Last time on Canaan Natsume was holding Maria and Yun Yun as SUGOI hostages…
Wasting no time at all Alphard onee-sama swings into action to save maria and Yun Yun from Natsume. It seems that Natsume has been furthering the agenda of Area 11 and coordinating the efforts of the Super Powers. Natsume has also been cutting deals and turns out to be the agent Liang Qi was calling all the time. Alphard onee-sama delights in saying Natsume’s first name which is YURI causing Natsume to get really flustered. Alphard tells Natsume that at first she wanted only to make money off of Borner Bio Weapons, but eventually she had a change of heart. Alphard onee-sama gives Natsume the data that all the governments want, but points out that even if they so succeed in mass producing Borners Alphard and the Snakes are the only group that knows how to stop them. Thus in one fell swoop Alphard gave the equivalent of a nuclear plan to every state while announcing that she has the perfect missile shield thus negating any change in the balance of power. Natsume takes her data so that she can sell it for SUGOI money, and takes the opportunity to call Canaan freaky, but Alphard is quite confused as she thinks Canaan is quite cute. As Natsume calls in the US to do the storming, the PLA to take all the credit, and the Japanese to start bragging, Alphard onee-sama destroys the Canaan clone so that no world power will be able to use the body for any useful or sick purpose. Since Alphard has the original there was no need for a pill popping clone.
Maria and Yun Yun rejoin Minoru and Canaan. Mino-san had passed out after giving Hakko a SUGOI hug, but she has sine gone missing. Now that Mino-san is wounded he gets much more female attention than he usually does. As America UH-60s arrive on seen Canaan tells every one to hide as she goes back to get Hakko and Santana’s corpse. Liang realizes that she has been betrayed and prepares for a BIG FIGHT, but just as Liang Qi stockpiles a lot of ordnance, she sees that Alphard onee-sama has come back for her, but is rudely shocked that Cummings has come was well. Alphard onee-sama says that she had asked Cummings to show her what love is and Liang Qi mistakenly believes that Alphard and Cummings shared a kissu. Cummings pleads with Liang Qi to come back with them but even as his non-violent methods left him beaten, he never gave up. Alphard finally relents and finally starts adoring Liang Qi’s body as they duel. Liang Qi isn’t too bad with a broad sword, but is no match for Alphard onee-sama who founded the school of knife fighting that Prince Ali would use so well with devastating effects on Jihad-kun. Alphard wins but just as Liang Qi reaches her climax, Alphard decides to see how Canaan is doing instead, this pisses off Liang Qi who wanted to have make up sex.
As a final act of naughtiness Liang Qi goes to her room, where Alphard is surprised to see what kind of SUGOI hobbies Liang Qi has, and takes some pills without a prescription from Dr. Alphard. Sadly Liang Qi cannot become Canaan Mk III and has precious few moments to live. Alphard though saddened that Liang Qi’s jealousy cannot be over come by her love tells Liang Qi that she figured out Laing Qi’s xanatos gambit. Liang Qi seems to have sold Alphard out to the CIA so that Liang Qi could come to the rescue and Alphard would be forever grateful to her, but Alphard did npot think that this was funny nor amusing. Cummings’ undergoes an emotional heart break as Liang Qi wants him to kill her reflection, Cummings after getting Liang’s assurances of a gohobi and unable to see Liang Qi’s madness continue kills her. As Liang Qi lies dying in his arms she finally hears the confession he could never get from her when they were both alive. As Cummings’ screams out to the heavens of his grief Alphard leaves him to mourn Liang Qi. Alphard admits that Liang was right about her and she declares that her one true name is Alphard Alshua and that she will reclaim her former self.
