Code Geass 23 END
Until Summer, Anyway
Hell on earth. It’s rare that I get a genuine sense of catastrophy on an epic scale from fiction, even when it’s strictly occuring, on the page or in front of my eyes. But by the end of Geass 23 it’s very hard to see how things could possibly get any worse. The Black Knights are poised to take Tokyo, and I don’t think either side has any room left to manuver. The Euphemia Incident has pushed everyone to the extremes; Lulu can execute his plans for total conquest with full support and I don’t think the Britannians have any option but reconquest then genocide. This is epitomised by Lulu and Suzaku themselves; now that Suzaku seems to know Lulu is Zero, and at the very least knows that Geass caused Euphie to lose it, any chance of him joining Zero is gone, and both have been pushed to a commitment to total force regardless of cost for their own reasons. Suzaku is, in his own words, going into a battle just to kill. Lulu has just destroyed an entire city and has barely begun. This should, as they say, be good. But considering we have several months to see the end result, it’s time for random speculation about the future.
The Battle
To be frank, I think Lulu has this one down. Most of Cornelia’s forces got smoked when the city went up and the rest are likely be in disarray. The “Glasgow Knights” are untested but are likely to be no more or less than a foil for Toudou, the Gekka and Lulu’s other unique units, while Lancelot is a btiching uberframe, but is only one unit. That may not have stopped it before, but Guren roughly equals it while Gawain should almost certainly outmatch it with both pilots. In any case, the forces arrayed seem so large not even Suzaku will be able to turn the tide alone, unless he can somehow kill or incapacitate Lulu. I don’t think so, though. Equally, from a narrative perspective this is Lulu’s battle to win. The next season is probably called Suzaku of the Counter-Attack, after all, and if Britannia wins the Order of the Black Knights are unlikely to have much future. I’m going to call this a major victory for Lulu, with Cornelia and her people being awkward and Suzaku duelling the Gawain convincingly before being forced back due to overwhelming odds.
Lulu
It’s hard to imagine Lulu doing anything he’s not doing already, only more so; he has truly embarked on the path of carnage. Now that his Geass is disfunctional he’s likely to become even more drawn into the life of Zero, and become increasingly isolated from his friends, while similarly it is a necessity of his upscaled operations that he be around at all times. Suzaku probably, though not certainly, knows that Lulu and Zero are one and the same. If that is the case, it’s pretty certain they can no longer attend the same school or even meet without Suzaku attempting murder, as Euphemia’s death seems beyond even his saintly endurence. Nunnally, being blind, is somewhat safe from Geass, and I don’t see Lulu abandoning his precious sister just yet. Nontheless, he’s in a fix as he still needs someone to look after her, and it sure can’t be Suzaku from now on. Rivalz? Yeah, right…
He’s keeping Karen increasingly distant, much to her chagrin, while CC seems to be drawing closer between co-pilotting the Gawain and her promise that she is the one who will always be with him. Sadly, though, Lulu sees through girls even more than Lloyd. Mostly, though, Lulu is one of Diethard’s “completed matters”. I can’t see him going through any major paradigm shifts in future, he’ll simply continue to plot, scheme and laugh maniacally as he sinks further and further into the bloodfest that has become his life. In short, he’ll continue to be a show-driving megalomanic semi-human villain who outdoes Light in insanity, and that’s all to the good. All that said, though, I see the recent episodes as a turning point; he went from giving up to recoiling in horror and self-hate to moving forwards once again, this time forever.
Suzaku
Suzaku, on the other hand, is genuinely changing, and I’m not sure where he will end up going. For a start, the death of Euphemia has left him without an immediete place or path to follow. There is now no hope, realistically speaking, for any change from within Britannia in ten or even twenty years. That triumphed with Euphemia’s New Japan, and died with it. Nor is he her knight any more, so his involvement with Britannia is uncertain. Right now, his motivation is sheer, unadulterated hatred and the desire for revenge. That’s all well and good, and in itself marks a departure from “Saint Suzaku”, but it’s hard to say what his place will be in Britannia. It’s likely he will continue to fight for as long as Zero exists, but if I’m right in suspecting that Britannia’s methods will again increase in brutality he may have some serious doubts. Nor can he be the banner of hope for the Honoured Britannians, as no Eleven is willing to consider such a thing any more. In short, Suzaku is left with Lancelot, his ability to pilot it, and a grim determination to see Zero dead. Where that will lead, I’m not sure.
I will also spare a paragraph for Suzaku’s involvement with VV and Geass in general. He has experienced both Lulu’s Geass and CC’s bonus powers, and appears to have a special sense for this stuff. CC wonders whether he could be “that”… this, and VV’s first contact raise the possibility that he too will be a Geass user, probably making the contrast with VV at the end of episode 25. If so, this would certainly mark a major change in direction, and would make Suzaku far more significant for “Suzaku of the Counter-Attack”, where he features as a title character. Suzaku has motivation enough to make the contrast, in order to fight Zero, and while VV would compromise his position as an “observer” he seems like the type to enjoy arming CC’s arch foe. On the other hand, we know very little about his motivations, and I consider it possible that he is already contracted to the Britannian Emperor (though that is just speculation). Another justification for this is indirect; Suzaku now knows, at least roughly, who CC is and what Lulu’s Geass is, as well as how it functions. If he tells everyone who will listen, it is still probable that he will not be believed by many (a loli-shota turned up on board our floating battleship and told me the enemy has magical powers!) but Schnieser seems smart enough, and with sufficent experience with the artefacts Britannia obsesses over, to at least consider his words. Further, the tale would ring true with those Britannians unfortunate (fortunate?) enough to have already been Geassed. If Suzaku becomes a Geass user, on the other hand, he has a reason to conceal this inconvenient series of truths.
