The Misurugi Empire is an utopia where everybody's wishes are fulfilled through the miraculous technology called Mana. Yet the peaceful lives of Misurugi's citizens are threatened by the Norma, girls who are born without the capability of using Mana. On the sixteenth birthday of Misurugi's first princess, Angelise, it is discovered that she is a Norma. Suddenly bereft of her family, home, wealth, and dignitiy, Angelise finds herself fighting in a world she does not understand.
'Cross Ange' is a action-packed anime, where the main characters battle their enemies in flying mechas. One of its unique characteristics is the almost entirely female cast, including the protagonist Ange (Angelise).
Like other shows of the genre, Cross Ange features a well-developed and fairly complex story, though it at no point gets as complicated as Neon Genesis Evangelion. Still, there certainly are quite a few unforeseen twists and turns that are executed extremely well. Indeed, the two halves of the show could almost belong to different genres. The only low point of the story that really sprung out at me was when one of the characters "died", then returned unharmed, and avoided giving any explanation despite beign asked about it several times. I guess the writers couldn't think of anything...
The characters of Cross Ange are very well done. The highlight is certainly Ange, who develops from a dainty and (self-) righteous princess into a ruthless and even brutish warrior. That she does so over the span of basically a single episode (the fourth one) is less impressive, especially considering that her character is fairly stagnant afterwards. The support cast is thoroughly fleshed out as well, with many characters undergoing their own development, though not always through comprehensible motives. Nevertheless, I'd say that the characters are overall one of the series' strongest selling points.
What is less great is Cross Ange's approach to fanservice. It is an unfortunate staple of the genre that female characters are objectified to an absurd degree. Cross Ange turns this up to eleven; the genre-typical skintight bodysuits have been shrunk to cover only the essentials, because who doesn't like piloting fightercraft from an exposed saddle with lots of bare skin? I don't think I've seen a show where so many women got their clothes torn off, and there really is a lot of nudity. Oddly enough, instead of the "fortuitous cencoring" that many animes use to hide what needs to remain hidden, Cross Ange decided that everyone is as smooth as Barbie dolls (except for that one dude in the opening credits, who for some reason has a huge dong that looks badly drawn on?).
Also, I found the first four episodes difficult to sit through. I know that good character development is done by making the character suffer, but this felt a bit like the writers were fetishising the absolute misery of debasing a princess. There are also multiple lesbian relationships in the show, and all of them are portrayed in a less than healthy way (as are the hetero relationships, actually).
From a technical standpoint, the art and animation are solid, although I've seen better. The soundtrack is extremely good, though it's a bit weird how the singing got incorporated into the plot.
All in all, Cross Ange is surprisingly unknown for the quality it delivers. I have rarely watched a show that kept me on the edge of my seat like this, and I was genuinely impressed by the story and characters. I'm guessing that the nudity was a bit much even for the usual Japanese audience.
