#the kanker sisters

Marie Kanker and a Cat Self Defense Tool

Lee Kanker

My TikTok of May Kanker @bootlegsenshi on TikTok

Lee Kanker and a Lipstick

May Kanker & A Cheesy Pizza.

In the next scenes, the girls are beating each other up, or rather just May, fighting for this hairpin. Each Kanker believes that it will impress their man.

So, they actually do have feelings for the Eds. They still like torturing them. Since the girls are hitting puberty and discovering their feelings for themselves, the Kankers unearth what love is seeing if it’s what their mother has told them.

The Kanker’s have a very different lifestyle from everyone else. They were raised by their mother. It’s never fully stated if the girls have three different dads but it is heavily implied that a couple or all of them have walked out. 

Once you really study the girls home lives, the Kankers don’t have much. And they live with that. It’s how they grew up.

I think the Kanker’s want to expand their horizons. Their mother has kept them more grounded. Notice how they roamed the cul-de-sac more in the earlier seasons and then they only remain in the trailer park?

I’ll give another brief analysis of the moment but the girls are trying to prove their mother wrong. Kanker’s behavior raises numerous questions but the girls are trying to be independent to discover their world’s true colors and their own identities. 

Terrific animation! 

Poor May!

Lee matter of factly states that the pin is going in her hair.

Hmm, I have never seen Lee as the type of girl who needs to impress her man. She is happy with herself. Maybe she has hit puberty and is discovering ‘those feelings’.

I wonder how much their mother is around. She has to work a lot. I know the adults are supposed to be around but they’re invisible to viewers eyes, I think that the Kanker’s mother is actually absent. She works late hours to keep a roof over her daughters. 

I have a theory that the Kanker’s mother gave her daughters the talk around May I Have This Ed, or season 6. Notice how the girls have backed away from jumping the Eds? Sure, they get into a whole argument and explode in a jealous rage about the Eds at the dance. 

The Kanker’s are noticeably calmer and would rather defend the Eds then harass them. They’re treated as the heroes rather the antagonists in BPS. 

Stretching out Lee’s hair, Marie is not done defending herself yet. 

From this angle, it looks like Lee has no eyes. 

And Marie shoves Lee right into a tree, making a Lee shaped hole. 

Oddly foreshadows an indent that happens later in the episode. 

One of the best lessons the Kanker’s mother taught them is to never lose to a fight. I love the Kanker’s courage.

Also, Marie’s fear is a rare trait. I have a headcanon that she is hiding her true personality because she fears what others will think about her. 

Since Edd has been placed in the position to think of a plan, he retires to the back seat of the van for total peace. 

However, the total peace part isn’t going to happen with Ed and Eddy badgering him to think.

This scene is like me trying to sleep at night while I constantly think about all my stories when I am supposed to be sleeping. 

“THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK!….”

I love how Ed just takes one look at Eddy and mirrors his actions in an instant. Ed looks up to Eddy. Edd, too. They’re the only people who he can really trust. And Edd and Eddy see the value in Ed, unlike his home life. 

“THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK!…”

“VERY WELL THEN!!!” Edd screams.

Look at Eddy. He’s not fond of anyone screaming in his face. It triggers bad memories from Bro.

“And it better be good,” Eddy concludes placing his hands against his hips. 

Edd decides to venture outside so he can better. Eddy gives chase.

They’re no longer afraid to walk outside knowing that the Kanker’s could pounce them. When they’re together, the Eds can face challenges together instead of alone. 

Ed trips while getting out of the van. Oh, Ed…

Yay! Analysis is back! My theatre job started up again and I usually have to work quite a few night hours. Still, I love my job! It’s great to be back though! Let’s get this analysis underway.

A panicked Edd runs into the junkyard. Either because Marie Kanker is still after him or he noticed that skull lying in the pile in the corner.

Edd is so distracted that he trips over a tire landing on his face.

Edd is such a trooper! He gets right back up without even complaining about what just happened.

He even steals Eddy’s run for a second!

