code geass 10
Categories: anime, code geass, episodic review
Tagged: code geass
30 Comments »
Three months ago, if you had told me that Sunrise and CLAMP were going to team up to make a tactical mecha anime with harem elements sponsored by Pizza Hut, I would have laughed. I wavered… but Code Geass is pretty damn entertaining.
I am wrong about many things about Code Geass:
Lulu thinks that he is a genius. I see it now. He knows that even with the Geass, his best chance of winning is to have his own private army… any king needs his rooks, bishops, and, most importantly, his pawns. (Karen, of course is only a figurative Queen.) His Order gives him the pieces to match up with Britannia. Knowing the generally distaste for terrorism, he twists it around to actually be able to recruit. (Though, he should have just corrected everyone with “It’s not an insurgency! It’s a resistance!”…. I’ve been playing too much FFXII.)
Like any schoolboy, he’s giddy that he gets to apply what he learned in physics and history on the battlefield: it’s not that he’s a genius, it’s just that’s McGuyver-level resourceful in using what he has. Like Death Note‘s Light-o, Lulu’s best trait is that he doesn’t get rattled easily. (Unfortunately, this was also Light-o’s biggest weakness.) It’s not that Lulu’s a tactical genius– he’s just better composed than everyone else out there. Even if he looks like he’s reading his history textbook as the Battle of Narita rages on. Just like how Tom Brady doesn’t have the best arm or the best scrambling ability but still wins games, Lulu knows his strengths and exploits them to the max. Except, of course, Lulu has a world-class teammate in Karen, and he realizes it. (Though whether or not Lulu realizes that Karen is an attractive female is another story.)
Watching Karen pilot Guren Nishiki, I haven’t been this excited for mecha combat since Mwu La Fraga’s return. There’s the bad-ass claw, the fact that there’s finally a mecha that can stand against Lancelot, and, most importantly, how Karen has to pilot the thing by leaning forward at all times. (CLAMP needs to redesign her resistance outfit to maximize the impact of the Guren Nishiki stance.) I’m not a fan of the huge sweeping pwnage that kept happening in GSD, but I do enjoy balanced battles, like the Desert Tiger’s battle with Kira in the original GS. I just hope Code Geass gives us somewhat balanced battles… Guren Nishiki gives me slim hope. (If only they splurged and hired Nanoha‘s battle scenario director.)
I can’t believe that I’ve been complaining about fanservice the past few episodes– there’s already been more Code Geass fanservice than GSD and Zegapain combined. I liked how this particular episode started out with C.C. inexplicably in a school-issued swimsuit re-enacting the high dive from Zegapain. There’s just a lot of inexplicable fanservice in Code Geass, and I should just be happy that there is any. After all, we still haven’t seen Nayuki in a school-issued swimsuit yet. (Andohbytheway, where did C.C. get her swimsuit from? Did Lulu steal it using Geass? I think the size order would be Karen > Shirley > Villetta > Euphie > C.C. > Ashford > Nanali > Suzaku.)
You know what? Just forget that I brought up how nonsensically screwed up the history and background of Code Geass is. Doesn’t matter. Lulu could be a space alien, C.C. could be an esper, and Shirley could be a time traveler. The show screwed up history and reality by depicting the insurgents of Area 18 fighting basically fortress warfare. I wonder if Rumsfeld consulted Sunrise on Middle Eastern asymmetrical warfare. Not important how the characters got here, just that they got here. Doesn’t detract from the fundamental enjoyment of the series. And, more importantly, I just love Orange-kun’s emo facial distortion. I was just thinking, “Hey, there hasn’t been any emo facial distortion in that new Sunrise series.”
I watched this episode twice… the second time just because I may have missed a Pizza Hut reference. Now excuse me while I order yet another pepperoni pan pizza.
You know what, if I can tolerate all the horribly bad gay jokes and male nudity in Inukami, I can tolerate the unintentional budding romance between Suzaku x Lulu. I just hope Sunrise is smart enough to balance this out with some intentional budding romance between Nina x Euphie or Shirley x Karen. The overtones between Suzaku and Lulu are still fun to track… there’s still nowhere as bad as Duo and Heero, especially since they wore Spandex.
