[Preview] Animage?

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

Kanameclan's blog has a preview of a lovely new illustration of Lelouch. I think it's from Newtype 9, but I'm not sure From Prince Animage Summer?

Comments

Re: beware: tl;dr and overthinking follows.

[ultima-vara.livejournal.com]

I'm with megalomaniageek. I really can't see Suzaku doing anything beyond kissing a girl at the point when we meet him in R1. Which still probably makes him more experienced than Lelouch, since Lel is supposed to be an extreme romance noob, right? (At least until he and Shirley kissed)

About what libekory said concerning Suzaku's non-reaction to Kallen on Kamine Island -- Lelouch didn't react to Kallen in the shower, nor to CC in all her various states of undress throughout the series, and he wasn't experienced. So I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Suzaku isn't overly experienced either.

I feel like most of his knowledge about girls would probably come from things his military comrades told him. I feel like, since as megalomanigeek said, he's been with them since he was a kid - they probably treated him like a younger brother who they had to impart their wisdom to. Which again, would put him in a position to be more smart about such things than Lelouch, who never had anyone to tell him such things.

Re: beware: tl;dr and overthinking follows.

[libekory.livejournal.com]

Well, I have my own thoughts on Lelouch's sexuality, but the short answer is that I don't think he applies; most of the time he comes off as asexual and confused about it. (No reaction to Kallen's naked body, but he gets hella flustered and pissed off at Suzaku for tugging his skirt up half an inch during the crossdressing festival picture drama.)

Okay, except that Suzaku in R1 has no military comrades; remember, Honorary Britannian. If you pay attention to the beginning of the first episode of R1, Suzaku is in the unit their commander calls "monkeys" and is being "entrusted" to a mission that will finally earn him the right to carry a firearm. Immediately after this, Suzaku is arrested for high treason, and then he's transferred out of his unit, to work directly with Lloyd and Cecile in their special ASEEC division. We never see him work with another soldier again, except for the scene where the Black Knights are igniting the liquid Sakuradite, where Suzaku is the only one reluctant to fire on the surrendering JAL forces and his commander yells at him about it.

We've got no reason to think or assume that Suzaku has any friends in the military besides Lloyd and Cecile, and Lloyd teases Cecile for caring more about Suzaku's life than is strictly required by their interest in the Lancelot; heck, Suzaku's lack of military friends is implicitly part of the reason why he gets so emotional about having friends at Ashford. (Watch him get misty-eyed for no reason when they're all dressed up as cats for one of Milly's OTHER festivals; there are visible tears in his eyes, and Lelouch notices it, IIRC.)

But, again, this is Word of God: Taniguchi and Oukouchi confirm in the commentary track for the Kamine Island episode that Suzaku is "experienced". So there's little point in arguing with me about it. I was just offering up my own thoughts and headcanon for megalomaniageek to do with as she would.

(I'd also argue that Milly or C.C. would be a WAY better source of information on women and sex, for Lelouch, than Suzaku's hypothetical "military buddies" would be for him. Not that Lelouch wants to hear about any of that stuff from either of them.)

Re: beware: tl;dr and overthinking follows.

[ultima-vara.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're right. I'd totally forgotten about the military scenes you mentioned, since it's been quite a while since I last watched the series from start to finish. Sorry about that.

I hope I didn't come off as argumentative, since I really wasn't intending to be. And I wasn't trying to question the validity of the creators' statement. I was only trying to work out the specifics of the term "experience" as it relates to the rest of Suzaku's characterization.

Also, about Lelouch's reactions to Kallen, etc., I can say from personal experience that it's very possible to ignore the sight of an undressed person without being asexual. I worked as a theater costumer in college, meaning I helped many people dress and undress for fittings, quick changes backstage, as well as getting up close and personal to measure them for custom made costumes and such. But for everyone involved, there was never any feeling of "Oh, there's nudity here!" It was more like you didn't even see them, since you were just doing your job. I imagine it's somewhat similar to how a doctor views his or her patients.

So since Lelouch's reason for being in the bathroom with Kallen was to convince her he wasn't Zero, I think it's possible he was utilizing the same sort of professional attitude. However, despite the professionalism of the workplace, I still wouldn't want someone pulling at my skirt in public, so I understand why Lelouch wouldn't want that either.

Re: beware: tl;dr and overthinking follows.

[libekory.livejournal.com]

♥ It's okay. Sorry if I seemed short with you!

Those are all true, although I'd point out again that Lelouch isn't casual about same-sex nudity; or at least, Suzaku's lifted skirt made him very uncomfortable. But my thoughts about Lelouch are less about his reactions to "Kallen" than his reactions to "etc.", like Shirley. AND THAT IS AS MUCH AS I WILL DIVULGE ON THAT TOPIC, making bluntly dismissive statements about other people's OTPs never ends well.

Re:

[ultima-vara.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, it's cool. =)

Oh, and I realized I misread your post before - I know you were talking about how Suzaku lifted up his own skirt, but for some reason I was reading your post as saying Suzaku was lifting up Lelouch's skirt. (Even though I know that didn't happen in the sound episode, it was late at night when I read it, so my brain was a little fried! XD ) Oh well, I do get what you're saying now.

Re: beware: tl;dr and overthinking follows.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I am intrigued by your thoughts, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

...No really, it's times like this I regret my lack of knowledge of Japanese. It makes me wonder what other interesting things I have missed out.

[libekory.livejournal.com]

--haha. Actually, the material I'm referring to has all been translated! The R1 box set was pretty shibby, and all the commentary tracks are on there and subtitled. ♥

*gives you a newsletter!*

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

The R1 box set was pretty shibby, and all the commentary tracks are on there and subtitled.

Ah, well there's your problem there. Australia didn't get any box set releases, and I'm not sure how many of the special features made it on the individual DVDs.

...The fact my copy is from the Friendly Neighbourhood Anime Shop of Dubious Legality doesn'y help, of course.

What other insights may be found in this newsletter, I wonder?