Guilty Crown Ending Explanation/Interpretation

Xspy70 said:


Whoh...
Guilty Crown. Vowed to watch it since 2012. Took me 3 years to actually do it. I regret nothing.

Except perhaps the ending. At first glance, it seems just sad. Saved the word - lost your girl, some friends, eyesight, and an arm. Don't forget them super powers. Sucks to be you, kiddo.

"BUT WAIT!" I asked myself. Does this overly realistic, down to earth, unrewarding, crappy ending really fit the anime? Granted, it has a bleak atmosphere, but all the supernatural elements and overall creativity allows space for an ending with a similar flow. You know, a rewarding ending. Something that doesn't have to make too much sense in order to get the good ending.

So, after looking at finer details of the anime and doing research I could somewhat label "adequate", I decided to pile it all to get a less crappy ending that does not stab the gut. Indeed, after this, the ending can somewhat be labeled good. But that is all up to you to decide.

Thus, without any further gibberish, I invite you to a loooong section containing even MORE GIBBERISH!* (depending on how you see it). Buckle your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride...



Alright. Let us first begin by defining who or what Inory was. Inory was an artificially made human body that was supposed to serve as a vessel to transfer Mana's consciousness into. You can also label that as soul. So basically, Inory was just a husk waiting for the soul to be put into it. Before that could happen however, she was rescued by Gai and exposed to "the outer world". Presumingly being completely made in the lab, Inory never had a childhood nor any social experience. Thus, she lacked emotion and personality, which continued making her a soulless husk (metaphorically).



So she ran with the Funeral Parlor, carrying out her tasks like a machine she was. However, after meeting Shu Ouma, she was exposed to more or less normal social experiences. She started developing a personality, and started displaying emotion. She was no longer an artificially made machine - she was now a unique (human) being. She fell in love with Shu because he was "heartbreakingly human", who has "shown her the bad and the good of this world." Basically, she loves him because he taught her how to be a human, and this in turn made her feel like one and come to terms with her artificial origin. Being human, aka having a SOUL, was Inory's most valued essence. It is what "made her whole". Note: Inory always had a soul, but relatively to others, she almost didn't. It just kept her alive, not special.



Now let that sink in for a moment and let's move on to the voids. Voids are the manifestations of people's personalities, souls, hearts, complexes, etc., basically whatever makes a person unique described in one object. A particular void we should be interested in here is that of Yahiro's - the elephant grade shears. These shears are able to cut the "strings of life" of a person directly. Let us remember the scene where Shu talks to Jun in what appears to be some sort of a "spiritual lobby". Surrounding Jun are red, faintly glowing strings of life essence arranged in shape of helix, or DNA. If you cut the strings, the body loses life and becomes a corpse (or crystallizes, doesn't matter). At this point, one has to ask; do those strings of life represent simple rights and metabolic functions to live, or do they neatly carry all meanings of life aka soul, personality, conscience. My answer to that would be the latter. Why?



Remember how Shu killed Segai with the shears. The shears do NO PHYSICAL DAMAGE. They appear to pass through the body and right into the SOUL, which we can also, at this point, call Life, and are used to cut the red strings that represent it. Thus, by cutting the strings of life, you actually destroy the soul of the person. A body is useless without one. Everyone has it, even Inory. So that much we know about the red, glowing, helix shaped strings of life.



Fast forward towards the end. After the battle with Gai, Shu kills him. Mana dies due to this as well, since Gai was using her void at the time, as explained HERE (Thank you @Esper). This in turn begins to slowly crystallize Inory's body since she was the host of Mana's soul at the time. (The reason it did not happen instantly is, as stated in episode 11, the blood in her body has resistance to the virus. That, and the fact that there were TWO souls in her body at once, and only one of them died - Mana.) Knowing that Inory's body will die soon, Shu chose to die with her and decided to sacrifice his own body to annihilate the virus once and for all by absorbing it all. (Please notice how I'm using weird expressions of body instead of just saying death). It would seem like the two are about to die together, and that would be the end of it, but Inory had a different plan in her mind...



Before such ending could happen, we see Shu and Inory together in, again, what seems to be a "spiritual lobby", which is somewhat similar to the one in Shu and Jun's meeting in terms of concept. Inory shows Shu a RED, faintly GLOWING STRING in the shape of a Cat's Eye (string figure), or what I would prefer to call an open eye. That, is in fact, her very own string of life. Her soul. And she is giving it to him.



Now lets review our knowledge of those red strings of life. You CUT them, you destroy a persons soul (life) and basically kill them. So, what happens if, instead of cutting them, you TAKE them? What DO you GAIN? An extra life to live, like in Mario? No. You are taking the SOUL of the person. Their CONSCIOUSNESS in a way.



At this point, it is tempting to think that she gave him his rights to live, as he was going to die. But at that point, both were alive, and what she was giving to him was not a life he can use to throw at the virus like a bone it can chew on instead of his own. The virus needed a BODY sacrifice (got the reference now?). The crystals were forming on the BODY of the person, not his soul, and thus are not related.

So what DID Inory do? She decided to give Shu her SOUL, and use her (already dying) body as a sacrifice the virus needed as a vessel to get trapped in. What hints this, aside from what I have stated earlier? The Opening Theme Song! "So everything that makes me whole, I'll now give to you. I'm yours". WHAT makes Inory "whole"? The thing that she values the MOST. It is her SOUL. What she has developed thanks to Shu. The strings represent both her life and her soul, thus by giving it to him, she basically transferred herself into his body. Shu's body now has two souls - Shu's and Inory's, together. "I'm yours." She literally is now.



