Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s time to continue the fantastical mess that is Cross Ange. Last time, we saw our “beloved” (and I use that term loosely) get revealed to be a norma. She gets banished to the frontlines of war, gets two people killed, become somewhat of a badass, meets a boy who has inherited Rito’s god-like falling, gets publicly humiliated by her sister, befriends her rival, finds out there’s a rebellion going on to overthrow her siblings, fights her siblings, meets what I believe to be a dragon girl, meets God who likes her and kills her brother, and finally she and Tusk get taken to Earth. Sure, it all sounds weird and a rip-off from other works but trust me when I say. . .it is. Let’s see what happens next.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for the second half is “Shinjitsu no Mokushiroku” by Yoko Takahashi. While Yoko sounds great the song just doesn’t match up with the anime or the visuals at all. The song is desperately trying to sound epic and tragic to convey the emotions of the characters but the song is so slow-paced and out of sync with the opening animation that I can’t help but feel that this opening was intended for another anime.
The ending theme is “Shuumatsu no Love Song” by Nana Mizuki. A good song that honestly believe would have worked out better as the opening. The song is more intense and conveys the emotions and mindset of the characters. While this isn’t one of Nana’s best songs I do think for a series like it fits.
Episodes 14-17
In episode 14 Tusk, Ange, and Vivian (the dragon girl) wake up in what I assume is Akihabara from Log Horizon (before Shiroe and the others fixed the place up). Vivian has turned back into a dragon so Ange flies around on her back to find out where they are while Tusk fixes up her Gundam (you can call it a paramail or whatever you want but in the end that thing’s a Gundam). They return finding nothing, but a robot comes by wondering aimlessly saying that survivors should make their way to the park. Hoping to find people, Tusk and Ange make it to the park where they find a shelter house where everyone is dead (well this place sure failed its purpose). They find out from the computer AI that all the humans are dead because of a war and that they’ve traveled 500+ years into the future (where Aku’s evil rules all. Now the fools seek to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku~. God I miss Samurai Jack). Tusk does the rational thing staying calm, cool and collective after hearing all this (which is the right thing do), Ange on the other does the irrational thing and refuses to accept the situation she’s heard and tries desperately to find other humans without rest and lashing out on everyone around her (this is the wrong and stupid thing to do). She finally pushes Tusk pass his breaking point when she says this whole Libertus plan is garbage which greatly offends Tusk because his parents and comrades died in the first Libertus plan which I remind you is a righteous fight in the hopes of freeing all normas in the world who are discriminated against for no reason whatsoever (just when I think the girl can’t hurt anymore people she finds a way to prove me wrong). The next day, Ange feels bad about what she did (wow the devil’s daughter feels guilty. Maybe she’s human after all) so she finds a mall and gives Tusk a gift which is a necklace and apologizes for everything she said last night (oh my God she knows how to say sorry. That could be the selling point of this anime). The two are back on friendly terms but winter is coming and they need to find shelter (don’t use the one in the park that place sucks). They find a love hotel (which is an obvious reference to Gundam Seed) where Ange and Tusk hint that they have feelings for each other (I should probably stop Tusk but in truth despite Ange’s bitchy attitude and traits she is a very attractive girl. Not someone I would see myself dating but someone I wouldn’t mind sleeping with). The two kiss with Vivian watching in secret (no doubt she’s getting off on this) and just when the two are about to do it (and surprisingly Ange offers herself to him. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qQDLTzsV0Cg) another dragon comes in to crash the fun (what the fuck bro!? What the actual fuck bro?). Riding on these dragons are girls (oh you guys wanna join in too?) who reveal that this isn’t the world Ange and Tusk come from but instead the true Earth.