Now I’m going to fly off into the realms of utterly baseless fantasy. But as Geass varies in type and based in the eyes, I personally see Suzaku’s likely Geass as something very combat orintated (this IS Suzaku), either Geass assisted SEED-mode style reflexes, which would allow him to match the Gawain in Lancelot, or some other deepening of perception such as prescience. A leadership or manipulation Geass just doesn’t seem to be him and the Knightmare of Nunnally provides an (admittedly alternate history) precedent for Geass powers used for something other than mind wars. In any case, a Geass would intensify (is this possible?) his rivalry and battle with “Zero”, and also solidify his role in Britannia. Alternately, he doesn’t get a Geass, and VV just flies around being an agent for chaos. I’m inclined to call it a fifty-fifty split right now- everything hangs on the painfully enigmatic VV.
Suzaku’s role in the next series may stay much the same, Britannia’s chief frame ace, or his position may expand to match his role as an apparent title character. Much of that depends on whether Cornelia and her crew lives or dies. If Cornelia continues, he is likely to continue to be sidelined by her and her Knights. On the other hand, if she cops it and Schneiser takes over, I can see Suzaku recieving an expanded role as a leader as well as a pilot; of Schneiser’s staff, we only know of the fat general whose name escapes me, and he definately seems more a scientific overseer than a fighter a la Darton and Guilford. On the middle ground, it seems likely that Darton at least is in a lot of trouble. While I can’t see Suzaku making General under Cornelia any time soon, the horrific casualties likely means he may still be expected to start acting like a Major.
Cornelia And Euphemia
The main question is: does Cornelia live or does she die? I see that as a major cross-roads of the series. If Cornelia dies, then Britannia will be in a bad way, no doubt losing much of its command structure and leaving a power vacuume. For a start, as noted before, this will determine Suzaku’s role. Without her drive, they may be forced outright off Japan, and obliged to return in a second invasion. Further, Schneiser would be forced to take centre stage in her place, revealing his hand and bringing the only Prince to equal Lulu into battle with him. If she lives, things will continue as they are, at least for a time, with the hawkish Cornelia holding onto every scrap of Japan she can and fighting with her specilised bloody-mindedness. However, she has to die eventually for the series to progress, and I don’t think even Suzaku will be able to pull her out of the fire that is the Tokyo battle. Not with all the Black Knights going for her head, and her own suicidal tendancies.
Euphemia is dead, dead, dead. I don’t think even Sunrise will be able to bring her back. So we missed our chance of Nina-rape or peace alike.
Karen
Karen will continue to be Karen, that much is not in doubt. However, there’s a small chance that she will get comprehensively beaten or smashed outright by Suzaku in the Tokyo battle, which would definately have ramifications for her ego if not her life epxectancy. I don’t consider this likely, however. Karen’s main problem is the narrowing of her role as the Gawain comes in with CC. She is no longer the main foil for Lancelot, and indeed Suzaku smashed her aside in one blow during their last encounter. While in a full-on battle this is less likely, the Guren has no wings, and so again sees more limited use against Lancelot. She’s still far from obsolete, but I do wonder whether her main role could be combating the Tier Two Britannians from now on, Guilford, Cornelia and the likes of the Gloucester Knights. On the other hand, she might suprise me. We shall see.
As a character, Karen is exhibiting at least some worries about the fate of the Ashford Academy Students. She’s far from off her road as a revolutionary, but she continues to appreciate the concequences of her actions at times while smashing things at others. If Lulu descends too far into madness, it will interesting to see whether she will just follow on, or stop and think. In the meantime, though, Karen is Karen.
Villeta
Blue-haired amnesia-girl is currently in a real pinch. She’s close to becoming Ougi’s girlfriend, and is doting on him. Ougi! Oh, and some Britannians want to lynch her. I’m hoping that their attack will bring back the old Villeta to unleash some savage retaliation and the restoration of her memories. That would put Lulu in a fun pinch if she ever made it back to Britannia, and would lock him even more effectively on his course. Plus we’d get the real Villeta back.
Orange-Kun
Apart from Sunrise Ressurection Syndrome, I’m not quite sure what to make of this. A cyborg is all very well, a demonic winged cyborg is better, but what can they do against mecha? I frankly have no idea at all what Orange is going to bring to the table, but it will probably be entertaining. And it can’t get any worse for him anyway.
Nina
Appears to be custom-jobbing the ancient Ganymede in order to fight Zero and avenge Euphemia. If I recall correctly, the Ganymede is a useless piece of junk from Generation Three, while the Gawain is a flying, Hadron-cannon totting monster from Gneration Seven. In short, Nina will be dead by the end of the Tokyo battle, though her presence in the very open cockpit of the Ganymede may give Karen pause, or at least a good laugh. And her emo facial distortion was top-class.
