Anime

Spoiler-free summary and review of the basic Chrno Crusade anime storyline

You might have noticed that most of the site is dedicated exclusively to the Chrno Crusade manga, and that no reference to the anime series is made in any other section of the site, except here. Why is that, you ask? The answer is simple: the story of the manga, besides being completely different (and highly superior) to that of the anime (no absurd plot holes, anti-climatic deaths, filler episodes or gratuitous fanservice), has a lot of character development, offers a good insight into the personalities of each one of the characters (even the secondary ones) and has a fluid, more elaborated storyline. The manga gives a whole new meaning to all the religious terms it uses, unlike the anime, which simply borrowed all the terms of the manga and actually used them in their original religious context, with rather disastrous and confusing consequences (let’s face it, folks. The whole “Astral Line” concept simply doesn’t mix with traditional Catholic beliefs). Anyway, to be fair, I’m going to review the anime by itself, without comparing it with the manga and trying to be completely objective. That said, here I go:

Introduction: The Chrno Crusade anime, by Gonzo Diginimation started on November 2003 and finished on June 2004, with a total of 24 episodes. The show didn't do too well in Japan (it certainly wasn't one of Gonzo's hits). It had frequent delays (sometimes of 2 or 3 weeks) between one episode and the next, and it was moved from a prime-time TV slot on Mondays at 7 PM to the rather poor schedule of Wednesdays at 3 AM. It was licensed in the U.S. by ADV Films.

Summary: The story begins in New York in the 20’s. Rosette Christopher, a young novice from the Magdalan Order, a Catholic militaristic convent that specializes in battling demons, and her assistant and best friend Chrno, kind and submissive despite being a demon himself, are sent to a very special mission, where they met Azmaria Hendric, a young girl with special powers that is somehow connected to Joshua Christopher, Rosette’s younger brother. Joshua was kidnapped 4 years ago by Aion, a former ally of Chrno. Aion is an overly ambitious demon who basically wants to replace God and rule the world, but to do this, he needs the help of a very special person, a “holy maiden” chosen by God who has the markings of Christ and who is blessed with divine powers. Rosette and Chrno, along with Satella, a jewel witch who is also targeting Aion due to personal reasons, are determined to stop him, but they will have to pay a very high price for it...

Review: The first episodes of the anime are somewhat similar to the first 2 volumes of the manga (with some notorious differences due to the anime’s fixation on pseudo-Christian themes) however, the story quickly goes off in an entire different direction. The anime, instead of being an animated adaptation of the manga, tries to create a new, original story by simply borrowing several religious words from the manga and using them in their original context. While the intention is praiseworthy, the result is rather deplorable, since it doesn’t even attempt to explain some of the most important concepts. As a result, the story, though it looks fairly promising at first, later becomes a confusing mixture of fictional facts and real events. This series creates very high expectations, but it doesn’t really live up to them. It also fails to explain some very important plot points, as it unsuccessfully tries to combine traditional Christian beliefs with the fictional “Astral Line” concept of the manga.

The action scenes are a bit awkward sometimes. Though the animation for the first part of the anime is fairly good, the often pointless, anti-climatic fights that are shown in some of the later episodes leave a lot to be desired. The background music, however, is really good, and supports the action very well, without taking your attention away from the main scene. The opening and closing themes of the anime are also really nice to listen to. The opening song “Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line” (sung by Kuribayashi Minami) is slightly upbeat, while the closing song “Sayonara Solitaire” (sung by Chiba Saeko) is a little nostalgic, and they complement each other perfectly. The japanese seiyuu (voice actors) also do a fairly good job, and most of the voices are adequate for each one of the characters. The animation quality, on the other hand, it’s pretty decent for the first part of the series, but it drops down noticeably for the last episodes, which are poorly animated for the most part. The overall pacing of the story is somewhat slow, though some of the last episodes feel a bit rushed, squeezing a lot of important plot points in a few minutes and leaving many questions unanswered. The characters appear and disappear at random, and it's sometimes difficult to keep track of who's alive and who's not.

