I’m still underwhelmed.
An Easy Question
Because she’s hot?
Infodump
Yawn.
So am I supposed to feel sorry for this drug dealer now? He did everything for his little sister! It’s the government’s fault! Sorry, I don’t care. That guy is still an asshole. Not that Shuu deserves any better for a friend, of course.
And after Shuu witnessed what the police did, why is he trusting their boss over Gai? Well, aside from the fact that he’s an idiot. Not to mention, why did he keep the transmitter? Does he seriously think he actually needs to press the button?
I Want to Barf
“Shuuu!” Inori shouts and jumps off the roof, her arms outstretched.
Shuu uses his antigravity gun on a fountain, and jumps into the sky on water droplets. He catches Inori in midair, pulls the sword out of her chest, and blows stuff up, all while holding her in his arms.
Come on. I realize this whole show is about teenage wish fulfillment, but this is just ridiculous. They’ve known each other for how long? Two days? And they’ve been apart for all of several hours? Dominic and Anemone’s midair reunion this was not.
Shuu just grates on my nerves. This guy is so utterly worthless. But Inori is even worse. Her only purpose is to look pretty and give Shuu someone to carry around and a chest to fondle draw swords from.
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Speaking of midair reunions, Eureka Seven was just full of ’em. Dominic and Anemone was great, but my favorite is still Renton and Eureka in episode 26.
Stands as one of my favorite moments in all of anime, actually.
Eureka Seven, this show is not. Blugh.
Renton and Eureka’s reunion was great too, I preferred Anemone and Dominic myself though. Mainly because I preferred the characters themselves to Eureka and Renton. And I preferred all four of them to Guilty Crown’s leads.
At least in Eureka Seven midair reunions make sense since they’re flying all the time. Here they add a midair reunion after Inori scales a humongous prison wall with her own two feet, jumps into a gaping chasm with no readily apparent method of being caught, and Shuu runs to her by jumping on floating bubbles he shot with an anti-gravity gun he happened to pull out of a serial killer’s chest. Right.
I, honestly, have to disagree. While sometimes over cliche, I’ve found Guilty Crown to be very enjoyable. The idea of Voids and one being able to draw them out to use as weapons is a very interesting concept. While, yes, Inori and Shu’s “relationship” seems kind of…sudden, it may just be a result of accelerated storytelling, a fault of the original author, but not exactly something I would get worked up over, there’s gotta be love interest, right? At least they’re not being koi about it like other series. And if Shu didn’t have to half-hearted trust Gai, there’d be no internal conflict, and no reason to become emotionally invested (as a viewer) to Shu’s final outcome. Being distrustful of people with control over your fate is an idea that can relate to normal people who may lack control over aspects of their everyday life, therefore, making the characters able to connect to the viewers, in turn, making the viewers more emotionally invested in the series.
Unless action and strategic series just aren’t your thing, then, all this is moot to you…
This is an original series, so there isn’t an original author to blame. And even if it were, why should that excuse the show’s flaws?
There’s got to be a love interest, perhaps, but there’s a better way to do it by making her utterly dependent on the main character for no reason. She’s just pathetic.
I don’t feel that I am invested in what happens to Shu, and that’s the problem. He’s… just there. He has no friends (as evidenced by his “friend” from last week). He has a crush on a famous idol. His greatest accomplishment is making a two second video clip. Why should I care about him? Sure, normal people can related to being distrustful. They can also related to going to school And to liking girls. Being relatable isn’t enough: I think good characters need something that fascinates the viewer. What does Shu bring to the table?
I’ll admit, I’m generally not the biggest fan of action shows. I’m not sure I would call this strategic though. What is the strategy here? Disguise yourself as a lawyer, then blow things up?
Anyway, thanks for disagreeing with me! I actually like getting these kinds of comments since they make me think more. 🙂
By “strategic”, I meant it in the same sense as Code Geass, the plot hinges on the planning and strategies of the characters (in this case, it seems Gai has all the answers). And if you’re not emotionally invested in the fate of the characters…maybe your trying too hard, remember, this is entertainment…
I suppose it’s “strategic” in that sense, but the problem is in the execution. As I mentioned in my post on episode two, Code Geass shows how smart Lelouch’s plans are by having him surprise the audience and his enemies by doing what no one expects. But how does Guilty Crown show that Gai is a genius? It has two kids sitting by the sidelines, who say “It’s all going according to plan. Gai is a genius!” Somehow it’s not quite as convincing.
