Now the tragic conclusion…
So in the end many will have written this off as a “B” Movie but I sincerely think that the symbolism that many others have pointed out still holds true despite the seemingly boring end that we got. To be fair I watched each episode multiple times and watched a few of my favorite scenes on a loop through out the series run. In short this episode pretty my confirmed for me that Alphard was a sort of secret protagonist given here stated goal of freeing Canaan from Siam and replacing him with Maria. While it is not expressly stated it is quite possible that Maria was meant to die to become Canaan’s light as part of the agreement Maria had with Alphard that Maria had forgotten. It wasn’t the typical “I am the only one allowed to defeat you” type of deal but rather it was about Canaan Mk II putting her life together post Siam and Alphard’s redemption and reclaiming her old self. While Canaan’s reliance on Maria eventually played out well enough I think that Alphard’s story warrants special attention since it influences most of the major events in the story.
Alphard always said Maria was full of deception.
While there is much left to be desired in regards to Siam, what is clear is that he taught and encouraged both Alphard and Canaan to be killers of the highest caliber, on the face of it it might seem a bit innocuous until you realize he is training child soldiers that only know how to kill and not how to live. Alphard mentioned that Siam later took on the job of training Canaan and it is still possible that he was training Canaan as an agent of Iron Strife. I don’t think that Alphard felt much love for Siam at the end, at one point she may have been infatuated, but the anger and resentment at having spent her whole life trying to live up to his expectations was not the kind of life she really wanted. She may have been the strongest but in the end she felt hollow and realized that she was forever haunted by his ghost and that she would always be in his shadow and her response was to prove him wrong and destroy his legacy. Alphard didn’t have a cause of her own that she believed in up until the fateful day on the train. Thus when Alphard went to kill him it might have been due to two factors, one to kill off her new enemy and two to kill the man who was largely responsible in turning her into Canaan. It might have been simply because of the realization of what she had become that lead Alphard to kill Siam to prevent him from ruining another little girl’s life. Liang Qi mentioned that Alphard was trapped in that time and could not move on and even Alphard admitted that Liang was right. After that day Alphard sought to correct all the wrongs she ever committed, Hakko was freed, research into Borners was completed but no new Borner weapons were made.
Here it is important to remember that despite Alphard being a terrorist, the people she is fighting aren’t too wholesome either. Natsume was trying to sneak out test subjects from the factory and Santana was helping her accomplish this, Santana may or may not have known but given how he was rather ignorant of who Natsume was, it is just as possible that he did not know. Since the first episode Alphard already had her men maintain a blockade and quarantine on the factory so there was no sudden change of heart on Alphard’s part within the time frame of the 13 episodes we got. Given how the CIA and PRC were involved in making that village disappear it was not simply Alphard acting on her own to ruin the lives of Hakko, Canaan, and Yun Yun. The attack on Shanghai did accomplish one important thing for Alphard, getting the actual cure for the UA virus into the public eye, which up until that point was a secret. Thus with a cure being publicly known the impact of any future UA Virus Bio attack is drastically reduced. Her subsequent handing over the data she got on Borner Weapons came at a point where any further research was simply not worth it. By handing it over none of the powers that Natsume is working for will fund any further attempts to create test subjects. Alphard at this time warned Natsume that she and her group had all the countermeasures and thus made an attempt to dissuade Natsume and her associates from creating any as Alphard could could be paid by any one faction to negate any tactical or strategic worth Borner Weapons might have. Alphard helped create this problem and towards the end she took steps to find a solution.
