So, the animes setting is in the not so far future.
And for some reasons japan got attacked by foreign countries
and now loads of foreign military is stationed in japan.
After the war, that took place in japan, lot's of japanese
people are forced to live in rundown parts of the cities.
And war is not fought with tanks anymore, but with giant robots.
Our maincharacter is a normal student, who gets involved in the battle
of a terrorist group, just because he wanted to help.
The main character meets a girl in strange clothes at a crashed truck
and they decide to flee, but ofcourse the military chases them down.
And a gun is pointed at the main character.
He's certain to die, but then some strange background popps in
and the girl grants the MC the power to kill all the Soldiers near him.
A power which is reffered to, as the "power of the kings".
The MC then helps the terrorists to do the usual terroriststuff, like
fighting the military out of a ghetto, freeing a person whos charged of
murder, public anouncing of the terroristgroup, now with a fancy name,
declaring that they are actually the good guys.
After terrorising the enemy gobverment, they move on to a big showdown in
some other dimension, fighting some god-thingy.
While i really liked the first season so much, i even bought the DVD,
the second was much weaker, in my opinion, but if you are a fan of
sigtly more intelligent military/mecha-shows, then Code Crown is
just right for you... i mean Geass Guilty... i mean...
Which plot was i just summarising?
Yeah, i'm pretty sure you all have already heard of the jokes, that
Guilty Crown is basically a copy of Code Geass and yes,
GC is not only a ripoff of CG, but also a very shameless ripoff.
Even to the point of giving the MC's iconic power the same name,
'The Power of the Kings'.
GC is basically a kick in the teeth for everyone who worked on CG.
GC is basically just copying most parts and adding some stolen ideas
from other series. It's like one of these movies, which are only made
out of clips of several other movies and then voiced over so it
becomes an other plot.
But don't get me wrong, i'm not against "borrowing" ideas,
i think good stolen is better, then bad selfmade.
Unfortunatly, in Episode 12 of GC the shit hits the fan.
The meachafan in this case was me, and it hit me right into the mouth,
so it left a very bitter taste.
In episode 12 GC starts to become "original".
It suddenly adds so many things to te plot, it's becoming a total
clusterfuck of ideas.
Not good ideas, but badly stolen ideas smashed together and only
holding up through brute force.
Episode 12 suddenly adds incest, some sort of crazy demonqueen, amnesia,
greek gods, steroid abuse and god knows what else.
Everything sewed together by bad and formost lazy writing.
Yep, that's my opinion.
And of course i took the time to write, where my thoughts came from,
so enjoy my look at Guilty Crown!
The characters:
Shu Ouma:
Talking about the characters is quite difficult in this case, because
the people in this anime have no character, for the most part,
aside from one exeption, which i will address later.
As i already told you, the exeption will be spoken of later, so the
MC follows the rule of having no character.
At the beginning he's the just a coward, whose only problem is, that
he gets in his own way, over and over again.
He get's in his own way, then he learns his lesson, then makes another
obvious mistake, learns his new lesson and changes from coward to hero,
step by step.
Ironically, the best description i have for him, is 'void', the name
of the weapons he pulls out of other people.
I'll go into detail with the Voidpower later, since there is quite a lot i have to write about it.
In Episode 12 it's suddenly reveald, that he suffers from amesia.
Well, he doesn't exacly suffer, since he just doesn't seem to care.
There is at least a whole year missing from his memory, but he never asked
what happend there.
This is especially strange, considering the fact, that the memoryloss covers the
lost christmas incident.
Did he never ask himself, where he was at that point?
Did they not talk in school about such a big event so he could realise,
that his memory is missing?
Speaking of not caring about anything, why was he shocked, when he realised,
where his mother worked?
Did he never ask her?
Especially if she's sometimes away for days?
Is this even legal, to let his underageed kid home alone?
At least here in germany it isn't... did nobody look out for Shu?
And I'm pretty sure, that's something everybody was asked by a teacher in Kindergarten
or elementary school, 'What do your mommy and daddy do?'
And did he never realise, that he has no father?
Why is that topic never brought up?
Those are massive plotholes.
Did the MC never question his unusual livestyle?
There are just so many questions...
Did the writer really think we whouldn't notice that?
If so, i'll take that as an insult.
Fact is, this kind of amnesia often serves as a cheap way to built up tension.
The writer tells you,
"There happend something, stay tuned for it's stunning revelation"
It's just their way of admitting, they arn't able to built up tension with the
stuff happening RIGHT NOW, they have to foreshadow.
