It’s time to make a difference.
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)
Cross Ange worked in a mix way the last time around as while it gave us Embryo making his new big play against this particular Earth that Ange and Tusk have found themselves in, it also gave us some awful material. The competition piece that as set up with a sports arena from the past, updated and preserved in immaculate condition from five hundred years prior, was one of those moments that just takes you out of the series since it was wholly an excuse to play dress up with the women in tennis skirts and more for the fanservice side. The show has had better fanservice moments over its run to be sure and this just felt like a really weird way to do things, which in turn made me glad that we got back to some big world ending moments.
With the Dragons now making their plans to go after Embryo on the other world even more in Misurugi, that puts Ange in the position of having to figure out what she really wants to do, since she’s not being forced to fight with the Dragons. It’s nice to see that she gets to make the choice, and that Tusk will support her, but they have to play with some face in her crotch material to lighten the mood unfortunately. While it’s no surprise that Ange will fight alongside them against the larger threat that she sees for her own people, there are those on Sala’s side that can’t exactly trust Ange. But it’s good to see that after playing tennis together, the two young women understand each other and can trust each other. So with a little down time and minor character material, the show works through some small moments with Vivian and her mother and a little more before moving forward again.
When we do get to the bigger moment as the Dragons make their move with the singularity, things don’t go as planned and they get attacked by surprise where they didn’t expect to be, which turns chaotic and deal very quickly as a black Vilkiss and several others cause a hell of a lot of carnage. The action side of the show is definitely an area where they go big in terms of the quality of animation, and the designs, color and fluidity here really makes it an engaging work to watch from the technical side. But the real fun is in seeing how things twist and turn along the way with Ange doing what she can to set things right while the rest beat a hasty retreat into the singularity into their own world. Ange’s fight against the others turns more personal, but giving it a one on three approach really lets all of them shine here. It’s a solid piece overall that provides for the right kind of return to their own world.
In Summary:
Cross Ange has a fair bit going on here once again and it all moves relatively quickly, which is good. The show provide for some decent character moments early on with Ange making it clear what her purpose is while Sala and the others their own, with plenty of crossover between the two. It also humanized it nicely with some of what Vivian is feeling about it all in relation to her mother, which feels like it should have a bigger role as time goes on. The second half is pretty much all action and that’s what really works the best here at the moment, as it goes big and bold with some great production quality about it to make it engaging to watch, even if it largely turns into a retreat for most of those involved, leaving Ange to reconnect with old “friends” on this side.
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.