This show is gorgeous, it’s directed by Tetsurou Araki (the director of Death Note and Kurozuka) and animated by Production IG. It’s bound to be action packed, and for those reasons I’m going to blog it. I don’t have any expectations for this beyond mere eye candy, though.
Here’s the thing: we’re in the middle of a very creative season, with continuations of shows with incredibly rich and imaginative settings (Last Exile, Hunter X Hunter, Fate/Zero), new series with really creative premises and purposes (Ben-To, Un-Go, Chihayafuru, Mirai Nikki and even Phi Brain). And here this show comes with its superpowered teenagers, bland boy meets mysterious girl, stereotypically sadistic villains… and that’s pretty much it. Beyond the fact that it can shoot a good action scene and that this show looks amazing when it wants to, it just doesn’t have anything that sets it apart.
What I’m really afraid of is that this never really gets fixed. My big problem here is that this thing is written by the same guy who wrote Mai Otome and Macross Frontier (ignoring for a moment that he also came up with Seiko no Qwaser). Thankfully these first two episodes were not as bad as Mai Otome: this show is unremarkable, not bad, obnoxious and stupid. However, I’m more and more beginning to see this as the spiritual successor of Macross Frontier, but without the idols. It too looked pretty, but had a very weak story and bland characters, who never really seemed to know where they were going.
I was hoping for this episode to prove me wrong, but instead this was even more generic, due to the lack of quiet moments. First of all there are the usual questions: why do both the military and the rebels, despite having plenty of adults, depend on teenagers to pilot their mechas? If you have a reason for it: then that’s fine, but don’t just put some cute girls in mecha suits just for the sake of fanservice.
Also, the blond kid. Whose idea was that; seriously? This guy is the only actually bad character in this series so far. In every single scene, he’s portrayed as a psycho with a temper, even when there’s no reason for him to be so. I mean, the bomb girl in Mirai Nikki was psycho for a reason: she was risking her life in the middle of a truckload of explosives that she set up herself. This guy instead is like “muhahaha, I’m evil; bump into me and I’ll kill you!”
What’s more is that this show is too busy portraying its bad guys as assholes, rather than actually make compelling villains. The point where they killed those random civilians (who strangely were never mentioned again after their death; not even people mourning about them). What’s also bugging me is the existence of the female lead: why is she in this show, really? All she’s done so far is give powers to the male lead (which, according to what people are saying, can be done by everyone else as well). Oh, and appear in his school. Why was there a need to show that in the most cliched way possible?
However, what has also really bugged me so far: I’m seeing very little of Tetsurou Araki’s distinctive style here. I’m a fan of Death Note, Kurozuka and also that one story he did for Aoi Bungaku: the atmosphere and direction there were rock-solid, but they were nothing like what was shown here. This show needs to grow. Get rid of that psycho blonde and focus more on the characters without wasting time on pointless side stories or making the action too repetitive.
Rating: – (Disappointing)]]>
Guilty Crown – 02
Haha fuck this stupid ass blog. No wonder no one comes here. Guilty crown shits all over un-go
I have to agree with you here. It’s very pretty and I absolutely love the soundtrack, but apart from that it’s just a random mecca show. This does not seem like a noitaminA show at all. To make matters worse it looks like from now on it is going to be set in the school.
It kind of makes sense to be set in school to me. To get more and new weapons/tools he has to befriend more people.
The MC powers makes me remember the Persona 3 game (relationships up = power up). Actually, If I remember right this anime is going to have a Visual Novel adaptation (maybe the setting will be more interesting to play than to watch).
I just think it’s really fun. Sure its cliched, but its entertaining. You can do much worse than this anime.
@Kivos: if you don’t like it here, then leave. Nobody wants to hear you bully Psgels. And on the contrary, people DO come here. You’re just blind.
OK fine maybe I was a little to harsh and I apologize.
