Anime: Chrno Crusade

Chrno Crusade was yet another show released in 2003 amongst dozens of high quality competitiors. It managed to outshine many better shows with its taboo romance, sad ending, and a more serious take whenever tragedy happened. This show had all the necessary elements to be a true groundbreaker like Full Metal Alchemist, however it failed in a very basic aspect: focus. The show starts fairly stupid and childish, changes to a tale of revenge, then to romance, and later to save the world business, doing all of this while spitting religious terms all around and not caring if it was really fit to the circumstance.

Art & Animation
Much like all ofthe show, Chrno Crusade artwork lacks a true big identity. It looks quite generic from the start, with a mix of a Vandread girls and colors with the usual darker and bizarre dose that Gonzo's show always have. The world is a nicely detailed XIX century setting filled with dark corners haunted by demons. Sadly, the characters are very much shounen-stock figures, built for fanservice and not for story development. Sexy nuns, kid-looking demons, bishounen demons... the main characters are all very shounen-like. That wouldn't be a problem if the setting wasn't darker and serious as it proposes to be. Besides this art-related issues, the animation is good enough for its age and delivers good action as well as enhance the comedy flair of the show when needed.

Sound
It's hard to find a show released back in those years with a poor sound direction. Chrno Crusade is no exception and delivers a solid soundtrack, a good and mature voice-acting couple with moments of comedy and non-annoying bits of yelling. Opening and endings fit nicely and are good enough to create momentum to each episode.

Story
A XIX century world where demons are trying to rebel against god and the church hunts them in order to preserve justice and order. Within such world the most unexpected duo is working on the sidelines. Rosetta, a holy nun armed with guns, and Chrono, a demon that changed sides and is now hunting his former allies. This duo takes on demon hunting tasks and are slowly dragged inside Chrono's past and the works of a powerful archdemon named Aion. Throw inside this mix the fact that Rosetta's brother is also in trouble and you have a very good combo to put this bizarre duo to work against hordes of demons and nice shounen fights.

1. Identity Problems
   While the premise and the setting are good enough, there are some problems with the direction. The show starts very light hearted, with random demon hunts, lots of comical relief, daily life, and all the carefree stuff that could happen between a dumb young nun and a shy small demon-man (it even gets a bit annoying bit episode 6 or so). It then changes to a more dramatic drama involving Chrono's past and the demon rebellion in the middle part. Later it is more about a mostly shoujo romance between the protagonists. Finally it ends as a world-saving shounen. This means we have lots of variety, but also a very thin sense of identity.
   
   Pace and Drama
   Chrno Crusade pace is very erratic as well, sometimes suddenly changing from serious to comical moments... but when tragedy is used it does a superb job. The show, like FMA and other contemporary shounens, has no fear of permanently killing characters, developing really sad experiences, etc. This all contribute to make the inconsistent plot something good and more mature by the end.
   

Character
A dumb nun armed with guns and with the typical carefree behavior, as well as a childish-looking demon and a bishounen demon, joined by other host of cute young nuns and bizarre demons gives us a very problematic start with the cast, very typical of your average shounens. What Chrno Crusade does to avoid turning itself into just another shounen with oversized cast is focusing all the development in the two protagonists. Rosetta and Chrono have quite a deal of tragic and daily life events to incorporate to their personalities and they do a good job when doing so. After episode 10 or so the plot changes to Chrono's past, development takes a huge leap and becomes very rewarding. Sadly the support cast is just there to fill up screen time and are mostly limited to flashy character design.

Value
Being compared to FMA is hard, but inevitable because both shows were released in the same window and with many similar elements. While Chrno Crusade doesn't have all the grandiose of FMA, it succeeds in bringing a very good shounen show that treats the audience with respect and never tries to be absurdly childish or stupid. It has its doses of mindless talks and jokes, but nothing abusive. The nice setting and the serious take makes Chrno Crusade one of the most unique shows out there, and for that it got a spot in the top lists of many fans.

Enjoyment
The first half is very weak, reminding those long runs of random events of the late 90's shows. After that we have a far more serious show, with a more intricate plot and a deal with tragedy that make it shine amongst your typical mindless shounens. Some comedy is thrown in to refresh once in a while, as well as doses of fanservice that slowly vanishes from the spotlight as the plot thickens. A nice combo and a very enjoyable series to waste a weekend or so.

