Post-Sub Reactions

[the-sports-geek.livejournal.com]

OK, I should note that this is from Your-Mom's subs, which were spat out quickly, with mistakes, and with their one-of-a-kind humor added in. Those who saw the last five minutes of 25 know what I'm talking about. To those who are waiting, why? Your-Mom is like fast food, it may not be the best for you, but it gets the job done. Still, I have a very good idea of what went down/what was said, and here's my take on the whole thing:

1. Hitomi no Tsubasa is by far the best opening so far. COLORS was pretty good. Kaidoku Funou was decent after the new opening was animated. Hitomi no Tsubasa is just... ROCK.

2. Lelouch has risen to the top of my "Fictional Characters I Don't Want to See at a Poker Table" List. Episode 24 was a great "Lelouch is smart as hell" episode.
a. Collapses the outskirts of Tokyo to fuck over Cornelia's forces by Geassing half the crew, complete with orders to kill anyone who gets in their way. That's cold. And a great move. Michael Corleone would be proud.
b. Lure Suzaku to a specific point on Ashford's campus to disable his uber-Knightmare? BRILLIANT!!!
c. Cornelia. Gets. Owned. But, not as bad as Darlton. Holy shit, that was awesome.

3. I'll go against the majority of fandom here and say I loved the new angry, revenge-driven, Suzaku. As soon as he told Lloyd to "SIT DOWN" with his fists, I knew I was going to love his rampage. And what a rampage it was. The old Suzaku never would have killed so indiscriminately. The new one just lets God sort it out. Now, that is an accurate reaction to him losing Euphie and finding out about the Geass from VV.

4. Ougi getting shot was hard to watch, because I like his character. But, when he saw Villetta (Chigusa at the time to him) show up at the school, he had to know something was up. Exceedingly bad move on his part to go in there alone with her.

5. Cornelia going Bat-Shit Fucking Insane/"DO YOU LIKE TO DANCE?!?!?" on Lelouch was great. Even greater was Darlton stabbing her in the back. I know I mentioned this already, but this was the best part of the finale for me. Just absolute knife-twisting brilliance from Lulu. Nothing describes this better than "I DON'T BELEEEEVE.... WHAT I JUST SAW!!!!!"

6. I like the ending of 25. From seeing that CC really isn't human. To seeing Orange-kun go nuts. To the reveal to Suzaku (and Kallen) that Zero is Lelouch. To the Lost-esque ending that kicks you in the balls and makes you like it.

7. Now, as smart as Lelouch was in Episode 24 and for part of 25. He was a fucking dumbass about Nunally. She is his one weakness. The only person who could bring his plan to a halt. And she did. Indirectly, yes, but she has been kidnapped twice now, and twice Lelouch dropped everything to go after her. If Lelouch is going to somehow succeed in taking down Brittania in Season Two, I'm pretty sure Nunally is going to have to die. She's too much of a wild card. And that's what brings Lelouch down for the most part, wild cards.

8. More Suzaku love, this time for his reaction to seeing that Lelouch is Zero. He isn't that surprised. He kinda expected it. I almost expected him to say "I knew it was you, Lelouch. You broke my heart." He doesn't even get all emotional about it. He is committed to killing Zero so much that he doesn't care that it is Lelouch. Yet another case of revenge-driven Suzaku coming through. He didn't even fall for Lelouch's offer to go save Nunally. He is single-minded in his revenge. And that brings me to my main point.

9. This show has the most accurate portrayal of high school kids in a giant robot anime since Evangelion. High school kids are a ball of hormones. Give them a mech to pilot or an uber-power and slap them in the middle of a war, and they'll occasionally, if not more often than not, act like idiots. That's why I love this show. The characters are unpredictable and will fall victim to their emotions just like everyone else does, but especially for kids their age.

10. Predictions:
a. Cornelia dies, Ougi lives. This is also what I want to happen. I never really liked Cornelia that much. Too much bitch for my taste.
b. Nina does not detonate the nuke... at the beginning of the second season. But, she does sometime during the second season.
c. I have no idea about CC. Or VV. Or any of that shit. That's gonna be fun finding out about that crap. I wonder how much of the ending was moved around when they decided to make a second season.
d. At the end of 2008, Time Magazine names Code Geass as the Best Show on Television. Don't believe me? The past two years were Battlestar Galactica and The Wire, two shows that were definitely under the radar before being anointed in the magazine's end of year awards. And in my book, Code Geass compares very favorably with the first one (and Lost, my current favorite show on TV).