BUT HOLD ON. Now that sounds just bizarre. Can two souls even live in one body? YES!! Best example you can get is Mana's soul that was in Inory's body! They were sharing the same body, and were able to communicate with each other and control the body (to an extent). BUT WAIT! How did the soul transfer between Inory and Shu even take place?



Going back to the white wedding, gentlemen! Episode 12. Inory's body is covered in some sort of a hexagon wedding cloth that appears to be transferring some sort of RED, GLOWING STRINGS into Inory's body. What are they? You guessed it! They are Mana's life strings! Her soul being transferred to Inory's body, which turned out later, to be a SUCCESS! Mana was GIVING her SOUL to Inory! Or technically, forcibly stuffing her own soul into Inory's body, making it have two souls. You get the idea.



So what conclusions we have so far? The red strings of life DO represent the soul (and consciousness) of a person. Giving it to someone else means transferring the soul to that someone's body. And that's exactly what Inory did to Shu in the last moment! Why? So they don't have to stop existing! Because, you know, if they would just leave it at that, they would both die, and stay like that...
Basically, Inory saved us from a really crappy, down to earth ending! Hooray! Sadly, not many people will applaud this. The fact is so subtle that I cannot blame anyone for thinking it was what they thought it was - a non-rewarding, realistic, dull ending.

"HOLD IT, hardhat. Where's your proof ya back-pokin' snake!". The have I do proof, officer. *hick*

Let's look at some solid images. Last episode. Shu is listening to Inory's music. A scene shows up where Shu is hugging Inory... in, AGAIN, a place that seems to be some sort of a "spiritual lobby". Indeed! Check it out, it even has the same blue-white clouds that were also present when Shu was talking to Jun in the spiritual lobby.



You might argue that that is just his imagination according to the song, or it is his memories, BUT here is why I find that quite unlikely. First, it cannot be his memories, as this is the first time he is hugging her in that brown jacket of his (lel), and in that spiritual lobby space thingy. Second, why can't it be imagination?! Simple! The blue-white clouds give it away! Shu seems to be present in the same place as when he was when talking to Jun. You think that he just imagined the whole conversation with Jun? Oh boy, that would not be any good. It would basically mean that Shu only thought in his head that Jun wanted to die, while Jun was actually begging for mercy. That's just silly. At this point, I would like to point out that YES, the "spiritual lobby" exists in the anime, and that's where TWO SOULS MEET EACH OTHER. To talk, and stuff... And that's exactly what we see in the ending scene as the SOUL OF SHU embraces the SOUL OF INORY, who is always with him now, as they share one body.

"Is this the best you got, little man?". Yes. Iii mean - NO!! One more, less solid but never the less stable proof that I have is Shu's mentality. What have we learned about Shu throughout the whole anime? He is VERY emotional. He has social problems. He is always in his head and thinks too deep about useless things. He gets hurt easily, and his personality can change on a whim!



Just remember when Hare died. He COMPLETELY changed himself - all his ideals and his personality. From a good hearted wimp to an iron-fist dictator in just a moment's flash! As you can see, he gets affected REALLY EASILY, and REALLY DEEPLY. Remember the Lost Christmas? He was so devastated that he forgot the whole event! Even the fact that he had a sister! And some crazy blonde hair dude that fate decided to kick right into what he tried to escape! Hah, talk about life and its lemons!



So what conclusion can we extract from this? Let's run a simulation for that!

Imagine, Shu, with all those mental problems that he has, has:
-Lost the love of his life - Inory,
-Lost his eyesight,
-Lost his right arm,
-Lost two of his best friends,
-Lost his king ability (debatable),
-Seen all the catastrophes of the event,
-And was forced to change his entire personality and nature just to use the power he never wanted and stand up for its responsibilities he never wanted to take, all in a relatively short amount of time.

Now, if he was traumatized in Lost Christmas, then THIS would make Lost Christmas look like Disneyland. The kid would SNAP! Indeed, certain arguments exist against my conclusion - that he has matured greatly from that time, and that a few years have passed over Inory's apparent "death" so he could have gotten over it. But DID HE get over her? No! He was listening to her music! In harmony! He was smiling! He was HAPPY after ALL THAT!! WHY?!



Because Inory didn't "die"! Well, her body may have been destroyed, but her SOUL lives within Shu's body. Two souls together, not letting go, just as the theme song says in the end. She still "lives", and THAT'S why Shu did not snap. I don't know about you, but judging Shu's personality, he would never allow himself to be in peace if Inory would be gone forever. That, OR he would have forgotten her existence due to trauma - which is clearly shown not to be true.



And such is, ladies and gentlemen, my interpretation/theory/explanation of the ending. Gimme a round of applauds! Followed by a round of flying tomatoes! And maybe even watermelons, just for the variety!

Now, the ending I have proposed may seem waaaaay too subtle. It might indeed be simpler to say that the writers simply became unimaginative towards the end and finished off the anime quickly, and the obvious ending is the true ending. But in my opinion, the writers are far from that. There is a fair number of subtle messages in this anime. For instance, the shape that Inory and Mana present to Shu in the beginning of the anime using strings is called Jacob's Ladder. It represents the staircase to heaven according to the book of Genesis. By asking Shu to take it, they imply that he should accept the (guilty) crown and be the king of the new world. Ascension to Godhood perhaps, but that's just my interpretation. In the end however, Inory, using the life strings, gives him a shape of an open eye (or Cat's Eye, from a string game called Cat's Cradle). When Shu takes it, IT'SA TRAP! HAHAH! Well, sort of. As he takes it, the eye shape "closes" (Fish in a Dish string figure). Aside from being a foreshadowing of the rest of his life, a closed eye also means he is relieved from his unwanted duty of being the king. Closed eye (which also means blind) also means innocence. The Innocence that Shu was striving for for so long. It was his redemption from the responsibilities he never wanted to take. It meant he no longer had to be the king. It meant that he should no longer be "guilty". This is just one of the examples of how the anime writers used such subtle elements to summarize and represent bigger pictures. Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the same technique to make a clever, complex (but not really necessary) ending.



