Code Geass R2 — Episode 14
“Why don’t you love me? ;_;”
Wow, I don’t know what to say. This episode is like watching two bullet trains collide head on, burst into a huge flaming ball of destruction, and the “survivors crawling out of the wreckage with third-degree burns. Okay, so that was a lousy analogy made in poor taste, especially since none of us has seen that happen before, but my point is that it’s a train wreck. It’s like a roller coaster ride: it’s exciting, it makes you sick, and you don’t mind going on another.
Summary
Rollo admits that he did it in the first minute of the episode, thus putting an end to any conspiracy theories about the incident. In an alternate universe, Lelouch would’ve been an Oscar-winning actor instead of a supervillain with an outrageous fashion sense. I wonder if Hollywood exists.
“Good job Rollo. Good job…”
Instead of taking responsibility and reflect on his past actions which led up to this tragic moment, Lelouch blames everything on the existence of Geass. He discards his previous plans and, with the help of Jeremiah, launches an all-out attack on the Temple in a bid to erase all traces of Geass. Except, of course, his own.
The state of modern animation: untextured 3DSM primitives
Apparently the Temple is full of women, old people and little children, so the attack looks more like a massacre than a battle. Despite some initial reservations, the Black Knight pilots carry out their orders anyway, because, you know, those children may just be terrorists in disguise! This is how the Holocaust happened, folks. (See: the Milgram experiment.)
Attaching the gun to the arm: makes more sense than giant handheld rifles
The researchers working at the Temple look quite happy to see C.C. again, right up to the point when they get blown up. From what I gather, C.C. used to be their boss and the BFF of Marianne, Lelouch’s mother, but those of you who scour the Internet for spoilers and rumours probably already know that. Judging by V.V.’s words, it seems like Marianne was quite involved with this whole Geass business, so her assassination was probably related.
C.C. back when she was young(er)
So anyway a fight breaks out between Lelouch and V.V., with Cornelia joining the fray on Lelouch’s side, which is certainly somewhat ironic considering that everything she is doing is supposed to help her avenge Euphie’s death, and Lelouch is at least partially, if not mostly, to be blamed for it.
They didn’t want to pay for another mecha design
Meanwhile, Suzaku believes that Lelouch is responsible for Shirley’s death and decides that it is the last straw: he’s going to rape Kallen and force her to confess under the influence of Refrain. Okay, so only half of that is true. Poor Kallen in any case. :(
Wait… Isn’t it too early for the climax?
The episode ends with a bit of a sci-fi “Luke, I am your father!” moment.
Thoughts
My brain blew up during this episode.
Kallen with her hair down <3
I want to say that it’s an awesome episode, but that’s not exactly true. It certainly is thrilling, but I am somewhat disturbed by the whole thing, especially since I don’t know which character I should empathize with now. Lelouch has clearly jumped the shark and gone bonkers due to the events in episode 13, Suzaku is still a self-righteous bastard, and Kallen is currently incapacitated and will soon undergo intense brainwashing.
I guess that leaves C.C. relatively untouched. Speaking of which, C.C. used to live in the Temple, right? Does Pizza Hut make deliveries to secret military underground research facilities?
“Hi, is this Pizza Hut? Please make a delivery to the United States of Japan.”
And considering that we’re only 14 episodes into the season, the story feels oddly close to end game, which by mecha-anime logic means that some kind of force-balancing reset must take place soon. My guess is that Lelouch will get his memories wiped again and a brainwashed Kallen will be sent undercover to capture C.C. by seducing Lelouch and using him as bait. It makes no sense but it will be awesome.
Screencaps
Guess who?
Greek/Roman ruins are everywhere in America
“Don’t worry Rollo, it won’t hurt…much”
Get a hair cut you hippie
Just so you know she’s gone for good
Surprise sex
This week’s Naruto
The Temple is seriously badly-lit for a research facility
No longer an important character
What the hell is that suit?
Why are the two of them eating apples in a hotel room with a double bed?
Why is she so cool?
Geass suffers from severe inflation
Lelouch’s mother O_O
How convenient
All CG girls should do away with weird hairdos and go straight
The cockpit is blown off but somehow the rest of it still works
Hmmm, maybe I’ll start rooting for Cornelia instead.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Did anyone notice Lelouch was putting himself at a lot of risk when he revealed his face in the middle of nowhere? Yes the middle of nowhere, not the side of nowhere, nor in between the middle and the side of nowhere.
At the last scene when Lelouch met the Emperor, I was thinking: “And the Charles ending has been unlocked.”
