Now that I have that out of the way, welcome to my final Code Geass R2 recap of the final two episodes! It has been a long, six-year journey to document all my problems with this anime; and now I'm finally at the end of the road. So, let's open this up with the first part of this mess, "The Grip of Damocles!"
We open where we left off, in the midst of the battle with the Damocles. Lelouch is still trying to penetrate its defense, so he can confront Schneizel and rescue Nunnally. I don't even care about the "strategy/tactics" thing from before; since I am eager to finally end this.
With the battle between Suzaku and Tohdoh dragging on as well, it's just another example of how things have dragged on for so long that it's become too dull to care. Not even Lloyd and Rivalz continuing their mugging leaves an impact.
With few options left as their ship is damaged, Lelouch relieves Sayoko and prepares to face Schneizel and Nunnally. It just so happens that the Damocles' defenses are wavering and they're running out of FLEIJA weapons. Even the conveniences of this finale don't bother me like they usually would, since I am just so eager to be finally done that I will be glad to finally be done with this. Once again, even though half of episode 24 is spent on this battle and endless exposition, the animation is actually quite good, Lelouch's Knightmare Frame keyboard solo notwithstanding.
It's also just as well that Anya and Gino are the only surviving Knights of Round left, since so little was done to develop the characters that they almost seem like they were transplanted from a totally different anime.
As for his bit where Nunnally falls out of her chair and drops the detonator for the FLEIJA: I have a bit prepared for what comes next, and it makes this discount Velma act much dumber than it already is.
As Schneizel prepares for his brother's arrival, Lelouch runs everywhere around the Damocles trying to find him and Nunally; with Suzaku apparently having penetrated its defense. I never got the jokes of him being accused of being "unathletic," now he's running around the place like he's Usain Bolt.
Schneizel tries to escape, but Lelouch has confronted him in his escape craft! He also has apparently used his Geass on several of the guards, and takes his brother to task for being so predictable. There's so many half-baked gambits that we are well past the breaking point of suspension of disbelief. Even though I can understand how people were unhappy with Ohgi's actions, it's honestly the least of my problems here.
After an increasingly winded speech from Lelouch and Schneizel, it turns out that this was Lelouch's way of being able to use his abilities on his brother! Once again, this power has been reduced to a glorified deus ex machina.
Diethard goes mad and tries to kill Lelouch, and Schneizel shoots him first; with Lelouch opting not to use his Geass on him in favor of just letting Diethard bleed out on the floor. Let's finish this, unlike Diethard.
With few options left as their ship is damaged, Lelouch relieves Sayoko and prepares to face Schneizel and Nunnally. It just so happens that the Damocles' defenses are wavering and they're running out of FLEIJA weapons. Even the conveniences of this finale don't bother me like they usually would, since I am just so eager to be finally done that I will be glad to finally be done with this. Once again, even though half of episode 24 is spent on this battle and endless exposition, the animation is actually quite good, Lelouch's Knightmare Frame keyboard solo notwithstanding.
It's also just as well that Anya and Gino are the only surviving Knights of Round left, since so little was done to develop the characters that they almost seem like they were transplanted from a totally different anime.
As for his bit where Nunnally falls out of her chair and drops the detonator for the FLEIJA: I have a bit prepared for what comes next, and it makes this discount Velma act much dumber than it already is.
As Schneizel prepares for his brother's arrival, Lelouch runs everywhere around the Damocles trying to find him and Nunally; with Suzaku apparently having penetrated its defense. I never got the jokes of him being accused of being "unathletic," now he's running around the place like he's Usain Bolt.
Schneizel tries to escape, but Lelouch has confronted him in his escape craft! He also has apparently used his Geass on several of the guards, and takes his brother to task for being so predictable. There's so many half-baked gambits that we are well past the breaking point of suspension of disbelief. Even though I can understand how people were unhappy with Ohgi's actions, it's honestly the least of my problems here.
After an increasingly winded speech from Lelouch and Schneizel, it turns out that this was Lelouch's way of being able to use his abilities on his brother! Once again, this power has been reduced to a glorified deus ex machina.
