Code Geass R2 Episode 13 (It’s A Depressing One…..And Don’t Call Me Shirley)

Man, This Particular Shot Of The Tokyo Bay (Britannian Quarter) Combined With This Particular Portion Of The Song By Flow Featured In The Opening Really Gives Me Goosebumps.  One Really Has To Appreciate The Extent Universe They’ve Created Here, Even If They Don’t Like The Things That Happen In It

So thanks to a rather stupid TV Guide gaffe people probably already know one of the major details of what is going to happen in this episode.  Though even without it there were enouch warning flags to signal the oncoming…..tragedy.  Yes tragedy, because trainwreck and tragedy are indeed entirely different concepts.  Who knew?  Obviously not the internet.  There’s also as usually an overriding theme to the episode and events that make the title ambigious but oh so fitting nonetheless.  Let’s have a look.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut firrrrrrrrrrrrrst the new opening.

World End By Flow

I don’t know, they seem to have gone for the whole make it look as cool as possible deal with this one kind of like what they did with the second opening of R1.  There doesn’t seem to be much symbolism here but I’ll try to find it anyway. First there was the fact that I noticed a map of the world, all the national flags we’ve seen up until now, and then a quick cut to the lost graphic we’ve seen on the strategy boards.  It seems to imply that the concept of the factions we’ve seen up until now, or perhaps even the Geass world we’ve known up until now is about to come to an end.  It sort of fits the name of the song.  The slow pan-by of all the characters showing their usual personalities and then donning expressions that one would imagine as out of character for them also seems to imply change.  Nunally throwing the paper crane and it turning into a rainbow is anyones guess, though I guess (haha!) that when we see Charles then Schneizel standing on the world map casting a dual coloured shadow over parts of it (ominous looking much?), followed Lelouch casting a rainbow shadowed one over all of it, it’s meant to imply that Lelouch will somehow inherit the world and she’s the one that launched him on the quest. But we know this already so eh…cool factor….or Mary Sue factor, one of the two.  There’s also the disturbing bit where Cheese-Kun and the Karen mascot thingie (both representing C.C and Karen respectively) bump into Sayoko causing her to change into a weird ass costume.  I’m guessing she’s Lelouch’s mascot.  Well I’m going to deal with her later.

For now I must say I really enjoy the new opening song.  It’s quite catchy and along with growing on me more and more every time I listen to it, it totally clashes with the atmosphere of this episode, thus highlighting it a little bit better in my opinon.  This is like a norm for Sunrise. They love bookending doom and gloom series with ultra light hearted theme songs ever since…..ever.  They also almost always seem to have my favourite openings.  Anyway…..wait did I just find symbolism where I claimed there was none?  Or am I deluding myself.  Okay for real now….

If Anya Were Blogging This Episode I Think It’d Go A Little Something Like This:

Hmmm, This Whole Pre-Title Bit Has A Sort Of Fatalist Feel To It.  Whether That Well Continue To Be The Dominant View Of Events In The Series Remains To Be Seen.  It’d Be Nice For A Change Since Anime Seems So Afraid To Explore That Possibility As A Reality

Oh Shirley, You And Your Athletic Club…..

Holy Smokes, Shirley Is Being Intimidated By The Woman She Shot

I’m Liking The Visual Imagery Of Opera Masks To Signify Deceit And Hidden Intentions That Shirley Is Now Coming To Realize.  Well Not So Much Deceit As The Truth.  When They Fall Off Is When Shirley Realizes The Truth This Episode.  I’ve Really Gotta Hand It To The Screenplay Writers On This One, And With No Regrets Either.  It’s Very Effective

All The Students Have Masks Too, Though Not Of Their Own Volition

Shirley: “Surely This Face Is An Honest One?”  Lelouch: “No…..And Don’t Call Me Shirley…..Er Shirley”

Not Precious Lelouch Too!!!!!

Shirley Figured It Out In But A Few Seconds…..The Advantage She Has Over Suzaku Is She Doesn’t Know About The Stuff With The Emperor, Which Actually Allows Her To Clue In More Then He Is Right Now

And The Best Part Is….While It Was A Dream…..IT WASN’T! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Nice Melancholic Eyes By The Way

Things Are Going Well In China With Li On Lelouch’s Side. 

