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Canaan – 12: Alphard Express 999

September 25th, 2009

Yun Yun had to do it over 9000 times to get it right…

Apologies for being late again, but once again duty calls and I have been called upon to clean up someone else’s mess. So after the conclusion of Liang Qi’s love it seems that Canaan is quite depressed after seeing Hakko throw her life away. Maria and Canaan’s relationship is now marred by insecurities on both sides. Canaan can’t make sense of her new emotions and Maria realizes that Canaan is a baby, albeit a very deadly baby. Minoru gets the three girls their very own private rail car on the deadliest train in the world, I hear the line ends at some sort of machine world but I have never been. Yun Yun made some SUGOI sandwiches but before they can have a picnic, long time passenger, the mysterious Maetel Alphard decoys Canaan away from Maria as she steals into Canaan’s seat. Alphard tells Maria what her purpose is and tells the truth about how Canaan is crude.Maria gives her thoughts on the matter and they both reach an understanding of sorts. Ever eager to be come a light that can shine on her own Maria accepts the task that Alphard gives her. Maria knows that her infidelity and ungratefulness must be punished but requests that she be allowed to take Alphard onee-sama’s picture. Incidentally it was the best picture she ever took and after she took it Alphard shot her in the stomach so that she could limp her way unto the bombed up carriage. Canaan is easily distracted by ghosts and after getting annoyed with Hakko, shoots her. Sadly because Canaan is not a master troll like Alphard she forgot to use her airsoft gun. Canaan having been distracted by the ghosts of killings past finally realizes that she has left Maria all alone and hurries back only to have a BIG FIGHT with Alphard. While it wasn’t a total blow out like it their unforgettable night in the women’s bathroom, but Alphard maintained the upper hand almost effortlessly and recovered quickly from both of Canaan’s throws. Yun Yun tries to save Maria but Maria wants to have a SUGOI death and has Yun Yun detach her rail car instead.The sudden loss of added Maria SUGOI weight (gained from numerous parfaits and out of season crab buffets) shakes up the whole train causing Alphard to lose her footing and Canaan to recover after having a crushed thumb. With less than a minute to go on the time bomb Canaan is still struggling to match Alphard’s might.

Impression

While the yuri goodness was delectable as always like Kabitzin, I was overawed by the longest performance of Alphard’s skill at arms to date. It certainly was one of the most memorable fights this season and perhaps even this year.The fight in many ways vindicates Liang Qi as a decent enough fighter given that how Canaan was still struggling to compete despite conditions being optimal for Canaan’s power levels to be at their peak. At this juncture Alphard remains largely a mystery and I don’t think it is about proving she is the strongest, if anything she has proven to be the strongest for most of the series. Even during their fight Canaan was at a disadvantage for much of it and she struggled just to keep up despite Maria being trapped and dying. If it were only about superiority Alphard already had Siam’s acknowledgment that she is the strongest soldier, Canaan might exceed what he had in mind but Canaan lacks the kind of discipline that makes Alphard so deadly. Hallucinating right in the middle of it all pretty much proved it, and it wasn’t the first time Alphard had pointed out Canaan’s weaknesses.

I think the critical point here is Siam and the reasons why Alphard and Siam parted ways in such a manner that he ended up dead. A few episodes back Alphard mentioned that Siam took the same job twice and as such even with the accidental discovery it is hard to imagine a mercenary doing something for free only for Canaan to end up at Iron Strife’s top agent. Alphard mentioned that Natsume had contracted Canaan as a bluff to Alphard so it is possible that Siam was contracted to make Canaan the perfect killer as Siam is implied to have intimate knowledge of Canaan’s abilities than would have been otherwise possible if he had not in some way been involved in the ruin of Hakko’s village. Given that Canaan has the UA virus Siam probably didn’t just find her and probably was looking for survivors. In the first episode Natsume was breaking Unblooms out of the factory to further her own research, but was being attacked by the Snakes. Now towards the end it seems clear that Alphard had largely abandoned the facility but was still keeping people away from the area, so things do come full circle and past hints aren’t cast aside with reckless abandon. Hell even Cummings’ talk about short selling in episode 2 came back when the VP was in his war room.

Given that everything seems to come together eventually I think that it might be a bit premature to be like ghostlightning and dismiss this series as purely action and only look at things within a single episode. Early on Alphard disliked the idea of using Borners as weapons and in the end she completed the research with the sample population she already had, for the express purpose of negating any strategic value Borner bio weapons would have. Just about every one with killer intent glows blue, but Alphard being a master troll wasn’t glowing blue. If the intent was to simply make the perfect set up to bring out Canaan’s A game then why even bother asking for Maria’s cooperation? There might be more going on here since we still don’t know what Maria’s powers are as she is probably still a carrier despite having been “cured” given how the last bomb was a dud which resulted in Canaan struggling to shoot a shouta it might be the case. Killing Siam’s ghost could mean a lot of things, Alphard confesses that she has nothing personal against Canaan, and before Alphard dragged Canaan out of the rubble she wanted to see that Maria had become Canaan’s new strength. Alphard’s demand that Canaan demonstrate this might be because despite what Canaan says she is still tied strongly to Siam as Canaan was still having deep conversations with Siam’s ghost. I don’t think that it was being abandoned by Siam that got to Alphard but the realization of what it meant to be Canaan. Alphard was probably taught to feed on hatred, and despite Canaan protesting that soldiers who are born of hate are failures, Canaan is fighting out of hatred. Canaan still blames Alphard for the deaths of those around her despite Canaan being the one who actively killed half of them and in the case of Santana and Hakko got themselves killed. Like Alphard told Liang Qi, it is better to let got of hatred if one cannot control it. Thus I think Alphard had a little chit chat with Maria about how Canaan needed a person who could truly love her, because without that Canaan was easily enough controlled by Natsume and Iron Strife.

