I need to get this out of my system about the Chrono Crusade manga ending.

Spoilers ahead: if you haven’t at least seen the anime’s ending, please don’t read. Also, profanities.

Okay, you have been warned. Here goes.

*inhales*

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

why am i still doing this to myself, i knew it was gonna end this way and why did i have to do this to myself again? Damn it this is like rewatching Grave of the Fireflies just to get punched in the stomach again friggin nuggets god dang it

Chrono Crusade was one of my childhood anime, and Chrono was definitely my childhood anime crush that I tend to forget about because… well, I think you can guess why.

I did a review of Chrome Breaker, a similar manga (that had a different ending, thank god) earlier this month and I remember that the same localizer also published Chrono Crusade, so I thought I’d continue reading the manga from where I left of since middle school. I don’t know if I regret it. I barely remember anything about the Chrono Crusade anime (aside from the bathtub scene, the OP, and the ending… oh, and how much I loved and searched for it online with my shit English and took so long to find out what it was called. See, I watched that bathtub scene before I was even 8 years old. My English was shit. I didn’t know what the anime was called. And I found it when I was… I think 3rd grade?) I don’t know if I regret revisiting it. The story is different from what I remember the anime to be, but I love it nonetheless (perhaps even more than the anime, because there’s no dumb scene about Aion being a complete creep to Rosette). I love Chrono and Rosette a lot. Azmaria, too. It was heartbreaking that the manga didn’t end that much differently than the anime, (since I went in hoping for a ‘then they lived for a while then died’) but I guess Chrono Crusade couldn’t have ended any other way. It was so bittersweet.

It made me realize that one day we’re going to die too, no matter if we like it or not. And someday some people might be talking about us. Maybe a 100 years later someone may have found my blog. lol. What does it feel like to die though? I’m constantly thinking about that.

Idk if that was the real Chrono since Satella heard he was executed in 1928 and Rosette lived until March 1932, but I’d like to believe it was. It didn’t make any sense that the Magdalan Order executed him: they have no reason to do so. They weren’t hostile to Chrono when he was with Rosette and Satella before the big fight. I believe that Chrono was recovering from his battle with Aion and was constantly searching for Rosette (I may have misunderstood, but Pandemonium took off to space and it would’ve been difficult to return), judging from his injuries, and only found her then for drama’s sake. I think he flopped over and died (Chrono being buried next to Rosette but with no gravestone, for a grave that’s been there for almost 60 years, it looks like there’s so much space around it). Shader and/or Fiore were suggested to actually be the ones to bring flowers to Rosette until 1999, and if Chrono was alive he would’ve been the one to do it. Remember, Shader was there in the Pandemonium as Chrono and Aion took off. S/he may be the one who took until 1932 to bring Chrono back down to earth then placed them flowers. Maybe the strain from the battles killed Chrono off. He was doing pretty horribly even before the fight with Aion, since he was stabbed in the chest. Again. I think the demon cells were sustaining him, and with Pandemonium gone, he’d have run out of power and flopped over. Kidna makes sense in my head.

Either way, in the manga or anime, Rosette. The difference was that Rosette got to travel to a whole bunch of different places without Chrono instead of them being together in their little house. Ugh, I don’t know which version I like better. Both are good. And both hurt me hard.

EDIT: I discussed the manga ending with a few other people, and it seems that there is an alternate theory that also makes sense: Chrono didn’t keel over but lives in hiding until 1999. The logic is that Chrono had the watch, and therefore there’s no way Azmaria would have the watch if Chrono didn’t make it back, further debunking the ‘it was all in her head’ theory. However, there was no mention of Chrono’s grave or Chrono’s body being found together with Rosette. The scenario is that Chrono found Rosette, and she died with a contented look, then he left before others found that she’s dead. Moreover, judging from his lifespan, he would have outlived and Azmaria anyway. That’s why a lot of people think he’s actually still alive but chose not to appear again. I think Shader would not have cared enough to place a flower on Rosette’s grave every year. It had to be Chrono. Azmaria was implying that the one who puts the flowers are Chrono without saying that it’s actually him. Satella and Fiore were crystallized, so Fiore should’ve only woken up when Satella did (only that she was with Shader, not the Order) so Fiore could not have been the flower person from 1932-1999.

I’m gonna go cry in a corner now. Thanks for visiting. Bye.

(Hey I could write a fanfic… no that would ruin the ending. Wait, I think Chrome Breaker is a fan manga of Chrono Crusade lol, I’m gonna go read that to cheer up a bit. See ya.)