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)
With some significant changes in what’s going on recently, especially now that both Hilda and Ange are back on the island, this episode gives us some interesting time back in the real world where we see how Sylvia is not coping with the situation. We also see how Julio is handling things as well as we really see that he’s being manipulated by a woman that he calls Mama that has utterly seduced him. Revealing that she’s the Guard Chief is intriguing, but giving her dragon wings of some sort as well? Well, hell, that’s a game changer to be sure with what’s going on as there’s a new layering to things that’s just flat out exciting to see how it will roll. This series just keeps expanding and growing in great and fun ways.
With the main episode, we get some decent stuff early on that plays to the characters that have been around for a bit, namely with Salia as we see a slightly softer side of her, but we also get some back story material that shows Alektra and how she can’t handle the Vilkiss, which is someone that Salia looked up to as a child. That at least explains some of the reason why she despises Ange and her ability to control it. It’s straightforward enough, but it expands the character a bit and shows the path that was taken and why she’s as intense as she is. Seeing how, as she got older, that she also wanted to tackle the Vilkiss but was unable to is like a constant knife in the back made worse with not being able to understand why Ange is worthy. The show delves into some great material in the present to tie it together though with some combat material as we see the base under attack and just how dire it gets as the dragons star to get inside the base.
The other game change here? Is that they have the mecha side now as well, which you can get a sense of understanding from based on the prologue to the episode. The devastation caused by them is huge here as a third of the island is wiped out. This ends up letting Hilda and Ange out, who work together with everyone else to go up against this new trio of enemies. Naturally, Salia will have none of it, but there’s just some beautiful action sequences here between the dragons and the mecha – with a touch of fanservice as well – all while Salia struggles with it. There’s a lot of big moments here as the battle goes on, but the biggest is when Ange gets her hands on the Vilkiss again and takes things to a whole other golden level with it. No matter how much everyone hates her, she’s what they need – though the whole singing aspect is just weak, mostly because it doesn’t really line up with the visual.
In Summary:
Heavily loaded with action, Cross Ange spends its time showing us some real game changing events here on both sides as the battle between the norma’s and the dragons is elevated here. The show mixes in some decent background material for Salia that helps explain some of her anger over the course of the show so far, but that comes full circle in a really good way here as Ange manages to unlock the final key for using the Vilkiss and showing all the long timers here exactly what it’s capable of. That opens us up to some intriguing moments with the quiet confrontation that exists between Ange and the enemy here, which when tied with the events of the prologue, shifts gears for this show into a much bigger world going forward.
Grade: A
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.
