The anime Guilty Crown revolves around Shu Ouma, a high school boy who inadvertently obtains an ability called "Power of the King" that enables him to draw out items called "Voids" from other people. He is then thrown into the conflict between a quasi-governmental organization known as the GHQ and a resistance group called Funeral Parlor which aims to restore Japan's independence from the GHQ. In the process, Shu has to deal with the burden his ability puts on his shoulders and the horrific mystery of his past.
is the 17-year-old protagonist of Guilty Crown. A socially inept person, Shu is a second year high school student and a member of the school's modern image and video research club. His stepmother, Haruka, works for Sephirah Genomics, while his father, Kurosu, an expert on the Apocalypse Virus, is killed during the "Lost Christmas" incident. Shu's involvement in the series begins when he meets Inori Yuzuriha. After Inori is apprehended by the GHQ Anti-Bodies, Shu decides to make amends for not helping her earlier by delivering an item called "Void Genome" she was transporting to the leader of Funeral Parlor, Gai Tsutsugami. However upon arrival, a battle between the GHQ and Funeral Parlor has begun, forcing Shu to escape while protecting the Void Genome. It is then when he rescues Inori and protects her from a GHQ Endlave that the "Void Genome" fuses onto his right arm, granting him the "Power of the King", which allows him to extract items from a person's heart. After that incident, Gai suggests that Shu join Funeral Parlor, but Shu turns down the offer. However, when his classmate, Yahiro Samukawa, sells him out to the GHQ, Shu joins the organization.
Despite joining them, Shu stays with Funeral Parlor due to Inori, who he has feelings for, but he resents Gai, who he at first believe was Inori's lover, due to the fact Gai used his feelings for Inori to make him join Funeral Parlor and Gai is everything that he is not; smart, popular and well respected. But upon seeing the real Gai; a man conflicted to play a ruthless tactical genius and leader, earning Shu's respect for Gai and Funeral Parlor. After getting his name clear from the GHQ, Shu returns to school with a more open, sociable attitude much to his friends' notice. At the same time, Inori begins living with him and their feelings for each other grow as he starts getting flashback of forgotten memories. While still attending school, he continues helping Funeral Parlor in their missions. But his new attitude doesn't last long after Shu fails to save Yahiro's brother Jun as he was forced to kill him to save Yahiro's life. Traumatized on what he has done, Shu refuses to join Gai in an important mission to retrieve the meteorite where the Apocalypse Virus originated before it is transported out of Japan.
When his friend Hare slaps some sense into him and learns the Anti-Bodies have launched a coup d'état against the GHQ upper echelons by starting a second Apocalypse outbreak in Tokyo, stole the meteorite and decimate Funeral Parlor, Shu breaks out of his self-pity and decides to rescue Inori and his Funeral Parlor allies. With the help of his friends from school, Shu goes to rescue Inori and Gai from the GHQ and Anti-Bodies and faces the leader of the Anti-Bodies, Shuichiro Keido.
Encountering Yu, a boy working with Keido who also possess "Power of the King", Shu finally remembers his forgotten memories. It is revealed Gai was Shu's childhood friend, nicknamed Triton whom his older sister Mana rescued ten years ago. Gai looked up to Shu as he was a brave boy back then. Unknown to Shu or Gai, his sister was the first person to be infected by the Apocalypse Virus, which slowly drives her insane, even causing her to develop feelings for her brother. Gai, who knew the truth, tried to reveal this to Shu on the Christmas Eve of 2029. However, Mana found out about it and tricked Gai into shooting himself. Shu then stumbles upon the scene and is asked by Mana to marry her so that they 'can start a new race together.' Shu, disturbed and shocked, rejects her offer, calling her a 'monster.' Hurt at his remark Mana went berserk, causing the virus to take over her body and spread it all over Tokyo, thus beginning the "Lost Christmas" incident. Traumatized, Shu repressed these memories. With his memories regained, Shu rescues Inori from Keido's clutches in his plans to transplant Mana's soul into her body so he and Mana will spread the outbreak worldwide and start a new race. However, he is forced to kill Gai so that his weapon could break the pod containing his sister's soul, freeing her and ending the outbreak.