However what pisses me off is the way he went into the series expecting everything to be reveled in the first 2 episodes. Why do people do this? Or why do people do that? Well it doesn’t explain so I am going to get mad and bash the show. See that’s fucking stupid. If you even bothered to watch the previews for the anime you would have know that the first few episodes were going to be action packed. So getting pissed because of to much action is beyond ignorant. But hell at least we are getting action which is something I can’t say for f/z. 3 episodes in and not a damn thing has happened. The action, animation and use of music alone should have at least made this episode considered “good”, just because the story so far is a little bland doesn’t instantly make it disappointing especially when you consider this episode was just about the action anyway. Also you didn’t even mention anything about the OP. Why?
@kivos: F/Z >>> Guilty Crown by far. There is something called “character development and richness” that is totally lacking in Guilty Crown right now. No charm whatsoever with any of the characters. This is far from the case of F/Z where nearly every character is fleshed out. Action is not what we are looking for in a long series like this. Likeable characters and intriguing plot development is more important than senseless action.
GC feels like it’s taking the easy way out of everything. That really kills it for me, regardless of how lovely it looks. It’s tough to get into a show when it feels like I’ve seen it already.
Times like this I’m glad I don’t mind watching older anime.. it’s kinda interesting to compare two shallow shows from different eras then suffer through them one at a time.
Maybe Guilty Crown wasted all of its budget on the animation and not the story and characters!
@Kivos: ok, now I’m curious..
>he went into the series expecting everything to be reveled in the first 2 episodes
Where did psgels mention wanting everything to be revealed already? He alludes to wishing the heroine had more of a purpose, I guess?
>getting pissed because of to much action is beyond ignorant.
Getting pissed because psgels isn’t saying what you want him to say is.. well, you can figure out the rest.
Is it so difficult to just nod your head and say “Ok, that’s your opinion, and this is why I disagree..”?
I’ve gone on some tirades myself, but does Guilty Crown really deserve being defended this much?
I have to say this:
psgels has his own opinion that he shares with us, for free. Considering the vast number of anime he has watched, i think we can all agree he has a pretty good opinion. and it also makes me look at anime differently. I’ve not always agreed, but then whats the point of visiting a blog if you do?
and also, i have to thank psgels. I had almost given up on finding good anime when i came across this blog. Now i have no shortage of anime to enjoy, and i always read the blog after watching an episode.
if you want to hate psgels, please keep it to yourself. someone is giving up their time to share their love of anime with us. You are not being forced to accept it, or even read it for that matter. IMHO this is the best blog i have found, which truly takes a critical view and blogs episodes.
After that, i will get back to this episode. I liked it personally, not the best but still has potential, especially since it has 22 episodes. However, i think it may end up being open ended (like 07-Ghost) or have a rushed ending which pulls massive things from nowhere (No.6). If it can come up with a solid ending though, well built up, this could be a good series.
@Kivos: after reading psgel’s Un-Go episode 2 post, I can see where you’d get the impression that he was hoping for more to be revealed (though I wouldn’t have read it that way at all if you hadn’t pointed it out).
Supporting psgels, I think this episode is really bland. Nothing too bad or offensive yet, but still bland. I can almost predict how the characters act and what they will say since I’ve seen the same scenario over and over again before.
The characters might have really deep background story that will be revealed much later on or maybe in the next episode, but the way that things are now, even I won’t have the patience to wait for it. The way things are now,it’s really just a typical coming of age anime. Sure the visuals are reaaaaaaaaalllllllyyyy pretty, but the way I see it, it’s the same scenes from those other bland animes, but just really pretty.
Just posting to say the same thing that happened to Raggers happened to me. I was feeling everything was too cliched and couldn’t find blogs dedicated to more serious anime (something other than naruto, bleach, harem/moe shows, etc) that just didn’t get any attention. Now, since my tastes are very much like psgel’s I always come to this blog to decide which anime to watch. I like the posts (they always make me look differently at anime) and many anime I have come to know because of psgels’s reviews. So, psgels, thanks! And keep up the good work!
