Canvas2 – 02

Short Summary:
Kikyo Kiri is introduced as the new gym teacher at Nadeshiko Academy. After a meeting with the director, she goes to lunch and sits with Hiroki and Kana. Kana calls Hiroki sensei again and Kiri learns that Hiroki is working on becoming the art teacher. Elis arrives with her food, clearly not happy that Kiri is around. She takes a bite of Hiroki’s meal, but when Kiri does the same, the two start getting confrontational until Hiroki leaves the table. Later, as Elis worries about Kiri being Hiroki’s childhood friend, Hiroki goes to see Kiri in the gym. She offers to go home with him to cook hamburger for Elis, and he accepts. At the art club, Elis is feeling a bit down because Hiroki isn’t there. She has fond memories of when she was in the hospital and Hiroki came by with his sketchbook. That evening, Hiroki and Kiri go home together, and Hiroki walks into the apartment and is surprised to find Elis sitting alone in the dark. Elis is once again unhappy to see Kiri with Hiroki. The conversation over dinner shifts to drawing, and Hiroki starts talking about when he started, and how he kept drawing because it delighted Kiri. Elis leaves the table, once again angry, and says that she started drawing because when Hiroki taught her and because he praised her. Kiri then gets up and goes to Hiroki’s room wanting to see his drawings again, but Hiroki tells her that he doesn’t draw anymore. Kiri gets mad and runs out after Hiroki says that he’s happy teaching girls to draw. Elis chases after Kiri with the clothes and bag that she left behind, and Kiri finds out that Elis already knew about Hiroki stopping drawing. Since Kiri doesn’t know the way home, Elis walks with her. Elis uses the opportunity to ask Kiri about her previous relationship with Hiroki and if they ever kissed. Kiri doesn’t answer, instead throwing a similar question back at Elis. Elis also doesn’t give a definitive answer, and Kiri decides that this is a good time to part ways. After Kiri walks off, Elis turns around to find Hiroki behind her, so the two walk home with Elis snuggled close to him. That night, Elis sneaks into Hiroki’s room and tries to kiss him, but he intentionally turns over in the bed while pretending to be asleep. She settles for holding him while she sleeps. In her own bed, Kiri touches her lips and feels happy but heart-breaking.

For a second episode, I thought this was fairly entertaining and does a good job of hinting at the past and showing how the girls currently feel. Elis is pretty head-over-heels for Hiroki and he knows it, but doesn’t take drastic measures to push her away, opting instead to just trying to avoid her advances. He and Kiri also have a pretty strong relationship, but as always, it’s too early to tell which way he’s leaning (if either). I really liked the final scene of this episode, as it just highlighted how both girls feel for him.
The animation quality held fairly strong and consistent with the first episode while the music is likewise pretty fresh. I’m enjoying this series a lot, even if parts of it feel a little cliché (I mean come on, this is a harem series). Next episode, the focus seems to shift off the main girls and onto Kana, so we’ll see how that goes.