I still remember when I started watching Gundam Seed… I couldn’t wait for the next episode… even with it’s flaws, it’s still addicting. Unlike a series like Muteki Kanban Musume or Mushishi, I can’t put my finger on what exactly makes Code Geass tick. Just a combination of things… but mostly because the characters have become interesting, I think. I can only see what shouldn’t make it tick, but it keeps going strong and hooking me in despite what I consider failings. That’s what frustrates me about this series… I keep thinking that it could be better, yet it’s already pretty damn good. I keep thinking that yet another Sunrise train wreck is going to happen, yet even if it does, I don’t think it would make the series less enjoyable.
Next time on AoMM’s coverage of Code Geass: I am also wrong about the firmness of C.C.’s ass, Shirley’s cupsize, and global warming.
30 Responses to “code geass 10”
Leave a Reply
I agree with the GSD comment, there was too many big overpowered weapons taking out a large group of small things and then finally finding one mech thats strong enough to battle it, I enjoyed in the beginning of this series, pre-lancelot, that all the mechs that were being used were equal and the fact that lulu was winning was due to his strategic skill, err… exploiting his strengths. I’ve been enjoying this show until I see lancelot, Purple haired woman mecha, and now we have another overpowered mech, well at least it IS for balance, but I would much rather prefer a battle of strategic minds with mass average mechs over a battle of willpower (lambda driver) and singly overpowered mechs (Strike Freedom!). I somehow imagined C.C. being.. Bigger, In a good way.
>>Lulu could be a space alien
I swear he IS an alien. One of those Roswell gray aliens in a Lulu skin suit. Look at the picture you posted: big head, big eyes, small chin.
it’s not often you see a weapon on a mecha that microwaves those inside of it, an interesting shift from impalements and ridiculously large guns with even larger energy blasts.
i was also pleased with the pseudo-Rockettes show put on by the student counsel president. we need more of this.
anyone else get a G-gundam vibe from karen’s mech?
I mean, the whole burning hand crushing the other mech’s head…
I’d say that’s about as direct a tribute as you can get.
From what we’ve seen of the Guren so far, I dont’ think its that overpowered. It’s Fatality is cool, but if it takes that long every time, not very useful when facing more than one opponent. That doesn’t have a weapon or chooses to just sit there before she fires the Radiation Bullet thing.
While we haven’t seen much of what it can do, it also doesn’t seem to have the speed and agility of the Lancelot. And unless it has some hidden tricks we haven’t seen (quite likely) its mainly a short range fighter. The extended claw probably couldn’t hold up against the Lancelot’s medium range weapons or other Knightmare’s longrange weapons.
Of course, this assumes we are using logic and consistency in battles, which is probably expecting too much from Sunrise.
I havent watched this episode yet, but i particularly enjoyed epi 8, where zero said “fearus or joinus”. ah that was really interesting.
Light >>>>>>>>>> Lulu
in terms of genius! i bet light would pwn lulu in chess anytime!
lets just hope lulu doesnt depend on his gayass that much as to cause his downfall.
Whats interesting in this series is too see how chess is integrated into battle and watch zero move his pieces.
i hate suzaku though. irritating as hell. and hes a wussy
>>> I just hope Code Geass gives us somewhat balanced battles… Guren Nishiki gives me slim hope. (If only they splurged and hired Nanoha’s battle scenario director.)
At least Guren Nishiki uses the cartridge system.
Suzaku is the worse thing in this series. I haven’t watched GS/D yet, though.
As for the strategy part, I guess they are incorporating it into this battle of “mymecha>yourmecha!” with the landslide and stuff. On the battlefield, Lelouch > Light. Dunno about battle of trying to one-up each other.
Karen is the best thing in this series, in both modes. If they include more nakkid shots and more Pizza Hut, it could possibly turn even Light-o on when he’s reading his educational material stash. ^^
Hey Jason! You forget to mention about the preview.
