Once upon a time, there was a princess. She lived happily with her family of five: her father the king, her mother the queen, her brother the prince, and her little sister, disabled but ever so cheerful. Their kingdom was a happy place, with the whole world being devoid of war, poverty or pollution. Not only did they have developed technology, but they also had magic. All people in their kingdom could perform basic telekinesis with the use of Light of Mana. All, with the exception of rare exceptions called Norma - anti-magical beings with the capability of breaking forcefields created by Light of Mana. Norma were deemed abomination and sacriledge, and the princess was rightously against them, even suggesting that detaing them might not be harsh enough.Then everything went to shit.As it turned out, the princess was a Norma herself all along. Every task that required the use of magic so far has been performed by her loyal maid for her. She didn't see anything odd about it, as after all she was a princess and certain tasks were beneath her. The princess was sent where all the Normas went - to a faraway island prison set up as humanity's line of defense against extradimensional invaders.cue dragons!and mechas!and lesbian prison rape!...then things get even more insane than that.Genre: Action, Mecha, Sci-FiType: Original show, 25 episodesSimilar to: Symphogear, Gundam SEED, Kill la Kill, Code Geass, ValvraveMAL score: 7.49/10 (link)Why would I want to watch this, anyway?Because it's fun. The unobstructed, crazy type of fun that breaks all possible inhibtors in your conscience, silencing all the little voices saying "You can't like this. This is stupid". It's a show that nobody will call "good", because it doesn't even try to be good. It's ridiculosly, insultingly bad, and it knows you know it.But my God it is entertaining. There's dragons, guns, magic, mechas, Nana Mizuki singing, hot-blooded action, all sorts of fun. Not to mention the wonder when you realize not even the writers see any sense in it and might have been making this shit up on the go as far as plot is concerned (with few insert episodes, it's Jun Maeda levels of "And now, let's add some..."). And even though at first it's the Valvrave type of entertainment "Let's see if it can get any more crazy", with time it actually develops a plot. Nonsensical, but a consequential and engaging plot nonetheless. At first it was deemed another silly fun on par with simultaneously airing Twintails, but over the course of its two-cour airtime, it became something far more than that.What you're truly watching it for, though, is...Isn't this just a steaming pile of lowly fanservice?At first glance, yes it is. It lures in the otaku crowd with yuri lesbian sex scenes, absurdly cleaved plugsuits, all sorts of lewd takes that focus on different parts of female body, and to some people this will be absolutely inexcusable. The outrage the first episode alone made in the online media was kinda understandable.However, if you can sit through it, or if you're actually enjoy that sort of thing... it changes. A lot. In my opinion thats actually the main takeaway from this series. Ange is one of the strongest, most BASED female protagonists in the history of anime, and would make top 10 of most lists. And what's the best about it is that unlike the other famous female leads she doesn't start that way. She's a spoiled delusional princess, and it takes her the whole show to grow from there. Think Yona of the Dawn, on industrial amounts of crack. The end result is a determined, confident protagonist who takes no shit from anyone and makes the whole world play by her rules. Ange is a woman everyone - audience included - comes to respect.Then there's the issue of the antagonist. Stories are often dragged down by lame, one-dimensional villains, but this one takes the cake. Just like the whole show, the villain is so laughably poorly written that... you take a second look, and discover a simple yet powerful message behind the character. The villain is basically This kinda furthers my point of the show starting out seemingly misogynistic, but turning completely against that premise.Other stuffArt and animation is okay, nothing to write to home about though. The 3D mechs do their thing and don't disturb the general style; they're even color-coded for watching convenience. Even though there's some irks and reused cuts, the action is made well enough to turn a blind eye on the errors. Usually there is too much going on the screen to pay attenton to the details.Music is well-done, and few pieces are even good enough to be listened to on its own. It is practically a given when Nana Mizuki (Symphogear) is in the cast. Definitely a noticeable part of the fun you'll be having with the show, with the high point being the first OP and the epic duo El Ragna - that one is made of two frequently recurring songs and honestly never gets old, especially considering the circumstances it's used at. The Vilkiss theme is pretty sweet as well.What's also worth noticing are the secondary characters. The show manages a broad cast, most of it belonging to the group of mecha pilots, and they're, if not well-written, then at least engaging to observe. The character dynamics are a strong part of the series, and it's not just their interactions with MC - they have their own issues going for them on the side, which makes this flaming trainwreck that more picturesque. You'll most likely come to really like many of them, they're quite memorable, even if simplistic.SummaryWant to watch a show so insultingly ridiculous, the voice actors themselves will make fun of it after credits? Watch Cross Ange. It's a trainwreck that never stops rolling, and eventually you realize it now functions as a monorail.TL;DR: Orange is the New Black meets Mean Girls with mechas, dragons, and endlessly expanding list of other absurd stuff http://ift.tt/1NE7VJL
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