[Triple_R]

Very well-said, Ledgem. I largely agree.

Well, except I will admit that Haruka came across to me as a bit of a pandering character earlier on, when she didn't seem to serve any purpose in the story other than being a "hot MILF".

Spoiler for Haruka Spoilers, Episode 19-centric:

Thankfully the 2nd half of the anime fleshed out her character beautifully, and I liked how she was handled overall. I think it's important to remember that Haruka didn't have a lot of choice here. If she hadn't gone along with her brother, Segai, etc... she may have been killed by them. Plus, I think that Episode 19 made it clear that Haruka was waiting for a moment to prevent Mana's revival as some sort of "Apocalypse Eve", an understandable motivation given the threat posed by Mana.

As for Shu...

Spoiler for Major Shu spoilers from 2nd half of anime:

With Shu, I think what may have benefited the story would have been if Shu's time as the harsh "Void Prince" had been given a bit of extra development and time to sink in. This could have given the anime more time to explore his motivations during that period for him, and also make the actions of the people who turned on him seem a bit more understandable.

Plot-wise, this is probably my biggest criticism of Guilty Crown. It probably would have helped if there had been more time (even if just one extra anime episode) between Hare's death, and Shu losing his arm at the hands of Gai.

Still, Shu's overall characterization is one that I'm fine with.