.
I was very disappointed in Canaan, regarding the plotline. In fact, the more anime I watch, the more I find that most of them based on video games leave me wanting. A lot. In the case of Canaan, the first half really got my hopes up that it was going to be something unusual and special, but the final three Eps. really killed it for me. I've posted on this before a few times, but (without spoilers) I felt that the maturity level dropped to rock bottom and they went with Really Stupid Ideas and Utterly Worn Out Memes. Major technical stupidities, in an anime that was building its rep on a fairly hard sci fi/action theme, also really gutted the enjoyment for me.
Your mileage may vary ... but I had to force myself to finish it and it's one of the few animes that I've deleted. No want to archive, will never watch it again. Animation quality was pretty good, otherwise. If you really want an anime that delivers in a very similar genre, find a copy of NOIR ... better characters and character development, better plot, better action,
better soundtrack (seriously: one of the best ever anime soundtracks). Animation is a bit dated due to age, but it's still pretty fantastic.
Hakuouki - Shinsengumi Kitan is very richly animated, great art and mood. However, I again found the storyline to vary from anemic to brain-hurtingly filled with plot holes and juvenile devices. Which really disappointed me more than most anime fails. The base premise of the plot is pretty fantastic and had enormous potential ... but by about halfway through I just wanted it to end and had lost all caring for every single character. Most characters didn't seem to make decisions based upon their personality; they seemed more doomed to make some idiotic choices because the writers had some point or statement to make with the plot, which they then failed to convey.
No intention of watching the second season.
Of the remaining choices, I have not seen Dance in the Vampire Bund, Pandora Hearts, or Seirei no Moribito. No opinion at all on Vampire Bund since I've not heard of it before, though I'm not huge into vampires (Blood the Last Vampire & Vampire Princess Miyu are quite awesome, though). Pandora Hearts I know some about, and it's been on my curiosity list for quite a while .. but I again must decline an opinion on that.
However, Seirei no Moribito has been on my to-watch list and I am pretty excited by what I've read and seen on it. It seems to fall into a category like something between Sora no Woto, Katanagatari and 12 Kingdoms: pretty serious and epic with glorious animation. So I voted for that one based upon hope & wishes and wantz.
Aoi Bungaku I recommend because it's a fantastic look into Japanese horror genre. Perhaps not entirely horror so much as spooky ghost stories, something of mythical and classical in style. Animation is pretty good with some nice unusual stuff and moody, but these are more story-based ... watch them for that and the animation also happens to be quite enjoyable.
Then, I watched Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 right after the big quake in Japan this year. It had been on my to-watch list for a while and that event motivated me to finally sit through it. I wanted to cry a few times. Maybe it was being saturated in current events, but I also took away from it a sense of Japanese perseverance, survival and stoicism in the face tragedy. I want to watch it again now. The animation is modern and good looking, but it's kind of hard to call it "awesome" in the sense that it sets new standards of art (such as Sora no Woto, for example). It's pretty much what I expect from a realistic style, modern anime.