To thin that my Liege would be the one to underestimate the power of the Yuri…
While Alphard is the titular villain she saves Canaan and Maria plenty of times and despite Liang Qi getting out of line and even betraying her Alphard didn’t do the ruthless thing and simply kill Liang Qi outright. On the contrary Alphard initially forgave Liang’s treachery and Cumming’s insubordination. Alphard did warn Liang Qi about letting her hatred get the better of her and tried to keep Liang Qi out of the big score. I think that Alphard did genuinely like Liang Qi, judging by Liang’s fond memories of her time stalking Alphard onee-sama, Alphard did not mind her company. There is no overt signs that Alphard ever abused Liang Qi, and it is possible that Alphard did not know of Liang Qi’s hobbies. Instead I believe that having Liang Qi around as a little loli while Alphard onee-sama wasted people was probably not good sisterly behavior, and certainly since Alphard use to relish in killing people Liang probably became enamored with that aspect of her dear onee-sama. Liang Qi wasn’t simply useful to Alphard she was loyal and perfectly capable in the arts of villainy, but in the end Liang let hatred consume her. Even if Alphard did not shed tears over Liang’s death she still spoke fondly of her name, I think that Alphard did love Liang Qi in a manner of speaking, just not with the intensity that Liang Qi loved her.
In regards to Canaan not even Canaan herself actually sees any more hatred emanating from Alphard any more and Alphard has taken many steps to ensure the continued survival of both her and Maria until the appointed time. Perhaps it was the realization that Canaan herself was not at fault, but as a remnant of Siam’s ghost she had to be dealt with, for whatever reason Alphard could not bring her self to kill Canaan despite a good number of chances. Maybe it was because she did it out of pity, and certainly whenever they fought Alphard had plenty of advice to give to Canaan. Alphard’s insistence on there only ever being one Canaan isn’t necessarily a statement made out of jealousy but Alphard knew what it meant to be Canaan. Alphard was taught by Siam to feed on hatred and be a monster, and even after she left him Siam created another Canaan who was naive and easily manipulated but frightfully deadly. Alphard’s attempts to bring Maria and Canaan to be closer and her telling Maria to struggle together with Canaan as well as truly love her was essentially a ploy to supplant Siam as the biggest influence in Canaan’s life (Canaan was seeing his ghost quite often) and to break the curse of the tattoo. While Alphard refrained from the use of insults in regards to Canaan she did believe that Canaan was a monster and thus sought manipulate Canaan through Maria instead of trying to reason with her.
In their final battle Canaan realized who Alphard really was and Alphard voluntarily shooting off her own arm was not necessarily due to a refusal to accept Canaan as her savior, but the final act that Alphard felt she had to do to remove the curse of Siam that was embodied by that tattoo. By that time Canaan had already saved herself and Alphard wanted to do the same, she mentioned before that she wanted to reclaim her old self and she identified with the name Alphard rather than with the name that Siam gave her. Despite the distance shot of Alphard at the airport I think that because Alphard wore her hair down that she did in the end succeed in becoming her old self as Loli-Alphard use to wear her hair down before meeting Siam the loss of the tattoo also added to the sense that she had reclaimed her old self. The name Canaan for this series wasn’t about creating a land of hope, but the name Siam gave someone whom he hoped would be the perfect soldier, in the end that makes the two shots that Maria had of Alphard and Canaan Mk II special since it did echo the kinds of photos you would use at a funeral. However while both Alphard and Canaan were no longer bound by Siam’s ghost both found a way to live on afterwards. In the case of Alphard, while there is much moaning about her living I think Alphard still being out there is perfectly fine. It’s not that Alphard is out there still terrorizing the world, but it is very possible that Alphard is still out there frustrating Natsume at every turn and preventing a Borner Arms proliferation. Borner weapons are pretty much useless as long as Alphard lives so Natsume has some good reasons for trying to take out Alphard. Despite Alphard’s defeat and loss of her left arm on the train Alphard SHINES IN THE NAME OF ZEUS and poses such a threat to Natsume that Canaan is tasked with killing her. Now that Canaan and Alphard have a new understanding of each other it’s not just that Canaan has adopted Alphard’s hairstyle, she has also adopted the same short cut over coat, and seems to be a bit wittier when replying to Natsume. Furthermore Canaan chose to part ways from Maria and become a solitary star so to speak. I think there are many ways of interpreting Canaan/Alphard Mk II’s smile in the parting shot, but I do not get the sense that she is going to kill Alphard. Here I suppose the audience is asked to fill in what happens, and for me given how Alphard Mk II is well aware of what Natsume is doing that she might reunite with Alphard on more pleasant terms. Alphard the star is part of the constellation of the Hydra in some parts of the world and as the legend goes the Hydra can have many heads. Given how similar Canaan is now to Alphard I think that the two of them can come to an agreement to troll Natsume.
