Loves the Experience
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Earth...hopefully
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I already wrote a review for this, plus I have read everyone else's since this came out. Here's what I said on MyAnimeList (with corrected grammar).
Spoiler for Old Review:
Ah, Guilty Crown. By this point, everyone has already read every single mixed reaction to this anime, a lot of people have reviewed it before it even finished, and everybody pretty much chose what side they were on since Episode 18. In Japan, the BD/DVD sales are decent, the main characters are popular, and the ratings are...well...they're not really that great. Everybody was hyped up upon hearing the dream team assembled for this production and the team behind it declared that this anime was going to be used to define a new generation. Does it succeed? Hell no!
It doesn't even succeed on its own. Guilty Crown hits practically every wrong note, every wrong story choice, every wrong amount of emotions throughout the majority of its 22-episode run. What's left is a visually stunning, but passionless product that feels like Sucker Punch if it was directed by Michael Bay. Every single anime fetish and cliche was crammed into this series with almost none of them used very well, and the beautiful animation is rarely given a chance to tell the story. Instead, the story is told through terribly written dialogue and badly placed narratives that miss the mark on when to give the explanation.
Music-wise, I'm not a huge fan of it. A lot of people like Supercell and the soundtrack they produced for this anime, but it doesn't do much for me. On top of that, while I liked the second opening, I dislike the first opening and both endings. I really don't think the peaceful, whimsical sort of music really suits this show. There is nothing in the show that really warrants that. And don't even get me started on the main girl's singing and how they worked it into the plot. Judging by the translations, all I have to say that I think the songs are pretentious as hell.
Story-wise, the anime is supposed to represent Japan's current status of being ruled over by other countries, except with mechs and diseases from outer space. However, in reality, the story is more about how a boy turned from loser to Jesus. So, it's a coming of age story mixed with Japan's issues, right? Summary-wise, yes. However, once you actually see the story, it becomes very confusing. A majority of the story feels like it was made up the writers as it went, and that's very rarely a good sign. The main character in question goes from one side to another, never picking a position for long and just letting the story control him because he's a slave to the writers. Also, while there are disconnections between the episodes in general, the huge ones occur between the first half, the third-quarter, and the last-quarter of the anime. The first half is a typical wimp turning hero story that's awfully padded with barely anything of substance happening. The third quarter has pacing that is so fast you can't digest the information properly, and to make matters worse, is focused on a story completely different from the first half. The last quarter finds some middle ground, but requires buildup from the first three-quarters to work effectively, and unfortunately it fails at that for the most part. Oh, and practically all of it is plotholed without even attempting to create a world where all the weird and stupid stuff can happen. Some explanations are given (though not very well) and apparently there's a novel that will explain some stuff more, but the anime expects you to roll with its logic for the most part. I'm sorry, but if a character jumps super high, and then never does it again for the rest of the series, despite being given plenty opportunities to do so, you're not creating a very good world.
So, it's basically a mediocre teen story, right? It would be if it wasn't for the goddamn symbolism this show uses. There's so much Christianity shoved into this anime with no attempts at subtlety whatsoever, and this is the part of the story that I actively hated. If you're going to use something as serious as religion in your story, you better do it right, or know what you're talking about. Instead, it was just phoned-in pretentious bullshit that I can only describe as disgusting.
And don't even get me started on the characters that feel like they came from Independence Day. The cast literally goes like this: I'm Shu, and I'm the wimpy hero stereotype. I'm Inori, and I'm the emotionless girl stereotype. I'm Ayase, and I'm the disabled badass stereotype. I'm Tsugumi, and I'm the kooky girl stereotype. I'm Scarface, and I'm the over-the-top villain stereotype. And so on and so forth. And most of them perform their roles very poorly. I have never seen a more unlikeable and inconsistent cast since The Social Network or School Days. None of them ever get out of their stereotype, and half of them don't even fulfill their role all that well. The best characters are just tolerable, while the worst characters are really unlikeable. Especially the three main characters, who feel like cutouts/wish-fulfillment symbols rather than their own individual beings, to the point that I go, "Why are they the mains?". Oh, and the story heavily favors the main character, barely giving more than cliffnotes on everyone else, including the main love interest. It feels like a self-insert fanfiction that thinks that if you make the main as flawed as possible, rather than be a Gary-Stu like most of those types of fanfics, you'll be seen as more relatable and likeable. Well, if that was the plan, then it fucking backfired, didn't it? How about making the character likeable first before you make him flawed? How about making him a character first before you make them a symbol. And how about applying that to every other character while you're at it?
You'll notice I'm not exactly spoiling much with this review (in fact, I barely refer to the characters by name). That's because for all of Guilty Crown's problems, it needs to be seen to be believed. While I am highly against spending money on this series since that just opens the way for sequels and such, I believe everyone should watch this in order to see just how much of a great concept an anime can ruin. I don't hate the show, but it's not something I'd watch more than once. The symbolism and few fresh ideas are executed poorly, the pacing never reaches middle ground, the characters aren't human, but rather what writers think qualify as human, and to top it all off, why spend so much money and effort on the animation if you're not going to let the animation tell the story? I've seen a lot of people say this anime is an entertaining trainwreck/popcorn anime. You know, that's not really a compliment when you look at the production team's goal, right? It's obvious when watching this anime that they're trying to make it good, but they somehow sucked the passion out of it. The only thing I'll give this anime credit for is that it's uniquely bad and it will stick in my mind for a good while, which I guess is a plus. But like all popcorn stuff, you watch it once, you never look back, and you rewatch some much better stuff that you've seen over the past years.
I guess the one thing I can add to this review is that personally, I just couldn't stand the characters in this show. Inori is one of my most hated anime characters due to how soulless she is, along with how poorly she developed feelings, and how she wasn't funny. Shu was a good idea that backfired since I couldn't tell whether his mood swings were from his character or from piss-poor writing. I never really got why people liked Hare, as she just annoyed me. And so on and so forth.
The idea of the voids were pretty cool, but they were never really the main focus in this show. Plus, they were never used in creative ways, but instead were relegated to Deus Ex Machinas that broke their own established rules. Also, that 17 and under rule, really?
I'll probably check out an English dub if the voices are good, as I tend to like characters better when they speak a language I understand, but ever since the anime ended, I just forgot most of what happened and feel sort of empty now. Which I don't think is a good thing. 4/10 for me, which is a shame, because I really wanted to like this show.
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