tempestuously (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tempestuously) wrote2007-07-29 04:17 pm
tempestuously) wrote2007-07-29 04:17 pm
Re: Geass 24 and 25
So back from work and mostly sane and have translations so let's do this thing!
I keep having this thing lately, where I'm satisfied with things that many on my FL aren't. Maybe my expectations aren't as high anymore. But aside form the refusal to tell me when Season 2 is airing, I was content with the way things went down in the recent Geass eps. I don't mind the pacing or things of that nature since my primary focus in Geass has ever been on the characters and we saw a range of emotions on that front, particularly with Lelouch. I really like the part where he's asking himself if any of this is worth it if he has to lose Nunnally in the process.
And something struck me about his still wanting Suzaku to be on his side to rescue Nunnally, even when he realizes he's clearly lost Suzaku's faith. Yes, he wants Suzaku's power. But he's damn pissed when Suzaku turns that gun on him after seeing who Zero is. It reminded me a lot of the scene in Gungrave where Harry tests Brandon's loyalty to him by implying he's going to kill Big Daddy and Brandon in instinctive "protect the family" rage turns his gun on him, resulting in Harry, unable to believe that his best friend would threaten him, shooting Brandon dead. The epic screaming was much the same, although Gungrave was mostly limited to Harry's screaming. It makes me wonder if Lelouch is not, at least in part, still blindly grasping for the Suzaku that protected Nunnally with him in their childhood. After all, despite everything he remained unwilling to kill Suzaku until Suzaku essentially told him that he should die and Nunnally would be better off. I think it was Lelouch's prior second-guessing (meaning a small part of him may have seen Suzaku as right), his rage at Suzaku's "betrayal" (yes, I realize Lelouch's betrayal in far worse but we're playing in Lelouch's head for now) and the fact that he just didn't have time to fuck with Suzaku when Nunnally was in danger that led to the gun-wielding. Everything else was just Lelouch bluffing as usual.
People have been screaming at Suzaku again for "betraying" Lelouch and not wanting to hear his side of the story. But I figure when your childhood friend turns the girl who really made you feel like what you were doing was right and validated you into a psycho-killer and destroys the very dream you two shared, I don't think you'd be thinking rationally either. Besides, Lelouch had his chance to explain and would rather avoid it. "It's in the past." WTF is up with that? It's not like Suzaku hasn't given him chances all along, suspecting that Lelouch was Zero and waiting to see what became of it and possibly if he couldn't deter him from his path. Their constant conversations on this topic take on new meaning now, as does what Suzaku says to Zero right after Zero saves him from Jeremiah. It's always been a battle to see who could win over the other, only Lelouch never realized Suzaku had the advantage in this game, knowing most of the cards (save the geass) while Lelouch took his time on Suzaku's secret. I do, however, think that Suzaku demanding that Lelouch should have died is rather... extreme. But he wasn't sane then anyway. There's a good chance had he killed Lelouch, he would have been extremely repentant not long afterward. As someone said on GameFAQs, similar to the situation with Suzaku and killing his father. Suzaku has some violent tendencies.
I have mixed feelings on the Cornelia thing, mostly because I wanted Lelouch to finish her off. But if she's not dead, I'll take the trade. Zero killing Darlton right after he stabs Cornelia is one of the few times Lelouch has ever cleaned up after his mistakes since once Darlton came to, he was going to FUCK PEOPLE UP. I resent Orange-kun greatly for fucking up Lelouch's moment with Cornelia. I understand it was needed for the dramatic tension, but Lelouch really did want to keep Cornelia with him for a while. For whatever reason. And Orange ruined that. They also stretched the geass command, having Lelouch ask Cornelia who killed his mother and then being able to tack on more questions that weren't quite related such as about the coffin. He should have just used the same command he used on Clovis. I did like the whole walking up and covering his eye deal of his. Also, as I've said in previous discussions with Geass fans, Cornelia has this tendency of getting left behind by everyone who finds her in her condition. First Lelouch and then Suzaku. I did like her eventual acknowledging of Suzaku after all her Eleven-hate. He really is Jesus for Britannia.
Black Knights? Well, they're all trigger-happy and fucked in the head. I should have known Tamaki was going to be a problem, but I never figured he'd try to kill the students. Leaving Suzaku behind with him was another bonehead move for Lelouch, even though I love the idea of trapping Suzaku right next to Ashford. More of Lelouch's aversion to outright killing Suzaku. Speaking of killing Suzaku, Kallen should remember while she's freaking out about Lelouch's deceit that he did save her from Suzaku. Be grateful, woman! Arthur is awesome, and the Black Knights need to take chill pills. Sure their general shouldn't have up and left them, but he delegated order to Toudou, and they should have been sane. No wonder they took so long to actually target the Britannian stronghold during the attack. Lelouch, you need a better trained army. They only pretend to listen to your ideals half the time. They are terrorists through and through.
