Guilty Crown - General Discussion

[U<3Anime]

Originally Posted by Raghe

Wait what? That did not sound like the usual Supercell. What happened to the vocalist?

[Flying Dagger]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

The music composition of the OP is godly, but the singing and overall melody of the lyrics colored me unimpressed. The visuals were a feast for the eyes...

Although I'm a little annoyed that the sequence with Shu running seemed like a recycled animation from the first epi (or one of the PVs) that was just composited on top of a different background. In fact, why did he have to be shown running at ALL, as well as Inori walking, which is redundant since we see her walking in the ED? Plus, 16 seconds full of nothing but static character poses? Meh...

I'll watch the actual episode later tonight and give my thoughts then.

I agree. Out of the songs I think I like Euterpe (the insert) the most, followed by the ED.

[fertygo]

Originally Posted by U<3Anime

Wait what? That did not sound like the usual Supercell. What happened to the vocalist?

Let just say Supercell's vocalist is swappable.

That is the new vocalist that they pick from audition , not your usual Nagi. (I don't know she's quitting or something)

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

I agree. Out of the songs I think I like Euterpe (the insert) the most, followed by the ED.

Agreed. Chelly is the vocalist for those songs, and her singing ability is much better than Koeda's (who sings the OP).

Originally Posted by U<3Anime

Wait what? That did not sound like the usual Supercell. What happened to the vocalist?

It's a new 15-year-old vocalist they chose in an audition process named Koeda. I don't know why they didn't just get Nagi. Maybe she's busy with other things?

[Bern-san]

Good episode, at the start when one of the guys said to Gai "Yes, my Commander" I got the CG feeling

I loved some parts of the OP (both song and visuals) although other parts didn't impress that much

Wheelchair-girl was sooo cute

[creb]

Shu's mom is kinda' hot.



Anyways...quick reaction to episode two:

* Gai is an esper! How else would he know that when Shu stuck his hand into Daryl, Shu would get a Void that lets him reflects lasers! Also, how cute that it reflected Daryl's "Kaleidoscope" nickname!

* Inori continues to come across like she suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. Yea, I get it. Rei Ayanami clones strike at the heart of all true otaku, but uggggh.

* I initially didn't much like the OP, but after the third time watching, the singing has grown on me. That said, her speaking voice simply doesn't match her singing voice at all (I know, I know, different people blah blah).

* Ayase boob jingle animated gifs aren't in this thread yet?!

* LoL @ huge-man sneaking up on the GHQ soldier.

Overall, continues to be entertaining, though unlike episode one, there wasn't much fodder for speculation this time around.

[Klashikari]

I can only second people comment about the OP: the singing isn't bad but doesn't really compliment the music score at all. But I must say that it is still quite an interesting voice for a vocalist of such age.

Anyway, Episode 2 was fairly entertaining and answer few questions here.
That being said, I can't help but be discontent with the fanservice being a tad annoying compared to ep1: aside of Ayane's obvious jiggling, it was more like Tsugumi's scene that made me want to be a tad vulgar...
Fortunately, the rest of the episode balanced out that part: the mood is definitely far less "stylish", but delivered quite well I think.

Shuu's predicament was easier and smoother to consider in this episode, and at least, they went a bit more descriptive with his position and own insecurities and motivations. Meanwhile, Inori keeps being mesmerizing, despite she arguably has little screentime compared to last week.

That being said, that episode relieved me regarding the whole deal with Shuu's power, and especially the fact it isn't only "usable" on girls (that would have been the usual silly excuse for harem and whatnot).
That said, I must wonder how come the weapon Shuu got from that psychopath would be that powerful... I mean, what would happen if he "befriends" him then?

Regarding the plot, it is way too early to see the whole scope of it, that being said, I was disturbed by 2 points:

Spoiler for ep2 end:

1) Why didn't gai used the genome immediately in Ep1 instead of letting Shuu keep it, if he knew the result of that.
2) More importantly: how could he expect THAT weapon to work this way for his plan?

[Algent]

Originally Posted by Shinn Kamiyra

Spoiler:

Question. How in the world did Gai know what kind of a weapon that blonde-haired sociopath would produce that would so perfectly fit into his plan?

Spoiler for episode:

They showed us he have something in his eye, and then they insisted he made a plan that went right down to the millisecond. He must have some kind of power.
And Like Klashikari just said he had the opportunity to take the genome (he couldn't have missed it), maybe he decided to use the boy.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I enjoyed ep2, as I did ep1, but the similarities to CG became too obvious for someone like me who didn't like many things about that show, including the magical ability of heavily armed rebels to remain hidden from all-powerful occupiers. We are now dropping into what seems a more ordinary kind of show, and I hope it can maintain its uniqueness.

