What They Say:
Angelise is the first princess of the Empire of Misurugi. She is the celebrated ruler of the Empire until one day she finds out the shocking truth that she is a “Norma” – an irregular being who cannot use “Mana”, and are treated as “things” rather than people. Having her name taken from her, Ange isolates herself on a remote island. There, she finds a group of Norma women who spend their days hunting dragons that have come to invade.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While there was some attempt to let Ange essentially get herself killed after some of the actions she’s taken since being put into this particular fighting force, she ended up adapting to the mecha she was given and it ended up really showing a particular set of skills she has. It’s a baptism by fire to be sure, one that actually works, even if nobody is quite sure why other than that the Vilkiss accepted her whereas it never really took to anyone else. That has others wanting to prove they can handle the mecha over her, since most everyone that Ange has to work with wants her dead. But the ability Ange has to work with this means that they can’t quite just give it to anyone as it means a lot to have this machine out there and a competent enough pilot to try and deal with it. There’s some fun little machinations being put into place, the kinds of deals with the devil in order to achieve the goals they have as this force.
Tension between Ange and the rest of the pilots is certainly palpable as she’s been through a lot – like all of them – but there’s been a more intense “welcome” for her in a way. But now that she’s managed to do what she’s done, she’s got a different kind of confidence about her and isn’t taking any crap from anyone. There’s an almost cocky aspect about her that’s starting to get to the officers as well, which is fun to see after she’s been under their boot and heel for a bit now as well, particularly since Zola’s death. That confidence does come with a price though as we see most people gunning for her in different ways with both words and actions, but we see that she’s also not alone in getting grief as another pilot, a busty pink haired woman named Erscha, is pretty much given a lot of grief as well in a very petty and distasteful way that makes half of this feel like high school with mecha and weapons.
One of the things that Ange is starting to learn here though, along with us, is that money can certainly buy her a proper place among everyone else. We see how everything related to the mecha is for sale and that pilots are responsible for the upkeep and upgrade of their craft. But even that’s causing a bit of a division as some of those that have had to deal with her are still furious over the loss of Zola and put all the blame on Ange for it and nothing Ange will do will be able to assuage that. It’s not a surprise to see this angle play out and it adds an interesting rift to work with as the existing pilots, once all friends, start to diverge in how they feel about her but also how they deal with her. We also see that Vivian, the fiery redhead, has decided to take over Zola’s life by buying up her space entirely and making it clear to her closest followers that they’re hers now.
Naturally, that has others starting to come to Ange’s side as well. Some of them are doing it a bit more openly and with a positive style, such as Vivian, but Ange is still no intent on having friends. She’s still so new to everything that you can understand it of course, but she’s again doing things that make it all harder for her in the end. There are those that will definitely stand by her regardless, because of the potential they see, but she doesn’t make it easy for anyone. Even worse is that she’s managed to piss off Hilda so strongly, that Hilda ends up sabotaging her mecha ahead of the next fight in order to eliminate her. With the size of the battle at hand, it’s definitely not a smart thing to do, but considering the way Hilda has gone dark so quickly and so easily, it’s not too much of a surprise to see her in this mode. It also provides for an amusing cliffhanger as we see her drowning at first after the Vilkiss went down only to wake up in mild bondage with a man in his bed on some island.
In Summary:
Cross Ange is close to being that guilty pleasure though, though it’s one that I certainly don’t feel guilty about watching or enjoying. While the kingdom side of the series, which has a lot of interesting potential to work with, is pushed off to the side in order to work through the Norma military action here, it’s worked well to establish the group, the dynamic, the mecha and some very fun material with them battling the dragons. We get to see Ange make her transformation from weak and incapable to cold, isolated and deadly and how that’s just as problematic for her as well. The transformation may go too quickly for some, but situations like this are make or break situations and some people can naturally adapt quicker than others and compartmentalize things in order to survive it. With four episodes so far that have worked it, it’s been a rollercoaster of a ride, one that has me excited to see just what’s in store for the next twenty-one episodes.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