In conclusion, Code Geass has come a long way, and has a long way still to go. Despite appearing as a remake of Gundam SEED, which was in itself something of a remake, the death of Euphemia and subsequent budding apocalpyse definately represents Geass striking out and taking its own direction. This direction is definately the highway to hell for the actual characters, and it’s going to be a fun ride, whenever the final two episodes of Lelouch of the Rebellion emerge and Suzaku of the Counter-Attack commences. And in that, I’ll make my long-term prediction; this will end with the death of both Suzaku and Lulu, and quite possibly everyone else as well. Or perhaps one or the other, probably Lulu, standing in the middle of a wasteland. I can’t see any kind of happy ending in the offing, and I’m loving it. So, to the future.
Chibi Panic!
With thanks to Bootleg and all the other devientartists who make beautiful and funny things for me to mess around with using my less than adequate editing skills. Selective use of edits and material taken out of context is all in the name of the great Kaname-Momomi hegemony, and so is par for the course. Grand propoganda for the revolution.
On an unrelated note, this blogging stuff isn’t easy, as I’ve discovered to my cost. Writing about watching anime is hard when I could just watch anime. Likewise writing about the process of writing is more tedious than writing. But I’ll try and get some semblence of order back here.
Code Geass 12
The Past’s Not Past
We open with Cornelia’s board meeting, with a few things worth noting. First of all, Clovis seems to have been a moderate, and killing him hasn’t done Japan any favours; Corenlia’s more competant as a military leader and far, far more repressive and ruthless. That said, it’s hard to say whose method would be preferrable in the long term- but regardless, the freedom of Japan is now going to be bloody. There also seems to be a struggle between the doves and relics of Clovis, and Cornelia’s hawks. Unfortunately, with Euphie abstaining Cornelia’s fraction seems destined to win every major battle by default. Jeremiah, or “Orange-kun”, is confirmed KIA. Which is a pity, his emo fall from grace was entertaining. And a shiny picture of Guren is on the screen, but it’s not discussed at all. Really, between the poor treatment Lancelot gets from high command and this, Cornelia really needs to watch some more anime and learn to respect the uberframe.
We meet a random girl who is told by some middle-aged men that she gave Zero the Guren. Firstly, a little girl seems to have rank over those old timers. Secondly, the specific reference to Suzaku’s rescue does make me wonder whether she has some connection with him, a personal reason to be grateful. That said, it’s just as likely that she was taken in by Lulu’s good guy act along with the rest of the world. Time will tell.
Shirely is lovesick, Millay is both encouraging and mocking, Lulu couldn’t hit on the broad side of a barn, CC gets jealous (windows are a motif of people getting jealous around Lulu. Shirely suffered from the exact same condition earlier.) and a random guy we’ve never seen before hangs around the roof of the school. Which is really rather implausiable. Jet powered mecha which use grappels as their chief weapon I can accept. But that suspicious, strange guys could hang around grinning banally on school rooftops for the privigiled children of Britannia just breaks suspension of disbelief. After Shirely asks Lulu out, she runs to hide and does a passable “it’s not like it means anything” to herself. I wonder whether she’s fooling herself, if no one else. “But it’s a chance”. Sadly, Shirely’s up against Karen the uberframe runner, and CC the mysterious girl who lives in Lulu’s room. Oh, and Suzaku. It’s a chance, right enough, but not much of one… That said, Lulu hangs around his bitchin’ zero trailer thinking about Shirely. Honestly, Light never shows such lack of discpline. Another fairly belated power struggle, too, and for as long as Lulu as Karen he’ll always win, just as the hawks will always win for as long as Cornelia doesn’t become all dovy or Euphie grows a spine. IE both fractions will win all the time until hell freezes over.
Nina pleasues herself on a table to a picture of Euphie. I suspect, in some far distant future, that’s bad news for Suzaku. Never, ever have the team stalker racist psycopath on your tail. It’s bad for your life expectancy. Karen and Nunnaly are both jealous, the former over CC and her “Zero” and the latter over an increasingly distant Lulu. I’ve no idea how the guy does it, and especially, always, how can be apathetic about the likes of Karen. It’s inexpliable. Unless- but we don’t want that ending. Speaking of that ending, Suzaku dwells on CC’s appearence, and her psycological war on him. And by electing to continue rescue duty rather than his “proper” orders, he also shows his limitations. Suzaku is not a soldier, no more than Lulu is a true Light-esque anti-hero, but he’s playing at the role so he can follow his own path. Lancelot’s detached duties is the only possible outfit where that kind of lax attitude could work, and even then, it’s hard to say for how long. Though they really shouldn’t be wasting him and it on burial detail, leave that to the infantry. Likewise, doesn’t he ever train or something? I’m bemused that he manages to juggle school with being a professional frame runner equivalent to the far more experienced Karen, without apparent effort. Lloyd and Cecil introduce another elemant to the Guren-Lancelot match-up; the clash of the genius scientists who made the damn things, who knew each other personally. Lloyd, of course, is confident. Cecil far less so, with an unstable Suzaku.
