or there was a lot of complaining about Maria… but, it’s really an overdone critique. Viewers wanted too much out of this I’m afraid.
Whether you finish or not kinda doesn’t matter, but it’s not that bad. I’d say somewhere around 8/10, but that doesn’t mean much unless I compare it to other series in the range. ^^
Typical /rage/ post. Perhaps even /troll/.
Note the scapegoatizing and the excuse never to read this blog again.
–
tl;dr coming from the guy who only follows one series this season, talk about having seen a lot.
Sorry, I can’t take your comment seriously. Never heard of that grain of salt? No? I suggest you try and find it (them) then. As I told you, I expected no less from you, and I was right once again. Not even a word of understanding, it’s a black hole of incomprehension, an endless stream of negative vibes. I’m sure most people will relate with that feeling of emptiness and boredom in this anime, but I know you can’t, because you love this revolutionary series. You also already knew I would find it boring too, so you have just been waiting to smash this post to smithereens. …are you, perchance, tsun for my blog??
But since I can’t really find rest now, lemme see… your main argument (as much info I got from skimming through your post, note, it’s 8:27 AM, yawwwn) is that I don’t back up my boredom with tangible proof. (As if I need to justify why shit is boring anyway! Why can’t I appreciate boredom! 2k Essay please!)
As I said (or hinted?), I didn’t want to write a whole review 3 episodes before the end, because that would make the end review Canyawn… boring. And who knows, perhaps it can do a miraculous come-back!!?! Je ne crois pas, though. I also wanted to elaborate on my criticism in the end. This post was merely a (small) update on what I watched, geez. Please stop making yourself look ridiculous, and
dragging my posts down as wellor rather, upvaluing them, because it just proves that it just hit the nail on the head, and it doesn’t resonate well with certain people. :3God damn I had no idea you were so full of yourself. I had no idea you would find this series boring, and I did not even know you would post about it. I barely even know who you are, except that you follow me on twitter. I happen to be camping the Canaan tag on Anime Nano reading all of the Canaan posts, and yours came down the pipe, pissed me off just enough to retort.
First things first, do not put words in my mouth. I never, ever called Canaan revolutionary – I could point each element of it’s plot to another series that did it before, but I don’t give a fuck about that – it’s presentation that counts with me – I digress. Also, I’m not sure what that quip was at the top where I’m only following one show this season. It looks like you are accusing me of not having seen much anime or something, which is an outright falsehood if it is what you mean.
Now, where you’ve really misunderstood me is that I am neither flaming nor trolling you, I am trying to fucking HELP you to create a better Canaan post. Yes! You DO need to justify why you found a show boring! Because that’s what the point of anime blogging is – to educate the reader on your opinion and the reasons you hold it, so that they can interpret how that meaning effects themselves. A good blog post should give the reader something to think about or take away from the post. Consider Anime diet’s Canaan 9 post, where they discussed the deeper feelings they got from the episode, or even my own negative Canaan 9 post where I dissected every reason I didn’t like the episode.
Those are posts with MEANING. There is no other reason to blog episodically! If you didn’t want to write a review so close to the end, why in the FUCK did you post at all? Why didn’t you wait three fucking episodes before opening your mouth to say absolutely nothing of worth about the series?
I don’t care if you don’t like Canaan. Ghostlightning doesn’t like Canaan, and he’s my favorite blogger. But I fucking IMed his ass and forced him to give me every detail of why he didn’t like the show. Because, once again, it’s about understanding. It’s about being able to say ‘oh, those are things that you don’t like in anime? Well I can see that’ instead of just looking like a fucking asshole who made no attempt to enjoy the series and then put it down in a public forum.
It doesn’t have anything to do with being full of myself, it’s just that I dislike getting utterly negative, destructive “HELP” like that. Profanity is the crutch of the inarticulate – but I digress. There are many ways to express discontent about this content, but you went all-out raging, borderline trolling. Sorry if my insulted, bloodshot eyes couldn’t see the helpful part in your post. You’ve had your reasons to be this angry, I’ve had mine in my reply, too.
You probably expected a review, but sorry to disappoint you, I am merely giving my current impressions of this anime. I find it boring, indeed (although since I haven’t dropped it yet, it means it’s still interesting in some way or another), and while I would have loved to justify it nevertheless, I will keep it for the end. As I said, the review will come as soon as it’s over, but I wanted to update my readers on my current feelings about Canaan. Indeed, I still am puzzled by this anime, because I still can’t really spot what makes me feel like that (as I repeatedly stated on twitter and melative, too), but… patience. Please.
I may not wax philosophical about why Alphard appears in light brown color, or why Maria still can’t remember her past, because that would fill this page with endless, boring, incorrect tl;dr conjecture nobody ever bothers reading (well, if I was called differently, perhaps they would). So I wanted to give a short and quick opinion, and while you find it meaningless because I don’t justify it, the meaning I see in it is: I want to give my readers something to look forward to in my end review, to make them want to know why I said what I said now. Besides, a lot of stuff still can happen in the next 3 episodes.
You see, there are multiple ways to do anime blogging, and while you don’t appreciate it, mine is one way to do it. There is no mould which bloggers should fit in, after all. I’m not them, and they aren’t me. We all have different ways to express opinions, which may or may not resonate with everyone. And eventually, I can’t please everyone, either. I appreciate your honest feedback, but there is definitely no need to defile and insult bloggers as fucking assholes in your overreactingly angry manner for that. It is just normal that it will spawn a repelling reaction – cf. my reply above.
