I hear what all the other critics are saying about this series being derivative of better anime but let's be real, all anime is derivative of the best anime, how can it not be?
Personally I was excited to watch this series. As a hardcore anime fan I've seen everything and in recent years I've found fewer series that can hold my attention. So what's so different about this series? If you don't know, it's the brainchild of American storyboard artist Lesean Thomas who worked on great american anime series like Boondocks and Black Dynamite. I was super excited to see what he would do with his own project, I was not disappointed.
What I responded to when I first started watching anime was that glimpse into Japanese culture but now that I'm older I'm ready to see what people like me, who are not Japanese but grew up watching Japanese anime have to add to this art form and apparently so does Japan.
This summer Japan announced a program to expand anime production overseas. Japan wants more countries to get involved to expand this incredible art form to every corner of the globe. I feel that this inclusiveness will only make anime better in the long term.
To be honest Cannon Busters is far from perfect but it's not bad either. I found that I really enjoyed the world that Thomas created and all the different characters, especially these diesel female fighters mixed in with robots, lizard people, cat people and to be frank, black people. This new anime world is what captured my imagination and got me to stay through all 12 episodes.
My only major criticism is that I feel this 1st season really needed to be 24 episodes. I think the constrains of 12 episodes stifled the story. In 24 episodes we would of seen the prince grow more, his relationship with Hilda and Oden could have been explored more, and Sam, Philly the Kid and Casey would have had more time for their adventure.
This was a great break for the series creator Lesean Thomas and from him I expect even greater series to come. I'm certain that before we know it American anime will be adding more and more titles to that greats anime list. We just need to give it time and nurture our homegrown talen. I think Cannon Busters is worth a look and I look forward to its maybe future.
Add a Review
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slanerush16 August 2019
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yoma196519 June 2020I went into this not sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. I do think Philly did remind me of spike from Cowboy bebop but he still was different and funny to watch. I like Sams relationship with the prince I thought it was very cute. And do not get me started how much I loved Casey. This anime had tons of diversity that I was more animes had. The wildness of this world and all the magic was amazing and kept me interested. As a fan of anime for about 25 years I can say with confidence I thoroughly enjoyed this and I cant wait for season 2.
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everedau20 August 2019A few other reviews have tried to claim this series as being a "rip-off" of trigun or cowboy bebop, which largely comes from the art style aesthetic I believe. I've watched over half of this series so far and I feel that it is in no way a "rip-off" of these other shows. This is a review about Cannon Busters so I will focus on the show primarily, but it is important to understand that the plot was based on a comic series, the art style did change a bit from then but it is definitely a new show that has some great action scenes and a fantastic English dub as well. Overall, the series holds my attention and has interesting characters to follow. Sometimes the use of CG animation can detract from the aesthetic that I feel the show is striving for, but it is nothing egregious like some other recent anime shows. The dialogue in the show is not bad by any means, as the delivery from the voice actors is pretty strong, but the lines can feel as though they are there kill run time or set up for the next scene more than contribute to the show. In the end, I really like what I've seen from this show and I hope that others will give it a watch too. It's not an instant classic or anything but it is quite good and can be a fun watch depending on the kinds of shows that you may be into as it is action oriented.
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kchikwete25 August 2019This show is for people who dont usually watch anime or new comers. Its an adventure to save the kingdom following a mix of characters , some really annoying, across a wasteland. This anime combines the settings of Trigun and Cowboy bebop, The MC is influenced by Spike you can even hear the english voice trying to imitate Steven Blum, with heavy influences from Studio Trigger. This anime isnt for regular anime fans as it brings nothing we havent seen before and the execution is average its a story we all know.. The animation and 3D go really well together which we dont see often and the opening song is AWSOME. With the quality of anime being released in Japan i dont think this show stands a chance
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florentineckert14 October 2019Let me just start this review by saying that this anime does a lot of things right. It starts off with an interesting hook and displays a beautiful and intricate world. The animation is fantastic and it has a killer opening that will keep you from skipping the intro. While watching I couldn't help feeling like this anime was kind of a throwback to Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. However, this doesn't display nearly the same quality in writing or polish as either of those shows. After the first couple of episodes the shiny animation and amazing soundtrack couldn't keep me from noticing the shows flaws. And as the show continued, these flaws became more egregious and severely hindered my enjoyment.