Lulu executes another low-grade Light’n trick to humble another potential foe, Kyoto, who do the economic spadework so the like of the Black Knights can swan around being freedom fighters or terrorists. Though the Zero costume really suits CC. And in a flashback, a girl the splitting image of the prodigy who handed Guren to Zero is seen, younger, alongside Suzaku. I’m now convinced that’s why Guren went to “Zero”, and she no doubt knows Lulu too, though probably not the connection between the two. Considering they were standing next to adults and markedly opposite Lulu and Nunnally, Suzaku and her might even be related, but I’m currently placing my money on the girl being the daughter of Lord Kirihara, again a noted associate of Suzaku’s father the prime minister. Regardless, Kirihara offers intelligence; despite Lulu’s capacity to seemingly know everything, even classified Britannian operations, and lay out the entire enemy army on a neat map. Slightly redundant. But Lulu, his voice thick with relish, affirms his “path of carnage” to Kirihara. Appropriate to the antihero.
Then a broken Shirely tells him that the man who provided the tickets for the date they were both late to, her father, was killed by the actions of Zero. Lulu is fazed, consierably so. And in that, he’s a better character than Light. Lulu is human, a boy even, and I’m glad that he recieves this realisation. Of course, it sucks to be Shirely. Never fall in love with an anti-hero. She gets to kiss him, though. Her father’s killer…
King Lear: The Anime
Following various daring acts of corporate espionage and high-pace gun battles, martial arts duels and mecha faceoffs, I bring you news of Sunrise’s next major project, The Image of the Zone of Edmund of the Fifths of the Revolution. Below episode 1.1 is summarized, with more to follow, more infomation pending.
Act 1 Scene 1
Our story begins with Edmund, the bastard child of Lord Gloucester, meeting Kent, the king’s most faithful warrior and master of an Unclaimed Inheritance. They are discussing the King’s decision to divide his ancient Inheritance, Kingdom, into three seperate Inheritances to be passed down to his daughters, in proportion to their love for him. They are met by Edgar, Edmund’s legitimate brother and master of a Prodigious Inheritence, under the banner of his father. Edgar is a skilled pilot and takes every oppurtunity to mock Edmund, who has a common Landless Inheritance and nothing more. The king enters, followed by his three stunningly attractive teenage daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, and technicians bearing the blueprints of Kingdom, and declares his intention to divide his Inheritance based on which of his daughters pleases him most. Also present are Cornwall and Albany, boyfriends to Goneril and Regan and possessors of significant Ancestral Inheritences, as well as France and Burgandy, an older man and a teen respectively, who Cordelia is two-timing. Lear stands and invites Goneril to come with him into his bedroom to prove how much she loves him. The two are absent for some time, covered by montage, before they return and Lear says she has pleased him, and is to be given a portion of his Kingdom. A team of technicians leave to oversee the divisions.
The process is repeated with Regan, but in the meantime Edmund is watching with amusement as France and Burgandy argue over Cordelia, who shows every sign of enjoying their row. She examines the room, before picking out Edmund and approaching him, flirting, to the fury of her escorts. Edmund responds deftly at first but grows stubborn as he percieves she has only favoured him because he is the least respected man present. Regan and Lear re-enter and he declares that she has pleased him even more, and will be given the second portion of Kingdom. Regan’s technicians leave, talking exitedly. Finally, Lear calls on Cordelia to earn her portion of the Inheritance, and she tells him to drop dead, because he’s an ugly, perverted old ****. Lear waxes wrathful, and moves to strike her down, but he is interrupted by Kent, who plainly has a crush on Cordelia. Lear turns his attentions to Kent, who is banished. The old warrior leaves with quiet dignity to find his Inheritance. Cordelia, in the meantime, has been urgently converging with her two more official lovers, and while Burgandy backs down out of fear she plays with France until he boldly declares he will take her and protect her, regardless of her Inheritance. The two are charged but Cordelia drags France from the room and they race to retrieve their Inheritance, the Great France. Lear orders them brought down at any cost, promising the final portion of Kingdom to any who achieve this task. The company uniformly race to activate their Inheritances, boasting loudly about how Kingdom shall be theirs. Particularly competitive are Edmund and Edgar.
Edmund reaches his Landless and activates it, while the company departs in their rollerblading Inheritances. He blasts off just as Edgar takes off in his far flashier Prodigious, and the two jostle for place near the back of the pack as they race into the city. The large and powerful Great France is up ahead. First to reach them is Burgandy, who is furious and determined to bring France down. The two clash with greatswords, grappels, energy guns and force shields while racing on, Burgandy having a firm upper hand and smashing Great France around. Cordelia, impatient with her erstwhile lover’s fumblings, takes control of Great France, fights back and destroys Burgandy’s Inheritance in one fell swoop, killing him. The pursuit screams with suprise and redoubles their efforts, while Edmund just smiles enigmatically. Edgar hails him over the radio, equally glad, and two race on glad of a challenge. Cornwall and Albany both charge Great France, fighting Cordelia two on one and forcing her on the defensive before pressing the attack and throwing her Inheritance through a wall. The two men crash after her, only to find no sign of Great France- which is suspended by its grappels above them. It drops and destroys Albany’s Ancestral, killing him, before turning on Cornwall. The duel is fierce but short, and Cornwall too dies bloodily.
