With the apocalypse virus spreading and the Anti Bodies division
performing a coup of sorts, the GHQ supreme commander and his forces
(Dan included) are wiped out. With GHQ and Funeral Parlor out of their
way Chief Keido and Major Segai use the rock to begin a process to
“cross the river of lamentation to Mana.” Shu’s mother has managed to
get away from the Anti Bodies and runs into Gai and Inori, and with
their help hatches a plan to use Inori’s song to save the city. Meanwhile
Shu has decided to save Funeral Parlor and calls his friends  together to
reveal his secret and ask for their help. Inori begins to sing and her
resonance cures the virus throughout the city, stopping the process
Chief Keido started. Meanwhile, with the use of his friends’ voids Shu
successfully gets to Inori. Just as he reaches her a boy appears that also has the ability to draw voids out. The boy uses his abilities to
stop Inori and cut down Shu, only for Gai to step in at the last minute
and take the blow. With Inori taken away Chief Keido’s process to ‘Mana’ begins again and the city is on the verge of total destruction.
At this point, it is difficult to understand what is going on with the
Anti Bodies because whatever they are trying to achieve hasn’t been
explained. There’s a certain element of mystery with it, as we only know
that Inori, the virus and Mana all relate to one another. We have
gotten hints here and there that Inori is a catalyst of sorts, but other
than that there are no concrete answers. My guess is that the Anti
Bodies are trying to cleanse the world and that Mana has the ability to
do that. How the genomes factor into this is anyone’s guess. While this uncertainty
creates anticipation for the answer, it also leaves everything a bit
foggy until those revelations are made.
I should be happy that
Shu stepped up and confessed to his friends about his powers, that he
wanted to save Funeral Parlor and stop acting like a wimp. However, I’m not because his reasoning is so superficial. He claims
that he wants to save them because they believed in him. A
nice gesture, sure, but it is rather obvious that he only wants to save
Funeral Parlor because it  involves saving Inori. Not only that but
Funeral Parlor never really believed in Shu, they believed in his
powers. Some viewers may find that assertion debatable, but in my eyes
it is obvious when Gai told Shu to never show his face when Shu refused
to participate in a mission. If he is going to risk his friends’ lives
to save a girl, he could at least admit it. He could even explain that GHQ is a terrible force and that Funeral Parlor is Japan's only hope and that's why they need to be saved, not just because they believed in him. I will say that I was pleased
Shu admitted to his friends that he had used their voids before and
needs to use them again.
Haruka
gets an opportunity to show off her smarts, as she nearly saves the
entire city by creating a program to utilize Inori’s resonance. When Inori
sings and her resonance negates the effects of the rock, the
virus crystals crumble off of people and everyone rejoices. The songs and animation in Guilty Crown have easily been a
huge crowning aspect to the series. As Shu storms the
guarded airport he uses all of the different voids to take down various
machines and obstacles. Inori’s song gives the entire scene such
emotional serenity that you can’t help but root for Shu to reach her,
despite his questionable reasoning. The plot kicker is
that just when Shu reaches Inori, she is stopped by an unknown boy
appearing behind her through a dimension gate of sorts. This boy has
briefly appeared before, but his name hasn’t been revealed yet. He tells
Shu he is disappointed in him, saying he gains what could be his throne
but instead leaves it empty. Guilty Crown throws in another last minute
twist by having Gai save Shu from being cut down by the boy (using
Inori’s void). Whether or not he is dead is unclear at this point, but
killing off Gai would be a huge event for the show. I’d prefer that they
went through with it, if only because it’d be interesting to see how
Shu and Funeral Parlor manage without him.
Halfway into the
series, I am uncertain where the plot is going. At the beginning Guilty Crown was incredibly  predictable, so this is a major
improvement. Another void user appearing is a positive, since it could
lead to some creative battles between him and Shu. I suspect we will
learn what Mana is in the upcoming episode, since at the end of eleven
it started to appear. Without Inori’s song the city is in further ruin
and everything truly looks hopeless. I have no idea how Shu and Funeral
Parlor will manage to save the day, but that is what makes it so
exciting. Guilty Crown has had its ups and downs, but it has never
ceased to be entertaining.
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