#code geass sound episode

[codegeassfacts]

Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion Sound Episode 2 // Canon

For More information about the Sound Drama, check the post for the First Sound episode of season 1 over there

Track List :

1 - NEVER END (Lelouch's first character song) 2 - Short Drama STAGE 9.258 "We can't tell Lelouch" 3 - Short Drama STAGE 14.821 "Brown Anguish" 4 - Continuous Drama STAGE 0.521 "Nunnally vanished" 5 - NEVER END (instrumental)

**Just like with the picture dramas, the number before each sound epsode refers to the moment of the anime where the sound drama happens;

Never End, Lelouch's character song, sung by Jun Fukuyama

Audio Drama Stage 9.258 " We can't tell Lelouch" ( Happens right after the Refrain episode) You can listen to the drama in english dub right here

It begins as Shirley, Kallen, Nina, Milly, and Rivalz are all vaguely talking about something that seems rather important and distressful. At that moment, Lelouch walks in, talking about future events and him being totally against the cross dressing festival when he notices everyone is strangely quiet. Lelouch asks if something is wrong and everyone's response implies that there is an issue but no one is willing to divulge it, as they all try to pass the responsability to the other, everything culminating with Kallen feigning a cough to avoid having to tbe the one to speak. Lelouch is immediately suspicious and starts to mentally analyze the situation as the other wonders if they should go straight about that and tell him the whole truth; He begins to freak out and suspects that they might have discovered his alter-ego; Meanwhile, the others continue debating on how to talk to him about the mysterious problem.

Kallen's and Lelouch's eyes meet for a moment and they all go silent yet again as Lelouch tries to reassure himself about the fact he settled her doubts in the shower room, and how even if she knew, she'd never sell out Zero. Instead of taking the opportunity to talk to Lelouch, Kallen backs down and Lelouch continues to mentally freak out as everyone keeps trying to push the other to speak. Lelouch then tries to get more information out of them and asks Milly if they have decided on a new project; She responds that they have not and that leaves Lelouch even more concerned. He continues to evaluate the situation while the others scold Milly for not using that opportunity to tell Lelouch.

Lelouch decides to next ask Shirley and the others if they have seen C.C. around campus as he saw a girl not dressed in a student uninform around there and was wondering if anyone knew her. Shirley then misses her opportunity to talk to Lelouch and simply says that she has not. This makes Lelouch slightly more confident that they have not discovered his identity as Zero.

The same situation continues a little longer as Lelouch fruitlessly tries to pry out more information by tellng them fake jokes before going back to his overanalyzing as the others try to find the right moment and the right person to say it; Unfortunately, neither party makes much progress and Lelouch is just about to use his Geass on them in order to stop any suspicions as Nina is about t tell him when Suzaku finally arrives. He bluntly states that Lelouch has rice stuck to the corners of his mouth, freeing the other of the burden to tell him, as it was apparently the whole issue they were freaking about; They end up applauding him and his innocence as thanks to that, lelouch can't get angry for knowing. Lelouch grows embarrassed and claims he put the rice there on purpose.

Audio Drama Stage 14.821 "Brown anguish" (takes place after Ohgi rescues the wounded Villetta Nu) You can listen to the drama in english dub right here

It begins with Ohgi ruminating on what to do in his present circumstance and pondering on recent events. He expresses his relief that Zero took over his group of terrorists and, while speaking to Naoto, the previous leader of the resistance and Kallen's dead big brother, explains that a woman in soaking wet clothes is currently sleeping in his bed. He comically states that he cleaned the place up three days ago and even changed the sheets so it's fine. Villeta is heard in the background saying Zero's name as Ohgi analyzes her and notices that she has the callouses of a Knightmare Frame pilot. Ohgi gets a little carried away thinking about her supple body and comments on how he has never taken a woman's clothes off before.

At that moment he is startled by the ring of his telephone. Kallen is on the other line and simply wants to say that she wishes the Black Knights uniforms were cleaned more often. The reason being that even when they are working in the warehouse they get sweaty and the clothes stay that way until washed after a mission. Ohgi takes this as a sign that he needs to get Villeta out of her wet clothes. He then asks Kallen what article of clothing she takes off first when she takes out her clothes, but realizes how weird that is and tries to correct himself by asking how she takes them off. Which is pretty much just as awkward. He finally asks how she would want someone else to take her clothes off and Kallen hangs up.

As Ohgi debates on how to fix things with Kallen, Tamaki calls instead. He is in the bar under Ohgi's house with all of the new recruits and is kind of drunk. He reprimands Tamaki but then asks him how to take off a woman's clothes as he expects Tamaki to have experience. Tamaki suggests stroking the right places and a girl's laughter is heard in the background. This doesn't seem to help Ohgi at all.

Next, Zero calls and says that Kallen had just called him and told him that something was wrong with Ohgi. Lelouch misunderstands as well and tell him he is sending troops to rescue Ohgi. Ohgi has to hang up when Tamaki begins pounding on his door trying to get him to come out. Ohgi quickly makes Tamaki leave and turns his attention back to Villeta, he has to take off her clothes or she'll fall ill and he also has to treat her wounds;

Ohgi decides to close his eyes and then fumbles around, pondering at why he is doing that, taking care of a britannian in secret, cause it feels like a betrayal to his friends; He haphazardly removes her clothing only to get stuck on the trickiest part of all; Unhooking the bra.

Audio Drama Stage 0.521 "Nunnally Vanished" (Takes place seven years before the Black Rebellion and shortly before the Invasion of Japan.) You can listen to the drama in english dub right here

It begins as Suzaku Kururugi gives a monologue about how fter a month of being there, Lelouch continues to do things on his own, and refuses to accept help from anyone, even if it means that he gets beaten up by japanese boys while going shopping for groceries in town. Out of habit Suzaku has walked to the storehouse and stumbles upon Nunnally who knows someone is there. Suzaku declares who he is and Nunnally seems to believe that Suzaku will hurt her as well, like he hurt her brother. She stays brave and says that even though she can't fight back, he can never hurt her heart.

Lelouch suddenly arrives and accuses Suzaku of trying to hurt Nunnally while he was away, as expected from a japanese; Suzaku denies it angrily and calls Lelouch a Brittanian thief. Lelouch cynically repeats it and when Suzaku asks him if he denies it, he telles him he agrees that Britannians are thieves because they use their military might to take what they want from others. He then compares Japan to Britannia and states that they are pretty similar as their political tactics haven't been pretty moral either. Suzaku is about to hit Lelouch again, driven by his hate for the boy when the same defiant look on Lelouch's face stops him, as he angrily muses about how despite him being smart he doesn't have to this arrogant as in the end he is just a kid and an hostage.

The scene then switches to Genbu Kururugi, Suzaku's father, talking with Taizō Kirihara about various political things, like Genbu future elections; Suzaku mentions how rich Kirihara is and how usual it was for important people to come at their home. Suzaku is sitting in and he overhears that his father is planning on marrying Nunnally for political reasons. Suzaku is surprised as Nunnally is crippled but Genbu reminds him although it's a marriage it's mainly political; Kirihara insist that someone from the head of japanese has to marry a britannian royalty because of the symbol it would be for both nations. Suzaku then volunteers to marry her but is shot down by his father as he states that Suzaku's bride is already chosen ans that he is only here to learn things, he can't get involved in their decisions.

After the talk, Suzaku runs to the storehouse to tell Lelouch about what he had just heard, wondering why he wants to do so, as he shoudl'nt care about this political meddling, before entreing in the storehouse anyway to discover that Lelouch and Nunnally are missing. He searches all over the temple and eventually finds Nunally's wheelchair on the steps up to the shrine. Lelouch, then bursts out of the forest, seemingly looking for Nunnally; Suzaku notices he has clearly been crying, and his expression is totally different from the one he usually wears; Suzaku then offers him to search with him but lelouch refuses, claiming he doesn't want any help especially from a japanese who hates britannians, and anyway that will only get him into trouble; It only concerns Nunally and him, as it's a britannian matter, which leads Suzaku to explode; He yells it's not about being britannian or japanese and that he simply wants to search for her of his own will, leaving Lelouch startled as Suzaku claim he is a proud son of japan and doesn't need any reason to save whoever he wants to save.

That's about it for the 2nd Sound episode CD. I added the summary for the tracks even though they were available in english in case video get taken down and also because there are always some shifting between english and japanese version.