Onto Villetta, some are concerned with the way the episodes showed absolutely nothing that happened to Villetta. I prefer this since what was hinted wasn't of the good, spoilers weren't of the good and it would take something pretty traumatic to shake Villetta out of her amnesia. I don't like that she knows Lelouch has the ability to screw with memories though; she should only know he's Zero. I wonder what they plan for her in Season 2, much as I wonder for Suzaku, who seems to be on a one-track agenda with little chance for character development unless he somehow decides to devote his services to Britannia once more. Right now, he's just all about the righteous vengeance. Kallen, I'm not so worried about since I figure she'll remain true to the Knight regardless because of her ideals. The Knights might well be booting Lelouch though. Generals don't abandon the army for random students. Sorry.
Some stuff was random such as most with Nina, most of Orange being annoying and VV being a bitch because he can be. Then again, I find VV random in general until I get a purpose for him. I liked the CC/Lelouch stuff because I don't see it as romantic but more an extension of their contract. And I admit I love the idea of Lelouch telling CC she's not alone and that he will be her demon lord. This relates back to 23 where Lelouch tells Kaguya he's already made a deal with the devil and therefore cannot be friends with a goddess. I like the way the kiss was handled too in that it was more of a "I'm off to die. Wish me luck" deal, and Lelouch's reaction is priceless. It also gave us happy geass face, which probably shouldn't exist but is still terribly cute. And Lelouch telling CC not to die only to have her reply with "Who do you think you're talking to?" I really do love them. They are an awesome team.
I don't think I'm going to go into the whole "what happened at the end" thing since it's all speculation at this point. I'm content just trying to wrap my brain around both Lelouch and Suzaku's logic at this point. And did you see, I didn't fangirl it up with most of this. Go me.
Oh and this quote from the whiny fanbrats at AnimeSuki makes my week. Oh fanbrats.
"Thread over. Lulu/CC is canon now."
"Cannon as in she's at the bottom of the ocean. Yup... real good relationship status right there."
ETA: I just ordered Knight using context clues to access the Japanese bookstore. I think I've now reached the pinnacle of my obsessive insanity. I want a cookie.
I keep having this thing lately, where I'm satisfied with things that many on my FL aren't. Maybe my expectations aren't as high anymore. But aside form the refusal to tell me when Season 2 is airing, I was content with the way things went down in the recent Geass eps. I don't mind the pacing or things of that nature since my primary focus in Geass has ever been on the characters and we saw a range of emotions on that front, particularly with Lelouch. I really like the part where he's asking himself if any of this is worth it if he has to lose Nunnally in the process.
And something struck me about his still wanting Suzaku to be on his side to rescue Nunnally, even when he realizes he's clearly lost Suzaku's faith. Yes, he wants Suzaku's power. But he's damn pissed when Suzaku turns that gun on him after seeing who Zero is. It reminded me a lot of the scene in Gungrave where Harry tests Brandon's loyalty to him by implying he's going to kill Big Daddy and Brandon in instinctive "protect the family" rage turns his gun on him, resulting in Harry, unable to believe that his best friend would threaten him, shooting Brandon dead. The epic screaming was much the same, although Gungrave was mostly limited to Harry's screaming. It makes me wonder if Lelouch is not, at least in part, still blindly grasping for the Suzaku that protected Nunnally with him in their childhood. After all, despite everything he remained unwilling to kill Suzaku until Suzaku essentially told him that he should die and Nunnally would be better off. I think it was Lelouch's prior second-guessing (meaning a small part of him may have seen Suzaku as right), his rage at Suzaku's "betrayal" (yes, I realize Lelouch's betrayal in far worse but we're playing in Lelouch's head for now) and the fact that he just didn't have time to fuck with Suzaku when Nunnally was in danger that led to the gun-wielding. Everything else was just Lelouch bluffing as usual.
People have been screaming at Suzaku again for "betraying" Lelouch and not wanting to hear his side of the story. But I figure when your childhood friend turns the girl who really made you feel like what you were doing was right and validated you into a psycho-killer and destroys the very dream you two shared, I don't think you'd be thinking rationally either. Besides, Lelouch had his chance to explain and would rather avoid it. "It's in the past." WTF is up with that? It's not like Suzaku hasn't given him chances all along, suspecting that Lelouch was Zero and waiting to see what became of it and possibly if he couldn't deter him from his path. Their constant conversations on this topic take on new meaning now, as does what Suzaku says to Zero right after Zero saves him from Jeremiah. It's always been a battle to see who could win over the other, only Lelouch never realized Suzaku had the advantage in this game, knowing most of the cards (save the geass) while Lelouch took his time on Suzaku's secret. I do, however, think that Suzaku demanding that Lelouch should have died is rather... extreme. But he wasn't sane then anyway. There's a good chance had he killed Lelouch, he would have been extremely repentant not long afterward. As someone said on GameFAQs, similar to the situation with Suzaku and killing his father. Suzaku has some violent tendencies.
