InAnimete: Part 12 - Chrono Crusade

I'll say ahead of time that this article is probably going to be a fair deal shorter than my usual. Why? Well, part of it is that I'm starting this piece at 2 on a Monday afternoon to be finished by Wednesday, so time. The much bigger element is that I can't remember much of the show in a coherent manner. I have images and snippets, and this anime has a great way of making striking images, but a lot of the logic of the story is lost to time in my mind unfortunately.

Any remotely competent or professional blogger would either go back and watch it to remind themselves or would alternately just not talk about the anime. If "competent" or "professional" are among the first words you'd use to describe my work, welcome to Red Television. It's great to have new readers. In keeping with my usual tactic, I'm going to talk about this show I barely remember, with the aid of TV Tropes and Wikipedia.

Welcome to a world of demons, nuns and horribly misappropriated historical events. Guess which one I'm going to be ranting about the most.

L to R, Azmaria, Chrono and Rosette collectively make up team "not shit". Also, finding screen caps with the most confusing, out of context subtitles is possibly the highlight of this entire blog.

I don't think talking through this anime character-by-character like normal is the best way of going about it. Rosette and Chrono drive the majority of the story, with Azmaria and Joshua being little more than plot devices with voices. Sure, they have personalities to a degree (or Azmaria does, at least) but I don't have a whole lot to say about them.

Before I get to into this, I should provide a setup of the story. In New York in the 1920s (I'm pretty sure it's the 20s. Don't hold me to that) a small group of nuns are fighting demons who occasionally pop up throughout the city a reap chaos. This is often the result of the idle rich who dabble with occult texts for fun (although, considering this was the 1920s, there was a much more believable reason people were attempting to talk to spirits), but it begins to emerge that an organized campaign to capture magic/blessed children is being undertaken for nefarious goals.

The protagonist, and one of the most skilled nuns in the New York branch is Rosette Christopher. Although a little absent minded, she is very able. She is assisted by the controversial figure of Chrono, who is a demon who claims to have become good and has a bond with Rosette. For him to become powerful, he must drain Rosette's life force, which literally shortens her lifespan.

Later, we are introduced to Joshua, Rosette's twin who has become a puppet for the big bad demon (who's name I can't remember) and Azmaria, an alt-history Mary-Sue, one of the blessed children being collected by Big Bad.

The Mother Superior and Azmaria, soon to be interrupted by the irritating comedy relief scientist and his "electric Christmas tree".

 Spoilers begin from here on in, and considering this is a pretty damn good anime, I do recommend it. Anyway, let's keep going. Azmaria is symptomatic of a trend that I'm really fascinated by as a historian - the use of real historical events to frame fictional characters.

Azmaria is the first demonstration that this is happening. She is Portuguese. From Fatima...and is blessed by God...in the 1920s...yes, Azmaria is apparently an unknown fourth witness of the Marian Apparition at Fatima in Portugal. I have to say right now that I don't have a problem with this at all. I've run tabletop RPGs before and I do exactly the same thing in order to give characters a place in space. It's a fantastic tool for setting up characters - if they are American, where were they during 9/11? If Aussie, the Bali Bombings? What big events did they witness, from close or afar? How will this affect how they react to their surroundings during the campaign? So on, so forth.

My concern is that it isn't used to any particular end. Why did the show even bother setting up that she was one of the witnesses at Fatima? Sure, it explains why she is blessed, but both Joshua and Rosette are blessed, and they weren't at any event like that. Her Portuguese heritage also never comes up - fuck, her name is "Azmaria Hendrich" - and her relevant backstory comes from her life after Fatima anyway, after her parents were killed in WWI (which raises questions, unless they're referring to the "Spanish" Flue epidemic post-war as part of the war, because mainland Portugal was never attacked as far as I'm aware).

I'm not using this as a reason to praise or condemn the series. It's a good idea not executed well, as many good ideas seem to be. The more...confusing idea comes in the very final scene of the show, in which it's somewhat implied that a main villain from the show attempted to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981. Why?! Seriously? What the fuck is that about? The rest of the goddamn show doesn't even leave the 1920s, and considering this is the very LAST scene of the entire show I really don't understand what the events have in common. I just don't get that last scene, and it's probably the question I will never be able to leave alone from this show.

This is a German woman. She had a pretty good narrative arc. I forgot about her until looking for screenshots. I find this fact telling. It's kinda tricky to find pictures when I'm talking about concepts and not characters.

I suppose the logical thing to jump to after the previous topic is the use of religion and religious imagery. I find it a really thin line to walk in using religious (any religion, really) imagery in anime. On one hand, religious imagery grants a sense of importance and idealism that can help build atmosphere, but if the plot and characters can't cash this particular cheque, or the tone clashes with the imagery, then it looks stupid. Take, for example, Ah My Buddha! It is not a good show.

On the other hand, a show might legitimately use religious imagery as the means for a specific end. The potential issue is that poor explanation or the show failing to demonstrate respect and even fear of the imagery can make everything confusing and a little bizarre. Take, for this example, Air. Because apparently Buddhist monks are evil (it's a weird show).

