Guilty Crown – 16 Review

So even after Shuu had become a tyrannical merciless leader he still knows a thing or two about being a spineless jerk. He’s really quick to change his opinion about the Void-Ranking-System after enforcing it so strongly for some time now.

Guilty Crown 16 – The Benefits of “Distinguishing”

Guilty Crown is still a silly series. For example this series want to make us believe that the Void-Ranking-System isn’t only a way to organize this school’s survival it actually has turned it literally into a totalitarian regime with “Secret Service” and stuff. And it’s all managed by children. Also in this big ruined Tokyo there are conflicts between various groups of survivors who try to get vaccine and other stuff but the conflict shown in this episode was between teenagers with Voids from Shuu’s school and… another group of teenagers. There were no adults around, we pretty much have seen only teenagers being in this ruined Tokyo. And the Big Wall that came up through the ground and now moves through the city is also a really mind-boggling plot-device. At this point I don’t really care about these logical flaws. I guess I’m just happy that gravity still works… most of the time anyway. And since it’s written by the writer of Code Geass it’s to be expected there would be some silliness for the sake of action. The problem is of course that Guilty Crown isn’t that exciting. So most of that silliness just seems… silly without having any excuse for why it should be that silly.

Guilty Crown – 15 Review

Oh, thank god, that isn’t awkward at all with Souta being right in front of him who would be part of the so-called ‘trash’… Shuu really knows how to be a jerk.

Guilty Crown 15 – Shuu Finds Out That Being Kind Is Pointless

So, ever heard of the cautionary tale called “The Kind King”? Well, it’s about this king who didn’t understand the most fundamental lessons about economy and therefore ended up destroying his own country by trying to improve it. He wanted to make his people richer and their lives more comfortable – but instead managed to make the situation even more miserable than it already was (since he helped them because they were whiny). So the ‘Kind King’ isn’t a king anymore because his kingdom disappeared by giving everything away that made it his kingdom and nobody calls him ‘kind’ anymore either because life is more terrible than ever. But somehow Hare starts fantasizing and insists on her belief that this ‘Kind King’ is actually a great guy. Well, he isn’t – because he sucks at his job. Problem is, though: We’re talking about Guilty Crown. And I have this uncomfortable feeling sometime in the future Shuu will change his opinion again about what being a king means and being kind is considered a good move again.

Guilty Crown – 13 Review

Right, because when shit has hit the fan and a city has sunk into chaos every teenager would go to school wearing the school-uniform…

Guilty Crown 13 – You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party

Two weeks have passed, this episode tells us in the beginning and like predicted in these two weeks Shuu has already grown a pair which excludes him from any sort of whining-sequences. Filling that spot will be Ayase who still can’t get over her failure to save Gai. Shuu’s completely fine with it and even has convinced himself that he let Gai die because stabbing someone with a big kick-ass sword isn’t killing or something like that. The evil guys (not the real heroes of this episode, I mean Sergai, Professor-Dude & Co) also have a nasty surprise for the protagonists… Apparently Aquarion Evol isn’t the only series these days realizing that a wall is an amazing plot-device.

Guilty Crown – 12 Review

We learn two important things about the Lost-Christmas-Catastrophe in this episode: 1. Everything is (of course) Shuu’s fault. 2. Incest would’ve saved the world. Go figure what this tells us, the audience, about the show’s message.

Guilty Crown 12 – The Things She Did For Love

Now wasn’t that a totally crazy rollercoaster-ride? Shuu as a little kid was surprisingly – also a jerk challenging other innocent kids to risk their lives. And his sister had a very jerky way when it came to love so I guess being a jerk is a family-trademark or something. Anyway, don’t expect me to touch upon all the little fluff-implications of this semi-finale. The last few episodes not only had enough story to let everything before that look like a filler, the revealed story also made it clear that the first half actually was kinda like a filler. So with the timetable of a busy beehive this series decides to rush past you with this episode’s big revelations. And yes, they obviously didn’t have the time to make it watertight storytelling. But well, at least they remember how crappy Guilty Crown’s beginnings were.

Guilty Crown – 09 Review

Shuu finally reveals how troubled he really feels about using the Voids of his friends…

Guilty Crown 09: Yahiro Samukawa Starring In… “The Fugitive”

Christmas is still a few weeks away so I was surprised when a miracle happened: Guilty Crown showed some brains in telling a story. Some, I said, because it’s still Guilty Crown. Shuu is still a jerk, this time accompanied by Yahiro (also a jerk) and they want to save Jun, Yahiro’s little brother (who wasn’t a jerk… but has become one). I’ve always asked myself why the series is called Guilty Crown and I assumed it was a mixture of me feeling guilty and Shuu wearing the crown of jerkiness. Now I know it’s Shuu feeling guilty for being stupid, arrogant and a pain in the ass while still retaining a main-character-role although someone should’ve noticed already what a douchebag he really is. But I’ve talked about Christmas because I actually have a good opinion of this week’s episode. It’s still Guilty Crown but good enough to make me interested again for what will happen (mainly so that I can laugh about its pretentiousness in the end, I guess, but still…).

