On December 24, 2029—the day colloquially known as the "Lost Christmas"—the Apocalypse Virus spread across Japan, bringing death to its citizens and plunging the country into utter chaos. In an effort to establish order, the United Nations sends the GHQ to assist with the crisis by containing the outbreak while removing all political autonomy in the process. A decade later, the country still lives under their control, unable to break free from their draconian rule.
Frustrated with the state of the nation, a resistance group named the Funeral Parlor aims to liberate Japan from the GHQ. Led by the charismatic Gai Tsutsugami, the group plots to steal a vial containing the "Void Genome" to further their goals. The vial falls into the hands of internet vocalist Inori Yuzuriha, who ends up being hunted by the GHQ's Anti-Bodies forces. Having nowhere to go, she seeks refuge in a warehouse where she meets Shuu Ouma—a socially awkward high school student who is a huge fan of her music.
Shuu gets dragged into the conflict the moment he rescues Inori, and the Void Genome shatters in his hand, granting him the "Power of the Kings." While learning how to control his grand new ability, Shuu must now fight to liberate Japan from its cruel oppressors.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Archaeon
Many people are aware of the financial problems faced by the anime industry, and one of the methods that studios have adopted over recent years to try to shore up their crumbling foundations is to adapt popular manga, games, and more recently, Western comics. This approach has become a tried and tested moneymaking endeavour for the majority of studios, but in many cases this is simply due the fact that the source material caters to the lowest common denominator - which usually means fanservice. Unfortunately, the relative success of these shows have allowed them to become the norm rather than the exception, and with thatcomes a number of problems.
The sad fact is that while it's okay to find inspiration from other sources, the industry has become so used to the adaptation that studios and writers find it difficult to produce work that could be considered "original". Instead, what passes for a unique story tends to be nothing more than a collection of concepts and ideas from other tales that are thrown together in the vain hope that people will rush to buy the end product because ... well, because someone tells them to.
But rather than dwelling on such things, let's take a look at Guilty Crown.
Set in Tokyo in the year 2039, a decade has passed since a mysterious outbreak known as the "Apocalypse Virus" killed thousands of people and brought Japan to its knees - a disaster that would later be called "Lost Christmas". Since that time Japan has lost its independence, and has become a martial state governed by an international organisation known as GHQ. The story opens with a pink-haired girl and a small robot escaping from a futuristic-looking facility, but security forces injure and corner her until she falls off a bridge. The next morning is just like any other day for highschool student Ouma Shu, an awkward young man who is a fan of the pop-group Egoist, whose lead singer just happens to be a waif-like girl with pink hair.
And then everything gets ... weird.
Guilty Crown is a bit of an odd duck as it attempts to blend several disparate themes, but doesn't quite manage to finish the job. The plot has clearly been influenced by several popular franchises - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the execution is where the writers have let themselves down. The narrative is often disjointed, and many events in the storyline appear to have no logic behind them other than to put Shu through an emotional wringer. In addition to this, the writers appear to have taken a rather nonchalant approach to reasoning and rationale, one example of which is how GHQ's repeated massacres are never covered by any sort of media outlet. This seemingly lackadaisical attitude is apparent in several areas of the plot - which is littered with "coincidences" - and these cause the narrative to have a mechanical feeling. In many ways it's almost as if the story was nothing more than a collection of bits that would apparently appeal to the largest number of people.
Aside from the inclusion of numerous well-known aspects that have clearly been transplanted from other popular stories and the "plot-by-numbers" approach, Guilty Crown also suffers from the rather obvious idea that most adults are evil and only kids are able to save the world. That said, the series does have some good points, in particular the way it attempts to recreate a situation similar to that found in "Lord of the Flies" by putting all of the students in one place and imposing self-rule. There are other, similarly dark influences that add a veneer of maturity to proceedings, but sadly these aren't enough to support the inherent weaknesses in the narrative - the main one being the decision to make yet another school-based anime.
In terms of production quality, Guilty Crown is arguably up there with some of the better shows of recent years, but the sometimes stunning visuals and effects are tempered by a few issues that may initially appear to minor, but in actuality are representative of the mentality of the show's creators. It's obvious that a great deal of thought has gone into the background artwork and set designs, but the same isn't true of the characters. For the most part they look good, but the decision to feature highschool students places an immediate limitation that becomes obvious when one considers the variety of features and body shapes found amongst the adults.
The problem lies in the fact that the design of the younger roles includes an element of stereotype in order to impart a degree of familiarity - thereby making the show more accessible to people. It's an old marketing trick that has become a staple of the anime industry over the years, and while Guilty Crown has tried to be a little bit more subtle than most in its usage, one does have to question the logic behind Tsugumi. A cat-eared tsundere loli wearing what is effectively a plug suit (and a maid costume later on), only serves to highlight the thought processes of the show's creators.
Thankfully Production I.G. maintain their standards when it comes to the animation, and the series is littered with flowing, well choreographed action scenes. The characters are well-balanced in their movements, and a degree of care has been taken with those that are injured, disabled, or suffer from an affliction.
Like many anime that run for over twenty episodes, Guilty Crown features two opening and ending sequences - each with an original track written by Supercell. The first OP is a rather dizzying blend of effects, character montages and action scenes while the song "My Dearest" - a suitably fast paced and dramatic pop song performed by Koeda - sets the tone for the series. "The Everlasting Guilty Crown" performed by the fictional band Egoist is the track of choice for the second opening sequence, but while the artwork and design ethic have clearly shifted to promote a bittersweet atmosphere, the actual content is much the same as that of the first OP. Egoist also perform the melancholy ballad "Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~" for the first ending sequence, which features Ouma Shu and Yuzuriha Inori walking away from each other against a backdrop of character art and effects. The second ED contains a mixture of video footage of landscape speeding by, scenes from the series and a few still images of the school environs that are "projected" onto a screen behind Inori and Shu as they decide to run - all while Koeda performs the rather upbeat rock song "Kokuhaku"
Which brings up one small issue.
Although it's true that some thought has gone into the composition of the opening sequences and that they are very well choreographed, both also feature overt plot spoilers. Now this does happen in other anime, but in general there are efforts to avoid such things occurring - which doesn't appear to be the case with Guilty Crown.
Aside from that minor niggle, the high production standards are also reflected in the quality of the music and audio effects. Sawano Hiroyuki has taken care to ensure that the background pieces are varied and suitably dramatic where necessary. The wide range of sounds and noises are clear and distinct, and the audio/visual choreography shows just how much effort has been made to produce a show that looks and sounds great.
Unfortunately the same can't be said of the actual dialogue.
Now while it's true that Guilty Crown features a range of characters and personality types, for some reason the decision was made to revert to old anime stereotypes and then write justifications into the storyline. The script is littered with monologues, diatribes, conversations and arguments that would grace any show where the "hero" has to lead his people to salvation whilst fighting against the enemy and his inner demons, forming a pseudo-harem along the way, and showing the world just how much of a tragic-yet-heroic figure he is. Thankfully the actors are more than capable, but no matter how good their skills are, prosaic and formulaic dialogue will always be just that.
As for the characters themselves, Ouma Shu is the kind of leading man who can be found in a number of other titles - quiet, reserved, doesn't have many friends, and a bit of a loser - and therein lies the problem. The writers have taken great pains to try to show him as a "human" more than anything else, but in their efforts to promote Shu as the tragic hero, they've ignored one of the most basic rules of characterisation.
In other words, Shu has no personality whatsoever - even at the end of the series when all his "suffering" is over.
It's this apparent inability to develop the characters in any meaningful way that makes them appear as nothing more than inane, and the lack of any real growth means that everyone pretty much ends the series having learned very little (aside from maybe Daryl). In addition to this there's an element of ridiculousness to the choice of characters, the prime example being Yuzuriha Inori (although Tsugumi does come a close second). One has to wonder what chemically induced delusion could have persuaded the show's creators that having the lead singer of a hugely popular band stealing from the enemy in the opening scenes while wearing her stage outfit was a good idea.
Apparently students can recognise her even though she's wearing a school uniform, but soldiers and officers of the military forces controlling Japan have no idea who she is since pink-haired girls wearing fluttery costumes are a dime a dozen in Japan.
Guilty Crown is one of those anime that can only truly be enjoyed if you have never watched any of the titles that it takes its inspirations from - and that becomes a problem if one has watched, and enjoyed, most of them. The main issue is that there are several character types and plot elements that are better used in their original anime, so their inclusion here makes them stand out in less than flattering ways.
The real problem with Guilty Crown though, is the element of arrogance that is prevalent throughout the series, and this comes solely from the show's creators. The basic premise of Guilty Crown is perfectly fine, but everyone from the director and series composers to the producers have assumed that the "anime-by-numbers" approach that they have so clearly used here is enough to make a hit franchise. There appears to have been a major assumption that the audience will swallow the whole thing without automatically referencing other shows that they may have watched, and that's where everything begins to fall apart.
Storytelling is, after all, an art form, and a good writer can captivate their audience without overtly referencing where there inspiration came from. Unfortunately the folks behind Guilty Crown appear to have forgotten this simple fact, and it leaves one with the sad realisation that this anime had the potential to be so much more than it is.