I can say this, I wouldn’t want to go up against Gai in a strategic fight (like, say, chess, more dependent on strategy than tactics or strength)…even if he isn’t a “genius”, he’s damn good at adapting and predicting enemy responses.
Total agreement to above. Better, but still not good enough.
First, talk about moral whiplash from the drug dealer character. First he’s a good guy, then he’s a bad guy, and now he’s a good guy again? It would be one thing if he’d been introduced as Shuu’s BFF or something from the beginning, but this guy came out of nowhere with no character development, and we’re supposed to care?
And the info dump was really badly handled as well. It’s called show, don’t tell, Guilty Crown. Logically, wouldn’t Shuu already know all this stuff about the virus and how it broke out and the government’s role in it? Then again, this is Shuu, who was dumb enough to try and shout out Gai’s name when he showed up to rescue him.
What’s the betting that they go back to school next episode like nothing happened?
Shu was shown regretting his choice to trust Yashiro, it’s called a “heroic flaw”, if Shu was perfect, there’d be no reason to watch (if he didn’t learn, same thing). Now Shu is at an impass as to who can trust (internal conflict)…
As for the relationship between Shu and Inori…I’ll concede, it could’ve been developed better (or for longer before they became dependent on each other, but you have to remember that they’ve saved each other more than couple times by now).
I agree that watching a perfect character is boring, but I disagree that this is Shuu’s “heroic flaw” because he’s not very heroic in the first place. The main thing he does is whine. The only point when he’s remotely “heroic” is when his eyes change color when he pulls the weapon out of Inori, but it doesn’t seem like he’s completely in control of himself when that happens. It’s still early, but I don’t see him learning from his mistakes so far. I’ll be happy if that changes, though.
I’m a stickler for development in romance, so the immediate dependency on Shuu despite knowing nothing about him grates on me. Again, this is something that can be easily fixed with more development and I hope that it happens.
Yeah, the immediacy of the romance is off-putting, and “heroic flaw” doesn’t necessitate the character be heroic at all. “Heroic” in “heroic flaw” is referring more the fact that he’s the main character more than any actual characteristics he possesses. And I think Shu is learning (betcha he won’t trust drug dealers anymore :3 )
Agreed, that drug dealer was pointless. I didn’t care about him when he was a “friend”. I didn’t care when he turned out to be a drug dealer. I didn’t care when they became “friends” again. I didn’t care after his betrayal. I didn’t care about his little sister either. I still don’t care.
Shuu trying to shout out his name was beyond idiotic. The resistance would be better off leaving him in prison.
I think it’s pretty much a 100% chance they’ll go back to school the next day like nothing happened. *sigh*
I honestly hope they don’t return to school like nothing happened, but Gai and Shu’s conversation at the end made it sound like he’ll be rolling with Undertaker now…I wouldn’t blame him if it was just to stay with Inori :3
My main problem is nobody on the villain’s side look like they understand the concept of fun. If it showed them smiling or laughing at a joke or something, I’d be more inclined to believe that they may be the good guys. Otherwise, it’s just silly having a clearly evil villain lecture the protagonist about the grey morality of the other side when he’s practically spooning baby seal into his mouth at the same time.
But we have that psycho blonde guy! He always smiles ^___^
Morally ambiguous this show is not. Unless killing babies is supposed to be a gray area. The worst part is that Shu actually listens to the guy.
Glad I found someone that finally agrees with sentiments on Shu. I had hope for thing, but so far my apathy is not willing to make me stay positive for too long on it.
Are there really that many people that like him? I don’t understand his appeal at all.
Honestly, no one is watching for Shu. Most people are watching for either 1.) Inori 2.)The voids (I personally like the idea of voids that take form based on the owner) or 3.) it’s similar to Code Geass (not many, but some like Guilty Crown because it seems eerily similar)…
You forgot option 4.) the pretty graphics. That’s the main reason I’m still watching. 🙂
Oh yeah, the visuals are stunning…
Shu has zero appeal. Like Belden said it for one of the choices below for most people. For me, it is hoping for a good story, but so far the execution and dramatic flair is becoming very constrictive …