[roriconfan]

CHRONIC REVIEW CRUSADE TIME

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 tail-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.

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

ART SECTION: 7/10
General Artwork 2/2
Character Figures 1/2
Backgrounds 2/2
Animation 1/2
Visual Effects 1/2

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 doesn’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.

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Voice Acting 2/3
Music Themes 2/4
Sound Effects 2/3

Well, hm, there is nothing special going on with the sound part. The music themes are average pop songs with a feeling of sadness in them, voice acting is not irritating but not high art either. And sound effects are done rather good at inflicting you will emotions when the drama kicks in but again it is not something done great.

STORY SECTION: 4/10
General Scenario 2/2
Pacing 1/2
Side Stories/Extra Spices 0/2
Believability/Reasoning/Realism 0/2
Conclusion 1/2

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.

CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10
Presence 1/2
Personality 1/2
Backdrop 1/2
Development 2/2
Catharsis 2/2

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.

VALUE SECTION: 5/10
Historical Value 2/3 (It still is rather famous)
Rewatchability 1/3 (only 1/3rd worths it)
Memorability 2/4 (nothing out of the ordinary yet feels good in overall)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 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.

VERDICT: 5.5 / 10
Well 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