2014
11.30

Cross Ange Episode 09 – The Episode without a Snarky Jibe for an Article Title [The Juude]

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The One-Handed Norma Detention Toss - When comically small glass boxes just won’t do.

Cross Ange is a show that is either run by sadistic misogynists or the maddest set of geniuses. This episode is a tense affair, because it is already established how hated Norma are on the mainland. All that needs to be done is to show how awful the aftermath is, once the steel-toed shoes drop on the baby Norma surreptitiously placed in its descent path. Mark my words, it is quite awful, and yet somehow establishes a thematic consistency, reconnecting us with that outrageous pilot that won our hearts a couple months ago.

It goes without saying that Ange and Hilda’s reunion with their families would not exactly be the best situation. However, the way Norma are thought of, is much worse than what was previously known. It isn’t enough they’re pried from their families against their will; apparently the families are conditioned to completely blame those traumatic events on their former kith and kin. It is not enough to have their Norma children taken, they have to channel that rage against them, and ascribe all their heartache on a person with a condition she did not choose to have. Thus it makes even the most genteel and benign of individuals, like Ange’s younger sister, foam at the mouth with zealous hatred. Then it gets worse when there is a realization that the show tried to make sure you kinda began to care for Ange and Hilda, or at least tolerate their presence and hope things suck less for them.

Then you see Cross Ange sitting nearby, waving its finger, and tsking you for having that kind of idealism.

I guess if you want to eliminate doubt, curiosity, and sympathy for a subclass, what better way to guarantee that than by drilling inhuman animosity towards their Norma brethren then saying life would be all hunky-dory had they not existed. It eliminates in them a need for rebellion, and makes them docile and desperate towards blocking out the event in any and all ways possible, even if it means birthing a replacement Mana child, with the same name as your Norma one (ADVICE ANGE GAVE IN THE FIRST EPISODE! Like poetry or something.). The episode just does an effective job in highlighting this dimension of the World of Mana, and is an acceptable pay off for all that time isolated on Arzenal. It would not have had the same effect if the show cut back to the mainland from time to time to see douchewagons like Julio douchewagoning their way through life.

Either way, the sooner we get to the day of Libertus the better.

Rondo of Notes:

  • Last time I said “Curious what other weird-ass thoughts and customs are in store for us next.” With regards to the human treatment of Norma. I should be careful what I wish for.
  • Yay, Not-Kira’s back and he’s going to save the day (I think)!
  • Hopefully Julio dies a humiliating death. Maybe he can do a Yuuna from SEED Destiny and get some Paramail or DRAGON to land on top of him. Or at least get his smug face punched in by Ange.

Previous Cross Ange Analsis:

 

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