Review of Chrono Crusade

Apart from the few high-tension moments that come in the latter episodes this anime really has nothing that merits recommendation. It's a good enough series to watch if you are bored....or you have the type of job where you could watch this to while away the hours. ART/ANIMATION Art/Animation was done by a big budget company, Gonzo, which usually means there isn't going to be anything lacking by way of animation. I would assume this would be considered a period piece [since it takes place in the 1920s] and as such, a lot of the artistic design was from or inspired from that era: thecars, civilian clothing, scenery and buildings. Movements and high-tension moments, like, car chases and fight scenes were all very smooth and realistic. The only thing I really liked animationwise was the ending sequence.

SOUNDS
The ending song I really liked it. It was very beautiful and melacholy at the same time. The OP was not to bad either. However Azamaria's singing....tho quite lovely, totally annoyed me for some reason, it just didn't look real or that it would come from her. Why is there an echo coming from her voice like she is singing in a great hall.....eventho she's outside? Other than that I have no complaints, the voice acting was great as was the sound effects.

STORY
The storyline was not put together well, this could have really been one of those 12 ep. shows. The basic premise of this show is that of a young, reckless and impetuous nun her cute sidekicks, a meek, angelic apostle and a once powerful but now somewhat inhibited demon, go searching for her missing brother battling all sorts of evil along the way.......hilarity supposedly ensues. Yet, I never find this show as funny they maybe wanted it to be and most jokes seem to fall flat and fizzle. With some of the earlier episodes, it was such a yawnfest, at times I found it so boring that I found other projects to do, such as begin writing this review and scrubbing my toilet. It's not as if I was totally lost on what the creators were trying to achieve with this story and the whole church aspect but somehow, in this series, the whole idea/concept of gun-toting nuns and demon-banishing clergymen seem forced or just overall silly with a lot of religious catholic symbolitry being tossed about with no real meaning behind it. It did make for one heckuva battle scene in the later episodes, however. But it just didn't make sense, the story could have been the same...if not better in my opinion if they were regular clerics instead of warrior-nuns. Religious animes are a tricky affair but sometimes they work out really well like for example Trinity Blood or having a rogue monk like Saiyuki's Sanzo, it seemed “believable” or to at least fit neatly within the storyline as opposed to just being thrown into the mix.

CHARACTERS
I had no particular affinity for any of the characters in this show, which is a rare thing to happen for me, I usually get bonded to at least ONE character very quickly. However with this show, I found these characters so insincere, unreal and even cookie-cutter[ish]. I can't place my finger on one singular reason why they appeared that way to me but one reason could be the randomness of their emotions..... one minute she's teary-eyed then the next minute she's yelling and the scene is supposed to be funny. The Demon-kid seems emotionless for the most part—and I don't think it was supposed to be intentional, and Angel/Apostle-girl seemed too cutesy and 2-Dimentional personalitywise..With Character Design, again nothing too unique and a lot of the clothing of the principal characters seemed out of touch with the times [what grown woman wears a giant yellow bow at the end of her hair?] also modding a nun's gear and habit for battle with humongous splits running down the sides and garters seemed......NOT right.

ENJOYMENT
I don't know how to feel about this show. I want to say that it was bad....that it sucked and maybe overall it kinda did. However, it does have it's awesome moments like the Demon Battle scene, which was out of this world. But a few good scenes can't carry a show. And there were just too much conflict and contradictions: Biblical facts v. Science Fiction and then you have the past [the 1920s] mixed with futuristic elements. The creators bit off more than they could chew with this story I think or maybe too many random ideas...I'm surprized someone didn't throw in a headless Indian running around with a tomahawk.
It isn't something I'd watch again if I had the choice and I can't recommend it without letting the viewer know what they are in for.