Guilty Crown

I feel after only watching one episode that I've already seen enough. I'm sick of these reoccurring themes in anime. Boy finds mysterious girl, she is being tested on, girl has special powers and the antagonist appears. Essentially, there is nothing wrong with that but when it is used in such a typical, uncreative manner it really becomes unappealing.

The art is great, no doubt about that. The story and characters though, really both do not deserve such a high rating or praise for that matter. There is absolutely nothing special about this story and not to mention the characters. Its not a matter of ... how "cool" they seem and I hope people aren't blinded by that.

I'm definitely going to wait till this series is over before I watch it again, I want to at least know if it becomes worth the watch later on.

Wow this is an awesome anime although I only watched one episode I was like OMG NO HE DIDN'T, It has a very interesting plot which is developing into something with not much background detail only some flash backs. (makes the viewer put the pieces together)

In my opinion this anime has started off epic it is a must watch in this seasons anime releases can't wait to see what is installed in future episodes.

My rating (so far) is 10 (remember i have only watched one episode) XD

“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 check ... it 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

In a word: OUTSTANDING

now, this series seems to be getting insane amount of hate.
usual complaints from my observation (note, DROPPED can be substituted with GC is crap):

1. OMG! rebellion! Code Geass Ripoff! weapon from chest? OM, Dantalian ripoff! DROPPED
2. Shoe is Annoying! DROPPED
3. tits bouncing! absolute cleavage! DROPPED
4. boy meets girl? boy gets powers not originally for him? sudden drastic change of life? bishies and bishous? genius leader? brutal antagonists? CLICHE STORM!!! DROPPED
5. Plot Armor! Ass Pull! DROPPED
... 6. (insert random reason) DROPPED

okay, that pretty much summarizes most complaints i think. now, on to the review:




Story: 10/10

While nothing original and obviously very familiar as evident in the usual complaints. It's a nonetheless tried and tested and have produced classics outside anime. The story is told properly. they don't attempt to cram everything in one episode and tells the piece by piece. each episode (so far) introduces new characters and develops the ones in the previous episodes.

Sure they use cliches here and there. but that's exactly what makes it awesome. since it's familiar you wouldn't have trouble digesting the story. though admittedly i had to rewatch the first five episodes because of my previous "OMG awesome everything! ignore plot!" way of watching. also, the main character can get VERY annoying at times. (note: this is an understatement)




Art: 10/10

Look at the previews and the official art. now, watch the anime itself. and now pickup your dropped jaw. the character (and not to mention the COSTUME) design are great. the mecha's are detailed. the environment is even more detailed. and The special effects feel very integrated. also, great camera work.




Sound: 10/10

One word: EGOIST. the in-universe music group's music really lives up to it's in-universe popularity. and action scenes get awesome background music. Sound effects are pretty fitting too. and lastly, the powerup music.




Character: 10/10

Okay, so the protagonist is your "Ordinary Highschool Student" who is also coincidentally a huge jerk. Probably just like most of us. and there's this "Perfect Girl" who wears a skimpy outfit most of the time and has a great voice. and is also very skillful at other things (may or may not include seducing people). and there's the "bishounen strategist with attitude" who is badass in every way. but hides a secret.

pretty familiar right? But it doesn't make them flat at all. and those are just the main characters. each supporting characters with prominent roles in the episodes are given good amounts of character depth. flat characters are also developed minimally and their deaths are foreshadowed. and when they do die they do a good job doing it. i.e. a bad guy deserves it, a good guy is sympathetic.




Enjoyment: 10/10

Now, I wouldn't defend this nor give it a high rating and praise if i didn't enjoy it would i?

To summarize: Lovable characters (including the annoying protagonist), great art, great music, great (if rather cliche) plot.

Instead of reading these biased in every way reviews though go watch this and judge for yourself. Because the high rating reviews ignore the flaws, which are greatly overshadowed by awesomeness, by the way; and low rating reviews see nothing but flaws, and the great art.

"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 pretty ... low 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.

Yo dawgs, hear 'bout the new fad of the century, Guilty Crown!

Story:10

So there some guy who is fucking useless and crybaby. Then there some bitch who everyone likes to beat up. Combine them together, and we get the perfect combo!

How you ask? He puts his hand in her breasts and gets a fucking looooooooooooong sword! Holy crap! I want to touch her breasts too you lucky motherfucker virgin! But he gets more action than most of the guys in his age ever get by doing that. LUCKYYYYY MOTHERFUCKER!