Miharu-Kun
With the large amount of Guilty Crown reviews going around lately, It wouldn't be too hard to find a 'decent' review, right? well that's not the case at all, It seems that most of the reviews are either written by blind fan-boys/fan-girls or haters, 10's,9's,4's and 3's seem to be the popular choice of overall rating, though looking at Guilty Crown in a balance way, this anime definitely deserves a 7 and I'll explain why in the next couple of paragraphs which will you most likely will flick through. = Story (3) = If you have been watching Guilty Crown or have seen some of the rantingson the forums, you would know that the story is filled with cliché's and awful execution (for the most part anyway), So I won't go that in-depth to the story, basically just think of it as a mecha-action-supernatural-apocalyptic-drama-comedy-Sci Fi-romance-school-fan service super show.
In other words, Shu (Shuu), your average 16-year-old guy living in a future version of Tokyo get's himself wrapped up in the activities of terrorist group defying the government called Funeral Parlour, he meets the leader Gai, find's out his favourite singer is a member of the group and that the government is corrupt blah blah blah
= Art (10) =
If there's one thing that no one can complain about, I'd say it's the art. Every episode looks of cinematic quality and the character designs are well down as you'd expect from Production I.G and Redjuice (supercell). If there is one thing to fault about the art, I believe it's the design of the apocalypse virus, It just doesn't look like some deadly disease that someone would be afraid of, though that doesn't really matter.
= Sound (9) =
Sound is also a great part of Guilty Crown, the insert music and the OST is brilliant, the first OP 'Euterpe' was only used in the first episode which was disappointing since the second OP which lasted for 11 episodes wasn't hardly as good. The best OP in my opinion and one of my favourite anime openings is the third and last one 'The Everlasting Guilty Crown', It seriously made the other two seem like crap in comparison.
= Character (7.5) =
7.5? That's not even an score according to MAL is what you might say though that's really the only score I can give it, The characters and their developments weren't very good though they weren't just good either, sort of in-between.
The problem with the characters is that they introduced too many too fast, there wasn't really any-time to grow attached to them or even remember some of them at all. You didn't know which ones were supposed to be Minor or Main characters or just background ones in most of the first half.
Another problem was the likeability of the main characters in most of the FIRST HALF, Shu just sit's around most of the time, being a indecisive, annoying loser. Gai was just emotionless (for the most part) and all Inori could do was use the power of singing(?), provide fan-service and dodge (she might of shot a gun once) but that's it.
Though, (without spoiling anything) In the second half, the main characters had great development.
= Enjoyment (7) =
Enjoyment levels really depend on how serious you take Guilty Crown, don't go into the series expecting a masterpiece because you will most definitely be disappointed and hating on it. Though if you are a simple person (no offence) and just like your anime with ton's of great looking action scenes and a little bit of everything rolled in one (even if the result is total mess) then you will obviously enjoy the series a lot more.
= Overall (7) =
Overall, Guilty Crown is definitely not a masterpiece, though it does NOT deserve the crap reputation it gets, sure the story becomes screwed up beyond repair with the can of cliché's they sprung at you each episode and the character development doesn't really start until halfway through the series, what really matters at the end of the day is how much the viewer enjoys the anime, people will hate, like or love GC and that's their opinion just as this review gives my opinion, I don't really care about the 'helpful' or 'not helpful' clicks, as long as my review isn't buried so deep that it can't be of at least some help to the many users who are looking for a new anime to enjoy, and that's the whole point of reviews, to help people decide whether a anime would be to their liking or not.
Aria_Wright
Cliches. What anime nowadays doesn't have cliched moments? In my opinion, using cliches isn't that bad. That is, when it's not overdone and poorly used. Guilty Crown is the perfect example of an interesting premise going wrong. It is a very formulatic show : following every damn cliches in anime history. It seems Production I.G tried really hard to make something revolutionary. It is revolutionary ; this anime completely changed my opinion of what a poorly written plot is. And not only the plot, the characters are mostly one-dimensional, and some of them bipolar. First of all, the story is just plain uninteresting. It's mostly a mash-upof every cliches the team behind the production could find. I mean, couldn't they come up with something more original than the usual "boy meets girl who grants him power. (Actually, she carries the power, but it's pretty much the same thing.)" And then, the main character, Shu, joins some resistance team to go against the government. This sounds fine and all, but we've never got to know the motive of the resistance group. Why did they go against the government? What was the point, exactly? Especially after the first half of the show, it seems like the resistance group thing was dropped because I.G ran out of ideas and tried to take another direction. Now, we're presented with some episode trying to be overly symbolic a la Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it failed epicly. Not only was the whole thing pulled out of nowhere, it transitioned to the worst part of the story. Let me remind you, the beginning of the anime was about a corrupt government abusing their powers; a problem on a national scale. In the second half, it's about a school (with no teachers apparently) in crisis, trying to escape the zone they're isolated in, or they'll die. It's hard to take a show seriously when it takes another direction that is completely different, in a bad way. Overall, the story did not satisfy me, and I really doubt the remaining episodes will do Guilty Crown justice.
I find it very ironic that some episodes are rushed, yet I.G still managed to pull off a BEACH episode in a supposedly "serious" plot. Atleast perverts got what they wanted.
Now, let's talk about the so called "void" power Shu has. The power itself is very interesting, I mean, extracting weapons and tools out of a person's body, and the tool/weapon representing their personality, who thought of that? The problem is that the power is FILLED with inconsistencies. Let me begin with how the power is convenient, up until the second half of the anime, every tool/weapon Shu would draw in a difficult situation would be JUST THE RIGHT THING to deal with it. Every time Shu would draw out a void, it could be convenient for the situation and would get him out of that difficult situation easily. That is the perfect example of what a deus ex machina is, used in a bad way. Of course, Gai has the power to see people's void. How did he get that power? No one knows. It just sounds like a convenient excuse used as a plot device because the writers have no idea how to make a progress a plot correctly. The second inconsistency is people fainting from void extraction. Basically, when a void is extracted out of a person's body, they faint out of "shock". Now for the inconsistency, sometimes people faint, sometimes they don't. There is NO explanation as to why they sometimes do and don't. I heard some people claim that when Shu held someone's hand while having their void extracted, it would prevent them from fainting, but I do remember times where he held their hand and they fainted anyway. It seems like the power wasn't explained because what if the writers run out of ideas again? They'd probably add another unforeshadowed element to voids and we, as watchers, will be forced to accept it.
Also, why the fuck can Shu only extract voids from people under 17 years old?
To go back to the one-dimensional characters, I believe Shu and Inori are the WORST PROTAGONISTS to EVER exist. To this day, I still laugh at the interview where I.G claimed that they wanted Shu to be the new Shinji Ikari.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.... Are you fucking kidding me? Shu is just your average pussy character that doesn't want to hurt people, even though they are killing without remorse and hesitation. I.G tried to make a character full of flaws with no real strength. They succeeded, but no way in hell is that close to be a realistic character. It's not that he doesn't want to hurt people, he's just scared. What a lame protagonist, right? Never once does he really change, his personality is and always be that of the average useless main character. And in the second half of the show, his personality takes a sudden 180. I'm sorry, I.G, but people don't instantly change like that, this character is a complete joke.
Inori, on the other hand, has no personality. Or too many. She behaves in a different way in every episode, it's really strange. At first, she completely depends on Gai, but suddenly decides to switch to Shu. I don't understand exactly why she's so dependent on people, since we've almost never seen her take a decision herself.
I won't continue talking about characters because honestly... I have no clue about them and their motives or whatever. Especially the "villains".
I.G can be praised for two things about Guilty Crown. First the animation and art, done by Redjuice, are excellent. The animation is realistic, with a somewhat dark mood attached to it. In my opinion, it's pretty solid, very fluid, I don't remember seeing many repeated frames, and animation quality was consistent in every episode. Still, the style itself is pretty generic and isn't memorable. Same thing applies to the background animation. The details are amazing, I.G really did put a lot of work into the animation. (I wish they had done the same thing with the story.) Personally, I really liked the metal-like effect when a void is being extracted. It's pretty cool.
Music is quite good. I personaly really like the second opening by EGOIST, which is essentially supercell. The animation of the opening sequences are well done, although the moments in the anime don't really seem to happen in the story. The background music is also very fitting and helps deliver the mood of the show.
In the end, do I enjoy Guilty Crown? Yes. Guilty Crown is a very enjoyable anime, there are a lot of action scenes, animation is amazing and so is the music. Story is still terrible though.
stoicspoon
The first few episodes had some problems, but nothing unforgivable, and the show actually seemed really awesome at first. There was so much they could do in the world they had set up. Would the main character become a cunning LeLouche? Perhaps a brave Suzaku? Will we identify with his teen angst like we do with Shinji? Will he seem human? The answer to all of these questions ends up being "no." The main character is someone you increasingly dislike as the show goes on. Not only is he generic, he's a bad execution of the generic shonen protagonist. He doesn't feel very human, and his courage &competency literally manifest only as required by the plot, only to disappear immediately afterwards.
Sadly, despite an A-list team and a huge budget they really just made an unbelievably bad series. I can't understand how this could have happened. Even mediocre garbage like Symphogear told a more emotional story, and that show was butchered by a huge budget-cut (and a much worse premise, honestly).
Fairly early on you start feeling a sense of disappointment as they layer on extremely generic "twists" that the main character literally cuts through with a magic sword.
The worst part of this show rears its head mid-way through, but it becomes especially prominent in the second half. I am referring to the fact that people change sides without ANY reason to do so, only to change back later without any serious reasons for their actions. The worst example of this by far is the student council president.