Wasnt expecting anything from this other than the visuals so theres no disappointment to be found… Its pretty much like watching Avatar, you just dont watch it for the story/characters
And the transfer student cliche at the end… /facepalm good thing I really like Inori, I love her character design and personality seems to be my type anyway, so I can overlook this
Kinda weird they went with something like this for Noitamina though… It usually has the less mainstream/mature animes
Listen to wakka9ca, Kivos. True that Fate/zero hasn’t had much action in the past few episodes however the build up is pretty much done now and by god the stuff coming in the next few episodes makes this look like nothing. Besides action is the pay-off. It’s best done when the characters fighting are people who you can give a damn about.
Psgels does make some great comments, reviews and recommendations…but he also makes some questionable or plain wrong statements from time to time, so let’s try not to get all the praise get to his head. I don’t think he needs it. He’s a cool guy, but not perfect.
As for this show, I would say it’s an action series, first and foremost, and it’s definitely not trying to compete with Fate/Zero on any level.
Fate/Zero is a “closed” story based on a Holy Grail War that ended in a certain way. The novels were written already knowing how everything was going to end. The writer simply had the freedom to give the characters enough development and detail to fit in with what the F/SN timeline demanded.
Guilty Crown isn’t based on a game or novel, for one thing, so it lacks that wider context, and it’s paced completely differently, for another. The first two episodes have been focused on action and left expanded on everything else for later.
We barely know anything about these characters, not to mention their world, beyong the very superficial basics. That said, I’ll admit the content has mostly been stereotypical, but I don’t think this is a good sign of how the entire show is going to work.
I think it will become more interesting in time, provided you don’t come in expecting it to be something out of this world. If that is the case, then I’d expect to see psgels go back and retroctively take off points from almost every anime involving teenagers in situations beyong their regular existence. That kind of argument doesn’t really convince me.
At the same time, I’ll admit that this show wouldn’t be nearly as hyped or as popular as it is without all the celebrities and Production I.G.
I do agree with kivos, surprisingly, a little bit. I will say that psgels is being a little harsh and is asking for too much- it’s only been two episodes, so things like why a ‘teenage girl’ is piloting a mecha- I mean, why not? Why can’t it be teens? That sort of aspect is going to be answered later, I assume. And teens aren’t the only ones piloting the mechas- the first two in the first episode were piloted by adults. I will admit that the blonde dude was a total generic asshole, but once again- give it time. It’s way too early to condemn any sort of aspect on this show. I could understand if the show was regressing in terms of development- a lack of development may be criticized of course, but I don’t see that as something so detrimental to a show that has 22 more episodes to flesh things out. If we were on episode 7 and this was the episode format, then yes, I would be complaining, but heck, it’s only episode 2! Give it a little space. 🙂
That said, I completely agree that (ironically) this show is a guilty pleasure- I’m mainly watching it for the stunning animation and the excellent soundtrack/background music. Nothing has been fleshed out as of yet, but hopefully things will change soon enough, as we find out more about the characters and the power that Shu holds. So far I still can’t seem to hate either Shu or Inori despite them being extremely typical- they seem to hold something that makes them different. Inori’s silent strong will is something I see potential in, but if she truly is reduced to nothing but an object for passive-agressive male dominance, then yeah, I’ll be angered. Hopefully Shu will grow a set, but I do see reasons behind his whininess, and luckily, he’s not even annoying, so. I’m really interested in the wheelchair girl, and not interested in the subtle shots of fanservice. It’s a mix, to be honest. But to conclude: it’s only been two episodes, UN GO has yet to actually maintain a consistent narrative as well as flesh out its main cast, and that has 11 episodes, so. We’ll see. That’s all I can say for right now.
I have to say I’m impressed with anyone making it past the first 10 minutes of this show. I know I didn’t. We have this omg!cute (I’m guessing?) chick running around, in need to be rescued. And this guy who looks like ‘ugh, I’m bored’. Well, No6 did it before and they did it better. >.> (No chick needing to be rescued for one thing, and Shion being more likable than what’s-his-name from the very first episode.) … That said, I still can’t forgive No6 for that final episode, but that’s another story entirely. (And before anyone asks, yes, I’m yaoi fangirl. Yes, I’m a fan of strong female leads. Yes, I’ve watched anime for 25+ years now. I’m no newbie.)