Then there some bad guys in robots who kill everyone. They're BAAAAAAAAAAAD, niggas! Real batshit news. So ... he fights against them with his looooooooooooong sword!

In da hood nigga dawgs complain that the show is a complete ripoff from every show ever created. That may be da case, but it's so much better than Code Gayass or every show it tries to copy. It has better animation and better cast than those shitty shows! Who cares about Fukuyama shitass character or double C's ?? We get a motherfucker with a looooooooooooong sword who fights bad guys in robots and the Sexy Egoist girl who part of her tits are visible! Best show evaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Art:10

DA ANIMATION IS DA BEST LIKE I SAID! it is fluid and there are no signs of QUALITY like most shows these days! RESPECT for da animators!

backgrounds are done FLAWLESSLYYYYYYYYYYY and da character designs hit da spot.

Da best thing about da animation is Egoist girl's partly visible tits! SEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX BOMB SEX BOOOOOOOOOMBBBBBBB YOUREEEEEEE MY SEX BOOOOOOMBBBBBBBB! wheeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeeeeee will you find better tits than hers? NOWHERE! she's paarfactoo! MOEEEEEEEE.

Sound:10

DA CAST IS DA BEST LIKE I SAID! Da voices of da characters is what makes them realistic like they are really livin'! Da voice of that crybaby guy fits him perfectly! And da girl voice is so erotic just from hearing it I CUM!

Da OP is by supercell! Need I say more?

Da background music varies from heavy gangsta metal to mellow ballads! Shit's da best.

Character:10

Oh dem characterssssssssssssss! We have a crybaby wimpy guy who turns into gangsta by getting a looooooooooooong sword from da girl's chest! Fukuyama character never got so much action liek dis nigga!

Da best thing about da girl is her tits liek I said and her voice is perfect! MOEEEE OVERLOAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!

Da characters are developing real fast just from da first episode. Crybaby turns into badass and destroys robots! BEST CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT RIGHT HERE!

Enjoyment: 10

NIGGAS! DAWGS! MOST ENJOYABLE SHOW OF THE CENTURY RIGHT HERE!

Overall: 10

Overall this show has proven to be the most splendid experience I have ever experienced. Delightful!

Oh wait, am I out of character here? Deep apologizes, my fine lads. Ha ha Ha ha!

Want some fine English tea to make up for it? Just a moment, it may take some time...

When I saw a preview of this anime I thought 'This seems like it can be good and it'll help me kill some time while I wait for new episodes of recent animes to air'

However, when I began watching I thought 'Let me guess, he's an ordinary HS boy who meets a chick and gets powers.'

Sure enough that's just what happens. Honestly, it's to the point where anime creators don't even bother hiding the fact that their story line are a generic cliche. Mind you, cliches exists in all forms of the media but when your industry is saturated with the same story told over ... and over and over again then perhaps you should try a new story or give the audience a different spin on the story. But then again, what's one more generic story heaped on there, right? They all manage to become successful anyway, right? right? sigh.

So the story is about some poor, innocent Japanese High school boy who for some odd reason has his homework and computer sitting in an abandoned warehouse, we'll just pretend this is normal and not actually an illogical way to get the boy to meet the girl. Anyway, some mystical monotone talking anime chick with powers just so happens to end up while she is being chased by some goons with guns...

See where this is going?

So she is injured and of course we now have to see how innocent and lovely she is by having her sing a song randomly. Never mind the fact that she is injured and dudes with guns are looking for her. Yeah it's totally smart to draw the guys with guns to you by pretending like you're on Glee.

So the sweet, innocent, high school anime boy archetype finds her first and is of course instantly in love with her. Cause you know, watching someone with big shimmering eyes means that you have found your soul mate at seventeen. They have a "misunderstanding" where she or her little robot attacks him, mind you, not lethally...Yeah let's just forget that she should be expecting dudes with guns.

They have a little moment of her watching his video homework and she calls it beautiful to establish their connection.

Dudes with guns finally appear and threaten the boy and take the girl away. Pretty much, the boy gets the location of where to take the robot from the robot (cause the story has to progress) and he meets the leader of a "terrorist" organization. Stuff happens and he gets powers and can fight suddenly while the girl falls helplessly in his arms with her wh*re clothes on.