#code geass #codegeass #code geass sound episode #コードギアス #lelouch lamperouge #lelouch of the rebellion #original code geass #lelouch vi britannia #official material #suzaku kururugi #nunnally vi britannia #shirley fenette #milly ashford #rivalz cardemonde #kallen kozuki #nunnally lamperouge #ogi x viletta #viletta #lelouch childhood #jun fukuyama #Youtube

[alicent-vi-britannia]

The narrative importance of the Ragnarök Connection

Charles zi Britannia believes that humans are liars. His ideology is based on the fact that the suffering of the world comes from deceptions and, for this reason, the Ragnarök Connection consists of destroying the set of masks that people use in front of others to force the people to be themselves. This isn't a hive mind nor the literal destruction of the world. It's about, in Jungian terms, destroying the Persona archetype (the face we decide to show to others, not the one we truly are). This way people wouldn't have to lie, they could understand each other and conflicts would end. Sounds good, in theory. The problem is that the emperor's plan involves eliminating free will and individuality, which reflects Lelouch's parents' rejection of human nature. Charles' view of humanity is quite simplistic, binary and dismissive. That's why Charles appears painted red and blue on a background of the world in the opening.

Lelouch and Suzaku reject this vision and this plan. Lelouch says that people still lie for good reasons (a purpose) and Suzaku agrees, claiming that they may lie to protect others like Euphemia and Shirley who kept Lelouch's secret. Lelouch understands that masks are necessary and are part of people's identity. He proves it in the last interaction he has with his father. Nunnally's smile is a mask, but that doesn't make it fake. It's her way of accepting her unfortunate fate and being grateful that she is still alive and is with her loved ones. Lelouch is aware of this and accepts her mask.

The Ragnarök Connection involves the elimination of the effort that humans must make to learn and empathize with them. Consequently, no new experiences are forged and nothing evolves. And, if nothing changes, life loses total meaning and becomes empty. An empty life is a life without a future or hope or purpose. That's what Lelouch explains to CC and Rolo.

Lelouch tells CC in the seventh episode of the first season: "Until I met you I was dead. An empty corpse existing behind a false guise of life, a life in which I did nothing real. Day to day, I merely went through the emotions of living as if I were a zombie. And I always had the feeling that I was gradually dying. If I’m condemned to go back to that, then I’d rather…"

And then he tells Rolo in the fourth episode of R2: Rolo, what is the future? The future is hope. Without hope, your life is on hold, empty, waiting. And you have no hope beyond your mission, Rolo. If you capture C.C., what sort of future will it open for you? Things will just go on as they are, and nothing will change.

Code Geass often uses Lelouch to emphasize the importance of having a purpose in life, even if all the characters demonstrate it in one way or another. It is one of the main themes. For Lelouch, Zero/the Rebellion was always that future. However, in this episode everything is questioned because Lelouch discovers that one of the reasons for his revenge is false because his mother is alive and, furthermore, his rebellion was part of his parents' plan (and CC to a lesser extent). Given this, he reaffirms his individuality and his will.

God/C's world is the human will, which means that it is a collection of the wills of all the people who have ever existed, including Lelouch's. He activated his Geass, not to use it on God, but to influence it. At that moment his will was so powerful that he not only convinced God to stop his parents, he also increased the power of Geass and unlocked it in his other eyeIt's important to note that he made a wish, instead of using Geass, because that differentiates him from his father. While the Emperor intended to bend the C's world to his will, Lelouch doesn't want to do so. He saw himself reflected in his father. They both suffered in the past and wanted to change the world for the better. The thing is Charles was trying to impose peace and although he had good intentions, it was an evil and selfish act. Lelouch realized he was doing the same thing with Zero, technically.

In this way, Lelouch understands that the end doesn't justify the means since his parents sacrificed everything for their ends and, as a result, lost themselves and their motivations. Humanity's sake or, what is the same, "reunion with those from whom we are separated" was the lie that Marianne and Charles used to convince themselves that they were right and were the scapegoat to justify all the sins they committed and allowed to be committed. Lelouch reveals their hypocrisy by pointing out the unconsciousness of their statements. Although Charles and Marianne took Lelouch and Nunnally away to protect them, they didn't seek justice for the crime committed, instead, they became VV's accomplices by using Charles' Geass on Nunnally and then they did not stop the war between Japan and Britannia because they wanted to get the Thought Elevator on Kaminejima Island for their plan. In the same way "Nunnally" was the scapegoat and the lie for Lelouch in his rebellion, however, Lelouch is honest with himself and recognizes that his true motivation was to protect the people he loved. This sincere display is what persuades Suzaku to work with him once again.

One of the main unknowns of the series is "do the ends justify the means?" Suzaku says, "No, the means determine the ends and that's why I will follow the right path by trying to change the unjust regime from the inside while keeping my integrity intact." Lelouch says, "Yes and I can be this manipulative, control-freak leader over these 'pawns' if it means stopping Britannia/saving Nunally." The series answers that neither is completely correct and that both have their advantages and disadvantages. Lelouch and Suzaku end up realizing it here. Suzaku says, "If you want to achieve that end, you must act." And Lelouch says, "Yes, the means to that end requires me to reject something." That is, both must sacrifice something to achieve their goal.

In short, the narrative objective of this scene is to show us that Lelouch and Suzaku understand what humanity wants and establish themselves as defenders of free will, as well as accepting the virtues and defects of the human condition. It's in the nature of men to lie and be confrontational, but they also dream of a tomorrow. Ultimately, the Ragnarök Connection is the final stage for Lelouch and Suzaku's evolution. Thanks to this plan, they perfect their ideals, manage to unite and are able to save the world. It's an important moment that solidifies all the themes of the series and sets the foundation for Lelouch and Suzaku's final plan: Zero Requiem.

PS: If you think this analysis blew your mind, hope you see it from the perspective of Joseph Campbell's monomyth :P

#code geass #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #code geass: lelouch of the rebellion #lelouch lamperouge #lelouch vi britannia #lelouch #suzaku kururugi #suzaku #charles zi britannia #marianne vi britannia #nunnally vi britannia #nunnally lamperouge

[azathothweirdo]

Blue Exorcist Season 3 - Episode 1

I was kinda surprised to see everyone upset about it on twitter, but I ended up liking the first episode a lot. It's not perfect, and they cut some things out. But same time I can see why they arranged and moved somethings around. I'm just kind of excited to see everyone animated again.

Especially Izumo. I'm really adoring the character designs for her and Shiemi. I was never too fond of the original character designs. They always felt super weird for the girls, including Shura and even Paku. Seeing them updated, and a little smoother has been really nice.

Adored this scene playing out again. lol Mephisto's such a freaking loser. I'm excited for the scene where he yells at Lucifer too. Especially with his voice actor in the sub. I think the only one that's been hard to get use to is Jun Fukuyama as Yukio. But that's mostly because I've been into Code Geass for too long. Everyone else sounded great too.

It's a little messy all in all but I still really liked it compared to the previous seasons. I'm curious how it'll play out as things go on.

#ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #listen everything else could be weird and as long as Izumo's part is fine i'm cool #I'm a simple person #I need this season to be decent just for her

[rolorules]

Random Rolo Ramblings 6: Kururugi and Canon

My intention was to write a few lines about the relationship between Rolo and Suzaku and post them around Suzaku's birthday. Well, it did not happen quite like that, but here they are. Admittedly, there is not really much to write about as far as the series canon goes, and here I would already like to digress a little: By '(series) canon' I mean everything that is officially part of the Code Geass story (people, places, events) as it unfolds in the TV series, not the recap films, which divert from the series canon and partly tell a different story. You can consider them a form of Code Geass elseworld or parallel universe/alternate timeline (apparently Genesic Re;CODE did that) or just see them as a separate movie canon which includes Lelouch of the Resurrection. (Correct, 'canon' is the second main topic of this article.)

As far as the Geass series canon goes, it certainly includes R1, R2 and also Akito the Exiled. I would also add the picture dramas, but that is a matter of debate and one could argue that their canonicity is not on the same level as that of the series' episodes. There are also the drama CDs, but, like I wrote before, these are just too far out there to be part of the official story. There may be official books that Sunrise considers canon, but my personal philosophy is that when we talk about films or TV shows, only what's on the screen is canon.

