, also known as just ''Canvas 2'', is a Japanese visual novel developed by F&C FC01, a brand of F&C, released for Windows on April 23, 2004. The game was later ported to the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

, on January 26, 2006. AiCherry produced a DVD Player Game version of ''Canvas 2'' on November 28, 2008. An iOS version was released on January 12, 2013. A fan disc called ''Innocent Colors ~Canvas 2 Fan Disc~'' was released for Windows on September 24, 2004. The game is a sequel to

Canvas ~Sepia-iro no Motif~ Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags, ...

. Two other spin off games part of the ''Canvas'' series were released by F&C. A 24-episode anime television series called was produced by studio Zexcs, and licensed by

Kadokawa Pictures USA Kadokawa Daiei Studio, formerly is the film division of the Japanese company the Kadokawa Corporation. It is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ), and is therefore one of Japan's Big Four film studi ...

in North America. It aired on eight different channels in Japan between October 3, 2005, and March 27, 2006, and was streamed on

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

. Two

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptations were published by

, and three light novels have also been published, as well as multiple drama CDs.

Gameplay

''Canvas 2'' is a visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Hiroki Kamikura. Much of its gameplay is spent reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents the story's narrative and

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

. The text is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Hiroki is talking to, over background art. Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites. ''Canvas 2'' follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are seven main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. Some decisions can lead the game to end prematurely and offer an alternative ending to the plot. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. Throughout gameplay, there are scenes depicting Hiroki and a given heroine having sexual intercourse, except in the

and iOS versions, where these scenes cannot be viewed.

Plot

The series focuses on the lives of some students and teachers at Nadesico Academy both at school and their private lives. The main character of the series is Kamikura Hiroki, who lives with his younger cousin Elis. Hiroki is training to become a full-fledged art teacher while also trying to take care of Elis. When his childhood friend Kiri starts working at the school, drama begins to flare as he has to juggle his work, private life, and the feelings for these two important girls.

Characters

Nadesico staff

; : (anime) :He is the older cousin of Elis as well as her current guardian. ; : :Childhood friend of Hiroki as well as a Physical Education teacher at Nadesico Academy. ; : :She is the acting superintendent at Nadesico Academy.

Students

; : :Elis is a freshman at Nadesico Academy. Her parents died in a car accident and she was left in the foster care of her cousin, Kamikura Hiroki. ; : :Despite her short stature, Hagino is actually a sophomore at Nadesico Academy. ; : (PC), Mikako Takahashi (PS2, anime) :Elis' classmate. She has a medical problem concerning her heart, and is often absent from school. ; : :The president of the art club at Nadesico Academy. ; : :Youngest daughter of a family of great musicians. ; : (PS2, anime) :One of Elis’s classmates.

Other characters

; :Voiced by: Kaeru Haruno (PC), Miho Miyakawa (PS2, anime) :She is Kana’s editor and is constantly pressuring her to finish within writing deadlines. ; : (PS2, anime) :Childhood friend of Hiroki and Kiri.

Theme songs

PC Game

;Opening *''Plastic Smile(^^'' by A BONE featuring

YURIA YURIA (born October 10, 1967) is a musician and voice actress from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She was the lead vocalist and guitarist for Honey Bee, currently she is the lead vocalist and bassist for the Japanese punk rock band Pinky Doodle ...

;Ending *''Hibi'' by Rena

PlayStation 2/DVDPG version

;Opening *''Blue Sky'' by Honey Bee (

) ;Ending *''Primary Memory'' by Sweets Tankentai

Anime

; Opening * ''Plastic Smile (Niji Iro Guiter VERSION)'' by Honey Bee (

) ; Ending * ''NA NA IRO'' by Sweets Tankentai

Adaptations

Light novels

The first light novel was published by

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...

on July 30, 2004, under their

Famitsu Bunko is a light novel publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company Enterbrain, a division of Kadokawa Future Publishing is the publishing arm of Kadokawa Corporation, publishing manga, novels, light novels, magazines, tabletop ...

imprint. It was written by Izumi Okazaki, and illustrated by Fumio. A light novel series written by Tooru Tamegai and illustrated by

Naru Nanao is the pseudonym of a female Japanese artist from Okinawa, Japan. Nanao's choice of her pseudonym stems from Circus' game ''Aries'', in which one of the characters was named . She is a free illustrator and thus is not affiliated with one single ...

, spanning two volumes, was published by

between December 21, 2005 and March 25, 2006. The first volume is titled ''Canvas 2 ~Niji Iro no Sketch~ Before RED'', and the second volume is titled ''Canvas 2 ~Niji Iro no Sketch~ Beyond RED''.