Chrono Crusade will always be my go to example for how to do this right. I'm aware a lot of this is just my personal experience. I'm from an Anglican family, and I went to a very Catholic primary school, so even though I'm nothing even resembling a believer today, I'm more familiar with Christian imagery than Shinto, Buddhism or any other religion that anime has tried to tackle (has there ever been an Islam-themed anime? I'd be fascinated). It doesn't mean I understand half of what this bloody show is about on a theological level, but I understand who Mary Magdalene is. Basically. And that's a pretty good level above my knowledge of other religions.

Chrono Crusade is very light on humour. It's weird how rare this is for an anime. Even anime that have really dark themes and moments, like Angel Beats or Elfen Lied, spend a significant time on being funny. The only other anime I can really think of with a similar approach to Chrono Crusade is Deathnote. And Chrono Crusade isn't a steaming pile of shit.

My point is that taking itself seriously allows the religious imagery to have punch and meaning. The plot has enough meaning to justify the grandiose scale of the imagery and the inherent power of religious -specifically apocalyptic- imagery isn't wasted on a silly plot. The imagery and the story support each other throughout the show. It's an excellent way of setting the mood, and I can't applaud that enough. Even though there were moments of mild levity, the scale and consequence of ever action was always kept present.

The mood was helped, or perhaps the mood helped this happen, by the absolutely perfect use of images. I don't mean the art was specifically outstanding but, well...show, don't tell:

The context helps, but even alone the darkness of this image should be clear. This is episode 2, of 24.

That image above is still, 11 months of anime later, one of the most memorable still images in all anime. Just...ever. It's so wonderfully orchestrated. The face is obscured, the scenery (this is happening in the nunnery) which is usually bright and welcoming is stark and distant. Again, this is episode 2, about halfway through. This was the moment I realised this anime was special.

I joke that my inability to remember much about the show should be telling about the quality of the show overall. That's not fair. I don't remember it because I'm a miserable arsehole. If there's nothing for me to complain about, I forget about it, unless it's Angel Beats levels of fantastic. Chrono Crusade wrapped everything up neatly plot-wise and as sad as the ending is, it's perfect for the show. And so, it could sit comfortably. I didn't need to scream about plot holes or whine about poor characterisation for Rosette or Chrono. It could just be left alone, 24 episodes of good story.

But I will never forget some of the creepy images.

This was probably the first real "horror" anime I saw. Hell, the series is designed to show everyone what I've watched. A whole lot of maid anime. Even when that got dark, it kept being a ridiculous maid anime you just couldn't take seriously. Angel Beats was sad and dark, but it kept most things colourful and relatively cheery. Just look at Yuri's backstory. It's thematically dark as fuck, but there is no single shot which sums up the true horror of the situation. Chrono Crusade loves this darkness. It pulls no punches, and wants to leave an emotional impact. For the main plot, I don't think it succeeds, but for images like the man in the dark coat, it hits the nail on the goddamn head.

I've watched a few horror anime since this. Elfen Lied comes to mind instantly, but it's main draw is incredible violence and gore. In the scene above, the man shoots himself in the head and there isn't a drop of blood. And it is more terrifying than any second of Elfen Lied can claim to be. Deathnote is kinda horror, but the main character has absolute control the entire time and nothing is left up to chance. Nothing is actually unknown enough to be scary. High School of the Dead? Air? Darker than Black? Nothing comes close to the fantastic horror in Chrono Crusade. You never know what is going to happen next. It is absolutely terrifying. And it is fantastic.

Although I don't talk about it much, the relationship between Chrono (above) and Rosette is a definite strength of this show.

I said last week that this would probably be a shorter post than usual. I just don't remember much about this show for some reason. It has still frames that I just can't forget, but plot and the intricacies of individual characters just has slipped my mind. I honestly don't know why. I can't remember much about Steel Angel Kurumi either, but that was a crappy maid anime. I hardly feel like I need to justify my lack of memory of that show to myself, even though it made my review...well, non-existent

I guess what I'm trying to say, in my usual roundabout manner, is that what you shouldn't walk away from this article with is "Hudson can't remember the show, so it must be lousy". What I want to say is that I can't remember a lot about this show and I DON'T KNOW WHY. It was good. It had drama. It had awesome ideas. It had (what I thought were) memorable characters. I feel really bad that I can't remember this show.

The sad truth is likely that I'm such a miserable bastard that if I don't have something to whine about I'll just forget about it. Even Angel Beats at least had the rushed ending to be pissed about. Chrono Crusade is excellent because everything comes together. At worst it's confusing and odd, never outright bad. I'll leave the review here, but please do watch this show. It's really worth it.

Next week, unless I feel like doing a rambling intermission, we'll be looking at the curiously Victorian Black Butler. I still don't know what the fuck I make of that show. Guess we'll both find out next time.

Cheers for reading,
H. Rourke.