Chrono Crusade: Volume 8

Note: This review is for Vol. 1-8 and not just Vol. 8. ---------- The first time I encountered Chrono Crusade (I called it 'Chrno' Crusade for many years!) was when the anime was still being fansubbed. It was random; I saw it was being subbed by a group that was subbing something else I was watching at the time and I decided to give it a go. I ended up following it weekly until the depressing (yet satisfying) conclusion, later going on to buy the lovely R1 slimpack box set. While I didn't give the anime top marks due to the rushed Gonzo 'original story' second half of the anime, I do think of it as a very solid 8/10 series that's great to watch. Until last month, the above was the end of Chrono Crusade and me - I hadn't started reading lots of manga until long after my memories of the anime had faded and by then I didn't have the motivation required to read the manga online. However, I saw an auction for mint copies of Vol. 1-8 (the entire series) and, since I've always wanted to see the real story in full if I could get my hands on the series for a good amount, I won it. It's safe to say the cover art of the volumes is the best I've seen up to this point. All of the cover art is wonderful and all of the covers have vivid colours that would catch the eyes of a wandering manga reader in a book store. And, to sweeten the deal further, the lovely colour artwork doesn't end with the covers; every volume has at least one colour page inside the book, the early chapters having quite a few and the near end volumes having only 1 or 2. These volumes were the first I've read to have some colour pages and I hope to see more of the same in my future purchases. As for the standard black and white pages, the art quality is excellent throughout, thanks in no small part to the manga having been serialized monthly, which means the author had a lengthy amount of time to do his work in. Although I'm not knowledgeable when it comes to good and bad art, my uneducated brain failed to spot any flaws in the drawings. The only problem with reading the panels I had was following certain parts of the action. A problem that I'm sure certain manga authors have is with planning fights and how the fights should flow from one panel to the next - it must be very difficult to accomplish when they're restricted to a set amount of pages. Some manga authors are good at putting stories together and others are good at putting action sequences together, and I think the author of Chrono Crusade is better at creating stories than he is at making action flow from panel to panel. But don't get me wrong; the fights weren't put together badly and I was able to understand what was going on most of the time, it's just I noticed how I wasn't following the action as well as with some shounen manga (Bleach, Dragon Ball, Naruto...) that I've read recently. Before getting into anything else, it's best I give a description of the plot for people who, unlike me, haven't already watched t

As is the 'unfortunate' case with so many great manga series, the ending of Chrono Crusade is bitter sweet at 'best' and tragic at 'worst. Having watched the anime before reading this manga (the ending of which broke my heart), I wasn't too surprised - but I still felt a bit of sorrow. Alright - so did Chrono Crusade rank up with Neon Genesis - Evangelion or the Big O? Not in my book, but it does have many things to it's credit: an acceptable storyline, a suitable character development, and plenty of action. It also had some bad points: Many of the demonic enemies failed to be either impressive or scary - most of that was reserved for Aion. But the catch all was: Chrono Crusade truly excelled in character interaction - their dialog and actions with relation and respect to one another. ... it's a shame this will probably never be one of the uber-popular visual media franchises, but I'm relatively certain people who do buy this series will not be disappointed.

The ending to the Chrono Crusade series is tearjerking. Very few other manga series have made me cry at the end. I was secretly hoping there would be a romance between Rosette and Chrono but...oh well. My next stop is buying the DVD series which after reading the manga I have to. I absolutely loved this series and how it portrayed demons and humans. Aion's true conspiracy is revealed, Rosette and Joshua reunite, Chrono...well, I can't say anymore. It feels weird after being sucked into this series to read the ending. It makes me sit back and go WOW. Great manga series!!!

It's the end of the line for Chrono Crusade as the series wraps up with Volume 8. Rosette has to lend her lifeforce to Chrono even though she knows she's probably going to die in the process. After all they've been through Rosette is not going to leave him behind. If they die, at least they should die together. But in the meantime, Rosette finds herself face to face with her brother Joshua, but when she begins to convince him that it's wrong to be helping Aion, he turns on her because his romanticized version of his sister doesn't gel with the reality. The last thing Rosette wants to do is fight Joshua to the death, but it might be necessary. While all this is going on, Aion continues to try to reach the core of Pandemonium so he can pretty much reset the Earth and gain his much vaunted freedom, even if it kills millions. The conclusion of Chrono Crusade is bittersweet, but you knew it would have to end with some tragedy, just based on the relationships of the characters. Rosette was basically living on borrowed time, which she made the choice to do. Nobody forced her to make a contract with Chrono. The thing that really shines through this volume is the unconditional love that Rosette and Chrono give each other. Neither is willing to go on without the other and they stick by each other no matter what. There was always the chance for a romance but due to the situation of the main plotline, meaning the chance for Armageddon, that romance couldn't develop. We also get to see the real Joshua, not the brainwashed one, for the first time except for a flashback in an earlier volume, and why he desired the power of Chrono's horns. Well, I think the reader already knew, but Rosette gets to find out finally how Joshua always felt about her sheltering him. It's a shame to see this series end.