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Canaan – 13 (END): THAT Which You Leave Behind… (Concluding Thoughts)

October 2nd, 2009

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.