So what about Suzaku and Rolo? If we follow the show's internal chronology, they first meet in the final scene of Akito the Exiled. We get two reaction shots of Suzaku's face, first when Rolo enters the room, accompanied by the two Geass Order guards, then after he tells him that Charles has 'granted' 'Julius Kingsley' another audience. (By the way, look how tall he is in comparison to Suzaku. Must be the boots.) In both cases, Suzaku looks both quite angry and extremely wary. In the first case, Suzaku even makes a hard-to-define moaning sound that sounds both apprehensive and annoyed. In other words, he does not seem happy to see Rolo at all. He might be uncertain at first whether the rescue party are friend or foe, but even after Rolo has made it clear that they are on his side, he looks as happy as an employee who hates his boss and is told that he can go back to work now. This may have nothing to do with Rolo as a person, but with the unpleasantries that await Suzaku and Lelouch, but to me this look also says "Who's that creep they've sent to pick us up?"

Luckily, there are no hard feelings between Suzaku and Rolo in R2 despite this encounter, and this is obviously because R2 was produced before Akito. There is only one conversation between Suzaku and Rolo (and Villetta) in the OSI's secret control room, (which I have covered before, more than once, actually). While Rolo and Villetta have more or less always treated each other as equals, Suzaku clearly acts as the one in charge. Everyone is very polite, but Suzaku seems to be doubtful about the effectiveness of their surveillance, which triggers a response from Roll that makes him appear a little offendes, but secretly he is certainly worried that Suzaku might find out that Lelouch has regained his memories (and that he has changed sides). In a different world, to Star Trek, they may be friends, at least they don't hate each other, but in this situation, Rolo mostly regards Suzaku as a threat, which is why he even offers Lelouch to kill him. When Suzaku arranges a phone call with Nunnally to figure out whether Lelouch has regained his memory, Rolo thwarts his plans with his time-stopping powers. Apart from that, we see him giving Suzaku wary sideways glances, and that, to my knowledge, is about it. Not much, given the fact that older official artwork often shows Lelouch, Suzaku and Rolo as a kind of love-hate-whatever triangle.

What I would really like to know is what happened between the trio's journey home from Euro Britannia and Rolo's/Suzaku's arrival at Ashford. Didn't they have any conversation about 'Julius' resp. Lelouch? It would have made sense for Suzaku to brief Rolo about Lelouch's character traits so that he knows how to handle him and how to play the role of the little brother convincingly. Moreover, the Vincent's design is based on the Lancelot's, would Suzaku not be the perfect tutor for Rolo as a Knightmare Frame pilot? That would also explain Rolo's piloting skills. (Wouldn't it be fun if Lloyd was also involved? Maybe Rolo had a reason to call him "pervy four-eyes" in that infamous sound episode.)

Of couse there is that slightly weird scene in the second recap movie where Bismarck introduces Suzaku to Rolo (who is dressed like an accountant and looks as if he hadn't had any sleep for a week and not seen any daylight for a month, quite the contrast to his Akito outfit and posture) and Villetta. Here it is made more obvious than in R2 that Suzaku is in charge of the operation. In this scene it is also acknowledged that Suzaku and Rolo have met before, and maybe Suzaku's bad memories are the in-story explanation for Suzaku's so bluntly (and rudely) addressing Rolo's faulty Geass, which is one of the things I hated about this scene, the other one being Rolo's new alias ('Nebiros'/'Neblos'). Rolo's resentful look is more than understandable. I know why the writers made Suzaku say that: they needed a quick way to establish Rolo's weakness, but it still seems so out of character for someone like Suzaku. (I like Suzaku thanking Rolo for rescuing them better, even though he did not look particularly grateful when Rolo freed him and Lelouch from prison.) Villetta's defending Rolo and praising his skillfulness, on the other hand, is perfectly in character for her. Anyway, this scene does not contradict series canon, so I can potentially accept it as "this is what happened" to fill a gap in the story, I'm just not sure if I want to.

Which is why I am now turning to the readers. How do you personally deal with the canon problem, in Code Geass and otherwise? After all, reboots, recaps, remakes etc. are a pretty common phenomenon in the world of anime and elsewhere. Do you want to have a rigid canon or do you like to see alternate/new/fresh versions of the same story? What is your personal Code Geass canon, the two seasons of the TV show, Akito, the recap films, Lelouch of the Resurrection, the mobile games? Please let me know and thank you for reading all this, these articles are called "ramblings" for a reason.

P.S. Sorry for mostly using screencaps that I have used before.

#rolo lamperouge #suzaku kururugi #villetta nu #code geass #Random Rolo Ramblings

[danceofthephilos]

Ichiro Okouchi Interview (SK8 the Infinity Official Guide Book)

Skateboarding was the peak of fun.

Series Composition & Screenwriter Ichiro Okouchi*

*(though his name is romanized "Ohkouchi" in the book, I'm choosing to write it "Okouchi" as he is usually called in English-language sources.)

PROFILE

Screenwriter and novelist. He was in charge of the series composition and screenplays for major works such as Lupin the Third PART 5, Princess Principal, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, among others.

—First, how are you feeling now that episode 12 has finished airing?

FAN & FUN! In working on this series, I myself became a FAN of it, and it was a FUN series to create.

—Could you give us your honest impressions of what you thought when you heard the outline for the series?

When I heard it was an original work by Director Utsumi, I accepted right then. Utsumi-san's series have been so enjoyable to watch, after all. I only heard definitively that it was going to be a skateboarding anime after that. I had never ridden a skateboard before, but working with Utsumi-san was so appealing that I wasn't anxious in the slightest.

—Do you have any favorite episodes, or scenes that left an impression on you?

Episode 2 might be the one that made the most lasting impression on me. How I imagined episode 2 and the episode 2 the director wanted to create were different, so it was the episode that made me think, "Ah, it's this kind of series," and solidified the "image" of SK8 the Infinity in my heart. Thinking back on it, it was an important episode.

—Were there any episodes or behind-the-scenes developments that you hated to cut? (lit. "cut while crying")

There are! But, I can't say definitively that we won't use them in the future, so they're secret!

—Do you have a favorite character? Could you explain your reason why?

I like all of them, so it's difficult to single one out. Langa is dazzling, I love him. Reki, I understand your feelings! MIYA is a good kid who diligently worries about others. Shadow, I'm glad you grew up into a lovable character. Joe is an incredible adult, and if I were a woman I'd fall in love with him. Cherry Blossom might be the most pure-hearted. ADAM is the most incredible heel character, and elevated this work to the next level. Kikuchi, please keep supporting Ainosuke from now on!

—Could you tell us your impressions of the voice cast?

Of course everyone's performances were excellent, and the arrangement and balance of the youth and adult groups was wonderful too.

—Can you tell us about the appeal of skateboarding we felt in the series?

As the line in the series goes, "fun!" is what it's about. Not just when you're skating yourself, but talking to your friends, seeing your buddies' tricks, diligently practicing, and falling down are all fun. I interviewed all kinds of skaters, and it was striking how all of them made even the painful parts sound fun.

—Could you tell us any stories you would like to include in a spin-off?

I already wrote two spin-off scripts for the Blu-ray and DVD bonus CDs, so if possible, I'd like to write a continuation of the original work next.

—Do you have any anecdotes about Okinawa, the setting for the series?

The production staff and I all took our skateboards and went on a location hunt around Okinawa. It was spring, but it was already incredibly hot, and we had to scramble to buy hats. In that brightly saturated scenery, skateboarding was the peak of fun.

—If "S" opened in the real world, what part do you think you'd be most interested in?

I'd be happy to be an irresponsible spectator. But I'd at least like to try participating by Adam dragging me by the leg around a corner. (laughter)

—Can you send a message to all the fans who loved SK8 the Infinity?

Thank you so much for watching and loving SK8 the Infinity! The responses echoed stronger and stronger with each episode and filled all of us creators with strength. It was a work where we could feel the strength of everyone's support in a way that's only possible in this era of social media. I'm grateful!

(from SK8 the Infinity OFFICIAL GUIDE BOOK, released December 22nd 2021)

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #ichiro okouchi #translation #sk8 official guidebook

[lipid]

watched that tiktok about the women making a singles mixer and only women turning up there was a code geass sound episode like that were lelouch made a mixer bit only men showed up and he ended up kissing suzaku on the lips

#🎀

[origami10]

God I wore Lavi to a con this weekend and Kai may be my boi, but Lavi will forever be my best boi. I forget how much I love him. This really was a weekend of throwbacks too because I got my hands on physical CDs of a lot of the Code Geass music/sound episodes that I torrented way way way way way back.

