Cross Ange - review

The first anime series I`ve finished from the `winter season`, Cross Ange is something with a bit of a special twist.

In that it focusses on mecha`s, dragons and... lesbian love triangles!

Okay, that definitly is an odd mix.  Heck, even the first two was already something different.  In a world where all humans can use magic, and the few non-able, all female ones are send in isolation, a secret is harboured.

These girls, called `Norma`, are the only line of defence against a war with Dragons.

The series is lighthearted, full of humour as fallen princess Angelise, revealed to be a Norma on her 16th birthday, has to find her way between the other girls and women of Arzenal and what her new life is all about. 

And it has a LOT of fan service (which, in case of Rosalie, I don`t mind hehe).

And then everything changes as mysterious para-mail mechas like the titular suit, the Vilkiss, appear, and Ange is thrown into an alternate earth.  Here she learns the truth about multiple realities and how it is all manipulated by someone called Embryo.

The series, while retaining it`s scantily clad leads, turns to a darker tale from here onwards, as the Norma and the Dragon people have to bind together to defeat the evil manipulations of Embryo and try to free Aura, the ancient Dragon mother and source of mana in the world.

It`s not a bad series per se, and the premises of Mecha vs Dragon was pretty cool, I actually enjoyed the first part of the series, with it`s humour, girly squabbling and such more then when in later stages it tried to be more serious.

It won`t be remembered as a genre classic, it`ll be scorned for it`s many, many fan service moments... and it is just plain entertainment, 25 episodes of not to serious, average story anime, good for a sit back and relax...