Netflix has been pretty consistent with putting out some of the best original content of any streaming service, and anime is no exception, as the company has recently released highly anticipated series like Carole and Tuesday. But Netflix is also treading new ground in the anime world, not by merely helping to fund anime, but creating their own.
Already they’ve been responsible for popular series like Devilman Crybaby and Ultraman, but now they’re prepared to go even further beyond. With the upcoming anime series Cannon Busters, Netflix takes an American property and allows a Japanese studio to bring it to life, bringing a unique fusion fans can’t get anywhere else. Cannon Busters recently launched on their streaming service, and here are ten things you need to know before you jump in.
10 IT'S BASED OFF A COMIC BOOK
What jumps out the fastest to most people is that Cannon Busters is actually based off an American comic book. Writer/artist LeSean Thomas worked with UDON and Devil’s Due back in 2005 and put out two issues of the comic before the series had to be put on hold. In the meantime, Thomas got his weight up working on shows like the Boondocks, Black Dynamite, Avatar: Legend of Korra, and more. By the time he was able to clear up time to work on the project, his eyes turned towards something bigger—an anime series. Eventually, alongside studio Satelight and Yumeta Company, Thomas was able to bring his series to life on Netflix.
9 ITS LEAD IS IMMORTAL
The lead character in the show is Philly the Kid. Philly is one of the most wanted men in the country, and spends his life constantly on the run from bounty hunters. That is, when he’s not getting drunk and carousing through city after city. His surly disposition and dishonest nature have kept him from making many friends, which means eventually the numbers game would eventually win out. There’s just one issue: Philly is immortal. And not boring, fake “ageless” immortal. He literally can regenerate from anything, including having his entire body liquefied - “Wolverine’s got nothing on me” immortal. Each time he dies a new number counting what life he’s on appears somewhere on his body.
8 ...BUT HE'S NOT INVINCIBLE
Having said that, there’s no need to be concerned that Philly the Kid is some kind of superhero who overcomes all the odds no matter how impossible. Philly’s immortality doesn’t come with any special abilities—he can simply recover from anything. He doesn’t have any special skills gained from lives of studying...he’s not really good at anything other than survival, and arguably not even that. He’s like if you merged Spike Spiegel and Vash the Stampede in terms of look and origin, but gave him none of their abilities. This is mostly fine, since Philly’s kind of a jerk over the course of the series, and most of his deaths are just him getting what he deserves.
7 THE OTHER LEADS ARE ROBOTS
When the story begins, it features two very polite and good-natured robots, S.A.M. and Casey Turnbuckle. S.A.M. is an android in search of her best friend, Prince Kelby. Casey is a maintenance droid who found S.A.M. in the middle of her search and decided to tag along.
Both of them serve as a contrast to Philly and are the heart of the show, with S.A.M. constantly trying to make as many friends as possible while Philly wants to keep people as far away as he can. Though neither are the "main" character, without them the plot would basically stop in place because Philly doesn't really want to do anything other than be left alone.
6 THERE'S GIANT ROBOTS
One thing Philly the Kid does have is his prize car Bessie, a giant pink car that looks exactly like a Cadillac. No one’s sure how it works, but the car runs off of quarters, and when given four of them it can transform into “Raging Bull mode," where it becomes a giant humanoid robot with a mechanized bull head. With this, Philly is able to deal with most threats that come his way...when it works. In reality, Bessie kind of works when she wants to, and Philly frequently doesn’t have nearly enough quarters to get her into Raging Bull mode, leaving them in a couple tight spots where a giant robot is handy...but they only have the giant car.
5 THERE'S POLITICAL INTRIGUE AND WARFARE
The inciting event to kick off the story of Cannon Busters is massive coup which occurs in S.A.M.’s nation of Botica, resulting in her being separated from her best friend Kelby. Without getting into spoilers, this coup sends ripples throughout the country, with different countries changing political alliances because of it. When we’re not looking at Philly, S.A.M., and Casey’s misadventures in attempting to locate Prince Kelby, we’re shown this other side of the story. In comparison to what our leads go through, this offers a change of pace to some more dangerous adventures, if only because this side of the story follows significantly more vulnerable people.
4 THE MUSIC IS PRETTY CATCHY
Cannon Busters joins the rarefied air of being an American anime (what with it’s chief creative staff and the studios responsible all based out of Japan), and with that comes some expectations. Not to worry anime fans, Cannon Busters has one of the catchiest opening themes you’ll hear all Summer with “Showdown” by Marty Grimes and BJRNCK. If that isn’t enough, the closing theme, Regardless, by Mansa Imani, is appropriately introspective and serves as a good way to cool down before the next episode. It might take a bit of getting used to listening to purely English themes to close the show, but you’ll be singing “Take Me Higher” before you know it.
3 MAGIC HAS BEEN FORBIDDEN
Cannon Busters is something of an odd mixture of multiple different settings tossed together. It resembles the Wild West on another world, but it also has plenty of technology advanced well beyond our own, as evidenced by the robots serving as some of its main characters.
But it also contains magic as well, and it’s capable of truly terrifying feats. It’s not without its dangers however, as these powers also tend to turn whoever uses them into abominations. As such, the King of Botica forbade the usage of magic in all of the kingdoms. Whether or not humans are able to abide by this rule however, is a big part of the series.
2 IT'S NOT FOR KIDS
For anyone wondering whether this series had some family friendly appeal, this isn't going to be the series for that. For starters, Philly the Kid is pretty foul-mouthed so people with sensitive ears need not apply. But setting that aside, the show has absolutely no problem taking advantage of the lead’s immortality. While Cannon Busters is a comedy, it enjoys the ability to use dark humor, as it never shies away from showing the full details of Philly’s deaths. Though there are certainly more explicitly gory anime series, the squeamish should be aware going in.
1 IT NEEDS A SEASON TWO
Cannon Busters runs roughly twelve episodes, and that’s not nearly enough. Aside from being able to marathon it in a day, by the end of the series it definitely feels like things are just beginning, as if we just made it to the end of a prequel. While the ending isn’t the kind of cliffhanger that would make one pull their hair out, things certainly aren’t wrapped up by the end of the last episode, and that’s without thinking about all the rest of the lore the series sets up. On average there’s a plot thread set up that could pay off later in every episode of this season. If that’s something that bothers people potentially interested, they should definitely wait until Netflix confirms the existence of a second (and possibly third) season.