Animania

Volume Summary: Deep within Pandaemonium, Chrono fends off hordes of demons while Rosette tries desperately to bring Joshua to his senses. Agents from Militia show up to join the fray - but the real fight begins when Chrono faces off against Aion in a final, climactic battle.

Review: The final volume of the eight volume Chrono Crusade manga (and yes, it has been sitting here way too long waiting to be reviewed). As you would hope and expect, this volume picks up right where seven left off, with Chrono trying to hold back the horde of demons while Rosette goes after Joshua. This volume is an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end, as one might expect considering the series starts with Rosette who has practically sold her soul to a demon to save her brother's life. There are some awesome scenes between Rosette and Joshua, and Rosette and Chrono. One thing I particularly like is that Azmaria is a much stronger and more useful character than she was in the anime. The manga is also less ambiguous about Rosette and Chrono's feelings, which is a bonus.

Chrono Crusade is one of the few series which has done an awesome job with both the anime and manga, while taking the stories in to very different directions. The anime branched away from the manga a few volumes back, and the conclusions of these two versions are very different. I would said that in a way, the manga's ending is even more powerful than the anime's. The ending is just amazing, especially the "after word" sections. I can't say too much without spoiling it, though, but suffice to say, it was beyond my expectations and while it still sends me into tears, it was a "happier" ending than the anime. Of the two, I prefer definitely prefer this ending to the anime's.

As for the entire series, what's to say? It rocks! The art is great and the story is amazing. The translation is well done and for once ADV finished a manga series they started (be nice if they finished more since they do a great job when they do put stuff out). All the volumes had 1-3 color pages at the start, as well. This is a series worthy of spending money on, and I'm glad I did. Just make sure that you keep some tissue near by!

Rating: A+

Overall Series Rating: A

(other available reviews from this series: Volume 7; Anime Conclusion [Volumes 6 & 7])