Edition 08: Chrno Crusade
http://www.advfilms.com/titles/chronocrusade/ - U.S. Official Site
http://www.chrno.com - Japanese Official Site
Chrno Crusade is based off of the manga by Moriyama Daisuke and produced by Gonzo Digimation (Kiddy Grade, Last Exile, and Vandread). The voice actors include: Ishida Akira (Hiwatari-kun from DNAngel and Evangelion’s fifth child Nagisa Kaoru) as Chrono, Kawakami Tomoko (Utena in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mirelle in Rune Soldier) as Rossette Christopher, and Inoue Kazuhiko (Kakashi-sensei in Naruto and Blue Seed’s Kusanagi) as the sinner Aion.
Japanese Staff
Director: Kobe Hiroyuki
Script writer: Tomioka Atsuhiro
Design: Kawahara Tomohiro and Kuroda Kazuya
Licensed for U.S. distribution by ADV Films.
Thoughts:
Hina:The first half of Chrno Crusade, not to be mistaken for a Squaresoft game, is set during the early 20th century in Brooklyn, New York and then moves to the opposite side of the county to San Francisco, California. Now these are not your stereotypical strict, old-fashioned nuns dressed in black and white and throw the Body of Christ wafer of bread like ninja stars. Sister Rossette and the other members of the Magdalan Order are agile and know fully well how to defend themselves, equipped with hand and machine guns, although sometimes holy water is all you need. The opening song and animation of Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line by Minami Kuribayashi is the season’s best. The ending theme, Sayonara Solitaire, by Saeko Chiba is delicate and beautiful.
:Piro^kun
Chrno Crusade is a neat idea, even if it’s not too terribly original (in general concept): a nun and a demon team up to fight demons in New York City of the roaring 20s. Sister Rosette, the cute blonde, is very talented at exorcising demons (well, they say exorcising, but…well, I’ll come back to that), but tends to go overkill with everything. Chrno, the cool, purple-haired demon, is also quite talented, but is the mostly-restrained half of the duo. Both are very good characters and there’s some good interplay there. The “quasi-anachronisms” (like the “cellular telephone booth” that Chrno carries around with him) are reminiscient of Read or Die and are clever, if silly.
The voice talent is also great with Sho Hayami (Max Jenius in Macross 7 and DYRL?, Wolfwood from Trigun) as Father Remington and Yoshiko Sakakibara (Sylia Stingray in the original BGC, Haman-sama from several Gundams, Integra from Hellsing) as Sister Kate. The animation is top-quality, coming from Gonzo. The music is similarly good with an ending theme song created by none other than Yuki Kajiura and performed by Saeko Chiba.
There’s certainly some potential in this show…give it a view!
Alpha:
Chrno Crusade… what can I say about it? The missing “O” in “Chrono,” (Note: I know the creators left the “O” out on purpose) it is produced by my favorite GONZO? or the fact that I think Rossette is an Excel look-a-like. Agree or not, but in some pictures, she does. The animation seems fluid, and any series that sets in Brooklyn, New York certainly deserves my money. ADV Films made a bold move to acquire this series. It certainly seems to be a blockbuster. Anything with good looking female characters and ecchi humor to me is a blockbuster, but hey, I am never wrong when it comes to it, they really become blockbusters. Currently there is not an official U.S. webpage for Chrno Crusade, due to the fact that it was acquired quite recently; only the English cast list was released to the press. I cannot see a release this year, maybe early or middle of next year. Without a doubt, I got my money on this baby. The picture at the beginning of this Watcher is a wallpaper, 1024 x 768. You might want to download it for your desktop. Also I would like to thank http://home.ripway.com/2004-3/80307/ for providing us with the screen caps.
Chrno Crusade Screen Caps:
