http://susure.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] susure.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] code_geass2008-08-20 04:50 pm
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miscellaneous CG R2 thoughts (and a poll!)

Since Geass is set to wrap up in six episodes, I decided I'd piece together an entry of my impressions up to this point, plus some nagging thoughts that may never be addressed.

Code Geass is the first series I've followed as it aired, so I hate having to wait a week after each episode. First off, I want to express my ♥ for this community because a lot of people here seem to like Rolo, whereas the blogs I read have been player hating for reals. Rolo is my second favourite CG character, after C.C. and just before Lloyd.

Ever notice people who are completely unsympathetic to Rolo even after his death ALWAYS bring up Shirley? "HOW COULD LELOUCH BE SO NICE TO ROLO AFTER HE KILLLLED SHIRLEY" Stop that crap. Shirley was FILLER (my test: how much Lulu x Shirley fanart is there, vs Lulu x Kallen, Lulu x C.C., Lulu x Suzaku/Xingke/Rolo/Shinkiro/etc) and I believe she should have died in the Mao arc. The fact that Rolo planned on killing Nunnally was way more important, but Lelouch didn't know (had he known, I'm sure he'd have strangled Rolo with his fabulous bare hands but that's neither here nor there since she's 'dead' anyway as of Turn 19). Given that he had earlier told Rolo he hated him, tried to kill him, and the latter STILL saved Lelouch's life at the cost of his own.. How could he not have developed some sort of appreciation by the end? What I don't get is why, the whole time Rolo was spamming his Geass, Lelouch kept telling him to stop, "Do you want to die?!" It doesn't make sense for him to CARE necessarily if Rolo gives up his life; even if he's lost his own will to live. Right?

Enough about Rolo, I guess. Here comes the random.

1. You guys remember Li Xingke? That whole cliche coughing up blood thing was early foreshadowing that he'd have some untimely death. Then there's Xianglin's quote about how he just wasn't given enough time. But here we are, Turn 19 going on 20, and he's still alive. I mean, he could still die, but I think his time was ripe back in the Chinese Federation arc (maybe when he was protecting Tianzi). At this point, he's probably already lost his chance at a poignant death.

2. Does anybody else think Jeremiah switching sides was really sudden? Not just that, but he's undergone a whole personality shift. I know fanfic writers will have SOME way of justifying it, maybe it has to do with having a reason to live again, a method of redemption.. But even though season one is but a distant memory to me, I recall him being way smarmier and underhanded. Now he's like, all about teh loyalty and chivalry. Parking his Knightmare to tell Suzaku thanks. Lame. Personally I don't even know how loyal he is to Lelouch because he does seem to be hesitant to take out members of the royal family (ie, Cornelia) and won't even attack Suzaku unless he's commanded to.

3. Not saying there should be any more Knights of Rounds but I don't get their numbering system. There doesn't seem to be anyone filling spots 11, 8, 5, 4, and 2. Are there just no promotions? Does Nonette Enneagram permanently occupy the Ko9 position because her name is so stupid appropriate? She hasn't even been introduced yet and I'm already so disinterested because if Suzaku is the "benchmark," I don't really care about anyone statistically weaker than him. Nevermind. I fail at wikiing.

4. Knightmares. Does anyone here care about mechs? R2 went insane when it came to upgrade wars, with varying degrees of awesomeness. Guren Aerial was weak, too deus ex machina of an introduction. Guren SEITEN is a bit better (but I might just be glad she killed Luciano). Really dumb question here, but was I the only one who thought Tristan's beam thing was a hasty add-on? OH YA WHEN I RUB MUH HARKENS 2GETHER THEY SHOOT PEWPEWLAZERS. I guess when Tristan was introduced, his selling point was the transformationz while his only weapon was the pole. Then the designers realized they gave everyone else a massive beam weapon, so Tristan had to have one too in order to be taken srsly. Whatever right? NO. Things were chill back when Gawain owned the skies and was virtually unbeatable (..except by Cornelia in her level one frame).

