Customer Reviews

Chrono Crusade, Vol. 1

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really can't praise this wonderful series enough. The first volume serves as an introduction for a much darker, highly emotional series, yet is still excellent, full of action and lots of funny moments. The characters are very well written, three dimensional and each one with a very complicated past that gets revealed little by little in the following volumes. In this series nothing is what it seems, but you have to read it for yourself to fully appreciate it. I'm sure everyone is going to fall in love with the characters, most specially Rosette, a strong-willed, optimistic, cheerful person who never gives up, despite her tragic past and uncertain future; and Chrono, a kind and loyal person who supports Rosette in every way possible, keeping all his troubles and his dark past for himself. The story is also excellent, full of twists and very addictive. The artwork is also great. I highly recomend this series, I consider it as one of the best mangas I've read.

If you, by any chance, have seen the anime "Chrno Crusade", simply forget about it and read this manga instead, is at least a thousand times better in every way imaginable (no absurd plot holes or filler episodes), and also has a different, more fluid storyline. Can't go wrong with it!

This is definitely the best series I've ever read! There is never a dull moment. It is funny but has moments filled with intense emotion as well as an original plot.
Set in the 1920's in New York, the story revolves a nun - Sister Rosette Christopher, allied with a demon named Chrono. They are the exorcists of the order of Magdalan, fighting against the demonic spirits. Chrono's powers are sealed inside a pocket watch, which Rosette wears. However every time he draws on his powers, Rosette's lifetime becomes shorter. They make strange team, a gun wielding nun and a demon...The personalities of the main characters makes it hard for the reader not to like them. It is a series filled with humor but at same time darkness buried beneath.
Although the anime is available, it is still worthwhile to read the manga. The art is simply beautiful, opening with a few colored pages. Chrono Crusade is a masterpiece, full of action and suspense. Out of the many manga I've read, this is definitely the best.

I love this series, its just too good to be true. The fact that Christianity, is taken with a light heart, doesn't make it the usual, too dark to make a joke. You don't normally see a Catholic based uniform that shows legs, and priests who joke about staring at teenage nuns. Rosette, is one hot nun.

Well anyway, after reading up to volume 4 and seeing the first episode, I was blown away. I never thought I'd see an anime have so much research done on American history, albeit having a little creative license, that you could care less about. The fact that the author centers the theme around Rosette and Chrono's relationship is very, how you say, cute. There's no slapstick loser male character in Chrono. Chrono's older, but his 13 year old appearance makes it funny to see Rosette ordering him around like a little brother. The other main theme that the author himself claims, is "living on borrowed time" much like Kikyo from Inuyasha. It's not if you're going to die, but when, and the anxiety of that day.

Rosette searches for her brother, Joshua, who's become a demon who also looks for her. Rosette she does it despite literally killing herself by shaving of years of life to power up Chrono in times of need. Chrono, a demon who massacred other demons, is on her side, feeling responsible, as his horns (source of power) may as well rest on Joshua's head.

This series knows how to keep the plot moving, whether through character development, action, or background information. The fact that you can make a series based on the 1920s before the Great Depression, cute nuns, witches, demon summoning, tommy guns, and Church militias, promises something most anime don't, a very accurate (feeling) of a foreign culture, with the exception of Christanity. The only stereotype on Americans played in, is Rosette's gung-ho attitude, which you can also say, comes from her youth. Just think about how, Hollywood portrays the Japanese, and compare how well this was done. This series, whether, manga or anime, will keep you coming for more.

I bought this manga because my friend told me it was awesome and adorable, and I HAD to read it. To make her strop nagging, I bought it.

I'm glad I did! Being a Catholic, it was intersting to see a manga done off the influence of Catholism(sp?) And not too many mangas are set in America's roaring 20's, so it was a breath of fresh air to see these things in a manga. The manga-ka really knows his history! ^_^

Anyway, this manga is really worth buying ( or even reading if you are broke) and you won't regret it once you by it!

By the way, i really love the realationship between Rosette and Chrono. It's so adorable!!!! ^_^

Note: This review is for Vol. 1-8 and not just Vol. 1.