Finally, here is an appearance by the retro van which we have not seen since season 4! Why didn’t the retro van appear in season 5 or even the movie! The retro van would have made an interesting getaway car. 

This is one of the best moments in A Twist of Ed.

Each Ed runs for the cover of the old retro van for their safety.

Eddy even starts off the conversation with, “What, you too?” It’s a subtle detail that the Eds aren’t always together all the time. As the audience, we don’t know what their time apart looks like. Is there ever a day when the Eds don’t see each other?

For example, did the Eds spend time together during the day in the episode To Sir With Ed? Ed and Edd are having a sleeping over while Eddy was home alone that night. 

As Eddy grumbles about why the Kanker’s can’t just leave them alone, Edd is disgusted by the horrible odor. Not noticing the green stink flames coming from Eddy, Edd immediately blames Ed.

I love this line from Ed! “Not I, Double D. Talk to Mr. Stinkbutt!” Matt Hill’s delivery is priceless.

Even though Ed doesn’t have the best hygiene he still isn’t fond of smelly odors. Which is ironic, seeing how Ed lives in a filthy basement and loves smells like moldy cheese. I guess he has his limits.

“Hey, I had a Kanker hairball stuck in my shower!” Eddy defends himself. 

Immediately, Ed is sorry he mentioned the fact. 

“Calm down, Eddy! I’m sure if we put our 2 ½ heads together…”

Wait… excuse me?

2 ½? Edd, seriously? That is so mean to say! In season 5, Too Smart For Your Own Ed, Edd learns just how wrong he is about Ed’s intelligence. Even though they are close friends Edd still does not understand and is not comfortable with Ed’s unknown disability regarding his behavior. 

Big Picture Show opens up Edd’s world. If that campfire scene were not deleted Edd would have finally understood Ed and how he feels about himself and the world. The beautiful hug they share at the end of the movie really sells how differently Edd views Ed. 

Also, remember the moment where Edd asked for Ed’s opinion on which tie he should wear to meet Eddy’s Brother? You never see that? Edd is including Ed more knowing that there is more to Ed and that he was wrong. 

I love the coming of age journeys in this show. 

“THEN YOU THINK OF SOMETHING SMART GUY!!”

Eddy is not confident about his own ideas. That’s why he makes Edd draw up the plans to further think the ideas out. Think of how his brother would chew him out or insult him. Eddy is just beating himself up inside. Poor kid. 

It is midnight! Welcome to EENE Season 4 Appreciation Month! We have a lot to discuss! So, I will finish up this episode analysis and then I am going to stream season 4 episodes on some nights and post theories, facts or questions! I think that will be fun! Right now, let’s enjoy the last of A Twist of Ed!

“I haven’t had this much fun since father let me disassemble his shaver!” An ecstatic Edd exclaims to a quivering Eddy. 

Wait, what? When did Edd’s dad let him disassemble his shaver? That was more fun than all his adventures with Ed and Eddy? Why did his father let Edd disassemble his shaver? Edd could have taken this as a gesture of appreciation while his father might have been trying to get Edd out of his hair.

I love when we get to see Edd’s repressed wild side. So much is trapped. He wants to be the person who we saw having fun with his friends in season 1 but Edd wants so badly to impress his parents. 

BTW, Edd is so cute!

Forcefully pushing Eddy towards the Kankers trying to make him scare them off, Edd is becoming more reminiscent of Eddy’s brother by the second. 

I feel bad for Eddy in this episode. He didn’t want to be a part of this plan to begin with but since he and his friends are considered to be one person, he can’t getaway. I think the plan would have worked if it were just Ed and Edd. The Kanker’s were too scared to notice that Eddy wasn’t contributing. 

Arguably, it’s Edd’s fault. It’s true that Eddy’s influences have rubbed off on him. And he put them to good use trying to make Eddy understand that he is more than just his lackey/smart guy of the group. 

The poor Kanker’s are still cowering in fear. I forget how I felt about them when this episode first aired. Do you feel bad for them or was this what they deserved? Yes, it is a taste of their just desserts but their reactions are offputting. They’re alone. They’re not sure of what is going on. And the girls have had a dark past. 