Kaguya Kind Of Seems Overly Talented…..But Then When You Consider That She’s A Loli I Guess It Makes Sense.  Karen Is Damn Handy Too With Her Combat And So Laksharta With Her Intelligence.  Toudou Is Suitably A Fucking Beast And All His Subordinates Are Average, But Rather Low On Loyality.  I Guess They Really Just Follow Him.  Tamaki Is No Surprise.  I Wonder Why He’s Even Kept Around……

The Goal While He’s Gone Seems To Be Mopping Up Resistance And Re-Organizing The Federation Under A New Banner.  I’m Guessing That Banner Is Tianzi.  Every Country Needs It’s Loli Head Of State In Anime….

Establishing Shots Are Rare In Anime, But Here We Are.  It’s Arthur Yawning Before The Scene Transition

Uh Oh…..Shirley’s Starting To Ask Questions…..And We All Know What Happens To People Who Ask Questions In Sunrise Anime Don’t We?  Also This Is A Silly Question.  I Explained This Two Captions Prior Shirley

Oh Sorry, I Almost Didn’t Recognize You With Those Shades On……Chiba Mamoru Is It?

It Seems Villeta’s Loyalties Are Somewhat Circumstancial

Ain’t Nobody Gonna Stand In This Jeremiah Gottwald’s Way…..

Except Ninja Maid’s That Are Prolonged To Fits Of Prolonged Airbornness

Truth Be Told, This Image Many Have Probably Seen Circulating The Internet Is But One Frame In It’s Entirety.  I’ve Got To Assume It Was A Practical Joke Meant To Sneak By When Viewed On Television As It’s Impossible To See Without Pausing It Right On The Exact Frame.  In Fact It Took Me 6 Tries Just To Find The Frame

The Exposition Of The Geass Cult Contiues Without Lelouch And Under Cornelia’s Watch.  What’s All This Talk About Gods?

Cornelia Isn’t One To Mince Words It Seems And Creepy Cult Leaders Are Welcome To A Dagger Right Between The Eyes….Even If They Look Like Kids

Just What Are V.V And C.C Other Than Witches And Warlocks Anyway?  His Dialogue Hints That He’s Against These Gods, But He Certainly Seems Abnormally….Unkillable.  Maybe The Geass Cult Leaders Are Enhanced Humans Somehow.  Those Types Of People Are All Over The Place In Sunrise Series.  I Think We’re On The Cusp Of Finding Out

A Reasonable Plan

It Just Doesn’t Have The Same Effect When There’s Shoes And They Are Over 14….

You Know, Jeremiah Must Be The Luckiest Unlucky Guy In The History Of The World

The Anti-Geass Seems To Be An Unconcious Act

You Know, I’m Kind Of Glad That Sayoko Has Finally Been Shut Down.  There’s Been Way To Much Focus On Her Over The Last Few Episodes And It’s Time To Tone Down The Combat Maid Stuff.  Besides Noble Knight > Ninja Maid Any Day Of The Week.  Ninja’s Are Just An Overrated And Unwarranted Fad Anyway

Well Rolo Is Pretty Much Useless Without His Geass

Viletta Seems To See Jeremiah As Her Way Out Of This Blackmailing.  Rolo Seems To Have Been The Real Deal Though

Slightly Awkward

Well Now I Feel Kind Of Bad For Her….I Guess Sayoko Is Pretty Loyal And Noble Too.  She Just Happens To Be A Ninja.  Man I Remember When They Legitimately Were Cool Before Everyone Started Obsessing Over Them Even In Mainstream American Culture.  After That The Novelty Died

The Border….Quite A Nice View.  Suzaku Still Seems To Insist On Getting Rid Of It.  I Say Let Nunally Handle That

Surely You Aren’t Going To Kill Yourself….And Don’t Ca….*Is Shot From Behind*

I’m Alright….It Seems I Might Be A Member Of The Geass Cult Without Knowing It.  Oh My….I’m Feeling So Whoozy It Seems Like I’m Having Flashbacks To Jurassic Park Trespasser Now

Oh Surely….You And Your Athletic Midriff Body…Hang In There

Lelouch Contiues Down The Path Of Giving A Damn About The Consequences Of His Actions….Though That’s No Escape From Them As We’ll See

Err….No Actually

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Now I Know What Really Caused It

You Know, I Think He’s More Like His Father Then He Imagines

Nobody naw give you no break
Jeremiah naw give you no break
That old Knight naw give you no break
Not even you idren naw give you no break

By The Way, Sayoko Isn’t Looking To Good

Something Tells Me Lelouch Has Plans The Audience Doesn’t Know About

Wow I Guess There’s Really Nothing That Can Stop Him So Easily…..Oh Well I’m Convinced.  JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!  (Always Wanted To Work That In)

Lelouch Is Setting A Trap Again

I Can See This Picture Becoming A Meme Somehow

Something Like That…..