5. C.C.'s memories need to be returned somehow. I thought the new C.C. was cute for about one episode, but she has no place in R2 as it is (which is why they keep her locked in a room). I don't know what happened to her code. Can the Emperor take TWO codes? Is he that much of a pimp? She didn't lose her memory right after whatever he did to her, since she was able to free Lelouch's Knightmare. I just think it sucks that she lost her immortality AND her memories but Lelouch gets nothing out of the deal (presuming that, since he still has Geass). ETA: why did Lelouch's memories return when they kissed? Making out has Geass canceling powers now? It's worth a try.

6. I don't think Nunnally is dead (SCREW THE CHART). When FREI(J?)A went off and they showed her in the light, I just didn't think "onoez, she dead." Like not at all. They didn't show her disintegrating, duh. And it's so easy to animate. FREIA should have been a plot device to cull off minor characters (gj on Miss Romeyer, Guilford, Glaston Knights) but if Nunnally and Sayoko are gone and TAMAKI is still around, something went very wrong. ETA: I should maybe mention that if Nunnally at this point is TRULY dead, Lelouch hasn't wangsted enough. If you consider Nunnally the primary motivating factor for the series thusfar, half of one episode is NOT enough for him to get over it and be lucid again. If he's crazy for the rest of the series then I will allow Nunnally's passing. B-but.. :(

I know this is tl;dr as it is but maybe people will read if they're interested in speculating at length since this is all we can do until Sunday.

OH IN CLOSING: Your top 3 and bottom 3 characters, letting you show me them.

You know my top, so here are the bottom: Kanon, Rivalz (who no longer has any friends, yay), and Nina of course. My reasons for disliking the first two are petty, admittedly. But I got no beef with Schneizel.

There were plenty of opinionated commenters, so here are some of the results.

CHARACTER+NET
Lelouch 21 0 !!! 21
Rolo ♥ 16 4 12
C.C. 13 2 11
Suzaku 12 4 8
Kallen 14 7 7
Anya 6 0 6
Cornelia, Gino 4 0 4
Lloyd 3 0 3
Kaguya, V.V., Euphemia, Xingke 2 0 2
Villetta 3 1 2
Ougi 3 3 0
Nunnally 1 3 -2
Kanon, all of the Black Knights, Miya/NANI MAI HANI 0 2 -2
Schneizel 3 6 -3
Rivalz, Eunuchs, Miss Romeyer, Carline le Britannia 0 3 -3
Diethard 0 4 -4
Luciano, Charles/The Emperor 0 5 -5
Shirley 2 10 -8
Nina 0 26 -26


As of 100 comments (most of which were from me D: ). Past this, your vote won't be part of this table though you should still express yourself for the lulz.

Okay, so maybe my polling methods were broken. People who said the char. was a fave gave them + points and those who listed the char. as a least fave gave them negative points. Net value should hopefully offer some sense of overall popularity. If you listed more than three "tops" or "bottoms" I chose the first three, hoping your hatred or love would order them as such. I didn't count characters with only one vote.

No surprise Nina is the least popular, though Shirley is second least pops, to which I raise an eyebrow. Kallen is disliked by quite a few people too. But if you take a close look, Jeremiah is NOT even on the chart. Surprising for such a meme-tastic character?

Meanwhile Lelouch has NO haters and is the clear winner of most popular. Suzaku is somehow slightly more popular than Kallen, and Nunnally is below the Ougi line (who is so average nobody really has an opinion about him one way or another). I conclude this community is on crack :D

[identity profile] hina.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Top: CC, Kallen, Kaguya. Harem for the win.

Bottom: Schneizel, Schneizel, Schneizel. Suppose I could fit some Emperor hating in their somewhere are well.

5. I highly suspect CC memories will return. LBH, the series is NOT going to end with her in moemoe status. I cannot stand her personality change. Original CC was a strong, independant, unusual character, and I LOVED her for it. I personally hope she regains her memories before Lulu goes totally insane. And saves him. Lulu/CC, yay~

6. I can't make my mind up about Nunnally at all. I don't want her to be dead. I hate the thought of it. I'm quite a big Lulu fan, so I don't like seeing him upset. That said, I can't work out a way for her to come back into the plot in the next 6 episodes, and still wrap the series up in time.

