Review - Cannon Busters!

From Top to bottom: Philly the Kid, Sam, Casey Turnbolt

Cannon Busters just came out on Netflix recently, and by recently I mean August 15th 2019.  Holy Cow! I'm only a week late and a dollar short. You might ask, wouldn't this reach more people as a video review on you tube like all the everyones are doing now? And I might reply; Look, video reviews cost money to make and I have mostly just have time. What was I doing? Oh, Right. Review time.



So, lets get some basic details out of the way. Cannon Busters is a show that takes everything you loved about the nineties anime scene and shoves it all together to keep it both nostalgic and fresh. Lets be honest, Philly's pic up there looks like he is doing an odd Spike cosplay from Cowboy bebop. I guess lets get the list of shows that I think this draws inspiration/ homages from.

• Cowboy Bebop
• Trigun
• Slayers
• Adult Swim
• FLCL
• and likely more that I missed the first time through.

There are multiple characters on quests for revenge, and each gives us a different take on what it can do for to a person. I would say about 50% of the cast is dealing with it in one way or another, and each to a different degree of emotional health. There's quite a bit of realism played out in what people are both willing to do and with some people backing away from the precipice when they are on the cusp of getting their revenge. 

Due to most of the main characters abilities there is an almost literal crap ton of black comedy built in. Philly's ability to resurrect is played with in increasingly funny ways. Also, he's just the right kind of asshat that you don't feel very bad seeing him take a lethal hit. I would even go to say that the bad things that happen to almost every character comes from their own decisions and actions. The only character who doesn't really deserve any of the bad stuff that comes her way is Casey, who is likely my spirit animal. 

You could also say Sam doesn't deserve anything bad happening to her, but she has an unfinished character arc with tragic consequences coming up as right now she is more of a force of nature than anything. She is extremely nice and comically naive about life out here in the world. The problem being that she doesn't retain the information about the damage she does to those who threaten her friends, and she will likely be very upset at herself about it when she puts two and two together. 9ine is not even really in the show very much, and I feel he has a similar problem. Force of nature characters don't make for good long term viewing prospects, so I hope we get to see more changes to the status quo. 

On a final note, I feel almost personally insulted in a funny kind of way. The main group of characters are pulled from RPG groups my friends and I have done in the past. I can point to each of the 4 characters and to one of my friends as someone who would've made a character a lot like that. Myself included! Like I said, Casey is likely my spirit animal. Long story short: Its like watching one of several campaigns I was invoked in, in the past, and groaning. Because yes, my character would have made that terrible decision. 

Hey I give it 8 of 10 unfortunate deaths. Also, Netflix has already approved another season. Sweet!