Cross Ange

Since some started mentioning it on It's a Gundam Thread, I figured to start this one up to prevent going off-topic. Sound good?

Okay then, first order of business: Prison Rape scene. Discuss.

Not entirely sure what to think about this anime. The fanservice isn't overbearing, which makes it really weird and a bit incongruous when it is actually being shoved in your face, so a little bit of good and bad there. The action was nice and I liked the way they executed the whole "fall from grace" thing, but then there's the Fridge Logic of the setting (such as why there are still divided nations if mankind has achieved lasting unity and peace without poverty or war), as well as the aforementioned anal rape scene, which was not only poorly-handled but utterly gratuitous, leaving it with no lasting impact and seemingly thrown in for no reason to have a scene which to be honest utterly failed to be titillating (if that indeed was its objective, which raises other questions as to how this anime is going to move forward).

If the Prison Rape had been given more dramatic weight and gravitas, perhaps it would have been effective from a narrative standpoint, but it falls flat and instead of being the cherry on top of a Trauma Conga Line just ends up feeling underwhelming and unnecessary compared to what Ange has already gone through, as well as crass (although admittedly I was underwhelmed by the supposed "controversy" after the big deal everyone's been making it out of it, considering the scene was so poorly executed to begin with).

edited 5th Oct '14 11:46:37 AM by KSPAM

This show is completely insane. That's all I have to say for now.

Hello everyone, been reading tvtropes a lot and decided to make a handle and this is my first time adding something to a discussion.

Could it be that rape is actually to force sterilize Ange ? I mean since they are treated as sub-human so they probably don't want them spreading. Since most Noma are probably found when they are like kids they will probably be sterilize properly while Ange is already 16 so the warden/commander decided to do it right there. Just a wild guess.

My bad. Using the wrong word, i think sterilize is the word i should be using ( English isn't my first langauge so tend to use wrong grammer and words )

edited 5th Oct '14 1:14:17 PM by kaungsijohn

Isn't Ange a girl?

Well, this is off to a flying start.

Also, I fail to see the connection between Scream Discretion Shot and Prison Rape.

edited 5th Oct '14 1:20:19 PM by Deadbeatloser22

This was dumber than I thought it would be. At least the first few minutes were nice. Anyway, world building was okay and breaking Ange down was alright in theory, if way over the top and gratuitous to get people talking about the show. I'm mostly bugged by shooting the queen. Like, I know the brother is supposed to be launching a coup, but you'd think there would be some consequence for killing the queen. Nope. It's just brushed aside.

I feel like I've just watched one of the worst bits of Victory Gundam flashing me, while it's wearing a suit made of the flayed skin of Gundam SEED.

It is not a good feeling.

... Jill Thats not how a full cavity search works!, I know what its framed as... but if you're just gonna go that route anyway, why hide it under the guise of a Physical.

Just make it clear Jill is about to have her way with Ange, with Strap on discretion shot

I mean go all the way with the depravity don't hold back!

Though if Jill is in charge of the island it explains the uniforms, she wants easy access.

Sigh yet another Big brother villain with incest subtext... Do we really need another? In a Mecha show? Is this just a trend now?

Brilliant there Detective kluzt you just shot the Queen... and yet nobody really reacts that the Queen has been shot... I suppose like Ange's horrid view on that the woman should just get over losing her child... You are not suppose to like the society thats been built on Mana. Stupid Elves you get what you deserve!

Ten bucks that an Anti-Mana WMD will be created and most of the populace will be reduced to Normas before this is over.

Open cockpits that a pressed down into a suit is just asking for a limb removal

edited 5th Oct '14 3:10:58 PM by FrozenWolf2

Let's see how to place this. I don't generally like mecha shows, since those tend to distract from the actual characters (nicely averted in Suisei no Gargantia, for instance).

I do like the setting, or at least what's presented about it. Some kind of sci-fi/fantasy mix.

The fanservice is tacky, bad, but not too severe. Most of the time. I wouldn't qualify that last scene myself, since it at least gave the impression of a complete breakdown, but it was still rather badly done.

Ange seems like a decent main character. The only thing I can really complain about is that she's going to cut her hair, going by the OP.

Also, the plot twist was way too obvious. And there was that little comment to justify an all-female cast. Sort of.

All in all, not something for me. Might watch if I'm bored, but probably not.

edited 5th Oct '14 3:30:27 PM by AnotherDuck

Oh boy. This is going to be bad. If they go straight raping the heroine in the first episode, that's a clear sing that they are trying way too hard to be dark and gritty. This has Grimmderp written all over it.

Pass.

