Guilty Crown - Guilty of Shark Jumping

As of late I've been watching a lot of anime, if only to kill the time.  I'm not much of an obsessive fan or anything; it's just something to do when I'm bored.  Occasionally, I come across an amazing show that addicts me, only for it to turn to total crap and piss me off with the massive drop in quality.  Once such anime is Guilty Crown.

Guilty Crown takes place in the near future in a mildly post-apocalyptic Japan.  A virus killed about half of the people in Japan or so, a bunch of mercenaries took total control over the country, and the world's most popular singing idol is a VERY open member of the resistance and somehow the enemy can't figure it out.  Oh yeah, and the main character can pull weapons out of peoples chests - starting with the previously-mentioned idol, naturally.  Oh, and his hand goes directly into the void between her breasts, naturally.

Okay, the show sounds stupid.  And to be honest, it kind of is.  But at the same time, it's fun and enjoyable.  This is the kind of show that's good on its own, yet desperately needs a parody.  If you're interested in watching it, I suggest watching through episode 15, then pretending like the show was canceled, because episode 16 is the beginning of a downward spiral that makes several attempts to reverse course, only for them to ultimately backfire and drag it all the way into the bowels of hell.

------SPOILER WARNING BEYOND THIS POINT!-----

Episode 15 ends with a massive amount of promise.  The show is at an incredibly awesome point.  In a previous engagement, the resistance struck a major blow to the enemy, but at great cost.  The resistance was scattered, and its leader, Gai Tsutsugami, died in the attempt.  To make matters worse, a good chunk of Tokyo gets sealed off "to contain the virus."  Now, Shu Ouma, the main character, two other members of the resistance, and a large number of high-school students, are trapped all on their own with little in the way of supplies and weaponry, and have to escape through a massive wall surrounded by hundreds of giant mecha drones.  Shu, because of his ability, becomes the leader, only for one of his best friends to sacrifice herself to save Shu when they get attacked by enemy helicopters.  His friend's death completely traumatizes Shu, as is realistic, causing him to lash out at his other friends and become extremely ruthless as a leader.

This setup is perfect.  The potential for where this show is going is amazing.  Words cannot express just how good the buildup is.  If you don't want the show to ruin itself starting with the next episode, pretend that some idiotic executive at the company decided to cancel the show for no particular reason.

Without any further ado, here's how the show jumps the shark.  Gai comes back from the dead.  NO!  NO!  NO!  Gai is dead.  VERY dead.  As in, THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY HE IS STILL ALIVE.  Allow me to explain just how dead he becomes:
1) He's infected by the virus and is shown to be dying from it.
2) He gets slashed through his chest by a GIGANTIC MECHA-DESTROYING SWORD.
3) The virus goes completely cancerous (makes sense in-story) and covers over half of his body.
4) He GETS STABBED THROUGH THE HEART by previously-mentioned sword.
5) Finally, he gets disintegrated.
Yeah, he's dead.   And there is no way he could come back.

Oh, and it gets worse: Gai is now working for the enemy.  FOR NO ADEQUATELY EXPLAINED REASON. And even worse: Gai is also completely cured from the virus.  The virus THAT WAS IN ITS CANCEROUS STAGE THAT EVEN MAGIC CAN'T CURE.

Still, Gai isn't the only problem with the second half of the show; its system of magic begins to completely contradicts itself.  In the end of episode 17, Gai shows up and cuts Shu's arm off, which somehow causes Gai to steal Shu's powers.  This makes absolutely no sense and there's no explanation for this at all.  In episode 20 it's revealed that the source of Shu's powers is a complete rewrite of his genetic code, leading to a very important question:  HOW THE #%#$ DOES GETTING AN ARM CUT OFF UNDO A REWRITE OF SOMEBODY'S GENETIC CODE!?!?!?

And then there's the final episode of the show, episode 22.  STAY THE #%#$ AWAY!  It is the most unbelievably, mindblowingly stupid ending I've ever seen in my life.  All attempts at comprehending it resulted extreme pain in my forehead and several large gaps appearing in my bedroom wall.  It even makes Mass Effect 3's ending look intelligent. Congratulations, Guilty Crown.  Not only did you jump the shark; you also landed directly in its mouth.  I hope you're proud of yourself.