[identity profile] spleener.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
3. Knight of Rounds positions are filled as the Emperor sees fit, they don't have to all be filled at any time. Aside from One, there's no real meaning to the numbering as far as which one has more skill than the other (which means that Charlie just plain doesn't have a sense of humor, since he didn't make Suzaku the Knight of Eleven.)

And Nonette was in the visual novel game "Code Geass: Lost Colors" that I want to see translated and released here so fucking bad.

Also, top 3: Kallen, Milly, Lulu.
Bottom 3: Schneizel, Luciano... shit, I dunno who the third would be.

[identity profile] xinue.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, my where shall I begin?

Well, for starters I totally to agree with you on the whole Rolo/Shirley debate. I agree that Shirley was nothing but a bit of filler to help Lelouch realize just what is at stake in his goals for revenge. Rolo, in my eyes is redeemed and I always loved him - even when he tried to kill Nunnally - the poor boy has had enough and people need to stop hating on him.

As for Li Xingke I think that he is going to have a very rushed death in future episode. In fact, we might have to hear about it off camera - which would ultimately just suck. However, if he doesn't die, well I'll just be glad I was proven wrong about something in this series. Since I seemed to be able to predict a lot of stuff would happen.

Jeremiah - don't get me started on him. While I was glad he switched side I do feel that is was abrupt and I can't imagine why he would do so after all that Lelouch did to him before. I guess Sunrise realized how big Orange's fan base was and decided to make him a good guy and change his entire character direction. It was very OCC, but there is little to nothing we can do to change it. Villetta, however, refused to join his side which is just like her.

Knights of Rounds I never did pay much attention to them and I honestly can say I can never remember a single one of their numbers and names. Gino, Anya tend to hog the spot light along with Cazy!Suzaku.

Knightmares, I much preferred the ground battles that seemed a little bit more realistic. I mean I got enough of the awesome hax skills in gundam seed/destiny and gundam 00. Seriously Sunrise just can't stay away!

C.C. as of right now is a waste of space - and I really despise her memoru loss. I so prefer the smug bitch that she was before, and now I really don't know where her character is going. The series right now is showing how Lelouch is losing everyone, and since C.C. can't die they decided to mind rape her, which is just great.

I hope Nunnally isn't dead, but I thought a chart earlier displayed that she was....but I am still in heavy denial.

In closing favorite characters are: Rolo, Lelouch and Suzaku - yes the big three.

My lowest would be: Shirley, Nina and the first prince of the britannian family I forget his name now, but the damn man was a pedo.

[identity profile] kadekmoment.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Top: Suzaku. Then Kallen and C.C., I think.

Bottom: Chinese Eunuchs, NANI MAI HANI, and Luciano.

1. The entire Chinese Arc was a waste of time imho. I think Tianzi and Xingke were adorable, granted, but considering that the directors just revealed that they dropped about three or four subplots (at least) because of lack of time? I think the time spent on them could have been used for much better things. Kallen's backstory and Suzaku's connection to Geass especially.

That said, I agree that Xingke was a character with an interesting set-up that really is just going to be wasted now in all likelihood.

3. [livejournal.com profile] spleener already covered the Rounds thing. \o But I will say that the Emperor did have the sense of humor to make Suzaku Seven-Eleven.

4. I have ranted about the mechs this season on many occasions, so I'll just say that all the battles would have been so much more badass if they were still doing the jumping/dodging on wheels. Funky rollerskating mecha, where hath thou gone.

6. I'm sure they're planning some kind of screwiness with Nunnally, but I don't have the heart (or sanity) to try to predict what. Her death scene was definitely way too sudden though.
Edited 2008-08-20 23:11 (UTC)

[identity profile] hina.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"I never did pay much attention to them and I honestly can say I can never remember a single one of their numbers and names." - I agree. I don't know any of the numbers, apart from Knight of One, and even then I don't know his name. >.