Cordelia is crowing over her victory, and France quavering in fear, when Edgar finally pulls ahead of Edmund and moves to engage. Knowing his Landless is outmatched, Edmund moves to a high position and observes as the two duel outside the city walls. Other Landless Inheritences, along with Worthless and False Inheritences armed with simple rifles, move to engage, but Edgar orders them back, saying this is a matter of honour. The two are intially equally matched but to Edmund’s delight Cordelia quickly gains the upper hand. Edgar is in disbelief, but even his powerful Prodigious is no match for Great France. Deciding that his Landless stands no chance against the mighty Inheritance, Edmund suprises Edgar by providing warnings from his high position, negating Great France’s superior speed. Cordelia is furious, but Edgar fights back in his damaged Inheritance and tears off one of Great France’s arms, before damaging the high mobility drives. Cordelia is driven back, but then counter-attacks with fury and tears Prodigious in half, killing Edgar. Edmund watches in shock as the guard close in, and are shredded by single shots from Great France’s energy weapons. With a score of Inheritences at her feet, Cordelia taunts the city and demands someone of noble blood come forth to challenge her.
Snapping out of his trance, Edmund complies, jumping down from above and snapping off a cheap shot, which Cordelia easily dodges. She laughs out loud at her impudent challenger and charges, poised to cut him in half. However, Edmund easily checks her attacks with his own blade, reacting well despite her faster Inheritence. Cordelia reacts with fury, breaking through and smashing his Landless savagely, taking out a leg and an arm. However, she overstretches herself and Edmund exploits this weakness, dodging aside at the last moment and cutting off her Inheritence’s other arm. Cordelia crashes back, only to charge his Landless with her grappels alone. Edmund breaks through, sword stabbing into the cockpit, only to find one of her attacks has pierced his guard and cut him through the chest. He falls unconcious for a few moments, only to wake to the sight of Cordelia herself, beautiful and drenched in blood. She grins at him, saying she will save his life- if he saves hers. Edmund says that he has already killed her, but she tells him his attack only killed France. However, if he is to be saved he will have to make a pact with her; he will gain regenerative abilities, three-sixty telepathic vision, mind-reading and prescience, which “many consider a curse”. Edmund is quite emphatic in agreeing to the deal, and she gives him these powers before hiding with him in the cockpit as the guard close in. Unfortunately, he is again knocked unconcious by the process, but not before watching the guards clamber in and shoot Cordelia dead.
Edmund wakes wrapped in bandages from head to toe. He is greeted by a male technician, who introduces himself as Fool, under the King himself. Fool helps a weak Edmund forwards to show him his prize, a third of Kingdom, and the most valuable third; he has been bequeathed the Emotive Resonance Projector, or ERP for short, built into a spectacularly powerful Inheritance. He grins darkly and monolouges to the audience about this, the first step of his plan, which can now be accelerated with his new powers. The ending theme plays, which is accompanied by graphics implying both that Cordelia is alive and will become his principle love interest.
Code Geass 11
Reassessing Guren MK. II
I cry at how long it took for the Britannians to send out Lancelot. I mean, I’m neither a princess nor a general, but even I could tell you to send out a reserve that has the combat effectiveness of perhaps 25 Sutherlands in one unit to rescue your leader, when you have nothing else left. In other areas, though, the bad guys pulled their weight as they should. The Liberation Front leader was stonewalled by Gloucester and Cornelia was going down on her own terms, screaming defiance. In both cases, the Britannians showed an adeptness with their Knightmares worthy of any hero. It’s good to see someone other than the three protagonists demonstrating that level of skill, the same going for the Liberation Front- though they seemed to rely on superior weapons as much as skill. And on that note of superior weapons, the look on Zero’s face when Lancelot arrived to screw his plans over was hilarious.
Which brings us to the title duel: Guren vs Lancelot, round one of no doubt many. On speed, strength and agility, Guren was absolutely keeping up with Lancelot, something I hadn’t anticipated based on last episode, where Karen’s performance was far more modest in comparison to Lancelot’s debut, in which it wreaked everything in its path. Guren’s uber arm of heat explosion is an unmatched weapon, and Lancelot simply can’t block it, even with its vibroblades. However, where Guren has heat-arm, rappels and combat weapon Lancelot has two Vibroblades, grappels, two normal guns, one beam rifle, a shield projector and indeterminate others- it seems to be packing a new toy every time it fights, and all told it offers far more options to counter the raw power of the heat arm. As runners, they seem pretty even, both possessing nigh-prescient skill at dodging and improvising; a fact that runs doubly in Suzaku’s favour. He’s far less experienced as a runner than Karen is, and while Guren’s heat arm is essentially a universal panacea, providing attack, defence and even projectile shielding, he has to improvise with Lancelot’s bewildering array of weapons.
Neither foe could be sure of the other, but Lancelot’s known to the Knights while Suzaku knew nothing at all of Guren, and he managed the unanticipated first strike of the heat weapon well. At the end of the brief but blistering engagement, Guren falls off a cliff and out of the battle- blocking a shot from a Knightmare-killing energy rifle was too much even for its heat arm. First blood goes to Suzaku, but that was no doubt only the first of many battles. Karen, in the meantime, needs to put in an order for some guns; overcoming his sword fetish, Suzaku did best with projectiles at short range, and she had no options to return that favour right now. Bad planning, Lulu!