The anime tries to have moments of depths after the boy joins their terrorist group by putting him in a possible position to betray the group's leader, for some reason can't have the power himself. But that plots falls flat fast and you're basically just watching a simple good guys vs bad guys where the good guy's leader does questionable things but is still good because everyone is happy and loves him. This anime is pretty much a weaker Eureka 7 that fails miserably. None of the characters are worth rooting for, the plot is paper thin and transparent, and over all not very enjoyable.

Look out for the following cliches that other animes have done much better:

Anime boy is in HS
Anime girl is in terrorist group
Anime boy meets and fall in love with Anime girl
Anime girl has obligation towards terrorist leader (He gave her a name *eye roll*)
Anime boy gets random powers
Anime boy now joins terrorist group cause for some reason they NEED him to save them. Never mind the fact that their members are stronger and have more of a cause to fight than him.
Anime boy gets jealous of terrorist leader's relationship with Anime girl.
Anime girl tells Anime boy to simply trust and believe for him to fall in line
Anime girl dresses like a wh*re but can shoot a gun with perfect accuracy and is better than all the other characters.
Anime girl suddenly enters HS and ends up in Anime boy's class
Bad guys are interested in Anime boy

The plot is very dry and similar to many other anime and is too similar to Code Geass.

A bad character who is presented with a power and than suddenly becomes 'cool' than after an action scene questions what the hell his power is? What was the point of slowly tilting your head forward with a powerful stare if you don't even know what's going on? Not saying Persona 4 is anyway close to Guilty Crown, but after watching both there first episodes and finding they had they same ending (GETS POWER BECOMES AWESOME ENDING) I got bored of the show immediately.

Rebels, mechs, power presented next ... to a girl who is in danger and evil-looking military. Code Geass 2.0

*Update*
I found this review to just be offensive to the anime so I am going to at least watch episode 2
*Update 2*
Can't bring myself to continue, especially after hearing the main character becomes more heroic. Lowered score to 3 as I really realized how much I hate him.

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 of ... the 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.

Guilty Crown is the show I was most excited for and it has proven to be a great disappointment. I know hardly anything is original nowadays but this feels like a poor man's Code Geass.

Admittedly the animation and sound are excellent; it's obvious we're talking about high production values. Unfortunately that's where the positive things end.

The plot is contrived and shallow, the action seems pretty silly, and the characters are boring, i.e the wimpy school kid who turns into a badass when it's convenient, the friend-or-foe? ruthless strategist, the fanservice female protagonist...

I don't know, it feels like I'm expected to watch this (and subsequently ... love it) for the cool visuals and the scantily clad girl. Nothing wrong with enjoying it for those reasons but that is not what I thought this show would be.

Review based on the first episode, it may change...

First, main girl steal a super important thing dressed the same way she was in a video clip. Cool disguise.

A while later bad guys find her with some guy and a robot. What do they do? Just take her away while laughing at the guy. It's not like they should have just secured the area and searched everything. Which is like the most basic procedure ever. But we can't have our great hit end on the first episode can we?

Then our ultra pathetic MC meet bad guys and he's saved by a super cool long haired badass ... handsome blond dude in a cool coat. While a super cool music is playing. Oh, did I mention spotlights?

Then we have Britann... I mean USA troops massacring poor innocent japanese civilians. Shame on you evil americans.

And then the resistance (I think) leave that super incredibly important thing in the hands of a teenage faggot they just met (a faggot who let bad guys take their friend a while earlier) and tell him to do his best.

And then he accidentally get super powers and start cutting big robots.

Didnt really see what was all the hype about or is it just me?

I give it a 5 for the pretty animation.

When you build something up to impossibly high standards, it's inevitable that thing will fail to live up to those standards. Guilty Crown was built up to be an epic, God-Tier Anime, and that's understandable. Art by Redjuice, music by Supercell, and directed by Tatsurou-Sensei. That sounds like a pretty epic combination. However, the end result is, in fact, not epic. Not God-Tier. Now, don't get me wrong. It isn't that Guilty Crown is a BAD Anime, by any means. It just isn't as outstanding as most people built it up to be. I would imagine that's why it's getting so much hate. Well, that, ... coupled with plain ignorance (if you haven't seen more then one episode, you have no right to be bashing any Anime).

Well, that's my opinion on why these particular haters are hating. Now, onto an actual review...

Story: 7
Is the story completely original? No. But, what is these days? I'm not saying completely original Anime don't come out nowadays, I'm just saying that, for as long as it's been around, it's to be expected that some ideas would be recycled. I'm not going to go into the comparison of Guilty Crown with another series that has strikingly similar initials. When I judge an Anime, I look at it as an independent work. So, when judging the story, I will look at the story of Guilty Crown, and ONLY the story of Guilty Crown. Which, I must say, is pretty good. It's interesting, but more importantly, it's entertaining.

