Guilty Crown Ending Explanation/Interpretation

Yhuori said:
snip

Xspy70 said:


Yep, thanks for pointing it out. Slipped out of my mind it seems. Corrected it and credited you (and linked your post).

Don't think it changes the theory. I think its sort of a bind-mechanism. Since only the once with the power of the king can take out voids, if he took someone's void out and dies, nobody can put the void back into the person, so the person dies. Though there were 2 people with the power at that time (Shu and Gai), and only Gai died, yet Mana died with him. So I guess your void binds to the person who took it out for as long as they have it.

Manjix said:
No matter how you interpret the show, a train wreck is still a train wreck.

Show's gone from actually decent to sour.

Xspy70 said:


Well, I liked the train wreck xD

VoidGenome said:


Cheers, mate. That's the way you do it. Don't let the haters get to you. *brofist*

Xspy70 said:


*brofist* xD
If they hate, let them hate. We all have our own opinions. It's not like someone who doesn't like something I like will suddenly make me hate what I liked previously, just cause. We're all different.

Luis-_-R said:
So I was thinking of everything I remember and I might have a theory of the involvement of shu losing his power but what if he didn't lose them at all like you mentioned he shuts his eyes to gain his innocence or something similar to that and I agree but it could also be in addition to what you said, him shutting his power away because he has no need for it and he probaly can't use it. Now I know it's debatable on what happened to his power and if he lost it or not but remember that his metal arm is an affect of his void he brought his void out when he regains the power of a king and he takes the weakness of others, but in the end after he defeats gui and mana he takes the void of everyone who is alive including his friends voids as well. You mentioned that the voids are also the souls of people, so when he took the voids of everyone would that mean that everyone is soulless or he was able to change the form of them somehow it's still a mystery, but you never know, also if shu lost his power how is his metal arm still there or is it that he never got rid of his own void. I think personally he has no need for him to use his power because there's no reason for him to use his power so he's not going to use it for a crisis because there is none. Also when took the voids of everyone he was prepared to die with inori and that's when she somehow takes all of them and dies like you said she used her body as the sacrifice and gave her soul to shu which means it's possible shu still can have his power and his void in addition to inoris inside of him.

Xspy70 said:
He was listening to her music! In harmony! He was smiling! He was HAPPY after ALL THAT!! WHY?!

smallshady said:

well, it could be smile or it could be just No_grumpy face
one sec later he goes from :-) to :-|
Moreover I am not sure about him beeing happy, because he just doesnt seem enough enthusiastic for me, when he is according to your theory going to meet love of his life
Also that clouds, it could be just regular clouds in the sky

I would like to say, that I appreciate your theory and I believe that it could warm someone's heart.
But I am not sure, if I want to accept it. It sounds romantic.. But in the other hand If he is sharing his body with her soul, he can never have fully-fledged relationship.
To support you: Recent movie Bakemono no ko (The Boy and the Beast) ended similarly, the boy has two souls inside him.

Edit: I rewatched the ending
So meaning of that epilogue could be:
to show that Inori wasnt forgotten - world remembers her (she is on TV screen) and Shu does too (last scene)
show that this time Shu didnt go crazy
and world is repairing

Xspy70 said:


Whoh...
Guilty Crown. Vowed to watch it since 2012. Took me 3 years to actually do it. I regret nothing.

Except perhaps the ending. At first glance, it seems just sad. Saved the word - lost your girl, some friends, eyesight, and an arm. Don't forget them super powers. Sucks to be you, kiddo.

"BUT WAIT!" I asked myself. Does this overly realistic, down to earth, unrewarding, crappy ending really fit the anime? Granted, it has a bleak atmosphere, but all the supernatural elements and overall creativity allows space for an ending with a similar flow. You know, a rewarding ending. Something that doesn't have to make too much sense in order to get the good ending.

So, after looking at finer details of the anime and doing research I could somewhat label "adequate", I decided to pile it all to get a less crappy ending that does not stab the gut. Indeed, after this, the ending can somewhat be labeled good. But that is all up to you to decide.

Thus, without any further gibberish, I invite you to a loooong section containing even MORE GIBBERISH!* (depending on how you see it). Buckle your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride...



