Series Review – Guilty Crown

Guilty Crown (ギルティクラウン)

Guilty Crown was a series hyped up quite a bit before it premiered. It had character designs and art being done by the well-known artist Redjuice, music from supercell of Vocaloid fame, writers from Code Geass and Death note, and production being done by Production IG. Unfortunately, though, even with such a stellar team it seems that Guilty Crown couldn’t quite meet up to the high expectations that people had of it. The primary weakness was the story and characters, and while these aspects did admittingly did have their good moments, unfortunately those moments were short-lived.

As expected based on the production crew, the one strong aspect to this series was the production values. The animation was fantastic when the first episode premiered. Character movements were fluid, artwork and backgrounds were fantastically well detailed, and the music was rather good. That actually stayed fairly consistent for the beginning few episodes, but then started to fluctuate throughout the latter episodes of the series. Production quality was high during critical climactic moments, but outside of those important moments, quality dipped quite a bit. While the quality was never bad, it wasn’t exactly fantastic all the time either.

As for the biggest flaw to this series, without a doubt it would have to be it’s story. Or to be more precise, the combination of a poorly written story with very little proper character development. To be fair, Guilty Crown gets exciting if you prefer series with plot twist, after plot twist, after plot twist. Plot twists do have the tendency to racket up tension, which could be a benefit for an action heavy series. However, plot twists also disturb character development and properly paced storytelling, which became clearly evident when personalities would drastically change in less than an episode, characters were revived from the dead, and any legitimately good character developments were thrown out the window for the sake of dramatic plot twists. The plot twists made things exciting, but the characters did not get the proper attention they deserved.

And to be fair, while the main characters Shu and Inori both initially had poor personalities (Shu being an utter wimp, and Inori having a lifeless personality), they were good main characters in the sense that they had a ton of room to grow. Shu had room to grow above and beyond his cowardly tendencies and strive to be a leader, and Inori would have gradually gained a more distinct persona. These did eventually happen, but the character development happened almost like mood swings; one episode they have their generic personalities, next episode they all of a sudden become leader figures, and then an episode later they become oppressive rulers. Character development was poorly done, which partially had to do with the plot twist heavy story.

In the end though, while I personally hold a strong dislike for how Guilty Crown turned out, it’s not like it is the worst series ever made. If you ignore the poorly thought out plot, the bad character development, and other major flaws, Guilty Crown was a decent action anime with some stunningly good visuals. The music was also likeable, and there were some scenes where the combination of music and action sent chills up my spine. There are some rare, good moments in the series, it’s just that those good moments are strongly overpowered by the major flaws to the show. Now then, it seems that Guilty Crown’s BD/DVD sales were good enough for a potential sequel. I’m just praying that they get better storywriters for any sequels or spinoffs.

Animation/Art: 8.5/10

Music: 8.0/10

Setting: 7.5/10

Characters: 5.5/10

Story: 5.5/10

Overall Enjoyment: 7.0/10

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 16

Episode 16 –

Ugh, Thursdays really aren’t turning out to be a good day of anime for me. As I had feared, this episode took Shu’s personality, and radically changed it from his personality from last week. The shift is far too extreme, which is pretty much an indicator of poor writing on the creator’s part. To be fair, Shu having a darker personality and outlook is more interesting to watch (especially with Inori showing signs of becoming exactly like Mana). What really made me despise this episode was the one thing that I had feared might happen; the revival of Tsutsugami Gai.

If you can get over the extreme personality changes in both Shu and Inori, this episode was actually somewhat interesting. The situation unfolding probably closely resembles something very close to anarchy, with the cast desperately banding together for a last ditch attempt to prepare against the impending chaos. This show has taken a much darker tone and atmosphere, one that I actually kind of appreciate when you consider the situation.

But that’s where my admiration for this episode ends. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those that like Shu and Inori’s extreme personality changes. The transition was far too fast, and there’s no way that a single death, no matter how important, could create such a drastic change in personality and outlook. Shu’s treatment of other characters is far too different for to be believable, which really killed any good impressions I had left for this show. I was originally thrilled that the show was going to actually try and develop Shu as a leader. It’s a shame that it probably won’t happen.