I have mixed feelings on the Cornelia thing, mostly because I wanted Lelouch to finish her off. But if she's not dead, I'll take the trade. Zero killing Darlton right after he stabs Cornelia is one of the few times Lelouch has ever cleaned up after his mistakes since once Darlton came to, he was going to FUCK PEOPLE UP. I resent Orange-kun greatly for fucking up Lelouch's moment with Cornelia. I understand it was needed for the dramatic tension, but Lelouch really did want to keep Cornelia with him for a while. For whatever reason. And Orange ruined that. They also stretched the geass command, having Lelouch ask Cornelia who killed his mother and then being able to tack on more questions that weren't quite related such as about the coffin. He should have just used the same command he used on Clovis. I did like the whole walking up and covering his eye deal of his. Also, as I've said in previous discussions with Geass fans, Cornelia has this tendency of getting left behind by everyone who finds her in her condition. First Lelouch and then Suzaku. I did like her eventual acknowledging of Suzaku after all her Eleven-hate. He really is Jesus for Britannia.
Black Knights? Well, they're all trigger-happy and fucked in the head. I should have known Tamaki was going to be a problem, but I never figured he'd try to kill the students. Leaving Suzaku behind with him was another bonehead move for Lelouch, even though I love the idea of trapping Suzaku right next to Ashford. More of Lelouch's aversion to outright killing Suzaku. Speaking of killing Suzaku, Kallen should remember while she's freaking out about Lelouch's deceit that he did save her from Suzaku. Be grateful, woman! Arthur is awesome, and the Black Knights need to take chill pills. Sure their general shouldn't have up and left them, but he delegated order to Toudou, and they should have been sane. No wonder they took so long to actually target the Britannian stronghold during the attack. Lelouch, you need a better trained army. They only pretend to listen to your ideals half the time. They are terrorists through and through.
Onto Villetta, some are concerned with the way the episodes showed absolutely nothing that happened to Villetta. I prefer this since what was hinted wasn't of the good, spoilers weren't of the good and it would take something pretty traumatic to shake Villetta out of her amnesia. I don't like that she knows Lelouch has the ability to screw with memories though; she should only know he's Zero. I wonder what they plan for her in Season 2, much as I wonder for Suzaku, who seems to be on a one-track agenda with little chance for character development unless he somehow decides to devote his services to Britannia once more. Right now, he's just all about the righteous vengeance. Kallen, I'm not so worried about since I figure she'll remain true to the Knight regardless because of her ideals. The Knights might well be booting Lelouch though. Generals don't abandon the army for random students. Sorry.
Some stuff was random such as most with Nina, most of Orange being annoying and VV being a bitch because he can be. Then again, I find VV random in general until I get a purpose for him. I liked the CC/Lelouch stuff because I don't see it as romantic but more an extension of their contract. And I admit I love the idea of Lelouch telling CC she's not alone and that he will be her demon lord. This relates back to 23 where Lelouch tells Kaguya he's already made a deal with the devil and therefore cannot be friends with a goddess. I like the way the kiss was handled too in that it was more of a "I'm off to die. Wish me luck" deal, and Lelouch's reaction is priceless. It also gave us happy geass face, which probably shouldn't exist but is still terribly cute. And Lelouch telling CC not to die only to have her reply with "Who do you think you're talking to?" I really do love them. They are an awesome team.
I don't think I'm going to go into the whole "what happened at the end" thing since it's all speculation at this point. I'm content just trying to wrap my brain around both Lelouch and Suzaku's logic at this point. And did you see, I didn't fangirl it up with most of this. Go me.
Oh and this quote from the whiny fanbrats at AnimeSuki makes my week. Oh fanbrats.
"Thread over. Lulu/CC is canon now."
"Cannon as in she's at the bottom of the ocean. Yup... real good relationship status right there."
ETA: I just ordered Knight using context clues to access the Japanese bookstore. I think I've now reached the pinnacle of my obsessive insanity. I want a cookie.
no subject
Sure wonder how long he'd known Lelouch = Zero, though, because the one scene where they yelled "If only you aren't here!" "Because you're here!" totally takes a new meaning with that. (And I should say that, even if I know he's trying to win Lelouch over now, he's really, really bad at the way he put things. XDDDD)
no subject