That is all to my theory, really. But before you go, or before you throw watermelons at me, I would like to mention Mass Effect 3. Lolwut? Look at the similarities! Both ME3 and Guilty Crown seem to have awful, down to Earth, dull endings. But that's what we see with an untrained eye and on-flow mind.
I would like to refer you to the "Mass Effect 3 - Indoctrination Theory".
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOyeFvnhiI
Watch it! (of course, if you know ME3 and how it ended). The theory collects all the very small and specific details of the game's story and environment to reveal that the obvious may not be obvious at all! It is a really plausible theory that has some solid proof to it. It instantly makes the ending of Mass Effect 3 from god awful to pure genius! And I say the same MAY, JUST MAY exist for Guilty Crown. I have faith in the writers. But I'm not in such stance because of them. I'm here because I made research on my theory and it seems plausible. Granted, it may not be very solid. And I'm sure you may have some counter arguments (we'll get to that later), but so far, it makes sense to me.



You see, Guilty Crown is not a realistic anime enough to make such a realistic end. You know - where "people die, they die, get over it kiddo". It sounds acceptable because the anime comes close to such atmosphere but not quite. No, not when you consider the whole picture of the anime. It is futuristic, sci-fi. Its not realistic. It doesn't even come close to realism. Thus, for me, the ending seemed too down to Earth to be acceptable for such an anime. It seemed too simple. It was out of line. It did not align itself with the anime's general writing creativity - the flow, the atmosphere. Thus, I (I) believe that the interpretation I have proposed is actually acceptable to the anime's story and overall logic. It fits. There is reasonable proof to it. And the assumptions can apply to the logic of the anime. The other, more common ending interpretations fit as well, but seem rather out of place. Unsatisfying. Shu losing nearly all and is forced to live like that - dull and cruel for no reason. Both dying - better than previous ending, yet still saddening. So yeah (lel).

That's all folks! If you've actually read it all, pat yourself on the back! Trust me, not every human being is given such a unique ability to READ EVERYTHING FULLY. Especially if it is any longer than a paragraph. REMEMBER! This is just my interpretation. It can be completely wrong, BUT I would GLADLY listen to YOUR counter arguments, as long as you REMEMBER to do it like a civilized being. The reputation of the community behind Guilty Crown is infamous. It is true that you either love or hate the anime. So please. It is obvious that I loved the anime, so don't try to point me at it's unrelated-to-the-topic plot holes, inconsistencies, clichés and inconveniences. My opinion won't change on whether I liked it or not. So if you are going to debunk my theory, use the proper facts and proof format rather than bluntly stating that I'm wrong then calling me weird names in the desperate hopes to show off the size of your e-peen. And I've seen that happening, so I'm warning you.

Good day, folks!

Negative_Neutral said:
I know im a bit late to the draw here (20 fucking 17 at that) but I have other evidence that might indicate this theory is wrong but Im just gonna point out the obvious. "Guilty crown" The name of this anime, what does it mean? Well, we all know what guilty means, and accepting such a crown would name you the king of guilt. Since shu accepted such a crown (in my opinion, on accident), this would imply that while he may not actually be guilty about something, he certainly FEELS guilty about something. After all, what is a guilty crown without guilt? Why would he feel guilty if he inori supposedly lives inside of him? That said, I think most of what you theorize is correct. That the strings they have do symbolize souls. But I would sooner think that the crystally shit needs a soul as a sacrifice to get disappear than I would a simple human body. And inori uses her soul as a sort of replacement for Shu's.
Other than that, I think that your other parallels are likely misinterpretations. For example, when you look at shu listening to music near the end, I see that more as a personal reflexion on his past and a sort of honoring of Inori rather than anything else.
I apologize for any spelling errors or repetition, Im a lil high

I know im a bit late to the draw here (20 fucking 17 at that) but I have other evidence that might indicate this theory is wrong but Im just gonna point out the obvious. "Guilty crown" The name of this anime, what does it mean? Well, we all know what guilty means, and accepting such a crown would name you the king of guilt. Since shu accepted such a crown (in my opinion, on accident), this would imply that while he may not actually be guilty about something, he certainly FEELS guilty about something. After all, what is a guilty crown without guilt? Why would he feel guilty if he inori supposedly lives inside of him? That said, I think most of what you theorize is correct. That the strings they have do symbolize souls. But I would sooner think that the crystally shit needs a soul as a sacrifice to get disappear than I would a simple human body. And inori uses her soul as a sort of replacement for Shu's.
Other than that, I think that your other parallels are likely misinterpretations. For example, when you look at shu listening to music near the end, I see that more as a personal reflexion on his past and a sort of honoring of Inori rather than anything else.
I apologize for any spelling errors or repetition, Im a lil high

Reichter said:


There's also a false assumption here that "Guilty Crown" means one thing or that one thing is constant over the course of the show. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 or 4 interpretations that are also valid. The title could refer to the fact that Mana - AKA Eve, mother of orignal sin/guilt - is seeking to bestow a crown upon her new Adam; or it could refer to how both Shu and Gai only choose to take up the crown and become king due to their sense of guilt (being unable to protect Hare/Mana respectively); it could also reference how Shu becomes a Messianic figure toward the end of the series, taking the sins/guilt of the world upon himself.