That way, the audience can ignore that nothing interesting is happening right now,
and just wait for the final showdown.
Inori:
Just as the maincharackter, she basically has no charackter.
She's just doing what she's told, and looking cute in her skimpy and
absolutly not battleready outfits.
And from time to time, she's acts as the MacGuffin to advance the plot,
when the writer couldn't think of anything better.
Oh, and she's a famous songstress... which is kinda stupid, when she's
part of a terroristgroup, which has to stay undetected at first.
Also, there is actually no reason for her to be a songstress.
Well, aside from two things,
1) To have her be famous, in order to rebuild the scene, when Suzaku
enters the classroom. Since was famous by that point too, because
of his trial.
2) Make musicvideos where she puts on even more skimpy outfits.
I already wrote, that she's basically nothing but a Macguffin.
Since it was already foreshadowed, that the Void a person has,
can change, this will mean, that, in the final battle, Inoris heart will
suddenly change and shu will pull his ultimante weapon out of his a...
I mean, out of her chest.
Lazy writing in it's finest...
Oh, by the way, she looks like Shus sister, so he only helped her at the beginning,
because he had the hots for his sister... our hero ladies & gentlemen...
Isn't the love between siblings a wonderfull thing?
A little sticky and a little sweaty... i suddenly feel ill...
Seriously, that's probably the first idea, which wasn't stolen from Code Geass
and this makes me feel like i want to throw up...
Great writing...
Gai Tsutsugami:
The supposed to be badass character is named Gai.
His first entrance made with a guitar played in the background,
flashlights everywhere, beating up some thugs, who want to rob our
MC, because he's an idiot and ran into a ghetto, without keeping in mind,
that it's probably not safe for a kid at night, when he's carrying an
expensice looking ROBOT!!!!
As i already said, Gai is the badass character but because being just badass
whould be boring, so the writer added the plottwist, that he's actually ill
and will die eventually.
Oh and by the way, he's just as old as Shu...
Yeah, i know, i don't know what he took in order to grow up that much faster,
than Shubut,.... who am i kidding?
I'm sure it's just bad writing again.
Oh, and he knows Shu and his "beloved" sister since their childhood.
Gai was washed up to the beach, where Shu and his sister were playing.
They met during the year, that's missing in Shu's memory.
So it was the fate of Shu and Gai to meet again, right?
On the other side, it could be just lazy writing again,
since this is just a very easy way, to establish a connection between
two characters, who never met before.
Still, if you think about it, since the audience did not experience
the growth of their bond, it still means nothing and is, yet again, instulting
it's audience since the writer thinks the audience is not intelligent enough
to realise obvious plot holes.
Annoying Nerd-Girl:
Well... to be honest, i can't remember her name and it's way much to
much work to look it up.
She has no character, no purpose aside from being fapmaterial for lolicons.
She does nothing but dressing up in a skintights rubbersuit with nekomimi
or Maid-outfits.
Even during operations she's totally useless.
Well, on the bright side, she's fully aware of this.
So she doesn't get in the way and instead plays Dance Central...
Ayase Shinomiya:
As i mentioned earlier, there is an exeption to the no-character rule.
Ayase is a really interesting character.
Almost to good, for this kind of show... i guess you can drop the 'almost'...
However, she's paralysed, but she's not the typical wheelchair-girl
you get in anime. She exepts her circumstances but that doesn't mean,
she let's other people push her around.
Even though she can't keep up with the other footsoldiers,
she knows what she is capable of and she's very proud in what she can do,
and that's piloting a huge robot and kick the MC's ass(pluspoint) even
without her meacha.
Handicapped people in TV are a rarity, especially in anime.
And when there are any, they are often portraied as extremely helpless
and dependent, like Nunnaly from Code Geass. She did basically nothing
on her own.
I worked some years ago with handicapped people and most of them tried not
to show their hanicap and others drowned in self-pity.
Only a few were really OK with their handicap and just make the best out of it.
I think showing a fictional character who is able to do her best could show
people that do can still do something, if you are aware of want you can still do.
And a in a mecha show, this is not to much to ask for.
Paralised people can drive cars, so why not pilot a robot?
But why the rubbersuit for her, too?
OK, fanservice, but if you think about it, it's really stupid.
For one, this thing serves no purpose since she's not actually in the field.
So it has no protective value.
And just think of how hard it has to be to get in and out of that thing,
especially for her?
The three Goons:
Yeah, the three guys who are foorsoldiers for the Undertakers,
that white haired guy, the big guy and the Tamaki ripoff...