It's my guess that the flailing writers looked for any opportunity to inject some kind of pathos into a story that is honestly much to happy for its apocalyptic setting. "Why don't we have his mom help the bad guys for a while?" "Oh yeah! Awesome! The audience will be shocked!"
So many of these twists end up half-baked. Mana's character is a particularly strange creation, honestly. Who came up with the idea to add in all the (barely avoided) creepy incest and rape to a show that is already struggling to tell a convincing story about geopolitics? Not to mention the plague that turns people into crystals. Not to mention the terrorist v.s. government war. Not to mention the other sub-plots that get forgotten until the last episode clumsily ties everything together with a big "reset" button after a boring "final battle" influenced by strange forces never explained.
Not only does an abundance of cheese-ball dialogue ruin the mood on the few truly dramatic scenes, but the writers lacked the balls to really hit us with anything big. The audience never feels much when people die, because the people that die are almost exclusively fodder.
There was one exception to this, but it felt really artificial. It was a terrible 3-episode mini-arc where the main character ends up killing the sibling of his friend, but special circumstances removed all the moral questions in this case. Why not make your main character kill a friend who wasn't already about to die? It worked in Evangelion. Twice in-fact.
Even the action - which should be the one area this show simply cannot fail on - is often really simplistic and boring. If you compare the knightmare suits duels from Geass to the mech battles here, it's just pathetic. Not that these battles ever end up mattering, since the entire show is setup to allow the main character to save everyone repeatedly.
If they had just stopped trying to layer on really shallow twists and developed the core Japan v.s. The World narrative a little more, putting Shu in a moral dilemma regarding Gai's ultimate actions, and dropped the character Mana entirely then this would have been a much better story.
Watch it for yourself. Maybe with low expectations you will enjoy it as a "pretty mess" as some have suggested. As for me, I can't see myself ever recommending it to anyone after this post. It's a cautionary tale for writers, perhaps, but beyond that it has little value.
We all weep for the show that COULD have been. What a waste.
BloodRequiem
When I saw Guilty Crown on the preview list with the synopsis and the production team, I thought this was it. I thought that this would be an anime that would save the industry. Guess what? I was right. After all if you cannot be a good example, then you will just have to be a terrible warning. Lets get to the good points. Art. It is Production I.G we are talking about here. Even the haters have to agree that the art is amazing. The animations were fluid and detailed. The character designs are appealing as well. The only problemis the uninteresting mecha designs though lets be honest, there are only a few ways that you can draw a giant robot. It is obvious that they spent a large part of their budget in this department. The music is beautiful too except for some engrish and the fact that sometimes the music does not really match the mood of a particular scene.
Oh boy, it is time for the bad stuff; namely the plot. Now I am not going to say that the premises is a copy of Code Geass or anything like that because there is no problem exploring a concept that has been done before. It does become a problem, however, when a previously explored concept is horribly executed. The writers wants you to take the show seriously but it is especially hard to do that when hardly anything follows logic along with the lack of consistency and cohesion of the story. To me it just seemed like the authors all got together and wrote 50 plot progressions and added them into a box. Before every episode they draw one out of the box and say "this is what today's episode is going to be about". This sort of progression leaves little to no explanation nor even any information for the viewer to infer what is happening. Surprisingly the producers think they have enough time to produce a beach episode which again makes me unable to take this show seriously.
The character is another aspect of this anime that made it not enjoyable for me. None of the protagonists' nor the antagonists' motives are explored other than the generic good guys versus the bad guys black and white conflict. The bad guys kill people and the good guys are the heroes of justice oppressed and hunted down by the bad guys. With the inconsistencies of personalities and sudden illogical character "development", it is hard to even give a damn about the characters. The special ability of the protagonist is basically a Deus ex machina used for plot convenience. Coupled with several layers of plot armour that protects the protagonists just makes the characters that much more uninteresting.
With the huge budget, superb production team, and the so called golden time slot given to this show, it pains me physically to see it become the train wreck that is Guilty Crown. Perhaps through a modicum of sadism that exists in every human being, I decided to savor every aspect of its shortcoming by finishing the show; despite all the crap that was thrown at me since episode 3. All in all it seemed to me that 80% of the budget was spent on art and music and a janitor was hired to write the plot. The flashy action scenes and music basically carried this show. At the end of the day I just cannot decide whether or not this is an anime or just a new form of advertisement for promoting Supercell's songs.
NeverKnowsBest26
Guilty Crown belongs to what could possibly be the most frustrating of shows: ones which are well produced but poorly executed. Sharp visuals and a strong soundtrack are always a plus. However, they don't compensate for haphazard writing and overly hammy direction. Guilty Crown suffers from both of these. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Japan, that is ridden with a deadly disease after a catastrophe called Lost Christmas. The nation has been taken over by militarists in order to supposedly prevent the spread of the disease. Shu is a normal high school student, going about his life adhering to the status quo. That isuntil gets involved with Inori, the lead singer of the music sensation Egotist, and member of the resistance group Funeral Parlor. Shu then finds himself in the middle of the action, gaining the power to draw items called 'voids' from the hearts of other people. All he wants is to get back to his normal life, but circumstances keep pushing him back into the conflict, which goes deeper than he ever imagined; holding the fate of the human species in the balance.
Now, admittedly the premise sounds pretty intriguing , and could have actually made for something pretty compelling... that is if the writing was any good. Unfortunately, it is not. It is bad. It is really bad. The plot is just overflowing with silly cliches. Whether it be the action-pack conflict or Shu's mundane school life, the plot consists of retreaded and uninspired material; to the point of being laughably obnoxious. When it is not wallowing in cliches, the story takes some ridiculous and downright asinine twists. It is as if the writers didn't know where they wanted the story to go, and were pulling ideas out of their butts as the story went on. Sure, there are somethings that are foreshadowed and some characters whose roles don't become clear until far into the story; but honestly the reasoning behind them is just so flimsy and often make minimal sense, if any at all. This all leads up to an ending which is completely unsatisfying, even for those who enjoyed the show.
The cast for this show is just as unorganized as the plotting. Shu isn't exactly a terrible lead, he is just exceedingly bland. All that could really be said about him is that he has a kind heart and struggles under pressure, because he spends majority of the show looking like a sad wet puppy following the ideas of everyone but himself. Now, it is clear that the creators meant him to change from this wimpy kid into a mature young man, which would have been perfectly fine if his character development wasn't so forced that it feels hollow and insincere. The rest of the cast is no better, if anything they are far worse. Leading lady Inori has next to no personality at all. Besides her striking look, she is hopelessly dull; nothing more than a glorified plot devise. That the show is intent on forcing viewers to sympathize with her helps nothing. Funeral Parlor leader Gai likewise has inconsistent characterization. This is especially true for the latter half, where his motives are largely unclear at first; then become utterly contrived in an attempt to make his actions sympathetic at the series end. The other characters are barely worth mentioning and all into simple archetypes such as the fiery Ayase, spunky Tsugumi, psychotic Daryl, etc. This over-sized cast eats up eats up the running time, while providing little in way of substance.
Director Araki Tetsurou previously did good work with the wickedly exhilarating Death Note and stupidly fun Highschool of the Dead, and manages to breathe at least some life into this dreck. If nothing else, the action sequences in Guilty Crown are energetic. There are some moments that will certainly get the adrenaline rushing and are very well animated. If only Tetsurou directed the shows dramatic moments as well as its action; he has always had a penchant for over-the-top drama, and that does not work in favor of this series. Often quite drama is the most effective and the most compelling; Guilty Crown doesn't understand this, its drama is constantly heavy-handed and overwrought. Moments that might have been interesting in theory are completely ruined because of how overblown the show is dramatically. It is as if the show decided to supplement plot and characterization by making this as dramatic as possible, it does not work.
As previously mentioned, the show is strong as far as visuals go. The landscapes alone look quite something to behold. The futuristic cities look fantastic, but also fittingly oppressive under the military rule. The otherworldly fields of crystals seen throughout the show are a dazzling sight, despite their rather ominous role in the plot. Likewise, character designs are striking and attractive; once again anime has brought us into a world occupied by gorgeous, or at least above average, looking people. Inori is particularly eye catching in her more often than not revealing outfits; as is the inexplicably cat-themed Tsugumi. The animation usually looks great, at times it is rough around the edges, but that is expected for a TV anime; and it comes in full force when it is time to show off. The music is, of course, also well produced and nice to listen to. Whether it actually fits is up in the air, as the soundtrack features a ridiculous number of insert songs. At times it can be very effective in setting the mood of a scene, but other times it sounds silly and feels out of place.
In the end, Guilty Crown is a big, loud, glossy mess. The show provides plenty of eye-candy and some nice tunes, but falls flat on its face where it really matters. The plot is wildly confused and constantly tripping over itself. The characters are poorly developed and largely irrelevant. Honestly, there isn't very many reasons to watch this. Sure, it is very pretty on the surface, but underneath the decadent facade it is completely empty.
miathetiger
Re-edit 2 years after watching the show! Story 9/10 The amazing part about it is that they'd leave you with more questions every time they offer some hint. And they do it little by little. Too bad that people never cared to look into it. Art 9/10 It was wonderful in most episodes, but some were sloppy (e.g. ep 21). The character designs are great. By the way, there are very specific reasons why they made Inori wear those outfits other than the fan-service.Sound
9/10
The OP/ED's are real monster. What's more, they're perfect fits for GC. Departures is singing of the people who died from FP's struggle for freedom (though nominally it seems like a love song). TEGC is singing of hope, one of the bigger themes explored during the latter 11 episodes. EGOIST continues to release songs for other anime. These also often make references to the story of GC.