Alright. Let us first begin by defining who or what Inory was. Inory was an artificially made human body that was supposed to serve as a vessel to transfer Mana's consciousness into. You can also label that as soul. So basically, Inory was just a husk waiting for the soul to be put into it. Before that could happen however, she was rescued by Gai and exposed to "the outer world". Presumingly being completely made in the lab, Inory never had a childhood nor any social experience. Thus, she lacked emotion and personality, which continued making her a soulless husk (metaphorically).



So she ran with the Funeral Parlor, carrying out her tasks like a machine she was. However, after meeting Shu Ouma, she was exposed to more or less normal social experiences. She started developing a personality, and started displaying emotion. She was no longer an artificially made machine - she was now a unique (human) being. She fell in love with Shu because he was "heartbreakingly human", who has "shown her the bad and the good of this world." Basically, she loves him because he taught her how to be a human, and this in turn made her feel like one and come to terms with her artificial origin. Being human, aka having a SOUL, was Inory's most valued essence. It is what "made her whole". Note: Inory always had a soul, but relatively to others, she almost didn't. It just kept her alive, not special.



Now let that sink in for a moment and let's move on to the voids. Voids are the manifestations of people's personalities, souls, hearts, complexes, etc., basically whatever makes a person unique described in one object. A particular void we should be interested in here is that of Yahiro's - the elephant grade shears. These shears are able to cut the "strings of life" of a person directly. Let us remember the scene where Shu talks to Jun in what appears to be some sort of a "spiritual lobby". Surrounding Jun are red, faintly glowing strings of life essence arranged in shape of helix, or DNA. If you cut the strings, the body loses life and becomes a corpse (or crystallizes, doesn't matter). At this point, one has to ask; do those strings of life represent simple rights and metabolic functions to live, or do they neatly carry all meanings of life aka soul, personality, conscience. My answer to that would be the latter. Why?



Remember how Shu killed Segai with the shears. The shears do NO PHYSICAL DAMAGE. They appear to pass through the body and right into the SOUL, which we can also, at this point, call Life, and are used to cut the red strings that represent it. Thus, by cutting the strings of life, you actually destroy the soul of the person. A body is useless without one. Everyone has it, even Inory. So that much we know about the red, glowing, helix shaped strings of life.



Fast forward towards the end. After the battle with Gai, Shu kills him. Mana dies due to this as well, since Gai was using her void at the time, as explained HERE (Thank you @Esper). This in turn begins to slowly crystallize Inory's body since she was the host of Mana's soul at the time. (The reason it did not happen instantly is, as stated in episode 11, the blood in her body has resistance to the virus. That, and the fact that there were TWO souls in her body at once, and only one of them died - Mana.) Knowing that Inory's body will die soon, Shu chose to die with her and decided to sacrifice his own body to annihilate the virus once and for all by absorbing it all. (Please notice how I'm using weird expressions of body instead of just saying death). It would seem like the two are about to die together, and that would be the end of it, but Inory had a different plan in her mind...



Before such ending could happen, we see Shu and Inory together in, again, what seems to be a "spiritual lobby", which is somewhat similar to the one in Shu and Jun's meeting in terms of concept. Inory shows Shu a RED, faintly GLOWING STRING in the shape of a Cat's Eye (string figure), or what I would prefer to call an open eye. That, is in fact, her very own string of life. Her soul. And she is giving it to him.



Now lets review our knowledge of those red strings of life. You CUT them, you destroy a persons soul (life) and basically kill them. So, what happens if, instead of cutting them, you TAKE them? What DO you GAIN? An extra life to live, like in Mario? No. You are taking the SOUL of the person. Their CONSCIOUSNESS in a way.



At this point, it is tempting to think that she gave him his rights to live, as he was going to die. But at that point, both were alive, and what she was giving to him was not a life he can use to throw at the virus like a bone it can chew on instead of his own. The virus needed a BODY sacrifice (got the reference now?). The crystals were forming on the BODY of the person, not his soul, and thus are not related.

So what DID Inory do? She decided to give Shu her SOUL, and use her (already dying) body as a sacrifice the virus needed as a vessel to get trapped in. What hints this, aside from what I have stated earlier? The Opening Theme Song! "So everything that makes me whole, I'll now give to you. I'm yours". WHAT makes Inory "whole"? The thing that she values the MOST. It is her SOUL. What she has developed thanks to Shu. The strings represent both her life and her soul, thus by giving it to him, she basically transferred herself into his body. Shu's body now has two souls - Shu's and Inory's, together. "I'm yours." She literally is now.