On top of that, the storywriters were really lazy and decided that reviving Tsutsugami Gai would be a good way to spice up the show. Not only does reviving him completely destroy the significance of his death a few episodes ago, but provides an extremely forced way of inciting a major conflict in the future. Exactly what the heck is the point in reviving him at this stage in the story?

In the end, this is probably the first episode that has genuinely gotten me to debate about dropping Guilty Crown. The writing is atrocious, laughable at best. Any form of sensible character development pretty much no longer exists. The plot is being twisted around with no solid rationale in mind. So yea, Guilty Crown has officially turned into a trainwreck in my book. And this is coming from a guy who didn’t really mind the craziness of Code Geass R2.

Overall Enjoyment: 2.1/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 15

Episode 15 –

Sigh, well I guess I can see where the writers to this series are trying to take the story. And I’m not liking it one bit. I was actually sort of looking forward to seeing how this series would try to develop Shu as a leader, and for a decent chunk of the episode, Guilty Crown was doing a good job. The pressure that comes with being a leader was taking it’s toll on Shu, and we were slowly starting to see the daunting task he would have to tackle as the newly elected student president. It was a task that should have whipped him into top shape with time, but the writers definitely seemed impatient here. Rather than gradually transitioning him to a leader status, which would have provided him with some much needed character development, the writers decided to shock him into realizing his current role. And seriously, using the death of a side character in this fashion was not only totally unnecessary, but was the lazy way of forcing Shu to “change”

To be fair, I do understand that a shock was necessary to pull Shu out of his “wimpy mode” that he’s been in for god knows how long. What I’m finding more troubling here is how the transition happened so quickly after his election, and on top of that, his personality change is much too extreme. The writers were definitely feeling lazy, and didn’t want to invest the proper amount of time necessary to develop Shu’s “leader” qualities. Perhaps it’s due to the episode constraint that the creators rushed things, but the overall result is less than satisfying. Realistically speaking, a single death won’t magically change somebody from a wimp to a leader, though it could be a very powerful motivating factor.

Nevertheless, what’s done is done. What I found particularly touching (yet saddening) about this episode was the actual scene in which Hare passed away. She was probably one of the most genuine, sweetest characters out of this series, so seeing her healing Shu while on her deathbed was heartbreaking. When she crystallized and shattered into endless shards, the emotional reactions from Shu were nearly perfect, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t moved by this scene. It was quite obvious that she was going to die sometime, but nonetheless, the moment had quite the emotional impact.

In the end, I really disliked this episode. The story is trying to rush Shu’s development far too fast, and is using Hare’s death as a plot device to induce a wild change in Shu’s personality. There’s a difference between gaining a newfound determination, and becoming the polar opposite of the ideas that you espoused. Hare’s death should have been one that would motivate Shu to follow through with his beliefs without wavering. Instead, he suddenly is portrayed as a tyrant in the making that discriminates against the weak. The writers really did take the lazy way out here, and for that I’m quite disappointed. And of course, Hare will be a sorely missed addition to the cast.

Overall Enjoyment: 2.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 14

Episode 14 –

Haha, oh yes. Guilty Crown is finally going in a direction that has potential, and is taking full advantage of Gai’s death a few episodes back. The character development is still a bit sudden and half-assed, but it’s much more solid than how it was in the first half to this series. Shu is finally starting to shape up as a worthy main character, and the story is starting to get more interesting. Unfortunately, “more interesting” doesn’t quite mean we have a great plot here, but at least the writers are increasing the quality of the writing.

As I had previously suspected, Guilty Crown had planned on Gai being a sort of role model for Shu, and now that Gai is dead, Shu is taking up the mantle of his predecessor. The transition from wimpy Shu to competent Shu has been quite sudden and messy, but it’s made him a remarkably more likeable character than before. Or at least, he finally has the guts to go out there and defend his opinions, as well as make a stand on divisive issues. He’s finally showing some initiative and resolve, something we could’ve used from him at least 8-10 episodes ago.