The soundtracks are also nice, though now thinking back it doesn't feel so special compared to other recent anime (soundtracks are pretty big these days)
Character
8/10
Pretty amazing. Inori's personal growth occurs just about on every episode.
As for Shu.. the story would've been meaningless had he not survived at the end. The whole point was that he would grow into a person who isn't so easily influenced by the thoughts of those around him, and killing him off would've denied that purpose.
Enjoyment
10/10
You know, this anime is like a hidden gem that you'd never discover unless you were a diligent miner..
Overall
10/10
I think that people should've hated this show less and actually gave it a chance. And by giving a chance I actually mean to watch carefully for character/plot development rather than nit-picking.
Eva1936
Truly original anime concepts are rather hard to come by these days, for a variety of reasons. For one, simple formulaic concepts are much easier to produce and usually cater to a wider demographic. Reason two being that the anime industry is an incredibly fragile business in terms of profit, meaning that risks that should be taken, or unfortunately shafted in favor of simpler anime. However, there is one reason that stands out above all, a general lack in inspiration. Pouring in countless amounts of influences and concepts from highly acclaimed anime of the past in order to create something unique is common ground. However,anime such as Guilty Crown use these influences and concepts and jumbles them up into an incoherent mess of an anime, complete with extremely high production values to please the audience.
Guilty Crown’s influences seem to plague the anime more than enhance its concepts. Taking place in Tokyo 10 years after the “Lost Christmas” incident, Guilty Crown seems to have taken some cues from Neon Genesis Evangelion in terms of its setting, leading to an obvious originality issue. An ordinary (yet obviously troubled) high school student named Shu Ouma eventually finds his way into a rebellion group named “Funeral Parlor” who seek to usurp the totalitarian government now running Japan, the GHQ. This story element was clearly influenced by Code Geass and even approaches copying it during certain scenes in the anime. Guilty Crown’s influences make the anime much harder to take seriously, as the concepts the show adapts are from anime that did a much better job of executing these concepts.
The plot eschews any sense of realism, instead adding needless drama and more opportunities for dues ex machina, thus making the plot come off as contrived and nonsensical. The plot adapts more and more story elements as it goes along leading to many inconsistencies and plot holes without any coherent explanations for these changes. Sometimes, these changes suit the plot quite well and the anime benefits from a change in pace. However, one change in particular is absolutely jarring as the show takes a darker route in order to keep the suspense factor up, but it only comes off as laughable and unnecessary. Guilty Crown tries so hard to make the audience take it seriously, but the dialogue and scenarios come off as angst-ridden and over the top at times. Guilty Crown’s plot and execution are too far off base for it to be taken as anything more than it is, making it a huge let-down despite occasional moments of clarity.
Guilty Crown’s characters suffer the same issues that the plot does. The leading and supporting characters are full of clichés and elements from other anime and thus aren’t compelling individuals. Protagonist Shu Ouma often comes off as angsty and annoying and goes through an erratic spell of character development that will only make the audience sympathize even less with him. “Funeral Parlor” member/idol singer/mysterious waif Inori suffers from an inherent lack of a personality, as well as a lack of character and motivation. “Funeral Parlor” leader Gai is basically an even more twisted Lelouch vi Britannia. The supporting characters are hardly worth mentioning as they are simply anime character archetypes.
Fortunately there are a few areas where Guilty Crown excels in, namely in its production. Guilty Crown deserves top honors in the production department, featuring fluid character animation, high-quality art designs, and a really good soundtrack to round out the package. All of these components add up to make a rather entertaining anime, despite its many flaws in the writing and character department. The opening sequences by supercell and Egoist respectively are well-done and were made with a grand production in both music and display. The ending sequences, performed by supercell, are similarly well produced anime ballads. In other words, Guilty Crown’s production is amazing and they took much more time refining this aspect than in regards to storytelling and character development.
It’s actually rather sad that an anime with such good production values and potential falls flat on its face. Guilty Crown is essentially this tragedy personified, as it honestly could have been something so much more than it turned out to be. Lost in a mess of misapplied concepts and influences, Guilty Crown was truly a disappointment.
6/10
BrentoLand
“The right to use my friend as a weapon. That is the sinful crown I shall adorn.” Intro: Whether you like it or not, opinions from others can affect an experience. This can also become apparent when you watch an anime. If you hear negative opinions, you end up going in with low expectations and you might enjoy it more. Set your expectations too high, and you end up disappointed. Today I’ll be reviewing Guilty Crown, an anime that was really freaking popular back in 2011. But unfortunately back then I wasn’t into anime so after hearing generally mixed opinions about it, I decided to checkit out for myself. So was it a decent anime or does it completely crash and burn? Well let’s find out.
Story: The story of Guilty Crown takes place in the year 2039 in Japan. 10 years prior an apocalyptic event known as Lost Christmas spread a cancerous disease known as the Apocalypse Virus throughout Japan. Since then Japan has relied on a multinational organization called the GHQ to get them out of these hard times. The GHQ however does not care about Japan or its people and use the Apocalypse Virus as an excuse to slaughter innocent civilians. A rebellion organization named Funeral Parlor was created in order to free Japan from the grip of the GHQ while saving the people of Japan in the process.
I’ll be honest, the story in Guilty Crown is a complete and utter mess. The plot comes off as jumbled and confusing. And the story is full of clichés and terribly written plot points. It gets worse in the second half when the story has ass pulls so big I’m pretty sure the story was left with an asshole the size of the Mariana Trench. I thought that the story had a lot of potential with its plot set up but it completely fails to capitalize on it. Most of the time it just leaves you feeling confused and to an extent you might even start to get pissed off at the show. I feel that the story in Guilty Crown tries to cram too many elements together leaving you in a state of confusion throughout the story. This is one of the many weak points that Guilty Crown has. And trust me, not just its story has problems.
Characters: The main character for Guilty Crown is Shu Ouma, a normal 17 year old highschool student who ends up right in the middle of the conflict once he obtains the mysterious and supernatural power know has the Guilty Crown. This power gives him the ability to extract a person’s “Void”. A “Void” can best be described as a physical manifestation of a person’s heart. He is then recruited into Funeral Parlor so he can help bring an end to this war.
Now the Guilty Crown power that Shu obtains is where some of the plot holes come up. It helps create what is known as Deus Ex Machina writing. For the uninformed, Deus Ex Machina writing is defined as:
“A plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object. Depending on how it is done, it can be intended to move the story forward when the writer has "painted himself into a corner" and sees no other way out, to surprise the audience, to bring a happy ending into the tale, or as a comedic device.”
So you have a door that needs to be opened? Look, conveniently there’s a Void that can do that! What’s that? We’re all about to die? How can we be saved from that? Let’s just fuse Voids together! The Guilty Crown even has rules and limits to its power. But those rules and limits don’t apply to it when the plot demands it. This is something that infuriated me when I was watching this at first. The lack of consistency holds the story back.
I’ve noticed that when people talk about the characters in Guilty Crown, most of them don’t like Shu as a character. Everyone complains that he’s too weak or indecisive making him one of their least favorite characters. Now while I agree that these are some of Shu’s flaws, I didn’t hate him. Hell I thought he was a great character. While yes he has these issues, I was actually able to relate to him and some of the social problems that he has. There were times where I could see why he was acting weak or indecisive and I didn’t hate him for it. Shu gets plenty of development in the second half of the show, even though for a short period of time in the second half he becomes an unlikable prick. So unlike most people I found Shu to be a good main character and he ended up being my favorite in the show.
Inori is the name for our female lead in Guilty Crown. She is known to be a famous pop singer in Japan and I have one word to describe her: Lifeless. She basically has the personality of a cardboard box crossed with Kirsten Dunst. I DID NOT LIKE HER. Throughout the entirety of Guilty Crown she has almost no point. Inori basically serves as a plot device to give Shu motivation for the second half of the show. The romance between Shu and Inori felt forced and awkward and as a whole unsatisfying. It just goes to show that even though you’re hot as hell, it doesn’t make up for the fact that you have no personality.
The last main character is Gai. Gai is the leading member of Funeral Parlor and he actually showed promise in the beginning episodes of the anime. But once we get to the second half of Guilty Crown, he becomes the embodiment of Deus ex Machina writing. What happens with him in the second half is considered to be the worst part of Guilty Crown’s story. This caused him to be one of my least favorite characters in this anime.
Actually the characters in Guilty Crown are one of its major problems. Guilty Crown tends to introduce a lot of characters at once and gives them all little to no development whatsoever. In fact I find it hard to actually remember a lot of the side characters names, even when I was watching the show. I just gave them nicknames like Asshole, Comic Relief, Cat Girl, and Slut. The only character that I felt got enough character development for me to like them was Shu. The characters were a definite disappointment in Guilty Crown. I wish some of them got more development then they did. Then maybe they would be good characters. Or maybe if some of these side characters served a point. This is one of Guilty Crown’s biggest weakpoints.
Animation: One of the things in Guilty Crown that I will give universal praise, is the animation. The animation is BEAUTIFUL. Production I.G. did a truly amazing job with Guilty Crown. The animation is consistently great looking. The character designs, the movement, the colors, the action sequences, everything is visually appealing and there are little to no errors with consistency throughout.