In any case, I do hope you will check here again in 3 weeks, though. (I wonder if I can still make it before I leave to the UK, though…)
(╬ ಠ益ಠ) (╬ ಠ益ಠ) (╬ ಠ益ಠ)
Well, if all I wanted here was shoujo ai/yuri, I probably wouldn’t have been sated at all. I’d hop over to Aoi Hana/Saki with the more blatant
subsupertext. ;) But sure, especially in the later episodes I was kind of expecting them to キス or so… It was pretty close. But that’s not why I keep watching this though… I hope? I would be more interested in seeing Mino kiss Hakko. I really feel for that poor woman, she needs some good loving.First things first, a nitpick – “Profanity is the crutch of the inarticulate” – the gayest turn of phrase I’ve heard all day. Where I come from, people cuss, that’s just how it is. It’s our dialog. I could probably make a case for insulting people who swear being racism or something. I digress.
Now on to your argument, have you listened to yourself, man? Do you really think your readers are itching for your ineffectual thoughts about a show you refuse to make a real statement on? Once again, why the fuck bother if you aren’t going to get in-depth until it’s over? How is it that you expected people to react to this post, anyway? There’s nothing to say about it! You’ve said nothing about the show – not a reasoning of your opinion, not an addition to the experience, nothing. It’s meaningless. Who the hell do you expect to enjoy this post?
Look, it’s true that bloggers have their own styles and ways of doing things, but as I’ve learned over the years, blogging is not for yourself. Blogging is for everyone else. If you only blog things that only have meaning to you, then no one will ever care about it. If you make a shitty post like this, and then use the bullshit excuse that it’s your ‘blogging style’ then you’re just telling me that your blogging style is self-absorbed and meaningless.
And I’m sure you’ll say you don’t care. I’m sure that your integrity will speak up and say ‘I will blog only what I want, take it or leave it’ and I will sure as hell leave it. But do you want that, really? Do you consider that progressive or meaningful? you can’t find an audience that way – I am evidence of that. I am a guy who might be willing to read your posts if you offered me something in them, but you don’t, so I won’t. You have to earn your readers, not expect them to read your posts with a smile and give you the most positive comments.
If I write a negative comment, it’s because your post filled me with negative emotions. By putting this post out here in a public forum, you essentially started a fight with me. Everything that allowed me to find this post was an advertisement to say ‘this is my opinion, what is your reaction’, and since I took it like a slap in the face, I decided to slap back. But I didn’t troll you, I gave you advice, and you can either choose to hit me back again, or we can stop the fighting and be friends and you can learn from the fucking wisdom I’m trying to see if I have.
“If you were from where I was from…” – Scout
Yeah, digressions aren’t fun.
I know, nowadays in this macdonaldized blogosphere where hundreds of posts are dished out every day, you can’t just post whatever, but this is what I feel about this anime. Time and again, I’ve been told to write what I want, how I want, to have fun in blogging. And that is what I am doing, and no single angry man can change that. Of course, I could adapt to nowadays’ picky readership (some more than others), and start doing stuff everyone does, but I would not have fun doing so. In either case, I can never please everyone. There will always be those who think my posts are too superficial, or too deep. Can’t help it.
But to generalize either way, that nobody would want to read my unopinionated, ineffective blog posts, is just too much of a stretch, since it is up to the individual reader whether they like it or not. You are not everyone, even though you would like to convince me otherwise. I tend to believe that people like reading light-hearted, unserious stuff every once in a while, without going mental on something they don’t like.
But it’s interesting how you’ve already analyzed my personality (because one unserious blog post already tells a lot about the blogger; Canaan sure is a fitting cover to my book) saying stuff like I wouldn’t care, self-absorbed, etc. You’re also cleverly applying reverse psychology onto me, threatening not to read this blog so that I wouldn’t want to lose you and all the like-minded readers whose angry minds you are representing. True, I could as well just say “well, take it or leave it”, but that’s not really my style, either. And whether my thoughts are ineffectual or not depends entirely on the reader. Which is why I am writing, and hoping for people to input their constructive thoughts in a civilized manner.
I reiterate: this post was a heads-up to everyone (who can take this sort of updates with humor and a grain of salt) so that they know what my current feelings about Canaan are. Not a review. I should have clarified it from the start, nn I ga culpa mea.
Exactly, but I have no real mind to do that right now because for one, I still can not really explain why it bores me so (time and again, I’ve been saying that I don’t know what it is lacking, but it IS lacking something, either in story and/or execution, or any other thing that’s currently beyond my grasp), and for another, I want to allow myself three more episodes to confirm or refute my doubts/thoughts on this. I don’t want to jump the gun, say everything there is to say right now, and then dish out a review in 3 weeks basically reiterating what I would have been saying now.
Thanks for standing up for me, though. I appreciate constructive comments like yours a lot, especially after some demoralizing, or should I say, “testing” snarks like those at the top.
How is that a contradiction? I won’t say “take it or leave it”, and I will usually listen to complaints my readers have about my posts, but I am not one to radically change my mindset and style (if ever) just because of one angry person. Well, it does sound ambiguous, but… pedantism, rhetorics and semantics. Bend it the way you like, I know what I said. :)
Whatever, dude, then I give up. You obviously don’t think I have anything worthwhile to say and don’t want my opinion on your posts, so I’ll just stop trying.
I won’t provide you instant gratification now, if that is what you want. Rest assured, I won’t run away! All I’m asking for is for you to hold your breath and look forward to the review, if you still care. If not, well, at least I tried. (Did I just react to reverse psychology… omg my alter ego is boiling with anger. I wonder why he hasn’t acted up yet…)
I just wonder what would have happened if I had said something else instead of “boring”…