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Canaan & Maria
A beginning professional photographer Maria Osawa comes from Japan to Shanghai to report on the annual festival. She also harbors hope to meet Canaan, a mysterious Action Girl who saved her life a couple of years ago and has been fascinating her ever since. However, things get ugly when a Nebulous Evil Organization targets Maria. Known as the "Snakes", they are led by Canaan's arch-rival Alphard and are somehow involved with the deadly biological weapon "Ua Virus", which Maria has once been infected with. The good news is, Canaan shows up to save her again, much to her (and the fans') excitement.
Canaan is the new anime series currently on air recently completed, based upon a scenario created by Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi of Type Moon fame (at which point many tropers rush off to leech it from the Internet, no further questions asked). Well, anyhow, the series adapts one of the scenarios from the Wii mystery Adventure Game titled 428: Fuusasareta Shibuya de ("In Locked-down Shibuya"). Since the game is really obscure outside of Japan (its notability in the West basically being "that Visual Novel Famitsu gave a 40"), nobody knows much what it is about. But with Nasu, Takeuchi, and a stellar (mostly female) seiyuu cast on board, it has been one of the more anticipated shows of the season.
A detailed synopsis of 428 is available in English here , and should be read in order to get a good grasp on the characters.
The series contains following tropes
- Action Girl: Canaan, Alphard
- All Part Of The Show: In the first episode, multiple people are shot and killed (or die horribly due to the Ua Virus), and everyone just thinks it's part of the festival. Maria's partner, however, attests that it's something else.
- Anguished Declaration Of Love: Hakko does this after Liang Qi tricks her into using her voice on Santana. Santana was already dying and requested that the last words he heard are "I love you."
- And Liang Qi to Cummings seconds before he shoots her, mind you she was dying anyway.
- Arc Tune: The melody Alphard and Syam have been humming seems to be shaping into this.
- Axe Crazy: Liang Qi
- GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME
- Badass Bystander: The taxi driver. Also an example of Crazy Awesome. Being voiced by Joji Nakata really helps.
- Badass Normal: Some characters do awesome risks. Mino first tries to run into the virus infected area... not even eight SWAT men can force him to move, he also risks being killed in a precision airstrike to try and save Maria and then delivers a Cooldown Hug to Hakko even whilst she's shooting at him. Cummings twice risks getting shot for real by Liang and Alphard herself.
- Bait And Switch Lesbians: After all the heightened emotions, almost-declarations of love and subtext between them, Canaan and Maria choose to separate because their lifestyles are too different—and they don't even once contact each other again. A lot of yuri fans felt this was quite a cop-out. At least the makers decided not to kill any of them off or suddenly give one of them a straight option out of nowhere...
- Bare Your Midriff: Alphard and Yunyun are fond of this.
- Big Damn Heroes: Canaan rescues Maria from Malevolent Masked Men. Then proceeds to kill them all from long range with a pistol.
- Bittersweet Ending: Canaan leaves Maria in the end, because their lifestyles are too different. Maria will be with Canaan "in her heart."
- Blasting It Out Of Their Hands.
- Blood From The Mouth: In gratuitous amounts. Liang Qi in specific produces ''torrents'' of the stuff◊.
- Break The Cutie: Maria, then Yunyun, then Hakko...
- Brought Down To Normal: Canaan loses her ability to "see colors" at the end of episode 7. Whether this is only temporary or permanent is unknown yet, so much angst ensues.
- She gets it back, but only after getting hit indirectly by a missile, and confronting Alphard.
- Brown Note: The fact that Hakko's voice can kill is only noticeable by the responses of other people.
- Bullet Time: One of Canaan's many combat abilities.
- Butt Monkey: Cummings. Poor dude never seems to catch a break, though the events of episode 11 ventures into Woobie territory.
- Yun Yun as well. It seems like nothing goes right for the poor girl no matter how hard she tries. Let's see, her borner power is having two appendixes her boss considers her life disposable but also controls the supply of medication she needs to survive, she had her workplace shot up by her own "allies" twice, she failed an assignment because her boobs were too small to interest the target, and she got interrogated at gunpoint with her own gun (while still wearing the embarassingly skimpy bunny girl outfit from her failed assignment to boot).
- Chekhovs Gunman: Yunyun. It is even Lamp Shaded by Maria and Mino from episodes 2-5 as they wonder who the hell she is.
- Child Soldier: Canaan's background. Alphard's, too. Trained by the same man, no less.
- Chinese Girl: Yunyun.
- Chinese People: Well it takes place in Shanghai.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Alphard practices this as a business policy. She helps all countries go to war with each other and takes money from everybody; and she also helps countries go to peace (since peace also results in rearmamenting and sales opportunities).
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Maria, and a very cute blonde on top of that. As Yunyun put it: "I've just found the Eighth Wonder of the World."
