Code Geass R2 — Episode 10
Zero and the Black Knights make off with the Empress, but their escape is blocked by Xingke. I am of the opinion that the writers for the series are secretly taking a long break in Hawaii and the current story arc is actually being written by the office janitor.
Summary
Seriously… What does the hair do?
Zero backstabs Xingke and kidnaps the Empress. His cunning plan is to create a new federation of states of which the new Japan is to be a member. He has the backing of the Indians and he believes that Mongolia will be supportive of the move.
Just why the heck does that yellow blob thing wear a hat?
Unfortunately, before Zero can make his getaway, Xingke shows up in his brand new Shenhu (Divine Tiger) Knightmare Frame and proceeds to massacre Indian-made Akatsukis, resulting in much death and destruction. He manages to capture Kallen and defeat Zero with superior strategy. Considering Zero’s jarring drop in IQ in recent episodes, it’s not too difficult.
This looks nothing like a tiger
Outwitted by Xingke in battle, Lelouch escapes to Tiandi Bashiba Ling (天帝八十八陵), a fictional resting ground for dead emporers, where he has set up a stronghold to hold out against the Chinese and Britannia forces that are coming for him.
Evil(er) clone?
Also, Lelouch has the power to teleport. o_o
Thoughts
The writers seem to believe that 合衆国 (a translation unique to United States) and 連邦 (federation) are different things. Zero says that he wants to set up a 中華合衆国 (literally a Chinese United States) to which the Empress replies, “But we are a federation (連邦)…” Zero then makes the absurd statement that the federal system is outdated.
She’s annoying
This shows a blatant lack of understanding on the writers’ part. The United States is a federation and the term 合衆国 was created simply because America likes to have a unique name. The political system itself is essentially the same thing: a federation.
Moving on.
The build-up in this episode is essentially non-existent. Just like how Xingke’s coup d’état was planned, revealed and crushed in just one episode, Zero’s escape plan is over in a flash. It lacks suspense and impact.
Brilliant tactic: drive straight
Lelouch’s plans are supposed to involve a series of seemingly unrelated preparations during which the audience is left to wonder what his actual strategy is going to be. The final unveiling is supposed to make every small element click together in a satisfying manner, until something unexpected crops up and much drama ensues. Recently, the writers have decided to forego the clever part and just jump straight to the drama.
It’s hard to deal with the fact that your classmate is a terrorist
And a final note… According to a forum post on a Chinese forum, Tiandi Bashiba Ling is an allusion to Ming Shi San Ling. Since they don’t look anything like each other, I’m not sure where that comes from. I wonder what the Chinese nationalists feel about what’s been shown in Code Geass thus far.
Screencaps
Kinky
Dopey, Grumpy, Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy
Seppuku
It’s not China if there’s no panda…
Get a hair cut you hippie
Seriously disturbing
No one notices C.C. thanks to the brilliant disguise
Speaking of teleporting: David Copperfield’s Portal illusion.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
@Amnestic, SnooSnoo, DarkMirage: on Lelouch’s “degrading genius”
I personally don’t see it unbelievable, seeing that things are becoming more complicated. He did take action in reducing the water from whatever that river’s name was, though I’d say I can’t believe he let Kallen get caught. Also, I’d say he was emotionally(?) disturbed by her capture, perhaps impairing his judgment to some extent.
What I would like to see, however, is for Lelouche to redeem himself with whatever his plan is for the next episode. I don’t know what he and Diethard have up their sleeves but I expect it to be big. Then again, the writers have time and again built up suspense for endings only to be disappointed with the first few minutes of the next episode.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Has any1 notice that Anya Alstreim(Knight of Six/gaint-knightmare) has a child picture of Zero/Lelouch.(not very sure about that)
The next thing Zero will like have like a whole room of women, all w8ing for him
June 16th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
“Has any1 notice that Anya Alstreim(Knight of Six/gaint-knightmare) has a child picture of Zero/Lelouch.(not very sure about that)”
Access to the internet. She’s obsessed with keeping records, so for some reason that means she has pictures of the royal family, including child-Lelouch. She’ll know his name as he was a Prince, and recognise the similarities in appearance between the two pictures. I’m not sure how that’ll develop into an important plot point, Anya and Lelouch have never met each other. Anya and Zero have never conversed directly. At the moment it’s just a minor point of interest.