I had like at LEAST a dozen people tell me some version of "Wow, I haven't seen a D.Gray-man cosplayer in forever" or "omg D.Gray-man in 2024", I'm happy it's still so recognizable even though it's been so long. And I heard one person say it was the best Lavi they'd ever seen so of course I'm still riding high off that.

#ot1 #Lavi #I love you #I think Lavi is really the character I love BEING the most too #others are fun to wear but I resonate with Lavi most #am I caught up though? no. but is Lavi there? well. probably not

[rolotouto]

Some sounds and anthology raws

I’m doing my best to try to obtain the CD that was released today... But in the meatime, let me use this blog to share and preserve some hard-to-find, obscure things from the past as well! First of all, as I was looking through old files, I came across a few stories from some comic anthologies I’ve previously talked about, which I had completely forgotten to have already scanned. Have a link to a folder. They are untranslated, but if anyone has any specific request, feel free to ask. And now, here are some short audio files, mostly from references to Rolo by other sources rather than Code Geass itself: ・ From R2′s Room #5 (May 2008) AUDIO FILE Well, we start with one that does belong to official Geass stuff. “R2′s Room” were brief videos where different voice actors talked about an episode of R2 each time (Daichuu shows up in episodes 5 to 8, so you can hear him talk about Turn 5, 6, 7 and 8). The audio clip focuses on the scene where Lelouch “teaches” Rolo how to hold a knife properly during Turn 5:

So... Rolo and... Well, the relationship between Rolo, whom I voice, and Lelouch, has taken... another small step forward, would it be right to call it? Well, Rolo, after all, he still suspects Lelouch a bit, and just when he was thinking “Should I kill him after all...?” and grabbed the knife like this...! “That’s not right, is it, Rolo?”, he[Lelouch] said, and took his hand like... “The way you use a knife is like this”. And when he did that, Rolo was like ”Ah! Yes, I’ll be careful...” immediately... Rolo, you know, became attached to Lelouch so quickly, and in that moment, even though he could have kept quiet about it, he brought up that “My Geass has a weakness”. So yeah, at this point you can see that he’s totally hooked, huh.

As a side note related to this, you might have seen the term はぁん in lots of old Japanese art/blog posts about Rolo (even though it’s no longer as referenced as it used to be). That word - well, “interjection”, originates from a magazine interview, where Daichuu was talking about the same Turn 5 scene and said:

He(Rolo) does think “Maybe I really should kill him.” I’m sure that he’s still uneasy. Wondering if Lelouch’s love is real, and so on. But as soon as he receives some physical contact, he goes “haa~n” and is quickly won over (laughs).

Even though it's only a written interview and no fan was there to hear what exactly that 'haa~n' sounded like (in R2's Room, what Daichuu says is more like 'Aah,' right?), the way it's spelled creates the impression of a cute and also kind of unnecessarily suggestive reaction. Thus はぁん became well known by Rolo enthusiasts on the Japanese side of the fandom.  --------- ・From the radio program Sayonara Zetsubou Housou #49 (6th August 2008) AUDIO FILE Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei radio program with A LOT of info on its wiki, due to the radio program itself containing even more pop cult references and inside jokes than the source material. Hiroshi Kamiya announces that it’s time for today’s farewell message, which, as requested by a listener, is...:

Daichuu: "After thoroughly being in despair, I will be thrown away like a ragged cloth!"

If you're familiar with Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, then you'll recognize the main character's catchphrase "I'm in despair!", which here is combined with the borozoukin line. Also, the listener requested a line which is written in the passive voice, since Daichuu/Rolo would be the one to read it (I mean that it’s no longer “I’ll throw you away” but “I’ll be thrown away”), but still included Lelouch’s てやる, so it sounds a little weird. Almost like Rolo is determined to be thrown away, like he’s saying it with an “I’ll show you how I get thrown away!” tone. --------- ・ From the radio program Nagisa to Sanae no Omae ni Rainbow #44 (8th August 2008) AUDIO FILE Also known as “Clannad radio”. This one doesn’t have Daichuu, but you can hear Kikuko Inoue (Cécile Croomy) saying “I’ll throw you away like a ragged cloth,” as requested by a listener. --------- ・ From the radio program Sayonara Zetsubou Housou #50 (13th August 2008) AUDIO FILE Daichuu saying “Za waarudo! Toki yo, tomare!”. Then Ryouko Shintani adds the disclaimer: "This radio program is a work of fiction, and the appearing characters, groups, organization names, and Rolo's Geass are fictitious." --------- ・ From the radio program Seiyuu Do (25th March 2010) AUDIO FILE A radio program where voice actors and actresses are interviewed. At some point, Daichuu introduces the next song that will play: Well, my character’s... It’s based on my character, I mean, it’s a song that played during my character's final moments and is a very moving piece, so please listen to it. By Hitomi: ‘Boku wa Tori ni Naru.’ Man, if only Daichuu would sing his own version of BokuTori in Rolo’s voice...  --------- ・ From the radio program Music and Comic Plus (4th February 2010) AUDIO FILE Daichuu saying “Please, treat me like a disposable rag” (and the radio host reacting with “Cuuuuuute!”). Yes, the person who requested this must be pretty mean, but then again the entire program has rather indecent lines...  --------- I also newly added the audio clip of Lelouch saying “To prove that the fact Shirley and Rolo lived had a meaning...” to this post, since I’d previously only included the transcription. That’s it for now. If anyone found this sort of post interesting, there’s more audios from old ads and such here!

#rolo lamperouge #daichuu #sayonara zetsubou housou #translation #audio files #I finally talk about haan #はぁん #takahiro mizushima #daichuu mizushima #seiyuu #R2's room

[what-the-fuck-is-anime]

Well. What better time to start talking about anime again.

Naruto is getting more episodes! Not Boruto, but the original Naruto anime. Yippee(?)

Vending machine isekai. And it looks way better than anyone thought a vending machine isekai possibly could. The vending machine is played by Jun Fukuyama, whose most famous roles include Lelouch from Code Geass and Martin from Rune Factory 5. Which is now on PC. You should play it.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End finally has a promo for its soon-to-be-classic anime adaptation, and to everyone's delight, it has the same director as fan-favorite Bocchi the Rock. Evan Call is doing music, and the OST so far sounds fantastic.

#Youtube

[lovedaisy02]

I think I finally have my rating rating on AOT after so many ups and downs. I had to cool off first from the disappointment because it's really not as low of a show as I make it sound at times. I think solid 6.5/10

(Review contains slight spoilers without specifics)

Unfortunately, AOT is a show that has a lot of strong parts and scenes (Erens mothers death, Erwin's speech etc) but it's weak looked at as a whole. Unlike shows that have the opposite problem such as ATLA, each book individually isn't very strong but when looked at together in a progression creates a solid beautiful story. The second major flaw of AOT is it's plot, writing and overall narrative. Poor writing can be hidden behind a good narrative (not to keep using ATLA verse but some of the writing isn't very good at times especially in LOK but the narrative is good.) AOT suffers from a lack of character development and pacing issues. While Eren gets a lot of development he's still one dimensional which is not rare for an anime but the supporting cast has nothing of substance to give than what they are written for. The only character that does is Reiner and he experiences a better character arc than the main character. This, I believe, contributes to the poor storytelling because the author can't write their characters doing day to day nonsense things (until Levi comes along with his quirks on cleaning). This is something long stories like Gintama, One Piece or even Hunter Hunter benefit from. The world and cast are so in depth and rich the authors can buy time from writing plot points by writing their characters simply interacting. AOT can't benefit from that because the world and characters are limited which wouldn't be a problem if the narrative was strong enough for it not to matter. Which causes the main issue, time skips.

Time skips are used often in storytelling, it allows the speaker/author/storyteller to get where they want the characters without having to explain every step of the way. It's used all the time in small increments usually skipping a few days, hours, or just minutes. AOT skips large amounts of time, years, without explanation in order to hide the weakness of the narrative. It's use after the second time makes it obvious it's a crutch for the writer and unfortunately makes the story come off as underdeveloped,(which proven by the ending, it is underdeveloped.) I don't blame the mangaka because mangaka are often put under intense pressure to continue their story as fast as possible to the point of hospitalization.

