Summary
After having their military credentials illegally revoked, the wZERO unit find themselves living with a group of elderly gypsies, where Leila is reminded of her encounter with C.C. and her unawakened Geass power. Upon returning, Leila decides that wZERO need to shoot down an aircraft flown in the name of ‘Ark Fleet’, a non-existent terrorist movement conjured up by Lelouch in an attempt to soften up the remaining free portions of Europia for invasion.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to regain control of Euro Britannia, Shin seizes upon a mental spasm suffered by Lelouch and holds him at gunpoint after figuring out his true identity, whilst the Order of Michael fight it out against Suzaku and the Lancelot.
Impression
So uh, it’s been a while. I had to remind myself of everything that’s happened since the last episode aired, which was about a year and a half ago – and to an extent, I had to remind myself of what Code Geass even was, and how everything worked in this series. This is the main problem with this spin-off, which is otherwise really awesome – it takes so damn long for Sunrise to produce each one that I have to renew my interest in it on an episode-by-episode basis. It doesn’t help that things are getting even more complicated, either. I think it’s going to be a life benchmark from now on – the next time I see it, I can check for the date of the previous post in order to stop and ponder over how much my life has changed since then. At least they end up looking like movies, though – because god damn, these production values are insane.
I found the first half pretty slow – in fact, almost all the scenes focusing on wZERO seemed to be ambling along. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, perhaps more unexpected than anything else since they’ve spent the past few episodes on suicide missions and in fast-paced Knightmare battles. I guess it’s because there’s now one more episode allocated to this spin-off than there was previously, and so they can now afford to relax the pace a bit and not have every scene be of utmost importance. Even so, I was actually hoping for the old granny to be more important than she ended up being – after all, she spoke to Akito telepathically, and does actually seem to be able to identify the ‘terrible curse’ that Shin placed on him, although that might just be part of the group con she was conducting. I have no idea whether people can even lift orders placed on another by Geass, but in the end she complicated the story even more by revealing that Leila has a Geass as well, albeit a dormant one.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this – on one hand, I want Leila to stay safe, and bad things always tend to happen to people with Geass powers, but on the other it was really cool to see C.C. again, and it almost hints that she might make a reappearance if Leila does decide to awaken her power. It also feels like they’re just giving a Geass to everyone and their dog, and that’s not good for story purposes. Akito the Exiled is just a five-episode spin-off in the end, and a hell of a lot of things need explaining. There’s Shin’s Geass and his contractor for one, as well as the Ayano look-alike apparition who appeared to General Smilas. Akito himself is a whole mystery all on his own – we don’t know how he survived the massacre of his family, what Geass order he’s under or how he has that power that allows him to resonate his brainwaves with the rest of the wZERO unit. The first could be the result of him not having swallowed the pill his mother was forced to give him under Geass, and the last might be the result of human experimentation or a Geass of his own, but we just don’t know.
At least we got a bit of character development in return! It was nice to see them all relax and wind down after a frantic few episodes, and Leila was adorable with how clumsy she was. Ryou, Yukiya and Ayano sure softened up fast, though – they were still attempting to ruthlessly desert the unit the last time we saw them, and now they’re buying such cute things at market stalls and dressing up in gorgeous outfits. Leila was particularly stunning.
As for Lelouch – I came to dislike Kingsley and felt really sorry for Lelouch. That moment when he cried out for Nunnally though ;_; It feels like the new ‘Kingsley’ personality installed by Charles is far too arrogant to be likeable, and there’s none of that charisma Lelouch had as… well, Lelouch. I was even surprised that all the nobles in Euro Britannia actually agreed to take his words as that of Charles’ and obey them, the irony being that this is exactly what Lelouch’s Geass power allows him to do. The strategic and tactical genius is still there, though, and in planting false rumours everywhere and instigating widespread riots, Kingsley has single-handedly engineered the instability needed for Euro Britannia to occupy the rest of Europia and complete their invasion, at the cost of innocent civilian lives. It does make sense that the power plant in the North Sea wasn’t actually blown up – because these resources will become Britannian resources once they invade, and it would be a stupid idea to destroy your future resources on top of all the damage that’s been done from the riots. I suppose this was Charles’ aim in sending Lelouch all the way to Europia – his tactical mind is still of use to him, and if he can’t get Lelouch to use it willingly for him, he’ll force him to do so via Geass.
But what Charles did wasn’t perfect – at times, Kingsley returns to being Lelouch, and every time that happens he fights it out with his father’s Geass brainwashing while looking so lost and confused. For some reason, he also keeps asking Suzaku for water. I have a feeling that it’s this instability between the two personalities that results in Charles abandoning this whole ‘Julius Kingsley’ idea and sending him back to live in Japan with Nunnally – either that, or the fact that Shin has essentially exposed him by revealing that he used to be Zero to the House of Lords. His position throughout all of this seems to be pivotal – what really surprised me was that Euro Britannia does not fully agree with the Britannian homeland, which means it might not only be Shin who is planning some treachery. At any rate, the other nobles now know that he killed his benefactor Manfredi, and in attacking the Knight of Seven his Order of Michael are now rebels in the eyes of not only Euro Britannia but the homeland as well. Suzaku was an absolute beast this episode – I can’t believe we actually got a Lancelot sequence! I was worried we wouldn’t even get a mecha battle this time, and then they pull out this wonderfully animated and choreographed display!
I just hope this isn’t the end of Lelouch and Suzaku’s involvement in this spin-off, because with Shin’s announcement it may very well be. With Lelouch presumably now unable to function there’s no reason for Suzaku to stay around. Going forward, it’s probably Leila and her Geass, Smilas and his revolution, and Akito vs Ashley – that crazy guy who played Russian Roulette last episode and was in a polar bear suit in the snow for some reason. Maybe some C.C. as well?
Only two new characters have a Geass power: Shin and Leila.
That mysterious woman does not seem to have Geass herself.
The part about sharing the brainwaves is technological. It was relatively clear in the second chapter and this one confirms it
It did confirm it, but the Geass symbol appeared (in whose eye we don’t know) when Akito linked his brainwaves with the trio last episode, which is why I mentioned him and a Geass. I guess it’s unlikely though, since he’d have to have a contractor and all that. As for the mysterious woman, she feels like a contractor herself! I hope she ends up playing a crucial part instead of being a new thread in a story that I’m already worried may not have the time to wrap itself up properly.
The mysterious woman could mean something huge for the Code Geass universe. She’s got the facial structure of CC, black hair, purple eyes, and takes a liking to making rather dramatic poses.
I had theorized Lelouch’s survival via obtaining Charles’ code after stopping the Ragnarok Connection. If this is true, he and CC may have conceived a child at some point after R2. A child of two immortal code users could have power we’ve never seen before. Potentially, the power to project her image backwards in time. She mentions only caring about the balance of space-time.
Why order Shin’s death, though? Possibly because Shin has Lelouch in at his mercy and if Lelouch perishes, there’s no one left to prevent the Sword of Akasha from slaying God.
This could be a game changer for the entire setting. Potentially leading to a new series.