We already know how Sunrise loves to spill the beans in their OP’s, but now it seems like C.C. is giving Suzaku GEASS too. Why? Don’t know but want to…
Good point with GS. It took me only 6 days of this year (January 7 to 12) to saw the all series. I liked it very much since the first episode. That was a big surprise for me, since I hated so much Gundam Wing for the gay thing when I watched 5 years ago. Obviously, in our time “that†kind of things are irrelevant for me, so I let my mind to take the lead and focused in the action and else. The hell, if I saw series like Princess Princess and Loveless; GS, GW or SP was nothing compared to that. The only yaoi-series my eyes will never see is Gravitation; it doesn’t matter if Tomokazu Seki has main role there.
If am I right, Code Geass has 25 episodes in his list (don’t count that damn recap episode) we already have 10 aired, with only 15 more to go. So, I’m wondering, Lelouch is really going to change something? Britannia is really going to fall? Someone of the main cast is going to die? Well, we have to wait until March 28th to find out that.
One more thing Jason…
I grew up under that McGuyver school that you mentioned before, but let me tell you something. When Cornelia has cornered Lelouch in the Nightmare, McGuyver will have make something superb to escape from that situation…
McGuyver… really good times of my life.
ut to heat that much water in seconds. Heck if they could put that much power into a knightmare then they must have solved the world’s energy problems. How can they have ECM and consequently point their radar at the ground? No defense in depth, boradcasting the time of your next comms check, no forward listening posts… the list goes on and on. Lulu’s knightmare looks terrifically silly, just like pretensions that good chess player = good general. Sprinkling Chess and Sun Tzu isn’t going to convince me that Lulu has a tactical or strategic bone in his skinny hide. Niether one is a prequisiste, there’s something to be said that the best generals don’t graduate at the top of their classes. Oh an another bit of proapaganda, Kamikaze Toudou…! Haruhi-sama willing it won’t get worse than this otherwise its gonna be like History of Tokugawa Japan all over again.
If Karen adopts Shining Finger I am going to laugh out a lung. Then again Guren Nishiki = Shining Gundam, and Lancelot = Speigel/Shadoe Gundam.
I don’t think Cornelia’s Knightmare is overpowered her’s is to a Sutherland like a Tiger I to a Panzer IV. Limited in quantity with the few only going to the best. Lancelot and Guren Nishiki are one of a kind they have to be overpowered. Ah well looks like Guilford’s going to have a shoubu with Toudou, while Cornelia plays damesel in distress while Suzaku mounts a rescue, oh how the mighty have fallen!
Still even if this devolves further into GSD at least Millay onee-sama will kick the air for no reason and Karen will pilot in a jockey postion, Orange-kun will always be like a sentai villian with his cries of “next time.” I just hope that Sunrise does not try an put in Suzaku x Karen to try and one up Romeo and Juliet in the crappy romance dept., if that happens more over-powered mecha are bound to show up. Unless it creates a boxcutter viable triangle its going to accelerate GSDificatiion. I hope Orange-kun is around a bit longer that way he can work on his pantheon class facial contortion, he doesn’t convince me yet.
Lulu’s going to end up a meglomaniac, he’ll be too busy signing death warrants to succumb to Karen’s feminine wiles, soon enough…
>> That was a big surprise for me, since I hated so much Gundam Wing for the gay thing when I watched 5 years ago.
I really don’t get the whole homophobic thing over Gundam Wing. Zechs and Treize were pwning all over enough for me to even bother about Heero x Duo. And Deathscythe Hell is also one of my favorite Gundam, so I’m not really a Duo hater either.
Hey how did that happen?
Oh well. Heh McGuyver, good times. Heck I carry a swiss army knife equivalent just because of that show
Even if you can find fault with Karen’s resitance outfit it shows more skin than that black get up. I hold out no hope for battles even remotely like Legend of Galactic Heroes. I don’t know but Guren Nishiki must have a helluva fuel rod or some other power out put to heat that much water in seconds.
