code_geass ◾ ◾ The Sneaker Novel Summary

There is a light novel series that started being serialized in The Sneaker magazine in their June issue (published actually at the end of April due to the way Japanese magazines number their issues) dealing primarily with the Knights of Rounds. It's a little too long to fully translate, but contains some interesting information about the setting and characters.

While this is an official side story, I'm not sure if any of the information will come up in the anime series proper, and they may change details as necessary for the anime plot, so please take it with a grain of salt.

Plot Summary

The story's written in third person, using Gino's POV, and relates how he and Anya first meet Suzaku.

1) The story opens with Tristan and Mordred decimating an EU base. The EU recognize them as KoR by their KMFs. Anya stops to take a picture of a rabbit.

2) They return to Britannia to report to Beatrice (see characters), and receive their next assignment to sit around the palace and chill.

3) Gino receives an invitation to an exhibition match with the newly appointed Knight of Seven

4) KMF duel happens while the Emperor and various nobles watch. Both Suzaku and Gino hold back to drag out the fight for longer than necessary.

5) Story ends with Gino escaping Beatrice's fury (Gino lost the match due to being more concerned with testing Suzaku's abilities than seriously fighting for points) by literally dragging Suzaku off to an impromptu welcome party at his house. Anya railroads Cecile into helping her deterr Beatrice to cover for the boys.

About Characters

Suzaku:

-is discriminated against in Britannia due to being an Eleven. A lot of the nobility disapproved of his promotion to KoR.

-his military rank is 准将 (Brigadier-General) at this point.

-still uses polite language to Cecile even though he technically outranks her, and apologizes like a sad little boy when she gets mad at him.

Gino:

-is the fourth son of a prestigious noble family, raised in isolation in a seperate estate from his parents.

-while it's hard to tell the difference between in-world pretty and generic anime attractive in anime itself, the novel author makes it clear that Gino is supposed to be unusually handsome and capable of charming most women with just a smile if he were so inclined.

-believes that only "weak" people are qualified to be knights. This is a little hard to interpret, but the gist of the idea is that a "strong" person would be unable to prevent themselves from trying to fight the fact that, when it all comes down to it, a knight's job is to kill people. Whereas a "weak" person can be a good knight because they're able to use excuses and self-deception to soothe their conscience in order to keep doing their job. This philosophy is somehow related to a girl from his past.

-first impression of Suzaku is that he's "lost something fundamental to a human being". Also thought he was the same age as Anya.

-knows the language of flowers (whut)

Anya:

-doesn't know how to use formal forms of speech.

-is bad at paperwork and gets chewed out by Beatrice for it.

-is very competitive or just likes to fight, offering to substitute for Gino in the duel even though her Mordred isn't a melee KMF.

-is probably skilled in some form of martial arts, possibly swordsmanship, as she acted as a bodyguard for the Emperor during the exhibition match. Gino said something along the lines of "don't slash at people again just because you don't recognize a new maid".

Other characters:

-the manager in charge of the KoR (and all security matters relating to the Emperor) is a secretary general and duchess named Beatrice Phalanx, a retired KoR nicknamed "Lost Sword". She has long hair, glasses, is strict and humorless and always addresses the other KoR by title.

-Euphemia is known as the "massacre princess" even to the Britannians.

About the KoR

-there aren't currently 12 of them, even though there are 12 designated seats. Seven was an empty seat before Suzaku was promoted, so he didn't kick anyone out. It's possible that the KoR we saw in Ep2 are the only ones currently active.

-aside from One's special priviledges, the numbers in the KoR do not mean anything in terms of rank.

-KoR normally address each other by first name.

-have charter planes to cart them around when not in combat.

-each KoR has an R&D team dedicated to development and maintenance of their KMF; for Lancelot, this is Lloyd and Cecile's Camelot unit. The abilities of each custom KMF depend on the skills of their technicians and what effort they put into various aspects of the mecha. Lancelot has better melee capabilities than Tristan.

-both Suzaku and Gino were addressed as 騎士公 ("knight-duke"), although it's unclear whether this is the standard aristocrat title for KoR (as opposed to, say, Marianne, who was a 騎士侯 ("knight-marquess")).