[identity profile] kamina.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
3. Yeah. There isn't any meaning to the numbering in the KoR, besides from One:

Their ranks don't seem to have any particular bearing on their skill level or dominance over other Knights. The one exception is that the 'Knight of One' may request governance of any colonial area of his choosing from the Emperor. Only seven of the twelve have been revealed, among which is Suzaku, the Knight of Seven. The Code Geass novels explain that not all of the seats are filled, so those featured are presumably the only active members.

6. I agree with this fully. Except the Tamaki part. Long live Tamaki.

Top 3: Lelouch, Gino, Schneizel. (Followed by Luciano, Kanon, Ougi...)
Bottom 3: Kallen, Nunnally, Shirley.
Edited 2008-08-20 23:14 (UTC)

[identity profile] starryburst.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
ROLO. V.V, and C.C. BAWWWW, I MISS HER. Well, I miss all of my favorite characters. I always love the ones who are gonna get screwed over, don't I?

I guess for bottom: Shirley, Nunnally (those bitches >:D), And maybe Charlie, but that's just 'cause he killed his lying lolishota brother. ):

The Knightmares make me lol, because just last season (and the beginning of this one) Lancelot was UBER MECH, but now it's pale in comparison to the others. xD

Nunnally, you immortal whore. Which brings me back to the point once again that Sunrise is partial to their lolis, but discriminate against their shotas. ):

[identity profile] haroween.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
TOP : C.C. , Lulu, Anya
BOTTOM : Kallen, Nina, Schneizel


5. ETA: why did Lelouch's memories return when they kissed? Making out has Geass canceling powers now? It's worth a try.
Yeah, they need to have sex right now. I miss the old C.C. ;___;

[identity profile] sevthebat.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Just wanted to say that IAWTP so hard.
Especially about CC getting her memories back. It needs to happen already. She's become utterly pointless and it saddens us all.

Top 3: Ougi (because I still ♥ him in S1 ;_;), Kallen and Villetta. I would say Jeremiah, but only since he underwent that huge personality shift that you noted above, and I fear that doesn't really count.
I also quite like Clovis, Cornelia, and Sayako. And now I am spamming.

Bottom 3: Miss Romeyer, Luciano, IDK

[identity profile] aya-kari.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
6. NUNNALLY IS ALIVE.


Top: 1. ROLO FOREVER 2. Lulu/Shirley/Mao/Rivalz 3. Nunnally/Milly
Bottom: 1. Schneizel D: 2. ASAHINA (he picks on Rolo + has Luciano's voice) 3. Nina/Luciano/Kanon or other people on Schneizel's side >

[identity profile] ex-defaced.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
TOP: CLOVIS, MAO, SUZAKU
BOTTOM: ROLO. HE GETS ALL THREE SPOTS.

EVIL!NUNNALLY END CONFIRMED

[identity profile] kaorutsukiko.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
1. I really, REALLY hoped he would die earlier. Even though I find him all kinds of awesome, he'd have a better death than say, die in the final battle.
4. All the constant upgrades make me sad. Gawain was awesome just because he was the only one that flew and was overpower, etc etc etc. If we keep up, he will be like... weaker than a Sutherland. Anyway, I only began to like mecha at all on this series so gah. :D;;
5. I think she will recover her memories in the end... To help on the final episodes or something. Moe!CC is cute, but she can't be there for the rest of the series Dx;;

Top: Lelouch, Kallen, CC.
Bottom: Nina and... uh... yeah. Just her. I'm tolerant to the rest. D:

[identity profile] kaleidoruby.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Top 3: CC, Lelouch and... Suzaku, I guess, though I was torn between him, Euphemia, and Milly.
Bottom 3: Shirley, Nina, and... Kallen, I guess, though that was hard too. D: But she annoys me more than Rolo or Schneizel when I think about it.

[identity profile] aestalitz.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I think the Knight of Rounds numbers weren't rank-based aside from Knight of One...?