Very good use of shots in this scene. 

“Go on, Eddy, show them no mercy!” Edd whispers into a fearful shaking Eddy’s ear.

Edd’s expression has Bro written all over it. And I have a feeling that Eddy is experiencing a repressed traumatic memory. Eddy didn’t understand his relationship about Bro until this very summer that the series takes place. The memories have bothered him to the point where he can’t be himself. Remember how laid back Eddy is in the first season and then he gradually becomes angrier and aggressive towards his friends. He is at his worse in the school season.

I have pointed out in theories that Eddy hides under his Bro mask for most of the series. This expression right here is Eddy. My headcanon is that he is a shy boy with low self-esteem who doesn’t know what to believe in.

His entire body shaking Eddy stutters trying to make conversation with the girls.

I like May’s reaction with her tongue sticking out in disgust. 

Sweat drips off his face which is a dead give away to the Kanker’s. 

Or just Lee who has to physically get her sisters to see the droplet of sweat on the ground.

Lee is the oldest. Her mother left her in charge. In a way, she also has to be a mother to Marie and May who look up to her.

What a strange screen-cap.

May’s expression reminds me of an expression that Ed would make.

The jig is up!

Now fully aware of what is really going on the girls run away beginning to set their revenge plan on the Eds.

“Oh, you scare us!”

“You’re so gross!”

“Eek!” That is my favorite of the reactions!

Believing that he actually scared the Kanker’s off, Eddy regains his courage and his Bro mask. Puffing out his chest he gloats about himself and how even he cannot handle his own charm. (Because it’s his brother’s charm).

I love Ed’s celebratory fist in the air. He looks up to Eddy!

Oh, and Edd has a celebratory fist, too! Aw, he’s so proud of Eddy for conquering his fear! I never noticed that! Even though this wasn’t the best episode to highlight the Eds friendship (forcing one to do something they didn’t want to do) the Eds are always supportive of each other.

Ed adds, “You’re Eddy! Babe magnet to the… uh… babes!”

I like how Ed slips up trying to think of the word that is in Eddy’s vocabulary. Has Ed used the word babe before? No, I don’t think so. And he is reminding Eddy that he has all the power. Ed looks up to Eddy. He always follows through with his actions whether right or wrong. If you think about it this way, Ed doesn’t have anyone else to look up to considering that his own family is against him.

Eddy declares that they hit on them again for one final round of torture.

The Kanker’s feel so unsafe that Lee is actually about to call the police!!

They are the only Kanker’s on the show who have threatened to call the police. Twice in season 4, in fact!

As the Eds and the other kids have dealt with their situations on their own, the Kankers are alone. Think about their past.  Since their mother is implied to get around most of the men may have been bad influences including a couple of the dads.

Lee is only doing what she believes their mother would do. And I think she has witnessed or had to call the police, for her mother’s sake. 

Ed has taken over the phone. “Dial me for love!”

Wow, look at Marie’s expression! That’s a similar frightened expression that Edd would make.

The girls react in horror. Someone is trying to kiss them without their consent. Doesn’t that remind them of their own actions?

I love Lee’s frantic hair! Too bad we can’t see her eyes!

Eyes show a lot. I have a headcanon that Lee hides her eyes because she is hiding all the pain that she does not want the world to find out. That and there is the possibility that she may have three eyes due to a frame in Big Picture Show. To me, either theory is possible. Out of the Kanker’s, we know less about Lee.

The girls run for their lives stealing Eddy’s run cycle. 

They fight over who is going to open the door. A subtle, but dark, callback to when they were fighting over who would open the door back in season 1 when they had a visitor.

Edd is at the door picking off pedals to a flower poetically lamenting, “She loves me. She loves me also.”

I still don’t want to know where Edd picked up this behavior from. Although he is on a role, it’s unsettling.

The girls run into Eddy.

Aw, look! Marie is protecting May again! That is so sweet1

Wow, Lee is tall.

I love this screenshot!

The girls run frantically crashing through a wall. What is on the other side of this wall anyway? 

