Code Geass R2 18 Review

I speculated, partially in jest, the outcome of Code Geass R2 18 at some point in my episode 6 review. They seem to have a penchant for killing off the most helpless and innocent women in this anime.

Well shit has gone to high hell. Lelouch will hate Suzaku forever. He’ll lose the support of his followers. Everything that propped him up as the mastermind of the world is crumbling beneath him. His own personal foundations have just been eradicated.

Lelouch/Zero has just lost the entire reason for his agenda. Personally, I’d feel a great deal of relief. It’s like quitting the job you hated after a couple of years.

The real question though, is whether or not Nunnally actually died. Most likely, I suppose. Generally when they show someone dying in Code Geass, they stay dead. The problem being is that Freya (FLEIA) was really just a giant pink ball of light. Maybe, maybe, she is alive.

Suzaku is all of a sudden trying to do the right thing in Code Geass R2 18; his motives are so moralistically vague that you’re not entirely sure if you should approve of his actions. Suzaku not only seeks his “atonement,” but means to force Lelouch’s atonement as well, which completely defeats the purpose. In a way this goes right back to season 1’s relationship between Suzaku and Zero before all that Euphie shit got in the way. Lelouch’s geass on Suzaku has really come back to bite him in the ass.

Some justice is served with Kallen killing the Vampire Knight of the Round. The fight was honestly kind of meh.

Sure enough, at the worst possible moment, Lelouch has lost the trust of his subordinates in Code Geass R2 18. The next episode will probably expand on that. Zero will likely retain a small loyal core with a bunch of Black Knights “breaking” away from him.

Code Geass R2 18 was certainly a critical turning point with Lelouch looking more permanently the underdog than ever before. Previously, through sheer wit, he matched the Britannian empire; now he’s just some emotional, overbearing commander who lacks both the cold reason and the resources to achieve any sort of victory, especially with a strategist at his level on Britannia’s side. Above all else, I really dislike what they did with Lelouch as a character. It’s too hard to admire him now.