He’s To Stubborn To More Like It

Knight Of Seven Powers Ladies And Gentleman

Hmmmm, I Get The Sense Some Reinforcements Might Be On The Way To Tokyo

Man These Cops Are Really Ineffective

Clear The Area With A Smoke Bomb And Deploy His New Technology (I Think This Gefion Disturber Is The Same Thing The Guren Has) Was The Plan.  Looks Like Jeremiah Is About To Be Shut Down Literally

Well Sakuradite Seems To Have The Same Weakness The Shizuma Drive Has In That Everything Apparently Bloody Well Uses It

Well If That Isn’t A Hint On His Future Plans I Don’t Know What Is

Wow He’s Still Coming……JERRY! JERRY!

REALLY?!

That Lelouch?

Well I Can Sort Of See How You Might Want To Make Sure……

You Know, Jeremiah Has Always Been A Character I’ve Liked For His Adherence To Duty.  I’m Glad He Didn’t Lose That After All Like I’d Thought At The End Of The First Season.  Guess Those Readjustments Helped Get Him Back To His Senses

It Looks Like Jeremiah’s Loyalty To Marianne Are Greater Than Any.  The Individual Over The Group Or Nation.  A Common Theme In This Series

I’m Not Exactly What Shirley Would Be Able To Do As A BK Member Though….

Oh Dear…..Rolo, What Have You Done?!

She Regained Her Memories Only To Die A Tragic Death…..Shirley Really Drew The Short Stick In Life

This Is Junk….JUNK! Happy Relationships Still Have No Place In Sunrise Series It Seems

Lelouch Tries The Geass Even Though It’s Futile.  You Kind Of Wish It Would Just Work Though.  Unfortunately The Geass Is Not A Belief Based Universe, Nor Is Code Geass As It’s Misleading Change In Atmosphere Comes Crashing Down With A Realization I Will Discuss Later

So Mamoru Miyano Or Jun Fukuyama For Best Agonized Scream Of The Year?

Ali G Project Song #56362462

There’s not much to be said for the new ending.  It’s an Ali Project song.  I should have just posted a Rozen Maiden song and seen if anybody noticed the difference.  Clamp artwork is also just that.  What were you expecting me to say “Clamp Artwork Is Clamp Artwork”?  Pah, in my world there is no such sentence structure as Subject copula Subject.  That’s more of a meme type thing.

Thoughts:

Wow, so a lot of stuff happened in this episode, especially compared to last week.  Let’s start small.  First of all, Karen, C.C, Anya, Gino and none of the Black Knights but two appeared in this episode.  That’s good because I’ve noticed that this show likes to jump around a lot between character normally and it’s good they kept the focus in this episode because otherwise it probably wouldn’t have been as fitting a character exit.

On the continuing plot side of things are the Black Knights campaign in China and Cornelia’s struggle to bring down the Geass Cult, which looks like it’s about to become an armies struggle.  Firstly, everything seems to be going well in China and it probably won’t be long before the Black Knights find the Geass Cult headquarters and Zero returns to lead them in bringing it down.  Though there’s likely to be an extractation plan for getting him there given what’s gone on in this episode.  Cornelia is also working against them and encounters V.V on her way down in what can only be described as a creepy bit of dialogue.  V.V proves that he has the same capabilities as C.C by withstanding a killing blow to the head in the form of a dagger.  He also talks about his mission to kill god and I’m starting to wonder if he might be delusional or there really is some sort of godlike entity out there.  The Code Geass universe has had a strong fantasy element in the form of the Geass so I can possibly see that happening, though I’m sure there’s a more rational explanation for it then literally killing god.  Either way it’s hard to say if he’s been captured by Cornelia, the other way around or what.  That particular situation sort of fades to the main plot arc this episode.

That of course is Shirley’s struggle with her regained memories as well as Jeremiah’s assault.  The Assassin by the way can refer to several things in this episode.  The first is obviously Jeremiah who has come to Area 11 under the auspicion of dispatching Lelouch/Zero for the Geass Cult.  The second is Rolo who is almost certainly the culprit of a great crime this episode.  The third is Lelouch’s own actions in season 1 coming back to destroy everything he had hoped for in the end. And The fourth is Cornelia coming back to try and fail to take out V.V.  Shirley’s story in this episode was impeccably handled in my opinion, from the whole symbolic mask thing, to her trying to help fix the problem instead of trying to shoot people again.  At first she reacts rather dramatically and tries to comitt suicide when she realizes just how far the deceit runs and it scares her beyond belief, but she soon realizes that maybe she can do something after Lelouch and Suzaku rescue her.  She tries to talk with Suzaku a little, but a lot of people have tried that and I’m not entirely sure it’s even what he wants.  He seems stubborn enough that he’d rather take death before coming to terms with the fact that he has screwed up horribly.