Also, how did you manage to spell Alstreim perfectly and then misspell ‘giant’?
“The next thing Zero will like have like a whole room of women, all w8ing for him”
Zero’s concubines, see a few episode reviews back. Kaguya, Kallen and C.C.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
DarkMirage
I wholeheartedly concur with your general assessment. A defective plot would indeed result in a substandard story of such dire level that can only be appropriately described as an appalling action on part of the writer. The charms and logic that the characters may display in reaction to the immediate situation would also be downplayed if the faulty situation itself is not neither physically nor mentally demanding enough for them to demonstrated the full extent of their characteristic potentials. However, that’s also exactly what separates an anime from a novel. Face it, if episode 9 and 10 were to be summarized in written format, I probably would be reluctant to read the substandard text. But if one incorporate the faulty plotlines into 24 minutes worth of visual material, the end result differs greatly in comparison. The entertainment of Code Geass is on a completely separate level, if one DOES indeed ACCOUNT the factor of visual presentation. The storyline was written with that particular purpose in mind, which is to create a story that is designed for animation purpose-something that can be fitted into 24 minutes and nonetheless entertaining. Flame about it if you will, but nobody can righteously deny the fact that Code Geass scores a solid 10/10 in the entertainment department, and that’s what sells toys, DVDs, commercials and pays for future Sunrise series and C.C.’s pizzas.
A overly complicated plot mingled with complex human interactions, which is season 1, requires large portion of the 24 minutes worth of screentime. The condensation and limitation of the story were very much due to necessity. In season 1, the theme was Lelouch V.S. Area 11. In season 2, the theme is Lelouch V.S. The World. In order to reach a logical end conclusion of such a story of worldwide scale, interactions have to be sacrificed in order to make way for combat action. One can not take over the world with petty words alone. In season 1, we didn’t get any decent Knightmare V.S. Knightmare combat till the 50 seconds long battle between Lancelot and Guren in episode 11 partially due to that very reason. It’s simply a matter of preference. Do we prefer the interactive style of season 1 or the combative style of season 2?
Secondly, on the regard of your apparent irritation toward the seemly illogical fact that Zero held up the usage of the Hadron cannons till the very last moment. A logical deduction would be that Zero was reserving his final trump card for the worst possible scenario. Think about it. If Zero fired the Hadron cannons at the beginning of the battle, obliterating… say… 30 of the 500 Chinese Frames, it would have made very little difference to the overall outcome of the battle. However, as a direct result, Xingke would not have attempted to surround the battleship with a tight lined up formation as his final move to defeat Zero. In which case, the Hadron Cannons’ effectiveness during the retreat would have been reduced greatly. The safe retreat of neither the battleship nor Black Knights’ trapped Knightmare Frames could have been secured if that was the scenario. In essence, Zero made the correct decision by shielding the Hadron cannons’ existence till the very last moment.
LilBinary
Yeah, Xingke is most definitely terminally ill of an incurable disease. My bet is on some sort of cancer. Let me guess. There will be all sorts of big and dramatic moments when Xingke seems to be near death. Then at episode 25, the one with the happy ending, Nina succeeds in incorporating her atomic technology for medical purposes and cures Xingke of his incurable disease with radiation therapy. And of course, how can we forget? Xingke will have a formal wedding with Tianzi (seriously, China allows marriage between a man and an underaged girl?)with ex-party crusher better known as Zero as the best man.
I want that ending for some reason. It will be funny to watch.
Amnestic
The Chinese army is slow in mobility(just look at that huge tank thingy! I would be unpleasantly surprised if that mobile fortress is capable of reaching merely 40 miles per hour). Initially the Chinese did not request for Britannia aid(which is a good idea. Requesting foreign aid is essentially a show of the nation’s incapability and a symbolic surrender to the whims of the foreign power). Britannia could not interfere with the battle due to diplomacy reasons. So the Knights of Rounds and Schnizel did not enter combat till the very end of episode 10.
Asides, Avalon can move only about as fast as Zero’s flagship. You don’t really honestly expect Tristan to solo the entire army of the Black Knights, did you?
