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Oct 25 2006

Categories: anime, code geass, episodic review
Tagged: code geass

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A closet Sunrise fan am I. Code Geass 2.

If there’s a few constants about Sunrise, it’s (1) they will always have forced melodrama (2) they will always have characters “dying” (3) they will always have overpowered mecha and (4) they will always have emo facial distortions that make me giddy. Like expecting 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists out of LBJ, Sunrise always delivers the goods on these four counts. And, fantastically, Code Geass 2 delivers them all like Santa on Christmas Eve.

Let’s start with my favorite: the emo facial distortion. I loved Lulu’s “I can use these pawns” face as much as I loved his “I can use this kick ass jagan” face. He may not be a likable character, but he sure is a fun character to follow. He’s like T.O… insufferable, but how can you not crack jokes like, “Hey, why isn’t he doing stomach crunches?” during his “suicide” attempt press conference. Lulu’s supposed to be the main character — the hero — yet, he’s quite sinister, conniving, and dark.

At first, I thought that he’s a dictionary definition anti-hero, much in the vein of Death Note‘s Light-o… both see themselves as god-figures and both see others as disposable pawns. There’s one fundamental difference. Death Note is Death Note; Code Geass is Sunrise. Light-o is the same in volume 1 as volume 12, but you know Sunrise will yank Lulu around like they did pretty much everyone else– from neutering Athrun, turning Lacus from jpop idol to the most evil despot ever, having Shinn make out with Lunamaria (unforgivable), hooking up Mr Wong with his daughter, having Reito pass up a Mai buffet… you know Sunrise has something hideous planned for poor Lulu, and it ain’t going to be pretty but hella entertaining. (My guess? He’s revealed to be a reverse trap!)

(Lulu just seems like a jerk and an asshole. Maybe he’s not meant to be likable, but I find it hard to root against him seeing how the Britannians aren’t much better. Remember? They were committing mass genocide the previous episode! And now Suzaku saves a falling mother and is suddenly the “good” one? I don’t buy this character manipulation. I’m going to cheer for Lulu to keep killing everything until he ends up killing Suzaku or his sister by mistake and has a Shinji/Toji moment.)

Next up is the overpowered mecha– I mean, can Sunrise ever deliver an anime where the mecha are balanced? I say no. You’ll have better luck extracting fingernails from Shion Sonozaki than see that happen. Nonetheless, I gotta say watching Lulu learn to pilot a “knightmare” and suddenly turn into Stonewall Jackson/Patton/Washington/Tess combined. Kira had issues piloting Strike– he even needed Mr Invincible to bail him out– but Lulu? Not only can he expertly pilot this knightmare to the point where he can fend off Lancelot, he can give orders and direct battles like Tess while doing so. I now have him ahead of Lacus but behind Tess in my Anime Armchair General Power Rankings™. So we have this montage of plucky rebels basically manhandling the Ameri– err– Britannians like the Ewoks rolled over those stormtroopers. Of course, seconds later, it takes this new “seventh generation” knightmare Lancelot (powered by Firefox 2!) to mow down the said plucky rebels. No one does one-sided battles better than Sunrise.

(Seeing Mecha Lancelot reminds of the old cartoon, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. The one where the football team gets teleported to an alternate universe, and, of course, they all get mistaken for the real King Arthur and such. So they apply their football knowledge to medival mecha combat. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t look forward to watching Arthur King lead his football-knights every Saturday morning back when I was a kid. Oharuhi-sama bless Youtube– here’s the OP. Good times. Good times.)

Another Sunrise specialty is their affinity to not actually kill of characters (this is why I was shocked when I found out it was Studio Deen and not Sunrise animating Higurashi no Naku Koro ni). I remember back when Mai Otome 18 aired, everyone was going crazy over Aoi’s death, and I argued that (a) she’s a minor character who will be forgotten and (b) she will be alive before the series end. Guess what? She was back alive, and no one cared because we were too dropjawed from seeing Rosary’s hawtness, Tomoe’s and Shizuru’s kinky toddler fun, Mr Wong and Nina’s indiscretion, and Shiho’s ridiculous skull crotch costume. Basically, I didn’t expect Suzaku or the green haired girl to stay dead. And guess what? Suzaku is not only alive, he’s piloting Lancelot. I mean, first off, he’s an eleven, and eleven’s aren’t supposed to pilot knightmares. Secondly, he has never piloted a knightmare outside of simulation, and, lastly, he’s recovering from a near mortal wound sustained hours earlier. He’s the perfect candidate to try out that state-of-the-art seventh-generation uber-mecha! Sunrise being Sunrise. What else can I say?

As for the green haired girl, I think this screenshot makes a case that she comes back either as a clone or a ghost. That’s probably the number (5) specialty for Sunrise: always giving away plot points in the OP.

Finally, Sunrise is almost godly at manufacturing melodrama. Take Gundam Seed where — gasp — Kira and Athrun are childhood friends! Lulu and Suzaku seem to be taking the same path. Also, episode 2 of Code Geass reveals that the megalomaniac rule Prince Corvis is none other than Lulu’s older brother. I’m thinking pretty soon we’ll find out that Lulu’s sister is madly in love with Suzaku or something. That’s the thing about Sunrise: despite their predictableness, despite their sappy stories, despite their unlikable hero, they have an entertaining show. Code Geass is just more of the Sunrise norm, and some of us wouldn’t have it any other way.

Next time on AoMM’s coverage of Code Geass— the women of Code Geass.