Bloody Cross

Edit

tl;dr: A manga centered around betrayal that takes too long for things to start clicking and feeling adequately fleshed out but does well when they finally do.

If there was one word I would use to describe the core of this manga, it would be betrayal. The vast majority of the plot centers around someone betraying someone else or it being unclear who is loyal to whom. This manifests in lots of different ways, such as betraying people during key fights, leaking information, or stealing relics. There's action and some other strategizing as well, but at its core, betrayal and alliances is what it feels like the crusades here are all about. And to a certain degree ... it works in adding a good amount of suspense and intrigue. The issue with this however, is that for the vast majority of the manga, this involves characters with undefined backgrounds betraying each other due to unclear motivations as a part of an ambiguous game. The twists just on their own are interesting at first, but after it happens for the tenth time and we still have no clue as to the foundations for why all of this is occurring in the first place, it feels like there's something missing, and it starts getting kind of old. Also, if it wasn't clear, there is little fleshing out of characters for most of the manga, wherein because motivations and backgrounds aren't made clear until the very end, no development or relationship development really occurs, and though the character set is reasonably interesting and a few are pretty easy to get attached to, for the most part they feel pretty flat. The lack of clear explanation for the crusades themselves also makes a lot of the twists involving aspects related to that lack impact. Still, as it approaches the end, there's a really fast paced rush where everything gets adequately revealed, characters goals and backgrounds are made clear, the way the systems of the crusade work feels complete, the plot starts moving really fast into a solid climax, leading into ending on a pretty good note that I'm satisfied with. The art was decent, but it basically felt like CLAMP lite, though even more shoujo looking, which felt limiting at times. 

One of those hilarious and a bit lifeless anime/manga (s). May be just me, but I think this manga is in the genres: Action, comedy, shoujo and supernatural.
Of course, there is romance, but in a different way. Harem is also another.

The hilarious and a bit lifeless part from my definition is a bit like Zetsuen no Tempest or Hatenkou Yuugi. Where "Life" itself has a certain importance.

Generally it is an awesome manga to read~ there aren't many other manga/anime like the type of "romance" involved with Bloody Cross. Which i enjoyed the most >w

The Story

The story is about three hybrids trying to get rid of their curses.

The story seems like an original story at first, but then it becomes a hybrid of ‘The Future Diary’ and 'Pandora Hearts’ where two god candidates have to find the relics that can turn them into gods and try to stop the other from taking it.

The story doesn’t really have a clear setting, either. It keeps changing from a middle-age Europe setting to a modern day New York setting. It is clearly a fantasy world, but the world makes no sense!



... The Characters

The characters are all generic, have single tropes or are really unlikeable. The series decides to switch the protagonist from a stuck up bitch to a perverted jerk with magic powers. It got to the point that I was actually rooting for the villains! Even though they are unlikeable, they are more developed and more interesting than the good guys!

Now, you must be wondering why the hell I read the series as long as I have and had not stopped earlier? Well, the answer to that is very simple, Nao.

Nao is by far the best character in the series and is one of my favourite manga characters of all time. I am not kidding when I say he felt more like the protagonist than the other two main leads. He is given so much character development and we know almost everything about him and he doesn’t have a trope being repeated over and over again. Yes, they do use bisexual jokes with him, but it happens three times and the jokes are actually quite funny.
Nao singlehandedly saved the series for me, he basically came into the series into volume 2 as a one-off character, but then he took the spotlight and became a main character.

Minor spoiler here, but when they (supposedly) killed him off in volume 5, I stopped reading the series. But while I was looking around my book recommendations, I found out while reading volume 7’s description that I found out he was still alive and I bought volumes 6 & 7 together. And yes, reading the chapters that he wasn’t in we’re painful to get through, but it was worth it.



The Art

The art in this manga is almost backgroundless. Everyone is standing in a white void of nothingness for the entire series, thus, making the setting of the series quite confusing.

The characters designs are quite memorable, with unique character designs, you wouldn’t be getting mixed up with who is who in the series.



Final Thoughts

Overall, (apart from Nao) the entire series was painful to read through! The story is a mess, the characters are unlikeable and the art is a white void!

But the series does have some good parts to it. The character designs are unique and Nao is the best character in manga I have ever seen!

The reason why I decided to stop at volume 8 instead of reading the last third of the series was because it felt like a fitting conclusion to the series. Honestly, if you are planning to read the series, either rent or buy volumes 1-8 for a cheap price or read online up to chapter 42.

I recommend to give the series a chance (only because of Nao). Read the first 3 or 4 volumes to see what a great character has to suffer through.

The Story 2/5
The Characters 3/5
The Art 3/5

Overall 2.5/5