Guilty Crown Episode 20 Roundup

Shu’s father, Kurosu, as Keido, Gai’s father, reminices about his rivalry with Kurosu. With both Shu’s classmates and Funeral Parlor remnants aboard the Kuhouin yacht, Haruka reminices about meeting Kurosu, after his first wife Saeko died giving birth to Shu. Their first child Mana (Inori) discovered the apocalypse crystals after a meteor hit. Kurosu worked alone in a lab, while Keido ran a ‘nursery’ where children like Gai were experimented on. Gai escaped and ended up meeting Mana and Shu. When Keido finds that Kurosu has solved the mysteries he couldn’t, he kills him out of jealosy. Back in the present, Shu and Funeral Parlor disembark for a face-off with Gai, but not before Shu makes up with Souta.

Although this was a pretty rushed development (considering that there are only two more episodes until the series is concluded), I did like the mostly-flashback episode. It gave answers to several plot holes and explained how things ended up the way they were in the series present time. Of course, things were a little sketchy, but as long as there’s some progress to the plot, it’s difficult to complain. As usual, I’ll start with the cons and work my way to the pros. 1) Mana was crazy/evil/infected-with-the-Virus the whole time? This is more of me nitpicking than an actual con because here I thought she was a nice and sweet older sister until she randomly got infected sometime during the summer Shu, Gai, and she spent together. Knowing now that Mana was Virus-infected and incestuously-minded the entire time (even BEFORE SHU WAS BORN) makes me just a tad squeamish. 2) Keido’s whole motivation. I dunno; I just didn’t really buy that his eventual paranoia and nearly one-sided rivalry with Kurosu drove him to the dark side. Maybe it’s because we didn’t really know what his motivation was for the longest time, or who he was as a character, and by having that all pushed into one episode to justify things didn’t really work out so well. 3) I wish Daath could be explored more because while he had screen time and some reason for being in the plot, we still don’t know who he is or what he wants (aside from, I’m guessing, the Apocalypse). 4) NO DARYL. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME EVERY TIME. I mean, I didn’t really mind in this episode but why?  And this naturally leads to… 5) NO DARYL/TSUGUMI SCENES.  AGAIN. But you did give me that shippy Daryl/Tsugumi end card at the end of the episode and in the preview for next week’s episode, Daryl shows up, which MUST mean there WILL be Daryl/Tsugumi scenes, right?  RIGHT?

Ahem, anyway, onto the pros. 1) I kind of liked Kurosu. I liked how he was this sort of idiotic guy and this lonely genius who’s unable to make friends because he feels he can do things on his own (and unintentionally creates rivals or misunderstandings as a result)—though mostly, I liked him for the whole slightly idiotic hero tendencies. 2) Like I said earlier, some plot holes were filled and the plot is progressing, which is great since we only have two episodes left. 3) The little things connecting (e.g. Gai escaping the facility which leads him to meet Shu and Mana; Haruka looking for Kurosu and passing by the playground that Yahiro and Jun were at). Those were just nice touches. 4) Shu making up with Souta.  It was a kind of a nice scene, and it’s nice to know things are getting resolved.  As for the next episode’s preview, it seems like Shu and Funeral Parlor are infiltrating the facility to rescue Inori. Thanks for reading.