Chapter 29
This chapter begins with what is probably the greatest image in the entire franchise; a two-page color spread of Rosette and Joshua standing in front of a fountain with the night sky in the background. Rosette is distraught, nearly to the point of tears, whereas Joshua is poised, with a bird of prey perched on his arm. Oh, and a long-awaited fight scene begins.
Chapter 30
You wanna know why the anime version of Chrono Crusade is so reviled? Chrono fights in his "true" form once throughout the entire anime series. Not so here. The seal on Rosette's pocket watch is loosened once more; something serious is gonna go down, I can feel it.
Chapter 31
Aion doesn't have horns either. And Joshua's maid is a jewel summoner like Satella! If this were the first time I were reading this, I would've had a "HO LEE FUCK!" moment just now (Which I really did have when I first read this). Even despite already knowing what happens, it stills feels powerful.
Chapter 32
More good guys show up, but bad guys pull out their aces in the sleeves. Azmaria is captured, (Aion wants her power for something. Hmm.) and overall, the bad guys won. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
Chapter 33
Azmaria is an "Apostle," which would explain her angel-like powers. There are seven in the world. And guess what? Aion has all seven now. Joshua is also an Apostle. And we are introduced to Shader, a demon . . . catgirl. *faceplam self* Well, her dialogue is amusing, I'll give Moriyama that much.
Chapter 34
SYMBOLISM!!!!1!1
Oh, okay, symbolism is not inherently a bad trope. There is a such thing as good symbolism, which Chrono Crusade does have.
Chapter 35
Fiore, the maid with summoner's jewels, is Satella's olser sister, and the demon who killed their parents and captured Fiore was Aion all this time. "Demon without horns." One good, one evil. The chapter ends with Rosette doing another soul dive; this time, into Chrono's soul. Of course, end the book on a cliffhanger, but hey, this is why I own the entire series.
Omake #5
Daisuke shows some sketches of characters that didn't make it into the final version of Chrono Crusade. He cut them because they didn't fit into the plot. YES! Way to excise filler, Moriyama-san!
Final thoughts: This is the WHAM volume. Just like Riza's flashback in Fullmetal Alchemist, the Acid Tokyo arc in Tsubasa, and the latest English volume of Kurokami; this is the one that says, "Thanks for sticking with the series for this long! Now we will reward you with storytelling that will grip you by the balls! and refuse to let go!" See? It's books like this that keep me interested in graphic novels.