To the OP, if you're still reading this, I wonder what you think about the Crucifixion imagery that is associated with Inori (OP1 and she's tied to a cross whenever she's captured) and what it means. Could Inori be the real Christ figure of this show? She's after all the one who ultimately takes on the world's sins, and she could be with Shu in a sort of abstract, deific way rather than actually having her soul transfer. Another thing that occured to me is that Inori is a trinity incarnate -- she is at once Eve (via Mana), the Virgin (she is immaculate via her lack of knowledge of anything, sin included, and she gives "birth" to Shu), and the Magdalene (she is the Magdalene to Shu's Christ). Do you think there's anything to be made of that?

Riusen-Keima said:
Your theory just saved the "crappy" (been hearing about it a lot lately) ending. It was a remarkable interpretation.

Did Shu really wanted to rule an iron fist dictatorship? While he could easily let slip when Ayase slapped her. He told her that if anyone was around he would punish her, that means the whole dictatorship thing was an act to keep everyone under his command. He even would cry to Inori because even himself couldn't stand what he was doing as the Council President. His goal was to let the students exit the Tokyo area (If it was Tokyo, I could barely remember).

It may be true that he lost his King's ability, although you said it's still debatable. As explained in the early episodes it's unclear why the void could only be extracted in younger individuals, seventeen to be exact. Shu is 17 in the Anime, so one year after that he may have lost his void, and maybe alongside with his ability. (Still unexplained tho.)

Please forgive me for my dull memory, I could only remember the important details whenever I watch animes, not the exact ones tho.😩😩

Howevever Xspy70, dude that's quite an awesome article. 💯

Xspy70 said:


Thanks!

I think Shu did snap a little at that point.

They were behind walls. Time was running out. Supplies were running out. Shu knew this but tried to play it civil. But when a group of low leveled void owners disobeyed warnings and went on their own to prove their worth - an event that got Hare killed (who was extremely important for Shu) - he snapped.

At that point - his value for humanity dropped - as we can see how he treated everyone and even his friends. He blamed them for Hare's death. So he emphasized time and supplies running short - and that to get outside the walls a one big, coordinated, suicidal charge may be needed. In order to convince others to go on such a suicide mission - he became a dictator to insure obedience and force them to do it.

Now I can see how you can say this was all rational thinking. But this is way out of character for Shu (though it makes sense plot wise). He wouldn't do this unless something screwed him up in mind real bad (like Hare's death). His view on his current situation changed from optimistic to bleak fast. Under such a mentality - his appreciation for human life decreased, and he became less patient and optimistic. It was a phase. Indeed - as you pointed out - he didn't want to be a dictator - he just wanted to get everyone out. And when he saw that the nice approach led to death of his dear friend - he changed his tactic. He was forced to become an iron fist dictator due to the dire circumstances and his own mental stability.

As for the void extraction part - yeah that may be true. I think it may also be related to the age of the King's ability wielder himself. Perhaps the ability only materializes someone's void if the King can relate and understand the people? Describe them in one object? But if there is a big age difference - he wouldn't understand and describe adults or babies who are too complex or not yet developed for him to describe in one object respectively.

However - that's just fun thinking. I think the real reason for that rule is just plot. To keep adults out of the anime for the most part and have most of the characters young. How many animes do you see where most of the people are real adults?

GuiltyChoke said:
Oh and also, I think you should watch the OAV because if I remember correctly, whetever it is the king of the OAV or Gai, the 2 of them seem older than 17 and in the OAV (carefull SPOILER: the king extract a void from a dog) so I think that the void extraction part is a bit contradictory.

Well, have a good day ;-)

Xspy70 said:


Oh? Didn't know that. Yeah I didn't watch the OAV, and the stuff I wrote is all based on the research I did 3 years ago. I think the OAV wasn't available to me at the time, or I didn't know it existed. The answers in the comments are mostly all off the top of my mind. I surprisingly still remember most of it, but I never really went back to rewatch the episodes (unless for a specific detail) to answer the comments.

From what I see, the void extraction theory doesn't really collide with the ending theory so its just me casually theorizing based on what I know. Though I really should watch the OAV - maybe it has important details that can further shed light on the ending. Thanks for letting me know!

PS: Is it the one with Scrooge and Carol?
PPS: What do you mean by "Went to Youtube"? You made a video?

GuiltyChoke said:
Hey again, no problem! And yes it is the one with Scrooge and Carol.

Oh it is just that I added some comments (with the link to this page) on the video with the sad soundtrack of Guilty Crown because before reading your interpretation, I was always feeling extremely sad whetever I listened to them. I just wanted to let other know that the ending of GC may not be that sad ;)

EDIT:Oh forgot to say that I did some researsh on the age of the Gai and Scrooge and I have to say that Gai is really 17 when he got the king power.
I didn't found the age of Scrooge through.

Xspy70 said:


Ah ok! Good to know! :)
Smart to post it on the sad soundtrack videos hahah!

Judging from the looks and ages of Shu, Gai and Scrooge - it wouldn't be unreasonable to say he's probably 17 as well. If not then he is the Prototype of the king genome (really reminds me of Alex Mercer lol), and his power was different, so maybe the limits were too.

Also - who extracted a void from a dog? Scrooge?

MrBalloon said:
your theory change my impression from "meh" to "kinda good" hahaha and i love that tiny detail that you find such as the red string, soul area or Shu personality and make the ending make sense.

at first, i tought he just accepted the fate and finally had peace with it. but no, he is happy because the woman he loved still with him and make it so much a better ending.

its a shame with such great animation(and ost!) filled with a big meh story telling, won't complain though if there any afterstory... but yeah probably not gonna happen lol.

