I decided to watch this show for the August 2019 Anime Watching Challenge because I needed to watch a fantasy anime. As an African, I always love to see black characters represented in anime and I was sold once I found out that the creator was black as well. I know that's not a great way to build a watchlist, but I had to support a brother. Art: 8/10 The character designs are all unique, which helps if you're like me and can't remember names. I especially applaud this show for its flawless integration of 3D with 2D designs. The sparse use of 3D really servedit well. There was also some great background art, creating a scenic setting that matches a show of this genre.
Sound: 6/10
I don't have anything to say about the sound design. Nothing particularly stood out to me. I will say that they had an awesome intro song though. I literally never skipped the intro on Netflix and even as I grew frustrated with the show, I would always appreciate this ultimate bop. Will definitely add to playlist. I wish the tempo was even more upbeat though.
This is the last positive thing I will say about the show. If you are a huge fan, please stop reading because I'm about to rip this anime to shreds.
Story: 3/10
Character: 1/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
I'll group these 3 together just because they're all intertwined. I have no idea how this show was allowed to be made. I'm genuinely confused. It starts out alright with us meeting the main characters. I was intrigued since I'm a sucker for shows in which the main characters adventure together through different lands while meeting interesting characters along the way. The show is definitely this type of anime but it had major flaws that made me unable to appreciate any of that.
The main issue is the lack of character development. The only way the premise of a group of characters traveling together works if you actually like the characters. Not only did I not like them, I didn't know anything about them. After the first few episodes, I expected us to see subtle characteristics that reflect their personalities and outlook on life. The show was more concerned with making Philly look as "cool" as possible rather than actually showing us how he came to have this unfazed, unenthusiastic attitude as well as the effect his loneliness has on him. They really gave us 5 seconds of his backstory in episode 11 and expected us to feel anything for the guy.
They also made him so overpowered that there were absolutely no stakes in every fight he was in. It's not a good sign when your viewer is hoping that the main character gets actually killed or heavily injured.
The 2 bots were purposely written as naive idiots just so the writers can dump exposition on the viewer with the pretense of Philly having to explain every detail of the world they themselves live in. This is cheap and makes me feel like the writers just didn't give enough of a f*** to ingrain details in the scenes for the viewer to pick up on themselves. Other than the 5 minutes in ep8 that I felt pity for Casey and the first few episodes where we learn about Sam's relationship with the Prince, I didn't actually care for any of the characters in this show.
This is sad because instead of doing this episodic bulls***, they could have spent time diving deep into these characters to reveal what makes them tick, what motivates them, what makes them themselves. But the writer decided that it was more vital to the story to show how cooky and zany the different towns of the universe are. I DONT CAAAARRREEEE! Give me heart, give me passion, give me something to make me want to root for these characters instead of spending nearly 6 hours of my life watching the most hollow characters do absolutely nothing and finally being thrown into a battle. They should have been building up to the final fight, instilling anticipation in the viewer with each episode. Instead, we had no idea how far away they were from their destination and had no actual confirmation that Philly was indeed taking them there. Because I still can't come up with any legitimate reason why he would. He could have just roamed around and gone where he wanted to go while lying to his companions so as to keep Casey with him as his handyman. I fact, taking them where they wanted to go would only lead to Casey leaving with Sam and Philly being left without a handyman. There is more reason for him to keep them away from their destination! THIS IS SIMMMMMMPLLLEEE TO FIGGGGURRREE OUUUT! The people ivolved in this show could have taken 1 second to flesh out this part and made this show make sense. But no! They have cool transformer cars. They don't need decent writing!
And to top it all off, they came back to spit in my face with the sh**show that was the last 2 episodes. I genuinely feel disrespected. The writers gave absolutely no f***s and decided they'd throw all reason out the window. Because of the lack of character development, the viewer was forced to assume each character's motivations for doing what they were doing. But the writers wanted to "surprise" us, so they wrote the final 2 episodes in which none of the things the characters did made any sense and you were forced to watch the most chaotic fight scenes, not knowing who was on who's side. I truly felt like I had missed an entire season of content between episode 10 and 11 because the random s*** that was happening had no rhyme or reason.
I think this is it for me. I don't know if accurately describe how much of a waste of time this show was. I can't understand how anyone could come out of this wanting a second season. The entire show was clearly a setup for the next season, but I genuinely hope it doesn't happen for the sake of my sanity.
