Question about reactions to ep 6

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

I seriously loved this episode and all of the great Lloyd and Suzaku moments in it. But I'm kinda scratching my head after reading some reactions to it that make no sense to me. I've not been very involved in Geass fandom and am rather shocked at some of the prevailing attitudes ^^;;;



I'm rather confused as to why everyone thinks Nunally has been brainwashed by Suzaku. After all, he's not the one who actually uses an evil brainwashing power to murder people. That's Lelouch. He's never used someone important to him as a political tool. Again, that's Lelouch. And if you want to argue that he used Lelouch, I think he had more than enough right to do so after Lelouch murdered Euphie and completely fucked over his country and plans for peace.

I'm glad to see Nunally taking some initiative and for them to develop her character more. I also am eagerly awaiting to see her reaction to learning Lelouch is Zero. I was glad she told him he was wrong. Because he is. And I do not think that, even as much as she loves her brother, she is going to take very kindly to the knowledge that he has been murdering people left and right and committing all sorts of atrocities all in her name. She'll likely be horrified and so far, no Britannian telling her has been a mercy. Lelouch has made this bed for himself and he seems awfully upset that now he has to lie in it. Poor baby. This is me feeling completely not sorry for him.

I like Lelouch as a character, but I hold no illusions that he's a nice person in the least. He puts selfish goals ahead of the plight of an entire nation of downtrodden people, nevermind lying to, manipulating, and using people who honestly care for him. Along with murdering family members and innocent people in cold blood and all of that. I don't think the ends ever justify the means, and while he had good intentions at some point - is he now going to fuck over Nunally for his own goals and ego or will he let her lead her own life - I think Lelouch's pretty far along on his trip to hell. I jiust don't understand why everything Suzaku does wrong is picked apart and held against him while Lelouch's various crimes, which are a much much much much longer list, are immediately forgiven. I understand that he's the main character and all, but I just can't give him that leeway and have to hold him to the same standards as every other character.

Comments

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

He's willing to kill innocent people whenever he feels like it. Even in ep 6, he could have easily Geassed those two fleeing Britannian doctors I think they were to just go away or leave him alone. But no, he instead chose to kill them for no reason that I saw. He clearly does not see other people as having the same level of worth as himself or Nunally. I don't think he'd hesitate to pull the trigger on one of the school characters if he thought he'd benefit from it.

Lelouch isn't as sociopathic as Light, but I think he's clearly following the same path. And I really can't see how anyone could think that Light was anything but self interested evil working to get what he wanted and addicted to his own power. And I like Light a lot and was really intrigued that the series protagonist was in all affects its villain, but still, I don't think we were ultimately supposed to think that what he was doing was right. Lelouch is essentially working as a terrorist and I just can't support or see terrorism as the right way to go. I'm glad Nunally agrees.

Suzaku has made mistakes, yes, and he's clearly changed and been affected by the things that have happened. But I still think that he's operating nowhere near the level of villainy that Lelouch is. I think he's in the most difficult position in the whole series. Suzaku has much more at stake if he makes a mistake than Lelouch does.

[firebird-88.livejournal.com]

Well, he did hesitate for Shirley. :-/ There are numerous places where Lelouch has extremely bad fights with his human side, mainly involving Suzaku and Shirley. And Euphie, of course.

Well, let's think about it this way. Lelouch was born a prince. He still has the mentality of the Royal Family in which he has no fear of ordering people into battle and shedding blood for his own purpose. That doesn't make him any worse than, say, the Emperor or Cornelia, except that he has the power of Geass. He's not use the concept of holding other people that he doesn't know anywhere close to people that he DOES know.

Suzaku was born a normal kid. He has a much better concept of how valuable every person is. He seemed to disagree with Zero's tactics, but I was kind of shocked that he didn't disagree with Cornelia or the Emperor's tactics. (Well, I suppose he's not in the position to...)

Again, Code Geass is not one-handed slaughter at the hands of Lelouch. Lelouch is losing men too. It's basically war. :-/ Also, we can't call Lelouch a terrorist without considering both sides. From the eyes of the Japanese, he is far from a terrorist. Japan didn't ASK to be taken over. Britannia is the biggest pushover ever, and that doesn't necessarily make them 'right' because they won over all the countries. We're getting into heavy debates about right and wrong of wars now so I'll stop, lol.

Light... Light was interesting. XD He still ended up being my favorite character, but we should probably leave the debates about Death Note to the DN forums.