I don't think any of these even have names, just as they don't have characters
or real roles in the operations, so let's just skip them.
Shu's schoolmates:
Voiddispenser, nothing more, nothing less.
Speaking of the Voidpower...
Yeah... one of the biggest flaws of this show, the iconic void powers.
The Voidpower:
First things first, void means, there is nothing.
So if there is a sword, a giant flower, or a fridge, there is no "void",
there IS something!!! So this power already fails at it's name.
Great start...
Second, in true Code Geass fashion, Shu has to have eyecontact with the person,
he draws the void from. At least at first. Some episodes later he explains,
he has problems with keeping eyecontact... *nocomment*
So Shu is told, that he doesn't have to hold eyecontact,
his victim just has to think that they are looking into each others eyes,
which is stupid.
I Code Geass it made sense, in a certain way.
Lelouch had to look into his opponents eyes in order to give basically controll
his opponents soul. You know, the eyes are the windows to the soul.
Lelouch looks into the other persons souls, taps into it and gives it a direct order.
This whould also make sense in Guilty Crown, but no, Shu has to stand in his own way,
again, and somebody has to help him. This is mainly, because the writer has no sense
for character development, so he has to take every slight chance he gets to
make someone into some sort of mentor-character and thus form a bond with Shu.
So Shu has at least some reason to fight on for the terrorists.
And if i remember correctly, he doesn't even try to make eyecontact in later episodes,
so that whole thing was pointless.
As you might see by now, the mainproblem of the voidpower is,
it's ignoring it's own rules.
I personally like weapons, which are unique er character,
like the Pactio cards in Mahou Sensei Negima,
the Volt weapons in Freezing,
the Fragments in Needless,
the unique machas in Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari
or the different Geasses in Code Geass
and the list goes on and on.
This is a very simple trick to open up to a large variety of differnent
situations.
But these things always have to follow rules.
Somethings that was done greatly in COde Geass, you watched the maincharacter
actually studying his power in order to use it effectivly.
Guilty Crown doesn't have specific rules stated out
and the vague defined rules that it has, are broken,
for example, in episode 11 Shu draws out a pair of scissors, which are able to cut
somebodys string of life. OK, nice idea.
Some missiles are shot at Shu. He swings the scissors and the missiles explode.
OK, here it gets strange.
1. He wasn't actually using the scissors, so he isn't cutting anything.
If this works, the next question is, to what extend does it work?
Can he just wave it and everyone and everything within several kilometers dies?
The anime Shingetsutan Tsukihime shows how this kind of power and it's rules
are handled propperly.
The maincharacter in that show also has the power to see the lifestring and
then cut it, destroying his target immediatly.
The difference is, in Shingetsutan Tsukihime Shiki has to close in on his target,
in order to acutally touch it AND he has to cut exacly the lifestring in order to
succeed. Shiki has to follow these rules in order to win his fight.
Shu's enemy just dissapears without being an actual threat.
2. Why is he able to run up a straight wall?
Did he just kill gravity with his scissors?
To summ it up:
The Voidweapons are nothing but a Deaus Ex Machina.
It doesn't follow any rules, it's just an "iwin"-button for the maincharacter.
Up until episode 12 ther was absolutly NOTHING that could withstand Shu's firepower.
With Irinos void alone he whould have been able to destroy nearly any foe.
That's also something, this show lacks, ther is up til now, no proper villian.
Simply nobody can match Shu.
So, to my final verdict:
Story: 1/10
It's just pathetic.
The writing is lazy, the plot is boring.
And you through the plothole, you can drive a truck, blindfolded.
Art: 6/10
The first two episodes have rather good art, but later the overall lazyness
drops in and you realise, that the first two episodes were just to catch the
audiences attention.
I doesn't get horrible, but it stays mediocre.
Sound: 7/10
This is basically the best about this show.
I have read, that many people like the opening and ending of this anime,
and while it's not my personal taste, i'm still able to see, why they like it.
Character: 2/10
1 pluspoint catched by Ayase.
Nothing more to say, moving on!
Enjoyment: 1/10
There was really nothing i really enjoyed about Guilty Crown.
Maybe if they had reduced the cast, so for example Ayase had more screentime,
but not even she can rescue at least on additional point.
Overall: 3,4/10
All in all, this anime is just poor.
For me, personally, this was the worst anime of 2011, while i have to add,
havn't seen everything last year.
But to be honest, if there was something even worse i hope i will never find out.
For those who still watch this show, i hope it gets better, so you are able
to enjoy it to the end.
Thanks for reading my whole review.
I hope you enjoyed it.
