Guilty Crown – 02

The mecha parade is in town! Join in for Daryl who will blow everything up.

Guilty Crown? Sounds like a spin-off series from the people that brought us Law & Order. Also makes me think of that Metallica song, ~Where’s your crown, King Nothing!~ Enough of the nonsense. I luckily snuck in the first episode of Guilty Crown before my trip back home. Good times were had, internet was pure awful in the hotel, and I’m back just in time for this weeks episode of GC.

It’s no surprise that everyone is bubbling over about Guilty Crown thanks to a mix of pre-airing hype and a strong first episode. That means EVERYONE WANTS A PIECE O’ DIS. This week I get to toss in some of my thoughts with Fosh and Jrow. I am like this week’s contestant on a game show or something. Fun times!

Another week of great anime and of course more; Guilty Crown! Well after that first episode got released and everyone rushed out to watch, it seems most people either liked the artwork and a few ended up not liking it due to the heavy Geass like story. So what will the second episode bring us? Let’s find out with OC, and Jrow! Plot picks right up with Shu and his amazing new sword as he hacks up more robots, saving Inori from the GHQ. Gai joins up with the two and pushes Shu into helping out for his first mission with the Undertakers. The GHQ begin to forcefully take all the local residents in for interrogating and they begin to execute them on the spot. So, Gai forms a plan with his team and they begin their attack against the GHQ with Shu’s help to ultimately save the day.

Shu- “Oooh look at all the deadly objects. OH FUUU where’s my shield?!”

We start this adventure following Shu and the aftermath thanks to his sharp new toy! After saving Inori and meeting up with Gai we learn a bit more about that mysterious virus Shu was holding onto and who it really belonged to and Gai tells Inori she failed her mission. This virus is known as the Void Genom and it gives a user “The King’s Power”; it basically scans people’s body and allows to pull various weapons out of their Void. This sudden news pulls Shu into helping Gai, because Gai could kick Shu’s ass so damn fast before the kid can even blink. So he really can’t just say, “I rather not, bro~ I got stuff to do.”

This one’s for Anaaga! Gai and Shu having a heart to heart talk about sleep overs.

After that fantastic recruitment plan by Gai, we meet the rest of the team. Well we get to meet a few of them and two girls that will easily steal the show for most. Tsugumi a hacker style loli girl and Ayase a skilled mecha pilot! Yes I know two more fan-service characters for extra eye-candy.  Before Gai can give Shu a proper tour of the HQ, they get wind of a new threat by the GHQ. They are rounding up everyone in the area by force to draw out Gai and his team. Oh did I mention GHQ also has a crazy mecha pilot named Daryl? And boy does he LOVE his job but he lacks some serious social skills.

Inori, move over, you are going to be replaced by these two.

Daryl- “Oh was it THAT good for you?”

With no time to waste, restrained citizens begin to get executed by Daryl and the GHQ. Gai throws together a plan that requires Shu’s help; well he’s our main character so he has to be involved somewhere even if it’s just standing in a corner or hiding under rocks. Anyway our team aka the Undertakers comes together and begins this insane operation to save the people, which results in some amazing distraction and hacking to keep everyone busy. While the others are doing their parts, Gai steps forward to keep everyone om local GHQ busy. This gives Shu a chance to run into the area and rip a gun out of Daryl’s Void. This gun comes in handy after the GHQ attempt to use a few dozen laser guided missiles to take Gai down only to have a wall of mirrors screwing the lasers system, resulting in a massive explosion.

Daryl- “Wow, I just love fireworks and dead bodies! Must be my birthday.”

Gai- “If you stare at me too long, you will go blind….”

Shu- “Pew pew pew pew pew lasers!”

Gai is burning his way up the charts for popular male character.

Good work, you saved the day, Shu! After the successful mission, Gai offers Shu a spot on his team but surprisingly he decides to turn down the offer. I guess he doesn’t like FIGHTING AND SAVING THE WORLD! But before the episode ends we join him in his school, where we get our usual mysterious transfer student, which means Inori transferring in with Shu. If Inori had a demon tail she would be Lala from To-Love-ru….

Shu- “Now I just need her to move into my house next! Wait that IS HAPPENING!? Fuuuuuuuuu!”

Extra powers

Making popcorn in the future requires large weapons and fire.

Required by anime law of fanservice: DAT ASS SHOT.

Shu- “Think of the mission…yes THE MISSION….OH DAMN I LOOKED.”

moe moe super hackaaaaaaa!

Daryl- “After all that hot robot on robot fun, I need a shower…”

End Thoughts:

Alright, so that little mini-anime is done, let’s move on to the real story of Guilty Crown – school antics with Shu & Inori! I find myself in the undesirable situation of having to lower my expectation of GC. Things look great, but the story feels very lackluster. The Code Geass comparisons are the most popular, but GC doesn’t even feel like it’s executing anything really good at the moment. Gai seems like a good leader, but Shu’s line about everything going exactly as planned threw me off because nothing about Gai felt very supernaturally smart and nobody really speaks about his abilities as a leader. Also, that explanation of the Void Genome better not be all there is to it. That would be such a base explanation and too open-ended. Daryl has a void, does this mean Shu can pull weapons from other people? One thing I was hopeful for was a strong story to go with the production values, and so far this feels like the Avatar of anime; looks good, but story wise it just won’t hit quite as well.

