Two cents

[spaleween.livejournal.com]

First off, I like this anime because it involves war, political intrigue, friendship, and betrayal. Then I was miffed at the stereotypical characters--bad protagonist, heroic antagonist/best friend/greatest enemy, sexy and mysterious girl with mystical powers, helpless sister, megalomaniac king.

And then, as other LJ people have mentioned, they're not stereotypical after all. They're not completely good/bad people...most of them anyway.

There were two things I hated: (1) the Pizza Hut product placement, but this has already been beaten and murdered in other posts so I won't do it, and (2) the god-awful deus ex machina.

There were plenty of deus ex machina in Code Geass (read: V.V.), but what annoyed me most was when Euphie dropped out of nowhere and into Suzaku's arms. Somebody explain to me why a princess would drop out of nowhere? Ah, *forehead smack* convenient plot device...of course.

Many people don't like Euphie because she's a Lacus clone. I initially agree. But when she became a killing doll, I liked it. She became one of Lelouch's many accidental pawns in that last-8-minute chess game of his. This confirms Euphie's purpose in the series: convenient momental plot device.

Now Nina. Everyone is creeped out. But I like it that there's a one-sided-stalker-worship-dirty-love going on with Nina. She never really had anyone care for her before, and here comes this radiant glowing princess that values Nina's life so much that she's willing to exchange her life for hers. Nina is so awestruck because no one ever does this for her before that she entrusts her never-ending and never-wavering loyalty and devotion to her. Someone actually treasured her, in Nina's view. So the girl who was never appreciated before becomes obssessed with the radiant princess because she's afraid no one would appreciate her life again. I kinda understand it.

Suzaku. Agree with the initial Kira-clone impression. Agree with the later omg-he's-actually-two-dimensional-because-of-that-patricide impression. I truly appreciate characters who are not one-dimensional. I don't like perfect characters. I like it that he's a contradictory character. I like it that he's trying to convince himself of doing the right thing, justifying himself of his father's murder. He's haunted by all the bad things he did, but he still weaves the illusion onto himself that "this is for the good". He has a mask, just like Lelouch's Zero, but Suzaku's mask is harder to remove as it's from childhood. I agree that he keeps repressing all that emotion. Once, he managed to let a bit out in front of Lelouch, but that's just a bit. His guilt is slowly eating him and he doesn't notice it. Euphie was, once again--convenient plot device--, the trigger to release all that pent-up emotion since childhood. He doesn't care anymore. He doesn't care that Nunnally is in danger. He doesn't care that Japan is in complete chaos. He doesn't care that Lelouch is his best friend. He doesn't care. All he cares about is killing this guy, riddle him with bullets and make sure he's DEAD.

I haven't read Suzaku of the Counterattack, you see.
A favor? Would anyone mind doing a character sketch of Suzaku? I really want to understand him more.

Comments

Re: Some mighty big claims you got there

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

I agree 100%.

This sorta goes back to the discussion of whether or not Suzaku is a hypocrite. It's easy for us to label him as such, but if we try to put ourselves in his shoes, it's not hard to see how he ended up taking the path he took between ages 10 and 17. He simply wanted to preserve himself somehow--hold onto some semblance of his worth as a decent human being, even if he doesn't place much value on his life himself. We can say "man up and face it", but it's not as easy as that. Anyone who has taken any abnormal psychology or mental health class can tell you as much. And I think we can all agree that the boy has a few screws up in his head loose.

Basically, I think to call him little more than a hypocrite slaps mental health patients across the face. "Why can't you just be happy? Why can't you just will yourself to change?" No. Doesn't work like that. And given the little emotional support that he has received between the ages of 10 and 17, I'm not surprised that he has shown no improvement.

In our idealized anime worlds, I think we're all a bit too affected by the standard shounen I-can-do-anything-so-long-as-I-put-my-heart-to-it archetype. And we may be disappointed when we see a weak character, although humans are pretty darn weak. We're fragile and emotional, and we don't recover from our hurts in the span of one or two episodes.

Re: Some mighty big claims you got there

[kadekmoment.livejournal.com]

I agree with this so much. For all the occasional moments of excessive!drama and silliness, what Geass does take seriously is the psychology of damaged human beings. Lelouch and Suzaku both want to avoid constantly facing the things that hurt them, so they opt for two different routes: the first pretending that there's nothing to hurt, the latter pretending that he can somehow erase the hurt as long as he can rationalize his behavior. And you're right, they are weak: they can't do it, try as they might. The black prince isn't so dark after all, and the white knight is more stained than he appears. And of course, it just gets harder to face reality the longer the pretending goes on: lies become far too comfortable.

I know that it was that realism that drew me into Geass in the first place. ♥ Besides the promise of pretty CLAMP!designs and product placement.

Re: Some mighty big claims you got there

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and see that is what I am really arguing against, he's not a hypocrite, he's just someone trying to be functional.

After watching the picture drama it is completely clear that Suzaku has no support network at all once Lelouch and Nunnally move into the Ashford and I seriously doubt the Britannian army/whoever was watching Suzaku from 10-17 either really cared about him or his mental health. I think it's also easy to forget he was 10 when he committed the murder and he is 17 now. One thing I really like about Geass is for the most part the characters act more age appropriate as well.

Anyway, my friend got back in touch with me and said that she understands it as follows:
Suzaku says: "I didn't have any words to say in response to your vow. What you are trying to do is patricide. It's probably the wrong answer. [Not clear if he means "Patricide is the wrong answer to your problems" or "It would be the wrong answer to your vow to point out that you're trying to commit patricide."]
And then he says "I know. I was the only one who could know."

Whee, ambiguity!

My friend is completely bilingual.

So there we have it, its still unclear whether it was premeditated but its definitely clear that Suzaku does not feel he made the right choices.

Re: Some mighty big claims you got there

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

Thanks for getting back so quickly about the translation. Okay, cool. You've answered many questions for me now. I'll take back my claim that it was premeditated, and I finally have a sense of when Genbu's murder fits in all this. Whee!

Wow. We sure discussed the crap out of him. Stupid Sexy Suzaku.

Re: Some mighty big claims you got there

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Yeah we did. lol Though if Stage 0 is true, then I take back my belief that it wasn't premeditated and instead argue that that a 10 year old Suzaku was probably thinking self-defense/justifiable homicide to save his friends.

I admit freely, I have a particular bee in my bonnet when people claim Suzaku thinks he is Jesus or is a complete hypocrite since I don't think he thinks he is even close to Jesus, and while Suzaku himself might feel a hypocrite because he can't forgive his past, I don't think he is one. He's just a very sexy dysfunctional young man.

That drama CD is just so sad.