Guilty Crown was directed by Tetsurō Araki, who is most well-known for directing shows like Death Note, Highschool of the Dead, and Attack on Titan. And just like the shows I mentioned, Guilty Crown has amazing action scenes. The points in Guilty Crown where I had the most fun were definitely the action scenes. The combination of animation and music made them my favorite part of the anime. It is probably one of the reasons people watched this anime in the first place. The animation is a definite strong point for the anime and I can’t praise it enough.
Sound: Speaking of the music. THE MUSIC. Throughout all of Guilty Crown I never had one problem with the music. Guilty Crown’s soundtrack is filled with powerful songs for both the action and the story heavy scenes. Upon watching Guilty Crown, its soundtrack quickly crawled up into my favorite anime OST’s of all time. The music is overall amazing.
Guilty Crown has recently gotten a DUB by FUNimation. The English DUB and Japanese DUB are both very well done. I would even consider this one of the best DUBs FUNimation has ever done. Austin Tindle does a fantastic job playing the role of Shu, making him sound nervous but also confident when he has to. While I didn’t like Inori, Alexis Tipton did a great job portraying her character. In fact the only character that seemed to be off in the DUB is Monica Rial as Tsugumi. Overall the DUB is great and I would recommend either the SUB or the DUB to anyone wanting to watch the show. You guys are good with either one.
Enjoyment: Judging by the large amount of bitching I’ve done throughout this review, you would assume that I hated Guilty Crown. Well actually it was the opposite, I loved Guilty Crown. You see before watching it, I heard generally mixed to negative things about Guilty Crown. So I went into it with low expectations. Due to this I was able to enjoy it more than others. Yes the story and characters were pissing me off. But once I got to around the halfway point, I decided to stop taking them seriously and I had a much better time because of it. I believe that if you want to truly enjoy Guilty Crown you need to accept it for what it is, pure entertainment. I believe you will have a much better time doing so. I know I did. Hell, I’m pretty sure that’s what most people who enjoy Guilty Crown did. My recommendation is to just shut your brain off and enjoy it for what it is.
Conclusion: Guilty Crown is an anime filled with problems. A plot filled with holes and ass pulls, some uninspiring characters, and serious writing issues. But Guilty Crown is saved by its amazing animation and music, a fantastic DUB, and just being all around entertaining show. Guilty Crown is not for everyone, but if you don’t take the story and characters seriously, you might find a show worth watching. I give Guilty Crown a final score of: 8/10
xbobx
"There are no innocents fighting a war" specially when it comes to the front line. If you are fighting, you're fight for an ideal, fighting to protect the lives of the ones you cherish, but in order to do it you're ceasing the lives of those who oppose you. Inevitably, together with it comes a feeling that question if what you are doing is right or is wrong. This feeling is called Guilt. The main focus of this anime. This review will follow a different approach than the majority here. Trying to present a different viewpoint. Anybody who searches through reviews will noticed that a lot of people gave prettylow scores to this series, and even lower to its story. Why is it? There will never be a consensus, since each reviewer have a personal interpretation of the matter, however, I strongly believe these scores results from a unexpected complexity of the storyline, not common to action animes.
From the surface, Guilty Crown seems just like any other action/battle shounen series, the first episodes will really remind -those who watched- of a certain series that also has mecha and this genetic/genome element on it. However, as the story progresses it becomes clear that its storyline is way denser and heavier than it appears to be. If it happened to disappoint so many people, this is because it was badly driven and poorly organized at critical turning points, but it certain had the elements to be a masterpiece.
This is something to give credit for.
Another common complain is its ending. This review won't touch this matter. It's unreasonable to blame the series for not making the ending you wanted. It wasn't a ambiguous neither a vague ending, so there are no complains towards it.
Many people misinterpret what this anime really is about. It isn't a romance, neither a adventure, it's far from it. Interesting that some OST gives a clue of its true motivators, and yet, many seems to not get it. (Listen to the OST -Ready To Go)
Guilty Crown is about how a society can go to ruin when a crisis appears, how power can corrupt, the importance of friends, and specially, family. One can simply watch it for the battle scenes (worth mention: their background music was really well elaborated) but should have in mind the story isn't simple as a swordplay like that.
The reason why Guilty Crown story collapses on itself is the amount of different elements presented in a short period of time. Imagine a book series. One of those trilogies that each book have more than 500 pages, no pictures, and a heavy built background story. Now take everything and compress into a 22 episode anime series. There is no way it would have room for everything. Guilty Crown tries to tell a entire saga from it's birth, through its glory and till its fall. New action and thrilling elements are introduced non-stop to a point the viewer starts to question what is all that about anyway, and this is where Production I.G lost it.
The big mystery, the key for the story, was perfectly and cleverly elaborated, hidden from the beginning till the end and when it was time for the curtain to fall, it closed up with a grand-finally that just a few could say they saw it coming.
However, while the writers were focusing into elaborating this solo segment of the story, they complete piece was running towards a dead end, with a absurd amount of loose ends and continuation mistakes. In order to save it, they manipulated the original structure of the characters, performing a completely change of ideology and personality of some of them. This, not the story, ruined Guilty Crown's kingdom.
This sudden change in some characters is what did the most impact on this show dignity. People sure change as time goes by, and some tragic or happy events can also make their feelings and attitudes to change. However, nobody goes through a complete ethical and moralistic meltdown from the night to day, neither someone can recover from days of suffering in a blink of an eye. Perhaps if the second arc of the anime was divided from its main piece as a second season, it would be easier to swallow, but the way it was done, doesn't mater how you see it, it's too abrupt. -Dear Production I.G, just one "breather episode" (ep.13) can't possibly be enough to shoulder a change like that.
Also, interesting to mention, Shu -our protagonist- isn't the "hero" of the series. The character that holds this significance is another, but in order to now spoil it, I'll void its name. Shu, instead, is the figure of the anti-hero. That is why it's correct to expect from him some attitudes he took, and that is also why some changes in his character are acceptable. He drives away from the pattern of shounen's heroes. Where the protagonist "seeks power to protect", he is afraid of it, is insecure, childish and lacks of determination. If Guilty Crown has any of originality on it, it's right on this topic.
Even though, the OST makes up for this series. The reason why I can give it a solid 8 is because of the magnificent job that was done regarding the sound production. From all the little blasts or fire effects to complex insert songs, they all sounded real, equating to a cinematographic production. These insert song, themselves holds an important meaning on the story and also works as a breather for action-packed scenes.
The reason why the enjoyment reached a fair score was also due to the pieces chosen for some key scenes. Strong operas at some parts, along with epic fast-paced drum & bass, and even some classic-style compositions, turns the entire sound division an pleasure to listen.
I prefer to consider Guilty Crown as a deviant series. Not for what is on its surface, neither for its concept. But for hidden aspects of the show. First, some subtle dark humor in the villains dialogue aligned to a curious irony in some episodes and twists of the story. Second, for the way it manages to be eccentric at times but still don't loose its main characteristics as a "battle shounen". The final couple of episodes brings ideological senses with a "sweet" sarcasm that you gotta be courageous to try it. That conflict of what is sick and what is beautiful contrascenes with what is right and what is wrong.
It is the most honest truth say this series is fascinating. Fascinating, and this is it.
It failed in so many aspects it becomes hard to give it a higher score. However, it is entertaining, have some alluring elements -I'm not talking about Inori (...) Or maybe I am?- and ends the game with a interesting plot twist plus a acceptable epilogue.
At least, I'm glad this didn't end up being a 200 eps. anime.
Numeric score: Story 10 - Art 8 - Sound 10 - Character 4 - Enjoyment 7 - Overall 8.
(You know you can see it by clicking the hyperlink where it says "overall" right?)
Putting it simply. Definitely worth watching for its uniqueness. For being... Exceptionally ordinary.
no0neknows
Guilty Crown is a very good example of a anime that throws away the potential originality, in favor of generic action tropes and overdone characterization also a cluster of big budgets, big ideas, many cliches, often bad execution, and a truly horrible fanbase. It uses asspull after asspull and wasn't enjoyable enough for them to be overlooked. The characters were bland and only a few were even slightly likable(Dan, Hare, Cripple, etc), it used every anime cliche in the book, the plot was beyond generic, and it obviously took from other anime without fully understanding what made them good in the first place. The part ofthe show where Shu is basically king of the school should have been pretty much the entire anime. That arc had tension, politics, polarizing debate, stuff to really make the show interesting and keep its viewers intrigued. The unique concepts the anime had were used well here. Fuck Gai, fuck Funeral Parlour, it was an entirely wasted 10 episodes in the long run. I honestly, honestly can't believe the writers thought they were making the next GiTS when they were writing that abortion.
From there on It isn't coherent, the character development is flawed, they didn't answer all questions and Inori has almost no personality. I dislike almost everything about Guilty crown but I kinda of liked the end. Everything I felt...it was not for Guilty Crown itself. Just the end. It was remotely nice and kinda bitter sweet. So that's why I'd give it a 4 instead a 1.
ThePhantomWeasel
This show is had some very strong points in the first half, but then it just went downhill and got lost up its own butt. It looks like it was meant to end in episode 12. Its the second half where everything falls apart. I will try to do this without a wall of text. So I will just mention some things about it that are impossible to ignore. First things first, Inori is an awful character. Are we supposed to like her because she has pink hair? She has no personality, she mumbles and never shows any spark or smile. Not even one screamor outburst of anger, not one cocky comment. No she just mumbles and whispers. Some idiots and writers want to pretend that boring people are cool, they aren't. She acts the way your already SHY girlfriend behaved when she first met your parents. She is never relaxed, she never laughs or smiles. This character is always gloomy, skulking and sulking around, but she has pink hair!
