Guilty Crown - Reviews

Yes, everything about this series is good apart from the plot. I know a lot of people enjoying it but maybe it's just not the one for me. I attempted to watch it many times but end up dropped it and then started again just to dropped it again ☹️

I really couldn't wrap my head around the story after all, some of you may says that I must be daff, but here I am trying to be honest, that I couldn't understand any single bit of it.

However, this anime also has a few good points. I like those character designs, the art looks pretty good, especially the background of every scenes, those action movements were splendidly created. The robot and those mecha stuff designs didn't impress me tho, could be bc I had watched Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion before so I didn't think those in Guilty Crown looks that good 😀

(Hopefully I'm not the only one watching Guilty Crown and feeling daff here! LOL 😂) 

Summary: Beautiful show with a lot of visual allegories to the human condition and references to biology, but the characters fall flat and the story falls apart after the first 12 episodes. Average anime watcher should enjoy it, but if you are looking for something smart to watch don't go for this one.

Spoilers ahead

Characters: Weak and confusing. We get a pansy *** whimp for a main character (again), who finds his idol in some sort of dilapidated school building that he hangs out in. Main character (Shinji) gets god powers and lets every other character use and abuse him, because even though he's got god powers he's as emotionally weak as a baby. This never changes the rest of the show. Idol (Rei) is your soul-less, emotionless female lead which only exists to help the Shinji get out of a jam. I honestly do not believe Rei when she explains how she can love Shinji, literally every character she's met has met those same conditions. The rival/leader (Asuka) is one of the more interesting characters, although he contradicts himself at every turn and its extremely difficult to pin his motivations/goals. Asuka looks like he's at least 30, yet we're supposed to believe he's the same age as Shinji?? Wtf?? Someone so much more intelligent, cunning and physically strong?? After the first 12 episodes, I was seriously hoping that Shinji and Asuka were going to switch positions, but that never happened...

Story: Just stop thinking about what happens in this show. The more you think about it, the less it makes any sense. We have an established power that materializes the persons heart into a weapon/object, and the person forgets about what happened. Nothing about this changes until about halfway through the show, and then after that all the rules about the power fall to crap. Now we get anybody using their own power at any given time for convenience. And then we've got some sort of virus that somehow everyone in Japan has, yet we have vaccines that do nothing to the virus yet holds off symptoms (that's not how vaccines work). A cure was invented 10 some years ago, yet only 3 cures have ever been made in that period of time (and only main character uses it). The worst thing about this was how it turned into some weird incest Adam and Eve story...

This show is very confusing when you're also watching Dimension W at the same time, but it reminds me of Evangelion in a lot of ways too. The only difference is that Shinji never learns to believe in himself like he does in the second movie, and here he becomes into a self-loathing martyr/Jesus character. But I enjoyed watching the show still, despite my complaining about it. I might have enjoyed it a little more if it was more of a relaxed story where Shinji was like Great Teacher Onizuka or Koro-sensei from Assassination Classroom or Katsuragi from TWOGK that focused on the backstories of each persons heart. This show was like these shows - in the setting of Evangelion where its post apocalyptic with multiple factions against each other.

Guilty Crown is an entertaining anime with a good plot, interesting characters, though some things are underexplained or rushed. Several points are left unexplained until the last third of the show, which of itself is not bad. One major point that once explained made the show much better was why Inori is so infuriatingly bland. Her character fleshes out a bit near the end. The other characters are fantastic. It is unusual for the hero to be portrayed in a negative light, yet Guilty Crown spends a great deal of time exploring Shu's mistakes. The theme about the power of love is a bit over-played, but the vehicle is refreshingly unique. The ending leaves much to be desired, though with a bit of analysis (and some googling), closure can be had. The sound and animation quality is great, and there is some lovely, haunting music associated with Inori. Overall a very good anime that explories the affects of relationships, both good and bad and partiuclarly the power of love, while providing fast paced action with an ecchi flavor without dipping too heavily into stereotypes and cliches.

Being my fourth mecha series so far, straight after titles such as Code Geass and Eureka Seven, I remember having quite high expecations of Guilty Crown when I first got word of it. Fortunately for me though - since high expecations tend to ruin my experience of a series -, I was already watching quite a number of other, good series at the time, which resulted in me forgetting about Guilty Crown for more than a month. So when I finally picked it up, I had forgotten what I expected of it, and started watching with a fresh mind.

Like most animes of medium length (~20-50 eps), Guilty Crown proved not to immediately have me imprisoned in desire to watch more of it. Guilty Crown needed six episodes - two at a time - to make me come back - not to know, but to purely watch more of the series. Episode 15 saw a 'Code Geass'-like development spread it's wings like a falcon on the hunt, diving straight down at me with a speed surpassing 100 kmph and mercilessly catching me on the spot. And while the music did not specifically catch my ear (with the exception of the two tracks sung by Inori), it did a good job in bringing the excitement a tonal embodiment. 

Needless to say, I finished the show in that same sitting, being both thrilled and scared by where the chaos and character development might ultimately take the characters that I had grown to care and wish happiness for. Guilty Crown proved to be similiar to Code Geass in development, while at the same time creating and successfully maintaining a sense of originality. Still, yet unsurprisingly, Guilty Crown could not beat the experience that Code Geass R2 offered. 

Although its ending was executed in a less proper way than Code Geass, Guilty Crown made it in a kinder way; and while some may argue that such an ending may be less memorable, it really doesn't matter to me - I do not forget thrill of the kind that Guilty Crown employed to suddenly make me immersed in it, enough to forget about both time and need of sleep, just to watch more. And more. And. More.

Ok, so lets start off with my first review :)

First of all i have to say that I realy try to be as objective as I can be and I don't want to compare Guilty Crown to other anime like Code Geass or Evangelion.

Story: So, the story really keeps me going from episode to episode. But it's just another Endzeit setting with slightly different triggers.

There's a bunch of researchers trying to get to the next stage of evolution. How they will accomplish this or why they need the Voids for this is still unknown. The Anime tries to submit a feeling that there's a big conspiracy behind this all centered around our Protagonists dead (or maybe living) father.

That's probably everything there is to say about the story. Nothing new or unheard of but a pretty good concept to capture some audience.

Animation: Everyone who has atleast watched the PVs or a Trailer knows that the Animations are top-notch. Some might even say that it's a shame they spend such a high budget on this "mediocre" story but this factor has no influence on the ratings.

Sound: I was looking forward to the OST more than to the actual anime (Hell yeah shipping takes forever....). Nothing to say here, ever since I saw Bakemonogatari i was a big supercell fan. I'm a little bit disappointed that they changed quite a bit but I still like their music (a good book, hot chocolate and supercell heals everything :D)

Characters: Don't... want... to...talk...about...the....characters....

Ok, the characters have everything they need. Design, development, everything is at hand.

BUT i really can't bring myself to say that the character cast is good in this show.

The Protagonists and Inoris change over the show fascinates me how screwed up a character cast could be. (Watch for yourself and judge, i can't stay objective on this one)

The side cast is filled with probably every stereotype from over the whole anime section.

Overall: It is in fact a pretty good show, but I can't understand how it got so much of a hype.

If you're ok with a character cast that can melt your brain and a story that keeps popping up with questions and never gives you answers go on and watch it.

I'll still watch it to the end just to get some answers out of the story, lets hope the ending makes up for the struggle through every episode.