July 15th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
And then there will be cake.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Technically a bunch of the researchers had boobs too. I think the first ‘close up’ shot of researchers getting gunned down was of a bunch of young-ish women.
I liked Charles’ character since his first speech scene where he said that men are not created equal. I <3 that.
Speculation on episode summaries or do you have evidence to back it up? I refuse to go looking because I like to go into episodes blind barring the end-of-previous episode previews, so I wouldn’t know. They might dedicate an episode or half an episode to Anya and Gino at school for all we know :P
Well, she’s not technically a ’school character’ anymore, but yeah, see above. If they dedicate an episode to the school for Anya and Gino, Rivalz and possibly Milly will participate too.
Grooming the next Emperor? I’d considered it. Would mean Lelouch’s entire existence up to this point would have been manipulated by him. It’d also explain why Charles (might be) annoyed with V.V. for sending Jeremiah to kill Lelouch. Can’t have a dead Emperor.
Preferably suicidal shock.
And finally…
Are you talking about this episode? The only time he revealed his face as far as I could tell was: Rolo at the start, C.C’s communications, V.V’s communications, and at the end when he is forcibly dismounted from the Shinkirou). That’s not really the ‘middle of nowhere’.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
>Amnestic, the “box” room he was in collapsed. And his face was in full view of whoever was in that desert place, no?
July 16th, 2008 at 3:24 am
He was shown to be alone there, barring Rolo and Jeremiah who already know who he is. The other Black Knights had already begun the attack on the cult citadel or were back on their floating island capital. It’s not as if he took off his mask in downtown Tokyo, he’s in the middle of a desert. Lelouch has been known to take some risks for theatric effect anyway, revealing your face in the middle of a desert isn’t *that* risky.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:24 am
They still didn’t need to kill off Bartley…
So far my sources have been proving to be right. they aren’t leaks or anything, (so far as I know) but they’ve given me an idea of whats gonna happen next so I can mold my theories, but it doesn’t give exact details or cliff hangers, etc. it basicley tells what is gonna happen in the begginning of the episode. So no I haven’t given out any spoilers…yet…
Oooohh, Lulu will be pissed, but it makes sense. The emperor may just be the type of person to manipulate someones entire life for his own purpose, from Nunally getting injured to sending them to Japan to EVEN getting Geass and meeting with C.C. and forming the Black Knights, who knows he might’ve puppeteered it all!
Egad, a school episode. I don’t think I can handle another, they are funny and all but I prefer suspence and drama (with a little bit of fanservice) over light hearted comedy. I only liked the school episodes before because they gave a chance for Lulu to develope his relationships with Shirley and Kallen. WELL GUESS WHAT! Shirleys dead and Kallen is a drugged POW!
He’s basically the perfect villain. A mysterious, Social Darwinist that manipulates peoples lives and can erase and implant memories.
*Side note: There is a difference between my thories and knowledge. My theories are melded off the very short episode summaries that I have from next episode to episode 17. That doesn’t mean they will actually happen, but as for the World of C, the United Nations of 47 countries to fight against Brittania and the attac on Japan in episode 17 is all true. But they ain’t spoilers.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Here are two brief silly theories that I have cooked up just half an hour ago since I feel like commenting right now: >:3
1. Marianna was directly involved with geass and incurred the wrath of V.V.(the insane shota character who maintained his calm facade throughout the entire battle until Orange-kun mentioned Marianna. Yes, that one). V.V. ordered the assassination of Marianna(perhaps for the same reason why Rolo killed Shirley when she uttered Nunnally’s name) and erased all evidences with the power of geass. In fear of the safety of Marianna’s children, Charles sent Lelouch and Nunnally to Japan using diplomatic hostage as an excuse. When war was brought upon Japan, Charles ensured that Lelouch and Nunnally survived the war, hampered all Britannian search efforts and arranged the Ashfords to go to Japan so that Marianna’s children can live in peace and be liberated from political struggles as his last favor to his dead lover.
2. Evangelion level mind crush - Some (if not all) of Lelouch’s childhood memories are fake. The reason that he failed to recognize Jeremiah and Anya is the due to that all of his memories have been tampered with by the Emperor’s geass. A lot of us have questioned ourselves just what is the purpose of creating a Geass Canceler and then place its wielder right next to Lelouch’s side unless it is plot relevant. Well, here is the punch line. Also, Anya was directly involved with Lelouch’s family and Marianna’s assassination. Her memories were likewise erased. According to the latest novels of “The Knight of Rounds” (which is canon) and official information, Anya’s past is surrounded in mystery. Her cellphone contains pictures of Ganymede, among other things, while she has no recollection of ever taking those pictures. Perhaps the reason why Anya has such a huge obsession with her cellphone is because she doesn’t want to lose her memories ever again.
