Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo Ep 17 [ Internal Screaming ]

Every week when this show comes out I’m never prepared for the feels. I can know the general idea of what’s going to happen and still freak out, because the show has done a great job of reminding me that powerful things are in this series and I love almost every character. This week especially even 3 minutes in you’re like, holy crap, everything is about to hit the fan. And it does friends, this show is once again in ‘you don’t deserve nice things’ territory. Why? Well the episode begins with Salako telling Ange they’re going to invade Misurugi to free Aura.

As you can imagine, does this lead you to really believe they’re going to succeed? Can we really, under any circumstance, believe that Aura will be freed even in the next few episodes? We’ve got 8 after this left to go brother and I’m not buying that anything will happen soon- we have so much conflict left and we don’t even KNOW what’s been going on in the world of Arzenal. That being said, after some heartfelt shit they all decide to go into the world of Embryo and their target is Misurugi.

SHIT IS FUCKED UP. SHIT IS WRONG. EVERYTHING IS WRONG. NOTHING IS RIGHT. THE COORDINATES ARE OFF PEOPLE ARE DYING IT’S AN AMBUSH AND IT’S ALL EMBRYO OKAY, MASSIVE CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION AND DOWNPOOR OF SADNESS!!! Yeah this was a predictable way for the show to go but I think we could all see it coming that the outmatched and now riled up DRAGONs would make a mistake. Embryo poked them with a stick to get them into his trap and it worked.

But well, the real conflict of this episode is that now we know what people have been up to. Namely, we know what Ersha, Chris, and Salia have been up to. They’ve become knights for Embryo. While I figured all of Arzenal might be drawn in as warriors for Embryo I didn’t think that Salia of all people would be one of them, nor did I think they’d be powered up by what I’m assuming is ultra mana powers. Salia now has a ring which probably means she is capable of singing the True Star Song and activating her new mecha suits ability- calling it now, it’s obviously going to be able to fire the super special space time cannon.

So Salia, Ersha, and Chris are now antagonists for Ange. They’re even told by Embryo to capture Ange and bring her back, which almost succeeds, until Vivian and Tusk help free her from Salia’s . . . .she names. . . .she’s using shoujo style naming schemes for her attacks. Dammit Salia. See, I understand Ersha and Chris, the two of them were saved / had someone they loved saved by Embryo’s magic. I can’t hold it against them, though I don’t like Chris very much anyway so I kind of don’t feel any pity or compassion for her, but Salia? Is Salia really just in this because ‘she wasn’t strong enough’ and feels shitty about herself?

Think about it. Salia’s greatest point of contention has been Ange was more ‘special’ than she was, and now that she’s on her level she’s even mocking Ange. The problem is I love Salia but is she really that pathetic that she joins the bad guys in order to ‘be powerful enough’ to basically just. . .earn Alektra’s love? Her entire focus is on Alektra / Jill and I feel like she must have it in her head that ‘beating’ Ange will somehow allow for her to ‘feel’ good enough. But let’s just re-evalute, Alektra hates Embryo, and as soon as they meet up I can just see the conversation.

‘You don’t understand Embryo-sama blah blah he gave me the strength to fight DRAGONs blah blah I’ll make you see Alektra I was wrong to worship you blah blah’ and she and Alektra end up fighting or something and it ends in Salia being redeemed. If this is how Salia’s arc is going, I’m not saying she is irredeemable, but she’s pretty close. There’s a big difference between joining a crazy egomaniac because he literally brought you back to life or restored the life of people you loved more than yourself, but to join him for power is probably the stupidest shit I can think of. ESPECIALLY if she worships Alektra the way she does. Who knows, hopefully I’m way off base.

That being said, thankfully Ange can use the Villkiss to ‘fly’ and once again portal hop to another place. She has no real control of it and this time she ends up in Arzenal, where after hours in the dark eventually they’re found by a group of people. Who else, but Momoka, Hilda, and Rosalie. Gotta give Rosalie props, for all her bullshit she at least had the dignity not to follow Chris wherever she was told and stuck it out with the group who didn’t postulate killing what was left of Arzenal. Further props to Momoka for once again remaining loyal and devoted to Ange and to Hilda for going from the most unlikeable shit in this series to now one of the most refreshing faces.

Next week it seems we’re in for another info dump as we will be reunited with Jill / Alektra and the entire resistance. I have no idea what the show is going to do but I’m hoping for a Libertus / DRAGONs team up. I know there will be drama and angst but as always I’m beyond excited to see what is in store for Cross Ange. And will they ever make a better opening sequence? The world will never know. The ending at least got a tune up, so that’s fun.

Oki