Lelouch is about to come to terms with this, but unfortunately in the most tragic way possible.  Shirley is of course eventually killed (99% likely by Rolo) this episode, and Lelouch is as much to blame for her death as anyone.    He started the whole chain that went into this easily avoidable tragedy by first leading his rebellion at Narita that resulted in the death of Shirley’s father.  Once she found out about him he of course tried to gloss over it with a Geass rewrite in the first season as well.  This season in the early episodes and in his hubris, he brough the obviously unstable Rolo into his circle, believing he could be controlled and later tried to move down a path towards forgetting about the Geass and his personal grudge and towards trying to be a better leader (R2 episode 7).  That didn’t mean that Rolo had tried to change at all as well and unfortunately one cannot escape their past quiet so easily with just words.  It’s like the new opening describes in it’s lyrics.  “Can’t live at all just sugarcoating things, Can’t heal anything with just kindness”.  Lelouch has to face his past actions now, and this is another turning point for him.  Will he return to the path of destruction or continue down the path towards redemption like Shirley is hinting at him to do.  I think Suzaku has already made his choice, but I hope, really hope that Lelouch will make the right one and use Shirley’s strength rather than abuse it as a reason to go on a killing spree.  Regardless, that prism of glass probably has enough cracks in it to shatter forever with just one wrong move.

I’m really going to miss Shirley though.  I liked her character a lot and especially in the episode with the “SUGOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIII POWA!” line.  Not every character get’s a happy ending though so it’s something I think the viewers are just going to have to accept.  I felt her exit was well handled though with some good acting and suitably depressing music.  Though I was kind of hoping for the song Stories, the sombre sounding violin piece did the job.  I continue to be happy that Sunrise sticks to orchestra pieces for their series music because it works so well in carrying the atmosphere.  Never change that.  Please.

If it’s any consolation to us, it looks like Lelouch’s plans are moving at long last.  Although Jeremiah came with the apparent intent to kill Lelouch, once he figured out that he was the son of his beloved former master, he saw the chance to correct his past mistakes and took it.  Lelouch, I would be taking notes from Jerry if I were you.  Anyway, this is good as Jeremiah has always seemed like a noble character to me, and this is his chance to return to doing what he always wanted to be doing in the first place.  Maybe he’ll bring Villeta with him.  Speaking of Viletta, while she seemed to have had some doubts this episode, I think Ougi and Jeremiah combined will be enough to convince her to join the Black Knights cause for real.  As for Rolo, I’m not sure what’s going to happen to him, but it’s looking like his time may be coming to an end as the rag almost certainly seems to no longer be needed, and after Lelouch finds out his true colours and what he did to Shirley, the false brotherly love, the lie that was one of many that killed Shirley and could kill anyone he loves, will be gone and it will be time to discard him…..permenantly.  One order to Jeremiah and that Geass won’t protect him anymore.

And we’re left on reasonably stable footing at the end of this episode as well.  Cliffhanger as always, but a less confusing one.  Lelouch seems to have plans for starting some trouble in Tokyo with his Gefion Disturbers, and he is about to launch his attack on the Geass Cult.  I can see it going well also.  First though he’ll have to get out of that mall that Suzaku is sure to come busting into any moment.  I’m assuming Suzaku has also called Anya and Gino so this could be trouble.  Luckily for Lelouch his Black Knights seem to be on the way to rescue his ass.  No mask though……hmmmmmm…this could be tricky.  Can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

I have nothing really bad to say about this episode and only good things really.  There was some great story progression, the resolution of several ongoing character arcs that were even tied together well with past events, the near resolution of some plot arcs, and for once more questions answered then new ones raised. Also it was just generally solid screenplay, I don’t care what anyone might say about “bad writing” or whatever their definition for “good writing” might be.  The fact that there were no advertisements or any product placement in episode and everything was so on focus also makes me happy to grant the episode a rare score from me.  I give lots of 6’s-9.5’s, but the 10 is reserved for episodes that I found my expectations were exceeded on almost every level.  This is one of them.

Rating: Ten Out Of Ten