I wrote this (as a joke) when I was on 500mg of caffeine during a study session break. Oh yeah, it spoils the whole thing but that doesn't really matter with this show. This is for those who are rewatching and want a deeper understanding of this masterpiece.
Fan service in Cross Ange is integral part of the plot. (for those who don’t know, fan service means naked girls, and the plot of the show is that Princess Ange is sent to prison because she can’t use magic and is viewed as hated by God) Yes, there is a graphic rape scene in the first
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episode. Yes, there is prison lesbianism. Yes, there is a beach episode where the characters have to use their breasts to transport eggs (which break) to win credits for food. Yes, there is a sports episode between the rival main characters where they bet the fate of the world on who is better at golf, tennis and baseball. Yes, the main male character repeatedly trips over and ends up with his mouth on Angie's crotch. Yes, there is a flying submarine. Yes, the villain, who is literally God, spanks his lieutenants for disobedience. Yes, the dragons use the main male character's semen (Tusk) to breed more dragons. Yes, God makes Angie strip naked and uses his powers to make her orgasm involuntarily. Nevertheless, if you can get past all of that, you will see that Cross Ange is a scathing critique of the Old Testament and Trinitarianism on the level of "Thus spoke Zarathustra", "Candide, Ou L'Optimisme" and "Le Myth de Sisyphe".
The anime can be divided into two parts, the first concerns the inherent corruption of man, no matter his situation in life. In the futuristic paradise, religious beliefs and non-conformity are used to justify barbarism, while in the hellish prison, the inmates who have internalized these beliefs, torment each other because of hunger, loneliness and their constant fear of death. What you think of as "fan service" is intended to emphasize Angie's loss of status. The rape scene is the culmination of her fall from grace and expulsion from Eden. Her skimpy outfit is symbolic of the spiritual death that she has experienced. While in prison, Angie and her "co-workers" who are tasked with killing dragons for as of yet unexplained reasons, do not get along, to put it lightly. Angie's refusal to accept her loss of privilege results in the death of a 12-year old loli. She and the other inmates experience rejection, grief, jealousy, unrequited love, vindictiveness and ultimately vindication. Over time, Angie comes to accept her new station in life, and literally "creates her own Garden" (see, Candide). She convinces the other inmates to stop hunting dragons. This troubles the humans of the world, as their leaders understand that the dragons' life force is necessary to allow their paradise to function. They decide to destroy the false paradise the "normies" have created to ensure their own will survive. God is forced to intervene to prevent the collapse of the world.
At this point, the anime becomes concerned with the inherent corruption of God and the question of the necessity of Christ. The paradise He creates (and has created many times before), is always flawed. In this iteration, Angie, a "normie" who cannot use "magic", is seen as an error in His creation by its inhabitants. Despite being "omnipotent", every paradise He creates cannot escape the existence of a hell. Generally, the Christian God is thought to have three properties that make him different than man. Omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence. God cannot be omnipotent if every world he creates is flawed, he cannot be omniscient if he has to use experimentation to create a perfect world and he cannot be omnibenevolent if he is willing to create worlds in which suffering and Hell exist ("Is this the best of all worlds?" (see, Candide, Voltaire and Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, Leibnitz). Cross Ange answers the problem of the existence of evil by placing it squarely on God's shoulders. Angie, aware of the impending invasion, initially refuses to accept her fate and escapes to another Eden populated by a lone man, Tusk. She lives there for a while but remains clothed and ashamed of her sexuality (cf. Genesis 1:25). Ultimately, understanding the necessity of her sacrifice (see, The Last Temptation of Christ, Kazantakis, 1955), she accepts her role and returns to the mainland to be executed. Here she faces the hatred of the mob, including her former friends who throw mud at her (cf. Matthew 27: 29-31) and she is scourged (John, 19:1). Unlike Christ however, Angie decides not to sacrifice herself for the sake of such a corrupt world and escapes by means of a divine song. While this may sound strange, music and song have been considered magical by humanity as long as religion has existed (see The Cultural Functions of Music, David, Hans, U. Penn Press). The robot suits used to fight the dragons can only reach their full potential when specific songs are sung. Even God must sing to either create or destroy the world, indicating that either music predates Him or is co-eternal with him (cf. John 1: 1-2).
At the height of her Nihilism, Ange contemplates suicide and the meaning of her existence. She is only stopped when Tusk appears, and she becomes aware of the depths of her love for him and her fellow inmates. She accepts that there is no intrinsic meaning in the universe but by embracing those close to her she can create her own meaning in the world, however absurd it may be. Unlike Adam and Eve who are cast out of the Garden into the wilderness. Ange and Tusk go willingly and defiantly.
During the climax, God overpowers Ange and attempts to rape her, but is prevented when she begins to sing a song which the entire world can hear. Her allies are able to locate her and come to her aid. During the final swordfight God is handily defeating Tusk, until he reveals that Ange is no longer a virgin. God, shocked that he has been cucked lets his guard down (see, Galatians 5:20) and is killed by a magic sword (cf. The Spear of Destiny).
After killing God, the heroes find their own meaning in life and open a coffee shop in the land of the dragons and the remaining humans struggle to exist in their former paradise.
The true brilliance of Cross Ange is finally revealed when you realize that it has a trilinear plot. First, there is the narrative, which is entertaining enough as it is, who doesn't love lesbians piloting giant robots fighting dragons. Second, as explained earlier, is its allegorical message derived from a pastiche of biblical and literary references that only the Japanese could come up with. And lastly by combining those references with tits and polyamory, it transcends being an allegorical commentary on the relationship between God and man and the eternal search for meaning and offers a contemporary critique of the current state of the anime industry, mocking those who praise NGE and FMA as brilliant works of art just because they contain inscrutable references whiles also lamenting that modern anime requires fan service, without which no merchandise could be sold.
Take note that this anime was produced by Sunrise which made Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass and Gundam. This is not an amateur work, they know exactly what they are doing. Cross Ange is the combination of their rage against modern fan service and their contempt for byzantine plotlines.
I hope this changes your opinion of Cross Ange and that you see that fan service can be used to elevate anime into true existential art on par with Crime and Punishment, L'étranger or even the greatest book of all time, the God Delusion.
(As an aside, even fan service such as the spanking of Salia by God and the ever present lesbianism are references to Proverbs 13:24 (He that spareth the rod hateth his son) and Ezekiel 16:22,58, Ezekiel 22:11, Ezekiel 33:26 (illicit sex is an abomination), but in the interest of concision and brevity I will leave a further exploration of this work for another time. )
Feb 20, 2020
I wrote this (as a joke) when I was on 500mg of caffeine during a study session break. Oh yeah, it spoils the whole thing but that doesn't really matter with this show. This is for those who are rewatching and want a deeper understanding of this masterpiece.
Fan service in Cross Ange is integral part of the plot. (for those who don’t know, fan service means naked girls, and the plot of the show is that Princess Ange is sent to prison because she can’t use magic and is viewed as hated by God) Yes, there is a graphic rape scene in the first ... |