Finally, the time travel. It doesn't logically work and fictions number one rule is that it **has to make sense**. It wouldn't be possible for Eren to influence his father unless the type of time traveled used is alternate timelines which is not proven nor mentioned. As far as the story it's present as linear or even in a circle or perhaps happening simultaneously which doesn't make sense. So if this newest part doesn't show an alternate timeline was created, then that is a huge huge flaw.

And there's no narrative driven reason for Eren to do what he did at the end. He could've had a five minute conversation that would've lead to a better ending. We've spent the entire story setting up that Armin is the smartest person to walk in that world, he somehow figured out many things that he shouldnt have been able to figure out, but you couldn't ask his opinion? If you're going to go that route you must provide a narrative driven reason why.

The animation is amazing the story is shocking thrilling the speeches are good but it is unfortunately not going to be able to be up there with Code Geass which it emulated and eventually blatantly ripped off, Cowboy Bebop, or FMA.

This is just a side note, but killing characters off screen that were part of the major cast for a while to me is really the low of the low for storytelling and reserved for episodic TV shows that need to replace actors not for anything else but that's more subjective than objective so I won't include it in the major issues.

Do I still recommend this anime? Not really. If you've watched anime for a while and/or if you've seen any Gundam and Code Geass I would pass. I would only recommend AOT to new anime fans or to those that care about seeing generationally important shows. This show made an impact on people no matter how it went.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #aot #literary criticism #critique #AOT review #anime recommendation #anime review

[katiajewelbox]

The Lil Guy in question from my previous post is the absurdly named Rivalz Cardemonde. His name sounds like the title of an unreleased Gorillaz album combined with a misspelling of a delicious seasoning found in Nordic bakery items. I have only seen a few episodes of Code Geass and some AMVs so I don't know much about this dude who is emulating Dilandau's iconic hairstyle. Is this hairstyle a coded signal that the character is a transgender male? Who knows but it is darned weird seeing this character design.

#code geass #rivalz cardemonde #dilandau #dilandau albatou #escaflowne #lookalike #character design #hairstyles #funny #transgender?

[codegeassfacts]

Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion Sound Episode 1 // Canon

Code Geass Sound episode are CD containing various story tracks, as well as character songs, that were released during both Season 1 and R2; Season 1 Sound episodes are staff release and canon material, expanding the world of Code geass, telling side stories and events which happened;

Alas R2 tracks are mostly crack material, relating situations with characters who either never met, or were enemies during the time being (aside from not being physically at the same place) and fall into the end of Alternate universe crackish stories, so not canon to the anime. ; The First sound episode of R2 and the last might be canon, as their settings and situations make sense within the show though; Also, character songs are canon material, both in S1 sound episode and R2 sound episode. I'll precise for each one about their status anyway so let's start with the first CD drama of season 1

(Quite the cover, isn't it ?)

The track list is

1 - REINCARNATION (C.C.'s first character song) 2 -Tanpen Drama STAGE 9.725** "The night before the showdown" 3 -Tanpen Drama STAGE 12.55 "Ticket of Dreams" 4 -Renzoku Drama "Modoranai Natsu no Hi" STAGE 0.515 "The uninvited prince" 5 REINCARNATION [instrumental]

**Just like with the picture dramas, the number before each sound episode refers to the moment of the anime where the sound drama happens; For example, Stage 9.725 happens right after Stage 9. Reincarnation ; C.C.'s character song, sung by YUKANA.

Audio Drama Stage 9.725 " The night before the showdown" (Before the Battle of Narita) You can listen to this drama in english dub right there

It begins as Lelouch vi Britannia is explaining some of the preparations he has made for the upcoming battle, to C.C.. Suddenly Suzaku Kururugi knocks on the door and Lelouch quickly shoves C.C. under the bed, much to her annoyance. Suzaku then enters the room and Lelouch admonishes him for barging in like he did. The conversation then begins to drift towards the time when they were both living at the Kururugi Shrine. Eventually Lelouch remarks that Suzaku has significantly changed and became less selfish since that time. Suzaku counters and says that Lelouch has become more rough than he used to be. Suzaku also discovers one of C.C.'s long hairs in Lelouch's room and assumes that he has a girlfriend. Suzaku asks what she is like and if she is cute and stuff like that. Lelouch says that she is the opposite of cute. Suzaku then infers that she must be the "home-maker" type and once again Lelouch puts C.C. down and explains how she is lazy and never lifts a finger. Suzaku begins to question if this is the right girl for Lelouch while he continues to point out all the flaws that C.C. has and the problems that she causes. She gets fed up with that and starts kicking the bed. Lelouch blames the rumbling on his alarm clock and Suzaku somehow accepts that as a reasonable answer. Lelouch then changes the subject to find out why Suzaku had come over at that time. He just wanted to give some math notes to Lelouch and may not be able to do so at another time due to a work trip that begins tomorrow. Suzaku then says goodbye and walks out. C.C. emerges from under the bed after Suzaku leaves and comments on how original Lelouch's description of their relationship was. She proceeds to question Lelouch and queries as to whether is he is prepared to kill those close to him or only willing to die as a martyr. Lelouch reaffirms his conviction to remove any obstacle in his way.

Audio Drama Stage 12.55 " Tickets of Dreams" (During Stage 12 when Shirley hesitates to invite Lelouch to the concert, before shit happens) You can listen to this audio drama in english dub right here

It begins with Milly asking Shirley why she is so frustrated. Shirley has received tickets to a concert from her father and she wants to invite Lelouch but is not sure how to go about it. Milly tries to put the problem in perspective by saying that compared to the Battle of Narita, and the losses suffered there, it should be easy to tell Lelouch that she likes him. Shirley claims she could not do that because she has too much self-doubt. Instead her imagination begins to run wild.

Her first imagination is that when she asks Lelouch to attend the concert with her, he does not realize she is asking him out and instead he decides to give the ticket to Nunnally effectively ruining Shirley’s plan. This causes Shirley to mentally decide to be more upfront and direct with her request.

Her next imagination involves her stumbling over her own words as she tries to be direct with Lelouch but accidentally ends up insulting him. In this perception he gets upset for her saying that he never has any plans and then continues to rant about how busy he is as Shirley decides that she can not be direct with her request either.

She starts to think that maybe there might be another reason that Lelouch is so busy. In this train of thought she imagines that Kallen and Lelouch have gotten engaged and so he simply can not go on a date with her. In her imagination, Kallen starts calling Lelouch "Lulu", like Shirley usually does, and they both giggle as Shirley yells at her own imagination to stop. Shirley then tries to convince herself that since Kallen has already said she does not like Lelouch, her previous imagination must be wrong.

She then starts to think that even though Lelouch might not be engaged to Kallen there might be someone else he likes. She then imagines that Lelouch is intent on marrying Nunnally who seems way excited about the prospect as well. Shirley freaks out that since they are siblings they can not get married by Nunnally claims that they somehow are not really related by blood so it is okay. Lelouch agrees.

Shirley tries to stop imagining crazy things but instead pictures Lelouch and Suzaku Kururugi getting married. She stops that abruptly only to have Milly say that Shirley has been talking aloud this whole time. Lelouch magically appears and tells Milly that they should head off to their honeymoon in Monaco. Rivalz then jumps in and claims Lelouch for his own. Arthur the cat does the same and everyone that had previously been in Shirley’s imagination come and debate on who gets to marry Lelouch. Lelouch stops the debate by saying there is only one of him and Milly decides that polygamy is the best answer. she says that everyone, including Shirley, should marry him. Everyone but Shirley seems to like this idea.

Finally, Milly slaps Shirley back into the real world and motivates her to go ask Lelouch out on a date. She runs off and finds Lelouch; In a single breathe she explains how she got the tickets and then asks him out. He kind of accepts and then Shirley runs off to think about how good she just did.

Audio Drama Stage 0.515 " The uninvited prince"(Takes place seven years before the Black Rebellion and shortly before the Invasion of Japan)

You can listen to this audio drama in english dub there

It begins as a young Suzaku comes to the dwelling of Lelouch vi Britannia and Nunnally vi Britannia. He first notices that laundry is hanging out to dry and remarks at how girlish it is. He is very angry that a Britannian prince would live so close to him.

Lelouch approaches him and asks if he should move the clothing. this innocent request is shot down by Suzaku as he lashes out at Lelouch for being a hostage while he is the heir to the Kururugi name. He feels really superior at this point and thinks that Lelouch shouldn't even be allowed to talk to him.