TOP: Lelouch, Rolo (actually it's a tie between those too orz) and Kallen
BOTTOM: Uh, I dunno. I have Nina, that 5th princess, and JLF members at the bootom because I have no interest in them. ^^;

[identity profile] ex-defaced.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)

Image (http://tinypic.com)
ALL HAIL CLOVIS!!1

[identity profile] spleener.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
lol more stuff:

2. To an extent it's because they initially planned on him being a cocky racist dick who would repeatedly screw himself over by a cocky racist dick, finally getting himself killed at the battle of Narita as the first victim of Guren's nuke-arm (note that his VA's name is Ken Narita, who also voiced Shirley's father for the two lines he had in episode 8, get the joke now?) Basically he was supposed to be what Luciano wound up actually being (same joke here almost, since his voice actor is the same guy who did Asahina.)

But yeah, apparently he was popular enough as a joke character that they decided at the last minute to keep him alive, and I suppose they decided around then to have him eventually wind up joining Lelouch, which required some semi-retconning in the form of having some of the supplemental material released later give scenes of him actually being a sympathetic character (him talking about failing to protect Marianne to Viletta in a picture drama and him trying to apologize to Suzaku in a sound drama.)

So basically what we're supposed to see him as is a guy who's always been a decently noble person but he just acts like a dick to Elevens because he blames them for failing to protect Lulu and Nunnaly or something. One could also note that all the shit he's gone through will either snap a guy or humble them, and in his case it wound up doing one then the other.

4. Well, progress happens and it's nice that Geass kind of reflects that (the grunts now have mass production versions of the first season's super robots,) though to an extent the super robot inflation might be partially for merchandising reasons. Still though, they're just following the rule of mecha shows in that your mech's uniqueness/power is generally proportional to your importance/skill. Lulu of course breaks this rule a bit.

5. They had to make Lulu lose everybody and everything and hit rock fucking bottom, which is where he is now. In order to do that, they had to take CC away from him. Obviously they can't kill her or even fake-death her because she's immortal. They can't have the bad guys capture her because it's pretty clear that it's game over once they get her. So they had to take another route.

6. I give Nunnaly and Sayoko a 50/50 chance of being alive. It is a Sunrise show, after all.

And Tamaki could have been at ground fucking zero and lived. Comic relief characters are immortal, remember? Of course, at some point between now and the end he'll have his time to shine and be awesome and useful for once and we'll be all "FUCK YEAH TAMAKI". Rivalz, too, for that matter, and he might get some Milly pussy out of the deal.

[identity profile] gem2niki.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally agree with most of what you mentioned. It annoys me to no end about the Rolo-Shirley thing. She wouldn't have survived the rest of the series anyways.

5. Seriously, old C.C. needs to be revived. Memoryloss!C.C. is really just a waste of frames.

TOP: Rolo, C.C., and Ougi
Bottom: Luciano, Suzaku, Nina

[identity profile] spleener.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Pretty much. Honestly, though, he really does seem like he would have been a likable character if we had been able to see him outside of the context of 'I MUST KILL EVERYBODY SO DADDY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN HIDING FROM HIM' and 'OH GOD PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME LULU'

[identity profile] hina.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
'some blog' you read THAT as wall? Still, I believe pedobear > psychopath.

[identity profile] aetherae.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
4. I thought the rollerskating was the best part of the mechs. )': It was ORIGINAL. And HILARIOUS.

6. I just can't imagine Nunnally being really dead. It doesn't really make much sense, imo. So I'm waiting for Sunrise to just pull her back in. (... b-but I wanted Guildford to live. ;____;)

TOP; Shirley, Anya, and.... uh. Suzaku, I guess. Or Cornelia.
BOTTOM; Rollo, Nina, and, um. I DON'T KNOW. EITHER KALLEN, C.C., OR SCHNEIZEL. ONE OF THEM.

[identity profile] hina.livejournal.com 2008-08-20 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
*well, no wonder I failed English this year~

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