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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 the anime before getting into the manga...

Chrono Crusade comes across as rather silly at first: A nun/exorcist working for the Magdalan Order called Rosette Christopher and her demonic partner called Chrono go on trips around America killing demons. In between these character introduction missions is lots of comedy; some of it as a result of perverted jokes and the majority coming from the dialogue between the main two characters...or rather, coming from Rosette's short tempered personality and poor Chrono getting hit. Thankfully, the story becomes much more interesting and deep after those initial chapters - it isn't long before you're shown the tragic events that occurred in the past that resulted in Rosette agreeing to a contract with Chrono where she would give him the power to use his demonic abilities at the cost of her own life (Rosette wears a clock around her neck that ticks away when Chrono uses his powers from that point onwards). Without spoiling too much, all I can really say is that the reason behind Rosette joining the Magdalan Order and fighting together with Chrono is her brother, who went missing prior to the start of the story.

Forgetting about Rosette's brother, the heart of the story is about Chrono and his past as a sinner of Pandemonium (In the Chrono Crusade universe, Pandemonium is the equivalent of what we consider to be hell in our world). Chrono once betrayed his own kind by fighting for Aion (the leader of the sinners) in order to be free from the chains of Pandemonium. However, after the friendship the two shared soured due to a certain person, the two became enemies who walked different paths, leading to the start of the Chrono Crusade story.

What makes the story of Chrono Crusade special is the main theme of the story, which is how people can use what little time they have to the fullest. Rosette is fighting the clock throughout the story as her contract with Chrono causes her to lose a little of her life each time Chrono transforms into his adult/demonic form (he disguises himself as a youngish boy in order not not use his powers and hide his identity) and uses his abilities. Chrono, being the soft-hearted demon that he is, always tries his hardest not to use any of his demonic power, fighting like a human and simply supplying Rosette with ammunition for her guns at times. As Rosette selflessly throws away years of her life in order to save her brother and Chrono tries his hardest not to use his powers in order to keep Rosette alive, you can almost feel the unbreakable bond the two share just by reading the pages; they're the best of friends and yet by fighting together Chrono can't help but drain the life of the person he cares about the most - it's both touching and tragic.

It's very rare in any fictional story for a relationship between two characters to reach out and touch the heart of its reader/viewer, but that's exactly what Chrono and Rosette's relationship did in my case. What kept me interesting in the series wasn't the fact it has nuns with guns (and fairly large buns); it was the relationship of the two main characters. Most of the dialogue came across as natural as the two bonded over the course of the story. They argued and they cried but it was always clear that the two had strong feelings for each other, even if they didn't always express their feelings in words.

Just before shutting up about the story, let me add one complaint about the story that made me give it 8/10 instead of 9/10. I felt that too much story was crammed into the final chapters and not enough was spread over the other volumes. When I was reading the last 2 volumes I couldn't get rid of the thought that an easy to follow story had suddenly become far more difficult to follow due to the author not pacing it brilliantly. Some of the plot elements, one near the end in particular, lost me and it probably could've been avoided if more time had been spent explaining certain parts of the story.

Now that the most important bits are out of the way I can focus on the less important bits, starting with manga and anime differences. Apart from a death scene in volume 7, the anime diverges completely from the manga towards the end of volume 6. But even before the plot diverged completely, there was lots of filler added. For example, Aion appears much earlier (in the flesh) in the anime then he does in the manga, his anime appearance occurring during a zombie outbreak filler story...with him somehow ending up with his tongue down Rosette's throat. Aion also has another filler episode later where it's shown that he uses a human woman (who happens to be madly in lust with him) to kill humans in order for him to use their souls as energy...with Aion somehow ending up nearly raping Satella. Just going on those two examples, it should be clear that both the anime and manga are very different and show the characters in different lights...with Gonzo seemingly wanting to turn Aion into a sex pest.

Before my back refuses to allow me to bend over my keyboard typing, the last thing I want to touch upon is the ending of the manga. Surprisingly, both the anime and manga endings are very similar: Both end in the same sort of way (I can't elaborate without spoiling) and both stories fast forward to the future in the epilogue. If I was to choose between the endings, the winner would be the anime ending because...well, it ended the story in a depressing yet peaceful way. And, although I'm sure it was just threw in to make the story appear far deeper than it really is, I also liked the surprise at the very end of the final episode.