The first major flaw I noticed were the characters. While naive and upbeat characters aren't always annoying, Sam's persistent friendly attitude and innocent lack of situational awareness grates on my nerves. Mostly because it undercuts any potential tension that may have been there otherwise but also because there has to be a limit to not understanding when someone is trying to kill you and is not friendly. I don't care that it can be explained by saying that was how she was programmed, the point is that it gets incredibly annoying. Philly has the opposite problem, he is an arrogant and incompetent . I feel like you can either make a character a competent or someone who is incompetent but has redeeming qualities. Philly is neither and makes you question why you should care about his fate and what purpose he even serves for the story. Casey is probably the only character in the main cast I like and Prince Kelby is your typical sheltered annoying brat. Thankfully the side characters tend to have more interesting and likable personalities but we are stuck following Philly, Sam or Kelby most of the time.
The Second Flaw is the action. It is underwhelming and kind of disappointing. This is not helped by the fact that they often cut away from it and to something a lot less interesting. It's a pity since the intro has amazing looking action, however, it looks like they couldn't replicate the pace and intensity for the actual anime. Finally, the pacing for this anime is slow. There seems to be a lot of filler episodes that don't progress the plot and even within episodes there is a lot of empty space where not much happens. It seems like they were struggling to justify 12 episodes and had to drag out the story and runtime to match it. This is perplexing considering that the season ends on a cliffhanger.
All in all I would say that this anime is mediocre. It won't take priority over any shows you are currently watching but, if you find yourself lacking in good shows you could do worse than this one. -
martezcooper17 August 2019It's rare to find a title that grabs and holds my attention. Great action, great storyline progression and great character development. I'm almost addicted to this show.
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rangrnav17 September 2019This show is pretty entertaining, and I look forward to another season. From episode 1, it drops you right into the action, and catches you up on the backstory as it goes along. The character arcs are interesting, and the various parts come together to an eventual reckoning. Although, the final episode of season 1 wasn't quite as good as I was anticipating. The way some things were resolved (or unresolved) could have been better. Overall, it's a solid anime. If you're an anime fan looking for a loose description, it comes off somewhat like Trigun, but a little more outrageous and over the top. I look forward to future seasons.
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msluluzuzu25 August 2019The first thing I noticed from the trailer was just how diverse the characters were, I love it! There are black girls and other black characters in anime, but there are SO little of them, not to mention most have no real depth to them, as well as many play into racial stereotypes in general. Cannon Busters is VERY independent of these tropes and even manages to have so many qualities represented like natural black hairstyles, non-stereotypical differentiating fashion styles, skin conditions, short and tall, thick and slim, etc. The first thing I noticed upon watching however, was the opening and ending which tells a story with soft vocals and good beats. The writing is also exponential, especially for a project coming from one man. This series is immersive beyond belief, it's an entire world blooming with detail. I won't get into it for spoiler reasons, but once you watch you'll understand. Overall, as a black girl, I finally get to see representation in something I love, which honestly makes me so appreciative and tearful. Even if you can't relate, giving Cannon Busters a watch should do you some good! It's got a mixture of classic anime in it, but people seem to believe it's a blatant rip off of some manga/anime that weren't even around/popular/classic enough when this series was first published in 2005. This series was among others like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop, and many others the creator watched growing up, but far from a rip off in my opinion. Obviously inspired, but what anime doesn't take inspiration from elsewhere?
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phillafrenais27 August 2019Hmmm it's like a reboot of Trigun (which was amazing btw) very predictable and don't know if I can be bothered to carry on with it 6 episodes in
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Its story and even its characters are derivative of other anime such as Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Trigun, and Michiko to Hatchin but lacks the charm of what made Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Trigun good. I was surprised that Shinichiro Watanabe didn't even touch this show. Many things about this show take cues from few of the previously mentioned anime that he was involved with, from the characters, to the story, to the genre, to the art style (which was silly at some points), to even the music sounds like Cowboy Bebop's jazz soundtrack. If you've seen these anime, you would've already seen Cannon Busters, you're not missing out on much.
