Guilty Crown – 12

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[Commie] Guilty Crown - 12 [243140FE].mkv_snapshot_00.59_[2012.01.12_23.24.47] [Commie] Guilty Crown - 12 [243140FE].mkv_snapshot_04.39_[2012.01.12_23.29.17] [Commie] Guilty Crown - 12 [243140FE].mkv_snapshot_08.46_[2012.01.12_23.34.12]

Was this the best episode of Guilty Crown so far?  That’s subjective, but it was certainly right up there.

 
After more false deaths than Takakura Himari, I think Gai finally bought the farm for real this week.  But dammit, they robbed me of the satisfaction of taking glee in his death, because at the very end the bastard refused to grant me even that, becoming sympathetic if not likable.  There have been more than enough hints that Gai had a prior relationship with Shu, and we pretty much knew he had an older sister, but it was pretty interesting the way it was all put together.  All in all it was some of the better writing we’ve seen thus far.

Who would have believed that Shu was once the confident risk-taker, and Gai the timid wallflower – and that all that could actually be made sort of believable?  Under the circumstances it was, though not everything that was revealed made sense.  It can’t be a coincidence that Gai washed up on that beach where Shu and big sister Mana were frolicking, but when she revived him and named him “Triton” the chain of events leading to the present day was really set off.  It appeared as if Mana might be Shu’s guardian in addition to his sister, and Triton later mentions that Harukas was Shu’s “new” mother – but I’m not exactly sure how that was intended.  Were he and Mana both adopted by her, or was she to become Shu’s adoptive mother after Lost Christmas?  That question is especially interesting in the context of Mana’s stated intention to marry Shu and subsequent kiss, though of course she was under the influence of the apocalypse virus at the time.

With the big reveal that Mana was the first person infected by the “rock that changed it all”, we also get the reveal that Inori was “created” in order to give Keido a means to communicate with Mana, who’s know in a sort of suspended animation.  Keido wants to “wed” Inori in order to lay waste to the world with a new wave of the apocalypse virus for reasons that aren’t immediately clear to me but seem based on the two of them being a new Adam and Eve and progenitors of a new human race, and he’s working with Eyebrows, who he refers to as “Death”.  Mana is totally under the power of the virus of whatever is behind it, but some small essence of her remains, as we’ll see.  But it’s Triton who saves the day, pulling out another miracle void for Shu and managing to stay conscious (Why?  The hand-holding?) and then sacrificing himself and Mana besides.  Poor Shu, first he kills his friend’s brother and now his best friend and big sister – this will set him back  a bit psychologically.

There’s an awful lot we still don’t know.  Just who was Triton, anyway?  What’s the nature of the virus – is it alien, which would explain Keido’s actions and cast it as a sort of colonization weapon?  Was it simply a matter of blocking out the horror of having seen Mana succumb to the virus and begat Lost Christmas that made Shu lose his memories?  But at least these are interesting questions, and the last couple of eps have definitely seen GC raise its game story-wise.  I’m wondering, too, what’s going to happen with Undertaker now, and whether Sagai’s alliance with Haruka is real or simply a ploy.  In death Triton suggests that Shu could become him just as easily as he once became Shu, so perhaps that portends Shu taking Gai’s place at the head of Undertaker.  But the whole politic of Tokyo has changed radically with the dissolution of GHQ, so I’m not sure if Undertaker even has a reason to exist anymore, at least in its current form.

Sadly, there is troubling news this week – the animation quality in the last few eps continues to be a pale imitation of the gorgeous display we saw earlier.  Hopefully Production I.G. is hoarding its resources for a huge final arc.

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Guardian Enzo

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16 comments

  1. A
    Anonymous
    January 13, 2012 at 10:44 am
    Reply

    Much improved

  2. F
    FlareKnight
    January 13, 2012 at 10:59 am
    Reply

    Watching this one I felt more at the end like saying, "what just happened?" Almost felt like they crammed a couple episodes worth of events into one episode and everything just felt like too much at once.

    Plus kind of disappointing that they have effectively ended Gai and Mana's role in the story. With the scene at the start of the series and later on, I really thought Mana at least would be a key part of events to the end. But she's done and now we're going to have to see where the rest of the series goes.

    They certainly made a lot happen, but not sure in the end if it was all good. A lot has changed though and we'll see if Shu can recapture his old self or if he'll simply fall into a middle ground.

    But hey with Gai dead he's got all the girls to himself :). That's about all I've got.

