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the Empress replies, “But we are a federation (連邦)…” Zero then makes the absurd statement that the federal system is outdated.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 17th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Those cannons were always slow charging, high energy weapons. Zero’s mecha even ran out of energy from constantly firing those damn things last season. And no, they were never fast firing weapons. The only reason it seems like a plot hole is because you guys are a bunch of nit-picky geeks. It was an action pack episode that was quite enjoyable.
Come on, putting logic in a mecha show? If you want, we can pick a part any battle in any anime or even in real life.
Take Iwo Jima from WW2, that battle had no strategic purpose and yet the Japanese fortified the island and the US sent marines to take it. In fact, the US could have just Gas the tunnels but instead they sent marines to their deaths to take a worthless island that had no strategic battle. Other routes could have been taken by bombers and they could have been given more fuel (oh, yes, the skip on the fuel for bombers).
My point being that even in real life some seriously stupid battles occur, even the most famous of battles can be stragically pointless ones. Another explain being the battle of new Orleans in the war of 1812 which occurred after the war techincally ended.
Finally, Todo is a “Tactical leader” which means he is good at command troops in battle. Zero is much better at being a “Strategic Leader” meaning he looks at the bigger picture and choose were the battles take place.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:58 am
That redheaded mecha reminds me of Nadleeh from G00…..
June 17th, 2008 at 5:03 am
Its a samurai mecha. Way cooler than a girl gunmecha.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:06 am
I want to see Orange-kun again! That way we can all make some more orange jokes. He’s waiting, with his weird ass eye thingy, waiting to strike, orange style…
June 17th, 2008 at 6:12 am
“Religions (like cults) don’t make any sense either, but people believe in them.”
If you are a religious extremist and take everything your religion teaches you word for word, then yes, religion makes no sense at all. Religion in its proper form is very valuable, however. If people would do what they are supposed to do with religion, which is gain a set of morals and values to live by, then things would be fine. However, so many screw up, taking things too exactly, and end up making stupid claims like not allowing homosexual rights, and use these claims to do stupid crap, like kill abortion doctors, or blow up kindergartens and innocent civilians.
I’m assuming that you are an atheist, you definately sound like one.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Now we know why we saw several Chinese characters during the last ep. (without an explanation as to what they were doing), but we don’t know where the show is going qualitywise…O_o
June 17th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I just realized how all the mechs all look different now compared to ones in Season 1.
I mean, look at all the mechs now, they look too much like gundams where at first they looked interesting and unique because they had scanners in their face.
Now they got scanners on their shoulders with human-like faces.
Anyways, the Chinese mechs look so weird, haha.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:04 am
is it just me or is lelouch’s thinking ability slowly depleating
in the ending episode of season 1 he was able to out smart the governer of Area 11 and was on the verge of destroying the entire brittania control there and now in this episode he can’t even take out a shitty force that’s not even as big as the one he fought before. i hope the writers have something up their sleeve b/c i don’t want to see zero become a retard by the end of this season.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:19 am
@holyknight: Week by week this show is turning more into Transformers…now it’s all about the merchandise! More mechs plz! >_<
June 17th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Watch your mouth. Transformers was awesome in so many ways.
Im talking the original version, of course. Beast wars and the strange japanese crap where they fight with energon katanas is a waste of time.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I agree with zerowing and Rololita compleatly i just hope that C.G. keeps some of it’s fading orgial-ness (is that i word? :/ ) I am wondering about the last part with Lulu standing in the stundent counciel room… I’m loving the relationship between Kallen and Lulu though I hope the writers keep that up :)
June 17th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
hm i know i shld go to a forum to say this but heck =p
has anyone considered the very existence of Xingke to be (for want of a better word) detrimental to the story. ok, its obvious that to get the plot from point A at the end of last season and the re- cappish, resolution-ist first few episodes to (hopefully a well set- up) point B this season, when our well- loved character- driven story can actually start, the writers have been presenting us with great leaps in plot development without the necessary preparation, as what DM and everyone has been saying about the lack of intelligence, Lelouch’s or otherwise. the most recent of course being Zero’s defeat due to astounding lack of knowledge about terrain, and even more astounding (and puzzling) use of his Hadron cannons (theorycraft all you want, its still unusual given the meticulous planning of the series thus far).
now getting to the point, does Xingke seem like a deus ex machina to anyone? i cant get my head around how the writers had to come up with a character everyone was anticipating but clearly not wanting. like… wow code geass is a battle between brains and brawn. now the writers throw in a wrench which is a mix of both, but (conveniently) has a timed- life. easy way to get him out of the story, too, in my opinion.
maybe its in the whole vein of “more action plsthnxbai”, but throwing in such a (i hazard to say) flat character was the reason the series kinda went downhill. of course, i suppose that would be warranted once the “proper plot” starts, if it ever does.
well once again, its not that i hate his guts or anything, but i don’t think it was a good move to put in such a character in the Chinese Federation (be it as it may that he could be a convenient portmanteau, so less character creation is necessary). heh. any thoughts?
June 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Yes that’s what I feel too. The entire point of ep10 was to establish Xingke as a brilliant strategist and a new threat to Lelouch’s plan.
It’s just a pity that the manner in which this was conveyed to the audience was half-assed.
The way that Xingke “outsmarted” Zero was barely convincing, and the fact that Zero then proceeded to escape without a sweat (thanks to his previously forgotten super cannons) just makes it worse. Now they both look like idiots.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
This has been the first code geass episode in season 2 which i didn’t rewatch after the first time. Something was definitely missing about this episode. But I did like the Lelouch-Karen drama :D
June 17th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
You all do realize there is a very simple explanation as to what happened here. Sunrise is just being A-typical Sunrise again. You know, the Sunrise the developed the Gundam series and completely screwed up most of them instead of doing what we know they are all capable of doing for an anime.