It turns out, Ed was one step ahead of them. I love the outline that Ed created. He also points out how dark it is in this room the Kanker’s have run into. I wonder if this is the Kanker’s mom’s room. She has made a door for herself. 

“Care to snuggle under my blanket of amour?”

I have to wonder if an incident like this has ever happened to the Kanker’s. They are confused about what is going on but it also seems like these events are triggering frightening memories from the past. 

Honestly, I feel bad for the Kanker’s. The Eds don’t know what they have been through. The girls are not who they make themselves out to be. They put on unlikeable masks to keep people away from them so others won’t find out about their secrets. 

The girls finally made it home locking the door behind them.

I really like that shot of Lee locking the door. It’s so suspenseful. And it also makes me fear that the girls have been in this situation before. Tat and they’re realizing how true their mother’s words are. 

And this shot of the Kanker’s is well-directed. It just goes to show you how small the Kankers feel. They don’t want to let anyone in. That’s why they are closed off. 

May shudders. She has no clue what just happened.

Lee barks, “Mom was right. Throw a man a bone and he’ll mess up the carpet!”

Our of all the offscreen parents on Ed, Edd n Eddy the Kankers mother is my favorite. It’s implied that some of the parents are home in the cul-de-sac. Whenever the Kanker’s are home I get an instant vibe that they are alone. Their mother has to work a lot. She is trying to give her daughters the best life. 

Whether or not the Kanker’s are the same in age or they’re a year apart, there have been a couple or a few different birth fathers. My headcanon that one of them (May’s dad) is still around. But he and the Kanker’s mother are not on good terms.

Lee is the oldest. She has witnessed her mother’s actions with men longer than Marie and May. Even though the girls catch on to the Ed’s scheme, I notice that they don’t invade the cul-de-sac as much. 

That’s when Edd appears welcoming his ‘dainty, Douty darlings’ home.

I’m not sure whether I find this Edd face adorable, funny or creepy. It’s a mixture of all three. 

He offers a sock to each Kanker. Actually, he only has two. Whose socks are those? I’ve never seen Edd where any other sock beside his red ones. 

Edd also refers to the Kankers as his contemptuous cupcakes. Is Edd copying his behavior from Eddy? He’s very laid back in this episode and he knows what he is doing.

What if Edd is tracking down his inner kid and aggressive behavior like how it was implied during the dodgeball incident. I also believe that Edd is hiding his true person. He’s trying to escape from his parents who forced him to become an adult too early. 

And Ed has made pancakes with ketchup for the Kanker’s. 

I love Ed’s unique way of spelling.

The Kanker’s are terrified and announce that they are going to hide in their room.

Marie calls out to her sisters to ‘wait up!’

In the very first episode where they are introduced, as the Kankers are running off to the kitchen, Marie playfully tells her sisters to ‘wait for her.’

That is an interesting detail about Marie’s character. She is a loner but does not want to be left behind. She’s always tagging along with one of her sisters.

Meanwhile, Eddy is trying to stay out of this chaos keeping a safe distance. It’s sad how he is dragged into this considering that Bro has dragged him into countless situations that he never wanted to be involved in.

Lee’s pose is my favorite in this screenshot. It’s like she’s saying, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’

I wonder who put up the poster of ‘Moby Dick’. It’s very subtle but in one episode of season 5, it was shown in the background that Marie likes to read. However, it’s likely that the poster belongs to May as she is quite the nerd. 

The Kanker’s room is a mixture of all three of the girl’s personalities. This is the only bedroom in the house. I think their mother sleeps on the couch so her daughters can be more comfortable. Though they don’t show it, the sisters are very close. The girls protect each other at all costs. 

Edd has already tampered with their room labeling everything. He even calls the room ‘their love nest’.

While parents aren’t the best example, I wonder where Edd learned this phrase. We have seen Edd’s parents bedroom once. While his parents don’t label everything in the room, they don’t sleep together. Does Edd have a different opinion about love that he wants to invest more into?

Oh, look, there’s a pair of dice hanging around the bed! Eddy has a pair of dice!