It shifts as Tohdoh knocks Suzaku down for not paying attention during their sparring match. Tohdoh asks if Lelouch is distracting him and Suzaku outright denies it. Tohdoh then tells him that they should be friends and Suzaku explains that Lelouch doesn't eat food they bring him and doesn't want any help. Tohdoh tries to appease Suzaku and tells him that even though he is a soldier he would rather avoid fighting. This does little to appease Suzaku.

Later that day Suzaku runs into a mob of kids beating up Lelouch at the foot of a mountain. Despite body guards being present no one does anything as Lelouch continues to take their beating. This infuriates Suzaku for some reason and he charges in and rescues Lelouch. He then discovers that the body guards are not there to protect Lelouch but rather watch him and ensure that he doesn't step out of line. They talk for a moment and Suzaku sees this royal prince squabble in the dirt for some loose change and a rewards card. Lelouch then tells Suzaku that regardless of what happens he will live by his own strength and doesn't need the charity of others. Lelouch then walks away and leaves Suzaku very confused.

That's about it for the first Sound episode CD. I added the summary for the tracks even though they were available in english in case video get taken down and also because there are always some shifting between english and japanese version.

#code geass #codegeass #code geass sound episode #lelouch vi britannia #lelouch lamperouge #official material #canon #lelouch of the rebellion #audio drama #suzaku kururugi #nunnally vi britannia #shirley fenette #milly ashford #c.c. #kallen kozuki #lelouch x c.c. #lelouch x shirley #lelouch x kallen #lelouch x suzaku #lelouch x nunnally #コードギアス #original code geass #lelouch childhood #Youtube

[alicent-vi-britannia]

Lelouch and Suzaku's childhood traumas explained through the enneagram

I love finding parallels in the works I'm reading or watching and I love even more when they're intelligently done and confront them. Code Geass is an excellent work that uses narrative duality. Lelouch and Suzaku are the most obvious parallel because I think it's the only one that the series deliberately teaches you because they try to build a compelling rivalry that wins hearts, despite the fact that in CG they abound more and are just as interesting (you are more otakus than me, therefore, they know that the topic of rivalry is very common in the anime industry, especially if the work is aimed at a male audience). You must understand that Suzaku and Lelouch are each other's reverse mirror. So much so that I think it gives rise to analyze the development of the relationship of both because the paths of both are intertwined and affect the narrative arc of the other. But unlike Shirley's, Rolo's, and C.C.'s story arcs, which are totally dependent on Lelouch, Suzaku's story arc stands on its own (Lelouch plays a key role in his evolution, but it's not everything). In that sense, it's more like the Kallen and Nina story arcs (this is something I respect and like about Kallen and Suzaku as main characters).

Today I want to focus only on the childhood of Lelouch and Suzaku, where it all began, taking advantage of the fact that in my previous post I talked about the enneagram.

Today I want to focus only on the childhood of Lelouch and Suzaku, where it all began, taking advantage of the fact that in my previous post I talked about the enneagram.

Although Lelouch and Suzaku are mirror inverses of each other, there are scenarios in their lives that are similar and their responses have been more or less similar. One of them is the trauma that forged their character. To begin with, Lelouch and Suzaku are the sons of two very powerful men (Genbu isn’t the Emperor of a world superpower, but he is the Minister of Japan; he is someone important, he isn’t the man who sells fruits in your neighborhood) who, in turn time, they are horrible parents. Without intending to sound like a psychologist (because I'm not), for boys, the relationship with their fathers is important since they are the model of the man they want to be in their lives (a model that they can reject, accept or idealize). In the case of Lelouch and Suzaku it's cutely obvious: they reject him (and the devilishly ironic thing is that the more they try to get away from them, the closer they get; in Lelouch it's more obvious xD).

On the one hand, we have Suzaku. A 1w2 enneatype (even when I find traits of a 1w9 enneatype, I lean towards the option of Suzaku being a 1w2 since he also goes about correcting the people around him, even if he is a self-preservation subtype and, by extension, is so preoccupied with fixing himself. I don't rule out that he's looking at his Faith cognitive function because Suzaku is an ISFJ, but I think, in that case, his Faith would boost his wing 2 even more than wing 9... Anyway, we won't let's divert). 

Regardless if his wing is 9 or 2, his enneatype is 1 and the emotional wound of the Ones is that they see themselves as imperfect beings. They have a great feeling of inadequacy because in their childhood they were not given the message that they were good (or it was a message that was lost) and surely it was because their parents demanded a lot of them. I entered the field of speculation assuming that Genbu was a strict father given his role as Minister of Japan (at least, he is in my headcannon and in my fanfic). Hence, Suzaku insists on correcting the error that "perverted" him and strives like a beast to improve himself (and his environment) with his ethical values, always trying to be morally blameless and consistent with his ideals to justify himself. himself and avoid being judged by others (in R2 episode 17, Suzaku angrily yells at Lelouch that the Geass order he gave him broke his convictions; for Ones, who are hyper-moralistic and want to be examples of virtue , this is a curse).

Without a doubt, Suzaku lost sight of that message that he was good when he killed his father. Suzaku sees himself as a bad person. A monster. That is the reason why Euphemia asks him not to hate himself. It's pretty fucked up because since the Ones can't live up to his unrealistic standards and neither can the others, they finds it hard for them to forgive; so if Suzaku doesn't forgive himself for killing his father, don't expect him to forgive Lelouch for killing the girl he loved.

I feel like little Suzaku got a tremendous disappointment from his father. I think that children tend to idealize their parents (with time and maturity, this idealization weakens and when they are adults they have a more realistic or demonic image of their parents, it all depends). Not only Suzaku realized that he was imperfect (and bad), but also his father. Imagine the feelings that little Suzaku must have experienced when he saw his father persist in forging ahead with the war against an empire that Japan had no chance of winning, because their pride was more important than the lives of the citizens who he had pledged to serve. 

From here, Suzaku unconsciously psyched himself up: "My father was bad and imperfect; but I won't be, I will be different, I will defend the people I serve, the methods I use do not transcend my purpose, much less my principles, I will try to be good". Consequently, we have a Suzaku who lives to reach an unattainable ideal in order to correct what is wrong with himself and Britannia and he will never achieve it because mistakes are unforgivable, in his opinion (the good thing is that the Zero Requiem brought peace to his tormented conscience, not just to the world).

It is not true that Suzaku went completely unpunished. He gave himself a punishment: he forever refused forgiveness. He chose to live a life of suffering. 

By the way, don't think that all Ones are as obsessed with his mistakes as Suzaku. He is an insane One. This is because he, in his crazy head, believes that he can regain lost goodness or achieve perfection at the expense of his own life (that's something we saw for example in Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan: Nina, a self-preserving One pretty insane).

On the other hand, we have Lelouch. I will tell you what the Eights' wound is because if you read my other post, you should know: vulnerability. This is because when they were children they weren’t protected by their parents, so a conflict deprived them of their sweet innocence. By now you should know what I mean. At the beginning of R1 episode seven we are given a flashback to Lelouch's last conversation with his father. A little Lelouch complains to his father why he didn’t protect his mother who was murdered and, although he doesn’t express it, this claim extends to his sister, who was left paralyzed and blind, and himself. His claim verbalizes his trauma: "why didn't you protect my mother? [Why didn't you protect my sister? Why didn't you protect me?] Weren't you supposed to be the most powerful man in the world?" (of course, I’m paraphrasing and what is in brackets is what he does not say, but feels). Here you can see the childish disappointment of his father figure: his father isn’t an all-powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent man who is the image Holy Britannia projects of his Emperor. What does Charles do? Well, if little Lulu and his sister had a minimal amount of protection from his father, now they will have nothing since he will exile them to Japan (he has left them totally helpless).

Both Charles and Genbu justify themselves, hiding behind the image they must give. But with Charles, the childish disappointment is double because, in addition, he excuses himself in the ideology of Britannia: he abandons Nunnally because he is weak and the individuals who are fit to survive must do it on his behalf, thus demonstrating their strength. I don’t want to mess with Social Darwinism because it isn’t my intention to go off on a tangent, but these words are very important because they will shape his personality. From then on, he will assume vulnerability as something bad. I don't know what little Lelouch's position was regarding the ideology of the Holy Empire of Britannia. I’m going to assume that he accepted them by natural disposition (like, for example, us with gender roles that until we properly document ourselves do not begin to question them). This sinister, in particular this discussion, made Lelouch rethink the ideology of his homeland and reject it. To finish off poor Lelouch, Charles yells at him that Lelouch is nothing without him (well, he's dead without him because he gave him everything he is; I don't know what seems stronger to you).