I might be completely wrong but while there is a general consensus on how PA Works and Type-Moon produced quite a beautifully animated fruit during their collaborations I think that Canaan can be a bit more than that if one decides to connect some of the dots in any manner they wish. If nothing else the animation was good, PA Works proved themselves to be quite competent with this and True Tears, and this is one of the few series that takes the grittiness to a whole new lever when it comes to small arms and Heavy weapons like the MH-60 DAP attack helicopters. Certainly some one at PA Works really loves their weapons and does their research into weapons and units, that alone is an impressive feat that few anime series actually ever bother with. As such while many will describe the story a mediocre the rest of the package is undeniably slick and well constructed. I heartily recommend Canaan to any anime fan who can forgive the lack of an epic story for the sake of a high standard of grittiness seldom matched, fluid animation, Hong Kong action flick inspired combat, and copious amount of yuri subtext.
Final Grade: A-
It’s been a while, but the winning streak was fated to end this time…even if it was through hxx0r eyes.
…it looks like a minaidehazukashii moment.
I here by declare victory for my OTP of AlphardxCanaan.
Alphard onee-sama has not been so vigorously pursued before…
Even though she weighs a ton…
High time Yun yun decided to second Alphard onee-sama.
…
Don’t force yourself my lord, you sound like you are giving Canaan away…
Alphard’s primary objective…
Sometimes my lord the simplest answers are the best.
Alphard onee-sama knows the audacity of hope all too well.
Alphard thinks that she’ll have to try again…
To be fair my lord you had endured Siam’s oppression for much longer…
You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, She’s upset
She’s going off about something that you said
She doesn’t get your humor like I do
I’m in the room, its a typical Tuesday night
I’m listening to the kind of music she doesnt like
And she’ll never know your story like I do
But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you’ll wake up and find
That what you’re look’in for has been here the whole time
If you could see that I’m the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me
Walk’in the streets with you in your worn out jeans
I cant help thinking this is how it ought to be
Laughing on the park bench think’in to myself
Hey isn’t this easy?
And you’ve got a smile that could light up this whole town
I haven’t seen it in awhile, since she brought you down
You say your fine I know you better than that
Hey, What’cha doing with a girl like that?
Siam wears high heels, I wear sneakers
Siam’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you’ll wake up and find
That what you’re looking for has been here the whole time
If you could see that I’m the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me
Stand’in by, waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that?
You belong with me
You belong with me
Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night
I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re about to cry
I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams
I think I know where you belong. I think I know it’s with me.
Can’t you see that I’m the one who understand you?
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me
Standing by or waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that
You belong with me
You belong with me
Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me
You belong with me
Because there are so many sweet nothings that she wants to whisper back into Alphard’s ears.
This is some round about confession if I must say so myself.
Because this is love.
My Lady be trolling again…
It’s over my lord, it’s over…
She’ll never let go…
Worse you are still in the PRC…
I am sure Zeus will like them.
I think it is best to leave out the end and keep things PG-13…
Look at it this way one day you will find a great megane who is much smarter and you will forget all about Hakko…
Thus did the Colasour military tradition start…
LISTEN TO HER SONG!
Not to mention such AWESOME hobbies.
Welcome to the Cash Cab PRC edition.
You know I think part of her charm was that she was flat…
Have a picnic? I damn well hope so, Natsume has been packing baskets for the past few weeks.
Well I guess Liang Qi’s reincarnation had to start somewhere.
I doubt you can.
I wanted a close up of Alphard onee-sama with her hair down…
Hey now Alphard onee-sama is still out there Alphard imouto…
In the end Minoru became a Colasour and found his Katie…
She also finds him funny.
The age of Canaan is over…
All Hail the Age of Alphard!
You will fall in love again…
19 Comments
Good grief, Maria and Canaan should just make out already. They’re way too close to each other XD
Cummings becoming a Buddhist monk??