Then there is the awful fan service. This anime has the worst fan service I have ever seen, bar none. In the most serious of moments they have to show you tits! Shu's stepmom's tits rubbing against his face when they are together. The wheelchair girl is in danger of dying, best zoom in the camera to her super enormous wobbling tits! The world is falling apart and people are crying...guess what? TITS! Tits are often shoved in your face at the same time something serious is happening. I hate fan service, but I get that some perverts like it. So if you're going to do cringy things like fan service and not do it tastefully at least do it when its time for a joke, or a funny scene.
The main villain? What? Who? Was it the virus/entity? His dad? The commander? The commander's son? Shu's frenemies? Shu's enemies? Shu's friends? The timer keeper? Shu's sister? Guy? I have no idea what in the world I just got myself to watch.
CynicalPessimist
The most hyped show of 2011, but is all the hype worth it? To be blunt, no and if you can't see that you probably haven't absorbed a lot of media or you are a twelvie. Story: 5/10- interesting, but poorly executed. Neon Genesis Evangelion + Code Geass + darker than black + a hole lot of S*** = Guilty Crown This show tried it’s absolute hardest to steal from other anime whether it be the seemingly pointless episodic structure of Darker than Black, the group of freedom fighters led by an anti-hero in Code Geass and if I mention the numerous Neon Genesis Evangelion references throughoutthe show it would spoil a lot of the plot, so I wont. It also has every single generic episode in the book such as the swimsuit episode, the ship/cruise episode and what a surprise it's based in a highschool! Japan, you sure like your schools, dont you?
Another thing to note about this anime is it’s writing, which feels a lot like fan-fiction, and not your good kind of fan-fiction written by someone who is actually passed there English classes in school, I mean the fan-fiction written by unpopular fourteen year old girls who think they have a good grasp on love even though they have never felt it. A true shame considering if this show had done the story or the characters right they would have had quite a good anime on there hands. However the show does have an "interesting" premise even If it is wishy-washy eighty percent of the time so, to sum up, this show puts the “corn” in corny and can only be watched with your brain turned off (figuratively).
Art and Animation 9/10:
This show has created a phenomenon that I like to call the “Guilty Crown Effect” (everything sounds better if you add “effect” to the end of it). This is when a show has amazing animation and art but awful characters and story and somehow manages to get fan-boys/girls screaming about how amazing EVERYTHING is. Getting back on topic, the art is crisp and the animation is in my opinion, the best of its time. It also avoids lazy animating such as making the background or scenery move instead of the characters, moving the bodies slowly up and down to simulate walking or my personal favourite, moving the camera to a spot which would require less animation which is something that one show it copied is quite famous for.
Music 10/10:
The best part of the show, it created some feeling to scenes that would normally warrant no feeling from me, which, was to be expected after seeing Ryo and Supercell were working on this project. If you don’t know Supercell is a group that have created many catchy and famous Hatsune Miku songs such as Black Rock Shooter, Odds and Ends and World is mine and have also written music for Claris (Mahou Shoujo Madocka Magica) and Kotoko (Shakugan no Shana, Ano Natsu de Matteru). In short the openings and endings are catchy and contain smarter writing than the show itself.
Characters 4/10:
Shu: A wannabee Shinji who just runs away for half of this show and magically dodges bullets because getting hit by bullets is only for hipster protagonists or something. He occasionally shows moments of badassness but when it happens it feels extremely shallow and just happens for the show to move forward. He is relate-able for a large amount of teenagers at the start of the show and is constantly trying to be Gai.
Inori: soft spoken and cute so basically top-tier waifu material. She is another badass who likes to shoot guns and is probably a gymnast as she can do gravity defying flips and dodge bullets. She is as generic as every other character in this show and quite forgettable unless you watch a lot of 18+ material.
Gai: leader of a terrorist group known as funeral parlour, he tries really hard to be Hei from Darker than Black and is your generic badass character. He has no clear motive for leading Funeral Parlour and apparently no one ever questions this.
Personal enjoyment-8/10
I actually liked this show a lot and was a rather quick watch for me. If it wasn’t for the god-awful ending and some other large quarrels with this show it would have been a nine.
Summary
An extremely enjoyable show with poor writing, story and characters. A definite pop-corn flick, but Shingeki no kyojin exists so just go watch that if you want top-tier animation. Now if you will excuse me I have a date with itunes.
~SAO and guilty crown are equal.
lawlmartz
"My Heart is the Worst Kind of Weapon" Preface: Guilty Crown has a bit of a bad rap in the anime community. One side proclaims it as a huge ripoff of popular series like Code Geass and Death Note, and another decries it as a flashy, plot hole and cliche ridden mess with unlikable characters. While I do think that there are very valid criticisms of the plot development and illogical actions taken by the characters, I don't think that it stops this show from being enjoyable. Without further ado: Artwork and Animation: 9I've never been a huge Production IG animation fan, but I have to hand it to them- Guilty Crown looks really good. It's extremely fluid, and the character designs are very reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell. The CGI, while not ufotable quality, is also pretty watchable. It, at least, didn't make me want to vomit. The real beauty in this anime comes from the gorgeous backgrounds and fluidity of character movement. Someone at Production IG studied their physiological kinetics, because the characters move excellently. When they get shot, their limbs hang, they limp appropriately, and the expressions on their faces are pretty human as well.
The animation is overall very consistent, and vibrantly colored in juxtaposition to the dark, brooding atmosphere and backgrounds, particularly in the second half. Characters like Inori, Ayase, and Tsugumi really pop where the others are in drab or black.
There's also the hand of Tetsuro Araki, which is very present in Guilty Crown. His feel for dramatics and excellent use of angles don't go unused here. Long uncut shots, deep sweeps and long pans over extremely fleshed out backgrounds give the show a grandiose feel. Small details like reflections of people's faces in glasses, off windows, and computer screens, along with over the shoulder, or through shots really make the cinematography very movie-like.
There are plenty of enormous, illustriously illustrated backdrops that make for epic setpieces. These coupled with the soundtrack really make for a wowing experience on the audio and visual front.
Sound and Voice Acting: 10
Guilty Crown is a bit experimental in this department. Similarly to how FLCL used one group, The Pillows, to record the entire OST, Hiroyuki Sawano used a group called Supercell (actually inserted and fictionalized in the anime as a musical artist named EGOIST) for the openings, endings, and the insert songs, along with some featured artists. Boy, has he outdone himself this time.
The openings and endings are all four very listenable and enjoyable songs, but the award goes to the song "Bios", with Mika Kobayashi as the featured singer. The reader might recognize her from... I don't know... DOOOOOOOOONT LOOOOOOOOOSE YOUR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!
Bios has all the makings of a 'successful' and well produced atmospheric and mood enhancing song, and it's a shame it's only used as an insert, because it's incredible. It has a lot of uses in the anime however, so no fear.
On an excellent note, the usage of Inori being a main character, and as an embodiment of the Supercell vocalists in the anime really brought the soundtrack to life, in more than one way.
The English casting director did an excellent job matching up Alexis Tipton with Inori. The parts where she's singing and then directly speak are either dubbed absolutely perfectly, or edited to where they flow flawlessly. Her soft voice also fit with the portrayal of Inori very well. Austin Tindle also did good work portraying the progression of weak and shy Shu, then conflicted and commanding Shu.
Characters: 6
Shu Ouma has been called one of the worst shonen protagonists in all of anime. People cite his lack of decisiveness, weakness of character, and generally failing to take charge when necessary, along with his total 180 of character about 3/4 of the way through the show. He's a loser, he's a whiner, we know.
I think there's more to Shu behind the scenes that a lot of people are missing.
Shu Ouma is autistic.
He wouldn't be the first autistic spectrum character to be shown in anime. The much loved L, (and much hated Near) from Death Note also fall onto the spectrum, with a lot of classic signs and symptoms.
In the beginning, Shu talks about how socially inept he is, and how he just can't understand how anyone thinks (no empathy, no emotional intelligence.) He's very easily frustrated, and that serves to be his undoing. He has no concept of Charisma, particularly when he attempts to emulate Gai, but to poor effect and doesn't understand why. He misunderstands people's intentions constantly, and has poor social cues as well.
Shu makes a number of inappropriate comments and over-reactive measures throughout the show that, while may just be from social awkwardness, could also be part of the explanation. He also has a very routine-oriented life- which is disrupted when he's given the chance to join Funeral Parlor, though he can't deal with the changes it would bring to his life. Later, and throughout the show, we see Shu dressing in his school uniform, complete with the tie, even though the rule of law and social order have all but collapsed. He wears the same type of clothes all the time, and is, generally speaking, rather orderly throughout the show.
He's resistant to friends and people trying to be close to him, aloof, detached, and very much a loner, which lead to his "loser" status.
All of these things lead me to believe that Shu is on the autism spectrum, which, in several ways, explains reasoning for his actions and makes them more believable as well.
The rest of the characters fill their voids. Some of them are mere plot convenience, some of them are genuinely interesting characters. I can see the Code Geass parallels in the characters more than the story, honestly- given that each side has a counterpart for each 'position' in their ranks: the ace fighter, the mastermind, the technology specialist, the conniving lieutenant, the mysterious woman, the parent/child antagonist dynamic, and naturally, the rival.