Comments
I've watched this before FMA and I grew very fond of it. Chrno Crusade is a shounen by all means, with all the super power fights, mindless talks, new power ups poping each episode or so, etc. But, like many shows back in the early 2000's, it has far more seriousness to boost the experience and make it more pleasant to an older audience.

What can really annoy here is something typical of Gonzo's show: real life references. The use of christianity elements and terms, most of the time in wrong ways, make this show very stupid if you look at it critically. An archdemon that looks like a kid, helping the church to kill other demons while accompanied by a nun in revealing clothes armed with guns and with a behavior of a 14-year old school girl? Hell... that's hard to pass by. This happens in the more recent Ao no Exorcist as well, where stupid references make things harder to take seriously.

However, if you let that pass and take this show simply as a shounen that uses demons and generic custom church organization as a pillar, then things can be better. It's hard to do that because the base of the setting is in fact built upon christianity, but those watching it may want to avoid comparing this stuff with real life religion in order to fully enjoy the show.

PROPER MINDSET
Boy, did this show stir the animedom when it aired. It is still amongst the favorite of many even after all these years and I can even tell you why.

1) It is shounen yet people die in it permanently. Do you know how weird it looks to have that in a genre where usually the characters never die or are resurrected soon afterwards?
2) Sad, weird ending. Again, this is a shounen and yet the ending is not fairy tale-ish.
3) Christian flavor. Who says no to that? Especially when it concerns blurring the difference between good and evil and having a romance between a human nun and a male archdemon. Yeah, taboo romances are the easy way to go.

There you have it; three very good reasons of why this anime was cherished by so many. Sadly, they all have to do with aesthetics and not with good storytelling. Boy, very few ever care about pacing or directing and I am one of them. So to spoil all the fun, I say the premise of the show is damn good but the presentation is far from great. I can also tell you why.

1) Way too much dead time. 2/3rds of the show is pointless fluff.
2) Out-of-place and practically unneeded fan service that works against liking the characters.
3) Made by GONZO. You know, good visuals and premises but shitty presentation and closure. The story makes little sense, leaves a lot of things unexplained and even ends in a vague way. It is also sad to see this being director Kou Yuu’s first work and also his best. Afterwards that stupid studio turned his brain to mash potatoes and he went to direct nothing else other than badly made softporns. DAMN YOU TO HELL GONZO!

These are the main issues which I will explain next in a bit more analytical way.

PRODUCTION VALUES: 7/10
GONZO is very good at making interesting worlds, with lots of details and vivid colors and this is no exception. The setting of the early 20th century was made to look great and the sceneries are the best thing to stare. Unfortunately, it is the only one thing that was done great. The character figures are otherwise quite average in details and the intended oversexuality of the females is actually a mood killer when in comes to character drama. But that is for a later section; all you need to know for now is that all girls are busty and provide medium amounts of fan service, which to be honest don’t offer anything special to the show. I mean, it is not over the top to work meta-series and not excused in-series, so ends up being completely useless and unappealing. Chrono himself is presented as a wimp just to look cool when he goes all berserk but again, it strikes more lame than interesting, aesthetically-wise. Another thing is the battles, which to be frank are not exciting or special in any way. It all ends up who has the better looking spell or goes berserk faster with little effort at strategy or field tactics. Seriously, the whole thing results to you looking at very well done backgrounds and the two main heroes moving silly in the foreground, waiting for some romance or story revelation to come forward. Action and fan service end up being dead time you just beg to end so the good stuff will have their turn.

SCRIPT: 4/10
The story has ups and downs along the way and I guess that is another reason many people liked it. First it appeared to be a silly comedy with an aloof duo of demon hunters. Then around episode 7 it becomes a drama around revenge, rebellion and looming death. Then at 10, it turns to some formulaic adventure where new characters are constantly introduced and colorized. Then at 20 it turns to an epic battle for the future of mankind before in ends tragically and leaves you wondering what exactly is going on with that prophecy. And what was that shot?