- Though Yunyun herself isn't far behind Maria, either....
- Compilation Movie: Three of them are upcoming, though it remains to be seen if they will actually have any original material, or simply be all the episodes strung together.
- Complete Monster: Liang Qi
- Conspicuous CG: Pretty much every vehicle that shows up, plus the cutesy avatar Liang Qi uses to troll the crowds during episode 6 and the bomb in episode 7
- Cool Guns: Alphard's FN Five seveN Tactical, and Canaan's Beretta PX 4 Storm.
- In a flashback, Canaan is seen using a Beretta 93R when she was being trained by Syam.
- and in Liang Qi's flashback, Alphard has a silenced P90.
- Cooldown Hug: Mino to Hakko, doubles as his Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
- Crazy Prepared: Liang Qi, especially in episode 11 when you see her massive stockpile of weapons, grenades and ammo, one will notice shurikens and a freaking chainsaw among the lot.
- Crosses The Line Twice: This may be the only show where a suicide assassination attempt is played for laughs—at first.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Mino steadfastly approaching Hakko to give her a Cooldown Hug, even while she is firing a gun at him, as she's on a shooting spree after being tricked into killing Santana with her voice by Liang Qi.
- "I'm a woman who keeps her promises!"
- Cute Little Fang: Yunyun
- Cute Mute: Hakko, what with being "voiced" by Mamiko Noto. Actually, averted: she can speak, it will just kill you!
- The Cutie: Maria, oh so very much.
- Dark Action Girl: Alphard, Liang Qi
- Dark Skinned Blond: Canaan is a mild version, closer to a White Haired Pretty Girl than anything.
- Dead Person Conversation
- Did Not Do The Research: When all sound is canceled, people with sound-based synesthesia won't be able to convert it into other sensations, so Canaan would be just fine in episode 10.
- Distressed Damsel: Maria
- Dodge The Bullet: One of Canaan's powers, which becomes prevalent in the last episode.
- Does This Remind You Of Anything: Liang Qi: "She's going to pull my tongue out; slowly and slowly, she's going to cut my neck open, then reach into the wound and churn my insides!" Yeah....
- Ensemble Darkhorse: The badass taxi driver who wasn't even named in-story! Also Liang Qi herself has gotten a considerable fanbase; being voiced by Rie Tanaka helps.
- Expy: Canaan is one of Saber, another cool and adorably-small blonde cutie from Fate Stay Night. Her eyes though, are more like Ryougi Shiki, of Kara No Kyoukai.
- Similarly, Maria's appearance and personality matches that of Arcueid Brunestud of Shingetsutan Tsukihime, a blonde vampire with a bright, sweet and sunny disposition.
- Canaan's profile against the red moon in episode six. Who's Arcueid's expy now?
- You can't look at Liang Qi and not notice how much she's like Olba Frost.
- Or how much she's like Rolo or Lady Une adding to this is how similar Alphard is to Lelouche and Treize, especially when it comes to strategy and planning.
- Mino has also been likened to being the descendant of The Immortal Colasour, his voice and his ability to survive almost any dangerous situation adds credence to that, approaching a gun wielding Hakko and only being grazed once by a bullet just seals the deal.
- Extraordinarily Empowered Girl: Canaan is referred to as "Synesthesia Girl".
- Fan Disservice: A Squicky Twofer from episode 11.
- First, there's Liang Qi's bloody, Rasputinian death scene, all with her wearing skimpy lingerie.
- Second, there's Hakko's sex scene with Santana's corpse.
- Fan Nickname: Osawa Moeria.
- Sugoi Sugoi: Either just Maria as her Catch Phrase, or the show on a whole.
- Mino-Sama: By those who like Mino.
- HIGH TENSION!: the badass taxi driver after his apparent Catchphrase.
- Fetish Fuel: Alphard's and Liang Qi's duel in episode 11 do note that Liang Qi is in lingerie and stockings whilst swinging a sword around
- Foe Yay: There are quite a few fans of Alphard/Canaan. Alphard does like pinning Canaan down a lot; and isn't particularly in a hurry to kill her, which makes Liang Qi quite jealous.
- Foot Focus
- Freud Was Right: Subverted. In episode 4, Santana says he will "Make [Hakko] happy in bed." What does he do? Shows her some magic tricks. No, not THOSE magic tricks, If You Know What I Mean.
- Fridge Logic: Exactly why did Liang Qi go to the trouble of setting up the the Factory so Hakko's voice would only kill Canaan? It'd probably save money to not bother making that anti-noise field, and it'd probably be better to just kill all the intruders... Only one explanation comes to mind, but I mean, really?
- bear in mind that she is, completely and utterly insane.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Done by Maria of all people who delivers a punch combo to Yunyun's face when she's being fatalistic regarding her condition.
