Guilty Crown: Complete Series Part 1 [Blu-ray]

Product Description Shu's entire world was shattered after a meteorite crashed into Japan, unleashing the lethal Apocalypse Virus. The chaos and anarchy born of the outbreak cost Shu his family and reduced him to a timid, fearful shell of the boy he'd once been. His life took another unexpected turn after a chance encounter with the stunning pop star, Inori. This mysterious beauty introduced Shu to the King's Right Hand: a genetic mutation that allows him to reach into hearts of mortals and turn them into weapons. Shu finds himself caught in the crossfire between those who desperately seek his newfound strength. On one side lurks a clandestine government agency, and on the other, Inori and the spirited band of rebels known as Funeral Parlor. The choice is Shu's to make - and the world is his to change. This limited edition contains episodes 1-11, two 108 page full-color artbooks filled with concept art, character designs, creator notes, and other exclusive illustrations. Amazon.com Guilty Crown (2011) takes place in 2039, ten years after the Apocalypse Virus devastated much of Japan. To restore order and save the remaining population, Japan was placed under the administration of the international entity GHQ. After a decade of increasingly brutal rule, the underground cell Funeral Parlor has begun to fight the GHQ forces. Alienated high school student Shu Ouma is drawn into the conflict when he meets Inori, a beautiful singer and rebel. Shu possesses the mysterious Power of the Kings, which enables him to draw Voids from people's chests--powerful devices that can destroy incoming missiles, slash attacking mecha, and negate gravity. Gai, the leader of Funeral Parlor, uses Shu's formidable talents to thwart the machinations of the sadistic GHQ leaders. An elaborate and obviously expensive series, Guilty Crown features flashy CG special effects that range from flamboyant explosions to shots of the Virus turning people into clusters of amethyst crystals. Like Eden of the East and [C]-Control, Guilty Crown reflects the impotence many young Japanese feel in a long-stagnant economy. But the choppy story seems to have been cobbled together out of pieces of other anime series. Gai and his misfit gang recall Holland and the crew of the Gekkostate in Eureka Seven; drawing a magical weapon from a partner's body is taken from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Shu's hard-drinking mother seems modeled on Misato in Evangelion, but the way she paws him has disturbing overtones. A nasty streak of xenophobia runs through the story: the GHQ and many of its obviously American officers have imposed their rule on Japan, and treat the Japanese people with a mixture of contempt and sadism. Since its debut as a TV series, Guilty Crown has been adapted to a manga series and novelizations. (Rated TV-14: violence, violence against women, torture, grotesque imagery, brief nudity, risqué and toilet humor, alcohol use, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon (1. Genesis, 2. Survival of the Fittest, 3. Void-Sampling, 4. Flux, 5. Preparation, 6. Leukocytes, 7. Temptation, 8. Courtship Behavior, 9. Prey, 10. Retraction, 11. Resonance)