In episode 15 the group gets taken to the headquarters of the girls who are lizard girls (oh this is furry territory). Once there, Vivian gets taken away and Ange and Tusk meet the high priestesses with one of them being Salamandinay the fighter who Ange fought in a stalemate a couple of episodes back. She takes it upon herself to be their guide while they’re here and tell the truth (good, because I gotta tell ya I am confused as hell right now). Ange not wanting to hear what Salamandinay has to say takes her hostage while Tusk gets taken hostage by the other lizard girls. Rather than be phased by this, Salamandinay instead brings Ange to a tower (wait I’m confused who’s holding who hostage here?) where she explains the secret to Ange’s world. In Salamandinay’s world the very first DRAGON was born named Aura. After the war many citizens of the real Earth left to form a new Earth leaving the other behind to deal with the mess that they all caused. In order to fix and adapt to the world, Aura changed the genetic makeup of the people and turned them into lizard people where the men turned into full grown dragons who eat up the fuel known as Dracium and produce crystals creating clean energy. But one day Embryo came to their world, stole Aura and bought them to Ange’s world where he uses Aura as the power source for mana in their world and in order to keep Aura alive he has the normas capture the DRAGONS that come into Ange’s world, harvest their hearts, and use them to keep Aura alive (so in short, Ange’s world has been killing people for God knows how many years, the DRAGONs are actually the good guys, mana is DRAGON, and this anime just got interesting). After hearing all of this, Salamandinay ask Ange if she still wants to return to her world and she says yes (why!? You’re world is an illusion created by some prick with a god-complex) and a fight breaks out between the two with Salamandinay winning. Ange wakes up in the infirmary to Vivian who has returned to normal and goes into the other room to see Tusk naked, getting handjobs, and her accidently giving him a blowjob (scene here: https://youtu.be/eNzNBFj3Ob4, Tusk is seriously giving Rito from To Love Ru a run for his money). After that bit of fanservice Vivian meets her mom because this was the world she originally came from and they celebrate that night by launching candle balloons into the sky.
In episode 16 Ange still thinks Salamandinay is trying to kill her and Tusk (if she wanted to kill you she would of done it by now. Stop being paranoid and join them already). In order to get Ange on her side, Salamandinay challenges Ange to a series of different sports (wow all the sports genres in a span of 5 minutes) such as tennis, baseball, ping-pong, racing, and lesbian twister (it’s like regular twister only hotter). They come to a draw but surprisingly gain the respect each other. Also, a running gag in this episode is that Ange can’t pronounce Salamandinay’s name (in her defense this name is a tongue twister). As they’re chatting and becoming closer as friends Embryo launches an attack on the people of Earth in the form of a space and time distortion, so everyone keeps getting crushed by rocks out of nowhere. Ange and Salamandinay use their super cannons (no not their breast. Actual cannons) to stop the distortion and save the day (now will you join them Ange?).
In episode 17 Salamandinay is relaxing in the hot springs with Ange (man they’re moving fast. If Ange plays her cards right she could have the best of both worlds and Tusk might be able to do something most men have only dreamed about). She tells her that they’ve located Aura under Ange’s kingdom and are going to mount a full assault to save her (or him they haven’t specified the gender yet but my money says female dragon). Salamandinay tries one last time to get Ange to fight with them but Ange says no but she says she has no intention of fighting her new friends (so what you’re just gonna sit on the sidelines and cheer them on or something. Just join them already you all share the same goal. Kill Embryo). The next day, the assault begins but Embryo catches their spy, tortures her (both physically and very sexually) and has a trap lying in wait for when they come through the singularity. They all arrive in the ocean and get attacked by 3 black Gundams (now I’m no Gundam fan but I know for a fact when something’s black that’s never a good sign for the heroes) and sure enough they’re forced to retreat while Ange holds them off (run~, get to the portal). Once Salamandinay and the others get away safely we see that the one leading this attack is Salia of all people (http://youtu.be/r2xDJPc-yaM, yeah this needs to explained very quickly because Salia was probably the most loyalist person to Jill so why would she turn her back on her? And if it turns out to be jealousy someone is getting hurt). Along with her are two more of the girls from the island who capture Ange but she, Tusk, and Vivian escape with Ange’s teleportation powers (yeah her Gundam can do that now). They crash land on Arzenal (which has seen better days) and get reunited with Momoka and Hilda who is fascinated to meet Tusk her first male (um didn’t you get assaulted by cops a few episodes back? I mean I know they were assholes but they still count as males unfortunately).