I personally thought Ayase and Major Sagai to be the most interesting characters, particularly Sagai. He gets stuff done, and doesn't ask questions, along with having a twisted streak to match his stereotypical villain's scarred eye.
Story: 4
Others have covered this one pretty well already, and there's a nice synopsis up there as well. Guilty Crown left me with a lot of questions that went unanswered, and there's also a lot of plot convenience that goes beyond suspension of disbelief, even about a show that involves a guy using his powers to remove people's hearts in order to turn them into weapons. The story watches like a summer blockbuster movie. It might not be the most nuanced and compelling thing, but it's pretty fun to watch for a couple hours and be done. It has some heartfelt moments, and there are a few cheesy spots where I chuckled, but overall nothing particularly remarkable. The second half is a definite improvement over the first, with a change of setting- to a more interesting one.
Enjoyment and Overall: 8, 7
Guilty Crown, like Code Geass (if I really have to go there) is fun to watch. Yeah, not everything always makes sense, but what's the point of a tv show or movie, if not to be entertaining? I do have to say, that were it not for the talents of Tetsuro Araki and Hiroyuki Sawano, Guilty Crown would be yet another rather generic, if flashily animated, shonen super powered protag anime. It's something a little more, when you enjoy other parts of the show than just the plot and characters.
Recommend?
Guilty Crown is fairly anime-culture significant, and a fair visual feast on its own. If you can ignore some plot holes and underdeveloped characters, there's no reason not to enjoy this one.
"The world offers the choice to live or die. Survival of the fittest, that's the only rule this world recognizes." - Gai
Supermastermochi
If you have read or seen another Guilty Crown reviews you have probably noticed that there is two sides. Those two sides are the haters and the lovers. Also it has alot of romance in it even though MAL's genres doesnt include it. Anyway lets get onto the review. = (Story 4) = The story is not something speciel. Most fo the time i didn't think about it, but after watching the show and thinking bad i realised it was pretty bad. As i said, there's nothing special about the story. It's very sad cause the story could have been so much more then itwas. Èven though this show made you wanna watch the next episode right away, but if you want a good story don't watch Guilty Crown.
= (Art 9) =
Everything about the art was just amazing. The backgrounds were amazing. It made the scene alot better because of the feeling i got by the backgrounds. The colors were kinder dark which gave the show the feeling it was supposed to have. The character design were also amazingly done. Now the best thing about the art was the crystal virus. It was just so beautiful. This is definitely the best artwork I.G. Production has ever done. I've never seen something like this before.
= (Sound 10) =
The Sound were just as stunning as the art. All the openings and ending were done by Supercell which is one of my favorite bands so that just gave this series a plus. The first opening Euterpe was so beautiful that i couldn't move and do nothing but to listen to the amazing song. Sadly it was only played in the first episode. The second opening My Dearest was amazing as well and quickly became one of my favorite openings i have ever heard. The same goes for the third opening The everlasting guilty crown. It was almost just as amazing and was perfect for a opening. It really pumped up the mood and made you ready for another episode. The first ending Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~ was amazing for an ending because it was very calm and that's what a good ending has to be. The second ending Kokuhaku was also very good even though i prefer the first ending over the second. Also the OST for this show were fantastic. It could change me from happy to sad in only 10 seconds I've never seen a anime with as good soundtrack as Guilty Crown. If your not gonna check out the show at least give the music a shot.
= (Characters 5) =
Now alot of people has different opinions on the characters. Some says the development were amazing and some says it was very bad because it was to fast. I have to agree with both sides. I'm just gonna list some of the characters and give you my opinion on them because there's so many character that i can't even list them
Inori: Inori is the main Female character. Inoris development were actually pretty good. Now its kinda hard to explain her development because she didn't really change on her outside, but her inside. She was just fighting for what she thought was right. But slowly though the series you could feel for her. You could could feel her love towards Shu, especially in the last few episodes.
Shu: Shu is the completely opposite of Inori in terms of character development. He isn't really relatable because he changes to much. He goes from Jesus to Hitler in 1 episode. In the first half of the series hes this quite guy who just help out the Funeral Parlour, but in the second half hes the evil king. So overall hes just to cliché.
Gai: Gai.... I can't really say that much about him. Hes a badass character who leads the Funeral Parlour. He means a lot to the series, but i just can't relate to him. He dosen't get any development. He just never changes which i find really annoying.
= (Enjoyment 8) =
Even though it was a very cliché anime it's just one of those series i couldn't help but love! I was bored once in this series and it made me wanna watch it over and over again. If your gonna watch this anime you shouldn't really be thinking. And yes i am on the lover side, but i do understand why some people don't like this show.
= (Overall 8) =
Overall i give it 8. Even though the character's where cliché and the story where really odd, i still enjoyed it though out the entire show. Now do i recommend you this anime? Well, i think u should at least give it a try.
BlackenedBlaze
What the hell did I just watch. This the second time I have ever gotten physically mad at an anime, the last time was at Aldnoah S1's ending. This anime could be described as the most beautiful, and best sounding train wreck I have ever seen. Plot:1/10 HA, what plot? You mean that shit on the wall? No explanations, random subplots never explained, contradicting statements, and no pacing whatsoever. Was the author high or something? Art:9/10 Amazing art, with fluid animation and the use of color is just right. Fight scenes were animated well, they made me feel hype. As well, good looking and well designed (visually) characters. Sound:10/10The only saving grace to this anime, the first op was amazing, the second not as good but still awesome. Both EDs were great as well. To top it off the OST's knocked my socks off. If you are gonna watch this, watch it for the sound.
Character:2/10
I hate these types of MC, self loathing, cowards. If that was expanded on and we could see the MC's growth it would be amazing but suddenly they want to make him badass. It's still jarring to me how they tried to do that, it seemed like a lame way to produce character development. Other characters don't really develop, they are just kind of there...
Enjoyment:2/10
Fight scenes:Amazing, everything else:boring as crap. Like I said the ending and the overall story has made me physically mad, I DID NOT ENJOY.
Overall:3/10
Fuck me for trying to stay to the end to see if something good happened. I felt like I was torturing myself as I binged, clicking ep after ep. At certain points I just wanted to drop it, but the nagging voice in my mind urged me on, to see if anything redeemable happens. Guess what, they just had to prove me wrong. I wasted 11 hours on this shit and I want my 11 hours back.
Flawfinder
Time does a lot of strange things to a show's reputation, doesn't it? Once acclaimed anime like Kill la Kill are now considered terrible disappointments that couldn't live up to the legacy of its infinitely better predecessors, Mari Okada has gone from being cool to hate to cool to like to back again without any real middle-ground, and not getting into Symphogear is apparently the equivalent of suffering a major personality disorder. It's gotten to the point where I'm kind of missing the moe trend a bit. At least cute girl/slice-of-life fans have an understandable reason for why they like what they do. It remindsthem of a calmer time in their life. Not a reason I can sympathize with, but it's better than your reasons consisting of nothing but shouting memes all the time like you're the reincarnation of fucking He-Man.
And yet, while Guilty Crown has definitely enjoyed a warmer reputation since it invited a fuck-ton of anime fans to smash it over the head with all the hammers at its disposal, people are still undecided regarding how much they enjoyed it. It's not like Samurai Flamenco where they say it's a great show that uses the insanity in order to get a message across. Most people just say it's a fun show to point and laugh at before refusing to put it on their favorites list because apparently being enjoyable in that vein is an automatic disqualification. Then they link Shinmaru's or Draggle's "epic" posts on the anime and relish on the fond memories of dumbness that trainwrecks like Aldnoah Zero could never hope to achieve. You know guys, I don't like it when you consider the show God's gift to anime because nothing spoils a product more than rampant fanboyism, but at least be honest with said gift when you receive it. If I can put the goddamn thing on my favorites list despite my generally pessimistic views on most of what surrounds the show, why can't you?
I admit to having warmed up considerably towards Guilty Crown over the years. I don't find it as funny as most people, I don't consider it one of the most fun anime in years (although it's probably my favorite anime of 2011, a year that had quite a few shows I liked), and it kind of takes a few episodes to get really fun (first arc is okay, but everything after just dwarfs it by comparison). But in a medium that constantly winks to the audience and indulges on the joke to the point of over-the-top weariness in order to produce laughs or "awesomeness" or stupid donut metaphors that the characters in Silicon Valley would find dumb, shows that take their stupidity as seriously as Guilty Crown whilst simultaneously using the stupidity as an essential part of its core message are as hard to find as a five-legged gecko. Not to mention, the pacing, action, and characterization (however fucked up it is) are all solid for the most part, and the animation/music is generally great. And any anime that accomplishes all that deserves quite a few props, even if the stupidity you have to swallow in order to appreciate what it's going for can be a bit too "anime" for my taste, ironic or not.
