|
Guilty Crown was one of the big name titles Manga had lined up for this year, and although its 'most wanted' status has been usurped somewhat by Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan, it's still a pretty major release. However, after being announced over a year ago (at the MCM London Comic Con in October 2012), has it been worth the wait? Guilty Crown is set in a near future
Japan which was all but crippled by a virus pandemic, leading to overseas powers
stepping in to stabilise the country and take control of its crumbling
infrastructure. Several years on from the mass virus outbreak known as
'Lost Christmas' these overseas powers remain in charge, and whilst life has
returned to some semblance of normality a form of martial law is still in place
with the powerful governing body GHQ able to detain individuals and quarantine
whole areas in order to control any further virus outbreak. However, in
the eyes of many Japan has now sufficiently recovered to govern itself, and
there is a feeling that GHQ is abusing its authority. This ill feeling has
given rise to a terrorist organisation called Funeral Parlour, an organisation
bent on returning the country to Japanese control and uncovering GHQ's more
clandestine operations. For the high school student Shu these struggles
are another world away, he lost his family and home in the Lost Christmas
incident and has aimlessly drifted through his life ever since, but a chance
encounter soon changes all that. Shu comes into contact with the beautiful
Inori as she tries to escape from GHQ forces with a stolen genetic weapon, and
through his attempts to protect her he ends up becoming infected by it, granting
him the strange ability to reach into the hearts of those around him and turn
them into weapons. His newfound ability enables him to save Inori, but
brings him to the attention of both GHQ and Funeral Parlour who both covet his
new abilities. Thrust into the heart of the conflict Shu struggles to come
to terms with the power and implications of his newfound abilities, with both
sides seeking to use his powers he can't avoid fighting, but where do his
loyalties lie? |
|
Yes, it's another entry in the 'unassuming schoolboy obtains awesome new powers from mysterious, beautiful woman' category of anime, and as tropes go it's one that's been pretty heavily used over the last few years. Its central premise is pretty similar to that in the excellent Code Geass, with a near future Japan under oppressive foreign rule, a group of terrorists trying to overthrow it and a mysterious woman woman who grants a high schooler an incredible power, enabling him to directly influence the struggle. There are also |
|
|
mecha, for no particular reason other than it's a modern anime set in the future so of course there are. It must be said that Guilty Crown is quite generic to start with, with a fairly one dimensional cast and a standard story, but its one that grows in the telling. Visually the
series has a lot going for it, boasting some gorgeous backgrounds,
futuristic design and good character art. The visual effects are
great, particularly during the frequent battles, and the music is also
noteworthy. Inori is a famous singing idol in the series, and as
well as being depicted singing the opening and ending songs she also
sings a couple of solid J-Pop tunes during the series itself. As a
character who couples singing with terrorist activity there promises to
be an interesting story behind Inori, although she remains pretty
enigmatic at the moment and, to be honest, a bit dull. Shu is also
a pretty average angsty teenager, the bad guys are generally mysterious
but evil, but thankfully the leader of Funeral Parlour - the charismatic
Gai - is much more interesting. Over the course of the series he
grows as a character, starting as a suave and almost flawless
revolutionary but eventually revealing his physical and emotional
weaknesses. His struggles in turn start to make Shu a bit more
interesting, especially towards the end of the series where the story -
which for the most part flits between a series of terrorist attacks, a
conspiracy within GHQ and Shu's emotional journey - takes a much needed
turn for the unexpected. |
|
|
The big problem with Guilty Crown is that it takes far too long to get going. It may set itself up in a similar way to Code Geass but it lacks the bravery and moral ambiguity that made that series so gripping. The characters are limp, with the central pairing of Shu and Inori evoking Neon Genesis Evangelion's Shinji and Rei but shorn of the backstory that could make them interesting. In fact there's a lot of Evangelion about the characters, the feisty mecha pilot Ayase and Shu's stepmother Haruka are more than a little reminiscent of |
|
Asuka and Misato respectively, and even some of the supporting cast echo its characters. In fact the only member of the cast that is given a bit of character is the enigmatic terrorist leader Gai, whilst Shu goes through an emotional journey which could be more interesting if Shinji hadn't already done it nearly 20 years ago. There are numerous things left unexplained, such as how the Endlave mecha work (it was several episodes before I realised they were piloted by remote), and the story follows a pretty well trodden path until the end of the volume. It's the last few episodes in this volume that are the series saving grace so far, taking the story in a few unexpected directions which leave me with higher hopes for the next part. In the end though Guilty Crown vol 1 is a bit disappointing. It looks great, it has decent music and it has an intriguing setup, but it never really develops its central cast or goes anywhere that interesting with the story until the last few episodes on the disc. Of the central cast Gai is by far the most interesting character, at the moment Shu is a wet blanket and Inori an emotional void, whilst the characterisation of much of the supporting cast is shallow to say the least. On the plus side it's action packed and the story does move at a good pace, there are also some promising signs for the second half of the series with some unexpected twists and turns towards the end of this set, and there are some characters who - although woefully underdeveloped at present - at least show signs of being potentially interesting. There's a little too much left unexplained and none of the unpredictability of similarly styled series like Code Geass, but on the whole it not bad, but you just feel that it could have been a lot better. Extras: A decent selection, as you come to expect from Manga Entertainment. The discs include clean opening and ending sequences, trailers, episode previews, commentaries for episodes 2 and 4, a short documentary about the creation of the series and a collection of Guilty Crown '4 panel theatre' comedy shorts. Impressive. Ratings Feature:
|