Episodes 18-21
In episode 18, Ange tells Jill and everyone what they’ve discovered and says they should all team up to take down Embryo (that’s what Salamandinay has been telling you for the last 3 episodes. God this girl is unbelievable sometimes). Everyone likes the idea except for Jill who doesn’t trust them (you can either trust the DRAGONs or you can die or get raped by Embryo. Your choice bitch). Speaking of bitches nobody knows why Salia and the others betrayed the group (because they’re bitches that’s what bitches do). We also see that Hilda has developed somewhat of a crush on Ange (where the hell did that come from? Isn’t this the same girl that Hilda wanted to see die? Now she wants to do the scissors dance with her? Man female relationships are even more complex than I thought). The next day Jill decides that Ange is correct and wants to team up with the DRAGONs (http://youtu.be/O9xRhwmHBBE). But of course Jill wants to use the DRAGONs as a decoy while her and the others sneak into the palace and kill Embryo (alright what did this guy to do you? This can’t just be about Libertus, this guy must have did something seriously bad to you. *Grabs a doll* Where did he touch you?). Ange refuses to go through with this plan so Jill uses force and tells Ange that if she doesn’t go through with this she’ll kill Momoka (I’ll risk it). Luckily, Tusk figured something like this might happen so he planted gas bombs in the vents and set them off (he pulled a Batman) knocking everyone out except for him, Ange, and Vivian (Tusk is quickly becoming my favorite character in the show). They rescue Momoka and try to escape in their Gundams (GET TO THE GUNDAM~) but Jill is there to stop them so she and Ange have a knife fight where Ange wins by knocking her out saying that if she went with Jill’s plan she wouldn’t be able to open Café Ange with Tusk (just do each other already. I’ll even let you add Hilda to the mix. Actually that sounds pretty hot). They leave the ship only to run into the bitch Salia and the other bitches to end the episode.
Episode 19 opens with Ange, Tusk, and Vivian protecting the submarine and Ange getting hit with a tranquilizer from Salia. She wakes up back at the palace with Momoka and is now a prisoner of Embryo even though she’s allowed to walk around the palace freely and wear nice dresses again (man if this is how Embryo treats all of his prisoners than sign me up). Salia comes in and she finally tells Ange why she betrayed Jill (it’s because she’s a bitch isn’t it?). Actually, that is the reason why she betrayed Jill, Jill never needed her and Salia felt that lonely and worthless in the world. Embryo took advantage of that, brainwashed her, and made her his puppet along with Ersha who’s now a teacher and owns her own kindergarten and Chris that one lesbian girl who got shot in the head a few episodes back. He took advantage of their insecurities and made them all his puppets (alright, it’s official these girls sided with Embryo for dumb reasons. Seras, do you’re thing. (Seras): Roger. *Walks over to the Jack Bros. house and rings the doorbell*. (Corbin): Yes? *Seras kicks Jack Frost in the balls and he falls to the ground in agony as Seras walks away*. Fucking bitch! You kicked me in the balls! (Seras): What did you call me? *Seras walks back to Corbin and picks him* (Corbin): No! I’m sorry! That came out wrong! *Seras kicks Corbin in the balls again and he falls to the ground in even more pain* (Corbin): She did it again! Why? Why didn’t you do something? (Baron): I ain’t getting kicked in the balls). Ange and Momoka get taken to the library where we see Silvi (oh God I forgot she was in this anime) who hasn’t changed at all and abusing “Mama” (one second on screen after a while and I hate this character even more). As soon as she sees Ange she begins to panic afraid that she’s going to kill her (no your death will come by my hands. It will be quick, painful, and I will have a smile on my face throughout the experience. I know that sounds dark of me, but I really can’t stand this girl). Embryo finally shows himself and takes Ange to Aura where she shoots him (damn girl, you didn’t even blink or hesitate when you shot him. You’ve come a long way) but we see that he’s immortal (well duh he’s basically the god of this world). Embryo tells Ange that he’s the Tuner of the world (again you’re basically god) and he wants Ange to join him in creating an ideal world where there’s no war or violence (but unneeded discrimination still exists). Ange says no so Embryo uses his powers to try and brainwash her (okay, I’m convinced. Embryo is the embodiment of every adolescent anime fan if they became a god. He has a harem of girls, can brainwash anyone he wants, revive people, overpowered, and can’t die. Tell me you wouldn’t do the things this guy has done if you were in his shoes?). At first it seems that Embryo has her but as soon as he kisses her she remembers Tusk and snaps out of it (they don’t call him Tusk for nothing ladies). Rather than be mad or shocked by Ange resisting his powers Embryo is instead happy and excited about this. At the end of the episode we return to Jill sleeping and we see that she and Embryo were a couple in the past (I knew it! I knew you and Embryo had some relationship with each other).
