Did I see the eye of death? Well, not quite. I did see the eye of omni-tracking.
Canaan, who is only one of the protagonists (the other one being the girl reporter) despite having her name as the show’s title, gives a strong performance – I meant Sawashiro Miyuki’s voice acting is good. Though I can’t help but think of a lower pitched Shinku. At first, I thought Sakamoto Maaya would be great for this role because what she did in Kara no Kyoukai. That deep and deadly-calmly-laying-waste-to-life-killer-destroyer voice would suit the main character in Canaan perfectly. Then Alphard showed up, and I went: “Ah, wakatta.” Alphard is played by Sakamoto.
Being a fan of the eye of death/eye that sees death lines (secretly desiring the power so I can kill a lot of life+space wasting loser humans); I was quite impressed of how this animation studio animated Canaan’s omni-tracking eye movements during the first gunfight. However, what impressed me further was the plot. It isn’t as complex or close to convoluted like typical Nasu efforts; even though typical Nasu efforts aren’t hard to understand. Actually, it’s often his concepts and character reflections that give me trouble. As a matter of fact, I’m reading Kara no Kyoukai novel for the 3rd time, trying to understand some of the concepts and reflections. In Canaan, the thoughts and motivations behind Canaan is just starting to be explored.
I didn’t see any problem with character interactions. I also felt that we didn’t have the archetypical of Nasu characters; these characters were slightly different from his usual efforts. But yes, the eyes were there. I wouldn’t go so far as to foolishly suggest that the eyes of Canaan or Shiki refer to anything like the eyes in Great Gatsby (yes, I’m totally guilty of stretching too far and snapping), but perhaps in a micronized sort of way, Nasu’s eyes also see people’s comings and goings and specifically, weakness and the frailness, in addition to having the ability to die easily. One can seriously injure or die just by falling down the stairs or fall on a pipe or something else.
Perhaps his characters see the death in all of us. Being absolutely bored, uncertain, and totally distant, perhaps only the power of taking a life can really excite them and in term, excite his audience – me and perhaps others in the anime/Otaku circle.