Philly the Kid is like a combination of Spike, Mugen and Vash down to the afro. He's a bounty traveling with two girls which causes violence to follow them (Vash) and he has a cynical, sarcastic sense of humor (Spike) but unlike Spike, those traits make him more annoying than charming. Like, I think Spike had more sense than he did, Philly is just a butthole.
Samberry A.K.A. Sam is friendly and naive to a fault, which can even get her in trouble. I don't mind her being a friendship type robot but she clearly has the guts to hurt people when they hurt her friends yet sometimes she doesn't take a hint when people treat her and her friends wrongly or appear to have hidden evil traits, she just thinks everything is a game.
Casey is like Ed in her childlike, sweet, tech-savvy personality but somehow manages to be even more annoying than Ed. She's a Charmy Bee-sounding robot who's constantly blabbing her mouth about everything, she has no personality flaws, and has a stubborn obsession with anything technology.
Sometimes I don't blame Philly, if I was around two dense robots, a Mary-sue who thinks that everyone is her friend and another who talks like a freaking 8 year old, while I'm trying to survive in a world that is so different from their naive minds, I would get annoyed too.
Even the secondary characters are mediocre. Prince Kelby seemed like a nice guy with a sweet relationship with Sam who for some reason turned into a cold, jerkish guy and his relationship with Sam ended up being... you know. And the worst character of them all, 9ine (probably a reference to the singer) is your typical amoral, rude anime character who drinks to an unhealthy amount.
There's rarely any memorable songs in there. The only song that's catchy is Showdown, which is definitely the most memorable song out of the whole show. And the ending theme, Regardless, while not as memorable still sounds good.
I don't think this anime is as awful as some people make it out to be as there are several good things about it. It has some funny parts, even a few witty dialogue moments and the beginning and ending were interesting. The way the show sets up the characters were interesting, we have a friendship robot, an outdated robot who wants to be upgraded, and an immortal who has tattoos of the amount of times he dies. And the last two episodes had more tension and even character stakes which is unfortunately rare in this series as the characters are quite two-dimensional. I didn't expect it to be renewed due to mixed reviews but here's hoping that the second season will have as good of a story as the last few episodes or else I'm skipping it. It's disappointing that this was written and directed by the guy that co-directed The Boondocks and I was happy to see an anime with a predominantly black cast.
Cannon Busters gets a 4.8 out of 10. -
fnelsalsero22 January 2020This show takes me back to fond childhood memories of anime. The transforming Cadillac is just fantastic, definitely my favorite character. Fun song, fun characters, and a fun story.
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allan-1493115 October 2019The setup is interesting, even if full of cliches. But the characters and interactions are just too bloody stupid to watch.
Just one example: The titular cannon takes over 60 seconds to fire a single shot.. Wow, how advanced and dangerous. But oddly enough villains always wait around for the minute it takes until our good guy shoots the now completely passive and non threatening "villain".
And then we have the deus ex automobile, convinient amnesia, and routine plot convinient extra layers of stupidity when needed. -
anbb-3698920 August 2019I stumbled across it on Netflix and the only words that I can say is WOW. It's just so refreshing and quirky, and I absolutely love the dynamic of the characters. And don't even get me started about the opening theme song! You'll want to listen to it with each and every episode. Absolutely amazing. You should definitely give it a try.
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somekidzenvy18 October 2019Defiantly enjoyed the six fi wasteland vibe and animations style. They action scenes were a little sporadic. I hope the series continues.
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krensada16 August 2019I watched three episodes of this show, so I cannot really say How the show is in its entirety, but what I do know is from what I watched I could tell immediately that this show is very derivative of many much better anime and western cartoons that you should be watching instead of this crud. The show follows the adventures of three characters. and all three are completely Devoid of any redeeming qualities.
