Chrono Crusade
, known as Chrno Crusade in Japan, Singapore, Germany, France and Australia, is an eight volume manga series authored by the Japanese mangaka Daisuke Moriyama.
It was originally published by Kadokawa Shoten in Monthly Dragon Magazine which began serialization in November of 1998. A 24-episode anime television series based on the manga ran from 2003 to 2004 on Fuji TV. The animation work was done by GONZO Digimation. The series was released in North America by ADV Manga and ADV Films, titled Chrono Crusade. The anime is currently being aired in the United States on Showtime Beyond, Fridays at 9:00 P.M.
Set in the United States during the 1920s, Chrono Crusade follows the story of Rosette Christopher, and her devil partner Chrono. As members of the Magdalene Order, they travel around the country eliminating devil threats to society, while Rosette searches for her lost brother Joshua.
Plot
Chrono Crusade is set in the height of the Roaring Twenties, where jazz is king, bootleg liquor flows freely, and the mob rules the streets. It is a time of prosperity, luxury and decadence, and the division between rich and poor grows even wider in the wake of the First World War... but it is at such times of great change and upheaval that the dark things that lurk below the world of man can come to the surface. In the world of Chrono Crusade, a fictional organization known as the Order of Magdalene (or more specifically, the characters of Sister Rosette Christopher and her soul-bound devil partner, Chrono) exists to fight the demonic threats that appear with increasing regularity across America. Both Rosette and Chrono are revealed during the course of the story to be driven by a shadowy past, centered around a search for Rosette's lost brother, Joshua. Joshua is shown to have been taken from her by the sinner, Aion, a devil who shares a dark and bloody history with Chrono, and seeks nothing less than to overthrow Heaven and Earth.
The anime follows the manga through the first half, but it diverges halfway through, creating different courses of events and endings. The characterization of some the characters, including Rosette and Aion, and their roles in the story were changed in the adaptation of the manga. Much of the story is driven by the individual pasts of the main characters and the complex relationships between them.
Themes
In an interview with ADV Manga, Daisuke Moriyama expressed his own opinion about the differences and similarities of the anime and manga, with one of them being the theme of the story. Although the bond between Chrono and Rosette and the idea of time running out were the same, Moriyama felt that the anime and manga showed this theme in different ways. While the anime centered more on the currents of time, fate and trust, Moriyama believed that the manga focused more on the Rosette's individual ideology and how the potential strength of her will can change her current situation.[1]
Main characters
All of the characters of Chrono Crusade are fictional characters made up specifically for the story, despite the fact that their names are suggestive of Biblical characters. For example, the character Mary Magdalene isn't the Biblical character of the same name, but rather an orphaned psychic with ability to foresee the future, who is taken into protective custody by Church and given the name of Mary Magdalene. Several of the characters have been given names whose meaning is suggestive of their role in the story. The protagonist's surname "Christopher", for instance, means "Bearing Christ inside" and her brother's name, "Joshua", is an anglicization of the same Hebrew name as "Jesus".
The following list describes the major characters, and their role in the story, predominantly from the perspective of the anime rather than the manga version. Some of the more important differences between the two are given.
- Rosette Christopher: The protagonist of Chrono Crusade. Rosette is an elite exorcist of the Order of Magdalene and goes out on missions to destroy deadly spirits and devils. She works with a devil named Chrono (or "Chrno") with whom she made a contract when she was young, and wears a clock around her neck that contains her lifeforce. When she opens it, Chrono is able to increase his demonic power at the cost of shortening Rosette's lifespan. This is the result of the contract between her and Chrono. Rosette is aware that her life will be a short one and therefore tries to accomplish as much as she can in the time that she has. She herself believes that she will not live to see thirty. Her primary motivation is to save her brother Joshua, who has been captured by Aion. In the anime, it is later revealed that Rosette is in fact the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene, with whom Chrono had made his previous and first contract (if only lasting a moment before). When Rosette is awakened as the 8th virtue, the Saint, she comes under the influence of Aion who manipulates her basic desire to help the helpless. However Chrono brings her back from under Aion's control.
