Friday, July 22, 2016

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Part 6 Episodes 22-25


With one single act, the hopes for peace come crashing down around everyone.  There is only one path now: an all out assault on the Britannian Forces occupying Area 11.  This is the moment Lelouch has been working towards since he first became Zero and now it looks like victory is within his grasp.  But new players and horrific losses await, ones that will change the destinies of Lelouch and Suzaku forever.  When the two friends finally confront each other, who will be left standing in the shocking season one finale of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.

Well that just freaking happened. 

You wanted a Season Finale of epic proportions, well it didn’t get any more high stakes than here.  Just to get the ball rolling lets do a quick notes version: Lelouch lost control of his power, Euphie caused a Genocide as a result, Lelouch killed Euphie, the revolution began, Nina got her hands on a nuclear bomb and Lelouch and Suzaku had a stand off as everything went to hell around them…hooooo deep breaths.  Let’s back it up and wrap this first half of Code Geass up right.

We all knew something was bound to go wrong with Lelouch’s Geass but man, even he couldn’t have forseen such a tragedy.  Geassing Euphie at the wrong time and saying the wrong thing in conjunction…he couldn’t have predicted that right?  I mean yeah, Lelouch was against the Special Zone all along and this push would be what he needed for his all out war…but come on, he’s not that dastardly…is he?  That’ll be a question that plagues me for a long time to come.  Honestly, im content with saying it was an epic accident…but I guess we may never know.

Of all the characters I felt for following Euphie’s death, I think I’d tie that with Suzaku and Cornelia.  Suzaku got a tear worthy farewell with the woman he loved.  Cornelia, on the other hand, only had a handful of quick glimpses, the amount of loss she felt ever present on her face…and then she got back to work leading her troops.  I feel truly sad for her, she’s one of my favorite characters in this series but props to her…she can mourn later, it was time to get to work.  Which is more than what I can say for Nina.  You know even if she hadn’t gone totally insane, im sure she would have gladly given the Geass driven Euphie her nuclear bomb to kill the Japanese…ive hated a ton of Anime characters but none nearly as much as ive hated her.  God help Ashford Academy in the state we left them.

This brought us to the two part finale where we finally got the war Lelouch had been building toward since day one as Zero.  The best action and animation had clearly been saved for last.  Mechs clashed and sword were swung…and Suzaku was PISSED!!! (he even socked Lloyd good when the stingy scientist wouldn’t give him the keys to his mech).  He put that Lancelot through it’s paces and we got some of it’s best action out of it.  Speaking of best action, ORANGE WAS BACK!!!  Yep, reborn a Cyborg and given a Sonic the Hedgehog style mech (ok it didn’t look like Sonic but it spun a lot), he tore through the Black Knights just to get to Zero.  I was totally digging the unhinged Jeremiah.  He’s only gotten more amusing as the shows progressed, it was good to have him back.

This was war and even though it seemed things were going Lelouch’s way, no one was really safe.  It was only a matter of time before something went wrong…but maybe too wrong?  Ok so I get that Lelouch is basically the God Mode Cheat (ok that’s a bit much) to victory.  But as soon as he checked out, everything fell apart almost instantly.  The Black Knights became helpless, Todo was freaking out, Oghi got shot…ok don’t care too much about that but I am glad Violetta got her memory back, ive missed that ice queen…yeah.  The Black Knights were on a roll and they could have pushed forward on their own no problem.  We left them all in dire straits, with the outcome of the battle not revealed.  Im sure we can guess how it all goes though.

Which all lead to easily one of my favorite scenes in Anime.  I’ll get to the guy who kidnapped Nunally in a sec but this paragraphs gonna be all about that perfect stand off.  Finally, after a season of waiting, Lelouch and Suzaku confronted each other (with Kallen as an audience cause…whatever?).  The verbal backlash each “friend” gave the other stung hard and when Suzaku told Lelouch that his existence was a mistake…the time for talk was done.  We’ve seen these two as the best of friends, so kind to one another despite their positions.  To see them finally fall out with each other was huge.  Not as huge as the gunshot that we had to leave things on.  No resolution, no victor, only Nunally wailing in despair silently…THAT IS HOW YOU DO A FREAKING SEASON FINALE!!!!!  Man I cannot wait to start up Code Geass R2 and see what happens next.

There were some problems with the finale and they all kind of stemmed from the character department.  You know my thoughts on the size of this cast…so why add in a tiny Chinese royal diplomat who we’ve seen sporadically throughout the season, has barely said a word and suddenly appears just to tell Lelouch he’s gonna be her wife?  I’m sure Lelouch was being kind in his reply, but I’m sure he and I were thinking the same thing, “Who the hell are you and why should I care?”  And then there’s V.V.  God I don’t think I’ve automatically disliked a character so instantly before (at least with Nina I needed an episode or two to see how despicable her racist tendencies were).  His arrogance is apparent even in his couple of lines of dialogue and his character design strikes me as a haughty kid who’s as old as C.C. and is even more snobbish…ugh he’s gonna be a problem for me in Season 2 isnt he?   Lastly, after such a stellar intro last time, why wasn’t Schneizel present for this battle?  In fact he was barely seen in these last few episodes.  I’m guessing theyre saving more for him to do in the next season…but it seemed wrong to sideline him here at such an important point of the story.

And…well that’s it.  Season One of Code Geass COMPLETE.  What did I think?  I think that the cast could be trimmed down a little, along with a couple of pointless side plots.  But this was a solid Anime and if it had just been one season…well I’dve been upset cause of that cliffhanger but THAT CLIFFHANGER was just too damn perfect.  Lelouch always amused no matter what he did.  The Britannians had some strong stand out figures in Euphie, Cornelia and Schneizel while others like Jeremiah got better with time.  This season knew how to end episodes on the right notes, begging you to just marathon your way to the end.  Not a lot of Anime nowadays have that type of binge quality to them.  It’s kind of refreshing really…and we’re only halfway done.

But I’m concluding this first season with a very solid

8/10

The continuation of the saga with Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2, kick off Monday. 

“I Lelouch vi Britannia command you…See ya then.”
 

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