- Girls With Guns: Canaan and
probably Alphard, too.
- Glowing Eyes Of Doom: Canaan's Synesthesia abilities induce this (whether it's literal or for the audience's benefit is not established).
- Gratuitous English: Episode 7 HOOLEE SHIT!
- A lot of the Americans' dialogue in that episode. In addition to "GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME"
- Gun Fu - Canaan's primary style of combat, with a healthy dose of...
- Gun Kata - ...thrown into the mix.
- Gunpoint Banter
- Heroic Bloodshed
- Heroic BSOD: Hakko's actions after the death of Santana could bee seen as such.
- Heroic RROD: Canaan gets one of these in Episode 7, when she realizes her Synesthesia abilities don't work anymore.
- Hey Its That Voice: Rie Tanaka, Maaya Sakamoto, Mamiko Noto, Miyuki Sawashiro, Haruka Tomatsu, Toru Okawa (who you might know as Ieyasu), Kenji Hamada (who you might know as Patrick), Akio Ohtsuka, Joji Nakata.
- Hyper Awareness
- Idiot Hair: Maria has it. Canaan even lampshades this in episode three.
- Idol Singer: Nene.
- Improbable Aiming Skills
- In Love With Your Carnage: Liang Qi
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Liang Qi is the BEST SECRETARY EVER!
- Just Plane Wrong: Someone forgot to inform the animation staff that B2 stealth bombers do not have vertical stabilisers, or afterburner nozzles on the engines.
- Kick The Dog: Liang Qi starts out doing this, but then comes episode six, and she's quite obviously moved onto full-on dog-raping.
- Kuudere: Canaan.
- Last Dance With Mary Jane: Hakko just can't let go of Santana after he dies.
- Les Yay: Canaan and Maria. They flirt a lot, indeed.
- Maria at one point even delivers lines that can easily be interpreted as a confession of love.
- Location Theme Naming: Canaan. Also, Syam may refer the region now known as Syria.
- Love Hurts: Any romantic subplot in Canaan.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Liang Qi, so much so that she does NOT take Alphard abandoning her very well.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Which actually makes sense, since the scene takes place during a carnival.
- Manipulative Bastard: Natsume
- Minion With An F In Evil: Yunyun
- Missed Moment Of Awesome: Yunyun must have pulled off quite a stunt to rescue Maria from that exploding train car, but the viewer never gets to see it.
- Moral Event Horizon: Liang Qi's does not seem to be able to live through one day without doing this once.
- Murder The Hypotenuse: Liang Qi is always attempting to kill Canaan because she believes that Canaan 'changed' her beloved "Nee-sama".
- Nightmare Fuel: What happens to Liang Qi in episode 11 as she descends further into insanity is as f'ed up as it is scary.
- No Holds Barred Beatdown: Liang Qi's stomach-turningly vicious beating of Maria-chan
- Non Action Guy: Minoru
- No One Could Survive That: Maria's dad, though his "death" was revealed to be but a sly trick by the Snakes to make US bomb their own president.
- Maria's later exploding train ride. Not much explanation is given, although Yunyun appears to have a major hand in it.
- Finally, Alphard survives falling off a train trestle, as seen in the epilogue, suffering only a severed arm, self inflicted.
- The Obi Wan: Syam to Canaan.
- Pettanko: Canaan, compared to most anime females. And Yunyun, who's even flatter. (And stuffs melons and meatbuns down her shirt to make herself look bigger.)
- Surprisingly, no one makes a comment about this in regards to Canaan, but Maria is called flat-chested by several people during the course of the series, even though she is somewhat more endowed than Canaan.
- It probably has to do with Canaan being a Creepy Albino wearing a halterneck that reveals a pair of very strong arms. Would you risk telling such girl that she is flat?
- Plucky Comic Relief: Yunyun
- Product Placement: That red detonator Liang Qi uses in episode 6 looks suspiciously like a red Wiimote Nunchuk; the aforementioned airsoft pistols Liang Qi uses to torment Cummings.
- Psycho Lesbian: Liang Qi is obsessed with her "nee-sama". They are not sisters, though, as Liang is Chinese, while Alphard is a Middle-Easterner.
- The Reason You Suck Speech: Subverted HARD and played straight at the same time in episode 10 Hakko tries twice to kill Liang Qi with one of these (which she can actually do due to her superpower) only to have Liang Qi troll her on both accounts and then deliver her own reason you suck speech right back at Hakko each time, to add insult to injury Hakko finds out to her dismay that she accidentally killed Santana with her second speech, which Liang Qi all too gleefully tells her when delivering her second reason you suck speech.
- Red Eyes Take Warning
- Rescue Romance: Maria attempts to replay her first meeting with Canaan by getting in trouble.
- Liang Qi had set up a trap for Alphard to get captured in the beginning so that Liang Qi would get to rescue her. Alphard was very aware of this; and went along with it merely because she was curious where Liang Qi was going with this.
