Code Geass ep.07

November 16, 2006 | 33 Comments

This is another action-filled episode for the series only this time around, Lelouch gets to be the loser. It's hard not to feel sorry for him though, as it appears that his entire family (minus Euphemia, probably) are a bunch of cold-hearted bastards. There is also another interesting revelation from C.C and I think this will end up becoming the focus of the series once Lelouch has his way with Britannia. Animation-wise, the episode is still quite good despite 7 episodes into the count. Some character designs are a bit off but that's to be expected around this time. Sorry for the delay. Nightmare host decided to die on me as they do....almost every single day.

8 years ago, Lelouch approached his father, the Emperor, to tell him that his mother had passed away. In return, his father simply asked him what's wrong with it and was not impressed that Lelouch requested to see him just for this. He tells his guards that he has no time to soothe a little kid. Lelouch became angry upon hearing this and asked his father why the old man didn't protect his mother. Instead the Emperor tells his son that the weak has no business of being here. Upon hearing this, Lelouch told his father that in that case, he does not need to succeed the throne, claiming that he's had enough of the conflict that comes with it. In return, the Emperor revealed to Lelouch that he considers his son 'dead' ever since Lelouch's birth. And since it was him, who gave Lelouch his clothes, foods, and livelihood, the Emperor claimed that Lelouch has no right to complain. With that in mind, he sent Lelouch and Nanaly to Japan as bargaining chip.

In the present time, Lloyd is in the middle of explaining the 7th generation Knightmare frame to Cornelia. Even though the pilot for Lancelot is an Eleven, Cornelia is satisfied with the knowledge that Suzaku was chosen from first-class soldiers. At the same time, Euphemia is writing a letter, stating that while she understands that in a fight one essentially risks one's own life, she is worried about what her sister is about to do. Suzaku, on the other hand, is busy doing his homework while supervised by Cecil. It seems he still have difficulty even though he already asked someone to help him. He tells her how this person is actually an old friend that he meet by coincidence. Cecil tells him to treasure this friend because she believes that their meeting is Hitsuzen (Inevitability). She then asks Suzaku to eat the Onigiri that she has made...which contains blueberry jam. Yuck. The lesson here is never ask a Brit to make an Onigiri. J/K!

Inside Ashford college, Shirley asks Karen not to keep secret from each other before telling the other girl that she saw 'it'. Karen suddenly becomes alert and pulls out her knife. As it turns out, however, Shirley simply accuses her of going out with Lelouch. Karen tries to explain but Shirley continues to come up with preassumptions until Karen asks Shirley to stop her strange imagination. While this happens, inside the principal office Millay is talking to her mother about her arranged marriage. Outside the school, the Britannian army is surrounding the Saitama ghetto. While doing the preparation to rat out the terrorist, Cornelia asks her Generals if the situation is similar to Shinjuku ghetto. In order to do this, TV broadcast information that there's been a restriction placed upon Saitama ghetto. But why worried about terrorist when you too can get your own Cheese-kun by colleting Pizza Hut stamps like C.C? So call Pizza Hut now!

Lelouch then enters the room looking pouty as usual but C.C thinks this is unusual. Inside a TV station, a crew wonders why the attack will start in 2 hours. The cameraman points out that this is basically a tactic to draw Zero out. Meanwhile Cornelia tells her Generals that Zero is a theatrical kind of criminal and because of this, she has ensured that the upcoming battle will be similar to the one that happened in Shinjuku. If Zero is the type who overestimates himself, Cornelia believes that Zero will come out to kill her. Inside Lelouch's room, C.C asks the guy if he's going to allow himself to be provoked by Cornelia. Lelouch claims that he can't help it since Cornelia purposedly 'invited' him. Besides, he has something he wants to ask from her. Upon hearing this, C.C asks him which one is more important: destroying Britannia or finding his mother's killer? Without hesitation, Lelouch tells her that those two are the same thing.

He points out that the Imperial family has always fought over who will succeed the throne. C.C argues that such action also makes Britannia stronger since the undefeated, most powerful person will be the one who becomes the next Emperor. In retaliation, Lelouch points out that the weak ones will lose, and crawl and crouch down. Britannia is this kind of country. C.C thinks that the Emperor simply adheres to the 'survival of the fittest' principle. Lelouch becomes angry upon hearing this, asking C.C what will happen to Nanaly if that was the case. Lelouch refuses to give up on her just because she is weak and therefore, he refuses that kind of world. Much to Lelouch's surprise, C.C suddenly points a gun at him. Meanwhile, Suzaku is in the middle of humming a tune in a hallway when he sees Karen exiting a room telling Shirley that she has nothing to do with Lelouch. When Suzaku comes in, he notices that Shirley looks visibly upset.

Back to Lelouch's room, C.C tells the guy that it'll be problematic if he dies before fulfilling his contract with her. Upon hearing this, Lelouch points out that C.C's words are contradictory to her action (pointing a gun at him). C.C tells Lelouch that she's not going to kill him...she'll just shoot his leg. Lelouch suddenly realises that C.C can't use Geass power herself. He then pulls out a gun and points it at C.C, who's unimpressed and asks Lelouch if he thinks she's afraid of Gun. Much to her surprise, Lelouch points said gun to his own head. He tells her that he's been dead until he met her. A life where he was doing nothing, a state which he compares to a slow death. If he has to live like then, he'd rather shoot his own brain. Because of this, C.C has no choice but to lower her gun. Britannian Army, on the other hand, does not intend on lowering their weapon on Saitama ghetto residents. They are accused of committing treason for hiding the terrorists.