And when I show this to my mother, I'll have a much better test case as to how good this show is to the general public.

Comments

[crackjaw.livejournal.com]

OT, but as for Your-Mom's...silly subbing, I think my favorite line of theirs was Orange-kun's "I'M FIRIN MAH PEWPEWLAZERS"

I...highly doubt Time Magazine will name Code Geass best show on television. For one, it's anime and I don't think they go for foreign shows at all. Besides, even though those two shows were under the radar, they're much more well-known over here, relatively. For two, it's not nearly as topical as BSG and the Wire, and downright silly in parts to bot.

[crackjaw.livejournal.com]

And by bot I mean boot, of course.

[okay.livejournal.com]

I really don't get why people dislike Yourmom subs. You're right, even though they include their corny jokes within the show, at least they're able to tranlate the whole ep for people u_u

[firebird-88.livejournal.com]

I agree, the Your Mom subtitles were really.... strange at parts, but you're so distracted by the anime that I think I kind of ignored it. XD

Hahahaha, I totally agree about Lulu's brilliant and fall moments. Ep. 24 was actually really neat cuz you were cheering on the OotBK, but 25 was just... sheesh. Everything just fell apart (for Lulu's side) and I couldn't help wincing every time he lost another peice.

Strangely enough, I was RELIEVED when Lulu went to save Nunally above all else. I was a little scared that he'd get bashed for having no feelings and turning into a sort of Raito/Light Yagami character. ^^; *is a big Death Note fan too* Of course, his weakness is glaring. X_____x;;;;; Not quite sure what he'll be able to do about it, if he gets out of the whole Suzaku and Kallen mess...

[realms-of-life.livejournal.com]

I totally second that. I don't want Lelouch to be another Raito (and I *do* love Raito). I loved the fact that he dumped *everything* to save his sis, because he is that human. :-)

Revangeful!Suzaku rocks my socks. Really. It's like ten years old! Suzaku coming back to life after years of Brittanian and self-repression. I truly love it, even if that makes Suzaku/Lulu fangirling a little more difficult - but still interesting! Oh MY, those boys are intense.

About the security issue at Aries Palace. I got the very CLEAR impression that Lulu takes more after his mom than he realises. Marianne was SO up to something back there.

I don't think Nunally is going to die just yet, because she is Lulu's bloody raison d'etre, in a very Ergo Proxy sense. Also, if Stage 0 is canon, I think we are up to some interesting Nunally-related surprises.

Oh, and I have a question about Your Mom subtitles. Just before Lulu points his gun at Suzaku, he (Suzaku) says he will do something about Nunally. I totally didn't get what he was talking about (maybe because English is not my first language)... Any ideas?

[firebird-88.livejournal.com]

(I love Raito too!! XD I stuck with him to the end, despite all his... faults... and stuff... *is shot* ANYHOO...) Yeah, its so nice seeing Lulu's conscious real up at unpredictable (and predictable) times. I though by 23 that he would have rid himself of it entirely, but its really, REALLY nice to know he didn't. I had this whole wave of warm fuzzy feeling inside me when I realized what he was doing by flying away from battle. (Of course, now I think its all Nunally's fault that everything is losing... Or VV. The nosy bastard. XD)

By the way, how is Ergo Proxy? (And I know in some... manga or book or something, Nunally has the Geass of future sight. O_o Have no idea if they're going to use it in the anime, but its a maybe...)

[realms-of-life.livejournal.com]

I'd love if they used Stage 0 in the anime. Lelouch, Suzaku and Nunally are simply too cool for words on the bits I've read. And yes, I wouldn't mind if they used manga! Nunally's future sight either. :-)

I'm sure Lelouch is sticking to his sister for the time being. The boy has his priorities very clear in his mind.

