Newtype Gaiden Scans! Sort of.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

So, scans of this month's Newtype have made their way online, and we finally have some more information about the upcoming Code Geass Gaiden, Boukoku no Akito.

And by "more information" I mean Knightmare Frame designs.





Anyone care to translate the article to see if there is any other new information there?

Also, for those who weren't aware, three chapters of Shikkoku no Renya have been scanlated so far.

Comments

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that the creators said something along the lines of "Lelouch doesn't see C.C. romantically. He sees her as an equal." I face palmed SO HARD. I was surprised to hear them say it so explicitly, though; usually the idea that you can't respect your lover as an equal is more implicit.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, I find that a really disturbing implication. And terribly confusing - if you don't see someone you are in love with as an equal, than what do you see them as?

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Well the bullshit and of course heteronormativetraditional view is that a woman should see her male lover as superior and that a man should see his female lover as inferior (though I admit this may be a tad straw-man-ish). One of the words for husband in Japanese - "goshujinsama" - literally translates to "master." It's what C.C. calls Lelouch when she loses her memories. "Danna" has similar connotations, although AFAIK "otto" is more egalitarian. (Of course, English is not much different, the change just occurred further in the past: "husband" used to be synonymous with "master/keeper.")
To illustrate my point, let's look at Kallen/Lelouch. Kallen fell in love with Zero, her superior in the Black Knights, who she proudly serves. Now I think of Kallen's devotion to Zero as very much tied up with her Japanese patriotism rather than just her love for Zero himself, but it's still a bodyguard crush from a place of inferiority and co-dependence (he needs protection, she needs to protect him). Lelouch (hypothetically) reciprocates in kind: Kallen is his inferior - not equal - in the Black Knights. He's her boss, he gives her orders. But he needs her and depends on her. Now again this is hypothetical because the show is pretty fuzzy about Lelouch's feelings, but (hypothetically) he falls in love with his bodyguard and she falls in love with him. (And oh boy, does Code Geass LOVE bodyguard crushes: Lelouch/Kallen, Charles/Marianne, Suzaku/Euphemia, Guilford/Cornelia...of course, in two of these, the woman is the superior and the man is inferior, but the relationship is still unequal.)
Now this is a pretty interesting pair to find this dynamic with because Kallen is not a submissive person. When student!Lelouch offends her, she smacks him in the face. There was a magazine scan about what kind of wife some of the female characters would be; Kallen was described as assertive and dominant, and we know this fits with her personality. It also fits with the idea that the writers attempted to make Kallen a good, strong female character (whether or not they succeeded is an entirely different argument with way more factors than we're considering here) and action girl.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I remain vaguely disturbed by the first part.

Though yeah, you have really pinged on why I wasn't a huge fan of Kallen/Lelouch. Though I liked it best when they were enemies - the power differential is at it's least, I suppose. There's still the issue of Lelouch deceiving and manipulating her "so she can be happy", rather than letting her decide that for herself.

It bothers me a bit that they create Kallen as a strong female character type - and then push her into a position where almost her entire character development is about 1. a man, and 2. a man who she is subservient to, and frequently manipulates her.

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

There's still the issue of Lelouch deceiving and manipulating her "so she can be happy", rather than letting her decide that for herself.

Ah, that essentiatlly was the case for pretty much all his closed ones. /xcept C.C. and Suzaku techincally speaking/

It is true what you say about Kallen's chara, you've got all the points in the world, if you examine it on the surface; however her poem-thoughts that got released along with the Complete Best boxset, gave her justification on why she ended up being so hung up on Zero and then Lelouch. (he made her bro;s wishes take form, her country, a new hope etc bull etc blah etc.) So it is not about Lelouch per se, it is what Lelouch embodied for her and made her believe. Till his act as a huge dick and then we all know what happened afterwards.

At any rate, most of girls that were involved with Lelouch, had this kind of kamikaze-air around them. Shirley was deceived by him and still wanted to be there for him. Kallen too, though in the last episodes she chose her country-beliefs over him. /Lelouch's dandy 'dumping' to her in R2-22 played a huge role on that one though.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Ah, that essentiatlly was the case for pretty much all his closed ones. /xcept C.C. and Suzaku techincally speaking/

Yeah, and I think that was a big character flaw of Lelouch's actually, since it backfires spectacularly at several points, and Nunnally even calls him on it in the final episodes. (And Zero Requiem is about gambling on other people to do what makes them happy, rather than just deciding it for them)

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

Well, sometimes it was just an excuse for him to accomplish his own goals the whole 'but that will make you happy' especially in season 1, cause in R2, he got more softie lol but yeah, Lelouch had this habit of doing things his own way and really thinking that is what makes his close people euphoric.

ZR was a reset plan. Bring everything back to the beginning and believing in people find their own happiness afterall. That was a first for Lelouch. /and last, baw.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I am asleep and have to go to work but I just wanted to point out how much I love this interpretation of ZR and how it's LOADS better than the one the creators ramble on about from time to time. As do I enjoy the discussion of Zero's ultimate flaw regarding his selfish/selfless love issues.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

It's always been my interpretation of Zero Requiem, and I think there is certainly enough evidence to back it up as canon - to start with, the whole thing comes into play immediately after Lelouch realises all the shit his parents have done "to make people happy".

But yes, I have seen Lelouch described as "selflessly selfish" (Or maybe it was the other way around) - he'll do anything to make those he loves happy, except decide for themselves without him. Lelouch has a kind of... egocentric view of things, and a tendency to interpet things through his own sense: thus "gentler world" becoming "kill off my family". (Which is why it bothers me a bit when people take his word of what happens as The Only Valid Interpretation. Lelouch isn't the most objective observer of his own life.)

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

Well that is what Lelouch said pretty much to Suzaku in the last flashback scene. He carried all the burdens of everyone /himself included too of course/ and wanted to believe that people were not gonna repeat the same bullshit. Long shot, but in the ending we saw, it worked. /so far at least hehe/ 8D

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I remain vaguely disturbed by the first part.

And with good cause. It's a ubiquitous sexist trope that often gets overlooked (and I mean this about myself too; I probably wouldn't have noticed it without the writers explicitly saying that Lelouch and C.C. are equals so they can't be lovers).

As for Lelouch not letting Kallen make her own decisions, I kind of agree with him. Kallen is one of the many, many people in Code Geass who seems to consider honor before reason, and she'd have sacrificed herself needlessly for him. But I completely see your point about how it's deceptive and manipulative and he's not trusting her to make her own choices.

In R1 I think her character development wasn't entirely about Lelouch. In fact, in the Kallen-centric episode, it wasn't about him at all IIRC; it was about her mother. But otherwise she basically existed in relation to Lelouch, and in R2 her development path was basically her reconciling her image of Lelouch with her image of Zero.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's at all malevolent, but it's still a very condescending way to treat people. It also, as winterfox mentioned earlier, reduces a lot of Kallen's individual agency.

True, but Kallen gets what, one episode that's all about her, rather than defining her in terms of relationship with Lelouch/Zero? One episode out of 50 for a main character isn't real great.