After the outbreak, Shu, Inori and their Funeral Parlor friends Ayase and Tsugumi stays at Tennouzu High after the school is converted into a refugee center. However, the area their school is located is barricaded and lock downed by the Anti-Bodies who proceed to exterminate the civilians inside. Due to uncertainty and despair, Shu replaces Arisa Kuhouin as the student council president after regaining control of a chaotic school assembly. After becoming student council president, he rules the school with dignity and respect and refuses Yahiro's suggestion to implement a Void-ranking system which determines how much vaccine and care someone receives, believing that it will lead to discrimination between the students. However, when Hare is killed during an attempt by Souta to find vaccines from a nearby hospital, Shu falls into despair and implements the ranking system. After the successful take down of the Tokyo Tower and the Ghost Team, Shu was betrayed by Arisa Kuhouin and his fellow students. The resurrected Gai then appears and slices off Shu's right arm, transferring the "Power of the King" from Shu to Gai. Subsequently, Shu slipped into a bout of extreme depression, horrified at his own actions. When Inori sacrificed herself to protect Shu, he came to terms with his actions, and became determined to save her. He then took Arisa hostage in order to have her lead him to Inori. While driving, he gets news that Haruka is on the run, and possesses the third Void Genome. Arisa takes him to the building where she, the remaining members of Funeral Parlor, and Shu's friends are hiding. Shu arrives shortly after Segai begins an assault to take the Void Genome for himself. Before Ayase attempts to use the Void Genome on herself at great risk, Shu finds it and injects himself with it. With Power of King returned to him, Shu pulls out his own Void, which manifests as a new right arm made entirely of Apocalypse crystal, replacing the one Gai severed. With their permission, he uses Ayase's, Souta's, and Yahiro's Voids, now memorized by his Void, to save them from Segai. The battle culminates in him using Yahiro's Void shears to sever Segai's life. Despite his new-found abilities, as a side-effect, Shu is infected with the Apocalypse virus while retrieving Souta's Void - immediately curing the terminal Souta. Shu makes the decision to use Power of the King to save Inori and stop Gai.
Shu acquired his powers from the "Void Genome". His power is to extract "Voids", genetic physical objects formed of the personality of anyone younger than 17. After regaining his lost memories, his powers evolved, allowing him to extract Voids from people while they still retained consciousness. He briefly lost his powers when Gai stole it, but regained them upon injecting himself with another "Void Genome". His Void can absorb other Voids into his own, allowing him to use its powers indefinitely. It manifests itself as an arm made entirely of Apocalypse Crystal, replacing the arm Gai severed off when he stole his powers. His void is a double-edged sword, however, as he also takes any adverse effects that the Void user has, such as the Apocalypse Cancer, and if by any reason Shu dies, all owners of the voids he obtained should perish as well. After defeating Gai, Shu tries to take all the Apocalypse Virus into himself, but Inori takes it instead, sacrificing herself. Sometime later, Shu is seen celebrating Hare's birthday with the others, and is presumably blind (he uses a white cane). He has a prosthetic limb and no longer has the Apocalypse Virus.
is the main heroine of Guilty Crown, and the stoic 18-year-old vocalist of the group Egoist. She is also a member of the "Funeral Parlor" resistance group and her Void is a sword. She becomes Shu's partner and as the series progresses, begins to show different types of emotions, eventually falling in love with him. She's later revealed to be created by Da'ath to become the vessel of Mana, and in episode 12, she was captured to complete Mana's rebirth, but was then saved by Shu. Afterwards, however, she starts expressing more erratic behavior, cumulating with her killing two other students and stabbing Arisa through the hand. She is later captured by the resurrected Gai and Da'ath as she tries to protect Shu.
