Chrono Crusade 8/10

No spoilers here.

I watched the last 16 episodes in a marathon last weekend so here's a review. Chrono Crusade is a bit of a mixed bag. The first 10 episodes are a bit poor but the last 14 are really good, plot wise. The look of the show, released in 2004, is very Gonzo, if you know what I mean. Lots of bright colours and great character designs. Especially Rosette, the blond-haired, blue-eyed, fan-service nun. There isn't enough nun fan-service in the available anime these days. Devine Luv episode 1 is all I can think of and I think she's a priest. The music struck me as average, meaning no memorable music but none that pissed me off either. I only watched a bit of the dub and I didn't like Rosette's VA. The japanese track, which I watched, was great. Over 7 discs we get 24 episodes and no promo video which I have seen and has some showering fan-service. I feel a little ripped off.

Reminder to ADV: 24 eps = 6 discs, not 7

A message to ADV. DON'T LET YOUR VA'S DO COMMENTARIES WITHOUT GETTING THEM TO WATCH THE SHOW FIRST!!!! I really HATE listening to the same stories about the Houston acting scene and the incessant comments about how hard it is to be a VA and how only talented actors can do it. I really don't care. I'd rather hear what the VA's think about their characters, and the show in general. When the VA's haven't even SEEN the episode before doing the commentary it PISSES ME OFF!!! The best commentaries you've ever had were for DHY and Megazone 23. Here's an idea. Get Matt, David and Janice in there. I want an informed commentary damnit!

The story. Well, I really had a bad feeling over the first 10 episodes. I felt I wasn't sold enough on the overall direction the story was going. So while the episodes were OK comedy wise, I really felt I was wasting my time. Mixing more of these lighter episodes towards the end would've broken the tension that builds up too much in the latter half of the series.

I really liked the latter half of the episodes and I don't think there were any real problems with it, my suggestions are simply to clean up the first half. I enjoyed the religious take this show had, mainly because the mainstream media companies are too scared of the Christian right to produce anything like this. Look at the backlash against Dogma. And that was before W. got into the White House.

Of course the best part of the show is the ending. I won't give away what happens but the last episode is why I watch anime. Few series endings are in this catagory: Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, RahXephon, Please Teacher, Orphen to name most of them. Most series endings are crap, Chrono Crusade nails it. Period.

For the last episode alone. High recommendation.