Set in the height of the Roaring Twenties, where jazz is king, bootleg liquor flows freely, and the mob rules the streets. It is a time of prosperity, luxury and decadence, and the division between rich and poor grows even wider in the wake of the First World War. It is at such times of great change and upheaval that the dark things that lurk below the world of man can come to the surface. In the world of Chrono Crusade, a fictional organization known as the Order of Magdalene (or more specifically, the characters of Sister Rosette Christopher and her soul-bound demon partner, Chrono) exists to fight the demonic threats that appear with increasing regularity across America.

Both Rosette and Chrono are revealed during the course of the story to be driven by a shadowy past, centered on a search for Rosette's lost brother Joshua who is shown to have been taken from her by the sinner, Aion, a demon who shares a dark and bloody history with Chrono. He seeks nothing less than to overthrow the delicate balance between Heaven, Earth, and Hell.

This is Chrono Crusade, by Studio Gonzo (November 24, 2003 – June 10, 2004).

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Chrono Crusade was one of the first request I was given in what is a rather long list of requests. Rest assured people, I will get through that long list…though I might take a few off because I really can't be bothered to try certain series.

Now, here's the thing. I knew before I watched the series what would happen to our main protagonists, Rosette and Chrono. It's quite a famous scene amongst anime fans, and going into this anime I had to ask a question; how well would the anime lead up to this famous moment? As good as even I'll admit it is, if the rest of the anime failed, one scene cannot save a series.

And just how good is this anime? Let's find out. This is my review of Chrono Crusade!

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Chrono Crusade Anime Review

Production Values:

This is a studio Gonzo production, and while they door leave their unfortunate flaw of quality inconsistency at the door, and for the most part their love of CGI, they also don't bring one of the great things about Gonzo; their desire to try something new with their animation.

Chrono Crusade is very generic looking. I think the best compliment I can give to the animation is the surprisingly well detailed backgrounds of cities like Chicago, but that's it really. Nothing else impressed me animation wise. Worse yet, this generic look is even worse when it comes to the character designs. We've all seen these designs before, big anime eyes, very pretty heroes (and more than a few villains), all the women having large breasts, we've seen all this before, and its return is not a welcome one here.

It's a shame when you consider this is Gonzo. If you've seen some of their other work, like Gankutsuou, Last Exile & Bokurano you'd be shocked by how bloody genius they can be with their animation. I suppose they did learn a lesson here mind you. When it came around to making Black Cat, another shonen mange adaptation, they at least tried to do something creative with the animation.

That being said…the music was surprisingly memorable. In fact that's something I have noticed about Gonzo that's rarely called upon; they can make decent soundtracks. Not only did they always fit the mood, but many had a beat that's quite hard to forget. Even though it's been a few months since I saw the anime, I still remember more than a few great tracks from it.

Unfortunately, I can't speak so highly of a dub. I am once again faced with a Funimation dub I honestly didn't care for. It's not…bad, there were some solid perfomances, like Greg Ayres as Chrono and Jason Douglas as Remington, but this anime tries to do something that is very easy to fuck up.

Accents.

Not only are there Brooklyn accents present, but there's also a German accent used too, and…ugh, they were often very painful to listen to. Worse yet, whenever I heard our main lead Rosette, played by Hilary Haag, I just wanted to choke her to death whilst laughing hysterically.

…In fact, Rosette's entire character does that to me.

Overall, was not impressed by the production values of this anime.

Production Values Rating: 6/10

Setting:

At the start of the series, I did give it credit that it did at least give the feel like it was set in real 1920s America, and that our protagonists were fighting demons in this secret war that the populace did not know about.

The a few episodes in the city is ravaged by demons, and that kinda flew out the window.
Once again, this is the kind of setting we've all seen a million times before. There are demons hiding in our world, and there's a secret organisation out to combat them, and of course, said organisation is catholic. In other words, we get to see nuns killing things……yay.

It's sorta becoming a pet peeve of mine in anime when they have this Christian based organisation that fights monsters, but that's all there is to them. It's not done to be symbolic or have meaning to it; it just seems to be fuelled on rule of cool. For once I'd like to see an organisation like this where its philosophy and workings are really delved into. Hell, I think the only times I've liked these kinds of organisation is the Dark Order from D.Gray-Man and Iscariot from Hellsing, for just how cynical they portray these organisations.

And Iscariot had Anderson. Enough said.

To be fair though, the demons in this series fair a little better than usual. Some interesting new concepts are presented, but best of all, they're not all just completely evil creatures. Don't get me wrong, some of them are, but later on in the series we meet more than a few demons that try to stop the villains and work with our protagonist. It's not much, but it's nice to see that small twist on a generic premise.

