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EP. REVIEW: CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon

First the elephant in the room, the supposedly objectionable scene. I don't care anymore, the show will throw in sexual assault all it wants and this one was better framed with more distant shots and shots of the face.

As for my personal review of it, I can't like it but my hate has subsided into just plain discontent with it. Compared to Aldnoah, it wrapped itself up a lot better and the latter half of the series had some good world building and character momments, stupid and otherwise. I can't however give this show anything higher than a C due to its more stupid and tropey parts with the faceplants, overly gratuitous lesbianism (before you comment that this is what I should have expected, you can do sexual scenes without being overly gratuitous and more subtle) and the fact that Ange is extremely unlikeable in a way that is less compelling and more aggravating.

Add to it the questionable framing of certain sexual assault scenes and this show putters out into an ending that doesn't fully redeem itself

The scene where they explained how Tusk survived his attempted suicide-bombing was quite impressive... if there was such a scene
They left that question up in the air.

whether or not the creative staff was just making a classic villain in Embryo or whether they had ulterior motives in the way his actions were styled. This has to be at least considered because in some respects Embryo could be looked at as the ugly side of an idealized otaku.

Izanagi009 wrote:

First the elephant in the room, the supposedly objectionable scene. I don't care anymore, the show will throw in sexual assault all it wants and this one was better framed with more distant shots and shots of the face.

Honestly, I don't think there's an elephant in the room. The situation is pretty clear to me. In the previous episode, Embryo learned that his trophy "wife" has given herself to what he considers a lower form of man. Thus he, with his alpha male personality needs to reaffirm his dominance over her. The scene falls perfectly in line with who he is and as mentioned in the review can be expected to have eventually happen.

Izanagi009 wrote:

As for my personal review of it, I can't like it but my hate has subsided into just plain discontent with it. Compared to Aldnoah, it wrapped itself up a lot better and the latter half of the series had some good world building and character momments, stupid and otherwise. I can't however give this show anything higher than a C due to its more stupid and tropey parts with the faceplants, overly gratuitous lesbianism (before you comment that this is what I should have expected, you can do sexual scenes without being overly gratuitous and more subtle) and the fact that Ange is extremely unlikeable in a way that is less compelling and more aggravating.

Yes you can do sexual scenes that are more subtle, but that would not have worked for this series. This series is all about being in your face, up front and not holding back in terms of content, and I respect it for that. I was impressed that they were able to be so up front and clear with all the bad that happened to people (mainly Ange of course). Not everything should be subtle. I'm not saying there nothing wrong in you preferring subtlety, but being able to recognize when one method is more effective to convey the message is important. Especially when your lead is a character like Ange. She's not refined, she's not subtle, she's completely in your face when she wants to be. The content fits the character.

Also, I do not think that a lead character needs to be likable from the start. That kind of thinking feel very limiting to me. They showed you who she would be right at the start to let you know that she will change. This show is her journey. I realized that this was the start of her journey and kept an open mind. I have enjoyed watching her (all the key characters actually) grow and change. In Macross Frontier, Sheryl and Ranka go through major character arcs and changes. Alto on the other hand, his personal journey is much less significant. This is because he was a pretty mature and whole person from the start of the show. Yes he had his own issues, but the focus of Frontier is about Sheryl and Ranka maturing so in the end you feel more for their change and growth than we do for Alto. Most people here are feeling strong feelings of happiness for Ange now at the end due to this drastic change we have viewed. So I would argue the opposite, that Ange being so abrasive that even the viewing audience would get irritated was a good move on their part.

Izanagi009 wrote:

Add to it the questionable framing of certain sexual assault scenes and this show putters out into an ending that doesn't fully redeem itself

Honestly, it feels like you don't want this to be good, even if it has done something well. That you are unable to objectively analyze this without your personal misgivings coming into play. I base that thought because you say this ending "puttered out" when earlier you acknowledge it as being better than Aldnoah's ending.

spoiler[Ange's realization of the reason for Norma's existing brings the show full circle. Ange realization of the importance of choice in life and also in love is a reinforcement of the importance of consent, even if it wasn't said directly. ]That moment was major, for all the times characters have been used sexually in the show, her enforcing the importance of spoiler[women having the power of choice and not being ashamed of fighting back against those that would take away that choice from them] is the walk away life lesson I see here.

I mentioned this in the other Cross Ange thread: All in all, I was very happy with how the series closed up, it's no where near a trainwreck, in fact the train arrived at it's destination intact.

We really seem to be of the same mind on this series, HaruhiToy (and a lot of other series lately, it seems). I hadn't considered the angle you describe but find it a better fit for what the series was doing than the "representing otaku" angle.

For this theory to apply, we really could have used an episode of him just sitting with Ange as he is reviewing his past attempts and how he felt. A bit on the nose but it fits for the show and would help me with HaruhiToy's interpretation

2. Where in the story would you put such introspection? I have commonly seen people requesting such things about one series or another, but I often don't think that they take enough into account the natural flow of storytelling. Series that try to shoehorn such reflection in often get bogged down by it.

Izanagi009 wrote:

For this theory to apply, we really could have used an episode of him just sitting with Ange as he is reviewing his past attempts and how he felt. A bit on the nose but it fits for the show and would help me with HaruhiToy's interpretation

I see two problems with that, though:

1. Embryo is well beyond the point of being reflective. Unlike the two you mention, he's been doing what he's doing for centuries. He thinks he knows what has gone wrong in the past and clearly had a God complex. Between that and his attitude about things, him doing so would have been out of character.

2. Where in the story would you put such introspection? I have commonly seen people requesting such things about one series or another, but I often don't think that they take enough into account the natural flow of storytelling. Series that try to shoehorn such reflection in often get bogged down by it.

Actually, looking back both points make a lot of sense. Gundam could probably get away with it because it's mainly a drama of different people as a war wages on and the run time gives it the ability. Here, Embryo is more designed to be a more clear cut evil than Char Aznable and to make him turn heel and start inwardly looking is odd.

Izanagi009 wrote:

Actually, looking back both points make a lot of sense. Gundam could probably get away with it because it's mainly a drama of different people as a war wages on and the run time gives it the ability. Here, Embryo is more designed to be a more clear cut evil than Char Aznable and to make him turn heel and start inwardly looking is odd.

Char Aznable is not the epitome of what a well developed antagonist is.

In 0079 he's basically on a revenge quest.
He doesn't care in the least about the spacenoid independance movement. And by the end of the series he's made Amuro his life enemy because of Lalah's death.

In Zeta, flip-flop, we have Char on the good side and he's able to work with Amuro. All that rage where did it go ? His desire for zeon independence ? Who knows.

In Char's Counterattack another flip-flop. Now he's on the bad side, he hates humanity and Amuro again. And wants nothing more than to carry a genocide on a massive scale.

No, Char Aznable is not a well designed villain at all. Embryo for all his creepiness is a much more consistent villain. He doesn't flip-flop like Char does.

Just wondering what happened to Misty Rosenblum.