Code Geass (Season 2) - 03
7/10, worst episode so far. I suppose it's not surprising when this has been the first episode that hasn't been a repeat...
It started in an extremely anti-climatic manner - Rollo receiving a phone call from Lelouch, right when he was about to use his geass. This was followed by no explanation being given about how Lelouch used geass on the ambassador (how did Lelouch get to him without any of the other Chinese noticing?), switched with C.C. and got back to Ashford in a matter of minutes. The end aside, the rest of the episode seemed like filler.
Lelouch returned to Ashford, the writers using his fears for the safety of Nunnally as his reasoning for doing so, and much of the episode was spent with the Ashford gang doing nothing of interest.
Rollo was busy switching between running around Ashford like a headless chicken and reporting to Viletta, who without explanation has somehow gotten herself many promotions after being demoted in the previous series. In a nutshell, the special team Charlie sent in couldn't decide if Lelouch has returned to being Zero or if the new Zero is an imposter, so they're keeping up their observation in case he hasn't regained his memories and C.C. attempts to contact him.
Speaking of C.C., she offered Lelouch the most lame way of getting around his permanent geass - A 'special' contact lens. Why didn't see give it him as soon as his geass became permanent? The writers obviously hadn't planned for the return of filler school at that point, where they made a big deal of his permanent geass, making C.C. give a speech about her being the only one who will be left beside him.
Everyone's favourite character spinner, Suzaku, also made his usual short appearance. Just when the Europeans were celebrating their victory against Snigger, Suzaka appeared out of nowhere and owned a stupid amount of mechas on his own. I don't quite see the point in Britannia bothering sending anything else if 1x Lancelot can destroy an entire army...
Anyway, moving back to Lelouch: Lelouch decided to go for some Shirley action and take her shopping after hearing about the execution of 264 of his troops. To cut a boring story short, this resulted in Lelouch ending up alone with Rollo, Lelouch tried to geass him and ended up getting his own gun turned on him after Rollo used his ability to stop time.
At the same time, Xinghe decided to destroy the Black Knights on his own...with a sword, most likely after being informed that the ambassador had been replaced. I predict much running on walls in the next episode.
The episode was saved by the end. Apart from the announcement about the imprisoned Black Knights forces being executed tomorrow (in the CG world, obviously), there was very little good and certainly nothing epic about the episode.
In a strange way, the worst thing about the episode is how predictable the next few episodes are going to be as a result of Lelouch re-attending filler school: Suzaku will be sent in to test if Lelouch has returned to being Zero. Lelouch shouldn't even know who Suzaku is since his memories were erased, so it'll be the ultimate test for him to be put face to face with Suzaku on a daily basis...again.
Allison & Lillia: 1-2
Something about this caught my eye the moment I saw the title. Seeing 'adventure' mentioned in the description made me even more interested; I can't say I've experienced many series where the focus has been on adventure before.
What hits you first is that the art looks poor, like the series was meant to be released 5 years earlier and was delayed. Still, it does kinda grow on you the more you watch - I now think Allison looks cute rather than ugly.
The first episode started things well by doing what many series don't like doing; giving information. The simple description of the warring nations separated by mountains gave a mental image of the setting right from the get go, allowing me to focus on the characters and not have to worry about understanding what the hell is going on. I REALLY hate the learning curve of some series.
The story is simplicity itself: Old man reveals information about treasure, old man gets kidnapped, Allison and Wil attempt to rescue old man. Not that the story being simple is a bad thing here; it goes with the shows style and makes it more enjoyable. The simplicity, combined with the slow pace, cuteness and adventure theme make the show relaxing to watch.
I like the characters, Allison in particular being very cute and likeable - Her bed sharing scene with Wil made me feel all warm and fuzzy...in a non-masturbation kind of way. Wil isn't as interesting, his character seemingly being there to add another dimension to Allison's character and give her someone to chat with, but he's good enough for the back-up role he's playing.
I thought they were brother and sister at first, mainly because Allison didn't blush at the slightest contact and get lost in her thoughts about how he feels about her. Although I had started to doubt they were related when Allison was offended by Wil denying she is his girlfriend, it was still a little surprising to learn they aren't.
On a note that's semi-related to the above paragraph, isn't it nice to see a series without fan service, robots, constant blushing and fireballs for once? :D
...Anyway. Overall, I think this series is going to be an enjoyable new experience. I don't think it's going to be a top 10 anime; just a very good, easy to watch anime.
Code Geass (Season 2) - 02
I had an early out of sync scare during the OP (GG release)... Thankfully, only the OP and ED went out of sync. I don't get why only the ED went out of sync on the first GG release and both the OP and the ED went out of sync on the second... It's surprising since I have CoreAVC working on my comp again. I had no problems at all with the Eclipse EP1 release.
Anyway, excellent episode. It went as expected to a certain extent, mirroring what happened at Shinjuku during S1, with another member of the royalty dying at the end of the events.
The best part was the start, where the events that took place at the end of S1 were shown. I expected it to be shown much later for dramatic effect, around the time Lelouch and Suzaku meet up again, so it was a nice surprise.
