In all honesty, I can’t take issue with Hiroki’s choice. I liked Elis from the very beginning. The fact that they’re cousins doesn’t trouble me. Nor does the age difference. In fact, I’d argue that, spoiled nature aside, Elis was far more mature than given credit for. And, dependable appearance aside, Hiroki wasn’t all that dependable at all. Perhaps they were made for each other. They had good chemistry, that’s for sure.
But, what of the ending itself? I’m still a bit conflicted. I’m neither happy nor angry. I’m more curious than anything else.
My first thought was, “Where the hell did that come from?” Obviously, Hiroki’s final dilemma was one in which he had to make a choice between what his heart desired and what his brain implored. Those are never easy choices to make, and rarely do they give rise to easy, perfect solutions. Some sort of sacrifice will always be made. And, in matters of love, someone will always be hurt. What makes Hiroki’s ultimate decision so immediately perplexing is the fact that it’s very much out of character. Or is it?
Hand, meet forehead.
“I’m a teacher!” How many times did we hear Hiroki say that over the course of the series? How often did his words sound genuine? How often did his friends, colleagues, and students take him seriously? The fact is, Hiroki was staring down the barrel of one of those “heart vs. brain” choices for the entire series - and it had nothing to do with Kiri or Elis. He was trying to decide his future.
The fact that he went with his heart and chose the life of an artist isn’t all that surprising, really. His false words alone were enough to support such a conclusion. But, if choosing his heart over his brain with regard to his future is no surprise, what of his choosing Elis over Kiri? Should the fact that he went with his heart there be a surprise, either? I don’t think so.
I should’ve seen it coming. But, I didn’t.
Typically, these bishoujo game adaptations get waffly endings. In game form, the protagonist (i.e., the player) has his choice of girls - how the story ends is ultimately up to him and him alone. Obviously, this doesn’t work in a TV series. There can only be one ending. One final episode. Some shows crown one girl alone the winner. Others leave every girl hanging. Some crown a girl AND leave everyone else hanging. It’s ridiculous the lengths some shows will go to in an effort to keep fans happy. So, I suppose Canvas should be commended for its very direct, very final, very “how ’bout them apples?!” ending.
I mean, Hiroki and Elis in a post-coital embrace? “How ’bout them apples?!” indeed! I wouldn’t blame Kiri fans for punching a hole in the TV. Me, I just dropped the remote and stared transfixed at the screen for a few minutes.
And Kiri? Geez. Poor girl. She should become a nun or something.
The reason I watched the Canvas series was that I saw its potential to be a powerful show about various people overcoming their inner fears and dillema to regain what they lost and becoming better for it. Everyone has lost something and/or facing major issues, and the show tries to show how Hiroki lends a helping hand, albeit a small one usually, in the process. For him Choosing between art and teaching is a question independent of everything else, just as you say. his choice of girl should also be independent of other things. Beside, it is possible to teach and do creative work as suggested by many characters in the series. The problem with final scene was that it grabbed the whole focus away from inner growth and fortitude of the characters to mere shocking revelations about love relationship. You didn’t see that last scene coming, neither did many other people including me. If that scene, instead, had Hiroki saying ‘I am sorry to Kiri, he would immediately win back Kiri’s heart and they could raise their intimacy to new level ( I believe there are many level of intimacy, most of them being of the mind. Heck, coitus is not the ultimate form/declaration of love; it just is part of big overall package ). In many ways Kiri symbolizes growth and maturing of Hiroki’s mind, much better than Elis, who probably was the most popular character of the series, hands down.
To wrap it all up, Canvas2 could have been a memorable series about character development, but ended up becoming just another love twister.
Wow, after 23 episodes , I was caught off guard with the ending… That just rarely happens these days…. I love how it ended…I mean they gave the fans what they wanted and what’s wrong with that…. Kiri was just un-cute and no where near as loveable as Elis…
Allow me to post something I have posted in another blog site.