(after reading your theory, maybe the writer just had a little time to work on the actual story because they spent on finding little things like this...
but man... i was late to the party hahahaha)

Xspy70 said:


Whoh...
Guilty Crown. Vowed to watch it since 2012. Took me 3 years to actually do it. I regret nothing.

Except perhaps the ending. At first glance, it seems just sad. Saved the word - lost your girl, some friends, eyesight, and an arm. Don't forget them super powers. Sucks to be you, kiddo.

"BUT WAIT!" I asked myself. Does this overly realistic, down to earth, unrewarding, crappy ending really fit the anime? Granted, it has a bleak atmosphere, but all the supernatural elements and overall creativity allows space for an ending with a similar flow. You know, a rewarding ending. Something that doesn't have to make too much sense in order to get the good ending.

So, after looking at finer details of the anime and doing research I could somewhat label "adequate", I decided to pile it all to get a less crappy ending that does not stab the gut. Indeed, after this, the ending can somewhat be labeled good. But that is all up to you to decide.

Thus, without any further gibberish, I invite you to a loooong section containing even MORE GIBBERISH!* (depending on how you see it). Buckle your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride...



Alright. Let us first begin by defining who or what Inory was. Inory was an artificially made human body that was supposed to serve as a vessel to transfer Mana's consciousness into. You can also label that as soul. So basically, Inory was just a husk waiting for the soul to be put into it. Before that could happen however, she was rescued by Gai and exposed to "the outer world". Presumingly being completely made in the lab, Inory never had a childhood nor any social experience. Thus, she lacked emotion and personality, which continued making her a soulless husk (metaphorically).



So she ran with the Funeral Parlor, carrying out her tasks like a machine she was. However, after meeting Shu Ouma, she was exposed to more or less normal social experiences. She started developing a personality, and started displaying emotion. She was no longer an artificially made machine - she was now a unique (human) being. She fell in love with Shu because he was "heartbreakingly human", who has "shown her the bad and the good of this world." Basically, she loves him because he taught her how to be a human, and this in turn made her feel like one and come to terms with her artificial origin. Being human, aka having a SOUL, was Inory's most valued essence. It is what "made her whole". Note: Inory always had a soul, but relatively to others, she almost didn't. It just kept her alive, not special.



Now let that sink in for a moment and let's move on to the voids. Voids are the manifestations of people's personalities, souls, hearts, complexes, etc., basically whatever makes a person unique described in one object. A particular void we should be interested in here is that of Yahiro's - the elephant grade shears. These shears are able to cut the "strings of life" of a person directly. Let us remember the scene where Shu talks to Jun in what appears to be some sort of a "spiritual lobby". Surrounding Jun are red, faintly glowing strings of life essence arranged in shape of helix, or DNA. If you cut the strings, the body loses life and becomes a corpse (or crystallizes, doesn't matter). At this point, one has to ask; do those strings of life represent simple rights and metabolic functions to live, or do they neatly carry all meanings of life aka soul, personality, conscience. My answer to that would be the latter. Why?



Remember how Shu killed Segai with the shears. The shears do NO PHYSICAL DAMAGE. They appear to pass through the body and right into the SOUL, which we can also, at this point, call Life, and are used to cut the red strings that represent it. Thus, by cutting the strings of life, you actually destroy the soul of the person. A body is useless without one. Everyone has it, even Inory. So that much we know about the red, glowing, helix shaped strings of life.



Fast forward towards the end. After the battle with Gai, Shu kills him. Mana dies due to this as well, since Gai was using her void at the time, as explained HERE (Thank you @Esper). This in turn begins to slowly crystallize Inory's body since she was the host of Mana's soul at the time. (The reason it did not happen instantly is, as stated in episode 11, the blood in her body has resistance to the virus. That, and the fact that there were TWO souls in her body at once, and only one of them died - Mana.) Knowing that Inory's body will die soon, Shu chose to die with her and decided to sacrifice his own body to annihilate the virus once and for all by absorbing it all. (Please notice how I'm using weird expressions of body instead of just saying death). It would seem like the two are about to die together, and that would be the end of it, but Inory had a different plan in her mind...



Before such ending could happen, we see Shu and Inory together in, again, what seems to be a "spiritual lobby", which is somewhat similar to the one in Shu and Jun's meeting in terms of concept. Inory shows Shu a RED, faintly GLOWING STRING in the shape of a Cat's Eye (string figure), or what I would prefer to call an open eye. That, is in fact, her very own string of life. Her soul. And she is giving it to him.



Now lets review our knowledge of those red strings of life. You CUT them, you destroy a persons soul (life) and basically kill them. So, what happens if, instead of cutting them, you TAKE them? What DO you GAIN? An extra life to live, like in Mario? No. You are taking the SOUL of the person. Their CONSCIOUSNESS in a way.



At this point, it is tempting to think that she gave him his rights to live, as he was going to die. But at that point, both were alive, and what she was giving to him was not a life he can use to throw at the virus like a bone it can chew on instead of his own. The virus needed a BODY sacrifice (got the reference now?). The crystals were forming on the BODY of the person, not his soul, and thus are not related.

So what DID Inory do? She decided to give Shu her SOUL, and use her (already dying) body as a sacrifice the virus needed as a vessel to get trapped in. What hints this, aside from what I have stated earlier? The Opening Theme Song! "So everything that makes me whole, I'll now give to you. I'm yours". WHAT makes Inory "whole"? The thing that she values the MOST. It is her SOUL. What she has developed thanks to Shu. The strings represent both her life and her soul, thus by giving it to him, she basically transferred herself into his body. Shu's body now has two souls - Shu's and Inory's, together. "I'm yours." She literally is now.