Canaan kills off five Spec Ops guys and finds Hakko having a night that goes on forever and ever with Santana’s corpse. Canaan begs Hakko to come back with her, but Hakko decides to stay and not enjoy happiness with Minoru. Hakko gives Canaan Yun Yun’s prescription which will hopefully last a while, and Canaan is told to leave Hakko with Santana to be entombed. Canaan rejoins the group though it seems that ever since Alphard became a factor neither Canaan and Maria can have SUGOI hugs…
Alphard will not tolerate Natsume’s attempt at harem takeover…
Impression
I thought that episode wrapped up many things nicely since it has been somewhat hinted at that Natsume and Alphard weren’t all that they seemed to be at the start. Natsume was the one that had phone calls with Liang Qi and seems to have been the Negotiator between the PRC, Japan, and the US in regards to the Borner and the Snakes. I have my doubts that Alphard started the Borner program though she did help it along. Some where along the way she became disillusioned and decided that the best way to end the nightmare was to have the program reach completion, but keep all the countermeasures to herself. That way she prevents any major power from pursuing another program (thus saving people from becoming new test subjects) and at the same time nullifies any strategic impact Borner weapons would have on the world since she would be contracted to deal with them by every government. I don’t think that Alphard is simply out to be the big bad, rather she seems to trying to redeem herself of the sins committed during the Borner program. After all she did free Hakko and expressed her dislike of Liang Qi using Borners as weapons. If nothing else at least we got a small hint of what her goals are even as Natsume’s become plain, and Alphard doesn’t seem to be a stock villain that might actually have some complex motivations that aren’t too far fetched.
While I did laugh at Santana last time I felt kind of bad for Cummings who tried to bring Laing Qi back through non-violent means, even if he’s been pelleted and trolled he did have guts to try and use dialogue to save Liang Qi. I did feel sorry for him when Liang Qi finally said “I love you” after he killed her out of mercy. I guess that in the end Liang was very dangerous and a master troll, but her attempt at winning Alphard proved to be her undoing. It wasn’t losing to Alphard that killed Liang but rather her intense jealousy that Canaan seemed to be the apple of Alphard’s eye. The fight between Alpard onee-sama and her imouto Liang Qi was done with 50% inferred action through their foot work, and 50% from Liang Qi spinning and slashing while Alphard was dodging. It wasn’t a bad fight in my book and it looked pretty fluid once Alphard started her finishing move and deftly disarmed Liang Qi. I am glad the Spec Ops guys didn’t embarrass themselves by shooting each other like Alphard’s goons, and it was all the better that they had Canaan use the knife so that we could see the difference between Alphard’s skills and Canaan’s.
Special mention mus be made of how PA Works did their home work, and while the pilots did not look nearly as well the MH-60L DAP and MH-60K (UH-60 variant of some sort) Black Hawks did look damn good and accurate at least with the MH-60L DAP. I am very impressed that they even knew that the MH-60L DAP even existed or that what the actual inventory of weapons systems the 160th Special Operations Aviation regiment is. Hakko’s act of necrophilia was weird, but in the end I can forgive the ZOMG ZOMBIE SECHS since her statement that the living decide to be more powerful than anticipated. It was disturbing to be sure, but she chose to die with the man she never had the chance to really love and that would not have been accomplished had she just run into the arms of Minoru after that. In the end I guess it was too much to hope that Mino-san would be Hakko’s Patrick and save her from death and despair. Still it did kind of feel like True Tears all over again with Mino-san being the Noe analog.
With the death of Liang Qi I expect Zyl to deliver an eloquent eulogy, while I expect Janette to dance on her grave and spit on Liang Qi’s memory. I suppose animekritik has a point that Liang Qi was exploited, but I think Liang was always set up to be the crazy one. Certainly her seiyuu Rei Tanaka had also voiced a similar character in Mai Otome as Tomoe, who was similarly as crazy as Liang Qi though she dressed a bit more conservatively, so it wasn’t that surprising. At least in my book Liang Qi had more personality than I would have expected, I expected the bullying and the use of force, but I was delightfully surprised by her cunning when she killed Santana. While I am sure that at some point Liang Qi was a sane and loyal follower of Alphard, once Canaan came into the picture her jealousy made its presence felt and in a bit to get Alphard’s attention either through seduction or being naughty Liang did get it for a while. It was a poor substitute for what I think Liang Qi wanted but by that point they already fallen out and at least Liang Qi relished the only physical interaction she had left with her onee-sama. I guess she got what was coming to her after she trolled Hakko so hard Hakko was still feeling it, certainly it is somewhat poetic that in her jealousy Liang became what she hated the most, but even then the white hair did not get her Alphard’s attention. It would have been interesting to see Liang Qi go from impressionable loli chasing her onee-sama to the lunatic that so utterly destroyed Hakko’s life in what I guess Shin will dub as a war on heterosexuality, which Liang Qi won posthumously as a result of Hakko’s suicidal grief.
