Friday 17 February 2012

Guilty Crown - Episode 17

With Loop 7 ever closer to being crushed entirely, it seems that there's no choice for the remaining students of Tennozu First High School but to follow "Bad Shu" (you can tell he's evil because he wears a dark scarf)... or is there?

While we learn exactly what Inori got up to last week, we also come to see that Arisa's survival from that attack is simply another step down the road to another revolution as more and more people look to turn against their "king" for a variety of reasons.  Once the truth is leaked about what happens if your Void were to break by being used, the deal is sealed and Shu is living on borrowed time as even Yahiro begins to question his power and decision-making.


Despite this, with the walls literally closing in around them Shu is still the only man who can act as the centrepiece of the student's escape plan, and thus his now farcical reign extends long enough for this plan to swing into action, bringing another round of bloodshed (and a completely unexplained new upgrade to Shu's powers, unless I missed something) but, it seems, victory and release from their recent hell.  It's at this point that the oppressor becomes the oppressed, as those who Shu has trodden on along the way come back to get their revenge in the midst of an armed rebellion.  As if this wasn't bad enough enough, Inori's life hangs in the balance while Shu's own future looks decidedly grim as a familiar face comes back to haunt him, rendering him harmless ('armless, even) in the process.

Compared to previous instalments, this week's chunk of action within Guilty Crown felt a little predictable and pedestrian despite its effect on Tokyo Tower, in an episode that once again starts to fall apart logically once you put it under scrutiny, not least when you start giving your leading man extensions to his powers out of nowhere.  Still, the series as a whole looks set to move to another level once again, with the tables turning on a number of individuals well and truly... who knows where our story is headed next, and if nothing else that unpredictability coupled with the excellent visuals keep me coming back for more.  Guilty Crown?  More like Guilty Pleasure.

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