There is one thing that still bothers me a bit since Alphard claims to have met Maria before, but the latter had forgotten or pretended to forget, so that has yet to be dealt with, perhaps when that card is finally played everything will be cleared up for good. At the very least they seemed rather intent on setting up Alphard as the woman who went out to set things right again, perhaps this was her atonement for the UA virus, she did give Hakko the chance to live a normal life but she could not be saved. Perhaps if Maria is who Alphard wants her to be then Canaan will no longer be a ghost of Siam, a remnant of the his legacy which Alphard seems to despise. Alphard could have killed Canaan easily enough many times, perhaps her intent on killing the despair is to save Canaan from ending up the way Siam wanted.

Indeed Maria is so mean.

She’s like the lost puppy that you just have to take home…

Indeed Canaan has seen much more of Alphard than you ever have…

If only we got to saw that…

I guess they made him sleep on the floor while Maria had her fun time with Canaan and Yun Yun.

Way to go Maria it’s bad enough Hakko chose a corpse over him…

Come to think of it both of them tend to prefer kiddie food…

Canaan refuses to eat anything but junk food.

Copying Mino’s san’s courtship tactics eh?

Hey that big blonde guy looks familiar…

Maria is indeed the weakest…

PICNIC END!

WTF?

Hey a Mai Hime end…

….who dared to cheapen all these deaths?

Wait so you see dead people too?

They were seeing who could hold their breaths the longest…

Alphard thought it was about time to establish whose harem this will be…

I am surprised she even bothered to to be polite.

Alphard onee-sama wanted to make a formal introduction with Yun Yun.

That’s right Yun Yun Maria seems to have the slows…

Yun Yun believe in the Alphard who believes in you!

Alphard knows Canaan best, and clearly Maria has yet to fully understand or love Canaan given Canaan’s win loss ratio against Alphard.

Even now no one wants to hear Hakko speak…

Well that is one way to get Hakko to stop her awful singing…

Misfire! Misfire! THAT is why you always point your weapon in a safe direction Canaan…

Now this is what I don’t quite understand, how come these people were spared while some were simply killed? Was it because they were Snakes on the Train?

When cleaning one’s ear goes wrong…

A little late now considering how much you have dealt…

It’s because she doesn’t know any better.

And to think Alphard could have done it when Liang Qi was playing on her Wii HD.

Indeed Canaan had yet to unravel the truth of Alphard.

You don’t look too sure…

Maria had looked forward to that for a long time…

Alphard: “Yeah I bet you have…”

Though he has no name I dub this survivor Wedge.

Tag, you’re it…

Alphard always did prefer to do the chasing…

Canaan is BI!

Your heterosexual escapades have not gone unnoticed…

Given how most bombs in this series have ended up as duds I a cannot rule out that this is some elaborate troll…

Don’t be so modest my liege you could end it quickly enough if you wanted to.

Time for a quickie…

Alphard just wants to have a bit of fun…

Her troll-fu is mighty.

YOUR NAME IS TOBY DESPAIR.

Alphard is amused that this fight has come to ripping each other’s clothes off…

Oh dear Canaan brought a knife to a gun fight…

Stronger than he could have ever hoped to have become.

Says the one that has a poor win loss ratio.

A most just fate for cowards who cannot say that to her face.

Indeed she is my liege.

Indeed Siam failed to outfight his student…

Indeed instead Siam would have been tossed into a lake with cement shoes…

It’s like ballet but better.

Well at least you can hit the floor with you knife, Alphard on the other hand…

And yet she’s really embracing Alphard…

Canaan’s hands were going places they should not have been.

No means NO Canaan.

So how does it feel to be glomped by Alphard?

Now you are just trolling, Siam was dead the moment you became better than him.

Ah the sweet nothings Alphard whispers into Canaan’s ears…

Despite being older Alphard is far more agile.

Now it’s Yun Yun’s turn to have her way with Maria.

That’s going to leave a mark…

It is useless to resist.

Join her and together you can rule this miserable ball of dirt as Canaan and Canaan.

Canaan. Alphard has always wanted a night of you and her. A night of you and her that went on forever and ever. Alphard doesn’t want it to end just yet. So please just keep quiet…