Like True Tears before it a lot can be inferred from the characters eyes, and in this case it seems that Alphard had a rather regretful look and Liang Qi finally seemed to be at peace once she thought Canaan was dead. At any rate next week is a SUGOI train ride and hopefully at least we get to see how EPIC Alphard and Canaan’s first BIG FIGHT was.
Let Alphard onee-sama take care of this one…
Which Canaan is she refering to Canaan/Alphard, Canaan Mk II, or Canaan Mass production type?
Not even Natsume Yuri is immune to the advances of Alphard.
Alphard onee-sama really likes to say her full name…
Alphard has been reading Natusme’s diary…seems Natsume didn’t dream about Alphard stealing into her room.
Natsume is a Negotiator only she doesn’t have a Big-O…
Now that Alphard has sold the tech to all sides she can draw out the conflicts and make more money. As the only ones who know how to combat them Alphard has a monopoly…
Natsume plans to do some SUGOI Stalking of Alphard…
Come on Picnic end…
FUCK YEAH UH-60s and MH-60L DAPs.
Natsume’s heart was so doki doki after meeting Alphard in person that it almost burst from her chest.
Dude she even got shuriken and a chainsaw…
Liang Qi likes to have a BIG FIGHT.
LOVE WILL NOT DIE!
GET SOME GET SOME!
Gokegenyou…
Liang Qi remembers love…
Alphard likes to roll Liang Qi by pretending that she and Cummings kissed.
Liang Qi falls for it every time…
I guess that means they both got trolled in long form.
Liang Qi isn’t hetero or bi…
I though he was just a punching bag.
Cummings is trying his best to be noble.
Liang Qi’s goals were pretty clear cut since the beginning.
Alphard knew that Liang Qi was always too conscious about her weight…
Liang Qi killed off many suitors…hers and Alphard’s.
Down, but not out…
Liang Qi simply can’t kill Cummings for some reason.
GOHOBI~DESU!
Liang Qi’s sane face.
Alphard founded the knife fighting school that trained the infamous Prince Ali in his crusade agains the Gundam menace.
Playtime is over Liang Qi, it’s time to stop being naughty…
You did want Alphard onee-sama to adore your body right?
WOOO Liang Qi finally breaks out he broad sword!
Like old times eh my Liege?
doki doki…
dokun dokun dokun…
It’s been a while since she las sparred with Alphard…
You could roll behind her and do a back slash but what fun would that be…
Alphard used her left hand…how sinister…
Hey at least she held you for a bit Liang Qi…
That was a no shadow kick…
I bet Liang Qi would have never washed her clothes to preserve Alphard’s boot print.
Looking with the eyes of regret and disappointment…
No make up Lurvin?!
These Oakleys are AWESOME we can see just fine in the dark with these.
She needs hax…
Among other things…
It’s easy when you have super human powers…
Alphard never did inspect Liang Qi’s room
Is that you Liang Qi?
I hope doing drugs makes you happy because it makes Alphard sad…
What else are you hiding in your room Liang Qi…
Don’t stick your tongue at me young lady…
Acting out for attention is not the way to go about it…
Similar effects could have been achieved with hair dye, and colored contact lens…
Alphard though little of Code Geass’ plot as well.
Alphard prefers funny girls, remember…
Alphard cannot forget the day when she and Canaan first met…
Kito Kito Kaede?
Amazing how hair color makes such a difference…
But she will live long enough to act foolishly
…
Datte datte ai nan dayo?
Yes there is at least one person in the world that loves Liang Qi…
Doesn’t that make you just feel warm and fuzzy inside…
They are quite liberal with the blood…
At least for this part he wasn’t high like Santana.
Oddly enough that means that now Cummings is a team killer.