I guess C.C. works as his conscience now and then. I truly love the fact that C.C. is the only person who knows that Lelouch's "Kill all the Japanese." order was an accident. He didn't even bother to tell Suzaku. Knowing Lulu, he probably thought that 1) the information was useless and he feels responsible anyway; 2) Suzaku wouldn't believe him... or maybe that's just Lelouch hating to admit he made a mistake. lol.

I LOVE that final scene. Lelouch asking Suzaku to save Nunally with him first and fight later is a classic and tells us TONS about his character. The same goes for Suzaku refusing his proposal. :-)

Ergo Proxy is... complicated. The art is amazing and so is the soundtrack. There are really wonderful Matrix-ish dialogues and some characters are really interesting. If you don't mind slow-paced, trippy story-telling you should be okay. I didn't like the ending, tho. It felt like they kept us on edge for 23 episodes and then delievered a very predictable ending. But I guess you've got to watch and find out for yourself.

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

The fansubs were hilarious. I had Wild Sex with an eleven I almost spit out my drink from laughing when I saw that. XD

Episode 24 sort of bored me but 25 was great. I think it was my favorite episode of the series so far. I also actually liked Suzaku a lot in this episode and I couldn't stand him previously. I guess because he went after Lelouch for personal reasons not because of his stupid peace BS. The confrontation at the end was perfect.

Although I don't think Time Magazine really cares about anime. :D

[melrose10.livejournal.com]

I will agree very much in the opening. That was just rockin' great. The song is now on repaeat in my players. :P

[kanasaii.livejournal.com]

I agree, Hitomi no Tsubasa is by far, easily the BEST OP for Code Geass.
though I'm very much disappointed with the opening sequence they did though.

All this waiting and they move still frames?! And they are all art from the DVD covers?!?!?! Man, I'm so put off.

*loops song though*

[strike-x-slash.livejournal.com]

I don't really think the opening song was that great. It was nice and all, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I thought the subs were kinda bad, but they did help me understand what was going on. Sometimes the wording was so horrible, it was hard not to notice even when I was paying real close attention to the anime. Some of the subs were wrong too. I noticed that Your-Mom used "Buta" instead of "Viletta" in episode 24, but used "Viletta" in episode 25, so I was like, "Dude, wtf?"

I predict that in season 2, rocks fall and everyone dies. 8D

[halevy.livejournal.com]

Time Magazine naming Geass best show? Highly unlikable. .__. Perhaps in Japan it'll be so in their magazines but Time?

[nayami.livejournal.com]

It's easier to just link my thoughts on the episodes. (http://nayami.livejournal.com/535179.html#cutid1) I will say that my friend brought up an interesting comment about the final conversation between Suzaku and Lelouch, using translations from GameFAQs. He looked at this line in particular: "Suzaku: You will betray the world in the end -- be betrayed by it! I cannot let you attain your dream!"

I'm not sure how I feel about it, but his take on the line is that it serves as less of a threat and more of a warning in that Suzaku knows that ultimately Lelouch is damning himself (and it will come back to destroy him in the end). My friend poses that Suzaku wants to kill him both out of vengeance, sparing the world and out of some modicum of feeling for the friend he once had.

Like I said, I haven't had time to decide whether or not I'm willing to buy into this analysis completely, but it did shake me. Mostly because Suzaku partially wanting to kill Lelouch in this manner comes in direct opposition to Lelouch's long-lasting desire to preserve Suzaku's life because of his own selfish needs for a constant. Who knows?

[lulu-quality.livejournal.com]

I agree in that Lelouch is going to ultimately be damned since when rewatching the series, I noticed that Lulu (ironically) stated to Rivalz that grandoise dreams will lead to self-destruction. Foreshadowing, anyone? However, Suzaku's line that Lulu's existance was a mistake totally departs from the idea that he's simply warning Lulu and drifts into the concept that Suzaku wants to kill Lulu in order to end everything that has happened thus far.

[realms-of-life.livejournal.com]

I agree. I also love the way Suzaku's denial of Lulu's life reminds us of the Emperor's words to his son seven years ago. It seems Lelouch makes the same connection and you can see his reaction to those words all over his face (and the fact that he finally points his gun at Suzaku). :-)

MAYBE SPOILERS TO STAGE 0 ???