Toudo is inferior to Zero in term of tactical capabilities. His role in the army is to relay Zero’s orders and execute them with perfect precision. Zero deals with the big picture and Toudou takes cares the on field command, as demonstrated in season 1’s finale.
Zero did consider the river. It’s just that properly maintained roads are not supposed to turn into mud. It’s all thanks to Chinese corruption, baby!
100% that Anya is connected to Marianna in some way. If you have checked out the most recent NewType magazines and its customary spoilers, you would discover that Marianna (when she was a girl) had the EXACT same hairstyle as Anya. Is Anya an illegitimate daughter of Marianna? Or is she a really big admirer of Marianna similar to Cornelia and had some sort of relationship with Lelouch’s family back when she was…say…6?
June 16th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
“Asides, Avalon can move only about as fast as Zero’s flagship. You don’t really honestly expect Tristan to solo the entire army of the Black Knights, did you? ”
Considering that it’s piloted by the Knight of Three and that the only real opposition he might have in combat is Todo, yes, actually. At least enough to slow them down. I’m not sure what Mortred’s flight speed is, but the range on her cannon is fairly considerable, enough to do some sniping duty at least. If she positioned herself correctly she could have disabled the flagship engines while doing very little damage to any passengers therein.
“Toudo is inferior to Zero in term of tactical capabilities. His role in the army is to relay Zero’s orders and execute them with perfect precision. Zero deals with the big picture and Toudou takes cares the on field command, as demonstrated in season 1’s finale.”
All right, I’ll concede that since being part of the Black Knights he’s been a relayer of orders as opposed to giving one, but he’s a highly respected general. Even if he wasn’t giving orders, it must have sprung to mind the terrain they were fighting on.
“Initially the Chinese did not request for Britannia aid(which is a good idea. Requesting foreign aid is essentially a show of the nation’s incapability and a symbolic surrender to the whims of the foreign power).”
They pretty much showed symbolic surrender when the chief Eunuch’s sold out the Empress for ‘positions of nobility’ or however it was described. I was under the impression that both Schneizel and the Chief Eunuch’s were pushing for the Tian Zi’s return and marriage, and as such Mr. 2nd Prince would be more than willing to deploy his three Knights of the Round. Oh, and it seems quite poor form for the Avalon *war*ship to only be equipped with three suits, where are the mass production Vincents?
“100% that Anya is connected to Marianna in some way. If you have checked out the most recent NewType magazines and its customary spoilers, you would discover that Marianna (when she was a girl) had the EXACT same hairstyle as Anya. Is Anya an illegitimate daughter of Marianna? Or is she a really big admirer of Marianna similar to Cornelia and had some sort of relationship with Lelouch’s family back when she was…say…6?”
Haven’t found anywhere to buy newtype, though your speculations could hold some weight. That’d give Lelouch one legitimate sibling and two illegitimate. His family is growing by the episode!
“Zero did consider the river. It’s just that properly maintained roads are not supposed to turn into mud. It’s all thanks to Chinese corruption, baby! ”
It’s quite clearly a dirt/desert track, you can see as such in one of DM’s screenshots up the page. I generally count a road as having some paving/tarmac. That’s just a dirt track which has been carved out through frequent use.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
The Knight of Rounds are charged with the duty of protecting Schnizel. Enter combat on their own would endanger the safety of the royal prince. Let’s NOT forget the fact that the Britannians came for a wedding party, not a full scaled war. Normally, three Knights of Rounds would be sufficient for any situation save for the full scaled war. Judging from episode 10, while Zero and Xingke were duking it out, Avalon was hovering above the Forbidden City. Even if Tristan, Modred and Lancelot chased after Zero together, the chance is that by the time they catch up with Zero, they would be out of energy, and be defeated in a method similar to Kallen’s downfall. Once again, the Avalon can move no faster than Zero’s ship. So it sucks to not have GN Drives equipped.
Asides, Zero’s tactic mind is far more dangerous than any Knight of Rounds. Schenizel is a necessity if they intend to defeat Zero once and for all. The last time I check, Schenizel can neither fly nor teleport.
Actually, Lelouch has a lot of siblings already…like 50 of them.