- Chrono: The titular character. Chrono is a devil who was once on the same side as Aion, preferring himself as his "sword", but after meeting Mary Magdalene and falling in love with her, he had slowly begun to become a sympathetic person and left the "evil" side. He is a skilled and powerful being, allowing him to become infamous for killing many of his fellow demons. In the manga, Chrono killed 100 demons during the Sinner's flight from Pandaemoniuim out of rage, when his fellow "sinners" killed by Pandaemonium's guard. In the anime, Chrono slew 100 million devils during the Revelation War. However, Aion took Chrono’s horns, leaving him powerless (the horns are the devils’ power source) and with only one alternative: to seek a Contractor, a person who is willing to sacrifice his or her lifespan in order to let the selected devil, in this case Chrono, reveal his true form and have full use of his powers. Chrono’s current Contractor is Rosette Christopher, a very close and precious friend whom he vowed to protect. Unlike most devils, Chrono is sympathetic, friendly, and not unwilling to risks his life for his friends numerous times.
- Joshua Christopher: The Apostle of Hope and Rosette's little brother. He and Rosette used to live together in an orphanage, and he was often sick. However, he found that he had strange powers and was able to heal other people's wounds and illnesses, but not his own. Using his power also greatly weakened him. Understandably somewhat bitter about this and wishing to become strong enough to not need to rely on his sister, he was easy prey for Aion's temptations. Aion gave him Chrono's horns, which had the unfortunate side-effect of amplifying the sound of the thoughts around Joshua, driving him to the brink of insanity. In order to silence the "noise" he perceived around him, he unwittingly used the horns to send everyone and everything in a large radius into a form of temporal stasis. He regained his senses long enough to warn Rosette and Chrono to get away before they too were frozen. All his pent-up feelings of helplessness and resentment turned him into a Devil. The horns drove Joshua insane, and he fell under Aion's control.
- Azmaria Hendric: The Apostle of Charity and Songstress of Vegas. Azmaria is a 12 year old girl with the gift of healing people through her voice. She has an amazing talent for singing, and when she sings with her heart, her powers are truly used, her angel wings appear, and all manner of injuries are healed. She is often hunted by Seekers and lately by Aion. She has had a troubled life, living in all kinds of orphanages; also she was part of a small group of musicians. She had a close relationship with them, but they were all murdered, leaving her feeling guilty and sad due to the belief that every person she meets will never be happy. When she meets Rosette and Chrono, she develops a strong friendship with them, and joins the Order Of Magdalene to help. She is a kind and innocent girl, willing to help in any situation.
- Aion: A Sinner and a devil. Aion is trying to collect all of the Apostles so he can tap into the Astral Line, thus fulfilling his dream to destroy Pandaemonium and bring on the rebirth of the world. Aion appears to have noble intentions, but his actions show he is really evil. Aion attempts to persuade people to stop believing in God, and to convince them that God is the source of all human problems and suffering. Chrono used to be on his side, and he still has many other followers. He is the one that the Order of Magdalene devote most of their energy to defeating. He often says he is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, also at the very end of the series, it is revealed that he will always return as long as hate exists in humans.
- Father Ewan Remington: The minister of the Magdalene Order. He also serves as a field agent and second in command to Sister Kate. Overall he is a very kind and caring person especially to Rosette and tends to be protective over her. The manga and anime offer particularly different interpretations of the character. In the manga, after being badly injured in a battle, he had 40% of his body transfused with demonic "legion". Although appearing to be a fairly young man, he is, in fact, over fifty, sustained by the legion, which threatens to consume more of his body if he is not replenished with Astral Energy. In contrast, the anime takes a more mysterious approach to the character. In episode 20 Sister Kate asks him how it is he managed to travel from New York to San Fransisco in such a short time. He answers "I'm not unlike an angel".
- Satella Harvenheit: A jewel summoner and bounty hunter who kills devils. She hates all devils because a hornless devil (whom, in the manga, she first thinks to be Chrono, but in both the anime and manga it is revealed to be Aion) destroyed her home, killed her parents, and took her sister when she was young. She came to America from Germany to search for her remaining family. Rosette and Satella don't exactly take a liking each other when they first met, especially since Rosette works with Chrono (a devil). In manga, even though they become allies, they are still at odds, some because of their personality, and some other because of Satella's fancy attitude toward Chrno (She was implied as shotacon in manga). Satella is fonder of Azmaria, as Azmaria reminds Satella of her younger self. As a jewel summoner, Satella has the ability to use magical jewels to summon various spiritual entities. Satella is also trying to track down the hornless devil that killed her family and has vowed to destroy it. In the anime, she finds her sister Fiore, who was killed and used as a doll by Aion. The two jewel summoners fight each other, ending with Satella and Fiore dying together. (In the manga, they got "frozen" by Satella's jewel, and finally got "unfrozen" in 1999, where Azmaria had died a month before she was "released".)
