Duration: 13 Episodes
Supplied: Bluray purchased via RightStuf
Published: Sentai Filmworks
Canaan is set in Shanghai, China and is focused on the titular Canaan and her relationships with others; good or bad. Canaan is a top-tier assassin due to her advanced synesthesia. It allows her to discern many things that other people simply cannot. There are a lot of things happening: things like murder, terrorism, biological warfare, revenge, and assassinations. There is a little bit of everything and potentially something for everyone.
Our story is seen mostly from the perspective of the 2 journalists from Japan who are sent to Shanghai for a reason. Things escalate pretty quickly into violence and mystery seemingly for no reason. People all over the area seem to have strange marks on their bodies that inspire curiosity.
The story for this series is, unfortunately, somewhat of a mess. It seems like we come in at a fixed point in a larger story and are not told enough about the background we are missing to satisfy our own curiosity or questions. Character motivations seem meaningless as there is virtually no explanation given at all to us. We get some flashbacks but they are not nearly frequent or explanatory enough. Perhaps this is due to the characters themselves not having all the pieces? I am not sure how this was supposed to be spun but it was missing a lot for me and ended up floundering a bit. There is a decent amount of character development but without more of the backstory it is not quite as strong as it otherwise might be. I just did not end up feeling very attached to anyone.
Not everything about this is bad, though. The characters are pretty fun overall and the action is pretty top notch too. The setting of China itself is a nice and welcome break from all the high school shenanigan plots of which we are all too often subjected. It is also nice to see something grounded in a little bit more of reality every so often.
Conclusion
I did not hate this but I really was not excited about it either the more I watched. I loved some of the ideas proposed by the series overall, however, those were not very well fleshed out. Hell, some of them might have been amazing series in their own rights. We only get fragments of an ever larger story here.
Recommendation
If you are looking for something with some action and a bit of intrigue then this might fit the bill. I would not really recommend it otherwise. It was passable but I am just not sure I would ever be in the mood for this specifically. Thankfully it is only 13 episodes so if you did take the plunge, it would not be a huge commitment.
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