Comments (with spoilers): When I first heard that there was going to be an anime of Chrno Crusade (back in early 2003), I was overjoyed. I couldn’t wait to see my favorite manga animated! Sadly, while I certainly didn’t expect the anime to be exactly like the manga (that would have been completely unrealistic) the awkward plot developments soon made me forget about my original enthusiasm for this series. Anyway, the real problem was not that the plot of the anime was completely different from the manga: the thing I seriously hated were the character's lack of depth/personality. Forget all the plot holes, fanservice, absurd dialogues, etc. The characters are what absolutely ruined the show for me. (As I already said, I won't even try to compare the anime with the manga, or I'll be ranting for hours. I'll just stick to the anime as it is)

The characters are completely two-dimensional. Azmaria is nothing but an annoying (and rather useless) brat. She also HAS to appear in almost every frickin' episode, even if everything she does is tripping, crying or just being a royal annoyance. Satella is a humorless, arrogant witch (no pun intended). Fiore is an emotionless robot programmed to take care of Joshua, who is a permanently retarded psycho completely disconnected from reality. Everything Sister Kate did in the entire series was either worrying about something or looking outside the window looking worried. Same goes for Remington, who was reduced to a pathetic, homeless bum incapable of doing anything. The Apostles were nothing but extras, we never even get to see their faces. The Sinners were all diabolically evil, with no real motivation to their actions other than following Aion's plans. Magdalene was an "empty vessel" (more like an "empty character" if you ask me) with no memories that only appeared for about 15 minutes in the entire series and was forgotten almost immediately. The three nuns probably had a little more personality than some of the characters already described, strange, since they were only incidental characters without any real purpose in the story...

And I haven't even begin talking about Rosette and Chrno, the two protagonists. Rosette at first looked like a very strong and complex character, but she got later reduced to the role of damsel-in-distress and became a weak, mindless puppet without any will of her own. She couldn't even shake herself out of her pathetic state, not even after seeing Chrno, who was supposed to be her true love (how could she ever forget about him?! ARGH!!!). Chrno was a perfect saint, always kind, always patient, always submissive, etc. He had no  real edge to his personality, despite being a demon with a very dark past.

And then comes Aion, the annoying, perverted, ambitious, better-than-thou, evil-as-hell villain of the show who wants to be like God and "Rule The World" (TM). He’s portrayed as a real skirt-chaser completely incapable of keeping his hands (and mouth) away from any woman in the vicinity. He was so darn "powerful", nobody could even lay a finger on him, then, just as you were beginning to wonder if anybody could ever hope to at least scratch him, he suddenly dies in the most horribly animated, anti-climatic fight scene I've ever seen. 'Course, he's shown many years later, inexplicably alive and well...

Anyway, the complete slaughtering of Rosette's character was, by far, the worst part of the entire series. I could stand the absurd, confusing plot up to a point, but to see my favorite female character suddenly shooting blood and willingly becoming the mindless servant of her worst enemy was almost insufferable.  She was supposed to be a strong and optimistic character, but she ended up being a pathetically weak, helpless girl. Her life, instead of being inspiring for the people close to her (like in the manga), ended up being a complete failure. She couldn't even save her brother (who got rid of Chrno's horns, but ended up being permanently retarded) and her "divine" powers only served Aion's cause, driving many people crazy and ultimately being the reason of many tragedies, including the Holocaust and WWII (*pfft*). She might have died in peace, but she died completely in vain, since Aion, her enemy, was not permanently defeated.

In short, the anime flopped. That’s sad, because the anime had the potential of being the best animated series of the year had it been a decent adaptation of the manga, but... *weeps*   

Some random questions I had after seeing the anime:

1) Were the animators trying to imitate Jesus when they ripped off ALL OF ROSETTE’S CLOTHES, or it was just plain fanservice?

2) How did Satella go from a C-cup in the manga to a DDD-cup in the anime? Was the sudden change in breast size the reason she lost all her sense of humor?

3) How is Rosette able to shoot blood at such a distance? Does she have a pressure pump in her wrists, or is shooting blood another of her “divine” abilities?

4) Why is Aion able to touch Rosette without being burned? Chrno and Aion are both demons, so why is Chrno burned when Aion is not?

5) Why was Chrno turned into stone, even after taking off HIS OWN HORNS from Joshua’s head?

6) Just who or what is “Pandemonium” and why does Aion need her head? Was that ever explained in a clear and comprehensible way?  

7) Is Aion bisexual, or did the animators include that infamous “closeup” scene with Chrno just to please rabid yaoi fangirls?

Conclusion:

Yes, there are some nice, memorable scenes in the series (most of them in the last episode), however, the disappointing, disturbing ending and the pointless, anti-climatic deaths of many of the characters (one moment you see them. Next moment they're dead. Period) make me classify this anime as nothing but a pretentious, second-rate piece of garbage. My suggestion? Don’t waste your time. Forget about it and read the manga instead! ^_^

Places to get the manga