×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: Guilty Crown Episodes 1-5 Streaming


Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
hissatsu01



Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 963
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:04 am Reply with quote
I can't find anything to commend this show on other than the production values. Maybe "most annoying main characters"? It's a pile alright.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
boredandlazy



Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 189
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:22 am Reply with quote
Didn't Ryo only contributed the vocal songs? I thought the score was composed by someone else...

Edit: Wikipedia says the score is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano.


Last edited by boredandlazy on Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:00 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ittoujuu



Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 164
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:30 am Reply with quote
I hate to sound fannish, but I really like Carl's reviews. Or rather, I should say, when I read a review he writes, not only do I usually find something well-written, I find a point of view that evaluates a show in a lot of the same ways I do; that values the aspects of a production that are most important to me (and also lets ones that are less so slide if a series is otherwise good). To those thoughtful, well-reasoned pieces that always offer up something new to chew on about a series that I might have overlooked before, I say cheers.

After I watched the first episode of Guilty Crown, I wasn't sure how I should be taking the series. Are they playing it straight, or will it be a genre-mashup trope-fest? As of yet, I haven't watched any further than that, but with a solid approval for how the show has carried itself so far, I'm going to continue on with it - at least until such a time as it hits the guardrail and flies off into a smoldering wreck. But overall, I liked Mai-HiME, so if Guilty Crown performs on at least that level, I'll be satisfied.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TD912



Joined: 28 Nov 2010
Posts: 274
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:12 am Reply with quote
I have to agree with this review. Many people have high hopes for this series because members of Supercell produced it, but I think they went overkill with the music. Inori's signature insert song seems forced into a scene at least every other episode. The soundtrack being played near the end of episode 2 was so dramatic, it seemed like it could have been used as the ending for the entire series!

The cliches and tropes are executed well, but it really does feel like "a pile of cliches."

I hope it doesn't run itself to the ground with cliches, overdramatic music, and repetitive insert songs, as animation side of things is pretty decent.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
The American Average



Joined: 17 Sep 2010
Posts: 645
Location: Jehuty
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:40 am Reply with quote
Totally forgot about this show guess I'll have to go and watch it looks decent.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zerreth



Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 211
Location: E6
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:59 am Reply with quote
Probably have to agree on all counts. I was extremely afraid of what guilty crown might become after watching the first two episodes. It felt extremely cliched, but looked visually stunning. I felt that it had potential though and kept watching and I'm glad I did.

From episode three on, the story seems to finally flesh out and I like where it's going.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
aereus



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 576
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:11 am Reply with quote
I can accept having reservations about the plot and some of the characters so far. But C+ for Music? Really? It's some of the best music I've heard in a series in awhile and I eagerly await the OST.

Also: You invoked Anime Godwin's Law by relating Inori to being a Rei-clone from Evangelion. Trite statements like that lead me to almost immediately wanting to ignore the rest of your review.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Divineking



Joined: 03 Jul 2010
Posts: 1299
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:10 am Reply with quote
Flip around the scores for music and the story and the review sounds about right.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
jl07045



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 1527
Location: Riga, Latvia
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:23 am Reply with quote
I have a more negative opinion about the series than this review. The 5th episode was the first one that I really liked (despite the tsundere routine by the disabled girl), as it was the first one when I felt a bit of that emotional depth the reviewer was speaking about and I can't wholly agree with. Inori is still just a dakimakura with a voice imo at this point.

I don't really have any opinion about the music which probably means that it's fine for me. All the cliches do hit me hard though, for the first three episodes I was watching the show for the pretty moving pictures. With the last couple of episodes I have hopes that this might turn out to be quite enjoyable.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:34 am Reply with quote
Guilty Crown is certainly entertaining in terms of action and nobody would deny its high production values, but I'm afraid that most of the characters still remain far less interesting than expected and they are keeping the show down. I wouldn't really mind all the recycling of known elements if the characters at least made up for it. Right now, I'm feeling rather lukewarm about the whole thing and could easily decide to drop this if little or nothing changes, even after admitting that the last couple of episodes have seen a marginal improvement.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:39 am Reply with quote
I can't really fault this review even though I disagree with the scores given. Both I and the reviewer know it to be pure style over substance, but we just have the opposite opinion as to how we feel about style over substance. Personally, I dropped this after the first episode.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13242
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:07 am Reply with quote
Personally I object to using the term 'pile of cliches' as a criticism. You won't ever find a show that isn't a 'pile of cliches.' It's just a fact of life. Everything has been done before so now it's only a matter of reusing ideas in combination with other reused ideas.

Cliches become cliches for a reason: people like them and people like using them. Even if a show is 'original' down the road its elements will become cliche and thus the 'original' show will also become 'a pile of cliches.'

Tropes are not bad things.

Anyways, the review was okay but you were reeeeally reaching for comparisons. The HiME-Child system is nothing like Voids. Powers derived from loved ones? Shu can pull Voids out of complete strangers. Seriously the only similarity is that Elements and Voids can appear and disappear.

I'm lovin' Guilty Crown myself and can't wait for more Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
Konopan



Joined: 06 Oct 2011
Posts: 400
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:36 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Personally I object to using the term 'pile of cliches' as a criticism. You won't ever find a show that isn't a 'pile of cliches.' It's just a fact of life.

Cliches become cliches for a reason: people like them and people like using them. Even if a show is 'original' down the road its elements will become cliche and thus the 'original' show will also become 'a pile of cliches.'

Tropes are not bad things.


Tropes used poorly can make for a terrible show, though, and the heaping of cliches, rather than sensible integration of just a few at a time, is probably what earns Guilty Crown that moniker. There's just some damn tastelessness in a number of scenes.
I just hope it'll pick up some actual slack and do something surprising, though, because it's still on the tracks to nowhere, as I see it.

Not to say I'm not enjoying it as is, Blood C and Sacred Seven gave me a good taste of quality C- anime last season.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13242
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:12 pm Reply with quote
Konopan wrote:
Tropes used poorly can make for a terrible show, though


I agree but Guilty Crown does make good use of them, as the review itself points out. But the review also critisizes the mere fact that the tropes are there in the first place.

I think "tropes are used poorly" is perfectly fine criticism, but "tropes are used at all" is not. If some one will hate a show just because it uses tropes, well, then they'll never like anything ever.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
Mr Sinister



Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Posts: 157
Location: NY
PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:18 pm Reply with quote
Dropped this after episode 1. Guy finds girl in a rundown warehouse trying to deliver a package to someone, police show up saying she is a terrorist and take her away. He is then talked down to by other characters, and criticizes himself for not protecting her against like 20 armed officers. But I mean... I guess it's perfectly normal to believe a girl on a secret mission over the police, I mean... she does have pink hair.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 1 of 4

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group