- Sister Kate Valentine: Head of the New York Branch of the Magdalene Order. She is a strong willed woman who often seems out of place fighting demons and devils. However, there is more to Sister Kate than the stereotypical mother superior character. Sister Kate is Rosette Christopher's boss and antagonist within the order of Magdalene. In the manga, the antagonism goes so far that she tries at least once to break Rosette's spine (in a humorous way) and Rosette once called her "ugly whore" out of instinct when her demand to search Joshua is disbanded. She leads the order and Rosette with an iron resolve, making sure the New York Branch Office runs as smooth as clockwork (tough Rosette is practically uncontrollable, a "human tornado", leaving damage that needs lots of paperwork and payments every time she has an assignment).
Japanese/English Voice Actors
Terminology
Many words used in Chrono Crusade sound like those used in Catholicism, but are used in nonstandard ways.
- Apostle: A person who is able to call upon the Astral Line and tap its power. There are seven Apostles, each from a different section of the world. The Apostles can fly using their wings, which appear on their back whenever they need them. They have supernatural powers which is both a blessing and a curse. Many greedy individuals target the Apostles to extort their powers.Though their powers seem a blessing, all the apostles are also cursed with bad luck (ex: Azmaria loses her parents during World War I and Joshua is constantly ill)
- Astral Line: A river of spiritual energy, invisible to the human eye, that is the source of life of every living being in the universe. The Astral Line is also the energy source for devils, and is channeled by their horns.
- Contract: A pact between a devil and a human. Since the Astral Line is also the source of life of human beings, a devil can take energy from the lifetime of a person wanting to use his powers and pay it back with services. In the anime, the Contractor must wear a heart-lock, which resembles a little brown cage with a glass circle in the center. When the heart-lock is opened, the power of the devil is released, and a clock appears on the glass circle, symbolizing the lifespan of the Contractor.
- Devil: Demon in the manga (Not to be mistaken with the fallen angels of the Bible who rebelled against God) Monsters who are mostly hostile towards humans. Devils, while appearing hostile, are not completely evil. They are not immortal and they can be either male or female. Devils have their own society, an oppressive community similar to a beehive, in which everyone has a rank according to their power level. High-ranking devils (such as Chrono and Aion) are similar to humans in intelligence and figure, except they never age and have extraordinary powers based on the energy of the Astral Line. All devils are born from one mother, Pandaemonium, the devil queen.
- Eden: The Sinner's headquarters, a large floating fortress hidden in the clouds.
- Exorcist: A member of the Magdalene Order who fights against devils and monsters.
- Militia: The highest rank of exorcist in the Magdalene Order. Members of the militia are granted many privileges including the right to go on solo investigations for long periods of time. Members of the militia include: Father Ewan Remington, Father Jack Gilliam, Sister Rosette Christopher (apprentice class), Feather, Storm, Leinbach, Leibler, Alc and Strauss.
- Legion: Legion can refer to one of two things:
- # The smallest, weakest, and lowest-ranking devils of Pandaemonium. Legion are unintelligent, hive-minded beings and have the ability to put themselves together to create different forms.
- # The devilic version of cells. Legion are what make up each and every devil. Unlike cells, legion can heal and regenerate very quickly by absorbing astral energy via the devil's horns or other sources. Although a devil is normally the master of his or her own legion, Pandaemonium normally regulates the legion so they do not grow out of control. Also, when Pandaemonium casts gaes, it effects the legion itself, making resistance extremely difficult. Legion directly injured by Pandaemonium die off and cannot regenerate.
- Gaes: A spell cast by a devil, a pure article of devilic power formed from energy from the Astral Line by their horns. High Ranking devils may sometimes have a unique power.
- Life Span: This refers to the amount of time the person will spend alive on Earth. Rosette signed a contract with Chrono so that he could use his powers even without the Astral Energy and Horns, at the cost of her lifespan. Every time she releases the seal on the Contract clock to allow Chrono to access his powers, her life is shortened by a comparable amount, causing this to be a measure of last resort.