Diethard goes mad and tries to kill Lelouch, and Schneizel shoots him first; with Lelouch opting not to use his Geass on him in favor of just letting Diethard bleed out on the floor. Let's finish this, unlike Diethard.
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| Sixteen in the clip and one in the hole, Nate Dogg is about to make some bodies turn cold! |
Lelouch confronts Nunally in the throne room, and as Lelouch demands the detonator; Nunally opens her eyes, revealing that her blindness was, as previously established, a trauma induced by Geass! This is just the tip of the iceberg of how this effectively renders the bulk of the narrative moot, and I have much more to address in the next part.
Now, after 8 years of being under this curse, 7 years since I first saw this mess and 6 years I first began writing about this anime, we have reached the "final turn," "Re;!"
Even if the circumstances of this finale are once again needlessly contrived, the mecha action going on outside honestly isn't much better. There's ashes falling from the sky and it's just become such a slog that complaining about the fanservice on Kallen and Anya's flight suits isn't worth doing anymore.
Nunnally also rejects her brother's help to save her, which would actually be kind of interesting if this plot was actually structured better. Instead, it's just yet another example of how a potentially interesting followup to season 1 was utterly ruined by executive meddling.
After contemplating whether or not to use his Geass on his own sister, he does eventually decide to use it to take the detonator from Nunnally. Also, Anya is apparently another Code. It would have been nice to have this plotline delved into further, but instead it's just flung at you while Suzaku and Kallen continue their duel.
Nunnally is understandably unhappy about what her brother has done, but she again falls out of her chair as she tries to take the detonator back from Lelouch. I don't know whether to criticize how inconsistent her Geass effects are (the blindness was psychosomatic, but the paralysis is real?); or the fact that the Empire built the throne room of the Damocles without disability access ramps. Either way, fuck this scene and everything it stands for,
The last warhead is detonated, and Lelouch uses his Geass to take control of all the remaining opposition in the world. So, he basically copped his father's plan in an attempt to do it better. Just think, I could be watching my backlog of Pokémon Sun and Moon subs instead of this.
We then cut to just two months later, where Lelouch has further extended his reign. I submit it would take two decades to fully invoke a change like this, but I'm eager to end this either way.
Also, it seems most of the conspirators have been incarcerated or put in line for execution. Since we don't see Lohmeyer again after this, I'm going to presume that she's rotting in jail; has already been sentenced to death or at the very least been sent to a re-education center somewhere. It's also apparently 2018 as of a familiar tombstone, and as for why I'm not mentioning who it belongs to just yet: there is one more thing for me to address.
Suzaku apparently faked his death, and Lelouch's last plan involved him taking up the mantle of Zero so he can take responsibility for all that's happened. even when it wasn't his fault! It's essentially a much more moronic version of the end of The Dark Knight; which is still my favorite film. Seriously: the circumstances require way too many arbitrary things for it to work. Yet, somehow it does.
Using the guise of Zero and the "live on" Geass, Suzaku runs Lelouch through with the sparkly pimp sword! OK, been planning on using this gag for a long time.
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| "Cough, then fall over dead." (thud) "My god, he's dead!" |
At the risk of editorializing, riddle me this; Sunrise: how are you going to reconcile this based on what I've heard about the remaster? Granted, a lot of people (myself included) want to forget this ending, but you can't just ignore it if you're making R3.
Yet, even though the intention was for me to cry, much like the end of the first Yo-Kai Watch game; I instead cringed in utter astonishment at what's happened. The end also suggests that things have improved since his demise; and I find that so ludicrous it may as well have been imagined by a kid on the spectrum playing with a snow globe (before you get huffy, it's a reference to the finale of St. Elsewhere; being someone like that myself, I found it every bit as depressing as this).
With this, one of my big projects for this final year on my blog is complete. It's been a long, grueling task to analyze this anime and all my faults with it, but I was determined to finish what I started and I'm quite satisfied with what I've done. I still have content planned after this for the remainder of the year, and even as I start my biology term; you should still see plenty before I hang it up. Thank you for all you've given me over the years, and I bid you all good night for now. Stay fresh.
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