BUT HOLD ON. Now that sounds just bizarre. Can two souls even live in one body? YES!! Best example you can get is Mana's soul that was in Inory's body! They were sharing the same body, and were able to communicate with each other and control the body (to an extent). BUT WAIT! How did the soul transfer between Inory and Shu even take place?



Going back to the white wedding, gentlemen! Episode 12. Inory's body is covered in some sort of a hexagon wedding cloth that appears to be transferring some sort of RED, GLOWING STRINGS into Inory's body. What are they? You guessed it! They are Mana's life strings! Her soul being transferred to Inory's body, which turned out later, to be a SUCCESS! Mana was GIVING her SOUL to Inory! Or technically, forcibly stuffing her own soul into Inory's body, making it have two souls. You get the idea.



So what conclusions we have so far? The red strings of life DO represent the soul (and consciousness) of a person. Giving it to someone else means transferring the soul to that someone's body. And that's exactly what Inory did to Shu in the last moment! Why? So they don't have to stop existing! Because, you know, if they would just leave it at that, they would both die, and stay like that...
Basically, Inory saved us from a really crappy, down to earth ending! Hooray! Sadly, not many people will applaud this. The fact is so subtle that I cannot blame anyone for thinking it was what they thought it was - a non-rewarding, realistic, dull ending.

"HOLD IT, hardhat. Where's your proof ya back-pokin' snake!". The have I do proof, officer. *hick*

Let's look at some solid images. Last episode. Shu is listening to Inory's music. A scene shows up where Shu is hugging Inory... in, AGAIN, a place that seems to be some sort of a "spiritual lobby". Indeed! Check it out, it even has the same blue-white clouds that were also present when Shu was talking to Jun in the spiritual lobby.



You might argue that that is just his imagination according to the song, or it is his memories, BUT here is why I find that quite unlikely. First, it cannot be his memories, as this is the first time he is hugging her in that brown jacket of his (lel), and in that spiritual lobby space thingy. Second, why can't it be imagination?! Simple! The blue-white clouds give it away! Shu seems to be present in the same place as when he was when talking to Jun. You think that he just imagined the whole conversation with Jun? Oh boy, that would not be any good. It would basically mean that Shu only thought in his head that Jun wanted to die, while Jun was actually begging for mercy. That's just silly. At this point, I would like to point out that YES, the "spiritual lobby" exists in the anime, and that's where TWO SOULS MEET EACH OTHER. To talk, and stuff... And that's exactly what we see in the ending scene as the SOUL OF SHU embraces the SOUL OF INORY, who is always with him now, as they share one body.

"Is this the best you got, little man?". Yes. Iii mean - NO!! One more, less solid but never the less stable proof that I have is Shu's mentality. What have we learned about Shu throughout the whole anime? He is VERY emotional. He has social problems. He is always in his head and thinks too deep about useless things. He gets hurt easily, and his personality can change on a whim!



Just remember when Hare died. He COMPLETELY changed himself - all his ideals and his personality. From a good hearted wimp to an iron-fist dictator in just a moment's flash! As you can see, he gets affected REALLY EASILY, and REALLY DEEPLY. Remember the Lost Christmas? He was so devastated that he forgot the whole event! Even the fact that he had a sister! And some crazy blonde hair dude that fate decided to kick right into what he tried to escape! Hah, talk about life and its lemons!



So what conclusion can we extract from this? Let's run a simulation for that!

Imagine, Shu, with all those mental problems that he has, has:
-Lost the love of his life - Inory,
-Lost his eyesight,
-Lost his right arm,
-Lost two of his best friends,
-Lost his king ability (debatable),
-Seen all the catastrophes of the event,
-And was forced to change his entire personality and nature just to use the power he never wanted and stand up for its responsibilities he never wanted to take, all in a relatively short amount of time.

Now, if he was traumatized in Lost Christmas, then THIS would make Lost Christmas look like Disneyland. The kid would SNAP! Indeed, certain arguments exist against my conclusion - that he has matured greatly from that time, and that a few years have passed over Inory's apparent "death" so he could have gotten over it. But DID HE get over her? No! He was listening to her music! In harmony! He was smiling! He was HAPPY after ALL THAT!! WHY?!