I suspect that the producers actually had prepared two different ending after the ending song and decided to go with character who is more popular than who makes more overall sense; A 16 year old blond beauty in full radiance easily wipes floor with 25 year old sweet woman with decent curves.
( http://www.yayapapayaz.com/hontouni/?p=347 )
In reality, Girls in Eastern Asia rarely blooms into their full beauty before age of 25, due to such importance attached to studying for college entrance and graduation from there. Many school impose strict limits on make-ups and clothing, hence the school uniform, and their parents would not have them think about anything other than studying. Only after entering college do they gain freedom to express themselves and take care of their figures; they say more than quarter of girls in college have at least one plastic/cosmetic surgery before they graduate. Had Canvas2 been a drama instead of Anime, if they hired actress that is within 3 years of their character’s age, there exist 80% chance that people would think Kiri is the prettier one.
But Canvas is not a drama, and is catering to audience that clearly prefer’s young teenager girls. I am moving on to School Rumble 2nd semester now that Canvas2 and SoltyRei has ended. Did I mention that my wife thinks that School Rumble’s female school uniform is both realistic and pretty?
Well, given the show’s origins, there were obviously a number of “endings” to choose from. I haven’t played the game, so I don’t know if the ending we got was original or not. Chances are, it corresponds to one of the game endings - at least in part. Best I can tell, Elis is the “title” character of the game, so the fact that she emerged victorious in the anime adaptation isn’t all that surprising in itself.
As for your argument regarding age and beauty, Wontaek, I think you over-simplify things. Having worked closely with a number of Japanese women around or under the age of 25, I can say that they’re more in control of their lives than you think. As for the “quarter of college age women have had cosmetic surgery” statistic, I’m inclined to call bullshit. I’ve heard it before, but I’ve never seen any evidence to support it.
As for age 25 talk, I guess I am showing my age. Yes, teenagers in eastern Asia now has more freedom in their life than before. Although there always are men’s fascination with young girls, only recently do we see more high school girls in public. When I was in high school or college, no male around me had any dream of dating a high school girl. There exist a serious cultural gap between people of my age ( age 31-41 ) and recent high school graduates ( age 17 - 25 ) to a degree that much of what we accepted without question is now totally false. This cultural gap is brought about , in Korea, primarilly by change in college entrance procedure, and the new economic reality in Japan.
I have no stats to back up the cosmetic talk. What I do know for fact is that more than half the girls in my former church choir was rumored to have had some surgeries to enhance their look, and my Brother-in-Law is a cosmetic surgeon and he said that he has a long waiting list of females between age of 18-22 during college summer and winter vactions. What probably is true is that most girls in wealthier family has considered cosmetic surgery but I have no idea how many went further than just thinking about it.
I do agree that when I review the entire series in my mind, the mere fact that Kiri came so close was a surprise, given the popularity of the ‘title’ character. The manga series of Canvas2 makes it rather clear that Kiri is just a women from the past, and Elis is the ‘real’ wife, and others mere ‘concubines.’ ( The line ‘real’ wife really does come out of Elis’s mouth in the manga ) Hiroki also has more quality time with Elis and less with Kiri there as well. I guess I just became bitter, for I hoped, for just once, that Anime would break the mass media’s convention and go with traditional ( thus perhaps lame and boring ) social value convention, and it seemed like I would get it until the sudden turn around in last two episodes.
I need to clarify something I wrote. Most of my male aquaintance, until 10 years ago, thought of high school girls as immature person who needs more seasoning to be even considered for physical beauty. Now days, they have become a fair game, thanks to the fact that it is easier to encounter them now in various public places. This is not entirely a good thing, as they are being considered more and more in light of target of sexual desire instead of object of care and affection.
To get the cliche out of the way first: BAD END.
This ending definitely came in from the left field, completely blindsiding me. Though episode 23 gavev some little tips that something was amiss, only in 24 did it become apparent that they were going to do a complete 180 degrees in the span of one episode.