Overall, I loved the story to bits and would recommend it to anyone. If you're looking for a very well done story about someone shortening their own life to achieve their dream, this is for you.

Rating: 9/10

I'm now going to try to rest my poor back. Here's hoping the review helps someone!

It's a great serie! I saw the anime, that was really great, and the manga didn't dissapoint me!

The time and place is America in 1924, a period in which the U.S. was just beginning to expand its influence in the world as the old powers began to set themselves up for an even greater war which would see their empires fall. In this period before we entered the Great Depression, there were darker forces in the background: namely demons and the Satanist pawns that served them. That's where the Magdalan Order comes in, an organization of priests and nuns who are trained in combatting and exorcising evil spirits and stopping the plots of the humans who ally with them. Rosette Christopher is one of the best among the Order, except that when she fights demons she tends to not only destroy the demon but also a couple of city blocks around the battle too! She's bumbling and tempermental, but she is committed and brave and she also has a back-up: Chrono. Chrono is a demon whose power is confined in the guise of a young human boy (except for the pointed ears and red eyes), who serves as Rosette's helper and sidekick. And when they get into something that can't be stopped with Rosette's holy bullets, Chrono can use some of her lifeforce to regain his full powers for a short time. The drawback is that each moment he spends in his true form shaves off moments of Rosette's lifespan!

Chrono Crusade is a little hard to take at first seeing as how the lead heroine is a fussy and child-like nun. If you're sensitive about religious matters, this is probably not the series for you. But it is well done with a lot of humor, action and a tinge of tragedy that the Japanese do so well. The fact that Rosette's life is going to be cut short grounds the manga with a little more gravity than most examples of this genre. Chrono Crusade is also available in anime form, but I prefer the manga, because it is grittier and in the anime the demons look very unthreatening and especially the action sequences are poorly done. The designs of the characters and the story work much better in this form.

Spoilers for Vol. One abound!

I didn't know what to expect when I started reading Chrono Crusade. It was a shot in a dark, albeit a rather good one.

Chrono Crusade takes place in New York City during the year 1924. Got your attention there, right? It's a very unique setting for a manga. On diving into the series, I already had The Great Gatsby playing in the back of my head, complete with jazz music, Model Fords, flashing lights, etc. I was also drawn by how the artist decided to base the story on the Magdalan Order, a fictitious Catholic group that specializes on exorcising demons and spirits. It's not often that you see your own religion like this- to be honest, I really love the FBI/CIA spin on the Church. 'Makes everything a bit more interesting, to say the least.

The story centers on Sister Rosette Christopher, an impulsive and brash sixteen-year-old. She has a flair for using guns (hence the 'nuns with guns' stigma attached to the manga) and would be considered pretty trigger happy. She works for the Order, exterminating demons with her young partner, Chrono. Now Chrono adds much to an already complex story- he's a demon. The major plot twist is that Chrono uses Rosette's soul to live. When the going gets tough, Rosette releases a seal (which is in the form of a pocketwatch)that enables Chrono to go from a harmless-looking child to a full-grown demon. In his true form, he simply kicks butt.

I would recommend Chrono Crusade. Really, it's not something you'll find any other day. The relationship dynamic between Chrono and Rosette is especially heart-warming; you already have a sense of how close they are without unnecessary fluff. Despite the comedic tone the manga takes on, you get an underlying sense of trepidation when Rosette releases the seal. Her life is being drained away, and ironically so by her best friend. I sense some angst coming along... but I hope for the best. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Also, it seems as if this series is becoming increasingly hard to get. I'm having trouble finding all the volumes...

I know most people when opening this series will think "religion...yuck" but chrono is a fabulous story about love and the hardships people a.k.a. Rosette Go through because of it. Read it, Watch it, Love it! Trust me i've seen the whole thing!

Took a little longer than I expected for the delivery, but it came and it was in perfect condition.