- The Magdalene Order: A religious organization that specializes in battling all sorts of monsters and investigating mysterious supernatural cases. There are several branches in the United States, the most influential ones being in New York and Chicago. The Order also has the duty of protecting people blessed with special abilities (such as the Apostles) from evil people who desire to use their powers for their own ambitious purposes. Additionally, the Magdalene Order is a powerful, technologically advanced organization, and its members have to undergo very difficult military training and are dispatched on all kinds of dangerous missions.
- Minister: A male member of the Magdalene Order. Ministers are able to use all sorts of weapons, but seem to be experts in hand-to-hand combat.
- Pandaemonium: The devil queen, mother of all devils. Pandaemonium comes in two forms; the core of Pandaemonium which regulated the devil utopia and the excretionatory unit which "births" all the devils. Alternately, the devil society that is hidden deep under the sea and is named after said queen.
- The Prophecy of Fatima: Three prophecies imparted to shepherds by the Virgin Mary. The first was that the "Great War" would soon end (World War I). The second was that an even greater war would occur within twenty years. The third was kept secret by the Vatican until the year 2000, and prophesied the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II. Presumably, this is based on the Three Secrets of Fatima.
- Pursuer: A devil who is in charge of hunting down the Sinners. All devils loyal to Pandaemonium are potential Pursuers.
- Sinner: A devil who betrayed Pandaemonium, the devil society. They planned to escape Pandemonium, but they had to face an army to try to escape and many devils died, Sinners and Pursuers. There are only six Sinners left: Aion, Chrono, Genai, Rizelle, Shader and Viede. (Also known as Aion, Chrno, Jenai, Rizel, Sheda and Videl)
- Sister: A female member of the Magdalene Order. Nuns are able to use different kinds of weapons (mostly firearms) and other types of equipment (like cross-barriers).
- Soul: The lifetime of a person. Not to be mistaken with a person’s “spirit”.
Novel
A novel of Chrono Crusade, titled "Tsubasa yo, are ga tamashii no akari da" (翼よ、あれが魂) - "Wings, they are the light of the soul", was published on April 20, 2004. It was written by Tominaga Hiroshi and illustrated by Miyazawa Hiroshi.
Music
Opening Theme:
"Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line" performed by Minami Kuribayashi
Ending Theme:
"Sayonara Solitia" performed by Saeko Chiba Composed by Yuki Kajiura
Trivia
- It is not completely clear why the romanization of the title within Japan is Chrno Crusade. The common assumption is that the name was altered to not conflict with the popular game franchise Chrono Trigger or its sequel, Chrono Cross. Another explanation is provided in the November 4 2005 edition of Anime News Network's "Hey, Answerman!" column, where "Answerman" (Zac Bertschy) explains that it was a simple mistake.[2] Additionally, in a subsequent forum posting the owner of ANN, Christopher Macdonald, cites his first-hand account from Daisuke Moriyama at the Anime Boston 2005 anime convention that it was a mistake due to a production error.[3] Both explanations have credibility and reference issues due to the sources of the info, but both agree that "Chrono" was the intended spelling.
- ADV did extensive research in keeping the slang words within 1920s canon. One word, Bimbo, is explained to mean a tough man in 1920s slang, while the modern version refers to a stupid female.[4]
- The English voice actors for Rosette and Chrono (Hilary Haag and Greg Ayres) nearly lost their voices on numerous occasions due to the fast-paced voice work demanded by the anime.[5]
- Though Rosette totes variants of weapons that actually existed (such as the Mauser C96), a noted anachronism is that she carries a Thompson submachine gun in 1923- two years before it was first available in the form depicted.
- The original website www.chrno.com apparently disappeared two years after the show ended. It was never renewed.
- Many of the events in Chrono Crusade are based upon prophecies in the Book of Revelation
External links
(C)hrno Crusade
()槍修女
Citations
- [1] Moriyama, Daisuke, Chrono Crusade Volume 2, pp. 195, ADV Manga, 2004, No. ISBN 1-4139-0104-2.
- [2] http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/columns/answerman.php?id=220, Bertschy, Zac, Anime News Network – Hey, Answerman!, Anime News Network, 2005-11-04.
- [3] Anime News Network – Forums - Re: Hey, Answerman!, 2006-11-04.
- [4] Chrono Crusade DVD 1 A Plague of Demons Commentary Track ISBN 1-57813-850-7
- [5] Chrono Crusade DVD 1 A Plague of Demons Commentary Track ISBN 1-57813-850-7