We start episode 20 by seeing that Tusk and Vivian are now prisoners on board the submarine. Back at the palace, Embryo tells Ange that his plan is to merge the two worlds (and like videogames have taught us once the two worlds merge one of the races will be wiped out entirely. In this case the dragon people. Sorry furries that how it goes) creating a whole new world where there will be no violence and Embryo can create the perfect civilization (so you wanted to save the world but now you wanna destroy it. Finicky aren’t we Embryo?). Embryo plans to use Aura to accomplish this and he wants Ange to rule the world with him as his wife shocking Salia who overhears their conversation (haha kicked to the curb like yesterday’s newspaper again. It really does suck to be Salia). Ange of course refuses so Embryo turns her body into one big g-spot and giver her pleasure throughout her body (dear Lord you really are the embodiment of every male viewer watching this show aren’t you?). Back on the submarine, Hilda realizes that she’s in love with Ange (yeah I kinda figured that out) and wants to save her. So she and her ex-girlfriend #1 break out Tusk and Vivian and stop Jill who apparently was going to leave the base and face Embryo herself (you just wanted to sleep with him again). Jill finally confesses that the reason Libertus failed last time was all due to her because she became Embryo’s toy giving her soul to him and in return he gave her pleasure both physically and mentally (I don’t know who disgusts me more. The manwhore known as Embryo who is giving Makoto from School Days a run for his money as worst male character ever or Jill for being a backstabbing whore who sold her friends out just to have her garden watered). Jill is relieved of captain duties (this should have been done 2 episodes ago) and Hilda gets put in charge of Libertus. Back at the palace, Momoka frees Mama (now go find the girl in the wheelchair and kill her) and Salia frees Ange because she doesn’t want Ange taking anything else away from her (Salia I hate to break it to you but you have nothing Ange wants). Ange thanks her by knocking her out with a rear naked choke hold and stealing her clothes (classic Ange). She meets back up with Momoka, gets her ring as well as her Gundam back and they take off hoping to escape with the brainwashed bitches closing in on them. However, she gets saved with the arrival of Salamandinay.
Things really start to heat up in episode 21. Tusk, Hilda, and the others attack the palace in the hopes of rescuing Ange and Momoka (you’re a few mintues late, Salia beat you to the punch). They arrive to help Salamandinay and her troops fighting Embryo’s forces allowing Ange to escape. Hilda and the others stay to fight their old lesbian friend while Tusk searches for Ange who has escaped on foot with Momoka after the Villkiss got hit. As Ange and Momoka escape into the city (where the citizens have taken it rather well that their ruler is dead. You think hearing about their king dying would scare a few people as well as cause panic in the streets. I guess when you have a god living in the palace all your fears just seem small now). Embryo begins controlling all the people with mana and send them on a manhunt to catch Ange turning them into mindless zombies (Ange of the Dead). Ange and Momoka escape to a rooftop where Embryo is waiting for them but Tusk comes to save them and fight Embryo himself (you do know he’s immortal? He’s pretty much Alucard minus the badass aura and character). Despite Tusk killing the guy he few times, Embryo gets back up and goes after Ange this time controlling Momoka and using her to try and kill Tusk. Luckily Ange’s voice reaches Momoka and she’s able to break Embryo’s control over her and fight back. Unfortunately, this leads to the death of Momoka who gets hit by a car and thrown off a cliff with said car where it just randomly explodes for no reason whatsoever. Tusk gets Ange out of there while he stays behind to fight Embryo where the anime ends on a questionable note with an explosion going off where Tusk and Embryo are fighting (scene here: https://youtu.be/rvUz-JtQLRM, did Michael Bay become the executive producer of this anime? It really would make too much sense). Also, on a side note in this episodem Ersha’s kindergarten students all died in the attack.