W
T
F
Only the insanity of Liang Qi would have such an effect…
I’m glad that I found someone giving “CANNAN” an A class rating. This series masters in symbolism as you have pointed out, which definitely needs close attention, so those who didn’t bother to watch every episode multiple times would fail to see the truth behind the cool animation, the complex dialogues, and the splendid fighting scenes…etc. It’s ironic that while Siam was repeatedly reminding Canaan to “see things as they are”(ありのままを見つめろ, by the way, the sub group translated it as “to naturally absorb the truth” which wasn’t wrong either), some audience just wouldn’t do so.
These are the points I considered important:
1. Alphard definitely didn’t shoot off her own arm due to the refusal to accept Canaan as her saviour. Before Alphard pulled the trigger, she said “I’ll release myself from the snake and self-restraint!”(私は、蛇と自縛を解き放つ, whereas the sub group translated it as “I’ll release myself from the curse of the snake”). Alphard is a character with pride to the very end, she definitely didn’t shoot off her own arm as a refusal to Canaan, and she wasn’t doing that just to end her life either. She was determined to release herself at any cost, death wasn’t really her concern. In the same way, Alphard’s motivation was not based on the devotion to Siam or jealousy of Canaan’s power, as Alphard stated in episode 11 “I’m entrapped by a ghost of the past, being driven around by adhering emotions. That’s not the true me. My name is Alphard Alshua. In order to bring back my original self…”, I believe that her motivation was based on self-actualisation. Also, I found the translation of “道連れになってもらおうか” at 2:23 of episode 13 misleading. The sub translation “shall we die together” here in most cases would be appropriate since “道連れ”, literally meaning “taking along” was usually used in the context referring to “taking you along to hell”, but here, Alphard was simply saying it in the literal way that she’ll “drag Canaan along” to the unsettled fate (as she said in the next few lines). By the way, after seeing the 428 game bonus scenario part, you’d realise that the helicopter Alphard prepared was not purely for an escape – it was prepared as a way to repeat the day that Siam died.
2. Many has complained about not being able to see the objective of the terrorist group “Snakes”.This is explained back in episode 08, where Cummings was asking Alphard about what the “Snakes” was wishing for, Alphard declared that it purely serves the instincts of capitalism (i.e. denied Cummings’ “hatred theory”), and also in episode 10, when Alphard was having some little chat with Natsume, she said “All I was seeking for were biological weapons called Borners that can be made into business”. The Shanghai terror drama that the “Snakes” has performed was merely an act to maximise profit (make an Ua virus debut, replace the current love-and-peace US President with the Vice President who listens…you name it).
3. Regarding the Borner experiment thing, episode 13 features another misleading translation “I always thought that if I created a monster like Canaan, I…I would be able to get closer to Siam?”（私は、私はCanaanその化け物を作れば、Siamに、Siamに近づけるでも思ったのか？）. In Japanese, the “でも” here is a subtle word referring to the unnoticed, in this way, Alphard was reflecting on her subconscious reason of getting involved in the Borner experiment, what she was saying was actually “so was that because I was thinking: if I can create a monster like Canaan, I would be able to get closer to Siam?” – This is a solid proof that Alphard wasn’t purposely creating another Canaan, that’s where the episode 11 “destroying the fake” comes in. If Alphard’s objective was simply creating another Canaan, at the point the fake comes out, she should be rejoicing and start teaching the fake combat skills in order to turn it into another Canaan, right?
4. Some viewed Alphard as the founder of the “Snakes”, so they blamed Alphard as she used the “Snakes” for her personal desires instead of fulfilling the true objective of the organisation. However, back in episode 06, during the talk between young Alphard and Siam, Siam said “you have the assets and the personal connections from your parents. To a small group like them, you’re like a true Messiah”(the “small group” is most likely to be the “Snakes”), and since back in episode 01, as the story started with Siam saying that Alphard is “a defeated person who lost her past due to a conflict for power”, I reckon that the “Snakes” was probably created by Alphard’s parents or someone related to Alphard after a major defeat in power acquisition (if the rumor about Alphard being the only child of an old Royal family in the Middle East in episode 04 was true), and Siam’s job to train Alphard was probably offered by the same person. After Alphard became fully trained, she simply returned to the “Snakes” and made this small group grow to the point as we see today – Alphard didn’t found the “Snakes”, her responsibility as a leader was to expand it in terms of power which she has already succeeded. Considering that CEOs in the game of capitalism get loads of cash by the end of every year, why couldn’t Alphard be awarded in some other way?