Guilty Crown – 08 Review

While Souta simply goes with ‘I have trouble talking to you because you’re so distant’, Shuu (of course) has prepared a whole list of things to complain about (because he’s a jerk after all). But reading his nitpicky complains I have to ask: Does a sociopath like Shuu actually know what social cues are?

Guilty Crown 08: Friendship Starts With Calling Someone A Jerk

The seventh episode actually did a pretty good job of being the kind of idiotic fun Guilty Crown should be (since it isn’t a series aiming for quality storywise). This episode didn’t continue the stupid vibe of the previous episode but it wasn’t as awful as some of the earlier episodes. It was pretty much a “Meh”-like episode that was overall solid enough (if you don’t have any kind of expectations for this show) but if you look closely it’s still full of the typical mistakes created by following characters whose characterizations are simply crappy. Shuu is still a jerk and Inori still dazzles with the charisma of non-existence. And that won’t change very soon because this series not only sucks at characterization but also at character-development.

Guilty Crown – 05 Review

Shuu is a jerk and he has no qualms about using every possible opportunity to tell everyone that…

Guilty Crown 05: Cheating Is Also Appropriate Now

Shuu continues to disregard any notion of politeness or taking a hint when needed. As the girl in the wheelchair tries to make a fighter out of him everybody quickly realizes that Shuu is a failure in every sense of the word. Spending a whole episode failing at everything, I guess, everybody was pretty happy to hear how Shuu actually passed the final test – by cheating. And still everyone’s impressed. Because actually nobody could’ve passed that test which I think is very telling in terms of what secretly everyone wanted to happen. But he cheated and he won. And Shuu gets sentimental realizing that betraying these people might be not the gentleman-way of handling trust and loyalty.

Guilty Crown – 04 Review

Hopefully her ‘dramatic’ reaction doesn’t indicate that she’s the kind of characters who has a ‘secret’ crush on the main-character. Besides, why the hell should she get such an important role in the first place…? Come on, soapy school-life-drama is something this show absolutely does not need.

Guilty Crown 04: Betrayal Is Appropriate Now

After being betrayed by his drug-addict/drug-dealer/lying bastard/family-caring friend/(whatever he’s supposed to be in the next episode) Shuu struggles to live a peaceful life in prison. Because the guy who has caught him is evil which means that it’s (again) a crazy person he has to deal with. Meanwhile Inori struggles with the concept of love and how her new theme-song should be ‘Only Fools Rush In’ from Elvis Presley. And this series has another big revelation to show us which is that one of the most dangerous terrorists of Japan is – a teenager. Well, I guess, now it becomes clear why it’s called a shounen-series: because anyone older than 17 is simply unimportant – or frigging nuts.

Guilty Crown – 03 Review

Oh, so Mr. Super-Sensitive doesn’t like to be called a moron, is that it? Well, grow a pair, will ye? Because you know what? The guy who called you a moron: He was goddamn right. It’s time to accept that and move on.

Episode 3 – The Actor Who Takes Drugs Isn’t Your Best Friend

Predicament has become a daily event for Shuu and so he knows it’s time to reduce his shyness to private moments of wimpy whining. Gai, who now makes thousand new friends on facebook each hour of the day, tells Shuu that his secret ‘Actually I’m quitting this job.’-pact with Gai could be revealed because Shuu is sort of still working together with the Funeral Parlor group despite the fact that he called it quits last episode. The reason is naturally Inori who like usual shows off the remarkable presence of a nice-looking lawn-mower.

Guilty Crown – 02 Review

Well, you’d have ceased being a wimp… I know, unimaginable, right? Wimpishness is a character-trait one should cherish, I mean, it’s simply what you need to have a boring life – and that’s something desirable seemingly in this case.

Shuu’s dream of being a boy-scout continues this episode introducing him to the cruelties of a world he always suspected to be a fabrication of the game-industry. But the Real-Life-version was just as intoxicating he had to admit but really nothing he would like to experience every day since it’s just so tiring. In other corners of the story we’re introduced to (another) teenager with great importance who’s slightly crazy and evil in subtly ways demonstrating this at every point very convincingly, actually it’s so convincing that you won’t even notice how subtle the whole thing is. But naturally he’s completely powerless against the mastermind of the (very young) terrorist group who execute a plan so perfect that angels cried out of happiness in heaven when it started. But in the end it’s all for nothing because Shuu decides he really doesn’t like to be a hero and he leaves to continue his life of boringness… or that’s what he planned to do, at least.