And what does Enneatype 8 have to do with it? ALL! As a result of this wound (which has not healed in the case of average and insane Eights), Eights learn to fend for themselves and be self-sufficient because they assimilate that the strong survive and develop a protective instinct towards others. weak and their relatives. It goes without saying that Lelouch was psyched that he was going to prove his father wrong: "My father is not powerful and he believes that I am incapable of surviving without him; he does not define me; I will prove to him that I am alive without him; I will become strong ; I will be independent; my sister will not miss my father because she will have me; I will protect her; I will not fail her like my father did". It doesn't matter if it is Lelouch, he was a child and a child isn’t called the atrocities that Charles said to him, look at him in the photo, isn't he cute? That reminds me that type 8 is called the Challenger, what does Lelouch do when his father boasts? He challenges him yelling that he doesn't want to be his heir xD).

Lelouch never shows vulnerability because he subconsciously believes that it is to be weak and he needs to be strong and to do so, he must keep himself under control. Even when he feels vulnerable, he tries to suppress it. But being a sexual subtype, emotions get the better of him more times than he'd like to admit, and they often come out in a negative way. Lelouch has terrible emotion management and zero emotional intelligence (it's not for nothing that he confused romantic love with filial love in that phone conversation with Shirley or he's not sure what to say to her when she asks him if he loved that girl he was talking; Eights have a hard time giving and receiving love because they only understand that people are either for them or against them). He has a hard time recognizing the emotions and feelings of others and himself because it is his Achilles heel.

Also for this reason Lelouch is wary of people and prefers to keep them at a distance since he interprets them as signs of vulnerability (essentially I mean the Black Knights, but even the people who managed to gain Lelouch's trust struggled to earn it).

By the way, I heard somewhere that each country has an ideal citizen model that corresponds to an enneatype (for example, the United States is enneatype 3, long live the American dream!). In the case of Britannia, I dare to say that it is the unhealthy enneatype 8. Starting from that idea, we would see that the ideology and values ​​of Britannia contributed to the formation of Lelouch's personality (does the same happen with Suzaku? I only know that the Japanese have a strong sense of community rooted, not like Westerners that we are more individualistic, and they repress inappropriate behaviors. Suzaku is a person who acts for the common good and is interested in the community, so...).

Still, it's amazing that Lelouch turned out an 8 average. He has things to work on himself. But he could have been worse.

I left you with these traumatized little ones and their horrible parents who, because of them, didn’t have a healthy growth. Thanks for screwing everything up, Genbu and Charles. I think most of you will think that Charles is worse than Genbu. Honestly, I think they're both just as terrible.

Little Suzaku needed someone to hold him and explain that it's okay to make mistakes because he's part of growing and learning. "You're not perfect, but it doesn't mean you're not good."

Little Lelouch, for his part, needed someone to hug him and tell him that being vulnerable is not weak and that he can trust others without feeling the fear of being betrayed.

Hugs for mini Lelouch and mini Suzaku. They need our love. Stop hating them. They already hate themselves enough. Don't make it worse.

#lelouch lamperouge #lelouch #lelouch vi britannia #suzaku kururugi #suzaku #code geass #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #code geass: lelouch of the rebellion

[datfirstepisode]

First Episode Review - 07 Ghost

Join me on my journey to watch the first episode of every anime on Crunchyroll in alphabetical order!

07 GHOST

He might have less painful thoughts if he pulled the spire out of his ass.

For the start of this adventure we could’ve done a lot worse than 07 Ghost.

07 Ghost has some of those post Code Geass vibes, but gayer. I’m not sure if this is the kind of show that would go full gay, or just tease us with an abundance of sexual tension between hot men for 25 episodes while never officially sealing the deal. Either way, there is barrels of hot men in this episode and only like, one woman who definitely isn’t going to show up again.

The front half was a bit exposition heavy, and yet I still only vaguely understand their world. Protagonist Teito and his best bud who likes to crawl into his bed and snuggle him (they’re just friends though, guys!) are in some military school to join some elite prestigious army. Who are they fighting? Why? Enh doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that Teito passes with flying colors because he’s the bestest, smartest, coolest student in school. In fact he doesn’t even need classes anymore because he’s surpassed all the teachers in awesomeness. Oh and he has amnesia because of course he does. 

To pass the final exam you just have to beat the shit out of a criminal with five of your classmates. Sounds not too hard, except that the criminal is like, 40 feet tall for some unexplained reason. Are giants in this world? Or does evil build your muscles like steroids? Whatever. Regardless awesome Teito kicks his ass. (Right after the criminal is done rattling him like a salt shaker, which is kind of hilarious for what’s supposed to be a super tense fight scene.)

The second half of the episode is when the show decides to pour a literal bucket of hot dudes into your lap. Hot bad guys, hot good guys. Just so many hot guys. With the hottest being an evil guy who’s evil and also looking for someone who can use some super special relic. Of course it’s Teito. Teito is the chosen one. Unfortunately the relic makes a sound that awakens some tragic memories in Teito, and he attacks the hot bad guy. Hot bad guy is pretty dumb though. Even though he knows the relic user is nearby, and he literally has the relic in his hand, he doesn’t think to test the relic on Teito before attempting to murder his face. Like bro. You’re gonna have some serious egg on your face when you have to explain to your superiors that you killed the chosen one on a whim.

Anyways the episode wraps with Teito escaping and falls into the laps of even more hot guys. Just… hot guys falling from the sky, yo.

For a first episode I’d give 07 Ghost a 7/10. It’s fun, things happen, plot moves. The animation looks a little cheap but not awful. The hot guys are all tropey AF but they’re decently designed, albeit definitely radiate 2010 fujoshi vibes. In fact I’m surprised this show isn’t more well known, which makes me wonder if it horribly drops the ball down the line.

#anime review #anime #07 Ghost #fujoshi bait

[taketheringtolohac]

I want like. A replayable sound bite of suzaku just saying “racism” from that episode of code geass where lelouch asks “is it good to be strong” and suzaku asks “is it bad to be weak.” Like it was genuinely a really good scene but at one point suzaku line rlly was just “racism” and then lelouch kept talking surely someone has made this a thing back when this show was actually yk. Happening.

[nicheanimegame]

Figure 17 - A profound and deeply personal slice-of-life/sci-fi twist on the magical girl formula

Figure 17 - Tsubasa & Hikaru is a 2001, 13-episode (46 minute each!) show created by, as leaf so kindly put, “the studio of all time”: OLM, Inc. OLM is responsible for a few recent vaguely relevant titles that I’m actually not familiar with at all, but more notably they produced To Heart and Comic Party back in 2001. Oh, and also Pokémon. And Beyblade. And Cardfight!! Vanguard. And just a metric shit-ton of video game and multi-media adaptations, with majority of their wholly original series being children’s anime. Figure 17 is interesting conceptually in this line-up just because while it is literally about children, it has a very quiet and patient atmosphere more on par with the deliberate, thought-provoking* stories of Bee Train’s prominent catalogue (that is, titles like Noir and .hack//Sign).

*Which is not to say that children’s shows aren’t capable of being that but I’d be hard pressed to say that something like Noir is explicitly for kids.

For the sake of not writing (and subjecting you to) an entire thesis paper on this show’s themes, I am going to structure this post similarly to that of a MAL review - discuss the art, story, characters, sound/music as succinctly as possible and maximally spoiler-free, although hopefully without the undertone that I’m also a Reddit regular. I just want to lay down what it is that makes Figure 17 so unbelievably good. Oh, yeah, I haven’t mentioned that up until now, have I? Figure 17 has got to be one of the best shows I have ever seen and that judgement stands both in regards to its impact on me, personally, and what I believe are its objective strengths.

ART/ANIMATION

This is a fairly controversial category that I’m not gonna spend too much time in because generally speaking, art is “good” if it achieved what it set out to do. If smooth animation is your fancy, may I direct you to YouTube dot com, which features a plethora of animation degree graduates’ portfolios. With that out of the way and the skin of an elitist shed, the backgrounds in this show are so pretty.

The background art team here did not hold back in the slightest and I commend them both on their raw skill and because these establishing shots set the tone and atmosphere for a good majority of this show. A solid portion of it is in fact spent watching these landscapes slide by, often times in complete silence (a standout Bee Train similarity), but never does it feel like padding, in large part due to the undeniable feeling of comfort that this countryside evokes.

