[strider]

Originally Posted by Chrony77

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)

First of all I saw this review verbotem on http://www.chrno-crusade.com/index.html. Chrony are you Vero Chan, the site author, or just a plagarizer? I think this review is indicative if you fall in love with the manga first (which I haven't read) then you judge the anime differently.

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.

Azmariah an annoying brat? How can you be so heartless? She is such a cute little angel, my heart melted everytime I saw her and am certainly glad she appeared in almost every frickin' episode.

Satella is a humorless, arrogant witch (no pun intended).

Was a humorless, arrogant witch, which made her arc towards becoming more in touch with her emotions such nice character dev. Why do you think Steiner was so thankful to Azmariah for the profound effect she, Rosette and Chrno had on her?

Fiore is an emotionless robot programmed to take care of Joshua, who is a permanently retarded psycho completely disconnected from reality.

There's a difference between your human ego personality and your I AM presence Spirit from which you came. Joshua and Fiori were caught in the middle and lost their sense of self. In Fiori's case she did recover it the moment before she died, a common theme in that characters seem to die the moment they complete their purpose for their current life, something I really liked.

Everything Sister Kate did in the entire series was either worrying about something or looking outside the window looking worried.

Well she's the mother hen, that's what they're supposed to do. And what about when she forcefully told the council to accept the pact with devils, the result of Rosette's positive influence on her?

Same goes for Remington, who was reduced to a pathetic, homeless bum incapable of doing anything.

He even admitted he had been limited in his power, as his role was to watch over Rosette, not fight her battles for her. And he had some cool moments in the train station against Rizel.

The Apostles were nothing but extras, we never even get to see their faces.

I'd have been happy for many more episodes and a chance for more, but given the time frame it would have been too cluttered to have to highlight all seven different apostles, not to mention how each one embodies their respective virtue.

The Sinners were all diabolically evil, with no real motivation to their actions other than following Aion's plans.

Their motivation was clear: to turn heaven into earth and earth (their version of it) into heaven they would become like God, which is what Lucifer's entire agenda has always been about. There's probably a sense of wanting retribution against God where they want to just destroy eternity and all of God's creation just because they are left out of it. It's like if we can't have it, no one can, especially this creature man who they've always been jealous of.

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.

She was totally one with her transcendant spirit presence and thus had no room left over for a human ego personality.

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...

They had a plethora of delightful scenes what are you talking about?

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!!!).

It was the moment she was about to shoot Chrno when her innate love for him exploded and brought her out of Aion's spell.

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.

I thought it was cute that he was happy to be Rosette's assistant, I wouldn't call it submissive. And after slaying 100 million demons it's fitting that he's had enough of an 'edge' and is happier now being kind and patient, not dark and brooding.

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).

Satan:
"I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14)

Sounds like evil-as-hell to me.

He’s portrayed as a real skirt-chaser completely incapable of keeping his hands (and mouth) away from any woman in the vicinity.

His aphrodisiac is lust and desire, so of course he would have this oozing through him.

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.

Everyone is so down on this 'anti-climactic' fight scene. I too was expecting a massive big budget multi-staged epic battle, but I actually like the way they did it. Watch any true samurai film, and this is how it goes down. It's not a scene from Zorro fighting on the rafters, it's one or two slashes and its over. Far more brutal and realistic. I liked it.

'Course, he's shown many years later, inexplicably alive and well...

This is the way the anime series decided to go, not with a traditional happy ending, but almost like a prequel to what's coming up ahead. Whether cc continues or not, I think the 75 years shows we are spiraling towards apocalypse.

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.

It was tough to watch, but it was inevitable as the whole direction was the more spiritually powerful you were (ala the apostels) the more the devils can use that astral power for their own ends. So it was destined that Rosette would become the lynchpin in Aion's plans.

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.

The ending was dark, no doubt about it. I would venture that Rosette fulfilled her purpose for this life to the fullest, and with this karmic power stored up her next reincarnation will play a part in the final defeat of Satan/Aion. After all this was in the 20s, the final showdown wasn't ready to happen yet.

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

One it was freakin cool when Rizel sliced then off, and two as she was at a seminal moment of her life, about to defeat this arch-demon and take a major step from girlhood to womanhood, it worked to show her a little grown up as opposed to being a little girl in a nun outfit. To not appreciate this you must have no sense of drama or be an angry feminist or something.

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?

It did seem like she might develop back problems lugging those things around in battle, but it was hilarious in Ep 14 when both Chrno and Rosette pass out in them.

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?

How can you watch Japanese anime/film and not understand that blood can pump, spurt and spray all over the place?

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?

Already answered by Orchunter226.

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

The chain reaction must have already begun and there was no stopping it at that point, even after the horns were removed.

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

Sheesh, he explains the whole nature of earth and heaven balancing out each other and that Pandemonium had become a useless clown in propping up that balance. If you want to conquer an enemy and prove that you've done it, you take their head, which in the demon world brings along the victim's astral power as well.

Remember when Leraii is charging Chrnos in ep 4, "And with your skull as my trophy an even greater rank shall be mine!" , it's that sort of deal.

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

You're just being stupid, I don't even know what you're talking about here. Must everything involving two males have a homoerotic undertone? Give me a break.

Believe that series could've been different .

I think Chrony77, or actually the true author of this review is under the mistaken impression that Christianity and the astral line are contadictory concepts and thus led to not fully getting the brilliance and awesomeness of Chrno Crusade the anime.