Great to hear Koyasu Takehito's dulcet tones.

I like the OP more the more I hear it, but the insert song is still the best.

As for Gai taking the genome, he went straight into battle and had to leave it with Shuu. He probably wanted to test it under more controlled circumstances, and I expect he didn't imagine Shuu might use it, since he had no idea what it was. But of course, this is somewhat contrived.

As for the evil guy's power...

Spoiler for ep2:

...since he had the nickname Kaleidoscope, I think it may have been known that his Void was to reflect things.

[Kirarakim]

OP song is pretty but boring for an OP. It doesn't get you excited which I think is what this show needs.

So far the characters that interest me most are still Gai and the girl in the wheel chair (I forget her name). I like that the girl seemed strong but also compassionate.

I am happy that Inori showed up

Spoiler:

at Shu's school

now maybe I can see her in normal clothes. All the gratuitous shots of her were really starting to get on my nerves.

Shu is still kind of boring but I think he has the potential to have interesting character growth. Actually he is starting to make me think of the early Simon from Gurren Lagann. If his character growth turns out like that I will be pleased.

The worst part of this episode besides the fan service for me was the one dimensional bad guys. They really had me rolling my eyes.

Finally I also enjoyed hearing Koyasu Takehito who has the power to improve every anime.

[felix]

As was mentioned before, the animation quality just caries this to no end. The singing is also a heavy mood breaker, though I wouldn't say the music score for it is that great either. I know there's this "omg not rock music" but just a little bit of guitar rocky guitar play would have done wonders. Instead, it feels like I'm suppose to be unexcited or something. Kind of confusing what they're aiming for.

I'm still heavily against these characters who are in "reluctant to act" mode even when they are on the battle field wielding a big arse sword. It's so damn bizarre to me how they can be both energetic and completely pessimistic at the same time. You'd think that after you go around slicing missiles and clobbering giant robots you'd feel some adrenaline in the blood. Not this guy.

That said, overall I think I like the male characters more then the female characters. Though, I'm okey with the designs for the female characters (both clothes and looks) the male characters just have a lot more depth to them; well all except Shuu. The female characters suffer from overly-stupid-fanservice along with the usual personality crap. Not that my expectation are that high for their personalities to begin with; but the main hero and heroin set new records in how low they can get compared to every single other character in the cast.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by creb

* Ayase boob jingle animated gifs aren't in this thread yet?!

Forget that,I want one of Tsu butt she had some really nice moves early in the episode.

[Flawfinder]

This show had better be like Eureka Seven (started off generic and got better from there), because this is starting to turn into the anime version of Avatar (great visuals, boring story, boring characters, and generic situations). The ending scene was just painful, although I do want to see how having Inori in school will affect things. And I just found another anime cliche that I forgot to mention I hated, "Fanservice without justification".

So what did I like about this episode? That asshole dying (I think he died, I'm not sure). You'll know who I'm talking about if you watched the episode. It didn't help though that he was the most interesting character in this episode.

Edit: Also what was the point of that scene where those people are shot? If that's not referenced later, I'm going to lower my opinion of this series.

[creb]

So, there wasn't much to analyze this episode, unlike all those flashbacks from episode one. However, there were a few shots from the OP that were interesting, namely the Shu running sequence, which contained a few words scrolling across the screen. Whether they mean anything or not, I guess we'll just have to see.

Spoiler for Evolution?:

The first word is 'Evolution'. No surprise there, with all the evolution/genetic pseudo science being thrown around, and Funeral Parlor's whole "our singing shows we're the fittest 'cause we're alive to sing for those who weren't fit enough to survive" motto.

Spoiler for Sephirothoic Tree?:

The second word or phrase is, from what I can tell, 'Sephirothic Tree'. You can go read the rather dry entry on Wikipedia if you want to try to guess what this has to do with the story.

Spoiler for Tro...something?:

No idea what the third word/phrase is. All I was able to make out was 'Tro'. Your guess is as good as mine!

Spoiler for Err...what?:

Nor could I make out the last word/phrase.

As for new characters we haven't seen before in episode one or on the Guilty Crown Character Page:

Spoiler for Daryl's papa?:

[Xion Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I enjoyed ep2, as I did ep1, but the similarities to CG became too obvious for someone like me who didn't like many things about that show, including the magical ability of heavily armed rebels to remain hidden from all-powerful occupiers. We are now dropping into what seems a more ordinary kind of show, and I hope it can maintain its uniqueness.

It's fairly hard to find terrorists in real life though, just look at how difficult it is to stamp out Al Qaeda. Also, before Lelouch joined the rebels, they were close to being stamped out. After Lelouch joins, his Geass would allow him to control enough people to allow them to pretty much hide in plain sight. Although I guess being able to hide Knightmare Frames is a bit of a stretch, as most terrorists don't have a bunch of hidden tanks they can just drive out and fight with the US army with.

