Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 - Episode 21

We're getting towards the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion... whoops, sorry, I mean Code Geass R2 now, and you'd expect some of the big plot points to be getting wrapped up. That's indeed what happens here, although at the same time the series seems quite happy to open a whole new bag of jelly babies at this point.

Yes, I really couldn't help but work a little Evangelion-related joke into my opening here, for the simple reason that the more I heard the Emporer talk about Ragnarok's connection, the more it sounded (and seemed like) the former show's Human Instrumentality Project to me. Not quite the same I grant you (there was no actual God involved there, for starters), but similar enough to my mind.


Anyway, I don't want to talk in solid terms about the plot too much for risk of spoilers, but it probably goes without saying that that Anya/Marianne situation is cleared up (almost exactly how you'd expect it to be), Suzaku gets involved in the whole on-going scenario, and of course the whole thing ends up with what amounts of a philosophical argument between Charles and Lelouch. All in all this was both pretty well done and also quite interested, as it suggested that the Emporer's motives from the very start weren't as evil as he himself has been made out to be throughout Code Geass, indeed his thinking appears to be more misplaced and idealistic than malicious by the end of it.

I'm sure it isn't a spoiler to say that Lelouch prevails, and then really turns things on their head with his next action as we jump forward in time a month. I really don't see how they can finish everything that has been started in this episode before the season ends, so I'm really starting to assume now that there might be a third series on the cards.

In recent episodes I've complained a fair bit about not enjoying the supernatural Geass stuff as much as the political and military tactic side of the series, and thus I had my reservations about this episode, but at the end of it all I can't help but say that it was handled perfectly. Everything that seemed confusing was made clear, each character's motives were obvious and really quite reasonable in the grand scheme of things, and of course the "Lelouch turns impending disaster into success" aspect of the series wasn't absent here either. While this wasn't an action-packed rollercoaster like some of the episodes of this show, nor was it as emotionally fraught as it could have been (it was strangely sterile in that discipline), this was still a most excellent episode, and highly enjoyable. Where the Lelouch and Suzaku story goes from here I honestly have no idea, but I can't wait to find out. Besides which, you have to hand it to the pair of them for putting their principles before their emotional state of mind in this episode, which was most admirable.