CANAAN - Episode 5

It almost seems like the more of CANAAN I watch, the harder I find it to deconstruct - Even though the major plot points of the series are finally coming to the surface here, it still feels a little like a show that doesn't know entirely what it wants to be.

This fifth instalment begins with Canaan still looking pretty beaten up after her adventures last time around, while Maria is enjoying the company (albeit not so much the fish) provided by her new friend Sun Yun Mei (or Yun Yun if you'd rather). Of course, Maria has little idea that Yun Yun is in fact working for the Snakes, who have given her a particularly important assassination task to carry out - Why you'd give someone clumsy and inexperience in such things that kind of job I have no idea, but whatever fits with the rest of the plot I suppose.


Anyhow, Yun Yun's mission blends together with her new-found friendship with Maria, who is herself being dragged around by Minoru's investigative nose, and before we know it Maria, Yun Yun and Canaan are all together like one big happy family. Except this family involves dynamite and near-drowning. The upshot of this however is that we finally start to learn a little more about this show's "Borners", and why most of them are loyal to the Snakes. As I just mentioned, finally things are beginning to come together here to fully lay out the grand scheme of the series.

There can be absolutely no doubt that CANAAN is one of the more visually sumptuous shows of this season - It somehow manages to hold an aesthetic that is eminently watchable, with character designs that you can't help but appreciate to boot. However, I'm starting to wonder just how well the mixture of comedy against more serious moments and plot points is working for the series - It's becoming increasingly hard to take the serious moments at face value, and the slapstick comedy also somehow weakens what have been some absolutely top-notch action sequences at times. In a way, this attempt to throw together action and humour reminds me of Slayers a little, except that series never took itself seriously and served up its comedy with a knowing wink. CANAAN on the other hand seems like it is taking itself seriously aside from the ever-more freuqent jokes, and personally I'm just starting to feel the slightest pin-pricks of irritation as those serious moments are drowned in a sea of gags about boob size. For me, at least, this episode got the comedy to action/drama mix a little wrong.