Although to the shallow minds that will appear like an awesome story, because it keeps changing themes, in reality it is just bad directing with no regard to proper transition from one subject to another. The premise of the story is very good; it has to do with a girl trying to save her brother and a pair or archdemons fighting to set free the world from God’s control, while a lot of side characters intervene to make things more complicating. But as far as good storytelling goes, it is very GONZOed. What, who, where, why and when keep happening randomly and usually the whole deal ends up being ridiculed with silly fan service and mistranslation of Christian teachings. I mean, really, do moral Christian sisterhoods let their nuns roam around with revealing clothes? The nuns I know have mustaches and are hardly sexy. And why are the most powerful archdemons look like gays and sissies? Are they even demons and not just people with horns? And how is it humanly possible for a Christian to use demons to fight demons and even fall in love with one? Or how is it possible for a demon to use God’s power in a way to defeat Him? Makes no sense at all. We could of course say it is an anime and these things are excused but they are using Christianity and not some made up religion, and they are supposed to depict pure good and pure evil. Well I’m sorry, I see no good or evil here, just deprived nuns and sissy demons bastardizing the largest religion on Earth. And it’s not even pure parody to just laugh at the absurdity.

The funny thing is that I am not a fanatic Christian. I just don’t like seeing any religion being f*cked up like this without a reason at all. There is this live action movie called Dogma which makes fun of Christianity so openly that it ends up being funny; but not this anime. And even without this element in the way most episodes end up being useless in the overall plot so regardless of even noticing the bastardization you still end up watching fillers for the sake of waiting for the main story to return.

CAST: 7/10
Although there are numerous characters present, story-wise the ones who matter is only Chrono (main hero), Rosetta (main heroine), and Aion (main villain). All the rest are just there make fun and eat up airtime so the producers can fill a full season. Now about the main trinity, it is good how they are all colorized and developed thoughtout the show. You really see them under a different light by the end of the show and not the same nun with guns and boobs, accompanied with a sissy demon and chasing a gay demon. They also get their catharsis in the end, which is not a happy one but still counts as one. The sadder thing is how they are otherwise quite typical as personalities and looks and even their motives are not that great in the longrun. Did Rosetta even care about her brother in the second half or just looked for a way to bed Chrono? What would Chrono accomplish by stopping Aion? Could Aion even get that crazy plan to work in the first place? All these things end up being good only on paper because in practice they feel absurd and unsupported.

LEGACY: 4/10
I did like the premise of the story and the core drama. Yet all that were covered only a third of the show while the rest was fillers, useless characters, out-of-place fan service and improbable masterplans. It did have good scenario ideas. It just didn’t make good use of them.

SUGGESTION LIST
Series where the heroine has an expiration date: Mahoromatic, Seikano, Looking for the Full Moon
Series with girl and boy fighting demons: Blue Seed, 3X3 Eyes, Inu Yasha

Hello, true believers. This is my first review for the series known as chrono crusade. I will attempt to b-b-break it down(yo) as fair and biased as possible in each of the following sections:

the animation: Well, I must say, the animation was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be halfway decent with a couple of bells and whistles, considering the show was made in 2003. But age matters not, for the animation quality exceeded my expectations. I then remembered Studio Gonzo was in charge of the animation, and then remembered, "Ohhhh, that's why it looks so good." A lot of shows these days seem to blow all their money on making the opening for their shows as good as possible, but unfortunatley some of these shows aren't as well animated as their openings. (I"m talking to you Fafner!) Chrono crusade manages to land a one-two punch in spite of this, and both the animation in the actual show and the opening are very well done. The character designs are a little unrealistic and sometimes generic, but they actually seem to fit pretty well in this kind of show. The backgrounds in the show are also surprisingly good. Some shows have backgrounds so crappy they're more like cardboard cutouts for the puppets to interact in. However, the characters in chrono crusade seem to act like its actually there and move around in it, rather than squiggle their way through. The lighting effects are also very well done, and bring dramatic flair to the show.

How does it sound?: Pretty good I guess. Both the opening and ending songs are good and are nice ear candy. I like the ending song so much I never skip it like I usually do at the end of each episode. The actual music used in the show is kind of like a see-saw; some songs are good and fit really well, while the others sound pretty half-assed. The best parts of the soundtrack are probably used for the dark or emotional moments(both happy and sad) of the series, and are truly the best parts of it. Very outstanding. The other music in the soundtrack... well, errrrrrrgh, I dunno.... It doesn't sound as good as the other parts of the soundtrack, but thankfully it doesn't sound like a cat in a puree blender. (An example would be the soundtrack for the Prince of Tennis anime. no offense to the fans.)

