Code Geass Episode 5: Discussion!

[gods-debris.livejournal.com]

Episode 5: 皇女と魔女
The Imperial Princess and the Witch










We begin by seeing Cornelia taking control of Area 18 with her army. For whatever reason I always somewhat felt that Lelouch had some sort of a similarity with her. Well, at least for this episode they were both introduced with a fiery entrance (at least Zero was shown to the public that way in the last episode). Cornelia has decided to take control of Area 11 and avenge the death of her brother, Clovis. Her goal? To find Zero!

Lelouch returns home to see a familiar face of someone whom he thought died via bullet to the brain. I guess I'd be a little surprised too. I mean, he did watch her die in front of him. There was a bullet in her head, after all. She survived and there's not even a scar to show she was ever shot. At any rate, it's nice to see that Nunnally and C.C. are getting along pleasantly—except she's under the assumption that Lelouch is marrying her. I gotta say, though, I didn't get the feeling that Nunnally really believed the breaking of that cup was legit. Unfortunately for Lelouch he doesn't get to have a lot of his questions answered by the mysterious C.C..

In other news poor Jeremiah has lost his leadership due to the whole "orange" incident. No one trusts him after he let Zero escape and even attacked his own men claiming they were disobeying his orders. For those wondering what "orange" meant, Lelouch claims it was just a casual remark that some people will want to know the meaning of and others will begin to analyze what it does mean. Suspicion. Luckily for Suzaku, due to the whole ordeal they acquitted that there was not enough evidence to charge him with the murder of Clovis, so he was found innocent! Other than that other terrorist groups are making a ruckus because of the whole Zero thing, thinking it's time to revolt; even the Japanese that Toudou is a part of wants to act now, but Toudou seems to be very patient and he wants to wait and not get caught up in the whole Zero thing.

Anyways, is it just me or is this entire anime built on lies? When Suzaku meets Euphemia for the first time one of the first thing she says to him is a lie. She's being chased by bad people? Moreover she lies about who she is—well she omits the fact that she's the princess Euphemia and just tells Suzaku that she's Eufie. However, I get that she did that so she could see who he was on a different level. For example when Suzaku stepped in when some Britannian soldiers were creating a ruckus with an Eleven. He took a lot of heat from the Britannians. Later he stepped in when there was a coup d'état against Jeremiah, which later caused Euphemia to step in and stop the fight using her royal power. Maybe it was a test for Suzaku because she knew who he was when they met, I believe. Either way, Lloyd knew the entire time, that bastard!

I gotta hand it to Lelouch, though. He put Geass on a girl to test how long Geass stays on a given person for. Every day at the same time she goes to the same spot and carves in the wall the same image. Even C.C. is impressed.

Suzaku is attending Ashford Academy! :D

Next time: 奪われた仮面
The Stolen Mask

P.S. I will be deleting previous image batches from my flickr account within the next week, save for this one.

Comments

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Well that puts you in the same boat as the writers, so I can't blame you (not that I would anyway; shipping is a matter of preference and personal interpretation).
Honestly, though, I literally cannot think of a non-shippy way to interpret R2 Episode 15 ("She's my...she's my...!") as well as the end of the Mao episode where they lightly and sensuously brush fingertips. Also, when C.C. asks Lelouch to say her name "as a lover would."
It also doesn't help that "goshujinsama" is both "master" and "husband" so she's calling him her husband as well when she's mind-regressed.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I adore ALL Lelouch pairings so I have no preference, aside from like Rolo but that's a weird nitpicky thing with me just not enjoying it but fully acknowledging it's totally viable. That said, I hate using any of CC's regression mentality to connect to the ship. That whole thing, while arguable in plot sense for the sake of giving the writers a benefit of a doubt, leaves a TERRIBLE taste in my mouth. And I'd rather ignore it entirely, as it pertains to their relationship.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. I'm not terribly fond of regressed!C.C./Lelouch either. The porn especially bothers me because she is mentally a child (C.C. Lemonade 2 is an exception where I just ignore it because I like the hawt drawings).
My argument for C.C./Lelouch rests 99% on their interactions and references to one-another outside of that time period, and it can rest 100% on that. I just mentioned it because I remember reading Jesus, Joy of Man's Desiring by RURU and wondering, "Why the hell is C.C. referring to Lelouch as her husband? Is this an AU where they're married? Oh, right, it means master too!"
But again, it's really mostly about stuff like the "say my name like a lover would" bit and how Lelouch responds to C.C.'s true wish of to be truly loved.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, there's definitely something very powerful there. As with her being his accomplice and him promising to be a warlock if she must be a witch. I do love them so.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

