That is probably the very thing that Sister Kate prays for every night. Rosette Christopher is nothing if not tenacious as she responds to calls to exorcise devils in 1920’s New York. (Yes, an anime set in the U.S., I know right?) Even more appalling to the head nun of the Magdalene Order is that the destruction-prone girl is in the company of her demon companion Chrono. The poor woman has her hands full just running damage control and fighting with Father Remington about Rosette’s brash nature.
Be that as it may, Rosette is a rebel with a cause. She and Chrono work endlessly toward one goal—finding her missing brother Joshua, who was taken by the devil Aion as one of the thirteen Apostles. Aion is gathering Apostles to fight God with his own power to deviate from the Biblical plan for the ending of the world and, instead, wishes to erase the world/universe and recreate it as he sees fit. The Magdalene Order is also working to prevent this from happening and to stop the influx of devils breaching the gap Heaven and Hell, under the carefully tactical guidance of Father Remington and Sister Kate—who are way more informed of the situation and Aion’s plans than you’d think they would be. As the fights get tougher, Rosette is forced more and more to call on her contract with Chrono to undo the seal on his powers, which has the subsequent effect of shortening her foreseen natural lifespan. He refuses to let her use it for more than a few minutes at a time, but, as she once admitted to Azmaria, she probably won’t even live to see thirty as a result.
Chrono Crusade is a well-crafted mix of gag comedy, action and drama. Rosette’s temper and her interaction with her friends never ceases to be amusing, and the action scenes are so exciting that you really forget that, at its core, the show is a drama unfolding. Here you have an epic battle of good versus evil, and then a third-party evil swoops in to throw a wrench into the plans of both sides for his own selfish reasons. It’s really touching to see the relationship that Rosette and Chrono have, as well, since they’ve known each other since Rosette and her brother were kids. So, it has that almost sibling bond that strengthens into, perhaps, something more later on in such a way that it really doesn’t feel as contrived as similar stories have done in the past.
The animation is pretty slick, too, with excellent character and setting designs. There are moments where some CG animation is thrown in for added effect, but it’s not detrimental and doesn’t really take away from the animation overall. The Japanese voice cause is fabulous, but Funimation has garnered a fairly good English dub that sticks pretty closely to the translation. It may sound weird to our modern ears to hear Chrono saying “Gee, Rosette,” but that’s just because such words as “gee golly” have fallen into archaic disuse. It’s actually quaint that Funimation would script the dub to reflect it. And the music! It totally holds with the moods of the show, and the more upbeat tunes are reflective of the swinging late 1920’s.
If the action, comedy, drama and production awesomeness isn’t enough to hook you, then perhaps its distinct flavoring of steampunk themes will. Chrono Crusade is, apparently, an anime series that has something for everyone. It’s like a lighter version of what you get from watching Fullmetal Alchemist, only without a lot of the political intrigue. It really is a must-have for any die-hard anime collection, but I should strongly caution that there are some very apparent religious themes (both good and evil) and lots of blood, so conscientious parents might not want kids younger than mid-teens to watch this.