Also, I *think* that I know why Charles has so many offspring. In order to rally the support of the noble families and succeed the throne, he made a deal number of engagement promises to the nobles. After all, parents think after their children. In order to raise the social status of their children and themselves from mere nobility to royalty, the nobles families gave their support to Charles and made him the Emperor (perhaps with a little help from geass as well). Thus, all of his marriages are due to political reasoning, not romance…except for one - Charles’ love affair with the commoner who goes by the name of Marianna.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:35 am
My friend, you…are a bloody genius. I never even dared to think of such things. I beleive you may have explained the whole plot…oh wait now there isn’t anything to look forward to? DAMN YOU!
But seriously, those are some pretty good theories.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I’ve put a little more thought into this, since it’s way too late to edit my last comment…well here I go.
A good theory overall, you have a nice process of thinking but there’s a few flaws. Charles constantly tests his children to see who would be most proper for the throne. Taking into account he has a memory erasing geass and working with the theory he didn’t modify their memories here’s what I think happened.
It’s entirely possible to me that V.V. killed Marianne out of jealousy, after all he was rather attached to Charles, but if Charles really loved Marianne (and working with the theory Lelouch resembles his father, V.V. said that) wouldn’t you think he would act the same way, more or less? It seems like he doesn’t hold any anger towards V.V. As for sending Lulu and Nunally to Japan, Lelouch did that himself. Lelouch made it so he himself renounced his title, also they lost contact with Lelouch and Nanally and they were presumed dead. Last favours to Marianne didn’t seem like an incredibly Charles thing to do.
This form of modification of people’s memories seems a more proper plot element than your first theory. After all, Lelouch is a genius so chances are his memory is rather top-notch as well so, that in context, it makes sense to assume the emperor changed his memories to make him not remember Anya and Jeremiah. HOWEVER, C.C. has the power to restore his memories, so when he made him regain his memories in season 2, wouldn’t you think his father’s first geass on him (if there was one) would be removed? I think so. As for Anya, who knows how she is related to Marianne. It makes more sense for him to have used his Geass on Anya. The canon novels of the Knights of Rounds is official enough, as well as C.C.’s reaction to Anya AND when Anya cried when she got in the Ganymede suggests there is more to her than meets the eye…I think that if she does join Lelouch, the reason is because she gets her memories back. To me it makes sense plot-wise.
The political reasoning makes sense. However the emperor succeeded the throne because of his hereditary status, also if you say he used his geass to ascend it would go against his belief that the world is full of liars (he’d be a liar). The reason he has so many children is because he wants the perfect person to ascend to the throne. He urges his children to prove their worth. So far it seems Charles preferred Cornelia, Schniezel and Lelouch, and now that Lelouch’s identity is known to Charles it seems to me that he is gonna test Lelouch to see if he can carry out his plans to destroy Britannia. As for his “lover”, it’s possible he loved Marianne but so far it’s only evident he married her because of her abilities with the Ganymede. Besides what man doesn’t want another wife.
In conclusion, I believe that Charles is in fact manipulating his children because he wants the strongest to take the throne…apparently he believed Lelouch was a prime candidate which explains why he got so angry when Lulu told him that he renounced his title, as well as when he said Nunnally was weak. However I doubt he used his geass on anyone other than Anya when it comes to Marianne. Perhaps Anya is related to Marriane? It explains the reaction C.C. had since we all know now that C.C. was tied in with Marianne. Also, during the time in between seasons, when she was Nunally’s knight she knew her way around Marriane’s estate perfectly, and she cried in the Ganymede. Her character will most likely be further explored over the next 11 episodes. Also I think maybe Lelouch is gonna find out about her in episode 15, My belief is that the “World of C” is inside C.C.’s mind since in the picture of the next episode it shows a hall with many pictures (or memories in my belief) and it shows Lelouch standing by C.C. That in account if Anya is related to Marianne and C.C. is too, he might figure out her relation in the next episode. It’s a perfect plot development in my eyes.
I await your responses to what I wrote. I believe this is perhaps some of the best material I’ve ever produced related to Code Geass.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Now you made it sound as if the Emperor is such a good guy….
Also, do you all think that there is a possibility that the next episode which is “The World of C” is a recap episode?