@Gottis, please don’t kick up another feminism argument.
I think psgels is spot in about almost everything. The show is nice eye candy, but theres completely ludicrous moe fanservice, unexplained character powers and so far the main female lead has no real raison d’etre at all. Not to mention none of the characters has a genuine personality as of yet.
What is with people talking about feminism lately? Like, this past month or so I’ll see the topic brought up in the shoutbox every now and then. I usually don’t mind the topic itself, but it’s getting really annoying seeing people argue/debate about/even mention it at this point. Can we please just drop it?
But moving on. In regards to this episode, I have to agree with psgels. I still don’t think I can truly get into it. I tried, but it feels like a chore. The male lead doesn’t have much that makes him stand out, or any of the other characters for that matter. The small bits of fanservice annoyed me. The plot so far doesn’t feel fresh, engaging, anything. I’ll give it one thing, though, the visuals are pretty–but not enough to keep me watching.
The way I see it there is room for improvement, but little chance.
All the tools for something great are there, they just won’t be used.
In regards to the dead people, I assumed Pink-hair girl was singing for them, what with the Funeral Parlor’s mention of remembering the dead, but eh.
This show has got the art and concept down perfectly so it would be a shame to see it get bogged down under the same failures of bad writing and undeveloping characters.
I can think of two reasons why the female lead is in the show…
Ah, Production IG, you were great once, stunning visuals and all. Remember World Destruction and Eden of the East?
I already have speculations for what this show is going to turn into…and damn, if I’m right, it’ll be good. But that’s just hoping since it IS a noitamina show…
Inori showing up at Shuu’s school was actually the best part of the whole episode….why?
Because it was the first time I don’t have her boobs and butt flashed at me every second.
I am whit psgels in this show, I give five or six more episodes to see if this show deserves something. Also this season have a lot of very good series, Personally I like Fate-Zero, Persona 4, Hunter X, Mirai N, Bento and Chihaja But i want to give this show an oportunity. Also I am whatching Idolmaster, I dont know why … yet, jeje.
@kivos lol nobody visits this blog huh look at all the responses to you. Nobody is forcing to his opionion if you can stand the heat GTFO.
Well, at least Kivos really fired up all of folks that visit this sight.
I agree with psgels. The series animation is very beautiful but the story and characters blow. They’re 1 dimensional, cliched characters. The leader of Morgue Autopsy, or w/e the resistance group’s named, has the tired persona of Light and Lelouche. This makes his foresight/strategic abilities near perfect and kills any dramatic tension. Is it really that hard to portray leaders like Game of Thrones or Battlestar where brilliant tacticians fuck up and show how good they are by improvising and making the most of a bad situation?
On a side note I get really sick of Japan and US series where they always play the victim. For Japan it is the US, for the US they fantasize and wank off to Soviets invading our shores.
Well, I’ve heard rumors that the next few episodes will focus on character development, so maybe I’ll actually give a crap about them. If this show turns out to be like Cameron’s Avatar, I’m going to be disappointed. I didn’t hate this episode, but it was not very good, plus the ending was painful.
@Gottis Oh mine, I can’t see Inori as a damsel in stress at all. Considered what she had been through before the fight broke out, it would have been so unrealistic if she could still fend herself.