BUT HOLD ON. Now that sounds just bizarre. Can two souls even live in one body? YES!! Best example you can get is Mana's soul that was in Inory's body! They were sharing the same body, and were able to communicate with each other and control the body (to an extent). BUT WAIT! How did the soul transfer between Inory and Shu even take place?



Going back to the white wedding, gentlemen! Episode 12. Inory's body is covered in some sort of a hexagon wedding cloth that appears to be transferring some sort of RED, GLOWING STRINGS into Inory's body. What are they? You guessed it! They are Mana's life strings! Her soul being transferred to Inory's body, which turned out later, to be a SUCCESS! Mana was GIVING her SOUL to Inory! Or technically, forcibly stuffing her own soul into Inory's body, making it have two souls. You get the idea.



So what conclusions we have so far? The red strings of life DO represent the soul (and consciousness) of a person. Giving it to someone else means transferring the soul to that someone's body. And that's exactly what Inory did to Shu in the last moment! Why? So they don't have to stop existing! Because, you know, if they would just leave it at that, they would both die, and stay like that...
Basically, Inory saved us from a really crappy, down to earth ending! Hooray! Sadly, not many people will applaud this. The fact is so subtle that I cannot blame anyone for thinking it was what they thought it was - a non-rewarding, realistic, dull ending.

"HOLD IT, hardhat. Where's your proof ya back-pokin' snake!". The have I do proof, officer. *hick*

Let's look at some solid images. Last episode. Shu is listening to Inory's music. A scene shows up where Shu is hugging Inory... in, AGAIN, a place that seems to be some sort of a "spiritual lobby". Indeed! Check it out, it even has the same blue-white clouds that were also present when Shu was talking to Jun in the spiritual lobby.



You might argue that that is just his imagination according to the song, or it is his memories, BUT here is why I find that quite unlikely. First, it cannot be his memories, as this is the first time he is hugging her in that brown jacket of his (lel), and in that spiritual lobby space thingy. Second, why can't it be imagination?! Simple! The blue-white clouds give it away! Shu seems to be present in the same place as when he was when talking to Jun. You think that he just imagined the whole conversation with Jun? Oh boy, that would not be any good. It would basically mean that Shu only thought in his head that Jun wanted to die, while Jun was actually begging for mercy. That's just silly. At this point, I would like to point out that YES, the "spiritual lobby" exists in the anime, and that's where TWO SOULS MEET EACH OTHER. To talk, and stuff... And that's exactly what we see in the ending scene as the SOUL OF SHU embraces the SOUL OF INORY, who is always with him now, as they share one body.

"Is this the best you got, little man?". Yes. Iii mean - NO!! One more, less solid but never the less stable proof that I have is Shu's mentality. What have we learned about Shu throughout the whole anime? He is VERY emotional. He has social problems. He is always in his head and thinks too deep about useless things. He gets hurt easily, and his personality can change on a whim!



Just remember when Hare died. He COMPLETELY changed himself - all his ideals and his personality. From a good hearted wimp to an iron-fist dictator in just a moment's flash! As you can see, he gets affected REALLY EASILY, and REALLY DEEPLY. Remember the Lost Christmas? He was so devastated that he forgot the whole event! Even the fact that he had a sister! And some crazy blonde hair dude that fate decided to kick right into what he tried to escape! Hah, talk about life and its lemons!



So what conclusion can we extract from this? Let's run a simulation for that!

Imagine, Shu, with all those mental problems that he has, has:
-Lost the love of his life - Inory,
-Lost his eyesight,
-Lost his right arm,
-Lost two of his best friends,
-Lost his king ability (debatable),
-Seen all the catastrophes of the event,
-And was forced to change his entire personality and nature just to use the power he never wanted and stand up for its responsibilities he never wanted to take, all in a relatively short amount of time.

Now, if he was traumatized in Lost Christmas, then THIS would make Lost Christmas look like Disneyland. The kid would SNAP! Indeed, certain arguments exist against my conclusion - that he has matured greatly from that time, and that a few years have passed over Inory's apparent "death" so he could have gotten over it. But DID HE get over her? No! He was listening to her music! In harmony! He was smiling! He was HAPPY after ALL THAT!! WHY?!



Because Inory didn't "die"! Well, her body may have been destroyed, but her SOUL lives within Shu's body. Two souls together, not letting go, just as the theme song says in the end. She still "lives", and THAT'S why Shu did not snap. I don't know about you, but judging Shu's personality, he would never allow himself to be in peace if Inory would be gone forever. That, OR he would have forgotten her existence due to trauma - which is clearly shown not to be true.



And such is, ladies and gentlemen, my interpretation/theory/explanation of the ending. Gimme a round of applauds! Followed by a round of flying tomatoes! And maybe even watermelons, just for the variety!

Now, the ending I have proposed may seem waaaaay too subtle. It might indeed be simpler to say that the writers simply became unimaginative towards the end and finished off the anime quickly, and the obvious ending is the true ending. But in my opinion, the writers are far from that. There is a fair number of subtle messages in this anime. For instance, the shape that Inory and Mana present to Shu in the beginning of the anime using strings is called Jacob's Ladder. It represents the staircase to heaven according to the book of Genesis. By asking Shu to take it, they imply that he should accept the (guilty) crown and be the king of the new world. Ascension to Godhood perhaps, but that's just my interpretation. In the end however, Inory, using the life strings, gives him a shape of an open eye (or Cat's Eye, from a string game called Cat's Cradle). When Shu takes it, IT'SA TRAP! HAHAH! Well, sort of. As he takes it, the eye shape "closes" (Fish in a Dish string figure). Aside from being a foreshadowing of the rest of his life, a closed eye also means he is relieved from his unwanted duty of being the king. Closed eye (which also means blind) also means innocence. The Innocence that Shu was striving for for so long. It was his redemption from the responsibilities he never wanted to take. It meant he no longer had to be the king. It meant that he should no longer be "guilty". This is just one of the examples of how the anime writers used such subtle elements to summarize and represent bigger pictures. Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the same technique to make a clever, complex (but not really necessary) ending.