Art: 10
What can I say? It's beautiful. Even the haters will admit to that.

Sound: 9
See art.

Character: 6
My only real complaint with the series so far is the character development. Sometimes it seems forced, others it's non-existent, which can be infuriating. I mean, really, who want's to see a ball-less protagonist?

Enjoyment: 8
I can honestly say that there has not been a moment watching Guilty Crown that I did not enjoy, and hardly any episode that I was not on the edge of my seat come the credits.

Overall: 8
Guilty Crown is not BAD by any means, it just isn't GREAT. It's good... Very good.

Ok, so less of a review and more of a defense. This is my first review. If you've read this far, then thank you ^^

Fans - You're not encouraged to vote "helpful" because you love GC.
Haters - You're not supposed to vote "not helpful" just because you hate GC, please do continue to read the review.
Lurkers - You're not supposed to cast your votes on a whim.

Guilty Crown was flamed, trolled, criticized and then of course loved. Built behind the shadow of ever-popular Code Geass. It's rather hard to tackle a "higher than Code Geass standard", nope more like EVERY series around. There's just one thing I don't understand, just "WHY PEOPLE COMPARE EVERY GOOD/BAD SCENE IN LITERALLY EVERY EPISODE TO OTHER ANIME(S)?" Most good/better/best ideas were used ... or recycled on most in/famous animes and didn't get criticized.

"Whoa, this guy is biased! He even got GC on his Top Favorites O.0" I'm not gonna deny this part since I literally enjoy Guilty Crown. At first I never cared about the plot, I was just excited that Supercell will be a part of a series again(yeah I'm a fan, U MAD?). There were times that when I saw posts in the forums like "This sh*t sucks, too cliche" and alike. And "This show is really predictable": CONGRATS you're one of the elites o/. I just can't agree when I saw the post "Inori is for pure fanservice only", almost every action genre anime always has a girl on it's main character that would either be support him or cheer him (eg. Tessa-FMP, Saber-FSN). It's just either they are successful or not. And being silent and stoic doesn't necessarily mean weak. (eg. Yuki-Melancholy).

Ok sure, enough the rant here's your standard review.

Story - Yeah, the start was a bit too slow and rather predictable. Character developments were out of place. Elite soldiers that can't hit a simple non-moving target (No surprises here, I forgot the term but it's being used on many action films and action-genre series. nb4 Chuck Norris ), Falcon kicks across rooms and swords on Mecha fights, the "Keikakudōri" guy, and the meddling friends. The momentum of the story was just a bit too slow that many users dropped it during the first half.

Art - The colors were like "dancing", just too epic. Basically one reason that people keep watching this anime. Even "haters" agreed so yeah.

Sound - Too biased here, so continuing this might just be a waste of time.

Character - The cast basically contains a "suddenly-became powerful guy", a "black-belted-sharpshooter-silent" girl, a Keikakudōri(again) guy, etc. If you're judging Guilty Crown with this criteria, then it's easy to say it's cliche. Most anime(s) do have those qualities, so what's with the discrimination?

Enjoyment - Read Above.

Overall - Guilty Crown is more like a combination of ideas that succeeded to appeal to the viewers in the past anime(s). Added with some spices and ended up being worse/better. Just watch it as an "independent series and not as a copy of others" then you'll possibly enjoy it more. Those who dropped it should picked it again and those who haven't watched it yet should watch it.

Feedback greatly appreciated, and also grammar correction.

Guilty Crown Review:

Sheesh.... This show... just... I don't know. It really was awful. But at the same time.... it was great? What's wrong with me!? Why can't I figure out if this show was good or not!? AHHH!
All kidding aside, it's funny that the name of this show is Guilty Crown because if there is any phrase to describe my feelings toward it, it would be "guilty pleasure."

