Cross Ange

[Evex]

I haven't sat down to watch this show, but from what I'm reading from this thread I'm going to make some very broad opinions. From what I've read the norma sound like they are second or even third class citizens in Agne's world. This indicates a sort of class disparity with in the world, where the norma are treated like people with a medical ailment like leprosy, or other causes that would have people isolated.

From the glimpse preview I got on crunchy roll of episode 2. The facility Agne is on seems both like a military and prison complex. Its location appears to be very Alcatraz like in that its isolated from any other place. People say things are polarizing when they happen to Agne, but in reality its from what I read her current situation.

People in prison undergo cavity searches to make sure contraband isn't snuck into prisons. The military essentially strips away the person you were during a short period of basic training. Agne herself is eventually going to jump into the series giant robot, and fight these dragons. Being from the privileged class she most likely has the basic princess issues when being placed into a lower class.

She is also put into a prison/military like facility where if her attitude doesn't change bad things are going to happen. Try talking back to a drill Sargent during training or have a high and mighty attitude, and you'll most likely be doing laps or cleaning toilets. In prison you might piss off the wrong person, and well bad things happen when people are pissed in prison. It's been stated in this thread, in order for Agne to function in this new society roll that she'll need to be mentally torn down, so some things might seem a bit polarizing from the perspective of the viewer. Even if Agne herself is in a state of denial that this can't be happening to her, and walking around acting like she is better then everyone.

[Henyo]

this show is 100% going to my "Guilty pleasure" tier list this season.

i have to mention this though: Fukuda OUT YURIS(as tasteless as it is to some.) Ikuhara and Urobuchi. it took a long while for the yuri to appear in the other two's shows.

going back to the show, i guess Mana here is for defensive purposes only. otherwise, they wouldn't need Normas to fight the Dragons. that or they forgot how to fight altogether..

[SonicSP]

I'm interested in the direction this show is going, if only because I find the mix of genres pretty interesting.

At least, I don't want these mix that often anyways. There's some interesting hybrid at work here and that could end up being very good or very bad. It's certainly the show I show the most curiosity this season for now.

And strangely enough, I'm also interested in the mecha designs and usage......even if it screams ridiculous with that open-air mode.

[Iris Scope]

Been watching the episodes and while it's natural for Ange to be in denial of her situation, she's not making any new friends by acting all high and mighty in front of them. And as the next episode confirms, she gets into even more trouble for the way the first true friend she's had in the time she's been in the facility gets taken out by the threat.

I'm still not sure as to how the Kira Yamato look alike factors into the story and i have a feeling it's gonna take a while until Ange gets there since she still has her combat expertise to rack up on but it's a character i'm looking forward to.

[Zeonista]

Well here we go into the new life for Ange. Still not bright and shiny, she gets tossed into the deep end of the pool with the assignment to Team 1. I pretty much interpreted this as both punishment for the display of attitude and the recognition of her potential as a mecha pilot. (People who enjoy conspiracy theories may freely speculate as well. ) Arzenal comes across as the archetyped-to-cliche RPG base with combat-related salary, shops, and the option for room customization. Ange just doesn't get to stop playing the game.... The squadron leader is a real piece of work, and one instantly feels sympathy for the put-upon XO. However, given the reality of life at Arznel, the veteran pilots would get some perks in return for carrying out leadership, training, and discipline duties.

Concerning the short-lived "Angelise-sama" fan club, this was the best part of the episode in depicting Ange's continuing disconnect with the reality of the Normas, and her reluctance to let go of the hope that somehow she can go home and it will all be an evil dream. It was much better than all the Escalation-style shenanigans in explaining how Ange wasn't fitting in The inevitable second blow to our heroine's pride and sense of self was a shocker, but it was better signaled. The ensuing battle in episode 3 is probably going to be a real fiasco, and Ange is going to learn another lesson about what's really important now, and her new place in the universe.

From the technical level the show continues to please in terms of quality. I must confess the DRAGON acronym was a delight. The laria game just gained a new level of reference! I find myself idly wondering at the relationship between the Dragons and the Mana Kingdom, and why the Dragons are attacking it, and why the Normas have to fight instead of Mana-wielding warriors. I suppose I'll get a few answers later on....

[Raikoh]

I think them sending Normas out to do battle instead of "humans" is just a convenient way for them to get rid of Normas by sending all of them out on a suicide mission. It also allows them to keep their utopian society in place, since actively recruiting magic users would mean publicizing the threat, and given how Ange didn't know the first thing about Dragons I think they keep it hush-hush. It's just killing two birds with one stone in their minds.

