Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas is Everything I Wish I Could Write

Over the past half a year, a good friend of mine and I have read through Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas, a 2012 visual novel from Nitro+. It was written by Jin Haganeya, who previously penned Demonbane & Dra+Koi for the same company. This visual novel is a prequel to the anime of the same name, 2011’s Guilty Crown.

For some background, Guilty Crown was a divisive science fiction series from Production IG that seemed to have everything going for it. Production IG is a prestigious studio that’s responsible for classics like Ghost in the Shell. The anime was directed by Tetsurou Araki who saw great success with Death Note and Highschool of the Dead and would later see meteoric rise thanks to Attack on Titan. Key artwork for the show was done by Redjuice. Best of all, the music was done by Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Kill La Kill, Promare).

Despite all of these blessings, the show got mixed critical reception due to the poor quality of the script and the lacking characters. Having watched the whole show halfway through, I found the characters to be really unlikeable and the story to lack a solid hook to keep me invested. For all of the cosmetic and aesthetic qualities, a script can’t be underestimated in making a show enjoyable.

Funny then that the man who assisted with the screenplay, Haganeya, made a story that feels 10 times as epic, thoughtful, and final as the main series he worked off of to make Lost Christmas. His visual novel explains the circumstances behind some major events in the anime’s lore, expanding on them and creating characters and themes that feel wholly unique.

And it’s something truly special.