Guilty Crown Lost Christmas OVA

Well, this certainly was an interesting OVA. Basically an introduction for the video game, it’s a short episode showing off the main character Scrooge (with some appearances from our buddy Segai). Based on what I can gather, Scrooge is a test subject for the Void Genome who has escaped Da’ath and is trying to get some sort of revenge by killing Ouma Kurosu. Since we know someone else kills Kurosu, it obviously follows that Scrooge will fail.

Setting aside the obvious “Christmas Carol” references (three pursuers called ghosts of Christmas, Lost Christmas, Scrooge, and a character named Carol), what confuses me most from this little demonstration is the very nature of Scrooge’s right hand. Scrooge is shown initially to avoid touching others because he would somehow transmit the Apocalypse Virus to them (demonstrated by the GHQ soldier). Also, he could also draw Carol’s Void safely, but not the dog’s.

So, the conclusions to draw from this: first theory, maybe a Void power similar to Shu’s but causing the virus to spread if he fails (whereas Shu’s failures would just result in embarrassing boob grabs). Another possibility is that Carol is a special subject whose Void can be drawn (the dog was altered as well, so it’s possible it was just an incomplete form of Carol, explaining her attraction to it).

Or it could just be the same power, but Scrooge has no control over it, so he kills people with it. It’s an interesting thing to think about…but overall, I’d say it’s a cool OVA and it’s definitely got me interested in the game (even if visual novels aren’t my style). Where Shu was supposed to be a more average-type protagonist, Scrooge is closer to an anti-hero, which is more of the protagonist I would enjoy. And yeah…that sword is pretty awesome. Puts Inori to shame.

Guilty Crown Final Episode

Continuing from last week, Mana is reborn in Inori and prepares to repeat the Lost Christmas. The battle begins between Shu and Gai, Daryl continues to face off against Ayase, and Haruka confronts Keido. When things look hopeless, Shu sees the flower that Inori bloomed before she disappeared and draws her sword from it. With it, Shu is able to beat Gai. Gai reveals that everything he has done was a plan to force Shu to come after him and finally save Mana. Shu then starts to draw the virus into himself from everyone, but Inori sacrifices herself to save him.

Wow…just wow…that was…bad. First problem: the final momentous battle between Shu and Gai. You know, the one that the past few episodes have been building up. Over in like…5 minutes? Second problem: was it really necessary to keep Shu alive? If you look at that ending and change it so that Shu dies, what really changes? Third problem: Daryl’s thing and Haruka/Keido were resolved so quickly. Maybe they tried too hard to give this show a really happy ending. It just didn’t sit well with me. Or maybe they tried to resolve too much in the last episode and everything became rushed.

But hey…I have to point out the good parts of this episode too. First off, Argo with the giant gun…super badass. And also, the whole “it was part of my plan” thing from Gai, while expected, was a nice touch. That’s how Gai is supposed to be. Anyways, it’s finally over. I’d like to say it was a nice journey, but it would be a lie. When I look back, it isn’t the worst show in the world, but it was pretty painful for me. I will probably sit down and review the show as a whole soon.

Guilty Crown Episode 21

The final operation begins. Gai fuses together Voids to create the bow we saw before, completely wiping out nearly all of the UN forces. Next up, the Undertakers go to work, taking out the base’s security system. Before they can reach Inori, Gai erases her memories to prepare her for Mana’s rebirth. Shu and everyone finally reach the Central Command, but are greeted by the strange Daath agent from before.

He asks Shu to sacrifice mankind for evolution, and when Shu refuses, a Void battle begins. The rest of the Undertakers face off against Daryl, who is piloting a new Endlave. Despite being at a disadvantage, Shu is able to beat the Daath agent and reaches Gai. However, Mana has already been reborn in Inori.

Finding Inori through her song was pretty cheesy…come on >.> Still, the show seems to be getting better in the end. Maybe because Shu is actually competent in battle. Maybe because there’s so much action going on. I can’t be sure. I’m not sure what to think of Daryl. At the moment, it’s looking like he’ll die next week, but he still has a chance to rejoin everyone and have a happy ending with Tsugumi. The Void battle was pretty nice. I’m looking forward to another one next week, the big finish for the show.

Guilty Crown Episode 20

At the beginning of this week’s episode, Shibungi returns to give Shu the diary of his father. We find out more about Shu’s father and his research on the Genome Resonance that caused the original Lost Christmas. We also find out that Shu’s true mother died giving birth to him from the virus. Kurosu refuses to join Daath because of the effects of the virus on his family, but Keido chose to help him, running experiments on the virus with subjects like Gai.

The Void Genome was created by Kurosu to interfere with the Apocalypse Virus. Kurosu tries to keep Keido out of his research to protect him, but Keido becomes jealous and kills him. Back in the present, Haruka explains that Inori was with Shu in order to gather the lost parts of Mana from the Voids of others. Before they leave, Shu tries to return everyone’s Voids to protect them, but Yahiro stops him, followed by everyone else.

