Canvas2 – 01

OP Sequence

Summary:
Kamikura Hiroki is dreaming of a girl from long ago when he wakes up to find Hosen Elise sleeping beside him. Elise, who calls Hiroki “onii-chan”, has a very playful relationship with him (i.e. it’s obvious she has feelings for him). It’s the first day of high school where Hiroki, who is actually a college student, is the new advisor of the art club. We’re then introduced to several characters: Saginomiya Saya (director of the school), Hagino Kana (a cute and short girl who always has laptop), and Takeuchi Mami (a very good art student). After Hiroki expertly critiques the drawings of the club, Elise comes into the room looking for him. He introduces her as his cousin, and when she clings to him, he pushes her away. Mami invites Elise to paint some red roses with her, but Elise adamantly refuses, causing a scene. At home, he scolds her, but gets her to stop sulking. When he starts to stand up, she stops him by hugging him tightly from behind. Hiroki stopped painting some time ago, and Elise uses this opportunity to ask him to start again, but he still refuses.
The next day, Hiroki arrives at the art club to find a broken vase and a smeared painting. The girls are blaming Elise, but she claims that it’s not her fault. After she runs out of the room, Hiroki tries to gather the facts, knowing that Elise wouldn’t lie. That night, Hiroki finds Kana at a cafe and the two see Tamaru Hikari walk by. She’s carrying a bag which she admits is holding a new vase. The truth is that she broke the old one, and Elise was only helping her. Armed with this information, Hiroki tracks down Elise at the grocery store and apologizes. As the two are walking home, Elise sees a red light at a crosswalk, which sends her into a state of shock, causing her to remember the day when she lost her parents in a car crash. Coming out of the flashback, Elise holds tightly onto Hiroki. She’s feels a lot better at dinner after Hiroki reassures her that since he’s known her from when she was little, he believed in her. The next day, as they are walking to school, Hiroki is surprised to spot a familiar looking face. He remembers again that time when a younger version of this person confessed to him, but he turned her down. She also recognizes him right away and is surprised to see him.

ED Sequence

OP: 「PLASTIC SMILE」 by A BONE feat. Honey Bee (YURIA)
ED: 「NA NA IRO」 by YURIA, 小池雅也, and K杉
YURIA sings the OP, and has a big part of the ED. I’m not that huge of a fan of her, but I rather like 「PLASTIC SMILE」. 「NA NA IRO」 is still growing on me. The opening and ending sequences are basically montages of all the characters girls.

I picked up Canvas2 solely for the fact that it airs on a Sunday (replacing Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo‘s timeslot). This could be crap, but I’d probably have stuck with for a while. Fortunately, it’s not. The first episode’s animation and music are pretty good, and the story shows promise. The character designs are done by Nitta Yasunari, who also did them for series such as Maburaho and W~Wish. As usual, hair colors run the gamut of a Skittles pack (not that I care cause it’s a harem series). The first thing Elise reminds me of is Yoshino Sakura. Past the blue ribbons and blonde hair, she is also a cousin to the main character and calls him onii-chan. Similarities to Da Capo aside, Canvas2 is a harem series with an art theme. Our main character Hiroki gave up painting some time ago, and is now a college student who is directing the high school’s art club. It’s too early for me to hate his character, so so far so good. The other main girl, Kikyo Kiri, is introduced at the very end of the episode (after briefly being in Hiroki’s dream in the beginning). She apparently confessed to Hiroki, but he turned her down at the time. I imagine this series will show the struggle between Elise and Kiri for Hiroki with stories of the other girls thrown in the middle. So far it seems rather typical h-game/harem plot, but I think there’s some potential here. We’ll see how it continues on.