Nevertheless, I guess it’s better late than never. Shu’s development is going along at a fine, though predictable, pacing. This episode does also seem to try and develop Tsugumi a bit, but failed pretty miserably. The one thing I’ve noticed about Guilty Crown is that, in general, it is extremely poor at developing any of the side characters. Almost all of the side stories for the supporting cast feel tacked onto the plot, with the only part of the story that feels necessary is the story surrounding Shu and Inori. It’s a problem that is exacerbated by the very episodic way in which the side characters are explored, which makes for some very shallow character developments.

In the end, it seems that the writers for Guilty Crown are finally starting to pull things together a bit. Unfortunately, execution here isn’t perfect, with a ton of flaws to the actual plot progression and storytelling. Nonetheless, the characters are finally shaping up and being developed, and the plot is slowly escalating the stakes of the battle at hand. In other words, while I am stunned on saying this about Guilty crown, this week’s episode was actually quite solid, where it had a relatively tasteful mix of character focus and build up for future conflicts. The writing is still flawed, and the plot still has it’s fair share of plot conveniences (like Tsugumi’s very convenient Void ability), but this is still a remarkable improvement from before.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.6/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 13

Episode 13 –

As expected, with Gai’s death now pretty much confirmed, Guilty Crown is going in the direction I had hoped for back in episode 5; exploring the growth of Shu as a character through the death of Gai. This new direction is something that has been well overdue, mind you, but it’s better late then never. And while I restrict this to only Shu, Gai was obviously the big role model for everybody else as well. Thus after seeing his death, it’s only fitting that we’re gradually going to see more focus on the rest of the cast’s growth as they come to terms with reality. That being said, even with this change in focus, the character development isn’t exactly off to a promising start; this episode’s way of developing upon Ayase’s character was fairly mediocre and predictable, which I hope does not happen with the remainder of the cast.

Guilty Crown has, in general, reeked of mediocre writing. Or to be more specific, reeked of poorly written characters. This does look like it might improve with the upcoming new episodes though, where the escalation in the situation will probably lead to the birth of some new organization that is rebelling against the political authorities. And, of course, this rise of a rebellious in the face of adversity will place tremendous strain Shu, Inori, and every other cast member that we’ve come to know so far.Will the cast be able to carry the mantle of Gai, and boldly step forward? This latter half of the series will probably be all about seeing our cast grow into more strong-willed human beings, all while keeping in mind their predecessor, Gai. And I sure as heck expect Shu to be at the forefront of such change.

Even with this general change in direction, it looks like the writers will have to polish their skills up some more. While I appreciate the development for Ayase in this episode, at the same time it was overdramatic and unrefined in the way in which it explored her emotional conflicts. Most importantly, a bunch of aspects to this episode just felt unnatural. Guilty Crown was already well known for being a derivative work, but this episode really put the icing on the cake; it was completely and utterly predictable with it’s plot progression, and approached the problem at hand in the most generic way possible.

In the end, Guilty Crown has decidedly changed the overtones to the latter half of this series, only for to royally screw up in the very first episode of this second half with a mediocre story. The character development still is weak, and the writing remains horrific as well. The new direction to the plot is sensible, and if executed right, could be amazing. But Guilty Crown is a perfect example of a show where the devil is in the details; it has a solid idea of what it’s trying to do, but is messing up the actual, detailed implementation of such a story.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.4/5

Screenshots, OP02 and ED02 are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 12

Episode 12 –

So, uh, now what? Now that the big enemy has been vanquished by Shu and Gai, what’s left on the agenda for Guilty Crown? Liberating Japan from the Antibodies? Because with this episode, Guilty Crown answered virtually all the pressing questions the past 11 episodes brought up, leaving virtually nothing for the plot to continue on. And not to mention, the show killed off the only decent character out of the entire series (in case you were wondering, talking about Gai here). The writing was still mediocre, with a heavy reliance on convenient flashbacks and sudden recoveries from memory loss. But worst of all, the main cast still remains as uncaptivating as ever. Even with the loss of Gai in this episode, I can’t say this climactic episode left much of an emotional impact on me. At least this episode managed to close up a ton of questions regarding Shu’s past, but at the same time, the mystery behind Shu’s past was pretty much the only thing that kept this show even relatively interesting. Now that those questions are out of the way, I’m quite curious as to what the creators intend on doing next.