There are more interesting symbolisms, hints, and answers to potential questions in the series, though my primary focus above were about Alphard-sama (by the way, the new Canaan covers her tattoo with the same colour as Alphard’s top, how hot is that! haha). Personally I like the ending – CANAAN, the land of hope, can only be reached by one’s own leg, not by grasping a strip of light. Everyone in the series didn’t just go back to the old everyday, they grows up and walks towards their own land of hope in their own way – it’s a powerful ending that really shines.
when canaan said: “that’s mine” after she said “bang” and watching Maria with the gun, she shot her heart and said that Maria’s heart or herself was hers? xD?
Wish she would have gone with tattoo removal instead. I’m sure it’s somebody’s fetish, but still I think the majority of us would rather have Alphard with the arm. Now Canaan has to pick up the slack when they have hate/make-up sex.
…Or maybe that’s just as planned…
And, why isn’t Maria dead? Alphard surviving falling off a speeding train after amputating an arm was already pretty unbelievable – though extremely badass and forgivable. Maria being rescued by Yun Yun from an exploding train with only 21 seconds left and then being carried around for hours before being found and driven back to Shanghai…really? Really?? How many times has she been rescued now? It happens every episode for the first half of the show and pretty much every other episode in the second half. She, as the protagonist, even requires rescuing by the antagonist more than once. If there is a second season, I imagine they’d have to throw in something like Nene rescuing her from an exploding plane for variety. Useless plot device is useless.
I flat-out disliked the the finale at first, but after some thought I ended up OK with it (in particular, the final scene of Canaan with Alphard’s hairstyle and the accompanying dialogue mollified me somewhat). But Maria’s lines in the epilogue…cringe. I concur wholeheartedly about the closer shot of Alphard.
tl;dr: I like your sense of humor. I enjoyed reading this blog. Alphard is incredibly hot.
Looks like everyone went their separate ways.
Few things:
- Nice to see Maria and Mino get a photo gallery of their stuff in Japan. The two portraits of Alphard and Canaan strike me hard as I watch the episode.
- Cummings truly reforming himself by becoming a Buddhist monk? I wonder…
- Alphard shooting her arm off? I wonder if some people (Hint: An anime and a game) would be interested in creating an arm for her.
- Canaan with long hair is interesting too.
However, info’s floating that Canaan’s in Italy, specifically Florence (Don’t know where this came from).
To gprotein
- In my opinion (No need to take it as true), the rumors of Alphard being a royal family member only used to conceal her true identity. After all, not all of us know (except the Project CANAAN team, I guess) would know what Alphard’s true origins are. Unless the CANAAN OVAs do show some hidden scenes or something. Although your theory is interesting to point out.
Crusader, this is a really well written analysis of the entire anime. It’s changed the way that I view this show, as you have pulled out some different ways of seeing everything.
I guess my biggest concern with this anime is that if you are right, either the writers are absolutely brilliant and obscuring the plot except to the most observant, or the writers were just really bad at what they did. What I mean is, your interpretation of events surely makes perfect sense, but just watching the series, I did not get that sense at all. So in the end, I’m not sure if you’re pulling story relationships and plot-lines that you personally want to see by inferring from what you’ve seen (i.e. you are pulling at strings), or if the story was always there for everyone to see and that was the intent.
Either way, this was a show with some very memorable characters that will undoubtedly stick around with the anime community for some time, with pretty slick production values (middle episodes not withstanding), but with a totally forgettable plot.
Looks like they did set themselves up for a good second season though.
It’s not that I didn’t like CANAAN, but I felt that it had the potential to be much better in terms of the story. It had the setup with Flower Garden project and conspiracy but they just kind of left that part of the story, and it’s unclear to me whether or not Alphard was able to free herself from her past (given how Canaan was ordered to deal with her at the end of the show). I suppose even if Alphard is free in her own mind, people like Natsume will constantly show up to remind Alphard of her misdeeds.