Once upon a time: So, The setting for Chrono crusade takes place in America, during the roaring 1920's. You know, the 20's, with all those mafia gangsters like Al capone or John Dillinger,(Public Enemies now in theaters!) Hot jazz music, bootlegging booze and speakeasies, you know, those 1920's! But, There's a problem as usual.(This is anime after all) Apparently, there is a new threat looming, and the rich arisocrats and nobles are summoning demons from the very fires of hell. Why? Because they are bored! (Oh, those crazy rich folk, what will they do next, make crazy reality t.v shows?) So, to combat this new threat, A religous organization known as the magdalene order must combat this growing threat. (I will go into characters in the next section.) The story is not anything new or revolutionary, just good guys against demons with a few exploits here and there. Is it bad? No, ok actually. Is it a newberry award winner? Bloody hell no! The story is not anything new if you've seen those kind of shows, but it's still very enjoyable nonetheless. The characters however...

They suck!?: No, shut up and let me finish. The characters are actually the main reason why this show is so great! The show also balances out really well between comedy, romance, and tragedy, and there are very few shows that perform this feat very well.(Welcome to the N.H.K. would be an example also.) The main characters are a Nun that works for the order, Sister Rosette Christopher, and her partner, a demon named Chrono. Chrono may be a demon, but he fights on the good guys side. Rosette is a memorable character, thanks to her comedic antics yet her willingness to do good. There are many other memorable characters too, but just watch the show and you'll see how great they are. They are the driving force of the show, and they are the main reason why this show is just great. Rosette and Chrono are also a very memorable duo, much like Batman and Robin, The lone ranger and Tonto, or Ben Stiller or Owen Wilson. (Ok, maybe not the last one.) If it wasnt for these great characters and their development, this would be just another boring shounen action show. Thankfully, its the opposite.

The value: I dont have much to say about this, but just one important thing about this. This anime does have a sad ending, and I'll say no more, but this is the best sad yet moving ending I have ever seen in anime, Hell, even in a work of fiction. I was almost crying like a whiny bitch when I finished this series, and there has never been a show like this that ever made me act like this. Just go and see for yourself.

I seem to be enjoying this: I show this a lot in my local anime club, and they all seem to like it a lot. One guy likes it because of the setting and action, while this one girl likes it a lot because of Chrono. In other words, there is something for everyone in this show. Anyone can enjoy it, even if they dont watch much anime, or any at all.

Overall: An outstanding series that excels in comedy, action, romance, and tragedy. The only complaint I have is Chrono's whiny voice, but other than that, everything else is good. I give Chrono Crusade 5 Nuns with Guns out of 5.

I read the description of this anime and it sounded great and it started off pretty good. But that ended quickly.[br][br]Animation/Sound: Both were well done. The animation style is pretty good. However, I took off one point because there is too much "fanservice" type elements. Every female character (other than Azmaria the 10-year old) has well defined curves. Very unrealistic, and there are times when the lead females are attacked so that their clothes are ripped so they are left exposing their bra and panties clearly. This isn't a bad thing, but it's kinda unrealistic, but I assume it goes well with the teenage audience.[br][br]Character: Okay characters, nothing too great or too bad though.[br][br]Story: Well the story starts off good, nuns fighting evil, devil as a partner, trying to find a lost brother, etc. But the ending was something I didn't expect. It wasn't terrible, but it could have been much better. *Major SPOILER, don't read the next two sentences if you don't want to.* I didn't like how it took 24 episodes to end with a "God works in mysterious ways" type ending where everyone is pretty much unhappy and nothing really seems to have been accomplished. The main characters come to peace with their problems but they also lose something in the end.[br][br][br]Value: I personally wouldn't rewatch this.[br][br]Enjoyment: As a comedy I only laughed during one scene and it was in one of the later episodes.[br]As an action anime, it had its share of action and also had fantasy.[br]But the plot isn't very good. Personally, I'd rather have a good vs evil plot where the good guys try to defeat the bad guys and end it there. But here they try to add some profound meanings about love, desire and other concepts which doesn't play out very well.[br][br]It really isn't that great of an anime to be honest.[br]

To me, Chrno Crusade seemed almost like a parody of a more serious anime; lame humor, fan service, and fluff abound throughout the anime to ruin what could have been a decent storyline.

Chrno Crusade tells the story of Rosette, a nun, and her search for her younger brother with her partner Chrno, a demon. Sounds interesting, right? Wrong. The storyline starts extremely slowly, picks up a bit around episode 7-8, then slows down again (there is a sort of plot black hole in the middle of the series, with a bunch of filler-esque episodes) until finally it picks up again in the last few episodes. As to the ending which is so praised in many reviews: I think it was good, but it was by no means the spectacular ending claimed by many, partly due to the lack of development of the characters.