On a slightly different note, this episode does confirm one thing that I had suspected for a while; that the entire first half of Guilty Crown was meant to develop Ouma Shu, or to be more specific, develop his flaws. Unfortunately, I can’t quite say Guilty Crown was very successful at trying to develop Shu’s character around those flaws. Instead, Shu’s development has been weak at best, where it has been heavily reliant on some major plot twists, and the random filler episodes in the middle of the first half exacerbated problems with any good development. It’s a real shame that the actual writing to this show is mediocre, because it could have been much better. Stuff like “random weddings to become the progenitors of a new species”, and “crazy infected sister who becomes the enemy” are plot twists that don’t quite entice me, and were too sudden to really have an impact value. The sudden influx of plot twists that came with all the flashbacks didn’t help with the already less-than-captivating storyline.

That being said, what is a bit less obvious here is that the show is almost definitely aiming to push Shu’s development forward in the second half of the series. The first half was meant to show Shu a role model, which in this case was Gai. Now that Gai has died, Guilty Crown will probably try and get Shu to fit into the role that Gai left behind. **spoilers for Gurren Lagann** In a way, this reminds me of Gurren Lagann, where Kamina was the role model for Simon. Once Kamina died, though, Simon eventually took up his mantle as the leader **End spoilers** The big difference here, though, is that Gurren Lagann had some awesome characters with a ton of personality and spunk, something that Guilty Crown has severely lacked so far. That, and Guilty Crown’s story has been too poorly written to take seriously. The key here will be whether the story can properly capitalize on Gai’s death, and develop Shu into a likable character.

In the end, this episode brought closure to the entire first half of Guilty Crown. It’s closure that I personally don’t really care for, and with Gai now confirmed as dead, the only things really left for the show to do are two things: one, expel the Antibodies from Japan, and two, develop Shu into a more competent character. A lot of the mysteries around the void have been fully resolved with this episode, and aside from a lingering idea or two, I don’t anticipate too much focus on it (or so I hope). To be perfectly honest, I feel that this show improperly paced the story; if Gai’s death had come far earlier, then the show could have devoted much more time to developing Shu. Instead, the story dragged on for far too long, resulting in a cast that is tough to sympathize with, and a messy story with far too complex of a plot to be considered interesting. Production IG could still redeem Guilty Crown in the second half, but it’s going to have to work really hard to do so.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.5/5

P.S. The next episode preview indicates that it will be… a school festival episode? Certainly a bit random, and it might not be very fitting for an episode right after Gai’s death. Then again, I do suspect it will be an episode of retrospection for Shu, **Code Geass Spoiler** similar to how Lelouch in Code Geass went into a period of isolation when he was shocked by the revelation that his younger sister would be his opponent. **End Spoilers** For Lelouch, it was an episode where he had to truly question his motivations, and it seems like it will be the same for Shu. This is just my guess, of course.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 11

Episode 11 –

While characterization is still a huge issue with this show, at least the setting and world-building has it’s points of interest. That being said, I’m still finding it tough to enjoy the plot when I don’t really care for the characters, but the way in which the story has been building up does perk my curiosity. I guess it’s more that I’m curious about the situation that’s unraveling, rather than the fate of the main cast itself. Heck, I would probably not care if the entire cast was killed off in the next episode. With the situation escalating this week, I’ll admit that I am much more curious to the meaning behind everything that’s happened, rather than wondering if Inori, Gai, and Shu survive.

As I’ve already mentioned, the characters in this show seriously need a lot of work. Shu has grown up a bit, but he’s still a very  wishy-washy character who just can’t decide on what the heck he wants to do. That’s probably the one thing that’s stayed consistent about his personality, and even with Gai’s influence on him, it hasn’t changed. You can tell he’s gradually growing more confident in himself, but also holds a huge inferiority complex where he’s unsure about every decision he makes. Inori has changed even less than Shu, where she’s still the emotionless diva, only now she apparently has a crush on Shu. Gai is probably the most well-thought out character out of the entire series, and even he hasn’t had much character growth after he made his amends with Shu.