Well, at least roads/dirt tracks weren’t supposed to turn into quicksand if they get wet! And definitely not that quickly! OMG, just how far reaching was that corruption anyway? Was ANY money spend on the road at all? They probably just removed all the trees and called it a road. Besides, there was a bridge in the middle of the road(or used to be). Any sane man would assume that the Chinese put at least 10000 bucks into the construction. Sadly, Lelouch is too sane to realize that the Chinese construction workers aren’t sane at all.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
“The Knight of Rounds are charged with the duty of protecting Schnizel. Enter combat on their own would endanger the safety of the royal prince. Let’s NOT forget the fact that the Britannians came for a wedding party, not a full scaled war. Normally, three Knights of Rounds would be sufficient for any situation save for the full scaled war. Judging from episode 10, while Zero and Xingke were duking it out, Avalon was hovering above the Forbidden City. Even if Tristan, Modred and Lancelot chased after Zero together, the chance is that by the time they catch up with Zero, they would be out of energy, and be defeated in a method similar to Kallen’s downfall. Once again, the Avalon can move no faster than Zero’s ship. So it sucks to not have GN Drives equipped. ”
One Knight is more than enough to defend the Avalon considering the entirety of the Chinese Army is on their side. If they would be low on energy when reaching the battlefield, either request energy fillers from the Chinese or take off from the Avalon with them in hand, so you could switch them out for fresh ones just before you caught up with the Black Knight flagship. The Black Knights were in full retreat anyway, and if the Knights touched down to recharge while surrounded and defended by the Chinese, the Black Knights can hardly get the jump on them while recharging.
And yeah, lack of GN drives sucks. I’m waiting for the ‘infinite’ energy technology to be activated, like the Strike->Freedom transfer of SEED.
“Asides, Zero’s tactic mind is far more dangerous than any Knight of Rounds. Schenizel is a necessity if they intend to defeat Zero once and for all. The last time I check, Schenizel can neither fly nor teleport.”
The Hadron cannons needed time to recharge, something Schneizel or Lloyd would know considering that they were involved in making them in the first place, they’re slow aiming and fairly easy to avoid. Just as easy as the Radiation Surge of the Guren. As stated the only other major weapon of the Black Knights at that point was a bunch of non-flight capable frames, Todo and his two remaining Swords. I’d fancy my chances at two Knights of Round being able to take down the Black Knights at that point. Kallen was the best defence they had and they blew it by failing to recharge the Guren fast enough.
They have radios too, long range ones undoubtedly, so Schneizel could direct the entire battle from the Avalon hovering miles away.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
合衆国日本 != 日本合衆国
It’s not “United States of Japan”, but a sort of “Japan, part of United States”
And the same for China.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Amnestic
No, not really. The Chinese was NOT on their side. The two nations had a history mutual hatred. Tian Zi’s abduction was frankly none of Britannia’s business. The Chinese have their pride and attempted to settle this ordeal by their own strength. Britannia could not interfere with China’s warfare without permission. They were granted permission in the end when the Xingke failed to decimate Zero permanently and Enunches decided to pass the torch to the Britannians. You have to understand, the world of politics isn’t really 100% logical. It’s a game of personal pride and honour. Anybody knows that if the Knights of Rounds join force with the Chinese, they would have sufficient military strength to obliterate the Black Knights. Then again, anybody knows that if the Chinese Federation joined force with EU against Britannia in the first place, they wouldn’t be in this mess right now. But are they willing to do it? No? Why? Politics. Religions (like cults) don’t make any sense either, but people believe in them. Don’t ask, don’t tell.
Regarding your Hadron Cannons argument, Gawain was able to fire without the necessity of recharging. It’s uncertain as to why Zero’s flagship can not fire in succession. The chance is that the Hadron Cannons require only about couple seconds of interval between firing. Besides, the Hadron Cannons are not the major issue here.
Ever heard of ECM? You know, the radio jamming technology that everybody deployed for every single major battle in season 1 and season 2, or were you skipping lines?