Manga

The first

adaptation of ''Canvas 2'', titled ''Canvas 2 Extra Season'', illustrated by Miki Kodama, was serialized in

's ''Monthly Ace Next'' magazine (later switching to

Monthly Shōnen Ace is a monthly shōnen manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 1994. Unlike the big shōnen weeklies with circulation figures in the millions, ''Ace'' is aimed at a less mainstream audience, and has a particular emphasis on ...

magazine) between September 2004, and December 2005 issues. Five chapters were collected into a single tankōbon volume. The second manga adaptation of ''Canvas 2'' was serialized in the Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine from April 2005 to September 2006, and later switched to the '' Comp Ace'' magazine. The series was authored and illustrated by Miki Kodama. Four tankōbon volumes were published by Kadokawa Shoten.

Drama CDs

Drama CDs based on the game have been produced. Firstly, a drama CD titled ''Canvas2 Indian Summer ~Chiisana Usotsuki~ Raspberry Original Drama'' was published by Raspberry on April 23, 2004. It consists of one disc containing five tracks. The second drama CD, titled ''Canvas2 Drama CD - Prism Iro no Summer Festa'', was published by Marine Entertainment on October 29, 2004. It consists of one disc containing four tracks. The third drama CD, titled ''Canvas2 Drama CD - Rhapsody de Noel'', was published by Headquarter on February 20, 2005. It consists of one disc containing eight tracks. Three more drama CDs were published, the first one of these being a drama CD called ''Canvas2 Extra Season Drama CD'', published by

on January 26, 2006. It contains one single track which is fifty minutes and six seconds long. The next drama CD was published by

Elements Garden Elements Garden is a Japanese group of music composers, or a "music production brand" as they call themselves. They generally produce music for video games, anime and recording artists. They are attached to Aria Entertainment. The group was form ...

on May 26, 2006, titled ''Canvas2 Drama CD ~First KISS wa, Nani iro?~''. It consists of one disc containing six tracks. The last drama CD, titled ''Canvas2 DVD EDITION Drama CD ~Seven Color Party = Surprise!~'', was published by Elements Garden on December 29, 2006. It consists of one disc containing ten tracks.

Spin off games

''Canvas 2: Akane Iro no Palette'' itself is a spin-off of

, a visual novel first released for the PC by a subsidiary of F&C, called

Cocktail Soft is a Japanese H game brand used by F&C. It is best known for its ''Welcome to Pia Carrot'' series. Cocktail Soft temporarily shut down in 2001 after an organizational restructuring of F&C, but resumed business in 2004, releasing ''Tenkuu no Sym ...

on November 24, 2000. Interchannel released a Dreamcast version of the game on April 5, 2001. The game was later ported to the

on April 10, 2003 by Interchannel. ''Canvas ~Sepia-iro no Motif~'' was also released for the iOS on June 6, 2013. An

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

(OVA) series has been produced by TripleX, Studio Kyuuma, and Lemon Heart, the two OVA episodes were released in Japan on December 25, 2001. The first sequel to ''Canvas 2: Akane Iro no Palette'' (not including the fan disc) is ''Canvas 3 ~Hakugin no Portrait~'', a PC game released by F&C on March 20, 2009. Piacci released a PlayStation 2 port of the game on September 17, 2009, and then a

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

version of ''Canvas 3'' was released on April 22, 2010. On July 24, 2012, an

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

version was produced, and an iOS version was produced on June 14, 2013. A novel series, and

adaptation have been published. Also, a fan disc for ''Canvas 3'' called ''Valentine Pink'' was released for PC on April 23, 2010. Lastly, a visual novel called ''Canvas 4 ~Achrome Etude~'' was released for the PC on January 28, 2011 by F&C. GN Software released ''Canvas 4'' for PlayStation Portable on November 23, 2011. A manga adaptation for ''Canvas 4'' was published by Akita Shoten.

Anime

A 24-episode anime television series directed by

Itsuro Kawasaki is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, and director from Tokyo. Works Anime television *'' Popolocrois Monogatari'' (1998–99) – Assistant Director, Episode Director *''Arc the Lad'' (1999) – Director *'' Wild Arms: Twilig ...

and written Reiko Yoshida, called ''Canvas 2 ~Niji Iro no Sketch~'', was produced by studio Zexcs, and aired on the networks Chiba TV, TV Saitama, TV Kanagawa, KBS, Sun TV, TV Aichi, Perfect Choice, and AT-X in Japan from October 3, 2005, to March 27, 2006. The anime was simulcast on

, along with two other titles, '' Venus to Mamoru'' and '' Macademi''. The anime was licensed in North America by

. Episodes in the anime are named after colors.

References

External links

''Canvas 2''
at

* * {{Zexcs 2004 video games Bishōjo games DVD interactive technology Eroge Famitsu Bunko IOS games Japan-exclusive video games Kadokawa Shoten manga Manga based on video games PlayStation 2 games Romance anime and manga Seinen manga Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games Zexcs