So in the final moments before the end, we finally get everything explained. It’s actually a pretty interesting back story. If only Shu was as smart or interesting as his father was, I might actually like him a little. I guess they’re not making a big deal about Shu’s personality change, which I’m thinking is okay. He loses everything, which forces him to rethink, and then he comes back different. Also, that whole thing about Shu’s mother being infected during childbirth…I wonder if that will come back. It seems like one of those things that ends up being important in the end…some sort of special power or immunity or something. Anyways, Shu’s heading off to the final confrontation, so the next two episodes should be pretty intense.

Guilty Crown Episode 19

This week’s episode starts off with some revelations: Haruka tries to kill Mana, but she is tricked by Keido, who is actually her brother and the one who killed Shu’s father. Keido tries to kill her, but she escapes. Meanwhile, Shu uses Arisa to find Inori (as well as Haruka). Haruka hides out with remnants of Funeral Parlor and the Kuhouin group, but they are found by Segai.

Haruka manages to escape, but Ogumo is killed. Haruka meets up with the rest of Funeral Parlor, but Segai soon finds them. Ayase tries to take the Void Genome, but Segai appears to take it for himself. In the end, it goes to none other than Shu, who draws his own Void, which turns out to be his right arm. Shu then saves everyone and kills Segai. However, Shu also takes Souta’s disease with his Void that takes the burden of others.

Yahiro actually sounded a little cool this week. Maybe he’s not so evil. Anyways, Shu is back as predicted. I’d have to say the series is starting to become better at the end, but still…everything is predictable. Besides my typical gripes, I’m annoyed that they still havent explained anything. Segai, Inori, and Gai all don’t seem human, so what are they? Also, Shu will take all of the bad from others onto himself? Where have I seen that before? At the moment, I’m thinking it might be too obvious that Shu will die, so maybe they’ll cure him at the end. Personally, I think that he and Inori should die together in the end, but maybe that’s just me. Three more episodes…final confrontation with Gai and Keido. Maybe we’ll finally find out what Daath is.

Guilty Crown Episode 18

This week starts off with Gai showing much more control over the Void Genome, drawing and fusing three Voids and then sending it kamikaze-style to destroy a bomber. Daryl refuses to protect Gai as ordered and goes into traitor mode to protect Tsugumi. Gai broadcasts to the world that there are 256 Leukocytes orbiting around the world under his control.

Arisa’s grandfather tries to kill her before she is used by Gai, but she shoots him for he can. Inori’s blackouts start to make her fear that she will kill Shu, and Mana within her tries to take advantage of this. She ends using some weird power to fight against the Endlaves after her to protect Shu, but she is captured by Gai.

Okay…what the heck just happened? I mean, Samurai Old Guy was pretty epic, but the rest of it was a bit out there. Gai having a bunch of Leukocytes was pretty Code Geass, but I have no idea about that stuff with Inori. It still looks like they’re only resurrecting Gai (I’m going with “Mana never died”). I’m not sure what’s up with him, but I’m expecting a “Shu, please save me” line from him some time in the future. Now that Inori has been captured, I wonder if we’ll finally figure out what she is…it’s been bugging me for a while. I find it weird that they didn’t talk about Shu in this episode. He suddenly went power-hungry and immediately lost his powers, then they just ignore him for an episode.

Guilty Crown Episode 17

With the red line drawing closer and closer to the school, Shu becomes even more tyrannical as the school’s president. We also find out that Arisa didn’t actually die last week. The student unrest escalates when it is leaked that the breaking of the Void means death. Yahiro tells Shu that Inori was the one who attacked Arisa, but Shu defends her. He also accuses Yahiro of just using him.

The students finally make their move against the government, attacking the control tower for the automated Endlaves running around the city. Shu takes the front line in the battle, destroying the tower, but the students stage a coup d’etat. It is interrupted by the arrival of the revived Gai, who cuts off Shu’s hand.

While the show is certainly getting more exciting, I can’t help but attribute this to the return of the Code Geass elements. The betrayal of Shu after learning his secret, the rejection of Yahiro (I’m thinking Rolo with that). Gai returns with a vengeance. Shu’s power has been stripped and it looks like Gai took that power. The question becomes whether or not this is all part of Gai’s plan (it probably is).

I wonder if the problem I have with this show is that it still doesn’t have a direction. It started with something like “beat the Anti Bodies”, then it became “escape from Tokyo”, and it’s almost becoming “overthrow Shu.” I can’t tell what the point of everything is and where everything is going. Music is still good, though.