GOHOBI!
Thus did Liang Qi, the one who loved Alphard more than anyone pass from this world… a victim of her own jealousy.
It has it’s ups and downs…
Such a lovely name.
She will tell Canaan all the sweet nothings that she never said when they first met.
This is SUGOI awkward…
Oh wait maybe you should get dressed first…
But Minoru can listen to you and not die because of it…
You don’t love Santana you only think that because you killed him…
I know you killed him!
If you insist on loving his corpsein such a manner you are not really alive…
Canaan is disappointed that Hakko chose Santana’s corpse for BAD END.
Well I hope he doesn’t smell that bad…
It’s not enough for the rest of the year…
It seems that the love is gone…what use to be right is wrong…
What are you up to my liege?
18 Comments
damn, looks like it will take some time for the house colasour to be secured, and boy i feel sorry for cummings, poor dude never catches a break
i agree in regards to the vehicles as a whole, baring the slight slip up with the B2, they’ve really paid attention to detail (especially with HIGH TENSION’s taxi, and the green pajero canaan and co have been going around in). before i saw those black hawks i was already of the opinion that they had outdone themselves with the 2 NH-90′s used by Liang Qi and Alphard in episode 9.
may Liang Qi find the peace in death that she never managed to attain in life
To those who didn’t catch the orders containing the units assigned to Task Force 124 that slipped in from Afghanistan (Why does this remind me of Modern Warfare 2?), here they are:
1st SFOD-D, C Company
24th Special Tactics Squadron
160 SOAR, 1st Battalion, C Company
Too bad Delta Force was no match for Canaan. Seems she gave them a run for their money.
Yeah, got scared of what Hakko did to Santana’s corpse.
Seems like the PLA got themselves credited too for what TF 124 I guess since what Natsume did. Although I’m confused why a DIH agent would be deployed since it’s a signals agency (but I guess that would’ve been totally justified for her sabotaging the B-2′s guidance system). I would’ve thought that a Military Intelligence Command (MIC) agent of the JGSDF (or perhaps a Public Security Intelligence Agency/PSIA) would’ve been much better.
Since Natsume’s got the stuff, wonder what the JSDF’s gonna do with the data unless she’s going to hand it over to the West (in particular, to the US).
PS – One of the Delta Force operators is voiced by a English-speaking VA named Charles Glover. He seems to be credited too in Mega Man ZX. Wonder if he’s working in Japan?
I fully expected Liang Qi to go nuts and end up in a trainwreck, but Hakkoo! that was just wrong. Minoru must be depressed now that Hakkoo picked a dead body over him.
So it seem Alphard wants to play savior instead of villain, but it’ll be up to Natsume to grant her that wish and who knows what Natsume is going to do with the data.
http://www.thatanimeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Canaan-11-170.jpg
I’m pretty sure Liang Qi learned how to channel the Grinch.
@blind_dead_mcjones
Hakko just wasn’t Mino-san’s Katie. She made her choice, at least Mino-san can move on with his life. Thankfully he didn’t have to see what Canaan saw. Cummings got a bittersweet ending, he granted Liang Qi a bit of happiness as killing Canaan is nigh impossible and she said the words he waited all his life to hear. Cummings did catch many breaks Alphard could have killed him for insubordination but she let him live and try to bring Liang Qi back to a semblance of sanity. It wasn’t that he failed from a lack of effort, he failed because Liang Qi was just that jealous.
Love will never die! (Should be Liang Qi’s epitaph)
Grittiness and attention to detail are one of the hallmarks of this series, the amount of effort they put into researching and animating the weapon systems put many series to shame. The NH90s were a tasty appetizer of the charge of the 160th SOAR, certainly they added a little more icing by having Alphard use an MG-3 that fed from the left using a disintegrating M-13 ammo belt, which ejected the shell casings downward. If there is to be more use of heavy weapons then I assume that the results will only get better…
@Ominae
Delta came off fairly well considering they were fighting a super woman with haxxor eyes. I am just glad it wasn’t nearly as bad as CE. At the very least they didn’t shoot each other up like Alphard’s mooks, and they did the smart thing they fell back…
The English here is pretty damn good, though it needs more swearing…
Technically NSA deals mostly with signals though it doesn’t stop people from guessing as to what they really do.
