Chrno Crusade is according to me an amazing anime. It is not what you expect at first. It’s very hard to describe, but it has this subtle brilliance to it that you notice here and there while watching it, but you really only understand it fully in the last episode when it’s already over, and then you start to cry. But there is more than just this to Chrno Crusade for me personally as I have an interesting relationship with this anime, so I also have a special emotional attachment to this series that I don’t have to many other anime. I will start off
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the review by explaining my relationship with Chrno Crusade. You can skip that part if you want to, but personally I feel that it is important as to why I like this anime so much.
So, the year is 2014, the location is Härjedalen, Sweden, close to the Norwegian border. I’m around 10 years old and we’re on skiing vacation. We’re at our cabin and I’m browsing youtube on my iPad when suddenly I see this cool-looking AMV for the song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” by Lordi, so I clicked it. Now of course the song is good, but what really struck me as amazing was the visuals. I was seeing these badass angel/demon-looking beings and “battle nuns” shooting guns and all. I was completely mesmerized, it was one of the most amazing pieces of media I had ever seen. It felt as if it was made just for me. I made it a point in my head to watch these movies/tv-series. I looked at the description to see if they mentioned the used anime, and there it said: Animes: Chrono Crusade, Trinity Blood, Black Heaven. But, at the time I didn’t watch anime or any tv-series really, so I had no idea where to watch any of these series, and not yet smart enough to find out where I could, so I put it on my memory and moved on with my life.
Fast forward to 2020, I’m sitting at home with over 80 anime under my belt and several years of active watching. I suddenly remember the badass AMV I saw all those years ago and decided to finally watch some anime from it. I however didn’t remember any of the anime mentioned in the video, so I had to find it again, which fortunately was very easy and one of the top results on youtube when searching “Hard Rock Hallelujah AMV”. I clicked it and looked at the description where, just as before, three anime were listed. I looked them all up on MAL and found Chrno Crusade the most appealing and thus decided to watch it. Starting to watch it gave me a strange feeling, almost divine, but I didn’t really know what to make of the feeling, so I just kept on watching.
Now I’m finished explaining my interesting relationship to Chrno Crusade, so after this will be the review part:
The story is a 9 in my opinion, it’s pretty good and an important part of what makes Chrno Crusade Chrno crusade, but not the biggest part. It’s enough to captivate you and make you pay attention to the series, and it carries with it part of the subtle brilliance of Chrno Crusade that really makes it so special.
Animation gets a 7. It’s nothing special really. I don’t know how animation was in 2003 since I didn’t exist back then, but judging from other series from that time I’d say it’s average. It never bothered me so I have really no reason to complain
Sound gets an 8. I like the OST, and the Opening and Ending themes are pretty solid too. The overall sound in the series is average. Nothing really special about the voice acting, but nothing bad either, so no complaints there either, just nothing special.
The characters is one part where this anime excels. I give it a 10 in terms of characters. All characters are there for a reason and even the supporting characters catch your attention and makes you think. The series is also really good at explaining and building the relationships between all the characters and how they work together to make the story work. I’m not going to spoil anything here, so I’ll just say that the characters and the way they are built up works together with the story to really make this anime something special.
Enjoyment is probably a 8, since it’s very interesting to watch. It’s kinda hard to explain, but watching the series gives off a special vibe, that keeps you watching. It has cool characters and cool symbolism that works really well to make this an enjoyable watch.
But, here’s the thing: the only ones of these above that really matters are the story and characters. Animation, sounds and enjoyment makes only a very small difference in a series like this as long as they are average or good enough, which they are.
What really makes Chrno Crusade so good is Characters, Story, but most of all its subtle brilliance. Chrno Crusade is one of those anime that as I’ve said before drops small hints about its brilliance now and then, and in the end it all adds up and you finally understand it, the brilliance of the work of art that is Chrno Crusade. The final episode just wraps everything up so smoothly and beautifully, you suddenly fully understand the whole story, all the characters and its core message, and then the tears come. You now finally know what this anime wanted to tell you and what everything in it means. Your mind gets run over by these realizations, and you get the importance and sheer beauty of every small detail in the series, and it’s first now that you notice how close you’ve grown to the story and how important it is to you, and be wary, it WILL make you cry. A lot. It simply is a pure work of art by someone who knows what they are doing. I’d say its brilliance is similar to that of “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu”, but not the same. This together with my emotional attachment to this series that comes from it being one of the things that very early in my life gave me the interest that I have for the supernatural and such, this anime personally really is something special. There’s also how good this anime tackles religion and society, which I really enjoyed watching and reflecting over. I really like anime that tackles advanced subjects like this that make you think and reflect upon what you’ve seen. It’s a really good experience watching if you, like me, think a lot. The way you see society change because of the deed of a devil that can only be stopped by God but at the same time is part of God really makes your mind pin and think in new ways it hasn’t thought in before about a complicated subject like this.
All in all, this anime really fit me well. It fell right into my mind and really resonated well with how I work as a person. So if you are like me: Eccentric, have an overactive mind and slightly schizophrenic, chances are that you’ll love this anime just as much as I do.
Overall rating: 9.
May 3, 2020
Chrno Crusade
(Anime)
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Chrno Crusade is according to me an amazing anime. It is not what you expect at first. It’s very hard to describe, but it has this subtle brilliance to it that you notice here and there while watching it, but you really only understand it fully in the last episode when it’s already over, and then you start to cry. But there is more than just this to Chrno Crusade for me personally as I have an interesting relationship with this anime, so I also have a special emotional attachment to this series that I don’t have to many other anime. I will start off
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