From what I hear, this series was pretty hyped, but lots of people began to drop off the bandwagon as the episodes got unexpectedly stupid near the halfway mark. Fortunately, the pain begins to subside around episode 13, and Chrno Crusade finishes strong between 15 and 24. Anyone who stuck around till 15 was treated to an engrossing story woven around Rosette’s quest to find Joshua and Aion’s twisted plot to make Heaven Earth and Earth Heaven. The only complaint I had about the last 10 episodes was that some of it felt a little rushed. I am hoping that there will be a sequel to answer some of the questions that went unexplained in the final episode.
It’s hard to come up with an opinion about Chrno Crusade without a few qualifiers. First off, the early part of the series is a bit… painful. It consistently flip flops between being very good (whenever they talk about Joshua) and very very bad (when they race around on glowing motorcycles in the sewer and forget about Joshua). If you can live through that part, you will find that it was well worth it. The animation for the series is quite good, though the color schemes may take a little getting used to. The voice talent and music are excellent throughout the series. Towards the end, when the plot turns serious, Chrno Crusade is not afraid to kill off a main character or two (or three, or 12, or anyone not named Azmaria for that matter…) and I applaud them for that. The humor in the series is a bit cliche, but is pretty non-existent towards the end. I especially liked Aion, and I think he’s the best villain I’ve seen in a series in a long time. As for Rosette, at first she annoyed me to no end, but by the end I definitely respected and cheered for her. I think Chrno Crusade is deserving of a 4, because I don’t want to punish the series too much for its (extremely crappy) first half. To summarize, I’ll just say that the first half of Chrno Crusade is just barely good enough to keep you interested, but if you are patient then you will be rewarded.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 4/5
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6 Comments
Whoa, that high? That’s pretty impressive — I stopped after Rosette and Satella ran around San Francisco trying to cure Chrno’s fever, but maybe I should have stayed on… I wasn’t too keen on Joshua as a supporting character, but Satella was pretty funny
I believe that that was the last sorta mediocre filler episode. Joshua never really pans out as an important character either, unlike Satella, so you shouldn’t worry too much about that. I’d suggest giving Chrno Crusade another chance!
Wow…I can’t say your review is COMPLETELY wrong, in fact, it was fairly good….but….that low? I understand that sometimes the filler episodes were not so good, but Chrono Crusade is one of the best things around right now, not saying it’s terribly popular, but it IS really good. I know the anime is kind of….pointless sometimes…but read the manga, here. http://www.chrno-crusade.com ….you can download up to the fourth/fifth manga here still.
Haha, I guess you can’t win them all since David was surprised at the high rating and you are surprised at the low rating. Here’s how my ratings generally break down
5: You need to watch this series
4: This is a very good series that most people will enjoy, but it has some flaws
3: Average show, some will like it some won’t
2: Bad, with maybe 1-2 good points
1: Probably not worth your time
0: Bottom feeder!
With that in mind, I thought that Chrno Crusade was an inconsistent series. When it was good, it was very good, and when it was bad, it was pretty bad. However, the series did finish up very strong, which is a plus in my book. I have read the manga, and I agree that it is far superior to the anime. I would very much like to see a sequel, though.
I think the series certainly does have some flaws, but overall I liked it very much; characters were well done I thought, and the plot was more originla than the usual simple ‘kill the bad guy and lets all live happily ever after’ idea. I’ll give it a 4 - though I do admit it would probably get a 3.5 if I were not such a big fan of fantasy as a genre.
I agree and disagree with a lot of things that have already been said. First things first. What’s wrong with the first 12 episodes? I got totally hooked from the first episode. Okay, the manga hooked me first, but the anime is just as good. How’s the manga better? The anime and manga are really different and sometimes hard to compare. I don’t know which is better, but I haven’t seen the last 2 DVD’s or mangas so maybe I’ll be able to make the decision after that. See I don’t have the anime channel so the only way I can see the episodes is by buying the DVD’s as they come out. I’m eagerly awaiting the last two. The only possible boaring episode was number 8 marrionette train. It was kind of stretched out but the rest was good. And also I love #16! Rosette kisses Chrono! They finally show huge affection. Plus Satella gets closer to them and even starts to consider them as friends. Also Azmaria does some growing up. We can really see how she’s grown from episode 3. She has a backbone and can see what’s up with Rosette and Chrono. Um…and my earlier statement came out wrong. It wasn’t that Azmaria didn’t have a backbone. She was able to lie to demon after all. You have to give points to that. It’s just that she was more timid and afraid to speak her mind. She was also pretty negative. This episode not only shows that her insight has grown, but that she is more posotive as a whole. This episode is one of my favorite. I’ll admit that there’s little action, but the characters get more developed. I agree with all of you that Satella rocks so hard. In fact she’s my favorite character. Azmaria used to be my favorite, but she didn’t do much in DVD #5(episodes 16-18) and Satella rocked so hard in episode 16. I could tell you why, but that would take forever so I’ll just summ it up by we saw her strengths…and weaknesses…but a lot of strengths. Also in #17 I loved how she wanted to fight no matter what. And she really showed care for everyone. And you just have to love the way that she didn’t lose her spunk with her spirit. She demanded that Chrono tell her about stigmata. I was so happy when she got her power back in #18. Yay! Anyway back on track. I also agree that Joshua isn’t that great of character. He has Rosette for a sister and that’s about all that’s going for him. I liked him when he was a kid, but now…Well I do like him in Japanese. He’s not as rude and his voice still has a hint of its old innocence. I loved Japanese kid Joshu. His voice was pure innocence. Anyway it was cool how Joshua destroyed all of those devils in episode 2. As for the running about instead of looking for Joshua they had to do it. As a sister of the order Rosette has to protect people besides Joshua. Don’t forget Joshua is one person and many people were endagered by the hell hound. Also Satella rocked in that episode! Yay! I’m really glad that you people seem to appreciate Satella. So many people rip her up. Now for rating this awesome series I’d have to give it a perfect 10. Even though the action can move a little slowly sometimes the show is awesome. When the action isn’t going too fast it normally means tender moments. Chrono Crusade has a great combination of gore and tear jerkers. Its an anime that doesn’t have killing just for the sake of killing. Also every other word isn’t a cuss word. All and all Chrono Crusade is the best TV show and Manga anywhere. I wish it would have a second season. Thanks for taking the time for reading all of my imput. If you have any comments to what I have said I would love to hear it.