The problem is that from character development side, I completely fail to understand their decisions; those of Elis, Kiri and Hiroki. Of course one factor is that I hate Elis’s charcter. She’s whiny, childish and indecisive with a serious brother complex. The last few episodes’ attempts to build her some spine didn’t warm me up. Kiri’s character on the other hand I liked a lot. Hiroki’s sudden change of heart I understand the least. I’ll leave the apparent close brush with incest out of the discussion.
Canvas 2 will, unfortunately, join the list of shows that have completely disappointed me, this managing to demolish 23 episodes of character development in one episode. I’m getting seriously bad Mai-Hime vibes here where they managed to destroy the pretty promising latter half of the show (the so-called ‘Himelander’ arc) with extremely poor ending and the decision not to cover any of the gaping, unresolved plot holes.
I had been thinking that if this ever gets licensed I might get the DVDs. Well, now I can save the cash for a more worthy show. This certainly did have its good moments, but when characters start to clash with their established personalities a la KOR, I must say ‘no thank you’.
Or we can always draw the ‘love is blind’ card. I’ve seen people make stupid, stupid decisions because of that.
Wow. Glad i stopped watching about 7 episodes ago, or else i probably WOULD have punched a hole in my TV. He really chose Elis? WOW.
I liked this ending. I hated this ending. Therefore, it’s a GREAT ending. Bravo for Canvas 2 to continue to do something NO ONE DOES (at least, recently).
And wontek: you’re an aging Korean. Did you know Japan and China are quite different, even 20 years ago? My father dated my mother when they’re both in high school. Take that.
I once categorized Canvas 2 as one of the few harem/VN translations to transcend the genre and actually have a plausible story. I had really enjoyed the “realism” of a school teacher rejecting advances with his students while continuing a romance with someone his age.
Canvas 2 also had my single favorite harem/VN anime translation scene: after Elise first confessed to Hiroki, he was so stunned all he could do was walk over to get a drink of water and swear. Whereas other harem animes would draw heavily on the incestuous overtones, this scene to me is really the most realistic outcome. Seriously, if a “younger sister” (cousin/adopted/etc..) confessed her love to an “older brother” in real life, he would be swearing to himself in confusion, frustration and disbelief.
…but I guess that’s too much to ask of a harem anime after all…
Since the setting is in Japan, I challenge you this, omo. Find pictures of real 16 year old model/actress in Japan/Korea/China; the creme of the crop in appearance. Then find pictures of real 25 year old model/actress in Japan/Korea/China. Even better, find picture of famous actress/model when they were at 16 year old and 25 year old. Compare #1 how easy it is to find those pictures, #2 which age group’s appearance would be considered more gorgeous, and #3 estimate the number of actress/model in each group. While #2 is for each person to decide, the general consensus amongst my male friends ( most are still not married ) in Korea is
#1 Even if you include school photos, it is easier to find pictures of 25 year old female since
#3 They vastly outnumber 16 year old model/actress and
#2 16 year olds, in general, look like toddlers compared to 25 year old. In case both pictures can be found, much changes can be seen, usually for the better.
This may be biased due to age and location, but I have a hunch it will be likewise in Japan as well.
I may have over generalized the life of high school students, though. Things are not the same in different places, and it is constantly changing as well, so I probably AM WRONG on most accounts. The real point I wanted to make was that if Canvas2 was a real drama or movie, using typical actress with real age within 2 years of the character’s age, it would have been likely that Kiri would be considered prettier of the two and more popular, unless they deliberated try to cast in a way to make Elis more attractive. But Canvas2 is an Anime with different audience group compared to dramas and movie. judging from the viewing group’s characteristics, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up for Kiri ending. My problem with the series is just that; it got my hopes up and then kind of betrayed me, but for most people I think it was the other way around and the producers have every right to go with the majority.