Also, I'm not sure about that, but I think that according to Stage 0 Suzaku killed his dad in order to protect Lelouch and Nunally, which gives Suzaku's words a whole new meaning.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Perhaps not. As I've pointed out in another comment, Suzaku might be trying to elicit a reaction so Lelouch will pull his gun on him. He wants a reason to be able to finally fire because he can't bring himself to do so at this point. Some part of each of them, selfishly driven or nay, doesn't want to allow them to kill the other. I think the continuous gun-shaking Suzaku displays could be indicative of that.

[zalem.livejournal.com]

My reactions:

1) Suzaku is obnoxious in his new ShinnMode plus self-righteous state. Now unlike Shinn he has a better reason for going bat-shit insane. And I do kind of feel sorry for him. But I still get this sense of self-righteousness oozing from him, especially in that last scene and it ticks me off royally.

2) Lulu can be very brilliant at times and very stupid. Leaving in the middle of a major battle to save Nunnally was a bad move. Conquer Tokyo THEN go save your damn sister. She isn't going anywhere and I doubt the kidnapper will kill her. Obviously not since he needs her as a hostage. So clean up Tokyo FIRST. Now he's fled the battle and the Black Knights have lost faith in him. He's going to have one hell of a mess to clean up. I'm really curious as to how he'll get himself out of this one. If there is one thing that will be Lelouch's ultimate downfall it's freaking Nunnally.

3) Cornelia kicks much ass. She totally owned Gawain and would have won had Darlton not interfered. Of course, I don't fault Lulu for this rather sneaky move...it's totally his style. He always was better with tactics and strategy over actual combat. Anyway, I feel bad for Cornelia but I do think she is going to die. ;-;

4) I'm extremely disappointed in Kallen's character. Now if she really understood the conversation about geass and new about Zero being responsible for the massacre then I'd feel her reaction was justified. Or even perhaps learning about him being a Britannian prince. But this? She freaks out just learning that Lelouch=Zero? What happened to walking the path of carnage with him? What happened to all those times she stuck up for him and said it didn't matter who he was, that everyone should look to the results that he has brought about? She knew he wasn't Japanese. Knowing that she should realize that he must have different motives. She also knew that whoever he was, he was someone known personally by Kirihara and approved of by Kyoto. And in the end, Lelouch is right....he has delivered results no one else could. Japan is close to being liberated because of him. Does he have different things to motivate him? Sure, but the enemy is the same. So anyway, I'm just disappointed that all that was just talk on her part. Or maybe not. Maybe she'll prove me wrong in s2.

Can't wait to see what happens next!

[cloud9-alice.livejournal.com]

I'm really hoping that Kallen will prove me wrong for #4 also.
And I wasn't sure why she immediately came up that he was using them all, just by knowing that Lelouch=Zero? She doesn't know anything about Lelouch's purposes.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Kallen should freak out. Zero requested her loyalty; she was his second-in-command, his first and most valued warrior. She was his Knight. It isn't that Lelouch is Britannian that has her betrayed. It's that Lelouch never told her. They spend all this time around each other, and he lied. It's different from when Zero asked if she wanted to know who he was; it's that Lelouch willingly and consistently deceived her. What would you do if you discovered the person you really don't like is your ultimate idol? I am not surprised at Kallen's reaction in the least, although I still wish she would get the chance to kick Lelouch in the nuts because he deserves it.

I also loved how awesome a pilot Cornelia was and how Zero would have been beyond dead had his trump card not arrived. I also love that Lelouch loses EVERYTHING COMPLETELY whenever Nunnally is in danger. We've seen in the Mao arc that he cannot process things correctly and gets sloppy. Nunnally is his weakness is every means of the word, and I think that's one of his aspects that keeps him from being like many anti-heroes of his nature. He's this superb tactician and can boil everything down to a logical rationalization, but threaten his sister and he's a mess. It's perfect! I adore Lelouch's selfish love.