I agree with most of the comments here; characters and story are pretty generic to the point that it is not hard to predict the future major event or plot twists. On the other hand the visual and delivering are real good (at least for me). Also, usually I really hate anything fanservice, but I have to admit that this show does it so well that kinda made me went dokidoki and flustered >///
i usually don’t criticize new shows too much, but MAN, this show felt /really/ uninspired. a few years back my sister and i created an anime plot called “the most stereotypical anime ever,” where we made up a show with the most cliched stereotypes we could think of, down to the engrish name (“it has to be something in english, but make no semantic sense!”). fast forward a few years and apparently someone has stolen our ideas and made guilty crown. i made my sister watch it, and we both cracked up over how it followed almost every animation cliche to a t. oh well. i would actually watch it for the pretty eye candy, but the main heroine annoys the crap out of me. :
Hm. I like Guilty Crown far more than Un-Go. The story itself isn’t something worth to be mentioned, but imo it’s pretty entertaining. Even TTGL (one of my top 5) was great because of the emotions and entertainment, not because of the story. With Un-Go it’s, for me, somehow reversed. The stories are ok but it didn’t amuse me so far. But I have to mention that I also don’t really like episodic series (besides 2-3 – Mushishi for example – so far).
I think poor psgels is suffering from post sacred seven trauma syndrome.
I actualy find GC’s first two episodes much better than SS’s so I fail to see why psgels is so down on GC while he was optimistic about SS (in the beginning)
I also fail to see what’s creative about phi brain,yes it uses puzles,that’s it the rest is pretty darn standard (including the vilains)
I actualy was surprised by the ending,I fully expected Shu to shake Gai’s hand,everything had been build up for it,yet he didn’t.
@synkronized:
Consider that there are many stories where the U.S. is either the hero or the victim, so why can’t Japan do the same from time to time?
As for Gai being exactly like Light or Lelouch, I don’t think that’s fair. Light was crazier and had a god complex, for one thing, and Lelouch showed more emotion.
In fact, both of them screwed things up from time to time, so they aren’t “perfect” strategists like your description goes. Gai seems perfect now, I agree that’s a bit boring, but I imagine he won’t be like that the whole show.
wall of text incoming
Yeah, surprisingly, I also agree with kivos just a little. It’s episode 2 – why are you questioning the existence of the female lead and complaining about the blond kid when the show’s barely even started? If you’re complaining about lack of character development, then at least wait until maybe the show is half over before doing so. As it is, your opinion is a little unfair.
I saw this kind of comment over at Mirai Nikki episode 2 too, when you said Minene was portrayed as a psycho bomber and not much more. She was just introduced – do you really want her story to be crammed into the episode the minute she appears?
About the blonde kid – is it really so hard to accept that there are completely corrupt and spoiled people in this world who like causing people pain for no reason? He seems to go berserk only when people try to touch him as well, so that could be important for later. Like with Minene, he was just introduced – give him some more time before judging him.
It appears your judgment of show is mainly based on how original it is and you appear to dislike common anime tropes. Like Divine at RandomC said:
“I realize some people feel very strongly about originality and perceive it as a fundamental flaw if a premise doesn’t offer anything new, but I fall into the group that likes to look at every new show individually to see what it has to offer with its own version of an existing idea. After all, “original” is all relative. If we were to shun every new show because it features something that’s been done before, we would never have another show with robots, zombies, and whatnot, which may be fine for those who have seen their fill, but would completely neglect those who are just getting into them (i.e. younger generations). They’re classified as tropes for a reason, which is somewhat akin to genres except at a sub-series level.”
Although I do agree a little with kivos, I do not agree with how he said it. Insulting someone else’s site and opinion is very rude, and I especially dislike that little comment on fate/zero since it’s probably my favorite show airing asides from Mawaru Penguindrum. Guilty Crown and fate/zero are two entirely separate stories with different genres and plot presentations. Comparing them is kind of pointless.
Honestly, I agree with kivos more than I do pgsels or wakka9ca, when it comes to Guilty Crown and Fate/Zero. Kivos admittedly could have been less blunt in his first post, but he did apologize and I can understand why he’s peeved.
Given the insane praise that Fate/Zero is getting give that it’s first episode was basically a double-sized exposition dump, and given the hate Guilty Crown is getting in spite of two visually GLORIOUS episodes, I have to wonder if some people here are allergic to good action scenes.
It is perfectly 100% legitimate to watch shows primarily for the action. That is the main reason I started watching Guilty Crown and Fate/Zero, because I wanted to see the anime equivalent to a fun, action blockbuster Hollywood movie feel.