This episode made me so giddy on epic proportions. I really do enjoy every single episode of this series. It’s amazing. I love the Jeremiah O-o-o-o-orange!? moment. And then him getting fried by Guren’s uber claw of death, which looks like a really badass weapon. Oh yeah and Karen’s leaning over piloting, classic. Hurray for Guren MkII. :) I’m still hoping that C.C. has some crazy powers to bust out to help out the Black Knights. Could it be a rain of napalm hot Pizza Hut pan pizzas?
Well, Sunrise can always fall back onto one of the Crux’s of science fiction: Make up some really smart sounding noun and declare it a scientific innovation that explains how things work. IE: Minovsky Particles, Gundanium, Warp Drive, Tachyon fields, ect…
I liked this episode. It actually had mecha combat good enough to make me play Armored Core on my PS2 and try out a couple new designs. One of which turned out nicely.
I also had to watch it 2-3 times, because my file was corrupted and it kept crashing my VLC player…Nyoro~n…
Ok, instead of ass meat, we get female erection this time? Hmm, it would have been funnier with both legs.
Man, If someone made a list of anime megalomaniacs all-stars, I betcha Lelouch will be on it (As well as Haruhi, Raito and Keroro, I’d wager).
One thing Lulu has over Raito is his flair for Theatrics, hence his Zero persona, which in my opinion, makes him more entertaining to watch. Well that and throwing him into all sorts of harem antics does not hurt either.
I feel it is in the public interest that I let you know that the “recap” clips at the beginning of each episode are actually fan-selected, through live cellphone voting at the time of airing. I therefore EXPECT each and every one of you to be two-handing cellphones and mashing the vote key like your life depended on it whenever Millay is putting her long, luscious legs on display. Dismissed!
/Tried, and failed, to emulate Sagara’s/Mao’s drill sergeant tone. So I reverted to “overbearing parent”-style.
A phone number to call would help… if I understood Japanese.
Combine Episode 14’s title and this episode’s preview and there you have it. Godamit.
Sunrise definitely has the potential to make good balanced mecha battles, they did it in 08th MS Team, they can do it here.
>>(If only they splurged and hired Nanoha’s battle scenario director.)>>
what’s the big deal about the battles in nanoha?
Is it really wrong that, every time I see that Millay picture with her leg in the air, I picture her doing a Basic Instinct crossing and uncrossing? Good lord, please let this be on the DVD.
I doubt that Orange-kun is going to be around much longer, if he is not already dead, remember, in the gundam series orange=death
“I picture her doing a Basic Instinct crossing”
Holy crap. It’s Chrismas. He’s not going to be crossed before Easter!
>> what’s the big deal about the battles in nanoha?
They weren’t done by Sunrise. ^_^ Seriously though, Nanoha and Fate were pretty evenly matched throughout the whole series. For that matter, the same could be said in Nanoha A’s.
Oh, and if this were a true McGuyver tribute, Lulu woulda been caught and thrown into a janitor closet/chemistry lab, where he would then proceed to create .
It’s true, Nanoha had evenly matched battles pretty much all the way through. The typical anime has the hero getting the crap beaten out of him until the last moment, when he gathers all his power into one huge burst that completely annihilates everything. Otherwise it’s Kira destroying the entire new and old cast of GSD. The first Nanoha was remarkably boring, though. I only stuck with it because of Jason’s raving reviews. Nanoha A’s was a work of art, however.
in ep. 10, i saw what may be my favorite moment in this entire series. that moment is when the guren’s microwave emitter starts to bloat up jeramiah’s sutherland. it was awesome!! i also liked o-o-orange kun!!!!!!!!
She blew him up.
This anime is elite.
You know I love the fact the recent Sunrise Series had more fanservice then they had it the 90’s with most mecha series. Gundam Wing was a sausage-fest, Dagwon’s a Sausage-fest (Why no female Yuusha?), GGG saved the anime from being a sausage-fest. Lets hope Sunrise doesnt try to reduce any amount of Fanservice
Well thats not right o_o supporting the yuri but not the yaoi.