Episodes 22-25
Episode 22 starts off with Salia receiving a good spanking from Embryo (hang on I need a minute *begins bursting out in laughter*. *Takes a deep breath* Continue). Salia vows to bring Ange back to make Embryo happy but in truth she plans to kill her and prove to Embryo that she’s stronger than her (wow, you are seriously becoming my least favorite character in the anime. At first it was Ange but she’s turned herself around and has become like second or third best character in the show. That’s pretty impressive). Ersha tries to get Embryo to revive the kindergarteners again but he says no because according to him they won’t be needed in the new world. The new world will consist of him and nothing but beautiful intelligent woman for him to fraternize with and sleep with (you fucker! You really are the embodiment of an adolescent anime watcher). With this, Ersha’s eyes are finally open and she sees exactly who Embryo is (finally! Welcome back to reality, we’ve been expecting you). She surrenders herself to Hilda and the others (no! shoot her. Shoot her now please) who have formed a partnership with Salamandinay to take down Embryo and find Ange. Speaking of Ange, she lands on the island where she first met Tusk and mourns the loss of her maid and somewhat boyfriend (the sad part is he never got a chance to tap that ass). She tries to kill herself (oh you pansy) but she finds that she can’t do it. As she’s sitting on the beach feeling sad for herself out of nowhere Tusk appears (GHOST! GHOST) still alive and everything (I find this so suspicious. Either Embryo bought him back or Ange has finally snapped on us). Of course Ange doesn’t believe he’s real (I don’t blame her) so she has sex with him to confirm it (alright Tusk! I don’t know if he’s real or not but still way to go man). After the beach sex Ange is convinced that Tusk is still alive and he’s not the only one still alive, Momoka is as well thanks to a frying pan (wow. How much hate mail did Sunrise receive after episode 21? This is almost like Mass Effect 3 where everyone complained about the original ending, so the developers had to go back and redo it). Momoka reveals that she can no longer use mana and they check the sky to see that Embryo has started his world fusion plan (and the funny thing is as soon as mana disappears the whole world falls into chaos in just one second. One second without mana is all it took for this world to fall apart. These people are pathetic). Ange calls for Villkiss and it materializes right in front of her (when could she do that?) and they fly off to meet with the others and end Embryo’s plans.
In episode 23 Ange, Tusk, and Momoka reunite with others and prepare to attack Embryo and free Aura. Before going to war Jill tells Ange that the key to killing Embryo is to find his real body which is in some enclosed dimension between dimensions (well that doesn’t sound hard at all). Libertus finally begins where everybody fights. It’s pretty much straight fighting throughout the episode with Ange finally setting her selfish bitch of sister straight and giving her the courage (or fear if you will) to walk again (Seras: Personally, I would have shot or beat her up a little it but then again I’m old school and hold no emotional connection to her like Ange). Even Jill joins the fight and takes on Salia.