Overall, I've seen better anime with this kind of setting, but I've seen worse as well.

Setting Rating: 7/10

Characters:

Now here's the thing with our main protagonist, Rosette. Rosette is supposed to be a character we admire and yet feel sorry for her. She's strong and passionate, but also lost her brother and many people she considered family. She's light-hearted and caring, but also made a sacrifice that will cut her life short. Sounds like an easy to love character, right?

And yet, I fucking hated Rosette.

I know what they were trying to do with her, but whenever she was onscreen, she was just constantly annoying. Outside of her backstory, she was just your generic Tsundere. I can often forgive Tsundere characters if more character is given later on to him/her, but Rosette never gets that. Hilary Haag's godawful performance is part of the problem, but not once did I end up caring for Rosette in the slightest.

……Okay, in that one scene I did care for her.

Thankfully, her partner Chrono is actually quite likeable, my favourite character by far. He too had a tragic past, but since his personality was very tolerable, I ended up caring for him. His interacting with Aion though was often much more entertaining than with any other character, especially Rosette.

Speaking of Aion, he sorta works and yet he doesn't. On the one hand, he does come off as a genuine threat. He pretty much kicks everyone's ass in every scene and gives off epic speeches, so he's basically like Aizen from Bleach. On the other hand…I'd be surprised if anyone fully understands what his goal is, and what his motivation is for doing it. He's sorta like the other one dimensional villains in this series; he's evil for the sake of being evil.

The rest of cast isn't really much to talk about. Azmaria is the shy young girl who wants to be helpful and yet never does anything useful, and Satella is the snooty rich girl who eventually opens up to the group. I've seen these characters before, and done better. The rest of cast lacked any real impact on the show, but Remington was kinda cool. He had this gentlemen-like demeanour to him and moments of badassery.

Character Rating: 6/10

Storytelling:

You know, it surprises me how very few talk about the way this series ended. I'm not talking about that…certain scene, but what happened after. I feel bad spoiling the series, but…well, you can probably guess that I don't recommend this series, so here's what's wrong with the ending.

It implies that the bad guy has won.

Now, I'm not saying that the bad guy winning automatically makes a story bad. Watchmen did this and the story is brilliant, but here's the thing; that comic had a consistent tone, a much better story, and from the beginning it was a deconstruction of the superhero genre, and questioned many real life issues as well.

Chrono Crusade on the other hand is for 2/3rds of the series, a somewhat serious but pretty light hearted shonen anime. It's not good, but it's not bad either. It's inoffensive, it's something generic that some would find enough enjoyment out of it. One thing it never was or hoped to be was deep.

And then, the final 3rd came along. Characters die, the general tone shifts somewhat radically, the implied downer ending, and suddenly characters start asking question about human nature like they're out of a Christopher Nolan flick.

Now before I rant on, that certain scene which is quite infamous, yes. It is a very emotional and well done scene. For the single time in the entire anime, I cared about Rosette. I felt sorry for her. This scene is a gem in a sea of crap. If these had been two characters I was really invested in, I would have gone into a depression.

But that scene isn't the way the series end, oh no. In fact, the final few moments of the anime incorporates what really made me hate this anime. Suddenly, these characters are ranting on whether people are truly good and evil, and the very scene tries to be this oh so deep message to us, like this anime has something profound to say.

Does it? Oh fuck no.

Chrono Crusade, you were…mediocre as a semi-serious shonen series, but that was honestly the best you could've ever hoped to being. Why did you try to be something you're not?It's like Twilight tackling abortions, they didn't know what they were talking about! You are not a good study for the human concept of morality.

Based on the first 2/3rds, I would've given it around a 6 or 7, but that…god awful final arc drops it down a notch. At best this series was a mediocre but sometimes entertaining shonen series. At worst…well, it's a perfect example of biting off more than you can chew.

Storytelling Rating: 5/10

Overall:

So in case you haven't noticed, I did not like this anime. In fact, I'd honestly say I hated it, and to be perfectly honest, it's not easy to get this severe of a reaction out of me over an anime. But this one does it, it makes me angry at how incompetently the final 3rd is done.

I would definitely place this amongst the 'Bad Gonzo', with stuff such as their adaptation of Hellsing and Gantz. Out of fairness though, I can sorta acknowledge that it's not complete crap, it has some redeeming factors, but not enough for me to recommend it.

Overall Rating:  6/10

Stay tuned for a review with a completely opposite tone, where I review one of my personal favourite anime, Infinite Ryvius!