Or maybe it's that the Dragons have thick magic barriers and Norma can break through them no problem or only Normas can pilot Paramail or some other thing to that end. But I think the first theory is more interesting.

[Mythgarr]

Or simply because Norma could easily break magics (they are like Otataral aspected beings to the other Warren aspected beings....I have been reading too much Malazan...). They are immune to magic effects so therefore less able to be controlled by the magical authority.

[SonicSP]

I've only watched one episode of this show but the OP song is really really growing on me. I keep hearing it at all the shops I pass by in my vacation (which are anime shops but I disgress...).

[Raikoh]

Well it's Nana singing a mix of symphonic metal and electronic, with heavy Celtic influence.

It's kind of hard to not make that awesome.

[Erisie]

I was expecting for Cross Ange to be complete trash. I was wrong... sorta. It's not trash. It's trashy: key difference there. It's stupid, shameless and it works for all those reasons. It takes itself seriously at the same time it doesn't. I can't blame anyone for their skepticism out of Fukuda's involvement. He's been out of the anime business entirely for a decade after the shitstorm that Destiny became over the internet.

Apart from the obvious riffing on Sunrise's standards (Gundam, Geass, Valvrave), I feel there's some MuvLuv influence here: harem-esque squad of female mecha pilots, in very revealing pilot suits, fighting against abstract creatures named for an acronym (B.E.T.A./D.R.A.G.O.N.), with really low survival odds for the pilots. Doesn't help matters that the pilot-princess comes from the House of Misurugi.

Speaking of the princess, I read on TVTropes (I know, I know...) something that really resonated with me: the similarities between Angelise and Kamille Bidan. They have more parallels than Shinn Asuka ever had:

Both have parents in the government (Ange's parents are both the Emperor and the Empress while Kamille's parents are both Federation officers), are arrogant and stubborn which results in them being subjected to many forms of physical abuse and punishment, has a sport which helps in their piloting (Ange being an Iaria player, Kamille being a champion in Mobile Suit contests) and lastly, both are pilots of Super Prototype Transforming Mecha (Ange's Villkiss and Kamille's Zeta Gundam).

I'm not entirely sold on the Para-Mail's designs (or their name, for that matter). Kimitoshi Yamane has shown his talent over the years, even in SEED, and these designs are kinda lacking. The music is not bad by any standard, but I was expecting to be it full-blown awesomeness all the time, like the PV.

I have this feeling that Ange (and probably the rest of the Arzenal squad) will be eventually revealed as a Mana user, who was sent to Arzenal as part of a coup d'etat. Remember that we saw somebody sabotaging her baptism ritual ceremony the night before. Another thing I theorize is that the D.R.A.G.O.N.s have something to do with Mana powers.

i have to mention this though: Fukuda OUT YURIS(as tasteless as it is to some.) Ikuhara and Urobuchi. it took a long while for the yuri to appear in the other two's shows.

Thing is, Ikuhara and Butch handle it with a modicum of taste and some sort of storytelling device. As we all know out of our experience with SEED, Fukuda doesn't know what "taste" is: all the yuri on display is nothing more than shameless fanservice. Remember that there's a male love interest in the works for Ange, who I swear it looks exactly like Kira Yamato. I've said over and over that Fukuda doesn't have an original bone to him, and it shows clearly here, starting with the Villkiss being a obvious Strike Freedom ripoff. Two of the characters in the royal family are clearly modeled on Schneizel and Nunnally.

[Henyo]

i have to mention this though: Fukuda OUT YURIS(as tasteless as it is to some.) Ikuhara and Urobuchi. it took a long while for the yuri to appear in the other two's shows.

Thing is, Ikuhara and Butch handle it with a modicum of taste and some sort of storytelling device. As we all know out of our experience with SEED, Fukuda doesn't know what "taste" is: all the yuri on display is nothing more than shameless fanservice. Remember that there's a male love interest in the works for Ange, who I swear it looks exactly like Kira Yamato. I've said over and over that Fukuda doesn't have an original bone to him, and it shows clearly here, starting with the Villkiss being a obvious Strike Freedom ripoff. Two of the characters in the royal family are clearly modeled on Schneizel and Nunnally.[/quote]

don't forget the Shining Gundam! it has a shining finger too! i once read somewhere that Fukuda has no intention of making lacus and Kira an item.(actually, i think it was just a translated 4koma.)
going by that, the Miyano character may just become a firm Support for Ange.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerm ... -17/.79897

answerman gives an answer to the repeated use of rape in anime.(more recent series to be more exact)

one more thing!(Uncle voice)
i remembered two other series this one had similarities with. Area 88(money for slaying enemies and a store where the normas buy items.) and panzer dragoon.(the orta entry to be specific)

[Compass]

This episode's body count was irksome. However, the Paramail becoming Freedom Gundam mail managed to salvage the sadness.

