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Story 5 of 5, Animation 4 of 5, Voice acting 4 of 5, Characters 5 of 5,

Hell everyone and welcome to my first ever anime review, I hope you find it helpful and informative.

For this momentous occasion I have decided to review DarkUmagon?s favorite or possibly second favorite anime Chrno Crusade.

Chrno crusade is an excorsist anime that takes place in the 1920?s United States. The plot revolves around sister Rosette Christopher and her demon partner Chrno. Rosette is a nun in the Magdalene Order and Chrno is her demon partner. As members of the order the two travel around the country eliminating demons and the threat the pose to people. While this is the main plot of the story, the driving force behind Rosette and Chrno?s actions is to try and find Rosette?s Brother, Joshua, who disappeared after an incident at an orphanage they both grew up in.

Chrno crusade starts out as your basic exorcist anime, Rosette and Chrno travel around the United States, eliminating demons, having some spiffy banter and comedic moments, while the story slowly unfolds. And while this is going on the anime is about as good as any other of the same drama. But it is in the second act of this anime that it really shines and establishes itself as a phenomenal story. The second act helps to reveal that this story is really about love, and not just romantic love, but love between siblings and friends. It also has possible one of the most touching, emotional, and overall best endings since seen in anime. For the story alone the this anime is a must see.

But Animes are made by more than just their story, (though personally I feel that?s the most important aspect) voice acting, animation, and characters all play a vital role in producing a successful show. And Chrno Crusade succeeds in all three.

The animation is very well done, really capturing much of the feel of the 1920?s and doing an excellent job of bringing out the depravity of some demons while separating other above the pack such as Chrno and the series main antagonist Aoin. Character look individual and don?t have that feeling of same face with different hair that can happen in some lesser animes, instead Rosette looks very different from the supporting female characters, while chrno and the male supporting characters look equally different form one another. This creates a myriad of characters which the audience will care about and become attached to, allowing the animation to compliment the other aspects very well.

The voice acting is very good for the most part, but is not anything as groundbreaking as some other animes such as Hellsing or Miyazaki?s work. However solid performances are given by the actors who voice Rosette, Chrno, Joshua, Remington, and especially the young apostle Azmaria who really steals the scenes she is in with her acting.

Something which makes Chrnoe Crusade so good is the emotions and tragedy that occurs during the anime?s 24 episodes. None of this would work however if the characters weren?t so well written. Rosette is an immediately likable character, who displays strong senses of morality and a feistiness that makes her a great protagonist. And her constant upbeat attitude becomes all the more endearing the more your learn about the characters past. Likewise Chrno is a perfect compliment with an undying loyalty and love for Rosette combined with a quite, shy, and occasionally fierce manner. His past is equally as complex as Rosette?s, and the character progression throughout the story allows the audience to feel as though they grew up with the characters and endears them to the audience.  However many animes have good and endearing protagonists, but Chrno crusade as very food supporting characters. My personal favorite of which was Azmaria a young and often troubled apostle, who comes to view Rosette as a big sister. The characters purity and innocence is shown to us instead of being told to us throughout the series. Another great character is the series antagonist Aoin. Normally anime villains are quite weak or very one dimensional (think Naruto or Dragon Ball Z) the villains may look and sound cool but really lack substance. Aoin breaks that mold. Aoin combines an interesting and tangled passed with Chrno with complex and horrifying plans. However his plans are shown to be well thought out, hints are dropped throughout the series, and he has multiple schemes instead of the often one and done approach that is given to most anime villains. His plans actually seem well thought out and planned by the writers while on the other hand many other supposedly smart anime villains seem to reap the benefit of sudden plot devices and wild leaps in logic, Aoin?s ploys really act as a consistent driving force behind the series plot. And while he looks the part of a typical anime villain, (tall, white hair, glasses, handsome face, and a calm demeanor) he really separates himself from his antagonist peers with the way he influences the characters and stories around him, along with a bone chilling final scene.

All in all Chrno Crusade is a must see for any serious anime fan, as it really does excel in all categories. However if your preference if for light hearted whimsical anime (such as Lucky Star). Battle based anime (Bleach); or younger audience geared anime (Pokemon) then you really should consider looking elsewhere. Because even though Chrno Crusade has its lighter moments and can be quite comical, it really does end up being more on the emotionally heavy side.

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