10.26
As I anticipated episode 04 of Cross Ange, the thought crossed my mind on whether it would end up like Gundam SEED Destiny, where a series of strung-up, intense, events would subside into boring falderal. I was honestly expecting it here, since this was a lull episode where we learned more about the characters, Ange would soften up, and everybody is happy and moves on with life. Then I was blindsided by a picture of this scene.
I can hear the sounds of a million voices muffled by their pillows screaming in deep, triggered, agony.
Oh boy, another scene of violation where our protagonist is demeaned and dehumanized! The nerve! The rancor! Then when I watched the episode I surmised based on the reactions (and the bondage) that it was probably one of those particular situations where somebody has to share bodily warmth with a person freezing to death, and Ange’s an animated sleeper tossing and turning (hence the tie-up). Hey it’s just like that one time in Berserk where Guts had to warm Casca’s body! Except you know, Berserk was good and this is Cross Ange.
So what about the rest of the episode? Eh. Although Ange has that ‘wanting to live’ thing down she’s still a loner and a rebel, Dottie. The show is making her much more stubborn than I thought they would. Despite really turning the tables and not becoming some waifish victim of harassment from those bitter at her for inadvertently killing their Alpha Waifu, she is quick to deny even the friendship of a couple of the Paramail pilots. I dunno if this type of Ange will be wanted in later episodes, but I guess the earlier the better? We’re done with her denying her fate and wishing she was dead, so probably after the myopic and selfish kill to live type; we’ll eventually get that noble leader type.
The episode is ‘saved’ (if you can call it that) by the way it establishes the rest of the Paramail cast. Most of the first half is dedicated to the aforementioned Alpha Waifu clique and their attempts to humiliate Ange in the worst possible way while wantonly uttering the words ‘slut’ and ‘whore’. If you’re already well into the series, I don’t need to say much about how awkward a tone it all is after the past few episodes. I found myself inadvertently laughing at how stupid the events were. I guess it is a natural reaction for them to have outside of murder, but… seriously. Would it have been more effective if these events were more serious in tone? I doubt it; it would have been boring. I’ll just leave this part as something that on paper seems legit but is baffling in execution.
What’s more fascinating is the other half of the Paramail cast: The… normal ones so to speak. By that I mean the weirdo with the perpetual lollipop, the Bridget Hoffman/Kikuko Inoue motherly-type, and the studious bookworm. The first two surprisingly take to Ange pretty well, and while they explained why they think she is redeemed (unsure of the third one), I am actually legit curious why they are like that. You don’t get labeled an inhuman monster and then develop into somewhat of a pleasant human being. Alpha Waifu and her ilk seem to be the ultimate end goal of such a Norma’s development. Why are those three different? It must take a lot to NOT eventually become a sexually-crazed lesbian sexpot–
…
…Oh my god why am I analyzing this show? Gotta stop this, see you next week on Fukuda’s THIRD island episode involving potentially star-crossed lovers. (Technically in SEED Destiny, it was at a seaside cliff on the mainland, but… same principles).
Rondo of Notes:
· Speaking of Fukuda, it struck me (multiple times, on the head). Cross Ange is essentially the coded cry from Fukuda to remind Bandai/Sunrise that he once made them shitloads of money and now he wants a second chance. One wayward shot reveals a number of SEED memorabilia, and a preview image has Ange holding a combat knife the same way Athrun did some time ago. I tweeted a somewhat silly prediction a while back that Fukuda’s only doing Cross Ange in the hopes he could finally make the SEED movie. However if there are more homages and references Cross Ange makes to it? I might actually be prescient.
· Truly, when I try to imagine Cross Ange with more… noble underpinnings it comes off as kinda goddamn boring in its somberness. We already have enough of that shit with Terra Formars and Attack on Titan, why have more of that noise?
· I’ve made my second comparison between Berserk and Cross Ange. Something is wrong.
Previous Cross Ange Analsis:
· 10/17/2014 – Episode 03
· 10/12/2014 – Episode 02
· 10/10/2014 – Episode 01 (as part of Part 1 of the Fall Clusterfuck)