Review -- Chrono Crusade

I'm going to try to review more often, to catch up with the amount of anime and manga I've actually seen and read.

To go with Baccano!, here's another Prohibition-era piece, and one of my old favorites. Chrono Crusade is the story of Rosette Christopher, an exorcist in the Magdalene Order, and her demon partner, Chrono. In 1920s New York, they fight demons and search for Rosette's long-lost brother Joshua. Chrono's former demon comrade Aion becomes part of the picture, and Chrono has to settle his old score while Rosette tries to save Joshua.

The longer one watches Chrono Crusade, the worse it gets, mostly because it deviates from the manga and gets very confusing. Early Chrono Crusade is some pretty darn good anime, though, and is the perfect example of "don't just a book by its cover". Rosette is part of a religious order... sort of, because Japan doesn't fully understand western religion, and so while the order uses Protestant terms, the exorcists' outfits are more like Catholic sisters and nuns... and she fights with guns. Nuns-with-guns, right? But the point isn't to exploit girls in nun costumes, it's all about Rosette and her quest to find her brother, and her relationship with Chrono.

Rosette, to quote the review on ANN, is a "female Ed Elric". Brash, stubborn, hot-headed, and loud, Rosette charges into fights, gets into tight spots, miraculously gets out of them, then has to face the wrath of Sister Kate for destroying yet another car. Chrono is sensitive, composed, and thinks things through. When Rosette runs in, Chrono calls for backup, sets a barrier to trap whatever they're hunting, and gets the weapons from the car. They compliment each other perfectly. The only catch is that Chrono is a demon. He and Rosette have a contract. She gives him power, and he serves her. The two aren't master-and-servant, though, but best friends, and more if you feel like shipping it. Demons normally take their power through their horns, but Chrono's horns are gone, so he can only live by contracting with a human and feeding off its life energy. The pocket watch Rosette wears around her neck allows Chrono to do just that. Rosette is more than willing to let Chrono shorten her lifespan, though, both to find her brother and keep Chrono alive.

I've both seen the anime and read the manga, and for the most part, I prefer the manga. The anime actually runs around in circles a little bit at the end because it breaks off and doesn't know where to go. The manga plotline makes more sense overall, so I recommend that one over the anime.

Because of the awkward ending to the series, the strongest parts of the anime--as a whole--are the characters and the setting. About the fist half of the series, the story is still really good. Rosette is stubborn and loud-mouthed, but she's compassionate and loving. Even if you can't stand the way she jumps in without thinking, you can't help liking her for trying to find Joshua and being a big sister figure for Azmaria. Chrono has a huge guilty burden which isn't fully revealed until late in the series, but instead of radiating angst, he's a pretty cheerful guy. He cracks jokes and tries to keep everyone in good spirits. Rosette doesn't let him get away with trying to act cheerful when he's not. Azmaria is adorable and awesome all at the same time, because she beats demons and heals people by singing at them. Satella is awesome because she's the Cool Big Sis and I generally love that character type. (...I also just spent half an hour poking around TV Tropes after finding that link.)

Fight scenes are another plus. There's plenty of them, and the main character's a girl, so we're spared from the usual shonen tropes. Animation is very good, and the combination of setting and characters designs make for a very distinctive look. There's no problems confusing Rosette or Chrono for any character in any other anime. The rest of the cast isn't always so lucky, but are decent. Music is not bad, but not distinctive. The opening theme is a nice song, and well-done, but it doesn't really stand out. The ending theme is the more distinctive of the two.

Voice acting is good. Rosette's dub voice actress is hit-or-miss, but I like her. Some people complain that she grates at times, but that's the character. Chrono sounds young, but as Greg Ayres himself commented on my livejournal when I first saw the show, that's because he has a full-demon form with a deeper voice. And besides the timbre, there's no fault to be found with Ayres' Chrono. Tiffany Grant does an excellent job with Satella, and I am very glad I went to get her autograph even though at the time I had no idea who she was. Azmaria, Sister Kate, and Father/Minister Remington are all solid as well, in both languages.

Overall, a nice series. It offers a variety of genres, and so can appeal to a wide audience. The manga makes much more sense, but the anime isn't bad either.