Suzaku and Lancelot were both operable after driving off Guren to persue Lulu, and this they did. I’m saddened that they made less of this oppertunity; watching Lulu try to think his way out of this one while fighting a losing battle against the uberframe would be enjoyable. Lulu and Suzaku really are antihero and hero- Lulu schemes where Suzaku has no guile at all, but Lulu’s equally at an impasse when the hero flies in and starts blowing stuff up, wreaking said schemes with a combination of recklessness and superior firepower. In any case, Lulu is humbled in short order, which makes more sense than in the first episode, when he managed to stalemate Lancelot that had just wreaked his entire army. Lulu’s spasms as he, a dinky little human behind a helmet, tries to face off against the white Knightmare was equally amusing. Every antihero needs to be brought down a peg from time to time.
CC creatively saves his life by sending Suzaku into some nightmare realm and thus a bezerk rage, then escapes to a cave with Lulu. She heals her lethal wounds with her super regen- now that’s the ability should have given Lulu. Geass? Pfft. In any case, Lulu shows some interest in her at last, though perhaps not the degree to which you should take advantage of a slightly upset, semi-dressed and smoking hot girl in a cave with you. Lulu also learns CC’s true name, so now, no doubt, he can banish her or command her or find her secret weakness or win the Holy Grail War. However, we don’t- and I think this is poor form. I stand by the rough rule of thumb which dictates that when the protagonist knows, the audience should know; you can’t get away with this kind of trickery in writing, and I don’t think much of it here either. Frankly, no name or secret past for her can be /that/ interesting, and if it’s a spoiler, more fool the name. Karen is incredibly jealous of finding Lulu in a cave with this “trusted lieutenant” CC, though as she can only think of him as Zero, and has theoretically never seen his face, this seems odd. Stockholm syndrome?
The flipside of Suzaku’s mental breakdown was Yuffie looking tearful over him having a mental breakdown. His recovery pending, he would be an idiot not to go for her, Princess be damned and Eleven be damned. How better to change the system from within than if you’re royalty? Plus she’s, you know, hot, and nice to boot. Just as Karen, CC and Shirely all three are Lulu’s “traditional male test”, so Yuffie is for Suzaku. Because I don’t want to speculate on the possibilities raised by Lulu and Suzaku’s signals and all-round uncomfortably close rapport.
Final thoughts: how is it possible for every fraction in a three-way battle to withdraw? The retreat of the Knights makes sense, but if either the Liberation front or the Britannians had waited five minutes they would have at least held/taken the base. And who is Cornelia kidding when she sees Yuffie as her heir apparent? Yuffie is many things, but a brilliant warleader is not one of them- that’s why you need a certain Eleven. If Suzaku’s Hero Bonus extends to tactics as well as Knightmare running, he’d be the next Napoleon. And at last- “going out” really is a mecha anime cliche. Allowed to go out, I’ll have to go out… sounds like a Suzaku who has transferred his battle determination to making up for Lulu’s deficencies as a harem lead.
Tsundere: Tohya Miho
Something darkly cute this way comes. Tohya is only a tsundere by a very loose definition, with Erika a far more direct execution of the stereotype. However, she carries the essential paradox of a tsundere- a superficially aggressive and horrible personality that is balanced by unexpected moments of caring, and a horrible vulnerability. She takes the tsundere firmly to the “right”, to hatred and cruelty, as well as a concious and direct manipulation of others aimed in many ways to hurt them. As such, she’d be hated, darkly cute or not, teenage girl or not, if it wasn’t for her weakness, which is just as profound as her apparent strength. Idly hostile to many, especially Largo, she recieves idle hostile from many, especially Largo. She inflicts and sustains emotional damage in equal measure. Despite many carefully constructed schemes, in the past and possibly in the present, she never catches any breaks and only hurts herself. Finally, she has physical abilities that can only be described as supernatural, and moments of physical weakness that are equally inexplicable and have come close to killing her. She is a contradictary personality, balancing a great capacity to harm and a great capacity to be harmed, and those are traits of a tsundere.
A vital aspect of Tohya’s personality is that even now, after 950 strips, we’ve no damn idea who she is. It tells you something about a character when her taking a bite from a waffle becomes a major plot point. From our probably wildly inaccurate brief from Largo calling her “evil” and linking her to the undead, and throughout, speculations about her character must begin at such a fundamental level as “is she human”? After a long stream of strips we must conceed that she eats, at least. However, her exact abilities, nature, past and motivations are all extremely shrouded, and have only slowly been revealed. We know far more about what she does than why, and even now her actions seem arbitary. As it stands, she can be described as nothing more or less than an agent of chaos- she conciously follows actions that will destabalise the already rickety relations that make up Megatokyo, and she is always, always in the right place at the right time, from photographing a sobbing Kimiko to halting Ed in his tracks. Whether this is a supernatural skill, or simply a knack, luck, or the conspiricy of plot, we can’t say for sure. But whenever she arrives, often at inappropriate moments, she will stir things up. It’s hard to say whether she gains anything from this, or whether she simply does it because she can. That she thrives off provoking emotion seems undeniable, but whether she literally lives off it or whether it simply pleases her is another question, and she seems vulnerable to the hostility of those around her even, and especially, in the moments of her minor victories.
