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Mar 14, 2014
Truly original anime concepts are rather hard to come by these days, for a variety of reasons. For one, simple formulaic concepts are much easier to produce and usually cater to a wider demographic. Reason two being that the anime industry is an incredibly fragile business in terms of profit, meaning that risks that should be taken, or unfortunately shafted in favor of simpler anime. However, there is one reason that stands out above all, a general lack in inspiration. Pouring in countless amounts of influences and concepts from highly acclaimed anime of the past in order to create something unique is common ground. However,
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anime such as Guilty Crown use these influences and concepts and jumbles them up into an incoherent mess of an anime, complete with extremely high production values to please the audience.
Guilty Crown’s influences seem to plague the anime more than enhance its concepts. Taking place in Tokyo 10 years after the “Lost Christmas” incident, Guilty Crown seems to have taken some cues from Neon Genesis Evangelion in terms of its setting, leading to an obvious originality issue. An ordinary (yet obviously troubled) high school student named Shu Ouma eventually finds his way into a rebellion group named “Funeral Parlor” who seek to usurp the totalitarian government now running Japan, the GHQ. This story element was clearly influenced by Code Geass and even approaches copying it during certain scenes in the anime. Guilty Crown’s influences make the anime much harder to take seriously, as the concepts the show adapts are from anime that did a much better job of executing these concepts.
The plot eschews any sense of realism, instead adding needless drama and more opportunities for dues ex machina, thus making the plot come off as contrived and nonsensical. The plot adapts more and more story elements as it goes along leading to many inconsistencies and plot holes without any coherent explanations for these changes. Sometimes, these changes suit the plot quite well and the anime benefits from a change in pace. However, one change in particular is absolutely jarring as the show takes a darker route in order to keep the suspense factor up, but it only comes off as laughable and unnecessary. Guilty Crown tries so hard to make the audience take it seriously, but the dialogue and scenarios come off as angst-ridden and over the top at times. Guilty Crown’s plot and execution are too far off base for it to be taken as anything more than it is, making it a huge let-down despite occasional moments of clarity.
Guilty Crown’s characters suffer the same issues that the plot does. The leading and supporting characters are full of clichés and elements from other anime and thus aren’t compelling individuals. Protagonist Shu Ouma often comes off as angsty and annoying and goes through an erratic spell of character development that will only make the audience sympathize even less with him. “Funeral Parlor” member/idol singer/mysterious waif Inori suffers from an inherent lack of a personality, as well as a lack of character and motivation. “Funeral Parlor” leader Gai is basically an even more twisted Lelouch vi Britannia. The supporting characters are hardly worth mentioning as they are simply anime character archetypes.
Fortunately there are a few areas where Guilty Crown excels in, namely in its production. Guilty Crown deserves top honors in the production department, featuring fluid character animation, high-quality art designs, and a really good soundtrack to round out the package. All of these components add up to make a rather entertaining anime, despite its many flaws in the writing and character department. The opening sequences by supercell and Egoist respectively are well-done and were made with a grand production in both music and display. The ending sequences, performed by supercell, are similarly well produced anime ballads. In other words, Guilty Crown’s production is amazing and they took much more time refining this aspect than in regards to storytelling and character development.
It’s actually rather sad that an anime with such good production values and potential falls flat on its face. Guilty Crown is essentially this tragedy personified, as it honestly could have been something so much more than it turned out to be. Lost in a mess of misapplied concepts and influences, Guilty Crown was truly a disappointment.
6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 2, 2014
Have you ever been framed for something that you believed you wouldn't have the capacity to do, and were punished for it? That unlucky scenario is shared by Ganta, the protagonist of the 2011 anime Deadman Wonderland. Deadman Wonderland revolves around the horrifying trials Ganta has to go through after he is sent to a prison camp sharing the title of the anime. The themes used in this anime include finding hope in a hopeless situation, and moving on from your past.
Story: 5 – The story of Deadman Wonderland primarily revolves around the main protagonist Ganta, and the many horrible things that occur in
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Deadman Wonderland. The story relies on blood, insanity, and intense moments to keep itself going, leaving proper story-telling at a bare minimum. As you can tell by the synopsis, the story concept (deathmatches) isn’t very original either, and often comes off as cliche. The anime switches its focus around 3/5ths into the series, but the speedy pacing and lack of originality leave the audience unable to properly settle into the show. As with other shounen anime, dues ex machina and plot armor take full effect in Deadman Wonderland, rendering life/death situations trite and unnecessary. Due to the show’s cancellation, the show remains unfinished and so the ending suffers as a result. Deadman Wonderland doesn't appear to run on story, instead running on finding different ways of torturing the characters involved in it.
Art: 7 – The production studio responsible for this series, Manglobe, are also responsible for shows such as Ergo Proxy, and Samurai Champloo. The character designs are slightly bland, excluding Shiro’s design which symbolizes her strange appearances on the show. The art used in this show is somewhat dull and colorless, clearly emphasizing the color red. The animation is somewhat above average, and is especially evident during the battle sequences. Overall, despite the good animation, the art department takes a hit for its general blandness.
Sound: 7 – The opening song used for the anime , “One Reason”, is a medium-paced hard rocking piece, easily exuding the dark and gloomy feel of the show. The ending song, “SHINY SHINY”, on the other hand represents Ganta’s life before the events of the show and is a lot more cheery as a result. The insert songs used are usually metal-themed, matching the dark tone of the show, but are easily forgettable. The music in the show generally does a good job of being in the background. The dub, done by Funimation, did a pleasant job in the voice-acting department matching their characters effectively with well-acted vocals.
Character: 6.5 – Like the story, the characters of Deadman Wonderland are hit or miss. The protagonist Ganta is your typical (sym)pathetic, spineless, yet good intentioned kid who just happened to be put in a horrible situation, however, I will give him credit for developing a backbone by the end of the series. Shiro’s role in the story is the mysterious inmate who provides comic relief to an otherwise dark and cruel show and because of that, she easily became my favorite character. A lot of the supporting characters each have their own backstories told through flashbacks given during certain parts of the anime. Some of these characters end up being fairly well-developed while others are shafted for the more important characters. Due to the general cruelty of the show, there is a possibility that you will end up not caring much for the characters, as a lot of their time on the anime is limited.
Enjoyment: 7-7.5 – Deadman Wonderland is a pretty entertaining anime. The sheer amount of craziness inside the Wonderland keeps the audience on its toes and interested in watching the story unfold. If you enjoy blood and gore, then you will definitely enjoy watching Deadman Wonderland.
Overall 6: Deadman Wonderland is a flawed anime with a clear focus, to shock and titillate. Due to the clichés, unfinished ending, and done to death concepts, the show may come off as underwhelming and hard to take seriously. However, I recommend Deadman Wonderland to those who like their anime, short, zany, and not too serious. Just don’t go into the show expecting a complex storyline and really interesting characters.
Overall 6: Deadman Wonderland is a flawed anime with a clear focus, to shock and titillate. Due to the clichés, unfinished ending, and done to death concepts, the show may come off as underwhelming and hard to take seriously. However, I recommend Deadman Wonderland to those who like their anime, short, zany, and not too serious. Just don’t go into the show expecting a complex storyline and really interesting characters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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