Honestly, I just now realized that GC is the reverse of CG. Code Geass, Guilty Crown. Ugh… I digress into dumbness. Anyways…After not really warming up to Shu last week, and while he only did one cool thing before bailing out on the Funeral Parlor, I like that he didn’t so easily join up with Gai afterwards. It would’ve been too quick to win him over and gone against his rather self-involved, lazy I-don’t-care attitude. I don’t think he’ll be escaping his fate for too long now that Inori is going to school with him.

The main redeeming factors of this show to date is the animation, action & music. I kind of got excited when Shu did those air jumps at the opening. Love doing them in Castlevania, would like to see Shu do more of that. The Endlave design of “Kill-em All” Daryl (cool nickname) looks really sleek and hot, and there seems to a remote method to piloting the mechs that effects the users back in their pods. The start showed a man back at HQ hurt from the attack by Shu, and Tsugumi and Ayase worked together while it was Ayase inside the mech. Those girls are kind of a cute duo, and the show gave them nice jiggle physics in the T & A regions, though I believe a plug suit is supposed to be a super-tight fit and not make for jiggling. Oh well, I liked seeing Tsugumi’s butt shakin’ always. The OP theme didn’t click on my first listen, but I quickly liked the song my next time listening to it. Other than that, I’m sadly let down by what Guilty Crown is showing me right now.

I didn’t find the second episode quite as enchanting as the first, but I’m still in love with this show. I’m still not particularly stricken by the story, but it’s all the other little things that get me: the art, the music, the action, the STYLE. This is odd, because story is the primary aspect I look for when choosing an anime to watch. Guilty Crown has a typical plot about a boy with superpowers joining a rebel organization to fight against a needlessly evil ruling party. Seriously, why the hell are they spending all that time executing innocent people? Don’t they have anything else to do? I get that they’re supposed to be evil, but no need to shove it down our throats how callous and malevolent they are. It’s not a bad story, it’s just not very unique (it had to use the transfer student method to make the story work. SERIOUSLY.) and not as coherently sewn together as I’d like.

This episode boils down to explanations, BSing about biology, and fun super powers with a side of mecha. I must have missed the lecture in my Human Genetics class that cleared up the fact that introns, in fact, are not sections of DNA that don’t really code for anything useful and actually contain the code for GIANT-ASS SWORDS. It’s typical anime “wtf logic,” but I guess it kind of works since we’re still trying to figure why the hell our genome has so many sections that are just “junk DNA.” Not that superpowers is a likely answer, but it’s amusing and I’ll give them that (I hated the natural selection speech though. Enough is enough). With his ability to extract weapons from anyone’s DNA, he can technically reach his hands into anyone unwary enough and pull out something badass using their genome. Nice. That means we get new weapons every now and then! I’m a sucker for action sequences, and the prospect of Shu having a new approach to each and every fight excites me. I’m loving the fights so far, both with Shu and the mecha. I think my favourite thing about this show is actually the violence of it all.

I don’t get how Shu became so proficient at fighting so fast though. I was expecting a bit of a slower curve to adapt to his new role. Instead, he runs out and thrusts his hand into someone’s chest, retrieves a gun, and destroys EVERYTHING on the first go. It’s only after he creates a massive explosion that he says “Naww, dog, this isn’t my gig.” and goes back to school. Not that his wishes will actually be respected, because then he wouldn’t be a very good main character, now, would he? It’s weird, but I want him to be a wimp more consistently. I don’t want him to be a hero all of a sudden, I want him to be a scared little boy with a huge amount of responsibility thrust upon him. I want him to be utterly broken by this new burden, not suddenly empowered by it. Those are just my personal preferences for a lead character though, someone who transitions more smoothly from zero to hero (like Yukiteru from Mirai Nikki thus far). I will, however, announce my undying love for Daryl right here and now. I love his erratic switches from calm to batshit insane at the tip of a hat. Sometimes, the classic psychos are the best ones. I’ll be keeping my eye on you, honey~

Well another great looking episode on the animation front of things, but I think the story seems to be lacking something. I really was not expecting anything amazing for a core story yet. I can’t really say that after all we did learn about the whole Void thing and got some new character introductions like Daryl. Man that character is great as I really like the insane characters; well besides Gai I would say those two are my favorite guys so far, sorry Shu! Eventually you might become cool just not right now.

For the other introductions yes I know all the girls are probably going to hate on Tsugumi for her “dance” and outfit she wears, but compared to Inori, I think Tsugumi has a far better personality. And then we have Ayase, which I like not because she just so happens to be another fan service character. I like her more around the fact she uses a wheelchair because I use one as well, so I have a small connection with her on that. I’m curious to know how she ended up that way and I’m sure down the road we will get a peek into how that happened to her, but for now she easily tops Inori for my personal tastes; sure she can sing and I do love her voice.

Well, the best moments of this episode goes to Daryl and Ayase for their awesome mechs for designs. I still find Ayase’s machine a bit strange. Daryl’s mecha on the other hand looks great! I was thinking about Ride back for a while during this episode based on how it moves and fights, and I do enjoy that idea about the pilots using those special cockpits to drive them. Very interesting way of “piloting” that reminded me of how we control drones used by the military. Awesome robots aside for a moment, watching Shu turn down Gai’s offer was kind of a nice twist, but we all know soon he will give up and join them. But Gai, you should have twisted his arm or glared at him…

Preview

Art by Fosh! Hope you like it.

Shu and Inori start school together! I wonder if the other Undertakers will join? Gai teaching students might be entertaining! Tune in next week and find out what really happens.