Canvas 2: Nijiiro no Sketch

5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Surprisingly Entertaining

I didn’t really like harem anime series, but I actually liked Canvas 2. In fact, I think I looked forward to watching it. That’s really surprising, because normally I would avoid series that had ero-game written all over it. It was really interesting to see how Hiroki, the main character, would interact with the girls in his life, a lot of them under-aged, I might add.

Like your usual harem anime, Canvas 2 had ecchi scenes complete with unnecessary shower scenes and panty shots, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I didn’t mind it at all. As a ... conservative girl, I would detest any hint of fan service thrown my way, but truth be told, it wasn’t that repulsive. I’m not sure if ecchi fan boys will like or hate that.

Anyway, as expected, girl characters dominated the cast. I liked all of them, except Elise. I found her to be really irritating and fickle. I know Kiri isn’t charismatic enough to be Hiroki’s girl friend, but I really didn’t want Elise to end up with his cousin. You’d think I’d be used to cousin relationships after all the anime I’ve seen this year alone, but I kept hoping that Hiroki wouldn’t pick Elise. The fact that she kept calling him “onii-chan” made me think that Elise saw Hiroki as her older brother more than her boyfriend.

I was surprised to find Aya Hirano in the cast list. I guess her role as Sumire Misaki is one of her lesser known roles. Usually when someone says Aya Hirano, you think of Haruhi Suzumiya or Misa from Death Note. I thought that the voice she had for Misaki was closer to her real voice. Takahiro Sakurai, one of my favorite male seiyus, is also in the cast list. He did a great job of portraying Hiroki.

Animation wise, it was actually pretty good. It’s simple, and when I say that I mean there’s nothing that special about it. The art design is pretty similar to what everybody has seen in anime so far. I do love the wide variety of colors after all. It wouldn’t be as good if it didn’t have a whole spectrum of colors. It is an anime about art, after all.

The music, as expected, is cutesy. I realized that the opening song, "Plastic Smile (Niji-iro guitar version)", was sung by Honey Bee[YURIA]. I read somewhere that her work is used in a lot of adult video games, so I guess they picked the right woman to sing the opening song. I actually liked it, it was quite catchy. The same goes for the ending song, “NA NA IRO" by Sweets Tankentai. I learned both songs right away so I can sing with it when I watch Canvas 2.

I guess I watched it mostly because I wanted to see who Hiroki will end up with (and I cheered for Kiri the whole way). It was really fun to see him go back and forth between the two girls that captured his heart, and even if I have harem series before, this is the first time that I was seriously concerned on who the main guy will pick. I think that it’s the same for those who have seen this anime.

A harem is a harem and Canvas 2 is definitely a harem.

Story: The story takes the route that every harem takes. One boy in a sea of girls who may or may not be interested in them. In this case, he or hs sister help them to accomplish their dreams through their high ranking academic school. Each girl has a different talent and a reason for why they're held back from reaching their tre potential. As do the two heroines of this story.

Art: I found the art well below average from what I usually watch. It's nowhere near intolerable to watch (little blabs), but I ... would expect an anime that's main premise is revolved around art to have an above average animation quality. The character designs are decent and once again not worth talking about.

Sound: The opening and ending themes go great with the series. They both reminded me of art and love. The voice actors were average at best. When lack of emotion was needed, they did a great job, but when it came time for the characters to get teary-eyed, it just sounded to flat to matter.

Character: This series is all about character development and reaching for one's dreams so the characters play a huge role. To be frank, the characters we pretty dull. They had petty problems and dumb reasons for not giving it everything they got. The solutions to their problems seemed a bit forced as well. When it came time to pull at the viewer's heart strings, the characters fell short.

Enjoyment: The best thing about this series was the animation and that was a bit lacking. It didn't make me laugh, it didn't make me cry, it didn't make me care. It was so utterly predictable that I couldn't help but yawn during every episode. The romance was boring and highly unlikely. It was just going around in circles the whole time!

Overall, I don't really think this series is worth the time. There are much better harems out there and plenty of series that follow the same "reach for your dreams" theme to even bother with this one.

In the year of 2005 the japanese animation production companies made quite a few animes, one of them is called Canvas 2. Why it is called Canvas 2 is probably because it's based on Canvas ~Motif Of Sepia~ (an OVA which I suppose was originally planned to be hentai, but they were feeling extra original and didn't make a hentai, instead they made the masterpiece that is known as Canvas ~Motif Of Sepia~, do not be fooled, I was being sarcastic), but it's not really a sequel. I guess they thought it was witty to add the 2 even though it's not an actual sequel. ... I can't begin to stress how original and inventive it is that they added a 2 to their title "Canvas". It blows my mind.

It's called Canvas with a 2 added because it's somehow about painters and a highschool that takes extra care of their art club... or something. There's this guy in this school who's something like a trainee teacher and takes care of the art club. For a school who specializes in art and suchlike they sure are lax with their art teacher. Ah well. Let me get to the point though, this anime is so bad I don't even know where to begin. BUT! It's actually so bad there's some qualities (bad ones of course) almost worth watching this anime for.

Let's start with the screenplay; it is an abomination, I mean, I swear to you right now and right here that I, the one sitting infront of my computer typing up this review, could have done a much better job. I'm not even joking. The thing is, the screenplay is overall of such poor quality that I can't really explain why it is bad, it's just that what the characters say, how they say it and why they say the things they say is just plain dumb. It's poorly timed, it's poorly written and for all I care they could just aswell have talked about planting sunflowers for the entirety of the series.

Let us continue with the story. If I must take the story seriously for the first time since I started watching the anime, I would say it's very fleeting. It's unevenly paced and mostly it's about nothing at all. Two episodes were dedicated to make an omelet with rice. Yea that's right, two episodes. I'm not joking. Canvas with a 2 added tries to be cute aswell, it tries to be moe, but the thing is, it fails at this in such epic proportions that it really becomes funny. But what I can say above all else is that this entire anime feels really, really ridiculous. The script, the story and every single character are ridiculous.

Foreseeable is a good word, it's a word that fits in with almost every single harem ever produced. Canvas with a 2 added is one of the most foreseeable animes I have ever watched though. I knew exactly how 75% of the scenes in Canvas with a 2 added had to offer were going to play out, and that is not exaggerating.

Now, in harem anime there's always several girls liking the same boy, since Canvas with a 2 added is a harem it is the same deal here. It's just that, you know, you usually expect to find out why people like other people, in Canvas with a 2 added it's a complete mystery and I mean that's cool... I suppose. But then you have the male lead who is one of the most stereotypical male leads in a harem or in any genre I've ever seen and you just think to yourself; why?

Now, let's end this on a high note. No, you know aswell as I do this is not going to end on a high note, the reason being; there are no high notes in this review nor are there any high notes in Canvas with a 2 added. The art and animation in Canvas with a 2 added is horrendous, really, reallly, really horrendous. That means it's bad. There are many stills in this anime, usually in anime you find that stills are fairly detailed with vivacious colours because stills (a non moving picture/frame) are cheap to make and doesn't even require animation if you really feel like saving some money, but in Canvas with a 2 added the stills are usually a school building, that I swear to Tom Cruise I could do better with some crayons on a white piece of paper, and then some green and blue for the grass and sky. You know, stuff you expect from 6 year old kids in first grade doodling during their first ever art class. (Did you catch the intentional dis I just dished out towards Canvas with a 2 added HAHA?) You might think I'm being too harsh or disrespecting the key animatiors and painters, but no, I seriously am not.

In conclusion; my review do this anime justice, Canvas with a 2 added truly is as bad as I'm describing it to be.