4 Episodes worth of content in, and so far Fate/Zero has shown no real action aside from Gilgamesh curbstomping an Assassin. It was a nice scene, but it’s not much.
2 episodes in, and Guilty Crown is delivering great action scenes in flying colors.
As pgsels himself alluded to, there’s been plenty of intellectually deep anime this year with unusual premises and casts… so what’s wrong with having something that’s a simply stupendous sexy action-packed thrill ride that you can enjoy on the level of pure spectacle? Variety is the spice of life, is it not?
Pgsels rating this episode “Disappointing” is frankly ridiculous. The artistic/animation quality of this episode alone deserves better than that.
It does a real disservice to the considerable effort that Production I.G.’s animators obviously put behind this episode to judge it “disappointing”.
I watched the first episode, thought it’s one of the most uninspired, boring shows I’ve watched this year. Granted, I only watched new series that gets a high review on anime blogs I trust like this one. Anyway, I don’t feel any urge to give this one a chance after it received such a low review. I might give this another chance if it receives a much higher rating after the whole series airs. But I’ve got a feeling this will turn out like Fractale.
Plenty of older and current shows to watch in the meantime.
@Triple_R: well the reason each watch anime is different so it’s understandable. In fact, the reason for an individual actually change (some days I just need a good action series or a good comedy series too). For instance, Karas had Hollywood-style action, but the plot is a bit shaky… Same thing for the Appleseed movies.
“because I wanted to see the anime equivalent to a fun, action blockbuster Hollywood movie feel”
If you ever try to watch LoGH, GiTS:SAC or Natsume Yuujinchou don’t do it with that mentality. Needless to say, some people here are allergic to Hollywood action films too. Then again, to everyone his or her taste…
Guilty Crown right now is very nice action… indeed that cannot be denied. Also, it’s the 2/22 episode so it’s too early to decide. However, people do display a certain disappointment after the interesting premise and settings.
So… This was again generic… And yeah I’ll agree with everyone else that is (wishfully) thinking that the story may get more interesting and explained later. And I can also somehow try and forgive all the bad things in this episode… I could also pretend to ignore the yellow haired crazy bad guy (hey I just summed up his personality perfectly!) and pretend to believe that they are going to give him a believable background at some point.
I could also not mind the needless and out of place fanservice.
But the end was the last drop. A school setting and a transfer student?… Come… ON…
And to those that say be patient, it might get better, things will be explained/developed : Here is the thing. This series so far is BAD at hinting and foreshadowing things. It completely fails to intrigue, it actually seems it’s not even trying to. It’s “here is this guy, he is evil, now let’s move on” “There is some war, about a virus, now let’s move on”.
Other series do it right. They introduce stuff (characters/plot devices) that may seem stereotypical, but they somehow hint/promise that things will get more interesting. They often fail to actually do that, but the promise keeps me watching.
its cool to me. i am sure it wont be as bad as naruto shipuden is now. i mean rrly wasting 30 episodes on stupid side stories. its okay for them to throw a side story in occasionally but not 30 episodes strait.
I agree with you that the second episode is totally bad, I could not even stand watching it for more than 10 minutes without fast forwarding, the blond guy is weird as well, but if in the next episode the creator decided to get rid of him (i.e. bomb/suicide etc that is quick) it would be totally weird…I mean after he appears so many time and he died in an episode…ugh…
Ok this is high budget, fighting shonen. Epic visuals, poser characters etc.
If you like the genre, and you also like action based plots.
YOU WILL LIKE GUILTY CROWN,
Also the plot, characters, setting is CLICHE AS HELL.
But….
this is better, than your average shonen.
the Plot in shonen genre is not as important as other factors (some purist will eat me)
for a good plot, go watch legend of the galactic heroes. You will feel less mainstream.
I MEAN I ENJOYED CODE GEASS, IT WAS FUN and flamboyant. STILL IT WAS A SENSELESS TRAINWRECK. but an epic finale was worth it