As you can see, a lot happened in the second-to-last episode of Cross Ange, but not a whole lot was resolved; most glaringly the Embryo problem: dude just won’t die. Perhaps they’re leaving that for the last episode; though as Ange remarks in the preview, they could also hold that off until a special or movie…which would make me as cross as Ange usually is (if it’s to be believed the show’s title is a pun).
While the fate of Ange, Tusk, Salia, and Embryo remains up in the air for the finale, this episode focused on secondary characters, as many as it could, and tied up some loose ends we were hoping wouldn’t end in tragedy.
The Aurora takes a beating, but Jasmine, Vivi, Riza, Momoka, and Ersha (taking to the cockpit again) manage to keep it together long enough for DRAGON reinforcements to arrive (sent by their empress to back up the Norma).
Embryo also shows his Diamond Rose Knights exactly how little he really thinks of them by using them to bait the Dragons so he can go grab his “wife” Ange. Two of Chris and Salia’s comrades, whom I could never remember the names of, are killed off in quick succession.
In the episode’s best act, this latest betrayal basically breaks Chris, who just fires wildly at everyone wishing they’d all die. A nifty combo of Hilda’s tough love (“Give it a break, you emo bitch!” is particularly cutting, but apt) and a desperate stunt by Roselie, who plucks Chris right out of her cockpit and won’t let go until she’s heard.
Hilda manages to catch them both, by which time Roselie has reiterated her love for Chris, and the fact she can’t live without her, and wants to be her friend again more than anything. Chris, back to her senses and thinking like the Chris of old, uses this opportunity to make Roselie agree to several conditions, which will have the effect of balancing their relationship.
If nothing else, I’m glad these girls made up and no one had to be killed (well, except Marika).
While all this feel-good making up is going on, Salako and Ange succeed in releasing Aura from his cage. Jill also smells defeat on Embryo and tries to get him to take her with him…wherever he escapes to. It’s a trick, but one that doesn’t work out for Jill, as she wrongly assumed she was dealing with Emby’s original body. She’s injured, but not dead, so we’ll see what becomes of her.
There’s not a lot of her here, perhaps because she’ll factor so huge in the finale (Embryo plucks her away in the end, sans clothes), but the fact large swaths of time pass where we’re not sure what she’s up to was troublesome. Furthermore, Salia has seen her comrades be betrayed by Embryo, but she doesn’t quite wake up like Ersha and Chris.
Emby doesn’t seem to care about either world anymore, and as they’re 97% converged when the credits roll, he may not have to care about them much longer. Ange remains his top priority, and he seems genuinely pissed when Tusk boasts deflowered her. Which when you look at that flashback and see Embryo with Tusk’s mom, adds a somewhat icky sheen to this whole affair.
Then again, it wouldn’t be Cross Ange if it wasn’t a little icky.
RABUJOI - An Anime Blog 
Man, for a show that has me facepalming and rolling my eyes most of the time, this series actually has plenty of rewatch value, since they have really put in a lot of foreshadowing in the middle of all those facepalm moments (which, for all the show’s craziness, actually tells a lot about how tightly they told the story). Jill specifically Vanessa (Tusk’s mom) in that silly bath house flashback to the first Libertus actually takes on a new meaning now with this. Though I wish we could have seen more of her to build up Jil and Tusk’s relationship to each other.
On the other hand, I really love how they resolved the whole Rosa-Chris storyline. Though they were just those two girls for most part of the series, the show actually did a good job of building their relationship in the background such that their reconciliation here didn’t feel rushed. And I also loike how their dialogues isn’t all that embellished, but are spoken in the simple manner that they know of, particularly on how Chris laid some inane conditions before they make up, which really shows that, while they are adult women, they are also still innocent little girls inside who can easily be friends again if given a chance.
And I have no words for that Embryo-Tusk conversation. That was just spectacularly hilarious.
I could have taken that preview comment of a possible movie as another of its meta-jokes, if not for the fact that the series seems to be doing well in terms of media sales in Japan (again, western hate doesn’t really matter here). Accoirding to an otaku friend, the series is constantly in the top five. So I guess they might actually be crazy enough to give a movie the greenlight. Well, at least, Sunrise could give this one better animation. Or not.
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