“Geass Hunt”
Review
I forgot to mention this in my review for last weeks episode that now that R2 has passed its mid-point the series got a new opening credits and theme song. Evidently the new song is called “World End” by a Japan band called Flow. And I have to say that out of the five opening credits and songs this series has this is my favorite one so far. It does everything an opening theme should do by having a lot of energy to the music while showing a some great anime action to go along with it. Now I wonder if like in its first season if R2 will have an new ending theme song for the last two episodes and if it does what it will be and look like.
With that said I have to say after the surprise death of Shirley in the last episode I really did not know were the writers were going to take this episode. I knew that Lelouch would look to get revenge on those who caused Shirley’s death but what I didn’t know what approach he would take to get that revenge. Even though Lelouch has usually maintained a calm and always in control persona due to genius intellect he has shown in a few episodes to be very erratic when he becomes emotional. Other than the last episode there have been two other instances were we saw that emotional side of Lelouch that has caused to throw caution at the wind: in episode 25 of R1 when VV kidnapped Nunnally and most recently in episode 10 of R2 when Kallen was captured by Xingke. In both instances it is what caused Lelouch to lose the battle he and the Black Knights were involved with at the time.
So because of those previous two instances were someone close to him was taken away it almost felt that it was being set up for another loss in the battle field for Lelouch. But luckly for us the writers were able to take the ending from the last episode in order to further the plotlines that were build at the end of R1 and at the start of R2. And if there was ever a point in this show were the comparison between Lelouch and Light Yagami, from Deathnote, was most evident it was in this episode. Not only was Lelouch able to come up with an intricate plot to destroy the Geass Order and VV but he was able to do it in manner that felt like one of the biggest massacres in anime. Just the amount of blood spilt on this episode was incredible. No one was safe from Lelouch wrath. Not children. Not women. Not men. Not old people.
The animators were at the top of their game in this episode with all the action and killing that went on in this episode. Along with the battle music the animation was top notch. The battle between VV and Lelouch with his Black Knights was just as good as any battle seen in Code Geass. My favorite part of the battle was the look on Lelouch’s face when he wasn’t able to blow up the Vincent to kill Rolo and cripple VV.
I was glad that after the massacre and VV’s defeat the writers finally used the ending to finally show us what the Emperor’s plan with the Sword of Akasha. It will be interesting to see if the Emperor will able to succeed in his goal to kill God and what role Lelouch, VV, and CC play in his plans. And I wonder what connection CC and Lelouch’s mom had in the past since we saw them together in the flashback that started this episode.
Along with this plotline add in Suzaku’s threat to use Refrain on Kallen to learn who is Zero, Kallen and Nunnally conversing about Lelouch, and the Black Knights having some internal conflict in the group the next few episodes look to continue the dark path the second half of R2 is walking towards. At this point I really don’t know were all the various plotlines are going which is what is making Code Geass such a fun anime to watch.
Episode Rating – 9.3/10