C.C./Lelouch shipping talk? THIS IS RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS.

I think the two of them are a lot alike in many ways - they both seem to regard themselves as 'fallen', for example. To be honest, Lelouch/CC is the only Lelouch ship where I can really imagine what they'd be like as an actual couple (namely, much the same as they are normally). With Shirley in particular, I just can't picture what the relationship would be like beyond the actual declaration of love - they pretty much inhabit different worlds. Which isn't to say it mightn't be interesting, but I think it could also fail horribly, and I'd have terrible trouble, say, writing it in a fanfic. (I've rarely seen it done by anyone else in a way I found satisfying.)

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[kiraya.livejournal.com]

From what I've studied of the language, I can't really interpret ご主人様 as "husband" -- at the very least, the honorific prefix is omitted in reference to one's own husband (though historical usage may have been different; I can't make any claims there).

Also, considering the rest of C.C.'s attitude during that time... I don't know. It's painful to watch such a self-assured woman who doesn't let anyone take advantage of her sink to that level, and I'm not comfortable using that as a reason to ship them when their dynamic is usually so different.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Is that so? I've never heard it without the honorific prefix without dropping the sama. I thought one would say "goshujinsama" to one's own husband, and "shujin" to others, while referring to others' husbands as "goshujinsama." It would sound weird to me to not have the "go" in the same way it would sound weird to hear "niisama."

Nayami said the same thing about the regressed!C.C. arc, and I addressed it: Fair enough. I'm not terribly fond of regressed!C.C./Lelouch either. The porn especially bothers me because she is mentally a child (C.C. Lemonade 2 is an exception where I just ignore it because I like the hawt drawings).
My argument for C.C./Lelouch rests 99% on their interactions and references to one-another outside of that time period, and it can rest 100% on that. I just mentioned it because I remember reading Jesus, Joy of Man's Desiring by RURU and wondering, "Why the hell is C.C. referring to Lelouch as her husband? Is this an AU where they're married? Oh, right, it means master too!"
But again, it's really mostly about stuff like the "say my name like a lover would" bit and how Lelouch responds to C.C.'s true wish of to be truly loved.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[kiraya.livejournal.com]

From what I was taught, others' husbands are ご主人 (goshujin) and your own husband is 夫 (otto), or less commonly 主人 (shujin). I learned ご主人様 as a polite way to say sir/master -- more language for use in the service industry than with your spouse. (As for the お兄様 thing, I've actually seen it used without the honorific in at least one character in another fandom.)

I was stretching things a bit with the 主人様 example. You could say it when talking about your husband, but it would probably sound kind of odd (unless you have some... interesting power dynamics going on in your relationship). 主人 would be more common, and even that less so than 夫 (which is a pretty neutral term).

The show offers subtext for just about every Lelouch pairing, really, and that to me is part of the fun of it -- nothing is outright confirmed on his side (unless him calling Euphie 初恋 counts), so as fans we're free to take a number of different interpretations of things.

Re: Random thoughts and some SPOILERS

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Ah, I probably should've mentioned that I am talking about a more old-fashioned way of speaking, in which essentially calling one's husband "master" wouldn't sound ridiculously out of date. I think "otto" is indeed a better word to use because it doesn't carry the same inherent power imbalance. And a when speaking to him a wife nowadays would probably say "anata" instead of "goshujinsama."