review provided by Katie and Andrew
Title: Cross Ange-Rondo of Angels and Dragons: Collection 1 on Blu-ray
Director: Yoshiharu Ashino
Studio: Sunrise
Author: Tatsuto Higuchi
U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23
U.S. Release Date: June 21, 2016
Format and Length: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Mecha, Sci-Fi
Industry Age Rating: 17 and up
Overall Personal Rating: B
Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Queen’s Blade: Rebellion, Freezing, Akame ga Kill!
Synopsis:
Betrayed by her brother, stripped of her birthright, and declared an abomination is just the beginning of the nightmare for the girl once known as Princess Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi since she does not have to ability to use magic, which makes Ange less than human in the eyes of the human law. Now she has been exiled to certain death as a slave soldier in a war against dragon invaders! However, the people and land that cast her out have made a lethal error as Ange is no longer an innocent Princess being led to rape and slaughter. She has learned the hidden truth about the world she thought she had known. She has discovered that she is willing to kill in order to survive and they have given her the training and weapons in order to do so. Will Ange survive? Will she get her revenge against her brother and her people? You will have to watch Cross Ange-Rondo of Angels and Dragons: Collection 1 on Blu-ray and find out.
Commentary:
Cross Ange-Rondo of Angels and Dragons: Collection 1 on Blu-ray is an interesting mix of genres to say the least. It is basically a sci-fi and mecha series that has a lot of promise to be something amazing with a ton of fan-service and yuri scenes added in that take away from that promise. The plot is interesting because God remade the planet to have no war or anything bad and people gained the ability to use Mana, or magic. However, there are some people who are not able to use Mana and they are called Norma. Norma’s are not considered human in the society where Mana is used to control everything around them thus making life easier. Norma’s are hunted down and taken away from society quiet violently and placed on a prison island called Arsenal. That is where they learn how to hunt dragons.
The character development in Cross Ange-Rondo of Angels and Dragons: Collection 1 on Blu-ray is well done. Most of the characters do not get too much development but two of the main ones are Hilda and Ange. Ange really grows as a character from the spoiled princess to the killing machine she becomes. She has to learn how to deal with her new situation in life and she really takes to it. Hilda is another story all together. She matured from Ange’s bully to one of her friends. She finally learns how to work with the other girls instead of just bedding them. That is when she actually becomes an interesting character instead of just a background one.
The animation was alright; nothing spectacular but it did not look horrible. There was a large number of well known Japanese voice actors in this series and they did a wonderful job as always. The opening and closing songs were enjoyable and the animations were cute. The fighting scenes were short and looked rushed. I wish they had made them look better because the fighting scenes were fun to watch.
Extras:
Cross Ange-Rondo of Angels and Dragons: Collection 1 on Blu-ray includes a special interview by Momoka, commercials, clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with English and Japanese with English subtitles as language options.
Overall Grade: B
Cross Ange-Rondo of Angels and Dragons: Collection 1 on Blu-ray really drew me into the storyline and I would recommend it as long as you can look past the yuri scenes and large amount of fan-service. I cannot wait for the second collection to be released.