First you have Philly the kid. He made me immediately think of two characters, both in his design, and his motivations. He's an uninspired, insultingly horrid rip off of Vash the Stampede mixed with Spike Spiegel, but unlike those characters who were charming. Vash with his optimistic attitude, and Spike, who of course was a very deep and complex, cool acting, and looking character from cowboy beebop.
and then you have Sam, an annoying Chatterbox innocent acting mary sue character who has unexplained TV amnesia. and her sidekick, who I can't remember the name of. She fixes things who states the obvious, and rambles on about nothing important. The two have attached themselves to Philly for an Inane, and completely improbable reason. Philly doesn't want anything to do with them, and acts generally selfish, and hateful towards them and for some unknown reason we are supposed to like this character.
The animation looks okay but it is that fake anime look that you see in some cartoons like that awful boondocks show, or legend of Korra.. That is a personal gripe however, I just can't stand that animation style. It can be done right however, like the original Avatar show for example. My opinion is this was a waste of time and money to make, and if you are a fan of anime, and good modern western cartoons, you should give this show a hard skip. -
rebelspit19 August 2019Finally Anime that represents the real multi cultural world with out being just a black Anime! The way he did the black characters don't scream this the same black caricature we see in most anime but a more diverse realistic approach where color doesn't matter in this world! The main character may be black but he could be any color and it doesn't matter because a awesome storyline with amazing animation is the heart of this anime! It takes place in a fictional world full of robots,assasins,cowboys,and even animal people! So if anybody looking for a hey this a black anime look out because it much more than that! This a actually good anime thats funny,full of action and just wonderful ride to enjoy from begining to end! All future Anime should take note that the color of your skin shouldn't decide how your character acts or is portrayed just like in the real world!
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The concept overall could have had promise, and occasionally something borderline unique peaks from between the clouds, but overall it's an overly derivative hodgepodge of many well known anime's that in the end don't fit together well and end up feeling like someone assembled a jigsaw puzzle with a mallet, ignoring where pieces were supposed to go.
Those claiming its uniqueness must not have seen all of the different anime's the characters and story points were "sampled" from. -
genisisartist20 August 2019I love this! Haven't seen a show that has moved me with story, action, and music since Samurai Champloo!
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Rockenheim10 October 2019Nice Story, Characters, Action and Comic Style... Love it! MORE!!!!! (^o^)
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chadhulhu-249-96309616 August 2019Trigun is a great.. Wait, what is this? What it is , is a RIP off of Trigun and Bebop, the animation is that weird hybrid of western and anime. Looks nice but like candy floss, melts away to nothing but fleeting memory. Netflix seems to be in death throws now just slinging crap around trying to be relevant, in this now streaming world. Eh, back to the review. Characters are cookie cutter cutouts of other character, oh with a transforming robot. With a little originality this could of been a knockout, but sadly it is a hard pass.
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ogfw10 March 2020As someone who is not a huge fan of anime I find this show much more entertaining than most other anime. Most anime often tends to have some themes I find a bit odd but this show avoids those flaws making it really fun to watch. 8,5/10.
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awaddington-5519916 August 2019I am a huge fan of this art style. Reminds me alot of trigu and cowboy bebop. Sadly this anime reminds too much of cowboy bebop and trigun. I am enjoying it. But its nothing to write home about.
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nihongaz15 September 2019While this has echos of Cowboy Bebop this series has a life of its own and its the best anime I've seen in ages. Plenty of action and humour and WOW factor.
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verickmccall23 August 2019Cannon Busters is a charming, excellently crafted show that takes everything you loved about anime growing up, and smashes it all together into an action-packed sci-fi Western romp. The characters are charming, the designs and world-building are engaging, the voice acting is great, and the fight scenes are beyond satisfying. Add a healthy dose of humor, body horror, and one giant coin-powered Cadillac that turns into a raging bull mech, and you pretty much have a perfect show.
If you're an anime fan at all and not watching Canon Busters, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. This show is a must-watch!! -
sinisterene8 October 2019They want their protagonist back
I could do the same with several other anime such as Trigun or Outlaw Star.
Yeah, yeah, "influences" but that's just a cope when it's this blatant.