Rating: B

+ Likable characters, unique setting, wide variety of genres, solid animation

- Anime ending just doesn't do it for me. Manga ending is better, but the series is better suited to animation. The two balance each other out and have the same score.

BPA Reviews #1--My Favorites

I was going to switch my blog topics over to just reviews of anime/manga, but I keep thinking of other general topics that I want to address, so behold a new category of blogs: BPA (Bethel Park Anime) Reviews!

I realize that I never have really talked about my personal favorite animes, so in this first post, I'll list some of my favs, how I got into them, and what I like about them. Since I like them, that means I assume that other people should like them, and so I recommend these titles to anyone who reads this post.

Fullmetal Alchemist--I read the first two volumes of manga in November or December 2005, and I was hooked. I quickly read the next two volumes, and started getting the anime from the library. Almost any anime fan, and a good number of non-anime fans who have just seen it will tell you that FMA is one of the best animes in existence. Dubbed by FUNimation, it has one of the best dub voice casts that I've ever heard, which many fans claim is better even than the original Japanese. Vic Mignogna, Aaron Dismuke, Caitlin Glass, Travis Willingham, Scott McNeil, and many others star in this amazing show. (the first three of which I actually MET) Two of my favorite anime pairings are in this show, Ed/Winry and Roy/Riza.


Chrono Crusade - This is one of those titles I picked up off the library shelf just because it was anime, and I'd never seen it before. It was one of those rare cases where I wound up loving it to death. Due to the lack of library DVDs, I was forced to watch it online, but I own all the manga, so I don't feel so guilty about it. ^_^;; It's also a drastic misrepresentation of whatever church it's supposed to represent (they're dressed as nuns, but supposedly they're actually Protestant in the Japanese? I have no idea, but it's awesome, so I don't care) Chrono/Rosette is my favorite pairing from that one, but Satella is my favorite character. Read the manga if you don't like how things end with her in the anime.


Monster - This is yet another manga series I just picked up off the shelf because I was bored. It is, quite possibly, the best manga series I have ever read. No favorite pairings in this one, which ought to tell you how awesome it is, because almost all my favs have a pairing that I like. Definitely a series aimed at adults, and violent on top of that, so it's older teen rating is deserved. But if you're over 16, one of the best series I have ever, or will ever read. And not in a "ooh, it's so cute/it's a childhood favorite/it's a popular title". It's just GOOD.


D.Gray-Man - I don't quite remember why I started reading this. It was either another random shelf pick or a friend recommended it. I'm actually starting to lose interest in this one for some reason. For some reason, I really don't like Lavi as a character. Which is extremely odd, because I usually LOVE his type! (I went to Tekko as Jounouchi!) There's just something... I dunno, I don't like. Kanda also bugs me, but I always hate his type, so that's to be expected. Allen was the character that drew me to it, and Lenalee kept me reading. (which is maybe why I don't like Lavi--he's so obviously attracted to Lenalee, and I'm an Allen/Lenalee shipper) Anyway, Allen and Lenalee is my fav pairing from this one.


Cowboy Bebop - This one's a classic. It came up on tv.com in the "you might like this..." place when I was fav'ing FMA or something like that, and all the reviews RAVED, so I ordered the first DVD from the library. Didn't like it. Ordered the second DVD. Liked it much, much more. That summer, I wound up watching the entire series, and now I loved it. It's classic. I'm a big fan of Spike/Faye, but Bebop isn't the kind of thing where I'd want to mess with canon, so I don't pursue it too much. Dumb stuff like YGO, Bleach, Naruto, I'll make up whatever pairing I darned well feel like, but Bebop, FMA, Haruhi... I don't mess with stuff like that.


Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - A friend of mine showed me the Hare Hare Yuaki, and when I found out what it was from, I realized I'd heard of it, and had nothing better to do. I watched it in about a week. While I was supposed to be writing a paper. That's how good it was. Short, but good. As for pairings, I'm still deciding. Nagato, IMO, is AWESOME, but I can't really picture Kyon with her. Haruhi, is... well, Haruhi, but I most certainly CAN and enjoy picturing Kyon with her. Haruhi is practically canon, so I guess she wins. As I said in my other blog, do not watch these in chronological order! At the very least, do not watch episode 14 last!! It ruins the entire series if you do it that way. I LOVE the dub and all the special features, but I despise that they don't have a "Kyon order" release. Some people think the out-of-chronological order episodes is just a sales gimmick, but that's only because the episodes are number chronologically. If the show was presented non-linear but with chronological episode numbers, you'd have the same experience and no one would complain. I prefer the non-linear order because the pacing is better.


Hellsing - We watched this one time at anime. I spent about 3 episodes thinking Integra was a man, and the only thing I really liked was the violence. Now I've read all the manga, and I love it! Classic series, and a very nice NON-SHOJO take on vampires. (Kaname, meet Alucard. Alucard, meet the vampire that you're about to turn into a corpse) The anime is different from the manga, but Hellsing Ultimate (volume 1 cover featured to the left) is an OVA (original video animation) that follows the manga to a T. But warning: violence! Please, do not read/watch unless you're over 16. Seriously, it's violent. Really violent.

Shonen Jump - I'm going to lump most of these together, because found them all the same way. Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and Hikaru No Go are some of my favorite Shonen Jump manga titles. They're all very common titles as well, which you can watch any old time on CN, so I'll skip the summaries, too. I love everything about the Bleach manga (except Chizuru and those random scenes with Orihime and Rangiku) but the anime is definitely lacking. First off, it seems like the anime never properly captures the style of the manga. Then, the episodes take entirely too long (an entire episode for the fight with Jidanbo?!) and the SCRIPT! The dub script of Bleach is the single worst non-4kids script I've ever heard. >_> "So what the heck exactly is this thing that you want to show to me?" I know that translations don't match the mouthflaps. Obviously. That's why you get scriptwriters, to adapt the translations into conversational dialogue. Part of the problem might be the time, too. I imagine Bleach is very much in demand, and they probably want it out very quickly.
I don't even watch the animes for the others any more. I don't get CN, and I have no reason to spend all that time watching something that I read anyway. Bleach I only watched because I wanted to see how it was changed.


Death Note - I thought this deserved a place of its own, because while I read it in SJ for the first time, I jumped on the fan wagon well before most of the country. Everyone loves Death Note now. What's not to love? It's an amazing series. (I finished it last summer, so feel free to comment with spoilers)




...and here comes the odd one... Yuugiou. Known better spelled Yu-Gi-Oh! here in the states. (yuugiou is the literal furigana translation, though) I was in about... what, 5th grade? My first thought on seeing the previews is "oh, this is going to be stupid". (and in retrospect, in some ways, it really was) So I never intended to watch it. One Saturday, there's nothing on, and I thought, "might as well check it out...". I remember that (at the time) I thought the theme song was really uber cool. So I kept watching. It was episode 6. (don't you love how much I remember about it? XD) Jouno-- erm, Joey vs. Mai. I watched the whole thing. I loved it. I also must not have paid much attention, because I remember having some very wrong ideas about the plotlines. Anyway, I watched intermittently throughout Duelist Kingdom, and became a serious fan around episode 20some, Yugi's duel with Kaiba. I didn't miss an episode till sometime in the third season. As of now, I've seen all 224 dub episodes and the dub movie. (...in theater...) The characters and plotlines drew me in, the card games kept my attention, and the pairings keep me a fan to this day. It's my "childhood" favorite. It's not that good of an anime series. I know that full well. But it's much better than the dub makes it out to be, and I HAVE seen worse. (the animation, though, at times is the worst I've ever seen--but at times is extremely well done.) Jounouchi/Mai is not only my favorite pairing from this anime, it's my all-time favorite pairing. Jou/Mai makes my life. Seriously. I don't care too much if you poke fun at Yuugiou, (especially the dub, it deserves to go die in a hole) but do not mess with my pairing. Picture to the left is the cover of volume 1 bunkoban, the manga re-release in Japan.

There's other series I'm fond of, like Fruits Basket, Shaman King, Eyeshield 21, Akira, and more, but I'll save those for individual reviews.