Thanks to Segai destroying Shu’s records, Shu is able to return to school with
Inori. He is first met with accusations of being a criminal but Arisa Kuhouin, the charming and charismatic student council president, steps in and tells the students to leave Shu alone. Arisa is actually the heir
to the Kuhouin Group, a transport company that is being negatively
affected by GHQ’s new laws. It just so happens that Funeral Parlor is
running out of money and is also without a purchase or transport group,
prompting Gai to find them a partner. So he and Shu attend a party held by
the Kuhouin Group, hoping to persuade their leader to become Funeral
Parlor’s partner. However the GHQ finds out about the party and targets several
missiles at it, forcing Shu to save everyone.
The plot of this episode is still stuck in the same lull that frustrated me last week.
Shu goes on a mission, GHQ attacks and then Shu uses a void. Granted the
void he used this  time around was nifty and visually pleasing, taking the form of a shield, but this is still the same formula used in the past six episodes. That being said,
the story this time around was useful since it advanced Funeral
Parlor’s mission. A group trying to take back Japan isn’t going to get
much accomplished without trading routes and this group will go under if
they continue to let GHQ control them, so this partnership makes sense.
It was also a rather lighthearted, charming episode. The last few have
been too dramatic for their own good, so this was a breath of fresh
air.
I was a bit surprised Shu returned to school. Though Segai
deleted his information, it seems careless for Gai to let him go back
to school. He was easily caught the first time, so what is to stop GHQ
from finding out a second time? Logic aside, I would like to see more
development from Shu's peers at school since they seem like a fun group. Arisa's character is a type that's been done to death. When she's introduced here she puts on a tough front, but later in the episode it is revealed that
she is actually very insecure and hides behind her accomplishments. Though this isn't anything new how she
progresses remains to be seen, and with she will probably play a bigger role down the line now that Funeral Parlor and the Kuhouin Group have formed a partnership.
This episode also marked the first real introduction of Shu’s mother, who he
calls Haruka. You’d think she would be uptight since she is a scientist,
but at home she is actually a drunk that wears lingerie around the
house. The latter detail is a blatant excuse for
fanservice, but since she was a guest at this party there is obviously
more to her than that. Between her involvement with Sephirah Genomics
and her mysterious conversation with the head of the Kuhouin Group,
Haruka is shaping up to be a very interesting character. In previous
episodes there has been a hint that Inori resembles (or is) someone from
Shu’s past, and in this episode Haruka adds
more fuel to the fire as she reveals a photograph of Shu and this familiar-looking girl from
when they were kids. Developments like this are
what ultimately allow me to look away from the predictable endings.
Also
new to Guilty Crown is GHQ’s Colonel Dan Eagleman. He is the one who
was tipped off about the party, and with his new subordinates Daryl,
Segai and Rowan he decides to fire dragoon missiles at the party. The
problem is that the party is taking place on cruise ship, whereas the
missiles are meant for firing vertically. Dan is over-the-top and zealous about GHQ, so he decides turning the  missiles on the side will work.
Daryl, Segai and Rowan are clearly not pleased being
subordinates to an idiot, but they go along with it for the time being. When
Shu uses the shield void to stop the first attack Dan orders them to fire all the missiles they have, claiming they didn't have enough guts when they fired the first one. Really the whole sequence
is pretty silly, what with Shu protecting the entire ship as the
occupants dance without a care in the world. I guess if they are going
to be over-the-top in one regard they felt they had to see it through completely, so I suppose I am thankful for consistency.
For once,
Shu just goes along with Gai’s orders and doesn’t doubt himself. That is
an aggravating quality to his character, so the less we see of it the
better. At this point Gai is coming off too perfect, with his plans being executed perfectly from start to finish. Gai turns out to be the
one who tipped off Dan about the anti-GHQ party, figuring that he needed a chance to prove Funeral Parlor's worth to Kuhouin. Again, it begs the question - where does Gai get
his information? It is for that reason that I don’t necessarily trust
Gai. His intentions are good, but what would have happened if Shu had been
seized on the cruise ship and everyone was blown up? He does what
it takes, but what if that means sacrificing his comrades down the
line? I could easily see this being an upcoming plot thread worth
exploring.
Though Guilty Crown is stuck using the same solutions
each episode, the various mysteries being explored and revealed in each
episode are still an enticing quality of the series. Episode seven
provided some new, much needed introductions for a few characters and made some intelligent advances in the story. This show is
still not perfect, but it’s still pretty fun to watch.
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