Guilty Crown - 09, 10

My favorite part of the episodes? This.

Episode 9
While Gai is out, Shu is told to lay low.  However, while out on a "shopping trip" (i.e. a date arranged by a friend) with Hare, Shu encounters Yahiro, and leaves Hare behind to talk to him.  It turns out the the GHQ was going to put Jun, Yahiro's brother, down because of his infection by the Apocalypse Virus, and Yahiro used the commotion from the Undertaker attack on the facility to grab him and run.  Ever since then, the GHQ's Antibodies squad, lead by Dan (with Segai as field commander), had been after them.  Shu decides to help, showing the kind of resolve that I've been hoping to see from him, but while trying to get Jun and Yahiro to a place where Undertaker could pick them up, the Antibodies attack.  It turns out the Segai's been tracking Shu's movements via public cameras, and therefore knows, of course, where their actual prey has been hiding.

He's forcing himself a little too much, but at least it's fun to watch.

Segai is thinking about his career. The other two are speechless.

When Daryl attacks them with his Endlave, Shu persuades Yahiro to let him draw out his void, but that causes a reaction in Jun as well, causing the Endlave's projectile attacks to switch from attacking Shu to attacking Jun.  After being hit, however, the crystalline tumors disappear from Jun's body and infect the Endlave, which begins to go out of control.  After it eliminates two other Endlaves, however, the corrupted unit attacks Yahiro, and in an attempt to stop it, Shu attacks it with Yahiro's void.  This causes a second reaction, where Shu is drawn into Jun's memories of the Lost Christmas event, guided by his "spirit".    After reliving parts of that day, Jun's spirit asks Shu to kill him before the part of him controlling the Endlave kills Yahiro, and Shu unwillingly does so.  After returning Yahiro's void to him, however, Shu tells him that he's the one who killed Jun, and is overheard/seen by Hare as well.

Mind broken.

Episode 10 then starts during a mission where Shu is unable to draw out Inori's void, which causes some casualties among the Undertaker members and forces Gai to abort the mission.  For several days after that, however, he ends up hiding in an abandoned building, away from both Gai and Inori, letting Hare take care of him.  Shu then eventually returns to school, but begins to hallucinate Apocalypse Virus tumors on everyone, causing him to break down again.  When he again runs away, Ayase tracks him down and confronts him, but is unable to break him out of his funk.  Gai arrives shortly thereafter, and when Shu keeps saying he wants out, shoots a bullet past his head, and declares him "dead"... an event that Hare again witnesses.

Please slap some sense into him...

Returning home, Inori tries to get him to listen to a new Egoist song, but he hallucinates again and shatters the chip that it's on.  While he tries to apologize, Inori says her goodbyes (as he's no longer part of Undertaker) and leaves.

The next day, the GHQ begins to try to transport the stolen rock from two episodes back out of the country, while Undertaker launches a recovery operation.  While preparing for it, Inori voices some worries to Gai, who realizes that she's developed some feelings for Shu.  At the same time within the facility, Haruka confronts Keido, only to be told about Shu having the void genome and his involvement with Undertaker, as well as hinting at a larger reason for Inori being with him.

She's almost becoming a character worth noting.  Still nothing compared to Aya and Tsugumi though.

The attack begins with Undertaker sending in a commando team, but Segai, acting on Keido's orders, saw through the entire operation and used it to set up a trap for both the GHQ higher ups and Undertaker, activating the stone and setting off a massive Apocalypse virus outbreak, and simultaneously launching a massive counterattack on the gathered Undertaker forces.

Shortly before the start of the outbreak, Shu wins the award for douchebag of the year, attempting to use a sympathetic Hare as a replacement for Inori, only for her to snap at him, and tell him off for just using her.

No good pics, so here. It's the ending card.

I'm rapidly losing interest in Guilty Crown, mostly because of Shu, though Gai's not off the hook this time either.
First off, the whole thing about episode 9 seemed to just come out of nowhere, especially the whole "please kill me" aspect, which was only really there to build up Shu's angst meter.  Also, GHQ makes absolute shit for weapons.  The seekers on Daryl's endlave were locked on to Shu, and then, when another target appeared in the opposite direction, they gave up and all went after the new source?  Really?  In the real world, designers go out of their way to make sure their weapons don't do that.
Episode 10 wasn't all that much better either.  Gai just throws Shu out into an operation without checking on him after being traumatized like that?  And worse, Shu's massive douchebaggery toward Hare is totally ruining him as a character.  It'd also be nice if he (and by "he" I mean the writers, of course) would just figure out what sort of character he should be, instead of bouncing from confident to whiny brat and back every couple episodes.
At least there's still some Aya and Tsugumi...