I know this review was pretty dramatic but I just want to say that if you did enjoy it, good for you. We all have different tastes, but this was just my take on this show.
Recommended
Story: I thought this was pretty average, nothing special but enough too intrigue me to keep watching. That powers are cool and the world itself is actually pretty interesting. Some of the humor is gold, while other times your left thinking "huh?" Honestly the story is probably the weakest link for me, the show is held together by the cast of characters, world building, and animation. There are some episodes that don't really handle the main plot, but rather side stories, and I was much more intrigued by them. Art: Most the fight scenes are actually pretty good. The world design is really unique and youcan tell the artists put a lot of time in the background shots with lots of interesting items and details. The art style reminds me of gurran-lagann mixed with old school 90's anime.
Sound: I really enjoyed the sound track. The OST and EST are really good. Most sound effects are great, nothing to complain about.
Characters: Good and bad, the bad guy is probably the most generic anime bad guy you can come up with. Luckily the main cast is interesting enough to hold the show together. The back story for each character is good, but short. Hopefully next season will flavor the villain with a more interesting plot.
This show is a great one day binge for when you have nothing to do. It has plenty of interesting things to offer, overall I rate it at about an 8. If it had just a little more to offer I would rate it higher, but for me the it is overall pretty generic and just stands out in a few artist aspects.
YeYemi_Hikari
August 17, 2019
Recommended
I’ll start off by saying first impressions are misleading. For this particular Anime it is a good idea not to jump to conclusions based on the first few minutes of airing. Second, whether this particular Anime is for the viewer depends on their tastes. This Anime is more likely to appeal to viewers of the following demographics. One such demographic are viewers who enjoyed Trigun, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Beepop and Rage of Bahamut. In fact, I suspect the American who created the source material was highly influenced by those works, yet he also pulled in a lot of Japanese cultural references such as the forty-sevenronin and Kamen Rider – meaning those who like looking for references to such things is another demographic this series hits up.
Of the demographics the series isn’t likely to appeal to include those who won’t like the fact the original source material is Western, yet this is still an Anime as the original audio and not just the animation was done in Japan. I think one of the things I like regarding Cannon Busters was in fact noticing the influences of Trigun, Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Beepop, yet the creator of the source material wasn’t influenced by that alone and actually knows quite a bit about Japanese culture.
Second, the series isn’t likely to appeal to those who hate unscrupulous rouges as one of the main protagonists, let alone characters who are majorly naïve as the two robot companions are. Even the prince for whom the one bot is searching for can come across as bratty. However, the characters do develop and each of the things I listed can be considered fatal flaws characters need to overcome. Another aspect I liked was how the characters did grow.
If I were to pick though, one thing I didn’t like so much regarding the characters, it would be the villains. Each of the true villains except for the big main felt honestly flat compared to the other canon characters, yet part of this comes from the fact their motives aren’t ever revealed to the cast beyond the main villain. In fact, there is a level of mystery regarding Botica that slowly unravels as the season progresses yet isn’t completely revealed as the audience is left at a cliffhanger.
The third demographic the series isn’t likely to appeal to are those who don’t enjoy the type of humor in the series which falls into the Dark Comedy genre. One of the reasons viewers need give more than a few minutes to watch the first episode comes down to the fact the humor may appear childish yet starts becoming more macabre as the season progressed. Some of the ways Philly ends up dying are quite gruesome yet fall into the horror genre. In fact, the series manages to blend quite a few genre into the series.
As for any issues beyond whether the series will appeal to a specific demographic, I didn’t find much fault beyond the one-dimensional feeling of the villains and the fact the viewer is left at a cliff hanger. I was left, though, looking forward to a second season for Canon Busters, but pleasantly surprised.
KaKarmasquid
August 16, 2019
Recommended
Cannon Busters is a mix of magic, western, mecha and cyberpunk with a lot to offer the viewer. Each character has a unique design that, just by looking at them, will tell you their personality traits and backstory. The opening and ending of this anime is one of those kind that I never skip. In other words, the sound track is good. The world building cuts right to the case by showing you what the rules of the world are rather than telling you. However, this is a bit lacking when it comes to the story sensitive areas of the anime. Because of the diverse castand the different backgrounds, it feels like the scope is a tad bit too big to fit in 12 episodes and results with most characters feeling watered down.
With this said I had fun watching the anime and look forward to the continuation. I feel like there's potential in the characters and story if they narrow down their scope a bit.