One dramatic revelation was when Tohya, walking power wires, demonstrated that Yuki and her alike had powers that were probably supernatural in origin, labelling Yuki as a magical girl and inferring that she herself was something akin to this. The story’s typical of Tohya’s various confessions, in that while ostentibly talking about others she really refers to herself. She unabashedly refers to herself as a monster, demonstrating her somewhat nihilistic self-identification. She also references that Yuki will always be able to gain affection simply by being herself, implying she too may seek or have sought these things. And she also talks about good or bad reality shifts, congratulating Yuki on her “good” shift- and implicity suggesting her own bad one. This heavily implies that Tohya is supernatural, perhaps some “dark” cousin of the magical girls. More intriguing is her motivations in this scene, which are once again obscured. She is placing Yuki in a position where manipulating her should be easy, but seemingly has no agenda at all beyond bluntly informing the girl of her true nature. This is consistent with her actions to cause chaos, but has no explanation beyond that.
The revelations, and more importantly her delivery, are consistent with her past comments on all manner of events- she tacitly refers to herself through others, describes herself in scornful terms, and throws out leading comments about Yuki and herself alike without specifying. In short, she seems to be seeking attention, or perhaps understanding, and has used these methods before, and probably will again. Even in referencing others, such as Ping’s, suffering, she talks about herself, and in a world hostile to her on every level it may well be she is trying to find nothing more than understanding, in Yuki who is a little like her, Piro who she shares a past with, and most significantly Largo who has always persecuted her.
Tohya’s ambiguous relationship with Ping is also very significant. Once again, it’s telling that her only friend is the abnormal one, a playstation android, but the nature of their friendship is also intriguing. Ping, of course, is guileless and in earnest, and has emotionally attached to Tohya with as much intensity as she has associated herself with Piro, with considerably more success. Tohya, for her part, continues to emphasise her inhuman nature, referring to her as another “toy” and “game” as she refers to all people. However, she also seems to have developed a genuine emotional attachment to the girl, going out of her way to help her and clinging to her in times of her frequent emotional breakdowns. Indeed, her frequent refutations of Ping’s value to her are in themselves suggestive- methinks the lady doth protest too much, especially when she protects Ping from Ed at personal danger and sticks with the girl’s interests at all times. Like everything else about Tohya, it’s hard to tell exactly what the android means to her, or whether even she knows- but what we do know is that, as ever, we certainly can’t take her own word for it.
This brings us to Tohya’s confrontation with Ed, which neatly crosses her powers and her relationship with Ping. Ed is shown to be both psycopathic, intensely skilled with firearms, and utterly fearless- especially as he can respawn, nigh infinitely, and even from dust. But he’s afriad of Tohya, calling her the “real thing”, something unprecedented enough, even before in their second confrontation, where she soundly defeats and presumably destroys him by sabotaging his own weapons, moving fast enough to dodge bullets and plasma blasts. Her “powers” are still indeterminate, ranging from those who theorise she is merely a well-trained human, to any manner of supernatural being. The tests are both her capacity to defeat Ed, and also her skill at games, a proxy indicator of battle skill for much of the comic- and one in which she can defeat the infamous Largo himself.
However, she is using this indeterminate power to protect Ping, with her motives undisclosed. She also calls Ed a “griefer”, showing contempt for his habit of hurting and killing people simply because he can, despite her emotional behaviour that superficially at least is identical to this. Does she simply detest his brutal and simplistic methods? Does she have some deeper objective than Ed’s short term gratification? Or is this an extension of her own self-hate?
At this point, we must step aside and discuss one of the most ambiguous and mutually agressive relationships in the comic: Tohya and Largo. Superficially, they’re nothing more or less than archfoes, who have clashed in several game worlds, with increidble concequences in one past incident. Largo is firm that she is “t3h evil”, while Tohya maintains with equal passion that Largo is an egotistical idiot with no subtlty or time for anyone but himself. They’ve clashed again and again, with words, wills, and in games, and see each other as active enemies. At the same time, Largo came to her aid and quite possibly saved her life when she collapsed early in the strip, and Tohya later tried to seduce him after Erika rejected him. Once again, her motives are indeterminate, ranging from a genuine romantic interest to an overanxious desire to prove to him that she is genuinely human to a sinister manipulation in order to further hurt him.
Regardless, she was wounded as deeply, if not more so, than he was. Since then, their rivalry has only intensified, though to what end any romantic subtext could go is indeterminate. They’re often equated to a “love triangle” with Erika as the third point, but as Largo progresses with Erika while still roundly condemning the far younger Tohya the conclusion seems so forgone as to make the term meaningless. What the seduction event did reaffirm, however, is her intense vulnerability to emotional attack- one that suggest that her manipulative attitudes may be self-defence, or a denial of that “weakness”. Either way, she demonstrates an almost idle self-hate throughout, which is quite as worrying as her pechant for hurting others.
