Ahh...what an eventful but sad episode. Quite a lot was shown, and quite a lot happens.

We go back to Shu and Gai's childhood where they first met and when Mana was still sane and alive. Compared to how they acted to each other in the past 11 episodes, you would find it hard to believe that both of them were good friends, but we all know they were and in a way, still are. It seems that Mana had been infected with the disease and Gai had found out, and as Gai said to Mana in that confrontation when he was younger, the crystals made people go insane, and thats exactly what happened to Mana.

Mana went insane. She threatened Gai in a way and tied him up, kissed her own brother, tricked Gai into shooting himself (That gun was rigged wasn't it? Or did Gai turn the gun of himself?) and ended up killing herself with her own power and many others when trying to cry out for help to Gai and Shu.

And of course, it happened in front of both Gai and Shu. Gai left to become stronger, where as Shu was traumatised and forced himself to forget as soldiers took him away from the wreckages which is why he always had fuzzy memories every now and then throughout the anime of Mana.

So, in the end Gai's void was pulled and it turned out to be a gun that forced other voids out of people's hearts. I wonder if Gai managed to change his void at the last minute when believing in Shu and holding his hand. It was a perfectly reasonable void to come from Gai. He could see Voids, he knew all about them, and in the end it was what Shu needed.

But, lastly, I thought I would have never said this before until I saw this episode. We see Gai's death which was in my opinion emotional. Impaled by a monster version of Mana, I could only cringe when I heard the crunching sounds as he was impaled and all we could see was his blank face. Then, to keep Mana from having her slumber distubedm he requested Shu to destroy Mana through him with Inori's void. He redeemed himself this episode when coming back to help Shu and also when the flashbacks gave some backstory. Shu's reactions were prefectly reasonable and I actually wished Gai was still around now...but alas...as he said himself, he was going to die anyway :( You shall be missed by me Gai. A good death, much better than when a lot of us thought you would die back on top of that building in Shu's arms after getting slashed.

Good episode, one of my personal favourite of the anime so far.

Rest in peace, Triton.

Was there a bit where someone said that Haruka was Shu's "new" mother? As in, he was adopted (and thus not blood-related to Mana; unless Haruka was her new mother as well, I guess)?

(Also, 4koma.)

Whoa. This episode had a lot stuff happening. Childhood friends. Brother Sister incest. Yandere Big sister. Rejection. Traumatize. Forced marriage. Resurrection through a new body. Mad scientist's dream of a new race. Betrayal. And also, sadness and sacrifice.

While it felt fast pace, it was still an enjoyable episode. 9 out 10.

This could've been the end of the series. It wouldn't be an amazing end if it stopped right here, but it *felt* like a finale, and with a few changes episodes 1-12 would work as a stand-alone story. OR, in short: the story feels like it just came to a full stop, and now it needs to go in some new direction.

I didn't expect Gai/Triton to die half way this serie. After all these events around Mana have been finished, i am anxious to know what direction guilty crown will take with it's 2nd half

My previous complaints about guilty crown still applies for this episode. Shu managed to get another "rather too convenient" void out of Gai to help him out of this situation.
Also i need to rewatch this episode again to see why Gai didn't faint when his void was pulled out, in fact he was perfectly fine running around shooting with his own void.

Gai made a specific point about having Shu not let go of his hand while pulling out his Void. My guess is that a person somehow retains consciousness if they maintain physical contact with Shu while having their Void removed. This is consistent with the OP, where Inori is conscious while Shu is using her Void.

Can't remember if anybody has had physical contact with Shu while having their Void removed before now, though, so I could be wrong.

What connected Gai and Shuu was Shuu's elder sister, Mana. Both rescuing Gai in that summer from 10 years ago, and adopting him into their family starting with Mana giving to Gai his childhood name of Triton.

BTW, it was surprising to watch how child Shu was so the polar opposite of his current, adolescent self and which at that time child Gai used to admire him and respect him for little Shu's bravery.

It's definitely that many of you figured out from the first starting episodes that there was lingering connection between Shu and Gai due that both had the same memories of Mana on the day of Lost Christmas.

Too bad that child Shu couldn't handle post-traumatic stress disorder and took path different from child Gai, and so their roles in the present timeline were reversed with the current Shu feeling unable to do anything, while the current Gai fought the battle as he had to do it for Mana.

As I suspected since episode one of the show, Inori turned out an "interface" body of sorts to communicate with Mana, and granted Mana her heart's desire for a marriage which would have triggered the Second Lost Christmas. Moreover, it now makes sense that the noise Shuichirou deployed could actually had been Mana's screams of her heart, and Inori created her songs from her heart to keep Mana's soul in eternal sleep as possible.

Some questions rise like:
1. Did someone had infected Mana with the virus? or did she accidentally make contact with the meteor and got the initial infection from the source? If the second scenario could be true, then the first Lost Christmas was accidental? or did someone else, maybe Daath, planned in advance that Mana would likely lost control of the epidemic in herself, and said person enjoyed to bear witness to Lost Christmas?

2. In the previous episode, Shuichiro discloses her plans with Haruka, and she states in shock not to drag Shu. So, how much Haruka could have known about Shu inheriting the Void?, and if she also suspected or came to realize, although lately, that Mana became infected with the Apocalypse Virus?
Who else could possibly had known the truth of infection around Mana? Shuichirou and Daath either they definitely knew or found out. Shuichirou found out because back then he was research partners with Kurosu, the latter whom was treating her daughter, and possibly he disclosed Mana's infection to his wife, Haruka.

3. Four episodes back when Gai failed to stole the meteor fragment, since Shuichirou beated him first to it. Nevertheless, Gai recognized Shuichirou's doing as if he was already acquainted with the man. Hence, this opens theories that Gai might have had to gather core information about GHQ from the inside either through terrorism before Funeral was properly established, or he maybe worked for a time inside the organization to get all the facts that he displayed since the start of the show.
Therefore, it can be plausible that Gai learned about Inori's existence, broke into a high-security facility, and took her with him. Although it's not certain, if that last action course happened before or after Gai established Funeral.
Probably after, because he would have needed allies, weapons, and facilities to start undertaking the terrorist operations against GHQ.

4. And, I can say that we got ourselves another show this season that featured a girl turning into a yandere.

The infection literally turned Mana into the opposite of what she feared and dreaded and did such bad things to child Gai, crushing that trust and innocent view he held her with such warm eyes. That abuse shocked me the most more so than Mana possibly lusting for child Shu and kissing him.

But Gai fulfilled his oath and laid to rest Mana, but tearfully he made Shu to laid him to rest along with the last of Mana's human heart to eternal oblivion.

This conclusion opens up with another probability:
5. If Inori was genetically engineered to interface as the physical vessel for Mana's soul now with Mana laid to eternal rest then that connection was severed, I presume.
Although, it's left uncertain if Inori still holds other interface connections with someone besides Shu. Perhaps with Daath as well?

6. And what would become of Inori and Shuu with Gai gone, because this isn't over yet. Daath's still out there, and I feel that the wedding's failure meant no big loss to him.

And what would become of Funeral now with Gai gone, because GHQ still has control over Japan, and the only ranking official who bore witness to the events of the wedding from the outside and has the potential to pose threat is still alive, and I mean Segai.

Will Shu take Gai's mantle and become the new leader of Funeral? If that happens, then the boy seriously needs to man up and summon back the courage from his childhood days, or anybody else at Funeral would keep on looking down on him.