Objects in Kanker’s Room

- Two bags of Oats                  - Fan

- Crutch                                   - Plant                        

- Posters                                  - Tree Scent

- Magazines

- Clothes

And then Edd reveals this diagram on how they are going to organize the room in his eyes.

Not going to lie, but this a little unsettling. Edd feels very controlling as a boyfriend/husband. Again, that is due to his parents who have their bedroom set up in a strict diagram and have rules laid out for Edd. Edd isn’t even allowed to go inside their bedroom which is cruel if you ask me. 

YAY! Analysis has returned! I have missed doing these! 

The Kankers become more creeped out as Ed flirts with them. Nobody had ever flirted with them before. Did their mother ever talk about that? Or did she only complain about how worthless men are?

I like how Marie puts her hand against May’s shoulder. That is so sweet! I know there are theories about May and Marie being fraternal twins. The more I have thought about it, it makes sense. The two have a similar facial structure. Lee is the oldest, I think she is around 13 or 14. Since their mother was very poor she couldn’t afford to send the girls, especially Lee to school. So, Lee is one to two grades behind her peer group.

While the girls were terrified in throughout this episode they most definitely got a learning lesson out of all this. They have to read the signs. 

Lee pushes Ed away. Nobody is going to hurt her sisters. 

Lee has to play the mother figure whenever their mother is not around. And I believe that their mother assigned her that role. Due to their upbringing, I don’t think the girls ever experienced childhood. They’re not social so they never had any friends to play with. And it’s likely that they had to move around a lot. 

The Kanker’s don’t care that they’re poor. They’re not searching for help. Knowing that they are different from everyone else is not the reason why they bug people. 

Edd points out that the plan is starting to work.

Eddy can’t even watch anymore. But then, he sports his mask and agrees that Edd’s plan was going to work all along.

This image. This image right here has Bro and little Eddy written all over it. We all know that Eddy’s brother manipulated Eddy thus causing him to have trust issues. Eddy even tries to manipulate others but he pulls back. 

Although he masks his brother Eddy is afraid to become his brother.

I love Edd’s confidence. And he gets that from Eddy. Edd’s parents destroyed all the confidence that he had. Ed and Edd have a lot to thank Eddy for. 

Next, Ed tries to offer the girls candy and mud inside of a hat. And then afterward they can make-out.

The Kankers are repulsed. And this is their technique!

Marie begs for Lee to do something.

Marie and May look up to Lee. 

With quick thinking, Lee uses May as a boat and Marie as the paddle to get them across the stream and through the woods. 

PRECIOUS!

I love when Eddy is physically affectionate! 

Eddy considers that they should go do the reverse psychology on the candy shop to get a free jawbreaker. That would be a nice little end to the episode. The boys are free from the Kankers. And they deserve a jawbreaker.

But Edd has something else in mind.

To ensure that they fully have a Kanker-free history they need to make one more strike. 

I am not sure if I agree with Edd or not. The Kankers appear to understand what just happened and look as if they’ll back off, but maybe not forever.

I think Edd is going a little too far. 

Eddy decides that he’s had enough and he’ll wait for the movie. 

You mean Big Picture Show? That’s not for another six years, Eddy! 

A Twist of Ed was released in 2003 while Big Picture Show came out in 2009.

Insisting that all three of them need to carry out this plan Edd asks Ed to NOT get Eddy.

To which Ed obeys and chases after Eddy who begs for Ed to leave him alone.

Now, this is sad seeing what Eddy had to go through in his past. He obviously doesn’t want to be a part of the matter. Ed and Edd would have been just fine on their own.

Since they’re known as the Eds, everyone thinks that they are one person. Even the Eds do. However, in season 5 they start to spend less time together. While they are on the rocks, that’s okay. It’s healthy for friends to spend time apart to be independent and seek their own passion and ideas. 

Edd is dependent on Eddy. He still isn’t consistent. Notice how he always asks for Eddy’s opinion even in later episodes. Edd was close to leaving in season 5 but he doesn’t know how to fully interact socially with other people.