Because Inory didn't "die"! Well, her body may have been destroyed, but her SOUL lives within Shu's body. Two souls together, not letting go, just as the theme song says in the end. She still "lives", and THAT'S why Shu did not snap. I don't know about you, but judging Shu's personality, he would never allow himself to be in peace if Inory would be gone forever. That, OR he would have forgotten her existence due to trauma - which is clearly shown not to be true.



And such is, ladies and gentlemen, my interpretation/theory/explanation of the ending. Gimme a round of applauds! Followed by a round of flying tomatoes! And maybe even watermelons, just for the variety!

Now, the ending I have proposed may seem waaaaay too subtle. It might indeed be simpler to say that the writers simply became unimaginative towards the end and finished off the anime quickly, and the obvious ending is the true ending. But in my opinion, the writers are far from that. There is a fair number of subtle messages in this anime. For instance, the shape that Inory and Mana present to Shu in the beginning of the anime using strings is called Jacob's Ladder. It represents the staircase to heaven according to the book of Genesis. By asking Shu to take it, they imply that he should accept the (guilty) crown and be the king of the new world. Ascension to Godhood perhaps, but that's just my interpretation. In the end however, Inory, using the life strings, gives him a shape of an open eye (or Cat's Eye, from a string game called Cat's Cradle). When Shu takes it, IT'SA TRAP! HAHAH! Well, sort of. As he takes it, the eye shape "closes" (Fish in a Dish string figure). Aside from being a foreshadowing of the rest of his life, a closed eye also means he is relieved from his unwanted duty of being the king. Closed eye (which also means blind) also means innocence. The Innocence that Shu was striving for for so long. It was his redemption from the responsibilities he never wanted to take. It meant he no longer had to be the king. It meant that he should no longer be "guilty". This is just one of the examples of how the anime writers used such subtle elements to summarize and represent bigger pictures. Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the same technique to make a clever, complex (but not really necessary) ending.



That is all to my theory, really. But before you go, or before you throw watermelons at me, I would like to mention Mass Effect 3. Lolwut? Look at the similarities! Both ME3 and Guilty Crown seem to have awful, down to Earth, dull endings. But that's what we see with an untrained eye and on-flow mind.
I would like to refer you to the "Mass Effect 3 - Indoctrination Theory".
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOyeFvnhiI
Watch it! (of course, if you know ME3 and how it ended). The theory collects all the very small and specific details of the game's story and environment to reveal that the obvious may not be obvious at all! It is a really plausible theory that has some solid proof to it. It instantly makes the ending of Mass Effect 3 from god awful to pure genius! And I say the same MAY, JUST MAY exist for Guilty Crown. I have faith in the writers. But I'm not in such stance because of them. I'm here because I made research on my theory and it seems plausible. Granted, it may not be very solid. And I'm sure you may have some counter arguments (we'll get to that later), but so far, it makes sense to me.



You see, Guilty Crown is not a realistic anime enough to make such a realistic end. You know - where "people die, they die, get over it kiddo". It sounds acceptable because the anime comes close to such atmosphere but not quite. No, not when you consider the whole picture of the anime. It is futuristic, sci-fi. Its not realistic. It doesn't even come close to realism. Thus, for me, the ending seemed too down to Earth to be acceptable for such an anime. It seemed too simple. It was out of line. It did not align itself with the anime's general writing creativity - the flow, the atmosphere. Thus, I (I) believe that the interpretation I have proposed is actually acceptable to the anime's story and overall logic. It fits. There is reasonable proof to it. And the assumptions can apply to the logic of the anime. The other, more common ending interpretations fit as well, but seem rather out of place. Unsatisfying. Shu losing nearly all and is forced to live like that - dull and cruel for no reason. Both dying - better than previous ending, yet still saddening. So yeah (lel).

That's all folks! If you've actually read it all, pat yourself on the back! Trust me, not every human being is given such a unique ability to READ EVERYTHING FULLY. Especially if it is any longer than a paragraph. REMEMBER! This is just my interpretation. It can be completely wrong, BUT I would GLADLY listen to YOUR counter arguments, as long as you REMEMBER to do it like a civilized being. The reputation of the community behind Guilty Crown is infamous. It is true that you either love or hate the anime. So please. It is obvious that I loved the anime, so don't try to point me at it's unrelated-to-the-topic plot holes, inconsistencies, clichés and inconveniences. My opinion won't change on whether I liked it or not. So if you are going to debunk my theory, use the proper facts and proof format rather than bluntly stating that I'm wrong then calling me weird names in the desperate hopes to show off the size of your e-peen. And I've seen that happening, so I'm warning you.

