Guilty Crown - Episode 6

For all of the talk of Leucocyte as their next big target, last week's episode of Guilty Crown ended with a rather grandiose demonstration of its power - a demonstration which held the very real possibility of putting an end to Gai's campaign altogether.

Of course, the Funeral Parlour leader is made of sterner stuff, and despite a comrade in the process he somehow manages to survive this otherwise lethal attack from a satellite above, meaning that's he remains well and truly alive and kicking to head up the plan to take Leucocyte out for good - a mission which will require the abilities of both Ouma (to extract a Void) and Kenji Kido (whose gravity-defying Void is necessary) to complete their plan.

But will Shu even take part in this mission?  Perhaps predictably, his immediate answer is "no" given the risks involved - a decision changed only by his seeing a less confident and assured side to Gai.  Well, either that or the all-out fist fight between the two of them.  With that settled, it's off to attack the core which controls the Leucocyte satellites, in a plan which seems to be going swimmingly until the appearance of Daryl Yan to put the skates under everything with a spectacular lack of care which puts the whole of Tokyo in danger, in turn allowing Inori, Shu and Gai to all show what they're best at as they attempt to save the innocent lives suddenly thrust into danger.

There's nothing smart or particularly clever about this week's episode of Guilty Crown (again raising those awkward "should this even be a noitaminA series?" questions), but as a set-piece episode in its own right it works pretty well - once again it's gorgeous to look at, it has some slick action, and a few nice scenes and moments to keep things ticking along.  On the downside of things, Shu remains as wishy-washy (and more importantly, as indecisive) as ever to the detriment of the series somewhat to the point where even seeing him get punched in the face twice doesn't help, while Inori's deadpan attitude isn't much better.  It doesn't feel right calling a show from this programming block "mindless but shiny entertainment", but that's exactly what Guilty Crown serves as for me right now.