There has not been a recap episode in Code Geass R2, as for the tradition of Sunrise that has recap episodes for their anime.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
If it’s a recap episode I will be pissed. Personally I was hoping it would shed more light on the many unanswered questions of this series. However it is the wrong time for a recap episode, after all, all the other recaps were .5 episodes. Another reason it isn’t a recap is because it’s the perfect scenario if my theory that “The World of C” is actually inside C.C.’s mind. For more information read my above comment, and PLEASE try to deny and obliterate my comments I love it when people try to disprove me (although it must be original and well thought out for me to truly accept and enjoy it).
July 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I’m almost (99%) positive that it’s C.C’s memories. Top right picture in the episode preview is of the WW1 soldier shooting her, and from the angle it’s fair to say it’s C.C’s perspective.
“Charles di Britannia (シャルル・ジ・ブリタニア, Sharuru ji Buritania?) is Lelouch’s father and the 98th Emperor of the Britannian Empire.”
/wiki. He, or rather his family, ascended the throne generations ago, and as we’ve seen with the relationship between Charles and Schneizel, the ’strongest’ child gets to become the next Emperor.
I hope not. Recap episodes piss me off. I generally skip them. I think(read: I hope) it’s more going to be a flashback episode, but the flashback’s primarily of things we haven’t seen before, so it’s still something new.
And in the Emperor’s eyes he probably is a good guy, after all if I follow my train of thoughts, everything he’s done is just so his empire and his legacy will have a smart, powerful ruler to succeed him (Lelouch or Schneizel).
Finally..
Not seen/heard of this before, but I am intrigued. Don’t suppose it’s released in merry old England, is it? As far as anime/manga releases go we’re a bit of a backwater country -_-
July 16th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Haha that was quick Amnestic. C’mon your one of the few people that seems to think at the same level as me, investigate and counter my theories!
So we agree. Damn.
I also agree…damn. Also the flashbakcs thing corresponds to my idea of what the episode will contain. So chances are high it will happen.
Holy mother of (religous entity relieved due to poor work ethic). We seem to be thinking the same…this is getting annoying…come on counter my beliefs, make me think!
Oh it’s offical enough, they provide a litle bit of side story and apparently it’s deemed as “real” according to the CG people.
One last chance. Keep this blog going and create a powerful arguement transcending time and space and causing the almighty power of the mind to be used!
July 16th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Well I have a little time left before I have to go make sweet sweet love to a team of swedish models (disclaimer: may not be true), so I may as well. Problem is I generally agree with your latest batch of crazy theories.
I dunno. He bothered to send the second prince, Schneizel (highlighting second prince to make it seem more important) to collect the body himself, not to mention having the *wiki’s…* second princess on (dismissed for the day) guard detail. I’m not sure about Charles’ other wives/lovers because they never get mentioned, but Marianne was referred to as Empress which leads us to think she’s quite important. Even Charles, the prime social darwinist, has some heart in him. Having Schneizel pick up the body himself as opposed to just having mindless grunts #1 and #2 pick it up shows that he cares. I think a few last favours may have been done out of respect/care/love. Lelouch’s move to Japan probably wasn’t one of them, but special care/training/whatever for Anya (leading her to be a Knight of Round eventually) may be a possibility. If we take it to be an assumption that V.V. killed Marianne out of jealousy, then obviously it shows that Charles did care for her enough to ignore his Social Darwinist views on the rest of the world. After all, if she was just another lover for political gain, then V.V. would have no reason to kill her.
We have no idea how Charles’ geass really works. Can it be used more than once? Did/does C.C’s memory reversal remove the effect of the geass and revert it like the Geass converter, allowing for it to be used again? C.C’s memory reversal may only work on the most recent case of Geass used against him, which would only revert the most recent memory wipe. We can’t make any assumptions about what C.C’s or Charles powers on memory are, because thus far we simply haven’t had it explained to us. We need to wait for the flashback of Charles at 18 sitting in his school testing geass on the other pupils to work out it’s abilities and restrictions :P After all, if C.C. can remove Geass effects on people, why wouldn’t she remove it from others so Lelouch could use it again? It probably doesn’t require a kiss, that seems more like a thing between Lelouch and C.C, a touch would likely suffice. She remarks during one of the school episodes that Lelouch needs to be “more careful” when using his geass on people. If she could remove the effects with a touch (or kiss!) then there’d be no real need for that warning.