In case you're one of the few people who haven't seen this show, I'll fill you in. Guilty Crown is about a boy named Shu Ouma, who on paper is your standard teen who's bored with life and treats his friends like they don't even exist, yet refuses to do anything about it, but in practice is the guy whose picture would be used as the definition of the word "chew toy" since everyone in-universe and out-of-universe loves to dump on the dude no matter what he does to the point that Lara Croft is recommending therapy. After discovering his scantily-clad crush, a pop singer named Inori, hiding in his secret place, he ends up getting roped in the middle of the conflict between a resistance group called Funeral Parlor and the Brittania-copy cat organization known as GHQ after acquiring a mysterious ability to pull objects out of people called "The Power of the Kings" (hahaha, insert Code Geass-ripoff joke here). I'd attempt to fill in the details regarding this conflict, but I'd rather not turn this review into an essay and Guilty Crown's plot is such a cluttered pile of bananas that Ikuhara fans wouldn't be able to explain in a way that makes any sense. So let's just say for simplicity's sake that the show is about Shu and his growth from a nobody to the king that Japan deserves. And since Japan is run by a bunch of idiots in this universe, it stands to reason that their king would be the biggest fuck-up the likes of which has never been seen.
As I was doing my third rewatch of the series, watching the show go to more and more desperate attempts to torture our pretty boy main, I kept getting a high school version of Jack Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 stuck in my head: a controversial pretty boy in love with a badly written fucktard whose attempts at being cooler than he actually is is both sad and kinda tragic when you realize why the creators made him out to be the protagonist in the first place. And since we're bringing up Metal Gear Solid, Guilty Crown shares a fuck load of similarities with that franchise, doesn't it? Like the horrible dialogue, superpowers mixed with mecha, girls taking every opportunity to show their cleavage even when being shot at, campy military leaders that are at odds with their more realistic underlings, post-modern themes that people are divided on regarding their existence to this day, and the fact that it pulls off the goofiest shit with a straight face. Wonder if Hideo Kojima has ever taken the opportunity to watch this thing. I'd be surprised if it didn't end up in his top five anime series of all-time.
Fortunately for you, Guilty Crown, I really love Metal Gear Solid. Especially 2. And I have a certain amount of fondness for Mr. and Mrs. Fucknugget too. But at the same time, whilst I'm glad we agree that turning Shu into a break-dancing cyborg ninja would have been a bit too post-modern for the series (and we live in a world where an Alexandre Dumas adaptation can have a giant mecha fight out of nowhere and still get acclaims across the board), I will say that not turning Dan Eagleman into a shirtless right-wing nut who body slams people from his giant mecha is a fucking missed opportunity. Because honestly Guilty Crown, I kind of find your villains a bit on the meh side. Scarface ain't bad or anything, but he's no Revolver Ocelot or Liquid Snake or Solidus...uh actually Solidus was worse, so never mind.
Anyways, Guilty Crown comes off to me more and more over the years less like a bad anime and more like a good show that nobody wanted because it didn't fit within what they were used to. Mainly, being offensive on purpose, because this show is clearly trying to offend you and it's not getting any of the context wrong whilst doing so like, say, Cross Ange. Shu is not as inconsistent a character as people say he is. He's a nice but REALLY stupid dude who just can't win and goes to more and more extremes to try and compensate for his personality flaws, only to fuck up in a very consistent rate. Every time he tries to grow, he finds himself unable to do so because something (really stupid) always happens that gets in his way. Even when he turns into a neo-Nazi wannabe, he (hilariously) reassures us that he's doing it for the good of the school and that after they were free, he could drop the act. And when that plan failed, he went through the standard character growth we expect from an underdog protagonist before finally becoming the Jesus Dalai Lama Christ the cast deserved. A very dumb one, but it's not like the characters surrounding him were much better at that point. Specially Inori, who's so blatantly wish-fulfillment-y that it gets hilarious.
I'm gonna be straight with you guys here. I laugh more at Guilty Crown whenever somebody (particularly Shu) worships Inori like she's every man's fantasy when it's plainly obvious she's the sexist caricature that the underbelly of the Evangelion fans picture Rei to be. When Shu does something incredibly climactic to him, but to an outsider's view, it's just something people see as normal. When he's being a wannabe Neo-Nazi, because don't we all? The segway joke that the Internet seems to have latched onto is cute, but I honestly think it's an overrated thing to focus on, and Shu getting tortured can be a bit hit-and-miss. That joke when the entire school zoomed in on him after he touched a classmate's boob whilst testing out his voids was cool. The one when Ayase put him through the crapper after he took pity on her handicapped status, not so much.
But something about that first joke really sticks with me, probably because it's Shu's entire motivation for even being the main character before all his convoluted backstory gets revealed (and even then, it's the major reason for why he does everything even when he says he's doing it for his friends). I know a lot of people, including me, have criticized that relationship in the past, seeing it as nothing more than a joke that makes Raiden's and Rosemary's relationship drama look well-written. But also like Raiden and Rosemary, I can't help but see it as intentionally bad given how it's an attraction that's entirely based on lies and even when something genuine comes from it, it never works out to the characters' benefit. The final scene in particular makes me laugh like a hyena when it's revealed what came out of the relationship. It's just so fucked up and so fitting that Shu can't move on from a relationship with a living sex doll even when she doomed him to a life of blindness. In fact, my only complaint with the relationship is that it was never consummated at all. What? Like it would have been more out of place than anything else in this show?
Having said that, Guilty Crown still has moments of dumb that not even being satirical/ironic about can excuse. The fact that Shu can only pull voids from those under 17 years of age is incredibly contrived with no good (or any) explanation given for it whatsoever. And the final act sort when an important character is brought back to life on the opposite side...without wishing to spoil much, remember the final climax in Metal Gear Solid 4 when Snake and Liquid Ocelot had their last showdown? Then after the latter is defeated, another character shows up at the last minute to put everything into perspective whilst trying to make his side in the right despite the many lives that were lost in the process? Well let's just say Guilty Crown's final bad guy fares no better at justifying himself, and I doubt we'll be getting another sequel sometime down the line that paints his journey towards peace as Evil vs. Evil.
I'm not really sure what the reaction to Guilty Crown would be if it came out now, or what my reaction would be if my current self saw it for the first time, especially if I wasn't marathoning it. Nonetheless, the fact remains that no other trainwreck has really caught on as much as this show has to the point that it was put on a now defunct comedy watch with people saying "it's enjoyable, but not for the reason it thinks it's being". You wouldn't hear them say the same thing about Sword Art Online and Psycho-Pass 2. And Aldnoah Zero just bored folks a few episodes into the second season. Whilst I can say what I enjoy about this show fine (mainly by being Metal Gear Solid 2 if converted through an anime filter whilst removing most of the parts that would work in a video game but not in a series), what exactly was so special about this particular trainwreck that made it constant entertainment for them? And why are they so hesitant to rank it amongst their favorites if it kept their eyes glued to the screen the entire way through, especially when stuff like Code Geass, Star Driver, and Symphogear can make it on?
I suspect that both questions share the same answer. Maybe it's the cynical characters. Maybe it's the pretentious tone. Maybe it's the fact that whilst shows like Code Geass and Symphogear make no sense, Guilty Crown really makes no sense.
saintlier
*edited* As I've finished Guilty Crown, I'll re-review it, keeping the end of the series in mind. Guilty Crown had an endless amount of potential. While watching its earlier episodes, I really, really liked the series and fought to support it among the fandom. But then, this happened-- music: I'm amazing. art: I'm beautiful. plot: I suck This pretty much sums it up. Guilty Crown's OST and animation are phenomenal, and no viewer can deny that. However, the plot, in essence, sucked. It seems as if it was made to specifically rely on cliffhangers and events that would excite the audience for a few seconds. You could actually relate theplot to the classic penny dreadfuls.
The plot got very lost among those attempted plot twists, as a few elements of the story were not justified or relative. Or even necessary. Details were left unattended, resulting in this very messy outcome.
Still, I quite enjoyed watching it because I was so interested in what was happening next. I must at least commend GC for executing the plot twists so well. All in all, the ending was fulfilling enough, but the way we got there was less than satisfactory.
The characters were also very weak, as many only held a purpose as walking fanservice. Shu doesn't count, because he is the protagonist who starts out all lame; but a large portion of the females were not strong, admirable characters in respect to their role in the story.
Once again, Guilty Crown had incredible art and music, and greatly lacked a good plot, but did plot twists and cliffhangers well. I wouldn't really recommend this. But I'd recommend listening to the OST by itself.
Note: For you OST junkies like me, the OST is exceptional; with powerful orchestral movements full of energy and triumph, or suspense and a somber mood when necessary. Of course, as this show was placed Twenty Minutes into the Future, there is a large influence of techno and guitar that fit right in place. The vocal tracks had some problems with the German and English pronunciation, but it can be easily overlooked as the backing track is amazing. The multiple reprises of a singular theme also deserve praise, as it is versatile enough to be used as an emotional piece or battle music.
thehidden
Gulity Crown is one of the most beautiful animes I have ever watched. The art is comparable with Attack on Titan's, if you've seen that show. Both the scenery and characters look very good. I liked the music as well. Great soundtrack and openings. However, the story is poorly written and hard to keep up with. I don't even think I dare try to explain the plot. When you think you're starting to understand what's going on, there's a plot-twist and you're totally lost again. I started watching this anime in english, but I had to chance to japanese so that I'd have to be morefocused and read the subtitles. I thought I'd keep up with the story better that way, but it didn't help much.
The characters are kind of hard to get a grasp of as well, even the main character. I though I had a pretty decent idea of who he was and I liked him, but he totally changed at certain point and acted all weird. No wonder though with all the crazy stuff going on. And he's not the only character who changes.
If you can stay 100% focused while watching in order to understand this anime's complex plot, you might like it. However, I couldn't keep up with the plot-twists and therefore I didn't find Gulity Crown very enjoyable. It's such a shame because I really wanted to and I tried very hard to do so.