Suzaku has now become one of the most hated characters in the existence of anime. Not only has he killed his father and betrayed his people, he's now sold his friend to the Emperor of Britannia (Charlie FTW) for a promotion, going on to assist the Emperor in wiping Lelouch's memory. I expected Suzaku to do the logical thing and attempt to kill Lelouch; not think of getting a promotion before revenge.
What surprised me even more was that Kallen abandoned Lelouch. Lelouch seemed happy about her leaving him to die... I would've been slightly pissed if I was in his shoes.
The rest of the episode fluctuated between great and epic. Much like the first episode, it was all a bit predictable thanks to it being a repeat of what we saw in S1, but Rollo certainly kept it interesting by owning everything in sight with his Lancelot +1, which he seemingly had hidden up his sleeve during EP1. Coincidently, I thought the person in the mecha was that Chinese sword guy (Xinghe?) at first.
Speaking of Rollo, it seems I made a good guess about him having a geass. I wonder what power his geass has? I'm guessing it his has the same power as Lelouch's due to the way he used it at the end of the episode; walking up to the guards and acting like he knew they'd let him past if he used it. Maybe their eyes aren't simply just the same colour...
After the epic ending, I was disappointed to watch the preview and see that the next episode looks pretty average; the start of school fillers. I can't say I'm looking forward to EP3 as much as I looked forward to EP2.
Btw, I have 1 question about the episode: How is it that the Chinese can simply claim a part of Japan to be there own and Britannia can't do anything? I'm a wee bit lost about that part.
Soul Eater - 01
After watching the first episode, I think it'll turn out to be a pretty enjoyable series to watch weekly. I don't think it'll be amazing, and I'm unsure if I'll be able to stick with it for 51 episodes, but I'll certainly be following it weekly for the time being. Maybe the light-heartedness of Soul Eater and seriousness of Code Geass will go together well when watching both series weekly?
The halloween style the show has is a negative for me - It doesn't impress me and makes it come across as almost cartoony. The style, combined with a resemblance to D. Grayman, a series I dropped pretty fast, make it hard for me to instantly get into the series.
I don't like Maka's VA very much, she comes across as an amateur to my untrained ears. I very rarely have issue with any Japanese voice acting performance due to the general high quality of Japanese voice acting but something about her voice just doesn't feel right...
On a brighter note, the Soul Eater ED is one of the best I've ever seen - Bones really put some effort into making it flashy. It was nice to see after I'd gotten used to anime ED animations consisting of near to no animation.
Code Geass: The Mystery
An important clue to the C.C. mystery was shown right at the start of the show: C.C. is standing behind Lelouch and Suzaka when they're climbing a hill to view the start of the invasion of Japan. This means that Lelouch and C.C. meeting later on wasn't by chance; it was all planned in advance.
Marianne instructing her guards to leave her on the day of her murder and C.C. conversing with her (it seems both C.C. and the Emperor can talk to the dead) strongly hint that Marianne wasn't an innocent victim in all this and that she actually allowed herself to play a role in the growth of Lelouch. If I were to guess, I'd say the Emperor wanted to make Lelouch hate him, hate Britannia and want revenge in order for him to prove himself; to pass a test.
I believe everything that's happened so far has been done to groom the the Emperor's successor. Lelouch's mother being killed, Lelouch being sent to Japan, Japan being invaded, C.C. meeting him, Nunnally being taken away from him... Everything. Maybe the Emperor wants his successor to prove himself by killing him and taking everything by force? The Emperor values the strong above the weak, so it would be his perfect test.
Code Geass (Season 2) - 01
Well, that didn't seem like the Code Geass I know. I'm not sure what to think atm... The only certainty being that the new soundtrack sucks compared to the S1 soundtrack.
Although the first episode was most certainly VERY good, I can't help but feel some disappoint. I'm not too keen on the idea of Zero having to do what he did in S1 all over again; rebuild his forces and take over Japan. All the hard work of S1 has been wasted by the direction the plot is going in and seems too much like a repeat.
I expected what happened at the end of S1 to remain a mystery after reading some minor spoilers on Wiki about S2 being set 1 year after the end of S1. However, it's far more confusing than I expected it to be with Lelouch (and seemingly some others) having their memories replaced, Lelouch magically getting a brother (and seemingly forgetting about Nunnally) and Lelouch being watched by Britannia and used as bait...
Talking about Nunnally, I'm guessing Suzaku now has her with him...unless Rollo is Nunnally. It's pretty obvious Lelouch ended up losing at the end of S1, so it's only logical that Suzuka would've took Nunnally away from him. What I don't get is why Lelouch is still alive if Suzaku won...
What I REALLY don't get is why the remaining Black Knights had to attack a heavily defended building to reach Lelouch. I get that he was being watched and all, but surely it would've been easier to reach him outside of a heavily defended venue? :/
Going back to the memory loss issue, Kallen seems to still have her memories (unless C.C. told them, how else would everyone know Lelouch = Zero?) and Suzuka most certainly has all of his memories. I can only assume that V.V. persuaded Suzaku not to kill Lelouch, instead making only him and those around him at school lose their memories for some reason.
...bah, I'll just have to wait for more episodes if I wish to avoid a headache.