@TJ
Hakko made her choice, it was rather disagreeable but I let her mourn in her own way. If one considers Hakko’s choice to be rather dumb then she simply was not Katie.
Maybe the big twist is that Canaan also refers to Alphard and that she was doing noble things since the beginning…
@Adrian
Liang Qi wanted to be the Grinch that Stole Alphard’s Heart.
Looks like Grace O’Connor moved into other realms!
Thanks Crusader. Never knew the DIH would send an agent to do the dirty work (I much prefer the PSIA or the MIC), but I never expected the bombing to occur in Shanghai. Which was damn lucky for Natsume.
I wonder if she’ll give the Borner data to the Americans (or some other government) in the long run.
The base was destroyed, but they never exactly showed Hakko dying or her room collapsing. I’m holding out a little hope that she realizes staying there to die was a bad choice and managed to find a way out.
Poor Cummings. Liang Qi was too messed up to ever love him in anything but a dying confession kind of way since she was fixated on Alphard, but I’ve always kind of liked the guy, and his devotion to her was admirable.
Hopefully there will be a good end for at least one of the characters I like, but it’s not looking good. Santana is dead, Cummings is pretty much out, and Hakko may or may not be (and Mino with her).
@Di Gi Kazune
Indeed Grace was kicking Zeke ass in IGLOO 2 as well…
@Ominae
It is highly probable they simply needed a Japanese stand in for the NSA, whether or not they have a third echelon is another matter entirely…
Either way Alphard is the only one who has the proper countermeasures, so it doesn’t change the overall strategic situation as Alphard will go where the money is, or rather she will do whatever she wishes.
@ExecutiveOtaku
Cummings’ loyalty is beyond question, a shame that he did not have the lineage and luck of House Colasour to bolster his efforts at finding love.
I think Hakko is pretty much a goner, she might come back but her decision seemed rather final.
I am hoping Alphard lives.
Fuck yeah, Alphard. The superb animation of this episode, especially with Liang getting schooled, was great to watch after sitting through the crap SHAFT pulled in Bakemonogatari.
Canaan has been an up and down ride for me. None of the other characters really grew on me. The parts with Maria in particular always feel overdone, like the incredibly awkward scene where she takes Canaan’s picture at the end of the episode, but Alphard makes up for everything. Seriously. My enjoyment seems to be directly correlated with how much screen-time she gets.
…Hell, I’d even watch a harem show if Alphard was the lead. Even with Type-Moon’s track record I hope she survives.
@Anon
Right now we shall probably be into the All About Alphard phase of the Series since she is the last puzzle left. If the title is actually a play on words in regards to both Canaan and Alphard/Canaan then things are looking up for Alphard. Certainly there is some significant hint that Alphard want to be a hero, or has been a hero all along… Maria and Canaan seem to vouch for her honesty and sincerity and she did give Liang and Cummings a lot of leeway right until Liang decided to pop pills without Alphard’s prescription…
The Japanese need work on their English. It’s too easy to make fun of. For a second there in one of your pics I thought Alphard was looking for a “boner.”
@Crusader
- True. But Alphard identified Natsume as an agent for the Defense Intelligence Headquarters, which is a real signals agency.
@Marigold Ran
I still think it’s pretty good, considering how atrocious it usually is.
@Ominae
I still think that this fictitious DIH is essentially the NSA in fiction, only they needed to use a Japanese agency with cool factor, but lacking one simply made up an analogue of Third Echelon.
Seeing as how some of the character designs in this anime remind me of True Tears, I almost considered this post’s title a pun.
Al Fard Al Shuja means “the solitary one in the serpent”
Is she talking about herself or is that her actual name?
Anyways… Alphard for secret main character please!
@Flash Gordon that’s exactly what I was about to say! ^^
Kanami Sekiguchi did True Tears ^o^ NICE PUN!
am i the only one that thinks hakko never liked minoru and they were just friends and the creators made it so clear that she blatantly loved santana..men talk about fanboyism.