In episode 24 everybody fights. Tusk takes on Embryo where he reveals that he and Ange did the horizontal bop pissing Embryo off (Tusk just basically told the God of this anime that I banged you’re crush. He is officially badass). Jill takes on Salia trying to convince her that Embryo is just using her, Hilda and Rosalie take on Chris, and Salamandinay reaches Aura along with Ange where Salamandinay begins to sing her song to charge up her cannon while Ange covers her. While that’s going on Embryo uses all of his harem of girls as bait to lure the DRAGONS while he goes to stop Salamandinay. The girls start to die with Chris going crazy because she’s been abandoned once again but Hilda and Rosalie come in to save her with Rosalie confessing that she loves Chris and the three lesbian friends make up (that’s all good ladies except the world is coming to an end). Salamandinay finishes charging up her cannon (man that took a long time) and frees Aura with it however it doesn’t stop the space distortion which is still continuing to fuse the two worlds together. Jill comes in and tries to take down Embryo but instead gets wounded herself (you’re not the hero Jill we’ve been through this). The episode ends with Embryo capturing Ange and teleporting somewhere with her naked (I know what he plans to do).
At the start of final episode Jill dies (should I be sad by this or happy that she got what she deserved? At this point I have no idea who to do like or hate). This opens Salia’s eyes and she switches sides (again). As the two worlds begin to collide with each other Aura tells them where to find Embryo (the real one). Back with Ange, we see that she’s been transported to a place between time and space where time stands still (the checkout lane at Walmart?). It was here that Embryo originally created the Gundams to explore these new worlds he came across in his research but in an accident, he got transported to the place between time and space where he has created worlds and destroyed worlds (yeah we get it he’s playing God). After enough chitchat Embryo decides he’s going to rape Ange and make her his (why he never did this in the first place is beyond me, he had so many opportunities to do it that it’s not even funny). Following Aura’s advice about how the Gundams respond to strong human emotions Tusk along with Hilda, Salia, and Salamandinay use the Villkiss to pinpoint Ange where they find her and save her from getting raped in the nick of time (this is what you get for foreplaying Embryo). A fight breaks out between everyone as Ange destroys Embryo’s Gundam which carries his soul for some reason and Tusk kills Embryo’s body by slicing it in two (fatality). This in turns stops the space distortion and returns Ange and the others to the true Earth (yeah because Earth is full of dragons and lizard women). They decide to leave the other world behind and have them work out their own problems where we see that Ange’s sister is leading her own group of rebels to establish order in this world (oh fuck you! No seriously. Fuck you! This girl deserves to suffer and I wanna see it). The group gets to work rebuilding true Earth and Ange and Tusk open that café they said they were gonna build. Fin.
Final Thoughts
So that was Cross Ange. The first half just like Embryo said has a boring plot but still isn’t all that bad. The second half of the anime is where things pick up and start to get interesting. The stuff with the two Earths, Embryo, and the fight to decide the fate of these worlds is interesting and saved the anime from being a complete waste of time. Ange’s character development through the anime was good, she went from being this spoiled brat who cared about no one and one of the most despised characters in the series to one of the best and most badass characters in the series. Tusk was probably my favorite character in the series. He has some funny moments with god-like falling, some badass moments of saving people, and was actually one of the few people who actually got Ange and saw her for who she really was, a girl who was scared and didn’t know who to trust or talk to anymore. Outside of these two characters the rest of characters really don’t leave much impact and you’ll find yourself either liking or hating them. While the second half gets interesting the anime can be lazy with its ideas as they rip-off a lot of stuff from previous Sunrise animes and I’m still mad about the whole discrimination presented in this anime as it made no sense. If the roles were reverse and the normas were trying to kill the people who could use mana than I would understand, but the people who use mana have nothing to fear from the normas. The whole discrimination part just made no sense.
The animation isn’t all that good, some of the drawings and characters look weird at times and the designs of the Gundams are generic and could have been better. The music was enjoyable, and while the action may not be all that great I did like the brutality of it. Was this an innovative anime? No, but it is an enjoyable mess that’s so bad it’s good in its own way.
Final Score
The final score for Cross Ange is 5/10. If you want to see the best of Sunrise, check out Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Gintama, and a few of the old Mobile Suit Gundam animes. If you want to see Sunrise at their wackiest and have no idea what they’re doing, check this anime out. This anime isn’t for everyone but if you’re looking to pass the time than this anime is for you. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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