Story 6/10:
Guilty Crown takes place in future Japan, where a disease has ravaged its way through the city. The government is corrupt and killing anybody who they think is infected, thus causing a terrorist group called "Funeral Parlor" ... to fight against them. Enter our main protagonist Shu who accidentally gets a super power to pull out weapons from people's hearts. Shu is forced to join Funeral Parlor and fight against the government. Cliche anyone? Of course, much like far too many shows nowadays, the entire focus of the plot shifts halfway through, but I will avoid talking about it because of spoilers.
Hm. This is without a doubt the hardest aspect of the show to rate. This story suffered GREATLY due to its writing. First off, the show just takes itself wayyy too seriously. I mean, if a show doesn't take a break to relax and show what "good" life is, then it's hard to see what exactly it is that everyone is fighting for. It also has a hard time identifying itself at first and really tries to do too much. But, the REAL main problem was that there were sooo many plotholes and inconsistencies that it was almost comical. The lack of logic that the characters had was also tear inducing. Some random and fun plotholes are: where on earth were the teachers at this school? Since when does student government have so much power? How does the nobody notice all the massacres the government performs? Why didn't somebody kill Inori long before the show even started? I won't get too deep into why there are so many errors in the writing, but trust me, there are a lot.
So why did I still give this story a 6 if it was as bad as I said? Well as embarrassing as the writing could get, the writing could also be, well, great. Wait... what did I just say? Well, seeing as the writer and director were involved in works like Code Geass and Death Note, it would be quite unusual to not see flashes of brilliance in the story (I will not go into this do to spoilers, just know that this show does have its moments). Although the whole base of the story is a huge "kid gets superpowers and joins a ragtag team to defeat the corrupt government" cliche, it did have an interesting background to make it unique within this cliche. Some plot twist (while often poorly detailed) were indeed surprising, and the show did do a great job of maintaining suspense and making you want to marathon the show instead of taking your time. However, the strong points of the writing could be eerily similar to those in Code Geass, making it seem somewhat unoriginal.
This is one of those shows that is convoluted at its finest, and will somehow keep you interested in the story even though it fails to explain why or how half of the stuff is even happening. The story is just full of hit or miss elements, shining gloriously one moment, then falling down the stairs and landing on its face the next. The story was definitely enjoyable, but was majorly held back by its inconsistency.

Wow that was a lot of writing. Don't worry, it gets easier after that.

Art 8/10:
Guilty Crown really does have great animation. The lighting isn't particularly special, but the character models, movements, colors, and just overall feel were definitely high end. This is the kind of animation you hope to see out of more modern anime and is truly impressive.

Sound 8/10:
Much like the art, the sound in this show was very high class. The openings and endings were great and the vocal tracks used in the show were good too (although sometimes overused). The background music wasn't particularly notable compared to the vocal tracks, but I never heard anything out of place, and the music only enhanced the vibe in the show. The voice acting for the Japanese version was nothing special as far as I could see, but I usually hold back judgement on this unless it is really special seeing as I don't even speak Japanese.

Character 5/10:
Even more flawed than the story were the show's characters. The two leads were Shu and Inori. Shu starts off as a wimpy high school student who doesn't want to get involved, then like all other wimpy leads, slowly becomes more confident. His development doesn't end there though! Shu's personality flip flops so many times that it is almost ridiculous. Why Inori claims to have loved him throughout this entire time is beyond me, seeing as he was at least 5 different personas in the show. To add onto his multiple personality disorder, he has almost no backstory, and the only backstory he does have is poorly explained. This goes for everyone else involved in this flashback. The characters aren't really developed, instead they just briefly explain how everything happened when they were kids, not why the characters acted how they did. Gai is similar to Shu, where his personality changes multiple times during the show, and it never quite explains his reasoning or actions. Inori also has to go down as one of the most uninteresting female leads of all time. She basically is confined to one liners and barely shows any emotion throughout the entire show. The side characters weren't nearly as bad, but they too lacked any back story or true motives for their actions. It's also sad to see probably the two most interesting characters (Daryl and Segai) get pushed aside for most of the show in favor of more bland ones. Now even though the characters were extremely flawed, it was still interesting to watch how they acted in certain situations. Although I'm sure it was unintentional, the poor portrayals of the characters, along with their complete lack of ability to use logic and reason, actually helped them become more unpredictable and fun to watch. The characters weren't necessarily "bad" because to be "bad" you really need to be annoying, or something that makes me cringe while watching. The characters were just lacking in anything that could make me attach to them, and many shows have this problem. It's just that with a plot as heavy as Guilty Crown's, you kind of need to establish strong characters.

Enjoyment 6/10:
Guilty Crown did one thing right in this department: it kept me watching. It's one of those shows that keeps you wanting more due to its piling on of questions and cliffhangers. At times I could be pretty shocked by what happened in the story. However, I never laughed, nor even came close to getting emotional. The show really does try to be emotional, but the glaring mistakes this show has makes all of these attempts at being emotional feel forced, sometimes adding even more questions. Usually errors in writing don't really bug me, but when they start interfering with my connection to the show, then you know it's serious. I did like Guilty Crown, no doubt about it, but it also wasn't even remotely hard to see its faults.