Guilty Crown Episode 16

This week’s episode starts off with Argo sneaking into Tokyo to extract Arisa for her grandfather. He runs into a bunch of students, who end up taking him to Shu after realizing he is a member of Funeral Parlor. Shu coldly leaves Souta to die, but Argo tries to go down and save him. Shu stops him, trying to force him to join up with him, but Argo refuses and is detained. Tsugumi fills Argo in on the situation and helps him escape.

Shu and Argo end up fighting and Shu gets owned. However, a section of the roof falls and destroys a girl’s Void, and she dies in the same manner as Hare. Shu then realizes that Yahiro has kept this from him, but kills Argo anyway. Also, Arisa, who tries to tell everyone about the Voids, is killed by Inori.

You’re kidding me. They’re resurrecting dead characters. What the heck? Gai is resurrected at the end of the episode by Haruka and Mana seems to live on in Inori (I predicted that, but it’s still annoying). I’m sorry, but I really hate the idea of resurrecting characters. In my eye, it devalues their death scene. It begs the question “why kill them in the first place?” They better have something good planned to cover for that.

Also, Shu’s gone from wimpy guy I want to stab to mentally insane guy that I still want to stab. Why would you listen to Yahiro? That guy’s clearly nuts. And what kind of evil laugh was that? Shu basically found out that the very reason that he is the most important person in the school is making them completely vulnerable. It almost seems like he killed Argo because he didn’t want people to dethrone him.

Also, something to note. It looks like Funeral Parlor may be forced to fight against their former ally Shu. Similar to how the Black Knights had to fight against a certain former ally. Anyways, I’m gonna stop ranting. This is just ridiculous…and bad for my heart. It’s not that I hate this show…it just would have been a lot better if I hadn’t seen it before.

Guilty Crown Episode 15

So, Shu ends up rejecting Yahiro’s Void ranking system from last week (I would have been worried if he hadn’t). A conversation with Souta convinces Shu further that he made the right choice, but shortening supplies start to force the ranking system back to the surface. Hare confesses to Shu, but they’re interrupted when the low-level Void users leave the school on their own to get more supplies.

Shu runs out to help, but everyone gets surrounded by Anti Bodies. Shu and Hare are caught in an explosion, with Shu taking the brunt of the force. Hare manages to heal Shu, but dies in the process. In his rage, Shu draws Inori’s Void and mercilessly destroys all of the enemy Endlaves. He then throws away his kindness and accepts the Void ranking system.

So Hare finally dies as I predicted. I say “finally”, but I was expecting it to happen a bit later than it did. Like Lelouch, Shu has taken this death as a reason to walk down the path of destruction, abandoning everything he believed before. I assume he’ll come back to his senses like Lelouch did, but we’ll have to see how he manages that. It will probably have something to do with someone pointing out that Shu is abandoning the very thing that Hare loved about him to avenge her or something like that.

An interesting idea pops up in this episode. Souta points out that when he uses his Void, it’s weaker than when Shu uses it. I thought that was a cool little touch. Also, Daryl gets pretty banged up by Shu…wonder how much he really likes Tsugumi to let that slide. The show’s definitely setting itself up to be like Code Geass was. I just hope it doesn’t end with Shu regaining his kindness, then realizing that he’s burned too many bridges, so then he lets himself die to take all the hatred away. But amidst the criticisms I had before, I have to say that I like that the show is looking more at the internal conflict within the school due to isolation from the world, rather than a standard battle of the school against the government. Now, to sit back and watch as people rage about Hare’s death.

Guilty Crown Episode 14

After the Devil Survivor setup from last week, Arisa tries to calm the student body, but it ends up backfiring as everyone loses faith in her leadership. Tsugumi finds a device that measures Void strength, which actually leads to Shu drawing her Void, since no one has seen it yet (am I the only one that thought over 9000 when they scanned Inori?). Meanwhile, Keido starts Operation Purify Tokyo, slowly killing everyone within the walls.

Meanwhile Segai leaks a message that giving up the members of Funeral Parlor will allow people to escape. Arisa tries to convince everyone not to believe this message, but no one will listen to her. Shu stops everyone, admitting to being a member of Funeral Parlor. He uses Tsugumi’s Void to create holograms to show everyone that the government is actually lying to them. With that, he’s able to gain everyone’s trust and they all choose him as their leader.

I guess this is the point where Shu takes on Gai’s role, but with the student body rather than Funeral Parlor. So far, so predictable. I guess Yahiro’s Void Ranking System will eventually be the thing that makes him evil again? It sounds pretty dehumanizing for a good guy to be proposing. I’m sure it’s another step in Shu’s development. Also, it seems he’s finally getting used to his power…he disarmed that guy with the gun like it was nothing.

That bit with Inori was kinda interesting too when she kills the boys harassing her. I wonder if that will come back into play soon. I’m glad Shu is starting to be less annoying, but I wish this show would surprise me a bit…maybe I’m just looking at things the wrong way. Also, I was expecting a bit more from the Tsugumi-focused episode…maybe there’s more?