"After the outbreak of the unidentified virus 'Lost Christmas' in 2029, Japan has been under the control of a multi-nation organization called GHQ. Ohma Shu is a 17-year-old boy who has a psychic power in his right hand. He can use the power 'Ability of King' to extract tools or weapons from his friends. He has been avoiding making trouble for others but his life changes when he meets a girl Yuzuriha Inori, a member of a resistance guerrilla group called 'Undertaker,' whose members pilot mecha weapons to fight against the government."
Currently airing right now in Japan is an anime titled Guilty Crown. For newcomers, this series looks to be an eye-popper.
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| Oh, Inori so pretty! So shiny! And oh so emotionless (see below)! |
Not exaggerating. Scenes are beautifully rendered all throughout. This is thanks to "Redjuice" of the band, Supercell. The artist manages all the illustrations that go with composer Ryo's music. I first started exploring Supercell's music when I was first introduced to "君の知らない物語 (Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari)" a.k.a. "The Story You Don't Know," the ending theme to the anime Bakemonogatari. Now I wouldn't be pointing any of this out if I didn't like Supercell. The music score that goes along with Guilty Crown, as of now, is phenomenal.
But Guilty Crown has one big problem so far, despite there being only five episodes out right now (with episode 6 due this Thursday). The story isn't advancing. Sources point out that Guilty Crown will only have 11 episodes. If that's the case, I'm willing to bet the series will need three to four seasons in order to get anywhere, simply based on the pace it's currently maintaining.
On that note, I realized that Guilty Crown is showing major similarities with another sci-fi anime: Eureka Seven. The male protagonists in both series, Shu in Guilty Crown and Renton in Eureka Seven, initially start out as whiny, self-hating bratty teens with serious confidence issues... but they soon grow up only as people around them basically pump them up with boosters like, "You are the chosen one! Only you can save us all!" The female protagonists in both series, Inori in Guilty Crown and Eureka in Eureka Seven, begin as emotionless, floating bricks that appear human... and in Eureka Seven's case (might as well be Guilty Crown's, too), the girl shows more signs of humanity after she and her male counterpart's constant shouting and calling-out to each other ("Renton!" "Eureka!" "RENTON!" "EUREKA!" repeat 10 times) finally get through.
Speaking of similarities, the constant calling-out made an appearance in Guilty Crown, as well:
The pace that Guilty Crown is currently working on is eerily similar to how Eureka Seven panned out. But the good news is that Eureka Seven turned out to be one of my favorite series, thanks to the amount of time I decided to invest in following all 50 episodes. Thus, I do hope Guilty Crown is separated into four parts of 11, 12, 13 or so episodes, much like Eureka Seven was... given that Guilty Crown continues its snail's pace of storytelling.
Speaking of similarities, the constant calling-out made an appearance in Guilty Crown, as well:
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| Click to enlarge Okay, so it didn't loop 10 times. And Inori didn't exactly shout her second time around. But you get the idea. |
The pace that Guilty Crown is currently working on is eerily similar to how Eureka Seven panned out. But the good news is that Eureka Seven turned out to be one of my favorite series, thanks to the amount of time I decided to invest in following all 50 episodes. Thus, I do hope Guilty Crown is separated into four parts of 11, 12, 13 or so episodes, much like Eureka Seven was... given that Guilty Crown continues its snail's pace of storytelling.
Despite the drawbacks of the first few episodes, Guilty Crown has shown signs of life in the latest episode, where apparently the director and storyboard leaders decided to do some side character exploration. For the majority of anime that I have watched, I devote a lot of attention to the characters and how they are portrayed and developed. The fact that Guilty Crown finally started this was a necessary step in grabbing my interest for sure.
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| Ayase seems pretty cool so far. Her being voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Suou Pavlichenko "Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor," Anri Sonohara "Durarara!!") makes her even cooler. |
If the story fails to go anywhere in the 11 episodes its due for, it won't be a total disaster... not to me anyway. At least I had something pretty to look at for 4.5 hours. Nonetheless, I seriously, seriously hope Guilty Crown does its job. It looks too good to be an empty, pointless show. After all, I'm a fan of Supercell and I believe their people can get it all done. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that wishes for this show to continue stepping up, as it did in episode 5. Only episode 6 can show us this Thursday.
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