Blast, it is early in the morning for me. Please change the line ‘within 2 years of the character’s age’ to ‘ within 3 years of character’s age ‘.
I don’t disagree with you on that. I just think your characterization of high school life is really, really off unless you’re extremely lucky enough to live in the upper-middle/upper class back in the 60-70s with conservative upbringing. Heck, Canvas 2 itself makes it clear that SEX APPEAL is not in the equation. The diversity in the female cast is a remanent from its bishoujo gaming origin.
That said, the test you propose is poorly constructed because it takes into account many other factors you didn’t mention.
Yes, despite being my effort in a very short time, it isn’t a well constructed test and I’m sure people can think of better ways to do it.
Where’d you get that cute piccie of elis? I’m trying to find Canvas2 wallpapers, but I’m not having any luck so far, and any help will be much appreciated.
That aside, I liked the ending. It surprised me, and helped this show trancend from standard romance with a few quirks, and become more than the sum of it’s parts.
I found the image at Minitokyo… I think.
There’s a ton of Canvas 2 art/fanart/wth:
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/list/tags/canvas2 (nsfw)
and
http://a.imouto.org/boon/Canvas2_Wallpapers/ (maybe nsfw)
It’ll be a lie if I said that I wasn’t that much happy about the ending. In fact, I can’t stop smiling thinking about this anime. I think it’ll stuck inside me for some time until I found another anime that could match C2.
Though I feel VERY HAPPY, I still feel a little sad because they end it just as they got together. Not only that, I also feel some pain for Kiri. I will admit that I’m an Elis’ supporter & fan from the ‘middle of the series’ & Kiri didn’t grew in me at all throughout the series.
So all in all, I love & hate the ending at the same time. Love it partly because Elis gets her love & Hiroki did choose someone. Hate it because Kiri didn’t get her love (which is kinda sad) & the end scene is TOO SHORT eventhough it’s a sweet one.
I find the ending is unique & interesting (just my opinion). While some people said that ending it with Elis is typical because she’s the main character, I’m quite the opposite of that. IMO, Kiri is ALSO the main character & considering that she’s Hiroki’s 1st love since high-school, she’s more likely to get Hiroki rather than Elis, hence typical ending to me.
I don’t know about other Elis fans but I’m pretty much content with Elis’ growth throughout the series. Ending it with Hiroki x Elis is NOT really necessary for me (though I’ll be a little sad if Elis didn’t get her love). But with this ending, I feel like heaven & it’s too rewarding.
Instead of following the happy game’s ending (which I’m being spoiled with), they did quite the opposite thing here. Following the game’s ending would be more satisfying (for a FEW Elis’ fans like myself & Kiri fans + other neutral viewers).
But this ending is not really that bad IMO. I mean what’s so bad about Kiri stayed as Hiroki’s childhood friend & Elis got chosen by Hiroki as in contrast with Kiri got chosen by Hiroki & Elis stayed as Hiroki’s little ’sister’? Can’t Kiri’s fans be satisfied with that?
Spare me from that ‘I think Kiri x Hiroki is waaaay BETTER’ / ‘cousin x cousin = incest’ / ‘Hiroki is too old for her’ etc things, but at the very least Hiroki is still considering Kiri as his best friend. Why MUST Hiroki choose Kiri? Come on, isn’t there any Kiri fans who’s fine with either endings? *sigh* Am I being overly optimistic here? :(
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omo - I liked this ending. I hated this ending. Therefore, it’s a GREAT ending. Bravo for Canvas 2 to continue to do something NO ONE DOES (at least, recently).
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^ Hey, same opinion :p Well, it’s really surprising to pull this kind of ending in anime. But not in (Japanese) romance novels. I mean, the switch ending & heart swaying. Not all people are always single-minded in love.
As for wontaek’s arguement, I agree with Jeff & omo there that you are over-simplifying things & sex appeals / beauty, preference in age and character’s popularity had nothing to do with Elis’ ending. That’s just ‘meh’.