Recommendation:
I really can't recommend this show sadly because it is just too flawed. I'm sure many others may love this show, but the chances of that aren't high enough for me to tell you to go out and watch this.

Overall 6.8/10:
Guilty Crown was very strange for me. Usually with shows like this, people either love it, or hate it. For me, it was both. It sounds strange, but for every glaring mistake this show had, it also had a shining moment. Yes the characters were relatively weak, and there were plot holes all over the place. But, Guilty Crown is no pile of crap either. It succeeds in telling an interesting tale that will keep you interested throughout. Add in its stand out performance in animation and music and you easily have an above average anime. Many people hate this show, and many people love it. I didn't love it, but it was definitely worth my time watching.

The Verdict:
A thrilling ride that fails to reach its potential due to poor writing.

Pros:
+ Thrilling, kept me wanting to know what happens next
+ Vocal music pieces are stellar
+ Ending was actually very satisfying
+ Quality animation

Cons:
- Plot holes everywhere
- Poorly developed characters
- Fails to deliver in emotional moments

If you liked Guilty Crown, watch...
Code Geass:
This is the obvious one. Mecha. Intense. Cliffhangers. Main character with a super power. Yep. But believe me when I say that Code Geass is far superior in the character and storytelling departments.
Gurren Lagaan:
If you enjoy nonstop mech action and fun and have the wonderful ability to turn your brain off while watching a show, you will also enjoy Gurren Lagaan like I did.

6.8 - Good

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 throughout ... the 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.

The setting:
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.

"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: 9
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I'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

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 it ... was. 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.

~Guilty Crown~

A lot of effort was put into Guilty Crown. This is evident in the overall quality of art and sound. However, what it lacks is a coherent story that can fully engage a wide range of viewers.

Story
Like I said the plot was very loose and weak. Floppy.

Art
Eye candy art. A lot of effort can be seen here, the producers wanted to make this show as gorgeous as possible. The art alone makes this show so watchable, given the lack of sophisticated plot.

... Sound
Great OP. Great ED. Background music also does its job.

Character
Characters may seem a bit dull and robotic. But I predict that this will change in the second half/arc of the show. I believe that the producers intended to create characters that are initially cold and lifeless, and developing into each of their unique persona to create contrast, however, this is only what I hope for.

Enjoyment
The art and character design made this series to enjoyable. So I would say that the selling point of this series wasn't a mind-blowing story, but rather fancy characters doing what the director wanted them to do.

Overall
I recommend this to those who look for a show with stunning graphics and nice looking characters. Also, I hope the show gets better and better in the second half. However, this is only my personal opinion.

This show is split up into like 2 seasons : (1-12), (13-22). The first part was fine though the plot was a bit confused but not so bad. A current shounen with a current plot, good art and perfect animation. It could stop here when the heros finally return to save everyone...then they're all happy ... then happy ending. If it was, I would have just rated it as "average" or "fine" score... But no, starting from the 13th episode, it began to disappoint me.

I'll talk a little about the characters before the second part...Well, they're all annoying! they have poor personality, I only ... like Tsugumi and Ayase. Inori is doing nothing serious, just serving as a tool for Shu. She's emotionless but she's singer, an emotionless person with sexy clothes, there is something wrong with her...Gai doesn't really suit the role of leader by apparence, he's way too perfect and cool.

Let's start with the second part. Everything seems to be alright, they try to cover little by little the pain they suffered after what happened, they even did a festival. But the government decides to lock them in the infected zone to let the virus kill them, I don't understand why they don't just come to kill them instead of locking and isolating them with that immense wall that came from nowhere around the infected zone. Starting from here the show has completely derived. The protagonist became insane because one of his friend died though he already saw the death of many people, he suddenly turned to good side to a despotic side, all characters changed because of his influence. This "second season" has completely messed up the show, a new story that came from nowhere, that's completely illogical.

I'm really disappointed of this show even if I'm still only at the 17th epi. I don't think it can get better though I'll still watch it just by curiosity and I may edit after the end of the show.

1-12 episodes (overall : 6), You can stop watching from episode 12, there is a real ending
13-17 episodes (overall : 2), If you continue from there, it's probable that it ruins your enjoyment from the 12 first episodes especially if you had a liking for the characters.