28 Jan 2007
Chrno Crusade
(a.k.a Chrono Crusade.) I’ve been watching this for a while, but got interrupted by EQ2. Now I’ve finished it. I’d planned just to list it among “misc. animes” in a wrap-up post sometime, but in the end I was surprised. I’ll add more about that behind a more tag.
What’s worth noting is that it does have a touching boy-girl romance that isn’t played (much) for embarrassment and avoidance. Though the girl is the series’ protag, and the boy is an ancient demon…
The first half is pure action, with the heroine blowing up demons and creating havoc, and some hints of a mystery. The second half is very intense, with a theology so twisted that you have to wonder why they would even claim that it’s based on Catholicism, but which nevertheless is fairly consistent and leads to a very dark story.
One of the four main characters (Azmaria) is played by Saeko Chiba, who’s also Natsuki in Mai HiME / Mai Otome. In this, she’s a young girl – I don’t know if we know exactly how old, but I’d guess about 12. I’m impressed at Chiba’s skill at voicing the deep-voiced, confident Natsuki and the little girl Azmaria. As Azmaria, she has to persuade us that she has a child’s singing voice so beautiful it shows the divine – and she does (though her English accent is pretty bad).
She also sings the closing theme, partnered with my music idol, Kajiura Yuki. That’s a song that didn’t impress me immediately, but grew on me through the series – beautiful, quiet, and powerfully poignant. More about that below the tag.
It was music that got me into the series – Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line by Kuribayashi Minami, who sang some of the best songs in Mai HiME (and played Erstin in Mai Otome). I heard it on animenfo radio, and that led me to see what the series was like that it introduced.
Beyond that, I can’t really say anything without getting into very heavy spoilers. Even whether I’d recommend the series.
Update: After a couple of days’ contemplation – yeah, I’d have to say I would recommend it. It’s definitely one of the best series I’ve seen, though it certainly has predictable ideas in a genre that I think is weak and overused.
So, here goes. Beyond this point lie spoilers.