That is all to my theory, really. But before you go, or before you throw watermelons at me, I would like to mention Mass Effect 3. Lolwut? Look at the similarities! Both ME3 and Guilty Crown seem to have awful, down to Earth, dull endings. But that's what we see with an untrained eye and on-flow mind.
I would like to refer you to the "Mass Effect 3 - Indoctrination Theory".
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOyeFvnhiI
Watch it! (of course, if you know ME3 and how it ended). The theory collects all the very small and specific details of the game's story and environment to reveal that the obvious may not be obvious at all! It is a really plausible theory that has some solid proof to it. It instantly makes the ending of Mass Effect 3 from god awful to pure genius! And I say the same MAY, JUST MAY exist for Guilty Crown. I have faith in the writers. But I'm not in such stance because of them. I'm here because I made research on my theory and it seems plausible. Granted, it may not be very solid. And I'm sure you may have some counter arguments (we'll get to that later), but so far, it makes sense to me.



You see, Guilty Crown is not a realistic anime enough to make such a realistic end. You know - where "people die, they die, get over it kiddo". It sounds acceptable because the anime comes close to such atmosphere but not quite. No, not when you consider the whole picture of the anime. It is futuristic, sci-fi. Its not realistic. It doesn't even come close to realism. Thus, for me, the ending seemed too down to Earth to be acceptable for such an anime. It seemed too simple. It was out of line. It did not align itself with the anime's general writing creativity - the flow, the atmosphere. Thus, I (I) believe that the interpretation I have proposed is actually acceptable to the anime's story and overall logic. It fits. There is reasonable proof to it. And the assumptions can apply to the logic of the anime. The other, more common ending interpretations fit as well, but seem rather out of place. Unsatisfying. Shu losing nearly all and is forced to live like that - dull and cruel for no reason. Both dying - better than previous ending, yet still saddening. So yeah (lel).

That's all folks! If you've actually read it all, pat yourself on the back! Trust me, not every human being is given such a unique ability to READ EVERYTHING FULLY. Especially if it is any longer than a paragraph. REMEMBER! This is just my interpretation. It can be completely wrong, BUT I would GLADLY listen to YOUR counter arguments, as long as you REMEMBER to do it like a civilized being. The reputation of the community behind Guilty Crown is infamous. It is true that you either love or hate the anime. So please. It is obvious that I loved the anime, so don't try to point me at it's unrelated-to-the-topic plot holes, inconsistencies, clichés and inconveniences. My opinion won't change on whether I liked it or not. So if you are going to debunk my theory, use the proper facts and proof format rather than bluntly stating that I'm wrong then calling me weird names in the desperate hopes to show off the size of your e-peen. And I've seen that happening, so I'm warning you.

Good day, folks!

Wasakanene said:
a lot of people has the same theory as you even i noticed it. So maybe it's not a theory at all. I believe that's the message the authors are trying to give us. Well i'm happy we share the same.

DtxShawn said:
Instead of reading this theory about if inori is alive, http://guiltycrown.wikia.com/wiki/Inori_Yuzuriha it says it right here "alive, physical body destroyed" :/ u wasted ur time

Mcboss331 said:
I know it's kind da late for a season 2 but I still hoping for one. If this theory is actually true because I be live in it and it makes sense, then a season 2 would be possible would u love a season two to come still after all this time that passed?

SharkLordRed said:
My final conclusion is that Shu obviously didn't lose the love of his life. (Her soul is inside him) and as well as i believe that anytime Shu plays Inory's song he can talk to her in the afterlife or blue and white cloud place (It shows in the end that he is talking to her after playing the song). I also believe he went blind because he CHOSE to. Because he already found the LOVE of his LIFE. So he wanted to go blind so he didn't accidentally fall in love with another GIRL. Sure my conclusion could be incorrect. But he lost his right arm over GAI. Besides he would have DIED anyways because of the last red orb he used (i forgot what it wad called...) and INORY'S soul is what saved him. Besides the fact, INORY would have died to the virus. But instead her SOUL was placed into SHU because she TRUSTED him. Besides, Shu lost his friends because of HIS mistakes. He has a large HEART. If you remember back when INORY rejected him because GAI TOLD HER to tell SHU she loved him so he would STAY with the TEAM. And SHU wasn't heartbroken then because he knew that INORY LOVED HIM. He knee that GAI did that but he knew she LOVED him and it didn't stop him. After the bandage girl died (I don't remember names sadly) he CHANGED but if INORY wasn't there for him he would have been DEAD. Because of the highschoolers going AGAINST him for GAI. When INORY tried to have SEX with SHU. SHU stopped her because he knew that it wasn't the right TIME to do so. Besides, they are in the middle of a WAR. Lol, but yes this is my final conclusion. He lost his arm but also never wanted the "GUILTY CROWN" so he was happy. Thanks for this explanation, if you will. Correct me in any way or anything i missed if you notice it. Thank you and have a great day. (All the words i put in capatils are the words i thought were important)

SharkLordRed said:
People say it is a bad anime because the ending was not seen correctly. Everyone thought "Oh he just lost the love of his life, well this anime is shit" but i was trying to point out why the ending was how it was. Inory loved Shu and gave her soul so everytime Shu played her song. They could talk. And i think he went blind so he wouldn't accidently love another girl. And his friends risked their life for him. I was pointing out what you said and why people are wrong about how the anime's ending was "bad" even though he never lost Inory nor did he lose his sight on purpose. And his arm, well that wasn't a choice lol.