Thanks for the mention btw.
@Jubbz
Well the simplest answer to everything is “because this is love.”
I expected Cummings to be a goner but just as well at least he wasn’t doing something unseemly to Liang Qi. Though I have to wonder about what kind of lavish funeral he had for her. I would have paid to hear Cummings give Liang Qi’s eulogy, and watch how Cummings blasted his way through PLA troops.
@gprotein
Indeed hints and symbols are inserted some episodes apart and it’s easy to forget them as PA Works wasn’t rubbing people’s faces in it. They did things much more subtly.
Though Alphard may have started it over money in the end I don’t think she wanted to make bank. Instead I think she wanted to make things right again. Canaan becoming more like Alphard makes it almost seem as if Alphard is Canaan’s new light…though it just as well could be a sign of how Canaan can shine on her own now.
@Yamato
Canaan always had a plan to kill every one she meets…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxMtGXdndzU&feature=player_embedded
@Anon
Hey just because you lose an arm doesn’t make you any less badass, Just look Lord Zeus who used his severed arm as an improvised ROCKET PUNCH. In any case I am sure Alphard will get a bionic replacement and Yun Yun will graft on Alphard’s severed arm to become Liquid-Alphard.
Maria did live but she lived out the rest of her life all alone as Canaan went chasing after Alphard onee-sama. Sometimes death is far too kind a fate…
@Ominae
After having a love like Liang Qi how could a normal woman ever take her place in Cummings’ heart?
I am sure Alphard onee-sama eventually got Juuzo to build her an arm with ROCKET PUNCH capability. Of course it will be made of Super Alloy Z.
@Epi
I am sure if you go back and take note of the dialogue you will see that there is a lot of foreshadowing and many subtle hints. The factory for instance was mentioned in passing in the first ep and did not come into play really until 10. Cummings was talking of synthesia research early on, but the results or how far they got wasn’t shown until Liang Qi’s last stand. Also Liang Qi was on the phone a lot but it wasn’t until the last few eps that we found out that it was Natsume though it does make perfect sense if one did not suspect it. To be fair they don’t spell it out for you and the end was the anti-thesis of a simple solution to weapons proliferation. I may be pulling strings but I don’t think they were throwing around dialogue for the fun of it.
There is a narrative at work here, one that is largely obscured byt gorgeous animation, great action, and a monastic devotion to depicting heavy weapons. If you look back you might notice that a few things were mentioned or shown before their significance was made clear. PA Works did do True Tears, they can tell a story so I would not dismiss Canaan out of hand as simply a B action movie.
@TJ
The conspiracy is still on going as Natsume does not have the ability to make the most of her newly acquired data so long as Alphard lives. The flower garden project was a weapons project that Alphard eventually decided to shut down, its purpose was made clear. I think that having ride herself of the tattoo and reverting back to letting her hair down Alphard did move on. Change of hairstyles is usually a sign of a major character shift, it also applies to Canaan in regards to her adopting Alphard’s hairstyle at the end. While Natsume and Alphard have unfinished business, I think that was a much more realistic ending with regards to the proliferation of Borner Weapons. It’s not like nuclear weapons simply went away after those involved with the Manhattan Project died, so a wishy washy simplistic and abrupt end to that would not really have cut it. Even if the data Alphard gave Natsume was lost, Natsume might have just erased another village to get test subjects.
I gave Gundam 00 crap for ending the 70 year long ethnic conflict in Ceylon with a few bombs and GUNDAM. I would be disappointed if PA Works took the same route with biological weapons.
I’m really happy that there’s someone who can put together everything like that and sees Alphard as an important and complex character, despite the confusing final episode.
I still think that you’re the brilliant one, Crusader, and the writers are just bad. I cannot believe they put such subtle hints all over the story but in the same time leads many people to believe that Canaan is a great winner and Alphard is just a defeated lonely heart. They could make everything much better.
Now…I have a question…when have Canaan become a victim of UA virus? I cannot figure out that, I cannot place that moment in the order of events. I’ll watch again some important scenes, but I want your opinion.