- Running Gag: Liang Qi's airsoft pistol, which gets used in a minor Xanatos Roulette set up by Alphard in episode 9.
- Rule Of Cool: Synesthesia does not work that way! Who cares?
- Save The Villain: Canaan saves Alphard from falling at the end of their climactic duel. How does the rescuee respond? By shooting off her arm and falling... though, see under No One Could Survive That.
- The Scrappy: Minoru isn't particularly liked by a large part of the fan base. Especially yuri fans distrust him, for obvious reasons.
- That perplexes this troper, since he doesn't notice anything remotely romantic in his interactions with Maria. Besides, he's her boss, they have to talk to each other a lot. And the only person he's even shown a remote amount of romantic interest in is Hakko.
- His recent actions
may have taken him out of the scrappy heap though...
- Sequel Hook: Canaan gets the assignment to kill a "one-armed woman".
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Liang Qi is quite poetic at times, especially in regards to hurting people.
- Sexy Back: Canaan, thanks to a backless shirt.
- Shout Out: The US President is clearly a fan of Trigun, he managed to get the entire crowd and other world leaders screaming 'LOVE AND PEACE!!'
- Shown Their Work: This series have so far shown their excellent work of doing so, especially of the stealth bomber in Episode 7 - even the bomb is also a recognizable trademark of the bomber carrying it, although they did make a a couple of glaring errors with the stealth bomber, namely giving it vertical stabilizers and afterburner nozzles when the real version has neither of these.
- This troper believes those aren't errors, instead they actually took some liberty with the design of the aircraft.
- They've shown excellent work again with the cars (such as the Mitsubishi Pajero used by Santana when the group goes on a road trip to the village where the whole mess with the virus started) and helicopters (the NH-90 transport helicopters that are part of the Snakes' arsenal) that show up in recent episodes.
- Shoot The Dog: Cummings has to kill Liang Qi after her attempt to give herself Synesthesia...really, really doesn't end well.
- Sophisticated As Hell: Liang Qi, again.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Alphard's humming in the first episode.
- Squick: Hakko becomes very intimate with Santana's dead body.
- The Stoic: Alphard and Syam
- Super Power Lottery: The kind of mutation a Borner gets, along with its strengths and drawbacks, seem to be entirely random. Hayatori in episode 2 has two hearts, granting him immense agility and premature aging, while his brother in episode 3 can contort and squeeze inside small spaces, though he's physically trapped in a child's body. Meanwhile Yunyun has been granted... two appendixes.
- The "winner" until now is Hakko: She can kill you with her voice!
- Surprisingly Good English: Episode 7. The English in the bomber jet scene and the Chinese (it isn't English, but still!) used by the Chinese army is surprising good.
- There's also a little bit of Surprisingly Good German in this episode...
- The American Special Forces guys in episode 11.
- Take My Hand: This is how Canaan and Alphard's ultimate duel ends, but Alphard really doesn't want to be rescued by her... She survives, nonetheless.
- Tear Jerker: Jesus, episode 11.
- Episode 10 had This Troper in tears nearly from beginning to end.
- Thirteen Episode Anime
- Too Kinky To Torture: Liang Qi's assistant Cummings eventually starts enjoying her constant abuse.
- Liang Qi herself would appear to be getting very excited when Alphard is beating her down in episode 11.
- Tyke Bomb: Liang Qi.
- The Virus: Obviously.
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: "Canaan", anyone? Also, "Alphard" means "the solitary one" in Arabic.
- Alphard also is the name of the brightest star in the constellation Hydra, marking the heart of the snake. She wasn't quite modest when she chose her new name.
- What Kind Of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway: Yunyun's power of having two appendices.
- Which is likely not all the power she has, considering what she pulls off later on.
- Where It All Began: The train (possibly the same train, but at least the same make) was both the setting for the beginning of Canaan and Alphard's feud ( when Alphard killed Syam) and their climactic duel. Then again, both of them are still alive, and Alphard is apparently Canaan's new target in The Stinger. Additionally, the airport that Alphard is sitting in during the epilogue would seem to be the same one from the last scene in 428.
- White Haired Pretty Girl: Canaan.
- Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs: Yunyun, lampshaded by Minoru and Maria, and then deconstructed in episode 5 as she is spying on them as per Liang Qi's orders. could also be a reference to the potential after effects of china's economic growth spurt as yunyun mentions that many in the slums take up several part-time jobs to make ends meet.
- Yan-Fucking-Dere: Liang-Qi, to truly High Octane Nightmare Fuel levels.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Alphard with regard to Liang Qi.
- Your Head A Splode: Hakko's power, to a degree.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Liang Qi manages to combine this with a cheongsam.
- Maria sports it on one occassion as well.
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