SharkLordRed said:
But didn't Shu have hid soul still? So either way Inory's soul couldn't have taken his over and make him COMPLETELY blind..? Right? So maybe it was Shu's choice to go blind...

SharkLordRed said:
I meant his... Typo... Another question i have had for the longest of time is. Wasn't Hana's soul (Shu's sister. I forgot her name...) forced into Inory's body? So how did Gai pull out Hana's void without her soul..? I know the void is their personality and something to do with the heart i think... But how did he? (I honestly lost data at the beginning of episode 21, bad luck i guess lol)

Kristian_Kirov said:
Quite literally just signed up to say...

This is amazing. At first when I watched guilty crown's ending I was heartbroken (and near tears) for Shu but now reading your sensible article my heavy heart can be put to rest.

I loved the amount of detail you put into this article, probably took you some time to put everything together and I really appreciate it. All your points are not far-fetched and really mind-blowing.

Also loved the reference to mf3 too bad it wasn't published by square enix, wouldn't have back up your point even more.

But at the end of it I loved your interpretation and if you have any other interpretations I'm sure to check them out.
Keep up the good work. : )

OriginalAnimeFan said:
What the heck!!! You just transformed one of the saddest animes i have ever seen into one with a supposedly good ending :D

Now this actually make me wonder if the creators really put so much thought into it as you have deduced or it was just a wild piece of luck and coincidence??

Anyway, it was a nice theory. Personally I have a really bad feeling for animes with sad endings. Lets just say you might have closed (umm... partially if not wholly) a hole in my heart. Kudos to your logic :D

HavocRS7 said:
Sorry to be too late, btw nice post, but, there's four holes I for sure have a curiosity to know, What happend to Arisa Kuhouin? What happend to Haruka Ouma? What the happend to the world after seen the "sacrifice" to save the world, and, even Inori still alive inside the Shu body he's gonna be alone forever? I mean physically, do you think someday Inori can leave Shu to some day he can be toghether with someone? Because in ep 22 you can feel something between Shu and Ayase, I think this is the main holes for me, but for you, what you think about that?

Xspy70 said:
I don't see any plot holes here. More like hypothetical situations. I don't fully understand the questions here.

Most of your questions are about the aftermath of the anime - which we only catch a short glimpse of at the very end, and not fully - so we don't have most of the answers.

Arisa Kuhouin - She was wounded by the United Nation forces and got captured. So I presume she was incarcerated after the events, as she was loyal to Gai.

Haruka Ouma - Though she was a part of GHQ, she defected and helped stop it. So even though we didn't see her in the end, she should be alright. Otherwise Shu would have mentioned/mourned her later.

World - Should be clean of the Apocalypse Virus, and the voids. Everyone cured. So everything is probably back to normal. We can see Tokyo in a normal shape at the end, without any military present, so I assume things got fixed, and Japan didn't go to war with anyone later. Perhaps the UN even lifted its control over it, and the Japanese government was re-established.

We don't know anything about Inori leaving Shu, nor his possible future relationship with Ayase. There is nothing concrete that we can extract from this. I mean, your question about Inori is based on my theory, but we can't go deeper because it is unconfirmed. But if we were to assume my theory is correct, then I don't think Inory would leave Shu, nor that Shu would want that. I think that a new body would be constructed for Inory. After all - she was herself a new body constructed for Mana.

As for Ayase and Shu - they don't seem to be in a relationship, as no real signs are shown at the end, and Shu comes to the party by himself rather than with Ayase. This might support my theory a little, as I would expect Shu to be with Ayase if Inory was truly gone.

HavocRS7 said:
Yeah, I exaggerated by saying this is a holes and yeah my question about Shu and Inori is based and whereas your theory the correct one.

I think you don't undestood the question about the wolrd, I can rebuild the question.

After the world(I mean the UN forces) seen the void power and seen the "sacrifice" made by Inori and Shu, what the UN forces did to Shu? I mean, clearly he's good years after, but my question is close for the final event.

I know is hard to answer because is just theories, but the lack of some info after the final event leave me with some questions and I share the questions here to see if is same thoughts as mine.

If have something you still don't understand over my questions let me know!

Raifeeo55 said:
I recently found guilty crown and would say it holds up very well and the ending left a type of emptyness inside me so I decided to see why shy was blind and I stumbled upon this post and it makes things so much clearer thanks for making this

rougexyz said:
Made an account just to say thanks for this thread - which you even still respond to. Last month I re-watched Guilty crown for the first time after 7 or so years. It was a very crushing experience the first time but reading your interpretation was therapeutic on this occasion!

For me the ending really brings into question if the 'soul' or emotional/psychological comfort Inori can continue to provide can make up for a lack of a physical being. Seems like no matter what, the remainder of Shu's life will be fragile and difficult to navigate. If he was completely alone he could potentially have moved on from Inori with time and possibly have lead a more 'normal' life. But I must admit I'm glad he didn't.

Either way I will always remember this series for the devotion Shu and Inori showed each other. I've never watched anything quite like it and may never again - that alone is quite a poignant feeling for me.

A little extra thing to mention though: since it is an anime and Inory was artificially created to house Mana's soul - if the anime continued further, we might have seen the process repeated, this time with Inory's soul being transferred to her new body.