Originally posted by: Ryllharu
Personally, I have no idea why anyone would compare the two in the first place. Suzuka was a romance anime (the way it's cut from the originally manga), and Canvas2 is a uncharactaristically serious harem series (even if only two of them actually 'love' him). Also, as someone pointed out earlier, there aren't a whole lot of eps out and Lunar is not that quick at releasing the ones that are.
Suzuka is also in all aspects a convoluted and multifaceted as any dorama, with Suzuka's motivation never known until the end and the other girls acting equally as wild cards. Suzuka's erratic behavior, the cause of which wasn't known until the end, and Yamato's varying intensity screwups lead to all sorts of stupid little twisted problems in their growing relationship. Canvas2 has just two problems throughout the series, Hiroki's artist block and Elis' obsession with him. Both are already well defined and given potential solutions (Hiroki gets together with Kiri, and Elis with that boy who makes pottery). All the girls problems are solved episodically, not really giving any motivation for watching the next eps (other than hopefully seeing Tomoko in more loli goth outfits). A perfect example is when they made Yanagi a huge issue in
Whoever insisted that Suzuka and Canvas2 are similar are idiots. At best the two are comparable, because they fall in the same generalized genre when Canvas2 focuses on Hiroki-Kiri-Elis. The two series are nowhere near the same intensity, and neither are they all that similar in style of romance anime. I don't think you can compare the two series without a series that's similar to both of them, that being SHUFFLE! It has themes serious enough to compare to Suzuka, and is much closer to Canvas2's format and the way the characters act. The only aspect they share that SHUFFLE! doesn't bridge is realism. The serious parts of School Rumble (yes, the whole hour of that), mainly the Eri-Harima-Yakumo and Yakumo-Hanai-Mikoto relationships, more closely resemble Suzuka than Canvas2.
Is Canvas2 a good series worth discussing? Most of the time, there really isn't anything
to discuss. They wrap up all the eps into neat little self contained packages with the myriad problems of the girls being solved by the time the eps ends (excepting Elis and Kiri). That doesn't mean it isn't worth watching. The side stories are funny, or interesting, and each one moves Hiroki further down the path to painting again. I watch Suzuka and Canvas2 for completely different reasons. The series are not comparable, beyond the similar genre they share and the realistic setting. If you're looking for a Suzuka clone, look elsewhere. It's called shoujo.
(Yes, I am well aware that Suzuka is seinen, but the slice of manga that makes up the anime was edited in such a way that it falls into the shoujo realm.)