Inori's Void is a heavy sword that resembles a bisento, which can be combined with other Voids for different effects. When extracted by Yu, it takes a more wing-like shape. In Episode 18, she also demonstrates the ability to turn into a "monster" mode, where a pair of blades extend from her arms and she gains increased strength and speed. In episode 21 Inori is consumed and reborn as Mana. In the final episode, when Shu tries to take in all of the Apocalypse Virus into himself, Inori takes it instead, sacrificing herself so that Shu can live on, even so her soul lives within Shu as observed when both embrace at the end of the episode.
is the 17-year-old resourceful and charismatic leader of the "Funeral Parlor" resistance group. He hopes to push the revolution to success with the help of Shu's "Power of the King". A charming and yet manipulative man, he leads Funeral Parlor as a fearless leader who expects the best, without disappointment, from his subordinates. At the beginning of the series, he tasks Inori to steal the Void Genome so he can use its power. However, a battle between the Anti-Bodies and Funeral Parlor leads to Shu gaining that power instead. Nevertheless, he tries to make Shu join his organization, and succeeds after using his feelings for Inori, and after he was arrested by the GHQ.
Shu at first holds animosity toward Gai for manipulating him into joining Funeral Parlor (not making things any better is that Inori is rumored to be Gai's lover as well) and he is everything Shu is not; smart, popular and well respected. But upon seeing the real Gai; a man conflicted to play a ruthless tactical genius and leader, Shu gains a new respect for Gai and helps him in their missions. But after Shu refuses to join them for an important mission after being traumatized over killing Yahiro's brother, Gai abandons him to continue the mission; steal the meteorite that originated the Apocalypse Virus from the GHQ. However, the mission fails when Keido and the Anti-Bodies start a second Apocalypse outbreak over Tokyo and proceeds to eliminate both the upper echelons of GHQ and Funeral Parlor. While Gai and several members survive, Gai's Apocalypse infection starts to reemerge. A determined Shu arrives to save him from the Anti-Bodies, and he joins Shu to rescue Inori from the clutches of Keido. Gai later reveals to Shu that he is in fact his childhood friend "Triton". Ten years ago, he was saved by Shu and Mana from drowning at a shore. Nicknamed "Triton" by Mana, Gai and the Ouma siblings became close friends and spent a summer together. During this time, he admired Shu for his confidence, and fell in love with Mana for saving him. He eventually discovers Mana's insanity and tries to warn Shu about it, but is tricked by Mana into shooting himself in a church. After the Lost Christmas incident, he leaves to make himself stronger, eventually becoming the leader of Funeral Parlor.
After helping Shu rescue Inori, Gai goes to free Mana's soul from the pod containing it. However, the crystals protecting the pod stab him. Close to death and pinned to Mana's pod, Gai requests that Shu stab him through the heart in order to break the pod and free Mana's soul. He seemingly dies embracing Mana, finally reunited with his lost love.
At the end of episode 16, Gai is resurrected by Shuichiro Keido and Haruka Ouma. He then reappears in episode 17, cutting off Shu's right arm with Inori's void, transferring the "Power of the King" from Shu's severed arm to himself. He becomes one of the story's main antagonists as he proceeds to aid Da'ath's plans to resurrect Mana, showing utter disregard for human lives in the process. However, after being defeated by Shu in the series' climactic final battle, he reveals his true goal was to free Mana from her cursed role as Eve so she could finally rest in peace. While admitting he also accepted the role of "the King" out of fear of being excluded from Da'ath's new humanity, he reveals he always secretly believed Shu would stop them in the end. He is last seen - presumably in Shu's mind - embracing Mana and dying with her, this time for good.
