Guilty Crown - General Discussion

[shibakun]

Have they confirmed how many episodes Guilty Crown will have?

Thanks!

[Kusa-San]

Originally Posted by Haak

I was kinda hoping that Shuu would have the plan of using Arga's void from the beginning but it just looks like he winged it and was insanely lucky to get the perfect void for the job. In any case, just how was he meant to pass the test without using the void, anyway?.

Lol yeah, he's incredibly lucky. He used it like that with no covers at all, competely exposed to her. It's a bold and dangerous move. And no one care about that. They are just happy that he "won".

[Kaoru Chujo]

Spoiler for ShuxInori ep5:

What Inori said might be fake, but I think her expressions at various times have indicated that she did have feelings for Shu: for his vision of freedom in his video, for his "real human" life at school, for his feeling for her and determination to rescue her. We saw that in her smile and call when she was diving, and in the very fact that she disobeyed Gai to come save Shu. What was fake, and instructed by Gai, was the line early on (far too early to be serious) that she wanted to stay by his side. I suspect that the "don't touch me" lines in this ep were also commanded by Gai.

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Spoiler for ShuxInori ep5:

What Inori said might be fake, but I think her expressions at various times have indicated that she did have feelings for Shu: for his vision of freedom in his video, for his "real human" life at school, for his feeling for her and determination to rescue her. We saw that in her smile and call when she was diving, and in the very fact that she disobeyed Gai to come save Shu. What was fake, and instructed by Gai, was the line early on (far too early to be serious) that she wanted to stay by his side. I suspect that the "don't touch me" lines in this ep were also commanded by Gai.

^Spot on...

Also after watching it again the scene with Gai and Inori in his room. I'm wondering if the she Inori was referring to was the one Shu saw in his memories in episode one. The chibi Inori lookalike holding the little string thing. Seems like Shu has one helluva a memory block going on that's slowly dissolving...

[Flawfinder]

Have they confirmed how many episodes Guilty Crown will have?

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure it's 22 episodes.

As for what I thought of the episode...it's going to be negative, and since I've been so negative on the series as is, I'll just spoil tag the more whiny parts of my thoughts.

Spoiler for Episode 5:

It wasn't nearly as fun or as bad as Episode 4. All I could think of when Shu opened his mouth was, "Who is this kid? Why does he have to ruin what could have been a good episode with his absolute douchiness?" I'm now almost fully convinced that not only is Shu a boring idiot, he is also a jackass. Why's he the main character?

I liked the explanation to why Inori was so submissive to Shu in Episode 3, but I still have to chastise Shu for being stupid enough to fall for that AND overreact when he found out it was a lie. Maybe if their relationship was more developed prior to the reveal, I would have felt more sorry for him, but no. Inori is still a blank slate though.

As for everything else, the comedy was not really that funny and the characters STILL aren't likable after 5 episodes. Ayase is okay at best, Gai is a prick, and the rest of Funeral Parlor just reminds me of Renton's treatment in the early episodes of Eureka Seven. Also the cliffhanger wasn't nearly as captivating as the previous ones, because I don't care what happened to Gai. The only thing I liked in this episode was, again, when Shu pulls out a Void and does stuff with it. Those are the only times I genuinely like the series (when I'm not laughing at its stupidity).

And what really killed me was when I looked at the concept of the episode. It has a handicapped girl teaching a boy to fight while the boy is betrayed by the female lead, and it even has a freaking satellite cannon. How is this episode not funny or entertaining in any way? The concept alone should interest people.

In short, apart from being stupid, forced, and surprisingly more boring than an episode of Shana III, this episode was just mean-spirited and kind of unpleasant. Shu comes off as a jackass no matter what he does, someone or something is always trying to hurt him both physically and mentally, and not one joke worked in this episode. In my opinion, the only thing that can save this anime is if Shu starts to grow a darker side due to all the abuse he suffers (I'm half-joking with this statement).

On a side note, what is up with Inori's battle outfit (yes, I know she didn't wear it this episode)? I didn't mention this before, but it's weird. If you don't give some proper build up or explanation for why she's wearing that thing, no one's going to take it seriously.

[JediNight]

I winced when Shu was patronizing to Ayase and knew he was gonna get something coming at him heh. I like their characterization of Ayase so far. She's definitely gone up a lot in my estimation. Then Shu gets totally punked by Inori in saying it was only orders. Thats gotta hurt the pride a good deal.

What I thought was silly though was pulling the Void for a mock battle, seeing as at best it could have been useless, and at worst he could have destroyed the Endlave. But creative license I guess...

And Shu is a moron a lot of the time. But he earns partial credit for verbalizing that he probably just doesn't know what to look for in a person as to why they're great and that he's being a jerk. Hence why Ayase wasn't mad at him after that interchange.

[felix]

Forget the Endlave, more like kill everyone there...

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by konart

Spoiler for Gai:

We see him in preview. I'm pretty sure the girl is dead though.

I wouldn't be surprised at all. After seeing her speak and how happy and full of life she was/hearing Shu's comment about her age, the death flag immediately went up in my mind. Kinda hope I'm wrong though, she seems cute.

[Student no.0]

Come to think of it... Arugo did ask about Shu's Void extracting ability earlier. I assume they might've tested it out. Could explain why Shu's eyes were mainly fixed on Arugo. It'd be even more dangerous(and apparently stupid) if he randomly extraced someone else's Void. Sure it might not look it, but that may be the most likely explanation.

[Znail]

Originally Posted by Haak

Oh and I forgot to mention: Child soldiers - NOT COOL.

That goes for most of them, including 17 year old Gai. Even the enemy uses kids. On the other hand so are most of them older then say Naruto.

