Fall 2011: Guilty Crown.

Guilty Crown

Guilty Crown, frankly, makes me mad. It makes me mad because I can already tell how much crap it's going to get away with simply because it's not bad, because it doesn't even really have to try, because let's all just settle for less! A man can get cynical sometimes...

The series takes place in a near-future Japan that has been conquered by foreign powers. There are mechas in it, as well as a girl in a wheelchair. The main character, Shu Ouma, is a high-school student that becomes embroiled in a resistance movement when he receives a super-power from a mysterious girl wanted by the authorities. 

Incidentally, it's written by the same writing team that gave us Code Geass. Comparisons to it are not only unavoidable considering how unbelievably similar the premises are, but they're also helpful, since they serve to warn unsuspecting viewers that they're watching a show that may catastrophically jump the shark at any moment. (And frankly, I don't think the writers should be let off from being called out on their hideous lack of imagination.)

So how was the first episode?

It was decent. Exciting enough. Quite stylish. Technically impressive, I suppose.

Once you start going into the details, things get problematic.

I don't expect characters to show a lot of character right in the first episode, where most anime are more concerned with wowing the viewers and setting up the plot. Still, I find myself a little annoyed with Shu, who is already far less charismatic and far more generic than Code Geass's Lelouche. He leaves an impression with exactly two things: extremely non-specific angst – I dare anyone to explain to me what the hell his problem is supposed to be – and completely ridiculous responsibility issues. Here's how Guilty Crown establishes someone to be a wuss: they didn't fight a crowd of armed soldiers bare-handed to save a damsel in distress. Yes, that's it. This is the guilt the protagonist has to be put up with! Boo fucking hoo? I do hope the point I'm trying to make isn't getting lost because of my sarcasm, but this really is a silly and unrelatable issue to set as your protagonist's driving motive.

It's the female lead that's the real sticking point to me though. I have to admit, I feel a measure of resentment for her solely because of how desperate the show seems to be to make me like her. We find out little about her personality except that she's a little strange and likes to sing, but we're treated to scenes of her wounded, on the run, captured, treated horribly, all the while the direction is trying its best to make her striking and not being very subtle about it. This is shallow. It's lazy. Relying on the viewer's protective instinct is such a simplistic way to elicit sympathy from them, and I don't know who to blame for wondering whether there's something wrong with me for having a problem with the fact that a professional writer can't do better. 

And might I just ask – what is up with her ridiculous outfit? Am I really the only person watching this who wondered why in the seven hells this girl entrusted with some kind of secret mission was running around with clothes that expose two thirds of her torso, sleeves so big she couldn't even sit down at the dinner table with them and some kind of bizarre shawl that seems to be attached to her by magic? How is she supposed to blend in like that? Is that why she was on the run in the beginning? Someone saw her and went “Hey look, that girl who looks like she just escaped from the hooker circus must have stolen our super weapon!” It's ridiculous.

“But Kaarel,” you might say, “Isn't that nitpicking? Aren't you being just a little harsh?”

Well, someone has to be, gods damn it! Someone has to be! ;_;

There are three kinds of entertainment: the kind that requires you to think to enjoy it, the kind that doesn't require you to think to enjoy it, and the kind that requires you NOT to think to enjoy it. I'm not a fan of that last one. I've long since given up on expecting practical outfits for female characters, but are semi-quasi-pseudo-practical outfits really too much to hope for as well? Is a story that holds up under scrutiny really such a high demand?

One last thing... Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here, but I sensed a vague nationalistic undercurrent in the writing. Japan is known to be a little xenophobic, and Code Geass had its share of awkward subtext. Tell me it isn't a little uncomfortable that Guilty Crown's premise seems to be foreign nations dominating Japan because of sinister international aid during a crisis? The series also has two lone colored characters, one of whom happens to be an underling of the fascist regime who orders a massacre and the other a thuggish mugger. It's probably a coincidence, but come on, doesn't it make you raise an eyebrow? Just a little bit? No? Really? Well, maybe it's just me.

So should you give Guilty Crown a shot? Eh, sure, why not? It looks like it'll be entertaining. You could do a whole lot worse.