With this accusation, Saitama ghetto masacre begins as planes and various Knightmare frames are launched towards the ghetto. The only exceptions to these are Jeremiah and a few other Knightmare Frame pilots. Jeremiah becomes irritated because of this and wonders why Cornelia didn't issue marching order for them. One of his colleagues tells him that it's because there is an 'Orange' amongst them and orders Jeremiah to just be thankful that he didn't get any punishment. In other words, he blames Jeremiah for the predicament that they are in right now. Jeremiah tries to explain that the 'Orange' thing was just Zero's BS but his colleague doesn't believe him. Viletta, on the other hand, believes that a student is involved in this case. Meanwhile, Lelouch observes the massacre from a far, thinking that Britannia still has not changed even after Clovis is replaced by Cornelia. His thought comes to a halt when a Sutherland asks him to identify himself.

Lelouch, who is now dressed up in military uniform claims that he's Dario Torres, from 3rd Reconaissance troop. He claims to have seized something from a terrorist. When the pilot comes out of the Frame, Lelouch immediately uses his power to take over the Frame. From inside the Frame, Lelouch contacts the terrorist and tells them that he's Zero. If they've heard about him, then he asks them to follow him. The terrorists decide to come out and follow Lelouch's instruction. At first they manage to trap a few of the Imperial's frames by following his order. Inside Cornelia's command centre, they realise that the same event that happened in Shinjuku is happening again now. Meanwhile, Zero continues to give order to the terrorist and to ensure that they are cut from everyone else, he orders them to destroy the bridge. Upon seeing the damage, Cornelia orders all party to retreat. Lelouch is satisfied to see this but still wants to target Cornelia.

Inside Lelouch's room, C.C is laying on the bed, looking as if she's talking to someone telepathically. She mentions that she expected 'that type' to be dangerous regardless one way or the other. She then sits up looking offended. She tells the person she was conversing with that she's understands. Besides, who does the person think she is? At the same time, Shirley tells Suzaku that she wasn't actually that interested in Lelouch at first. However, at one point she witnessed a traffic accident where the guilty party is actually the car on the back. However, the driver of that car actually caused trouble for the old couple who drove the car on the front. Back then, Lelouch towed the guy's car away while keeping uninterested look on his face. It was then that Shirley wondered to herself, what is it that he's thinking. She wants to know more about him and before she knew it....she started liking Lelouch. Outside the room, Millay tells herself love sure is nice.

Back in the battlefield, Lelouch tells himself that the loser will be Cornelia as his terrorist group chase after her Britannian army. Cornelia, on the other hand, thinks that she will be the winner. She orders her Knight, Guildford, to lead an attack on the rebel scum. Back inside the student council, Suzaku tries to give Lelouch a call so Shirley can tell him about her feeling. Shirley is embarassed when she realises what Suzaku is about to do and the two ends up in a tussle over the phone. Before they know it, they lose balance and Suzaku falls on top of her. Back to Lelouch, he orders one of his terrorist unit to pretend to be a Britannia Frame. However, Cornelia is not fooled by this and orders Guildford to destroy that unit. In addition to this, some of the terrorists are afraid of Cornelia and decide to surrender. Unfortunately, they just end up being killed by her. Things suddenly become critical for Lelouch as he loses his men one by one.

Lelouch is horrified when Cornelia orders all Knightmare Frame pilots to open their hatchet so Guildford can inspect them. The problem is Lelouch doesn't have his Zero mask and he can't use Geass unless he's in direct contact with the person he tries to control. He's thinking of direct attack but realises it's useless with Cornelia's bodyguard around. In the nick of time, however, someone appears wearing Zero's outfit, taking the heat away from Lelouch's Frame. This gives Lelouch an opportunity to escape. While he runs inside a sewer, the other Zero masks appears in front of him. Lelouch wonders why the person saved him so the person opens the mask, revealing herself as C.C. She tells him that it'll be problematic if he dies now. Lelouch claims that he wouldn't have lost if the conditions were equal but C.C accuses him of being sore loser. Upon hearing this, Lelouch swears that he'll make sure that his army, men, and country won't lose to Britannia.

Impression:

Someone mentioned on last week's episode thread that this series reminds him/her of V for Vendetta. I think that's pretty accurate. Although Zero has been Lelouch's idea, any number of people can pretend to be one in order to save the real Zero. In that sense, Zero becomes a concept, a person who is against Britannia. Speaking of Britannia, I never expected the entire Imperial family to be a bunch of fruitcakes. The Emperor takes the cake though for treating his own family that way. I actually understand Lelouch a lot more in this episode. At first I thought he's more like Light from Death Note. But as it turns out, he cares a lot about the people that he loves like Nanaly. In addition to this, he doesn't like the idea of oppressing those who are weaker than him. In fact, he doesn't want a world where the weak has to kneel and bow down before the strong ones. Because in that world, people like Nanaly can't survive.

There is a danger that Lelouch could be heading that way if he's not careful. However, judging from what Shirley said about him, he seems to be a rather decent person who is willing to help those who are weak. Moving on to other character, C.C behaves in a rather interesting manner this time when she looked as if she's talking to someone else telephatically. I also wonder why she can't use her own power even though she can transmit it to Lelouch. Lately I've been thinking that maybe Lelouch's real enemy will turn out to be C.C and her kind instead of Britannia themselves. But that seems unlikely right now. I am also surprised to see Millay being put into an arranged married situation by her parents. I think I have a suspicion as to which person she actually likes but it seems that character likes someone else. As for Suzaku and Shirley, I doubt there will be anything between them. I think they were simply embarassed that they fell on top of one another.

Preview

On next week's episode: Rebel scum manages to get their hands on Millay.

© memento 2003