The sole point of interest to this episode to Guilty Crown is it’s past. All the flashbacks to the past that we’ve seen, along with the mythical “Lost Christmas” that threw the world into ruin, has some obvious connections to what is currently unfolding; figuring out those connections is probably the only thing that keeps me even remotely interested in this show. What is the deeper significance of “voids”, and their relationship to Lost Christmas? How is Inori, Shu, Lost Christmas, and the recently mentioned “Mana” all involved here? And how does that tie back to the gargantuan “thing” that’s spawned itself smack in the middle of New Tokyo? And not to mention, what is the significance of the new void extraction user?

Well, while I have had a ton of urges to drop this series, the setting and backstory continues to barely maintain my interest. It’s ironic in a way, I actually enjoyed this episode more because it had a more intense focus on connecting the plot to the flashbacks and stuff; all the episodes about showing off weak-willed Shu had really killed all the hopes I had for this series, so getting away from exploring the characters actually had a positive effect on my impressions. I guess, in the end, it boils down to how the writers are doing a positively horrendous job at developing it’s main cast, and the only times the show gets more interesting is when the characters aren’t the complete focus of the episode.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 10

Episode 10 –

You know, I find it almost frightening how terrible Guilty Crown is at developing it’s characters. Seriously, it’s not something that should be too hard to do, and yet, this show miraculously manages to prove me wrong each and every week. Even with an interesting plot, without strong characters to push the story forward, a series won’t get very far. And Guilty Crown is proving just that, where even with the odd but intriguing plot twists this episode, I could care less because I just don’t give a damn for the main cast. It’s amazing just how terribly written the characters for this series are, which makes me think that Production IG should fire their writers if they want to salvage this series.

As I’ve already said, character development seems to be the bane of existence to this show. Shu once again reverts back to his wimpy, cowardly self, and Inori fails to make even a bit of progress about her own emotionless persona. She’s still the same old seemingly emotionless girl, only this time she seems to “have fallen in love with Shu”, even though there was no proper character development to indicate why she fell in love with him. Not to mention, whatever happened to the part where Inori claims she was “faking” to Shu? And then there’s Gai, who remains a cool-headed enigma that we still barely know about. We finally learn that he’s fighting for Inori’s sake, but that was fairly obvious, and it doesn’t really add much to his character.

As for interesting events, the most notable would have to pertain to Inori. Ironically enough, the interest in Inori is built up solely through flashbacks, rather that through her current personality (which reinforces the whole character development problem). Inori obviously has some sort of strong ties to the voids of people, where she seemed to react to the Apocalypse virus. Is she the central core to this virus, or some collective consciousness, or perhaps something even bigger? She also might be Shu’s older sister, and might have fallen in love with him before but was separated in a twisted manner. And she pretty much gives a hint to the factor in solving the Apocalypse virus issue; a song of some sort (yep, definitely sounds like Macross Frontier). Of course, another interesting event would be how the virus seems to be making a comeback this episode, once again on a large scale similar to whatever had happened over a decade ago.

All this intrigue, where the world seems to be falling into chaos, does add a heavy atmosphere to this episode’s plot. But it’s also a plot that feels superficial at the same time, especially when I don’t give a damn for any of the main cast or what’s going on. A story is compelling because you sympathize with the characters, and want to see how their journey moves and changes them. Chihayafuru would be an excellent example of characters done right. Guilty Crown? Peh.

Overall Enjoyment: 2.7/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 09

Episode 09 –

Well, uhh, I guess this episode at least tried to create a relatively good conflict. But it sure was confusing; the situation with Yahiro and his younger brother’s Apocalypse infection started simple enough, but devolved into some strange overdramatic situation where Yahiro’s younger brother was asking Shu to kill him. I do see how this episode was trying to draw sympathy for Yahiro and his younger brother, but they just haven’t had enough character development in order for me to really care for the two brothers. If anything, the overdramatic music and the confusing climax to the conflict killed my impressions of this episode.