The bulk of the background for this anime consists of bastardized Christian dogma which had the potential to be extremely interesting but was not really developed to much extent. For instance, we find out little about what Chrno and Aion actually are, how long they have been alive, or anything much about God and the "Devil" themselves.

Chrno is an emasculated creature who, despite the many instances of "climactic" build up towards his demon form, does naught but yell at the sky. Rosette herself is a fairly weak nun with a gun, and you wonder throughout the series how she is able to live through many of herexperiences.

Satella, a woman looking for revenge, serves mostly as a tool for fan service (dozens of jokes about her breasts, many scenes with her in a bath/bathrobe/different outfits which accent her breasts) and her story and development are glazed over fairly quickly. Another fan service character, the inventor, was a typical old-man anime character who touched the nuns' breasts and looked up their skirts for cheap humor.

The most interesting character, Reverend Remington, is not explored nearly as much as he should have been and at the end of the series he was the only character I wished to see more of. As to the main villian, Aion, he could have used more background but overall he was a good villian.

As for the animation: in typical Gonzo fashion the animation is extremely well done, the action scenes are fluid, the backgrounds (including 1920s New York, the main setting) are detailed.

As for the soundtrack, the OP/ED were decent but not memorable or good by any means. The voice actors weren't too great for the most part: Rosette and Azmaria had really annoying voices, and Chrno, a demon, sounded like a little girl.


This anime is not good enough to get a recommendation from me, though I would say it isn't the worst anime I have seen. I have heard the manga is much better (supposedly the anime is only a few volumes of the manga and the anime's last 6-7 episodes are completey made up) so I might pick up the manga in order to check that out.

You know, I might have given Chrno Crusade a 6, but that does not mean it deserves a 6. The thing is that Chrno crusade, like other shows of the 21st century, is saved by the quality of its animation/sound, a trait which allows it to invest less in the story (an excellent example for an anime of this sort is Tenchi Muyo GXP, top notch design, sub-standard story). But hey, maybe it will appeal to some people for more than its showy graphics (Fat chance!).

Animation/Sound (8):
Well, as I mentioned before, state-of-the-art animation and smooth, pleasant sound effects with great BGM, very good OP and almost decent ED (From my experience, EDs are usually severely crappy!).

Story (3):
The main plot in Chrno Crusade involves a young gun slinging nun and her semi-former-arch-devil partner on a quest to stop an other arch-devil and his plan to remake the world using the power of god, and if you buy this story for even one second, then you’re the biggest sap in existence! I mean, jeeze! I know a story should preferably be original and “not-yet-done”, but this is the biggest pile of bologne I was ever subjected to, and that’s not necessarily an exaggeration. And you know, it would actually have been ok if they allowed it to play out as a regular action/adventure story, but they didn’t, instead, they decided to involve god. And it’s not the atheist in me talking, it’s simply that when you use divine interference, it is inevitably interpreted into deus ex machina, which, as you know, is one of the biggest mistakes in literature. Because when you use deus ex machina, the hero doesn’t matter, it’s all about the main scheme/writer-directed plot device. It’s like telling the viewer: “Ignore the plot, only the ending matters.”. And they don’t even deliver on that part, since the ending of Chrno Crusade is one of the worst I ever encountered. I won’t say why I didn’t like it that much because I don’t wanna spoil it for anyone, but let’s just say that if you expect it to give you any sort of closure, you’ll be in for a letdown. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 2.

Characters (4):
The main characters in the story are Rosette the nun and Chrono the devil, who are supposedly the heroes, but, when deus ex machina is involved, you pretty much lose the whole “hero” factor and are left with… “plot advancers”. And anyway, as far as the hero department goes, those two don’t exactly qualify. Cause, on the one hand, you have Rosette, whose only skill is the ability to handle a gun, and since her character isn’t a cowboy/soldier/cop/mercenary/etc, it’s not worth much (seeing as how her targets don’t exactly bleed, just sort of… vanish). On the other hand, you have Chrono, who, despite the generic profile that’s usually associated with these diabolical types, he’s, well… timid, he’s like a kitten. And as far as combat goes, his role doesn’t usually surpass that of an equipment carrier/human shield. So, I really wasn’t impressed. There is some development… I guess, though you kinda miss it on account of the lame plotline.

Overall (6):
It’s cute… and… I suppose that’s pretty much it. It has some tearjerkers near the end but don’t expect anything spectacular. I guess it’s worth watching once but I don’t know if it’s worth watching again.