Good day, folks!

Londevin said:
After all this years watching anime im still not used to such a dramatic and death of characters that Japanese serve us. This is another anime that leaves me unsatisfied after ending (like Angel Beats once before). Xspy70, You did a great job, I know it took you a lot of time but… you didnt convinced me. Its all about our personal feelings and interpretations. I don’t think that beeing only ghost/consciousness in someones mind/body etc. can be satisfying for anyone. You can’t touch that person, say something to that person etc. For me its not very different from that when you lose someone close to you/ your family – this person is still in your mind, its blood still circulate in your veins but you know you lost someone who was very special for you. The thing is, that creators of Guilty Crown didn’t expain anything (sorry, i’m like doubting Thomas). The question is – they have any explanation or not? Because in situation like that every answer can be right and every answer can be wrong as well. It only depends on us. And for me this anime is really, really sad.
PS. First half of this anime is really nice, but the second one just sucks – not because the plot, its just boring. But thats only my opinion ;)

2070139chocolate said:
snip

I_LUV_NALU said:
Can you make an explanation for Neppuu Kairiku Bushi Road like the keep saying ame became one with the sky, or is she just dead

xnix said:
snip

xFatty said:
snip

Jonathan_Flowers said:
I really sad by the fact that they could make another Inori and take the soul out of Shu and place it in her. But would that kill Shu since he need her soul to survive in your theory. I could have seen them making another season or a couple more episodes using your theory. And maybe jus maybe bring her back to life... I do have one question if technology was so good why cant we at least get Shu his eyesight back... I do like your theory and wish the authors intended on your theory being correct. If Inori died he would probably killed himself losing the only people he cared about Hare, then Inori... P.S. cried when Hare died, I was like no why her... I really fell in love with her character. Please respond :)

pufonD said:
Glad I somehow randomly got to read your post after finally managing to watch Guilty Crown. Through out the whole anime to the very end I felt that I'm always missing something as things are not connecting as simply as you would like them to be.

I even made a note for myself to re-watch the whole anime when I have time to actually delve deeper to understand it better because I could not take it for its face value, something was wrong and missing in my understanding.

Anyway, good post, I really feel like I can understand the concept better. I will re-watch it, maybe even couple of times, it's just I cannot decide when ether the creators intended to make the anime as subliminal as it is or have they just did a bad job explaining everything what you did.

Jonas-Saw-That said:
Basing this on this theory.

So what if they made a vessel for Inori to go in and with new technology Shu regained eye sight?

VoidGenome said:


Entirely possible. It's a sci-fi world where robotic prosthetic are a thing, so eye-restoration could also be possible.
As for Inori, both Mana s well as Gai had been returned to life at least once during the series, so nothing would really stop Inori from doing the same.

serejqa said:
Really good one, answered almost all my questions. Good job!
But one is still remained. Why he didn't use right hand (his power) to save, heal Inori ?

GOTL said:
If you look at the end card, only Hare and the creep has angel halo over their head, meaning they're 100% dead.

Inori, Gai and Mana, however, don't have it. I think it's deliberate considering this SAME PRODUCER TEAM did Koutetsujou no Kabaneri and did the same trick on the end card. Everybody who is supposed to be dead have an angel halo BUT Biba. Then BAM! they announced season 2 in 2018. https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1528620&show=559

Coincidence? I think not. Your theory is a strong possibility.

Xspy70 said:

Wow. That is a very good detail! However I don't remember where I got the end image from (if it is official or not), so the imagine might not be from the producers (I don't know).

If it is though, I'm glad! Makes sense, and seeing how they announced a season 2 for another of their anime for 2018 gives hopes!

GOTL said:

The end card is indeed legit. It should be at the end of the final episode since I had it saved in my pc as well.

Xspy70 said:
Doubt it means anything for season two of Guilty Crown, and I'm ok with that since there isn't much left to cover for a season 2 I think.

VoidGenome said:
snip

CrashTestTravis said:
I love this theory, I just have one problem with it. Shu COULDN'T have completely lost the King's power as you can see he still has his arm made of the crystal. Had he lost his power completely his right arm wouldn't be there. So for me it would be easier to believe that Shu retained the kings power, however now; with all of the voids being gone it's only real use at this point would be for him to retain his right arm.