[tsunade666]

what a nice episode and all but I didn't like the end. What is a satellite weapon doing there? gundam? I was facepalm at the range of the blast. It's huge and how the heck will they battle it? but in the pictures shown about it looks like he find a good void to challenge it and again <.< nice saving void. The void weapon is becoming a plot device that always makes Shu the winner. Truly uber hax and the training also proves it when he ended up using it again to win the mock battle. Well there is no way he would win against an endlave with a gun.

Aside from that good episode and nice development but I think Inori is lying and the same time saying the truth.

[JediNight]

Makes you wonder what type of "goodwill humanitarian gestures" you can do with an orbital death ray ;p

And with Inori, yeah I imagine that she was told to say those things, but she does like Shu a little bit, or is at least flattered that he likes her and wants to protect her. But she of course doesn't really know how to handle those feelings yet.

[Flower]

Regarding Ep 5 ... you know, I hafta admit that even if Shu us not the most heroic or likable character ever created I really feel it is not good for Inori to yank him around like that.

Even if she did so on orders or was saying such things on orders, and even if she does harbor some kind of feelings for him that are only just beginning to germinate ... even with all this I can't help feeling sorry for Shu, especially with him being so young, inexperienced and immature as he is portrayed.

Using Inori to hook him in may be a "necessary evil" from Gai's perspective or whatever, but the fact remains that she WAS used as a hook to further Gai's plans (even if it could be "justified" as good in the long run). Especially continuing to hurt Shu by "passing off" the possible couple times a month sexual relationship and then having Inori tell Shu that her kindness was simply acting on orders - I dunno. It just rubs me the wrong way.

In terms of "blame", though, I feel that Gai is the main one that is in the wrong - Inori still seems kinda blank, robotic, etc.

Ah well.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Mare Boy

Come to think of it... Arugo did ask about Shu's Void extracting ability earlier. I assume they might've tested it out. Could explain why Shu's eyes were mainly fixed on Arugo. It'd be even more dangerous(and apparently stupid) if he randomly extraced someone else's Void. Sure it might not look it, but that may be the most likely explanation.

I considered that too, but Arugo's comments about his own void afterwards makes it sound like it was a revelation to him, which it shouldn't have been if Shu had already done it once before...

Originally Posted by Znail

That goes for most of them, including 17 year old Gai. Even the enemy uses kids. On the other hand so are most of them older then say Naruto.

WTF?!? Gai's only 17 years old?!?!

[Flawfinder]

Originally Posted by JediNight

Makes you wonder what type of "goodwill humanitarian gestures" you can do with an orbital death ray ;p

And with Inori, yeah I imagine that she was told to say those things, but she does like Shu a little bit, or is at least flattered that he likes her and wants to protect her. But she of course doesn't really know how to handle those feelings yet.

Yeah, I just went "way to say they're evil" when they gave a death ray to those guys. Because when I think of a reason to side with them over Funeral Parlor, I think death rays.

As for Inori, I seriously hope she doesn't like him as of yet. I know Episode 4 suggested she might, but she and Shu have had way too little interaction and development for me to believe that.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Haak

WTF?!? Gai's only 17 years old?!?!

It's anime years. Time passes differently. 1 anime year = 2 normal years.

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Haak

WTF?!? Gai's only 17 years old?!?!

You haven't read Prince of Tennis or even the New Prince of Tennis to see that some people look much older than they really are.

[Student no.0]

Originally Posted by Haak

I considered that too, but Arugo's comments about his own void afterwards makes it sound like it was a revelation to him, which it shouldn't have been if Shu had already done it once before...

He would've lost his memory concerning that moment, but it does make you wonder why Shu didn't just let him know once he woke up if that's what you mean

WTF?!? Gai's only 17 years old?!?!

I had the same reaction. I might've been more comfortable this more if Shuwere about in his early 20s or so (might've reminded me of C's protagonist appearance-wise). I'm really not digging how a lot of Funeral Parlor's members are teenagers either. It really struck me that Kenji Kido(mass murdering bubble man) is likely 17 or under too.

[miketyson]

Some more thoughts now that it's settled in: for all the tropes and clunkiness this show has the writers are at least doing some things more carefully than they're getting credit for.

In ep 3 Inori holds back from shooting Shu's drug-dealer "friend" b/c of what Shu says. What Shu says is that he doesn't want to think that his friend's good-guy act was just an act. Now in ep5 Inori's reaction in ep 3 makes more sense, b/c

Spoiler:

most of what she was telling Shu was an act, per Gai's orders

.

In ep 3 Shu's wording jumped out at me and it seems like it did wind up being chosen carefully. EP 5 has another example of this, explanation behind spoilers.

Spoiler:

When Shu asks Inori if she'd leave with him, what's important is what she doesn't say: she doesn't specifically say no to the general idea. Instead, she talks about how she can't leave Gai. We actually know why, too: Gai is ill and seems to need Inori's blood transfusions, so Inori leaving would mean Gai would die, which Inori's not OK with.

Similarly, she doesn't answer why she joined the funeral parlor, or give any indication that she specifically wants to be a member, either. So odds are she's not really happy as a member, it's just where Gai wants her to be for now.

.

Anyways, this show's not going to win any emmys (metaphorically speaking), but there are touches like this that show the writing staff is actually putting some thought into what they're doing beyond the basics. It's just hard to spot b/c so much of the show is over the top and generally clumsy (fun, but clumsy).

[JediNight]

Think about it from Shu's perspective now: He's been lied to or used by multiple people now. I think I would have major trust issues after learning all that. Gai is using him. Inori misled him. The GHQ guy is shady and says they're the good guys, but then they use a giant death ray, etc.

Hard for him to really trust anyone at this point.