I’d disagree with this. Lelouch was just a kid when the shooting occured, ten years old apparently. I know I remember, at 18, very little from that age. Literally just flashes and pictures. Anya would have been 7-9 at that point, at that age if Anya was connected to Lelouch’s immediate family, she’d likely be closer to Nunnally than Lelouch. I don’t mean to rain on Lelouch’s siscon (much), but he probably wasn’t that close to Nunnally before the shooting either. Oh, they probably got on well enough and cared about each other, but I highly doubt they were close to the extent they were at the start of R1. Anya probably had very little contact with Lelouch, it’d make sense if he didn’t remember her. Likewise Jeremiah would just be another security guard, he had no reason to remember the face/name and commit it to memory. I dont think there was a geass on Lelouch to forget the memory of Anya and Jeremiah, for one thing, why would Charles do that? What purpose would it serve at that point in time?
Possibly, I’d like to think the Charles x Marianne thing was more than just her abilities with a Knightmare. The scene at the lake with Marianne, Charles, V.V. and C.C. shows that she was at least more than just a lover for her piloting abilities in my eyes.
But again, at that time what purpose would it serve to geass her? She was less than ten years old at the time, he had no idea how she would turn out in her teenage/adult life. Geassing the memories of Marianne away seems…I dunno, a bit tenuous. It’s possible he did it just because he likes using geass, but I dunno, until I see evidence for it I think the only reason Anya doesn’t remember is that many people forget their younger years. The fact that she cried in the Ganymede (which episode was this? I don’t remember that, but I’ll take your word for it) means that she remembers something of Marianne, again, if only flashes. Charles’ geass would erase/block out all of that, so it leads me to believe he didn’t geass her, just that she was a young kid and has grown up and lost some memories along the way.
*sigh* well that was half an hour’s worth of typing. Probably not much disagreement but as I said, I generally agree with you =/ Also, book shops need to stock more (read: any at all) Code Geass manga.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
You provided enough suff for me to work on so here I go.
That it does…(thinks) I don’t really have much info to work with about Schniezel and the relationship between Marianne and Charles so I don’t have much to say on this. Having Schniezel pick up the body may mean Schniezel knew something about the murder (something also shown in the anime), but he knows nothing about Geass or V.V. (this was also shown in the anime). How could Charles justify to Schniezel that she needed to go? He most likely can’t. Which would lead me to believe that Schniezel didn’t have much influence in the murder, he probably thought it was a terrorist incident. Marianne making the gaurds leave meant she knew the attack was coming and that she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt (Nunnally’s injuries were most likely an accident. Of course you should know all this by know, I’m just clarifying. This is one of the main questions in the series so chances are the answer will not be expected or easy to find, so I end my investigation here due to lack of evidence. As for Charles loving Marianne, it will be explained later.
Very true. Hard to argue with but I found a few things to work with. It’s true we don’t know how Charles’ geass works so I’ll dismiss that as unexplained. As for C.C.’s powers they are also yet unexplained but some hints have been dropped. For one thing, she seems to have a connection with Marianne as well as people related to Marianne. That being said she may only be able to counter Charles’ Geass on people like Lelouch because of the connection with Marianne. I concede the point of the “first” geass Charles possibly used because we don’t know the extent of his power. But I deny you the right to say she can’t undo geass’s affect on Lelouch merely because she can’t do the same to others. Lelouch is related to Marianne, Marianne is special. Case closed.
I would like to believe there was more to them and that there is a softer side to Charles as well. It would make a good plot twist, but we need to more information to continue most of these arguements, it’s hard to pinpoint faults in statements withou the proper info.
I’ll give you this arguement, my statement about Lelouch having a good memory was a bit unfounded (probably because I have an incredible memory). I assumed he had a good memory.
Now this is something I have enough info to counter. True, Anya was less than 10 years old but she definetly didn’t not tie in with Lelouch and Marianne. She obviously encountered Lelouch often, she knew her way around his house, she cried in the Ganymede and she had a picture of Lelouch in her phone. Also, she had multiple pictures she didn’t remember taking and your memory arguement isn’t gonna help you here because that wouldn’t tie in to the plot, CG wouldn’t even mention it if they thought that people would think she would just forget over the years, no there is something deeper. As for the whole crying in the Ganymede, I took that off wikipedia and was under the assumption it was in the canon novels about the Knights of Rounds, (I wish it was in the anime, she woulda looked so cute). Also, she didn’t remember in flashes, she only remembered in flashes when she came into contact with C.C. (also supporting my previous theory about C.C. only being able to use her power on those related to Marianne). But in the Ganymede she suddenly broke down and cried, for no reason. A person remembering their early years would remember some important stuff and I’m sure being in contact with Lulu and Marianne was important, why wouldn’t she remember at least a little of it, she doesn’t remember *anything*.
Hopefully you can counter some of that, please try not to agree, it makes writing this stuff so hard.