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Shu is still kind of boring but I think he has the potential to have interesting character growth. Actually he is starting to make me think of the early Simon from Gurren Lagann. If his character growth turns out like that I will be pleased.

Gai would need to die for that to happen I think, but I also don't think Gai is the Kamina type character. He seems more like the anti-hero with his own agenda who might or might not end up being the last boss type character.

[felix]

@creb

3rd is Top Rank Objective (TRO) probably.

4th appears to be CAM (or CMA) going by the dropshadows.

Originally Posted by Xion Valkyrie

It's fairly hard to find terrorists in real life though, just look at how difficult it is to stamp out Al Qaeda. Also, before Lelouch joined the rebels, they were close to being stamped out. After Lelouch joins, his Geass would allow him to control enough people to allow them to pretty much hide in plain sight. Although I guess being able to hide Knightmare Frames is a bit of a stretch, as most terrorists don't have a bunch of hidden tanks they can just drive out and fight with the US army with.

That's exactly the difference. Al Qaeda only had people, it's not hard to find, just hard to find who's on which side. When it comes to any sort of vehicle there's all sorts of signs, easiest of which is just looking for heat signatures, tracks, noise, among other things.

But oh well, lucky for them this "ruined city" and "stealth tech" can excuse pretty much anything at the moment.

[hoarfrost]

Originally Posted by Flawnalyst

Edit: Also what was the point of that scene where those people are shot? If that's not referenced later, I'm going to lower my opinion of this series.

Because the international organization is evil, so they need to be seen doing evil things like abusing women to reinforce how evil they are and how imperative it is for the flashy, clever, scrappy Team Good Guys™ to win the day.

Because there's not really a much more sophisticated or enlightened way to portray a complex geopolitical conflict.

[creb]

Originally Posted by felix

@creb

3rd is Top Rank Objective (TRO) probably.

4th appears to be CAM (or CMA) going by the dropshadows.

Those are as good as any other guesses.

Originally Posted by felix

"stealth tech" can excuse pretty much anything at the moment.

Damn straight! How else do you think Oogumi was able to sneak up with his 350 lb frame on a GHQ soldier while walking on wooden planks?

[tsunade666]

Just watched episode 2 and it sure is turning into more like CG even if I try to deny it >.> but CG doesn't have too much blatant fan service just like in the pilot scene and the kuroneko look alike chara. I'm still no familiar with the names of the character aside from Shuu, Inori and Gai. In the Funeral Parlor as an organization. Gai acts just like Lulu in his scheming act heck the way he shows up himself blatantly in front of the enemy just to rescue the hostage screams the entrance of zero to rescue suzaku..... Gai even offered alliance with Shuu in the end <.< same with lulu and suzaku but suzaku denied and as for Shuu. We aren't shown on what happen but it looks like he agrees to help. In Gai's organization it looks like the Ruri look alike character is the technician or something because she's the one handling the machines and while she's into it she presents a good fan service and even a good ass fans service. The pilot too reminds me of Karen but here she is blatantly in love with the Commander who is a smooth talker and good at manipulating others feelings (I hate that type) There is also the 4 eyes that looks like an adviser to Gai which reminds me of the cameraman in CG which likes to catch zero's stardom. In here he looks like the one who plans? because he said script? but it looks like Gai is the one who plans all plus Gai too has a weird eyes. Maybe his power.

The way the antibodies and that blond annoying pilot brat sure is one cliche full of antagonist. The pilot of the mech who acts high and mighty that looks down on the others and hates to be touch by others because he might ended up infected sure is cruel heck the whole enemy is cruel and for me Gai too. I'm not sure if this whole thing is being catch in camera but if it's being recorded to be shown to the others for broadcast. I just get the feeling that Gai let those poor hostage die because the timing for his move is so beneficial for that moment. And the way he ask the confuse Shuu who is watching the wreck that he did. He practically kill everyone inside the barrier. While he was confuse on what to do. Gai ask him to join him. A perfect timing too. Since Shuu is still hesitating and doesn't know what to do. It's benificial for Gai because Shuu will be easy to be manipulate.

And lastly I don't know why Inori was assign in the school but maybe for her to become closer to Shuu so his power grows but I don't really see any meaning on her being there. It's completely pointless.

[creb]

Originally Posted by tsunade666

And lastly I don't know why Inori was assign in the school but maybe for her to become closer to Shuu so his power grows but I don't really see any meaning on her being there. It's completely pointless.

It's because Shu turned Gai down. So he sent the sex object to melt Shu's brain into re-thinking his rejection of Funeral Parlor.