June 16th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
“No, not really. The Chinese was NOT on their side. The two nations had a history mutual hatred. Tian Zi’s abduction was frankly none of Britannia’s business. The Chinese have their pride and attempted to settle this ordeal by their own strength. Britannia could not interfere with China’s warfare without permission. They were granted permission in the end when the Xingke failed to decimate Zero permanently and Enunches decided to pass the torch to the Britannians. You have to understand, the world of politics isn’t really 100% logical. It’s a game of personal pride and honour. Anybody knows that if the Knights of Rounds join force with the Chinese, they would have sufficient military strength to obliterate the Black Knights. Then again, anybody knows that if the Chinese Federation joined force with EU against Britannia in the first place, they wouldn’t be in this mess right now. But are they willing to do it? No? Why? Politics. Religions (like cults) don’t make any sense either, but people believe in them. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
I would say that’s bloody stupid, but I suppose that only supports your point on it being illogical. I can’t fight illogical actions with logic, so I’ll have to concede that ‘Pride’ is more important than actually winning.
“Regarding your Hadron Cannons argument, Gawain was able to fire without the necessity of recharging. It’s uncertain as to why Zero’s flagship can not fire in succession. The chance is that the Hadron Cannons require only about couple seconds of interval between firing. Besides, the Hadron Cannons are not the major issue here.”
I think the Hadron cannons are a major issue. They’re the main weapon and defense that the flagship has. If they can’t use those enough to defend against the Tristan, then it’s a fairly major tactical point which Schneizel should have capitalised on. Okay, just rewatched the ending of 10 now that I’m home and have access again, and Brittania doesn’t get pulled in by the Eunuch’s until after nightfall. That said, Schneizel should have been able to predict this as soon as word got back that the flagship was retreating, and as such should have deployed Tristan/Lancelot/Mordred to at least track it or prevent the black knights from entering the previous Tian Zi’s burial site. I’m fairly sure even without a the Chinese requesting, they’d be glad that he’d prevented the Black Knights from entering it. Though, as you’ve said, pride may win out in this case.
“Ever heard of ECM? You know, the radio jamming technology that everybody deployed for every single major battle in season 1 and season 2, or were you skipping lines?”
The chinese have radio contact and control over their troops from their lumbering ground fortress, which means they can relay radio messages to Xingke and their other Knightmares, which in turn means that Schneizel could relay his messages through the chinese systems to his Knights.
Or if that doesn’t work, use flares. Sunrise likes flares to signal orders (mostly retreat though).
However you look at this combat, the only tactical person who pulled out all the stops to win was Xingke. Schneizel held back because of politics and Zero was held back because of, in my opinion, an overlook which shouldn’t have occured.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
That yellow blob thing, I think it’s Barbapapa
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=axqyy3fWjnM
Sorry…
June 17th, 2008 at 12:13 am
It’s useless to debate such technicalities because such things are arbitrary. It’s a work of fiction.
The truth is that the writers wanted Zero to be defeated by Xingke because it’s a necessary part of the story.
All I am saying is that a good writer could’ve achieved that purpose through a more convincing and suspenseful set-up. That’s my only purpose in pointing out logical inconsistencies in the story: they detract from the point of the episode.
Within the context of the story, there is no logical reason why the cannon could not have been fired earlier. The fact that we have to resort to additional rationalization to convince ourselves that this is not a plot hole is proof of this episode’s sloppy writing.
It is one thing for Zero’s elaborate plans to fail and for him to be forced to adapt to the situation, it is another altogether for him to apparently forget that he has fricking huge cannons on his ship that could’ve wiped out a whole screen of enemy before they could attack his Knightmares.
Logical inconsistencies such as this detract from his character’s personality, upon which the entire show is dependant. You can argue that this is Sunrise’s way of showing that Zero is being distracted by his emotions or whatever, but if that is indeed the message, the fact that it is not properly conveyed through the episode itself is still a sign of substandard storytelling.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:23 am
I always love the reviews from this site, they are so funny
June 17th, 2008 at 1:01 am
>.. the current story arc is actually being written by the office janitor.
Seriously, I have been suspecting the same for some time now:P
June 17th, 2008 at 3:55 am
I’m no expert on the technicalities of names for governments, but I have the notion that a federation is a group of very individualized states held together by a very shoddy central power, much like the colonies under the Articles of Confederation, or the Holy Roman Empire after the Reformation.
A “united states” on the other hand would be composed of a much less individualized group of states with a strong federal government ruling over as a supreme overlord. Like the US.