Gai has the ability to see people's Voids due to being infected with the Apocalypse Virus. To prevent the virus from crystallizing his body, he undergoes blood transfusions with Inori, as her blood can fight off the infection. To prevent anyone in Funeral Parlor from knowing, he has Inori visit his room during their blood transfusions, fooling everyone into believing that he and Inori are lovers. His Void is a gun that forces out other people's Voids, though it can also be used as a regular gun.
is a paraplegic Endlave pilot who uses a wheelchair. She had feelings for Gai and was very loyal to him before returning as an antagonist in episode 17. Finally, she develops feelings for Shu from episode 12. Previously, she piloted an older Endlave Jumeau model before it was destroyed by Daryl but later gains Daryl's Endlave Steiner model. Her Void is a special pair of leg braces that allow her to rapidly skate over ground, jump with immense power and even fly. In the epilogue, it seems like she is the one looking after Shu and in daily contact with him.
is a 14-year-old hacker who is in charge of information warfare. Her codename is "Black Swan" and her main site of operations is a holographic sphere where she uses her whole body as interface thanks to a special sensor suit. She also controls Funell when doing tasks Shu and Inori cannot do. Her Void is a Hand Scanner, a magical girl wand that can create holographic projections of people.
is a 17-year-old member who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat and the use of knives. His Void is a torchlight that temporarily blinds its target in a sphere of complete darkness. He is a second-year student at Ryusen High School.
is a large, quiet man who specializes in firearms and explosives. He was injured while protecting Haruka, and later killed by Segai.
is a 27-year-old man who is Gai's second-in-command. He is known for saying: "As expected of Gai".
is a mass murderer and infamous terrorist responsible for the "Sky Tree Bombing". He was previously held at GHQ Isolation Facility Four before being rescued by Shu and the Funeral Parlor. His Void is a Gravity gun. He is a skilled hacker much like Tsugumi. He is shot by Shinbungi during the final battle when he figures out that Kenji is aligned with Gai and is preventing Tsugumi from hacking into the GHQ headquarters (as only Kenji is capable of hacking as well as Tsugumi).
is Inori's pet robot who also acts as her guardian. It expresses a lot of emotions even though it is mechanical. Funell is capable of shooting out strings very much like a Tachikoma.[1] Its name is a play on the English word "Funeral".
After the 2nd Apocalypse Outbreak, she takes leadership of Tennouzu High after the school is turn in a refugee center for teenagers. But after the government seals off the area where Tennouzu High is also located, the students begin to lose confidence in her despite assuring them her grandfather's men will rescue them. She loses her position of student council president after the students vote Shu as their new president but still continues to help the student council.
Arisa learns to truth that people die when their voids are destroyed but is attacked by Inori to keep her silent. Traumatized from the attack, Arisa receives a phone call from Gai who encourages her to attempt a coup d'état to overthrow Shu. To achieve this she seduces Hirohide Nanba to spread rumors about the truth of voids in order to further destroy their faith in him. Once Shu successfully leads the students out of quarantine zone, she and the students turn on him.
Arisa follows Gai when he takes control, despite initially having some doubts. When her grandfather, Okina, decides to kill her for shaming the Kuhouin family, she shoots and kills him. She follows Gai to the final battle, holding back the UN forces with her shield, and is alive seen being outside of the falling GHQ.
During the second Apocalypse outbreak and Keido's coup d'état, Keido manages to capture Mana's soul, still under the influence of the virus, and tries to resurrect her using Inori's body. However, his attempts are foiled by Shu and Gai. To free Mana's soul and be with her in her last moments, a dying Gai sacrifices himself to allow Shu to stab the crystal pod containing Mana's soul through his body, finally freeing Mana's soul from the virus. However, this is revealed to be false, as Mana's soul has already entered Inori's body and begins to take over, as seen by Inori's psychotic behaviour. In episode 21, Mana fully takes control of Inori's body and begin to spread the Apocalypse virus throughout the world. However, a fragment of Inori's soul remains and helps Shu and his friends stop the spread of the Apocalypse virus. She's last seen, presumably in Shu's mind, embraced by Gai, finally able to be free from her role as Eve and dies with him.