[WARNING: LOTS OF IMAGES]
I kind of didn’t want to make this my first post back from my hiatus because…it’s just looks weird to me. OCD is such a strange mistress. “But!” I said to myself. “I haven’t posted in a while and that one article is taking longer than I thought, considering the research I have to do and all that. Oh, that and I’m being a lazy prick.” Being that I’m a bit of a Scrooge as I despise the holiday season and being that I’m sure I’ll come down with the seasonal flu in the next few days (Oh yea, wait until after Christmas to get sick. Way to screw up there, immune system.) I decided to just get this thing posted. I cut quite a few screencaps out as I felt it was getting ridiculously image heavy, but I think a fair warning and a nice cut will be good enough. Anyway, enjoy my summarizing of episode 2 of Code Geass.
ONE MORE THING, is it just me, or do a lot of girls watch this show for no other reason that “OMG LELOUCH”?
The White Knight Awakens
When we last left our hero he was knee deep in corpses. Let’s see how he’s faring now.
We're off to a good start
One of the nightmare frames wrecks the party.
Lelouch seems to be unphased at the giant robot freaking bursting through a wall in front of him
The nightmare threatens to kill Lelouch if he doesn’t comply and shoots around him as proof. Lelouch remains unphased.
He convinces the pilot to come check his ID and puts the Geass to good use by trying to get her number. Suddenly realizing he doesn’t like girls, he decides to take her mech instead.
k, here...please don't get dents in it.
Meanwhile, the creepy doctor decides to traumatize a soldier with the typical mad scientist greeting.
This is the face you see in your nightmares
The soon to be traumatized soldier is none other than the should-be-dead, Suzaku Kururugi, who’s seriously channeling some Goku up in this bitch.
How the fuck are you still alive?
Apparently a pistol at point blank range is no match for Japanese watches.
They should just make bullet proof vests out of these
Meanwhile, Lelouch is contemplating how he’ll get out of this mess, but decides that it wouldn’t be “Lelouch-y” enough without a forced metaphor/visual aide. Considering that mecha don’t come readily equipped with a full chess set, he conveniently finds one on the ground.
I spy, with my little eye...
A chess board with a complete set of pieces that somehow survived the explosions.
Meanwhile, the mecha battles continue as each side employs what I will dub “the stupidest weapon ever”. How the hell is something subject the sudden gusts of wind, perfect aiming and anything randomly jutting out on the battle field a good weapon?
Lelouch is continuing to be unphased by all of this
And here’s my favorite character, Mr. Expendable!
NO, MISTER EXPENDABLE! He was going to be a father!
So basically, Lelouch is giving the Japanese rebels orders and controlling the battlefield, using his logic and chess metaphors to save the day.
He manages to get the rebels to stop a train and hijack the cargo, i.e. fancy Brittanian robots, and the battlefield becomes a little more even. Every time Lelouch makes a successful move, he literally moves a piece on a chess board. No, I’m not joking. They must have fallen asleep during the ‘please don’t use heavy handed symbolism, it’s stupid’ part of their writing course.
Meanwhile, Lelouch’s brother Clovis (was his name Clovis? I can’t be assed to remember), who somehow manages to act and look gayer than Lelouch and Fai put together, is getting pissed at the fact that he’s about to lose everything to the rebels.
He tries to pull a dues ex machina, but is defeated by another dues ex machina from sir Lelouch.
Desperate, Clovis seeks advice from that creepy doctor.
JESUS CHRIST MAN, don’t sneak up on me like that!
Lelouch is still loving the shit out the destruction on the battlefield
You can't spell slaughter without laughter!
Clovis goes through with the doctor’s plan, which involves giving a SUPER SPESHUL mecha to Suzaku.
I'm swelling with confidence
Suzaku gives some fanservice for the ladies…
This is the yaoi version of the panty shot
Enter the DUN DUN DUN DUN….Lancelot. Yes, they named it Lancelot.
Be prepared to hear a lot about knights and round tables for the remainder of the series.
Suzaku admires his pretty mecha for a while, stopping just short of saying “ooooooooh” before hopping in and skating away as a camera pans in an upskirt move of the mecha. No I’m not kidding. There is an upskirt of a skating mecha in this show. He gets onto the battlefield and proceeds to kill fucking everything.
I almost made...
a falcon punch joke...
Did I mention he spinkicks IN THE MECHA? No? Well, he does, one handed.
"His readings are off the charts!"
"That's becuase he's a Mary Sue my dear!"
Eventually he has a confrontation with Lelouch who is confused as to how anyone could possibly challenge him. They fight again until Suzaku catches a woman falling and protects her, thus leading to Lelouch conceding the temporary victory and running off.
Lelouch decides to finish the episode off by revealing that he is Clovis’ brother and that HE IS PISSED.
what a tweest!
The episode ends before he can cause another ritual suicide.
—
Okay, impressions. Not getting much better, to be perfectly honest. Already there are plot devices and holes and places where the direction of the battle is just laughable. Now, before you get me by saying anything about giant mecha battles and realism, might I remind you that Code Geass wants, nay DEMANDS to be taken seriously, and thus I am judging it under that microscope. The show wants so hard to be deep and srs bznz and to change people man, which is why I’m being extra harsh. This episode kinda bored me as it kept changing perspectives so fast that I couldn’t get in to any one of the plot threads they were laying out. By the time I started to get invested…BAM camera change. On a positive note, some of the things Lelouch did battle wise were interesting to watch, even if they were a bit hard to believe, and Suzaku doing his damned spinkick in a mecha made me choke on my soda.
Still ranking the show as average, at the moment. Maybe subsequent episodes will change my mind.
One more thing, I’ve decided to judge this show purely on its own merits. I am not taking into account any possible controversy involving racism, blatant ignorance of history, etc. I am looking at it purely as an AU. If I wanted to label what I’m doing, I would call it an intrinsic analysis, though what I’m doing is hardly academic.
See you next time.
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