More than anything else, and through all this, Tohya can be considered a tragic character. She plays games with people’s lives, but it has never ended well, and probably never will. We’re referenced to her past incidents, and see more as they unfold, and ultimately no one’s ever hurt more than her. She’s been hospitalised, she falls ill spontaneously, and she’s cut deeper by retaliation than anyone is wounded by her actions. Even when she wins minor victories, like defeating Largo in the arcade, she’s hurt, and her past victories such as Largo’s defeat in the MMO mean little or nothing; he moved onto other games, as he related to her, and even that pyrattic triumph means nothing. She only burns herself, so an audience can only beg for her to stop playing- but she never does.
Likewise, she’s in an essentially harem situation without an obvious love interest, akin to being in the early days of Stalingrad as a Russian without a gun. You run forwards, pray, and hope you can pick up one from the fallen. Nor does she have any friends except Ping, and the sense of isolation recieved from the hostility of her schoolmates seems complete. The most hurtful of all the characters is also the most hurt, and it’s her tragedy that no one seems to see that, or else to care, despite her efforts to obtain understanding. Now as before, she’s alone, and it’s hard to say whether that will ever change.
But in the meantime, she’s darkly cute, chaotic, manipulative, intelligent, skilled, powerful, sickly, enigmatic and elegant, a second unifying thread that defies Piro and Largo as the centre of the story; like them, she can claim that all characters relate to her, and that all things revolve round her. We’ve no idea where she’s going or whether even she knows, but wherever she does go, she’s cruel, clever and perceptive- and sometimes, people might even need the harsh truths that she tells, whatever they think of the messanger.
Rift Cross 2, 3, 4
I return from my hiatus with these finished. And my, if they’re not a salutary lesson in concept creep. “Gambits” began in chapter 1 as specific, hard-coded spells, and have reached a point in chapter 4 where they’re freeform lores of magic that can even be combined in dazzling ways. The only character who’s even vaguely limited in potential by them now is Naalan, and even he makes his Kinesis Whip do a lot of work, in attack, defence, grappling and even getting around. But I’ve always favoured the school of “if it’s cool, go with it”, and Lotus and Sennia’s intricate magical creations are great fun. So let it be so.
The story’s also been an interesting to demonstrate character creep, too. Ballane’s our nominal hero, but I found him rather swiftly overshadowed by Naalan-Sennia, and then Cherim-Stelmor-Domina, Finea for comedy and Lotus in simple rank. Chapter 5 will, I think, be an exersize in reclaiming him from the shadows of his own story, and I have plans to fit that purpose. As it is, though, and appropriately enough to the faux genre I’m adopting, all the characters fit stereotype nicely. Ballane’s shaping up to be the usual honour-bound swordsman, while Naalan is his opposite, the grinning bastard killer who’s as proud of that as Ballane is of his untarnished record of chivalry. Lotus, for me at least, is the bishie despite the fact that the story is an a technical sense filled with bishies. He alternates being a badass and being a slightly emo, overgrown teenager with relationship issues, almost as bewilderingly as Shinji of Eva fame. Stelmor and his sisters are all playoffs of my newfound fanboyism of Tohya, Megatokyo, who may get a post to herself, and can so be summarized by “darkly cute”, or maybe just “dark”. But they have their own story. Sarah’s any female tsundere I ever did see, albeit a popular one, and Sennia acts as glasses-girl and foil for Naalan’s harshest moments. Finea’s just an otaku. It’s the usual suspects, in short. Now all we need is for someone to fall on top of someone else. I’ll see how long I can hold out.
Code Geass 9 and 10
In 60 Seconds
Lulu finally lays his hands on a bitching uberframe TM, Guren, and delegates it to Karen. Good boy. We now await the Karen-Suzaku duel with Sunrise has kindly stuck in the OP. Great suspense there. For the record, my money is (unsuprisingly) On Suzaku. Lancelot just seems more versatile and blatently powerful, regardless of Guren’s one-shot fatality move, and wades through Sutherlands that aren’t run by Lulu as if they aren’t there. Perhaps Guren will show more power later. Speaking of Lancelot, it was left in reserve again. I’m in two minds about that. On the one hand, it could do some serious damage in the fray. On the other, it is an excellent one-man battlesaver when something goes wrong. Either way, a combat episode without Lancelot to make Lulu cry makes me sad. Lulu once again misses his chances with both Shirley and Karen. What’s he waiting for, an instruction manual? Or just Suzaku? Gods preserve. Karen’s own episode, nine, was frankly fairly dull, and I got maid-as-mother long before it was revealed. But what can you do?
Hopefully, eleven will involve Suzaku rescuing Cornelia. The idea of her being added to Suzaku’s proto-harem is too funny.
Rift Cross
Chapter one uploaded. This is a story I’ve started, with a psuedo-anime aesthetic in terms of school and transdimensional warriors. In essence, it’s my exploration of a “magical boyfriend” series as opposed to a magical girlfriend, but I suspect it’s going to become more than that, just as soon as I can get everyone to Galia. Perhaps even before. It began one day in a rugby match, when I wondered what it would be like if someone spontaneously drew a longsword and ran screaming down the pitch, with or without the ball. One day I would like to see that.
Bandai Gets Haruhi Lisence
Not much to say, really. Haruhi Suzumiya’s heading to the States, and after that here, we can only presume. An unusual patron, though, more famous for spearheading every single Gundam invasion. We’ll see how this turns out.
