I have no idea who Martin is, by the way.

Well said! Now I see the point you’re making there, and that is a very interesting consideration I’ll have to keep in mind.

It’s noteworthy that the primary contrast, the older more mature Alphard, is cool as a cucumber throughout the show, not distracted by Liang Qi’s more petty concerns and undeterred in completing her objective.

@ digitalboy

Fair enough, but speaking as someone who occasionally rubs shoulders with a few Hollywood screenwriters and sees how their creative process works, the end result in CANAAN feels like it got through the initial brainstorming session, but then didn’t get much further refinement to tighten up the story threads and arrange the presentation of events.

I just feel that with a bit more thought it could re-order some of the scenes to avoid changing gears too rapidly, and change the way it foreshadows certain events to better present some of the story’s undercurrents.

When guys like Martin, real pros at story analysis and literary critique, watch a show and don’t catch the subtext, you have to wonder how the average Joe viewer would ever have a chance. And if the average viewer is missing all this carefully planned subtext, maybe it could have been better presented so it doesn’t go to waste.

@ J$

“Sugoi!”

But i think the most important thing that needs to be said is, i love oosawa. My work is done here.

Canaan is an example of a show that I think you are meant to see it’s cards before you make assumptions. People seemed to assume after the first episode that this show would be all serious, but I don’t believe this was ever the show’s intent.

The issue here is that you don’t talk about something like that, you merely portray their youth in the actions and interaction with each other. I mean, Cat’s Cradle, the doll, the childish avatar, the bra stuffing, the ice cream eating, the jealous teen rage, the teen idol loving, the desire to be someone’s friend, the “let’s go play”…? Aside from Hakko and Alphard, the main female characters are so evidently adolescent in their mannerisms at times, yet so very adult at others that I felt a clear struggle in each of them in terms of how they handle the world and what they allow themselves to believe.

I thought what made the concept so clear was that they didn’t have to mention any of it, it just IS in who the characters are. In my opinion one of the best ways to portray a symbol and/or theme is to be able to do so without having to mention it in the first place.
Of course, after your response I realized this all may just be a female empathy/intuition nonsense that made each of the girls’ quirks seem symbolic of their level of maturity and particular world view. That’s been known to happen in the past.

In any case, what’s really important is that Canaan kicks ass. ^_^

I actually didn’t really think of the “maturity” of the characters in that sense. It’s an interesting perspective, but given the fact that it’s not really referenced that much I have a hard time reading any real significance into it.

Yun Yun definitely is an awesome and surprisingly believable character, though, no doubt about that.

@ Martin

That’s interesting to hear you say that, as I’ve really enjoyed the approach that’s been taken with this series. Maybe I just have a penchant for this kind of quirky storytelling, because I seem to end up making the same arguments over and over defending shows like this.

Ultimately it’s about the characters, not the overarching plot, and I feel like too often people see a really intricately conceived plot, get caught up in it, and are then let down when they realize it’s not really what the show is about.

@ digitalboy

Glad to see a comment from someone who shares my enthusiasm!

As for the “flaws” – the series has some issues with pacing, and it also feels like it can’t make up its mind what kind of show it wants to be. It’s trying to blend some very serious realism with other elements that are clearly unrealistic. It tries to pull off serious drama, but switches gears to action / comedy quickly, leaving me a bit disoriented.

Ultimately it means that most people will choose to enjoy the show as just fun mindless action entertainment, and many of the deeper elements will get passed over, as you can see in the many responses to this post and others.