However, this episode did bring up a few points of interest, mainly about the nature of the “voids”, as well as a few hints at what Gai and Inori are up to. The most interesting point to note here is how the voids that Shu extracts out of people, and the infection that Yahiro’s brother had, both emitted a very similar signature. In other words, the nature of these seemingly different substances are actually the same, which makes me wonder if the infection is actually an improper manifestation of the voids that Shu pulls out. This could mean that this infection was man-made, where the release of the prototype to the void genome that Shu used is what caused all of this ruckus. Then again, this is just my speculation, and I have no idea how correct it is.

What I do have confidence in saying, though, is about another aspect to the infection. Yahiro’s brother stated that the infection “let him see the voids of people”. And of course, the only other person we know who can see these voids is Gai. In other words, perhaps Gai is a survivor of the infection, or maybe something even more mysterious. His curious connection with Inori does make his existence even more puzzling. And what’s up with Inori’s comments about a song? Do songs have some strange ability in this show (makes me think of Macross all over again).

But yea, aside from some interesting little hints to the nature of the void genome, Guilty Crown continues to perform poorly in creating a compelling plot. The story continues to feel like filler, and we are still getting virtually no character development for the main cast. I really hope the series starts to pull itself together, or else I’ll just drop this show. On the plus side, it seems that Shu did gain some confidence somehow, but after this week’s death, Shu will probably revert back to his wimpy self. Sigh, just when it seems like he might’ve finally gotten his act together, he blows it.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.0/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Guilty Crown – 08

Episode 08 –

Well, at this point I’ve almost lost any faith I had left in this show. It’s astounding how we’re 8 episodes into the series, and there is almost no indicators of the overall direction the plot/story will go. All we have are random side missions, and while these side missions might lead up to something in the future, the creators certainly aren’t trying very hard to connect them all. There is practically no sense of buildup, and the characters continue to stay as stagnant as ever. There is sparse amounts of character development, and not to mention, the only redeeming aspect to this show (the action) was pretty much missing for the entire episode. Guilty Crown is trying really hard to not maintain interest.

Yea, we get to see Shu get along with one of his more disliked friends, and that’s good news for the friend. But I feel that the focus on the friend is pretty much pointless. I mean, the friend will probably not play another role in this series for at least a couple of episodes, so his involvement feels a bit unnecessary. I say this because other side characters who got their own episodes of development have remained side characters. As much as I like Ayase, that Student Council girl, and Shu’s mom, they haven’t really become crucial characters. Shu, Inori, and Gai remain the central trio to the plot.

That brings me to my main point of contention. What’s really lacking here is development for Shu, Gai, and Inori. They’ve practically remained the same in terms of personality since episode one, and this episode’s focus on a completely unimportant side character did not help. Gai, after briefly seeing him in a moment of weakness a few episodes ago, is now back on his feet and acting as usual too. In other words, our main characters are completely stagnant, where their relationship isn’t growing any more interesting. The characters are somehow tied together by their pasts, that much is obvious, but Guilty Crown really dislikes trying to use that connection to get some character growth here.

I’ve been complaining about the characters, but the story is also flawed. Just what in the world is the plot trying to accomplish? What’s the point to all these little “side missions”? Why did you randomly throw in a brunette girl who’s head over heels for the main character when he is obviously going to end up with Inori? What’s the purpose of the Student Council president from last week, the newly introduced guy from this week, and the random birthday party for Daryl? I’m really hoping all of these seemingly random tidbits of info tie back together for now because, quite frankly, everything feels like filler. And I don’t even know what these episodes are filler for; after all, there’s no real direction to the story that indicates that these are “filler” episodes. If Guilty Crown can prove me wrong by making these seemingly random facts somehow important in future conflicts, I’m pretty sure I’d be very surprised.

Overall Enjoyment: 2.9/5

P.S. I’ll admit that I laughed at Daryl’s birthday party, lol. It’s quite sad for him, but considering his nasty attitude though, it’s not a surprise.

Screenshots are later in the post.