As far as animation is concerned, I won’t deny that this stuff is quite smooth. Children have the mannerisms of children and the action, however infrequent it may be (I’d say that each episode has about as much action as your average 24-minute episode of a similar premise, not counting the last), pays off with a lively rhythm. Not to mention that the characters are always well-drawn and carefully shaded, giving each character and the scene they are within an appropriate and impressive amount of depth. We also can’t forget the character designer for this show, Yuriko Chiba, who’s worked on Berserk, To Heart, and Code Geass and she brought her absolute A-game, as always.

And since this is also a show about aliens and sci-fi, oh my god the aliens are gross, and I mean that as a huge compliment. The first episode had me physically recoiling away from the screen in my seat, thinking, “God dammit, leaf, I thought we agreed that you’re not gonna recommend me anything that’ll keep me awake at night.”. They are considerably less gross throughout, with the focus being more on the battles with them than the perpetual horror of the monsters themselves, but I promise (or warn, I guess) that they do get gross again at the end. These things are intricate in their alien-ness, unnerving in both the way that they move and the way that they are and the show never holds back in detailing every part of them in all of their fleshy glory.

SOUND/MUSIC

The mostly-MIDI OST contains 40 tracks, a solid portion of which I believe are exclusive to the tense moments of the first episode and the last two, as there is a distinct soundscape within all the episodes in-between. There is one particular melody that is weaved within every scene that it needs to be in, in order to unify and then properly evoke your emotions at a later point. It’s catchy and never overstays its welcome, often serving as a backdrop to convey emotions that cannot be summatively expressed as “happy” or “sad”, especially as the melody slowly snowballs with connotations as the show goes on. It’s a Pavlov’s dog response, of sorts, or maybe it’s just good scoring, but this show doesn’t suffer from an overabundance of minor little tracks to hold your hand along every emotional moment. Every melody has its purpose, and when it’s not being used for that specific purpose, there is silence. Sometimes (but honestly, not frequently, to my recollection) it’s intercut with the natural sounds of the countryside. Other times, it’s a heavy, genuinely empty silence, used at points of panning over the scenery, of character deliberation, and the grounded and “mundane”.

We can’t not mention the aliens, of course, which sound as fleshy and otherworldly in all of the most unpleasant of ways as they look. And I’ll also give it this: for a show made in 2001, somehow it made me adjust my volume less throughout the duration of any number of episodes than majority of modern shows that excessively alternate their quietest moments with their loudest. I am no sound designer but I think a show that doesn’t make me go “Wait, did someone say something?” or “Oh, please shut the fuck up!” and have me reach for the knob on my speaker, is probably a show whose sound has been well-mixed.

STORY / CHARACTER(S)

Before I begin, here’s Anilist’s summary of this show: “Tsubasa Shiina is a 10-year-old girl who recently moved to Hokkaido to live with her father. In school, she is very quiet and unsociable with her classmates. Then one night, she witnesses a UFO crash in the forest near her home. She rushes to the scene and finds the pilot, codenamed "D.D.", in a barely stable condition. Also in the scene is a Maguar, a hideous alien that hatched aboard D.D.'s ship. As the Maguar is close to taking Tsubasa's life, an alien lifeform fuses with her body to form the Riberus battle armor Figure 17, which shortly destroys the alien threat. The life form takes the name Hikaru and turns into an identical twin of Tsubasa. As time passes, Tsubasa becomes more open to everyone around her, thanks to her new twin sister Hikaru. However, with Maguar eggs scattered all over Hokkaido, their ability to form Figure 17 is needed to eliminate all hatched Maguars until backup from D.D.'s home planet arrives on Earth.”

This summary is … haphazard at best. I think the reason that it rubs me in all of the wrong places is that not once does it mention the most important piece of this set-up: Tsubasa goes to live with her father in Hokkaido because her mother died. Wikipedia at least mentions this fact, sure, but for some reason it’s still framed as one of those episodic little life lessons about growing up and things changing, as if it’s just a trivial one-note plot like any other. While this is a show with children as the primary characters, I struggle to call this a children’s story. Figure 17 is a story about grief. Namely, Tsubasa’s grief.

It’s a very honest rendition of grief that reaches much deeper than what I reckon is the usual representation of just … “missing someone to a crippling extent”. Furthermore, I don’t know about any media that addressed a child’s grief with any nuance beyond the usual plot of “an overly-self-reliant kid that steps up to the plate within their home to fill whatever void has been left behind with the occasional overwhelming breakdown and eventual reconciliation that they still have to be a child to some extent and have to allow themselves to be vulnerable”.

Grief is, more often than not, framed as something that is, for lack of a better term, easy. Like it is something that can be cried out a few times and tempered with a reminder to hold your head up higher. If you’re an adult, it’s just something that you have to learn to deal with because “all things end” and you should have the maturity to look ever onward. At best, the common, even earnest! story about grief, ultimately ends up conflating it to regret. Representations and renditions of grief don’t often tell you about how it comes and goes in tidal waves, about how much it hurts to have that piece of you severed. They’re not particularly fond of addressing that unfillable void left in their place, nor do they bring up that choking anxiety that it will happen again, and you don’t know when or to whom. And most damningly, absent is that acute helplessness of finding yourself there, again, having convinced yourself that you’re better. If you’ve compartmentalized it enough, if you’ve gone through it once, then surely, you can hold your ground at least a little bit? and yet your knees still give out beneath you and you’re enveloped in that utterly hollow shroud.

Figure 17 is different.

The evident elephant…s in the room are the aliens but as far as I’m aware, I don’t think it would’ve worked as a stand-alone slice of life, just like I don’t think it would’ve worked as a stand-alone OVA about some kids fighting some aliens. Even if at some point these elements may have been separate, I wouldn’t consider the slice of life a reprieve from the action or the action a “reward” for the viewer that had the patience to sit through the slice of life. The dynamics of one fit into the other in a meaningful way that goes beyond the usual, “We have to keep our identities a secret!”. Spoiler alert — they do keep their identities a secret. This story isn’t about that.

Figure 17 is slow, but not meandering. The scenery is chewed just enough to feel lived in and the dialogue, as far as I can tell from the cadence of the voice actors and the English subtitles, is natural. I will say that at many points I held my breath, thinking that there's no way this show could possibly weave through this so flawlessly and not fall to any of the usual dramatic conventions, but I’m pleased to announce it does. Every single character feels like a real person and no one is blatantly antagonized. There are familiar faces in the characters like “shy girl”, “boyish, outgoing girl”, “rowdy boy who’s probably poor”, “class rep girl” and “difficult teenager”, just to name a few, but they feel less like stereotypes and more so just as the people we’d encounter in our day to day. They go beyond their pre-determined roles without ever miraculously metamorphosing into somebody else entirely after “seeing the error of their way”.

I think what I appreciate most about this story is that it’s not fixated on a take-away, hence my affectionate Bee Train comparison. I hyperfocused so much on the summaries partially because I think that they themselves are too fixated on the idea that a story has to have an ultimatum. To “learn”, to “become” — they’re such confining words, aren’t they? In the context of a narrative, when such a premise is presented, the assumption then is that is what will happen, that there is a moment where we can conclusively say that that is what occurred and/or was reached. This story isn’t about that. Will it be considered strange or unappealing for that exact fact? Yeah, probably. And it’s also probably the reason why this show, made by a prolific studio with a proven team and profound art direction never cemented a spot in public consciousness. But why is that the pedestal all media is obligated to be held to?

FINAL THOUGHTS

rat (05/10/2023 6:57 PM)

So i uh finished figure 17

leaf (05/10/2023 7:13 PM)

wait was it that good?

rat (05/10/2023 7:14 PM)

I will need a night to sleep on it to put it into words

yes

I’m like

[an emoji that conveys that I’m vibrating at an audible frequency]

leaf (05/10/2023 7:15 PM)

OLM really is the studio of all time

rat (05/10/2023 7:16 PM)

On god

#figure 17 #2001 - 2002 #OLM inc #mod 🐀 #kinda crazy how much hella anime is buried in the archives of the 2000s #it was tough to write this without getting carried away emotionally #it's like ... a really humble show if that makes sense #it's technically adequate in every single regard but it's never trying to flex #it just uses all of its strengths to tell a really good story