Alphard’s main goal being to replace Siam as Canaan’s main influence, and how Alphard got caught up in it and lost sight of the bigger picture temporarily, was a masterful plot motivation, as you point out. I’m not sure I’d call her a protagonist, since she didn’t really care what happened or who got killed in the process of undoing Siam’s work/ending the Borner program’s legacy. Maybe a villain working to a good end? And she does redeem herself at the end when she Canaan makes her realize how single-minded she’s become.
Great review all around. While I’m not in complete agreement on the SUGOI level of depth you attribute to the series, it certainly has much more than most action series, and even above several non-action shows. Many thanks for the analysis, especially since it seems many people wrote off the series as all flash-no content.
Oh, and Buddhist monk Cummings HELL YES!
@Crusader
Oh I’m fully aware of all the foreshadowing and so on. But I feel that there were a lot of things that they foreshadowed that was never mentioned again. In fact they threw out so much in the beginning, it was like they could have turned the story any way they want and it would have still ‘made sense’.
Which is the problem I think lies with the story. For instance, the Shanghai summit could have been a huge mistake/disaster for the Snakes, or it could have been all part of Alphard’s plan (she knew Canaan would save the day and so on). Thinking that putting the cure in the open would actually stop further biological attacks is a good idea, but not in practice. We have a cure for anthrax, a common antibiotic you can find anywhere, but that doesn’t stop it from being deadly.
Giving research away doesn’t guarantee that no further victims will be harmed. So while I can see your interpretation of events as Alphard redeeming herself and while I can see how if we look at it your way, everything makes sense, I do feel that there are a lot of ways to look at it.
To me it seemed like they had a story about two girls who were trained to be child soldiers, and they wanted the story to be about them, but they also wanted a lot of cool action scenes inbetween. Sort of like a Michael Bay movie… lots of military themed stuff, lots of explosions, all hiding the real story which is pretty simple in which you don’t have to think much about.
Brilliant analysis if you are correct thought!
Only thing that I’m waiting to see if Daedala will be beaten down by governments of the world due to their implication in the Shanghai attacks or go underground…
Siam ended up being right when he told Alphard “you’ll come to know the true meaning of your new name… loneliness.” she ended up being exactly what her name meant
“the solitary one in the snake”
whatever happened to Maria not remembering Alphard… I want to be enlightened about that!
no one will catch the one-armed woman!
@innerst
When Liang Qi made her last stand at the factory it was revealed that the UA Virus and synthesia were linked. Hence why Alphard was involved in creating a clone.
@ExecutiveOtaku
I am not saying it was SUGOI deep but it is simply not as shallow as people think it is.
Alphard may have been the titular villain, but she is also the one who saved people on occasion and she made much more headway in stifling the proliferation of Borner Weapons than Santana. She also gave Hakko a chance to be happy, but Hakko did not make the most of it.
@Epi
Bringing out the cure into the open then creates an expectation that good governments will keep reserves of such cures in case of the worst case scenario. It may still be deadly but it is not incurable and so the damage will, supposing governments are held accountable, be limited. You cannot stop every attack but you can take steps to ensure that you do not have a second Black Death. Any government that hopes to stay in power will take steps to make the most use of this cure, perhaps not out of kindness and goodness, but as a means to ensure order. On the flip side if there is a cure then the pay off for investing in weaponized UA Virus might entail less pay off.
You forget that it was the CIA that was involved in UA research from the start, and as such perhaps the revelation that there is a cure mitigates the viability of the UA Virus as a strategic and tactical weapon for regimes around the world.
In the end you could use a UA based weapon, but if there is a cure, why would you want to if your intention is to kill lots of people? Personally if it were me I just as well go on to something else that doesn’t have a cure yet to create an epidemic to critically weaken a government. Besides those damn NGOs would be handing out the cure for free and thus ruin all that hard work.