  3. S
    Son Gohan
    January 13, 2012 at 1:50 pm
    Reply

    Meh, I didn't like the pletora of plot devices they put in this episode.
    We knew that a person loses consciousness when the Void is extracted; now it seems that if Shu hold their hand they can remain awake. Why didn't Gai bring this out earlier? And the virus crystals closed the wound? How frickin convenient!!
    Then there is Eyebrows-kun (BTW I think the name is Darth) displaying some weird powers out of nowhere, Mana controlling the virus and those eyeball things… Sigh, better turn off your brain before watching.

  4. A
    Anonymous
    January 13, 2012 at 2:09 pm
    Reply

    I think that his new "king mode" which conveniently reappeared when he regained memories enabled Gai to stay conscious.

    Anyway, my impression was pretty similar to FlareKnight's: "what just happened?"

  5. admin
    January 13, 2012 at 5:23 pm
    Reply

    "What just happened?" is better than "What just happened was stupid!" 😉

  6. F
    FlareKnight
    January 13, 2012 at 6:42 pm
    Reply

    The standard for judging the series really is pretty low :). Besides given time to work through it one could still decide what happened was stupid. Certainly 'better' but shouldn't one hope for "that was nice" from the series?

  7. A
    Anonymous
    January 14, 2012 at 2:19 am
    Reply

    Not matter what this series do, people will still start bitching, at least that the feeling that i get reading comments.

  8. K
    Karmafan
    January 14, 2012 at 2:33 am
    Reply

    I thought they put 2-3 episodes of plot development into 1 and it was kinda a garbled mess. I still like the series just wish they spread that much plot over more then 1 episode so it made sense.

    One thing I found confusing is that Triton appeared to be the same age as Shu when they found him. But grownup Triton (AKA Gai) looked to be 5-10 years older then Shu. I also am getting sick of the old lazy anime "we all knew each other as little kids but forgot" plot device. Too many animes use it. At least here it makes sense that Shu's mind would blot out what happened.

  9. admin
    January 14, 2012 at 3:54 am
    Reply

    To be fair, the anime did state (wiki?) that Gai was 17. Agreed he didn't look it.

  10. E
    ELX
    January 15, 2012 at 7:27 pm
    Reply

    I literally LOL'd at this little morsel of information. 'He didn't look it' is the understatement of the year! 17 … SEVENTEEN?!? What crack do these animators think we're smoking to believe that?! The man looked to be in his mid-twenties at the very LEAST. As I believed him to be, until reading this comment lol *sigh* I guess this falls right in line with the whole "WTH?" vibe which Guilty Crown carries off so well every week.

  11. A
    Anonymous
    January 15, 2012 at 7:52 pm
    Reply

    Hahaha! Lol'd at that too! haha. But given that Gai has the same height as Yahiro, he still looks like in his 20's. Maybe because of the long hair and him being blond and all.

  12. A
    Anonymous
    January 14, 2012 at 3:30 pm
    Reply

    Uhhhmm. Liked the story. Liked the last episode. It was satisfying finale like. Better to watch the 1 hour special plus episode 12, than go over the previous 11 episodes. I think the story was better portrayed in the special. Then just watched the first 11 episodes as a freebie. Didn't really care about the drawing and animation stuff. The drop in animation quality was noticeable but not painful to watch.
    Then again…. if Guilty Crown has the same animation as Gurren Lagann… would I still be as "hooked?" (not really hooked sorta like a guilty pleasure, right Enzo?) as I am right now? Err. Uhmmm. Maybe? With the special plus 12. Yes… -_-"
    If vise versa.. Hell yeah I would!! >.<
    (I really like Gurren Lagann!! Although the animation was not my type, still one of the best series I've watched. hehe.)

  13. I
    Izumi
    January 18, 2012 at 5:20 pm
    Reply

    I have a serious love-hate relationship with this series and I'm itching to drop it now that Gai is dead. Besides, I'm also getting sick of hearing Kaji Yuki. No offense to his fans out there.. but I'm OD'ed of Kaji already. Sighs!

  14. admin
    January 18, 2012 at 6:03 pm
    Reply

    Oh, I'm OD'd on him too – not that good to start with and overexposed is a bad combination. But I'm actually anxious to see where the show goes, because I think the whole story was stagnant with Gai in the middle of it.

  15. A
    Anonymous
    January 18, 2012 at 7:22 pm
    Reply

    What's OD'ed?

  16. admin
    January 18, 2012 at 7:39 pm
    Reply

    Overdosed.

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