[Vent Noir]

I knew there was something missing from a Fukuda show... FLASHBACKS! Well, episode 3 fixes that.

[Raikoh]

Well, I honestly think episode 3 was pretty good. Definitely the strongest episode so far. We've got a pretty high body count, but it's all been necessary to get Ange into the right mindset. Now that the suffering has been ramped up to critical mass, maybe we'll hit the brakes so we can get that bishoujo robot anime we were promised. Or maybe not, either way, we'll find out. I'm still giving Cross Ange the vote of confidence.

The hazing is more or less over by now, and the decision to return the ring was very kind. I really liked Jill by the end of this episode. Also, I'm looking forward to Ange trying to adapt to her new life but still having ingrained reactions that she just can't change (a la the pudding).

The fight scenes looked great, with very little noticeable stock footage (which I think is Fukuda's biggest flaw, since I don't have a chip on my shoulder and automatically hate anything he does just because he directed Seed). Especially the scene with Vilkiss. I enjoy all those little attention to detail shots of the cockpit like showing Ange instinctively dodging even though she wants to die, or pissing herself with fear.

Spoiler

I doubt that Ange's brother is gone, but that would be an... interesting turn of events to say the least. How often has the big evil plan to usurp the throne backfired so hard that it causes a revolution and ended up killing you?

Oh, and one more thing:

Spoiler

I think them sending Normas out to do battle instead of "humans" is just a convenient way for them to get rid of Normas by sending all of them out on a suicide mission. It also allows them to keep their utopian society in place, since actively recruiting magic users would mean publicizing the threat, and given how Ange didn't know the first thing about Dragons I think they keep it hush-hush. It's just killing two birds with one stone in their minds.

Yep, I nailed that one.

[Destiny_Gundam]

don't forget the Shining Gundam! it has a shining finger too!

I think you mean the Destiny Gundam's Palma Fiocina. That and the sword stab make it far more similar to Shinn's units rather than the Freedom.

Episode 3 was pretty good. Ange's finally accepted her situation, but I think she's still got a ways to go before she's redeemed herself.

[Compass]

Now the question remains, why exactly did the Commander give her the ring back? And how did she sneak it under those bandages, and what exactly was she trying to do? "Oh, this ring, it actually activates our hunk of junk in the back and turns it into XMGF-20A. We'll take it for now, let her mess up, and then give her a chance to go super saiyan."

Also, I didn't notice the first time, but she definitely urinated herself

[Raikoh]

I get the feeling that Jill knew that she was really close to getting Ange to crack, especially when Ange would need to bury the dead, and was just sort of hoping that by the time the bandages would come off she'd have accepted her situation. As such, an act of kindness by returning the ring she valued so much was my idea of a "welcome gift." At least, that's what I thought about it. Obviously she simply put it on before they bandaged her hand. They probably could have shown a bulge on her hand (since this series has pretty good attention to detail in the animation), but, well, that wouldn't have been as dramatic.

[Destiny_Gundam]

"Oh, this ring, it actually activates our hunk of junk in the back and turns it into XMGF-20A.

You mean ZGMF-X42S. I will continue insisting on such until everyone accepts it!

[Ryujin]

COCO WAS 12 AND SHE LOVED PUDDING

Sorry, someone just had to say it.

I find it really entertaining how over-the-top this show could get. I wasn't expecting Ange to get aroused from killing the DRAGON, for one.

Anyways, I have to wonder what sort of game Jill's playing. She clearly has something game-changing up her robotic right arm.

Also, Vivian's rapidly approaching Q-vier levels of sociopathy.

[BrentD15]

"Oh, this ring, it actually activates our hunk of junk in the back and turns it into XMGF-20A.

You mean ZGMF-X42S. I will continue insisting on such until everyone accepts it!

But the Destiny Gundam is a technological disaster.

...no offense.