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Chrono Crusade
Anime DVD Review
For some reason I keep confusing this with Sega's Chrono Trigger RPG series.
Doesn't Square-Enix simply own the whole "Chrono" franchise? Maybe this is related?
It's the roaring 20's in New York City (half of the fun is watching how the Japanese interpret NYC; and as a native, I can say they get a lot wrong), and Sister Rosette Christopher and her partner Chrono may be the best exorcists in the Order of Magdalene, but hold on to your rosary as these two professional exorcists rage against depravity in this iconic series from the creators of Afro Samurai and Trinity Blood.
They're an unusual pair in many ways — starting with Chrono being a demon who is soul-bonded to Rosette; she can amplify his powers at the cost of shortening her own lifespan, while her exorcisms involve shooting guns that fire holy bullets (they have holy inscriptions written on them). They need to keep the whole thing quiet from the regular authorities, so they refer to themselves as troubleshooters. And shoot she does, the two often leaving behind a big a mess while 'trying' to do their job (i.e., massive property destruction). Kei, Yuri, I'd like you to meet Sister Rosette...
 Rosette's on a personal quest to retrieve her younger brother Joshua. He was apparently spirited away by the demon Aion, himself a brother to Chrono, and bestowed some of Chrono's own power onto Joshua to give him the strength he never had in his mortal life. Rosette also needs to destroy Aion to restore balance between Earth and Hell.
The first portion of Chrono Crusade is a lighthearted romp, with shoot-'em-up action, gags as broad as the side of a barn and many, many running jokes about Rosette's penchant for wanton destruction.
However it grows incrementally more serious and convoluted too much for its own good, especially when Joshua enters the picture and a whole slew of fierce battles between "the Order" and the demons that are unleashed. The grimmness of it all gives you the feeling the producers were switched out with a different group about midway through.
 These two are in time joined by others. There's Azmaria, a girl whose power of healing, but who also curses others with misfortune, much to her chagrin. Another demon hunter, the tall and haughty Satella Harvenheit, would just as soon do away with Chrono as work alongside him, but she too turns out to have a connection to Aion and Joshua that ties their fates together.
Still, that first portion is fun, with plenty of Roaring Twenties period flavor to burn — not just in the visuals, but even in the English-dubbed dialogue (via slang like "Everything's jake"). The interactions between Rosette and Chrono (and some of the other characters) are also fun, but they too get progressively bogged down by the heavy-handed seriousness of the storyline.
It's all too clear that the show was adapted while the manga was still in progress, given how the final third or so makes a rather wide break from what came before. In the end, the promise of the first half or so of the show feels like it's unfulfilled in too many ways. Maybe they should have stuck closer to the manga and not been so quick to produce a TV series. But, if nuns with guns are your, er-hum, habit, then by all means, let the show play on!
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, April 2011
Below: Scenes from Chrono Crusade.
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