

These distractions were typical of high school anime of this kind and I should have known that there would be moments of unnecessary fan service. However, what I found was just more distractions to the central narrative and the most exciting part of the story. It was at this point that I really started getting into Guilty Crown ’s story, wanting to learn more about the Apocalypse Virus and how it tied Shu to the GHQ’s secret agendas.

Working with Funeral Parlour meant that Shu’s once mundane and ordinary life took a whole new turn. His power certainly became apparent to the GHQ Antibodies, soldiers who used brute force and violence to stamp out members of the public who might possess or be carriers for the dangerous Apocalypse Virus that had caused terror and devastation in Japan ten years ago. I didn’t care for the challenges Shu faced with the pop singer, Inori, who mysteriously entered his life and with whom he quickly became infatuated by.ĭespite some frustration at the initial slow pace, the plot certainly thickened as Shu progressively became more involved with Funeral Parlour, upon learning Inori’s part in the group. Throughout the first five or so episodes, confusion and some frustration with the pacing of the anime can be evident, as it certainly was with me. The series delves right into the action, leaving viewers intrigued and wanting more, before cutting back toward a slower pace and dragging the story on in an effort to build the world in which the characters live, as well as their relationships with one another. Guilty Crown’ s pacing is slightly haphazard. Caught in between, Shu inadvertently gains the ‘Power of the King’, an ability to pull out and use a person’s ‘void’, a weapon which stems from their hearts and inner self. The series follows Shu Ouma, an average high school boy who accidentally stumbles into the conflict between the corrupt government organization known as the GHQ and the resistance group known by the ominous name, Funeral Parlour, who work to restore Japan’s independence. Guilty Crown first released in 2011 as two separate volumes, however recently, the series has been re-released as a complete series collection. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the series dwindled the more I watched. Being an anime series directed by the same man behind anime greats such as Death Note and Attack on Titan, I was certain that Guilty Crown would be a series that I could get into and really enjoy. Guilty Crown has been on my radar for a very long time.