Honestly, the rape scene was among the few things I didn't have a problem with in the episode. When she's been stripped of her rights as a human being and tossed into a cruel world, rape imagery is entirely called for

No, most of my issues are with the ludicrous melodrama and plot implausibilities. Almost nothing happened that stands up to even mild scrutiny

...I feel like I should watch the second episode to see if things get better with the main setting introduced, but I'm not sure I want to

Generally speaking, Yeah the fact Ange gets the same horrid treatment as the people she had deemed inferior is a nice twist since in most stories, the character who is now one of 'them' gets cut alot more breaks and slack. Hence the twist, it looks like Jill is gonna do that and then does it herself.

I do agree, The Coup makes no sense in that everybody just follows the Prince's lead like a bunch of lemmings, You'd think such a revelation would be this massive cluster**** or this is the most successful coup ever where Everybody outside of the Royal family is okay with betraying the current monarchs.

And I was only joking when I called "No, Ange, you are the Norma" midway into the episode.

The show seems to be shaping up to be like Soukou no Strain, except the MC's fall from grace in that one wasn't as extreme and she wasn't made to be as unlikeable. The "rape" scene at the end of first episode did make me cringe, though. I...honestly, this episode threw the curve ball so hard it almost came off as a parody of the riches to rags to riches again story.

And dragons. Really, Sunrise? Really? Dragons? You're going to waste those awesome mech designs on dragons?

You can really tell that they're trying real hard with this series, though. Pretty girl cast? Check. A-class voice actors and actresses? Check. Mizuki Nana singing the opening? Check check and double check. I'll be kinda mad if Sunrise is blowing their budget on this series and that's why the new Gundam series looks like crap.

And it looks like we're going to be treated for a few episodes where she gets treated to suffering, aren't we? I'll still follow (or endure, really) this series, but it seems like it's going to be one long gritty slog... Tell me when they're done with the episodes of suffering and actually get on with story (and hopefully it'll be about a civil war and rebellion than about dragons).

Dragons are cooler than mechas.

Interdimesional Alien Dragons

edited 5th Oct '14 6:54:27 PM by FrozenWolf2

Seemed more like a cross fic between Dragonridersof Pern and, well, grimdark Galaxy Angel I guess (based on mech design)?

edited 5th Oct '14 7:04:34 PM by Chrono

A topic for Cross Ange, huh? Alright, then...

The Opening scene reminded everyone Gundam SEED, because Fukuda produced it. Also, who the hell is that naked guy in the Opening?!

It started out okay. Mana can use magic while Norma can't and must be taken away because Manas are a bunch of racist assholes. Then out main character, Ange said all Norma should exile. then everything went downfall went Ange revealed to be a Norma. She gets arrested, her mother gets shot for protect and all her friends betrayed her.

Moral of the story, everyone will like you if you had special power; if you don't had the special power, everyone will betray you. Of course, the downfall doesn't end here. She gets all her clothes stripped by the officers and did something suggestive with her... I'm not sure that word is the right word for that. But the problem is what is the point aside for Fanservice? That just show Mana are freaking racists! Beside, why the did she still had the clothes that she's wearing until it gets stripped instead of wearing prison clothes?! WHO the hell wrote this crap?!

That's how the episode ends. The episode rather slow and the worst part is the mecha didn't even show up in Episode 1! While Gundam Reconguista didn't had the main character pilot the Gundam in Episode 1, the mecha did show up in Episode 1! No, the beginning scene doesn't count.

In other words, I don't like it and I will give it 2 more episodes until I decide to drop it.

edited 5th Oct '14 7:41:59 PM by flamemario12

I feel the episode needed to be decompressed

Too much **** happens in the second of it that her father being usurped and her mother dying doesn't really get the impact it needed and makes the kingdom feel like a bunch of lemmings.

I mean I get they wanted to end the episode with Ange laying naked, tears in her eyes, The Fallen princess at rock bottom -with a very sore bottom, yes I'm horrible-

and it is an effective episode closer... Its just the trauma/Karma conga line happened way to fast.

I really hope they do not go the spayed angle on that scene like people are speculating. It will just kill everything and there is no way the series will ever pay off on it.

Even that never going to get any kind of payoff though as Not!Kira is just going to "Understanding" Ange and all will be forgotten.

edited 5th Oct '14 8:56:28 PM by Memers

I've decided to read this thread after seeing this popping up fairly often today.

-read-

Ah, you guys were talking about Prison Rape. Wonderful.

-moonwalks out of the thread-

Although I don't see any other reason for them to do the "physical" on her unless lez rape is part of a soldier's daily life (Oh god I hope this series doesn't go full yuri-tease with its almost exclusively female cast...).

The maid seems like a pleasant character though. I think I'll watch the show for the maid.

edited 5th Oct '14 9:11:20 PM by Chrono

There wasn't... that was Jill's way of saying hello, establishing she's the alpha female and wanting to break the haughty little princess.

Apparently this gets explained to Ange by the other girls.

edited 5th Oct '14 9:14:42 PM by FrozenWolf2

Source? That'd move this dangerously close to "worst thing ever" territory

Having a Depraved Lesbian commander isn't really anything new