If the research is already done they why go through the costly expense of involuntary clinical trials not to mention risking the political fallout from such a venture? Research is also very expensive hence why pharmaceuticals need huge budgets. It may not guarantee that no one else will be harmed but it makes it much less likely unless there is a government that is willing to run huge deficits in research projects. It’s like having some one do a scientific paper for you on the cure for AIDS, all you need to do is put you name on it, but the option does exist where you would instead start from scratch and spend all that money to get to the same conclusion and miss out on that Nobel Prize. Also keep in mind that you might create a lot of Borners, but you need a specific kind to make Canaan clones, which seems to be the Borner weapon that everyone wants.
Fundamentally in this case Alphard already did all the hard work and is making open source, the likelihood of someone just casting it aside and starting from scratch is rather slim. Even within the universe if Alphard’s data was useless and they could have run their own trials then why send Natsume after her to get the data? Clearly some of the major powers had problems doing a second trial. It’s like rejecting Java and creating code from scratch, you could do it, but why would you want to?
@Ominae
So long as Alphard lives they can never rest easy. If Canaan Mk II is now Alphard imouto-san then they will have many more sleepless nights…
@mdrandom
Supposing that Canaan Mk II is now Alphard imouto-san then Siam might be wrong if Alphard onee-sama and Alphard imouto-san meet as anything other than enemies.
The ending suck period. I don’t care what you think.
@Mandygirl78 Your sentence structure sucks, you should learn how to communicate better. Instead of making some flippant, ass backward comment that you don’t bother to check your writing, you could actually go in depth and explain WHY you think it sucks, or else you look like an idiot.
Anyway, awesome review as usual. I’m not hoping but rather it’s a given that the next part of the 428 game comes out soon, probably the release of the 3d Wii. Though, I’m worried that if they do the same with Machi like they did with 428 ( completely change the storyline around with new characters, but it’s set in the same setting) they might not continue with Canaan. I hope it’s not the case, though. ‘Cause if the game comes out, they’ll follow up with the anime of season two…hopefully longer and more screen time Alphard/Canaan!
I just wanted to hit my theory in here, first of all I do love your point of view about how Alphard is being ultra Tsun throughout the series. Coming off as the big bad, but helping people at the same time in subtle ways. Still it’s hard to say she doesn’t have evil in her, she did infect that league of nations like conference and wore a pretty cruel smile when the infected one exploded blood out of his face. Though its also clear that shes no fan of Capitalism so she might have seen this as a “greater good” kinda thing.
My opinion is that Alphard saw Canaan as herself and not really a monster. They shared the same name and had a very similar story. Alphard even says to Maria that Canaan and her had a identical story. The difference is Canaan was able to change her ending and I’m inclined to believe Alphard wanted to know how, hence why she had such interest in Maria the one that caused the change in Canaan. Up until then Canaan was just like her, living her life in hatred and killing every tag that Natsume put down. But when Maria showed up that changed.
Earlier Alphard talked about being grateful to Canaan ( during one of the best bathroom subtext yuri fights ever.) There are 2 ways I can interrupt this-
1. Canaan is still controlled by hate even though she had Maria, thus showing Alphard that hate cannot be purged even by moving on from the past. Despite having a new hope, the two Canaan were still driven by the same concept.
2. She was grateful to know that there was a way to escape her endless repetition of the same day and Canaan could show her how to do it; in a sense Canaan gave her hope.
My opinion is that Alphard sees Canaan as her old self and she wants to see if she has the strength to beat who she was, if Canaan goes down at her peak ( Maria dying.) Alphard escapes the past and Siam’s ghost.
I’m interested in expanding my knowledge on Alphard so feel free to hit with the hardest criticism you got on my standing.
I feel like I’m the only one who likes CanaanxMaria, I’ve always been a pairing loner tho. T_T
My feelings about the ending are still mixed, after two months. At first I cried and cried, mostly because the spitting up of Canaan and Maria was very saddening.
…
I have a feeling that if I go on rambling about my OTP, I I’ll be eyed on like “Wuuuutt?”, so I stop before I tear my lappy. :’(
Mh.
I really really like the topic and read every post.
I am kinda late but maybe someone will read this, so I will give him my view of the end.
Canaan gets the order to kill Alfard.
That is what she wanted so much, but she did’nt want to kill her because of emotions like revenge.
I like the idea, that Canaan will meet Maria after Alfard is down, thats what Canaans last face showed to me.
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