Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo

Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi is the first princess of the noble Misurugi Empire. The kingdom has seen great power and prosperity due to the advancement of the revolutionary technology known as "Mana," an abstract bending of light that has reduced the world's problems of war and pollution to a timeless peace.

However, not all are blessed with the ability to wield Mana. Those who cannot are labeled "Norma," outcasts of society who are considered a threat to civilization and live under constant persecution, and Angelise herself is one of many who want the Norma exterminated. But as Angelise's sixteenth birthday commences, it is discovered in a shocking revelation that she is actually a Norma. Chaos ensues, the public is outraged, and the once adored princess is exiled to Arzenal: a remote military base where Normas are forced into conscription.

Now, the former royal must adapt to a harsh and vastly different lifestyle; piloting mechanical robots known as "Paramail" to fend off large, devastating beasts referred to as DRAGONs. However, a sinister truth about these savage creatures threatens to change everything.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ikaruga Misurugi, Angelise Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Schlievogt, Hildegard Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Tusk Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Salamandiné Supporting

Horie, Yui Japanese

Vivian Supporting

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Embryo Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Oginome, Momoka Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Salia Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Chris Supporting

Ogura, Yui Japanese

Jill Supporting

Honda, Takako Japanese

Fukuda, Mitsuo Producer, Episode Director, Storyboard

Ashino, Yoshiharu Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Yanase, Yuuji Episode Director

Itou, Tatsufumi Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Jan 27, 2025

SevensDran

Recommended

Cross Age is a fascinating 2010s mecha anime. The reputation it had before I watched it was it's a "so bad it's good" type how cause sexual content(?). I think. No ones ever specified. Its just bad you know, people say its bad.

And instead what I got was just straight up a modern day Go Nagai esque show, just unadulterated drama and edge, mostly in the flavor of prison drama, and just a kind of real tale of overcoming tragedy in a fantastical story of women riding mechs to kill dragons. Like most of the cast being women who pilot mechs is very commendable, including ... a female protag. And in this type of story???? Genuinely if this was a live action story it would probably get more respect because online anime fans aren't that honest with themselves, there always has to be some backhandedness about sexual content or being genuine in positivity or optimism. It's kind of a tragedy.

And tragedy is the line that connects everything in Cross Ange.

Our heroine Ange is a princess who quickly loses that world in a blink of an eye because of her brother. And she herself isn't that great a person at first. She's full blown discriminatory against her fellow prison pilots. Yes thats right, she's a prisoner, but also the prisoners are relied upon to keep the extraterrestrial dragons at bay. I mean yes, she's also discriminatory, but a weakened racist royal is nothing compared to the prison's head prisoner/pilot with a lesbian harem who needs some action to "break in" the newbie.

The tone initially of Cross Ange is kind of dire, the nasty world of the prison itself, and also Ange's resistance to being a pilot or working with the people "below her". Our hero isn't really a hero, and even though this is a secret society secretly defending the world, the other pilots don't feel like heroes either. Everyone just seems awful in their own way.

But no matter who you are, you're facing some sort of struggle, but there's always the next day to look forward to and overcome challenges.

And Ange does indeed overcome herself and the prison, as bumpy as that road is, and thats where we get to the more fun stuff, because there's more than just direness in this show. I mean, the characters pilot a cool plane mecha hybrid machine. Nana Mizuki sings the op and voices the heroine THE INSERT SONGS. YOU KNOW ITS MECHA WHEN THERES INSERT SONGS. Also, there's DRAGONS. DID I MENTION THEYRE FIGHTING DRAGONS!?!?! Oh and also sex, yeah we also got some sex and sex jokes sprinkled in there for good measure. Just the full human experience spectrum on here.

Its amazing how Cross Ange balances direness and fantastical, raw and goofy. Cross Ange is just very genre savvy about a lot of things.

You want a cute little montage of forest survival? They got you. The hero gets sick so the rest of the crew have to take cover until theyre better? Yes sir! Prison escape. Hell yeah.

And when the secrets of the world reveals themselves, and the villain goes into motion, Cross Ange continues to exceed in being premium super robot. Ange, Villkiss, destroy this strange dystopia caused by a deluded man!

Oh yeah also its pretty clear the kids anime Shadowverse took inspiration from Cross Ange's villain. So that's SOMETHING to think about, in all the "hue hue this show is BAD" discourse, some kids in the 2020s have grown up on a variant of Cross Ange's villain. Now if that isn't meaningful impact, idk what is.

I feel that Cross Ange would resonate most with people who've been less than fortunate. The feeling of getting by with just SOMETHING depsite whats been lost.
Its utilized a raw and dire experience to illustrate a heroine who rises above the flawed world she was born and suffered in. It's great.
Cross Ange is great.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 24, 2023

whiteflame55

Mixed Feelings

The more I think about this series, the more my head hurts. It's not that it's bad because it knows what it is pandering to and that's the lowest common denominator (hell, even in the finale, Ange just had to jump naked, crotch first into Tusk's face), but so many of the motivations are contrived and the villain does not work for me. Most of these characters don't really work for me. It had some decent action and graphics when it wanted to, and some aspects of it were fun enough that I give them some credit, but this was a pretty frustrating watch for ... me. I enjoyed talking about it in a group watch, but not so much the watching of it. It's better in retrospect, but not the kind of thing I'd give a straight up recommendation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 23, 2024

chitsip

Not Recommended

I unfortunately watched the whole thing and was very disappointed with it. The beginning was amazing, and my toes were gripped when people started to die and took a very sharp dark turn. I love that about this anime, that it doesn't shy away from dark stuff. The story with the dragons and world building was goddamn cool as hell, I was locked in by the first episode.

But Ange got a bf who is some random basic guy who has zero personality versus the other 2 chicks she had great chemistry with (Hilda & Princess). Hell, even Salia or ANY other chick in the anime. ... Super disappointing, because his whole personality was just a self-insert of some creep from a harem anime. As if this anime CAN'T be good without disgusting pervasive men. Including the shitty antagonist. All he ever does is be creepy, sexually assault chicks, and manipulate them.

There's nothing deep about the story. It was so boring I began skipping around episode 16 (mostly bc of Tusk's fugly ass). The deepest was probably Hilda's backstory but you don't get any more of that. Animation is good when it wants to be, and the art style is sharp and amazing. This anime could have been catastrophically better without the creepy men. Please stay away from this dumpster fire of an anime if you're here for a proper lick of Yuri romance. If not, the Ecchi and crappy story will be up your alley.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Oct 18, 2014	196 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Nov 26, 2024 10:11 PM
	Poll: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Oct 11, 2014	222 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Nov 26, 2024 7:52 PM
	Poll: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Oct 4, 2014	356 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Nov 26, 2024 7:41 PM
	Poll: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Mar 28, 2015	333 replies	by bakakisima »» Nov 17, 2024 12:46 PM
	Poll: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 21, 2015	122 replies	by bakakisima »» Nov 16, 2024 9:27 AM