As for Suzaku, they are both reacting on pure emotion right now. Not to mention, Lelouch is being an ass who can't just TELL SUZAKU WHAT HAPPENED. I'm surmised this could be because he doesn't want to admit his own stupid mistake ruined everything, and that all those deaths were his fault. He can admit it to himself, but saying so to others... that's another story. It's a total loss of control, something he cannot afford at the point where he must stay as focused as possible to save Nunnally. But Lelouch not only destroyed Euphie's dream using her to do so but Suzaku's as well. He's angry! And despite everything, Lelouch continues to be selfish and not face the overall situation he's created. I agree Suzaku telling Lelouch his existence is a mistake sits badly with me. Someone suggested Suzaku might be gunning for the most vicious words possible to force Lelouch to turn his gun upon him, thereby giving Suzaku justification to kill him since Suzaku is obviously struggling with that throughout this scene.

[zalem.livejournal.com]

See, if she said "why didn't you tell me" or "you deceived me" then it would point to her being upset because Lelouch never told her. But, from the things she says that's not the reason why she's upset. She's upset because Zero=Lelouch and for some reason she immediately jumps to the conclusion that he has been using the Japanese and her, despite the fact that she has no clue what his true goals and motives are. Nevermind the fact that she should have realized that by virtue of him not being Japanese OF COURSE he has different motives for going after Britannia. Not to mention the fact that he is right...he delivered the results they wished for. There shouldn't be complaints about him being Lelouch (a Britannian) at this point after all he has done. But that seems to be the main reason she is upset. At least to me and it doesn't sit well. Makes her so-called loyalty look flimsy. Now I was expecting her to get upset when she finally knew about this. I wasn't expecting her to suddenly embrace the idea. But this reaction seems like too much. Particularly the reasons why she seems upset....

As for Suzaku....I don't know. I think he really means it when he calls Lelouch a mistake and totally intends on killing him. O___O

[gatekeeperdra.livejournal.com]

My own take at predictions:

for there to be a season 2, Lelouche has to live after Suzaku and Lulu shoot at each other. so either both of them miss or one or both of them are injured, but not fatally.

What i really want to happen is Kallen pulls herself together, sees Suzaku is threatening the chance at Japan's freedom and shoots Suzaku before the other two actually pull their triggers. So, suzaku = dead, which makes me sad, but might ultimately add a larger side of crazy to Lulu. it's be interesting, for sure.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

The creators have indicated that Suzaku will be more of a protagonist in Season 2, at least so I've heard.

[zalem.livejournal.com]

Yeah, despite my annoyance with Kallen right now my bet is on the shot being hers. However, I don't think it will be a fatal shot. Probably something that's just enough to disable, but not kill.

[ramen-cupnoodle.livejournal.com]

I feel so bad for the Black Knights right now. *_*; Lelouch totally ditched them, he really needs to learn some self control when it comes to his sister [omg that sounds so wrong. >_>; LOL]

[faroredono.livejournal.com]

I nearly burst into laughter when Viletta was freaking out over making love to Ougi.And when Orange fired his Harkens,I was like,"wtf?" and then...XDDD

I liked Hitomi no Tsubasa.I hope it'll continue over into the next season with a better sequence.(Which is probably will...it makes zero sense to only play an opening song once)

I dunno,I was half-expecting the things Lelouch did.

You're right,Suzaku's reaction is so far rather accurate.Although I'm pretty sure his new attitude will someday come to bite him in the ass.Hard.

When Ougi got shot,I thought that if Viletta was that pissed at him for taking advantage of her,she would've shot him more than once.Or maybe she still has feelings for him,hohoho...but when he brought Viletta in a room by themselves with a gun in his pocket,that move was just...horrible.><

I'm at least 99.9% sure that Cornelia would've killed Lulu in a matter of seconds if Darlton hadn't interfered.I was relieved Lulu didn't die,but at the same time sad to see her defeat.

I won't even start on Nunally because you've basically got it covered.
Although I bet the OotBK is probably feeling duped because their leader abandoned them for some random disabled blind girl.

And I did not like Kallen's reaction to Zero's true identity.Far too predictable.

[(Anonymous)]

i think most people are wrong as to the reasons why kallen is upset.

She's mainly upset that he deceived everyone that Euphie was a mass murderer when in fact she was Geassed. Euphie was trying to help the Japanese, Zero manipulated her and painted this false story she was a lier and a murderer.

"but you told us that she betrayed us!"

"no, it was really me using Geass"

*kallen cries*

[edward45.livejournal.com]

When does Kallen hear that?