Episode 7 – “The Abandoned Mask”
Review
After few weeks of not having a new episode of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 we finally get the first new episode of Code Geass this past Saturday. And this episode starts from were the last episode left of with Nunally officially announcing the Japanese neutral zone. Since it is the same plan that Euphy used late in the last season I don’t see this plan working. With Zero’s announcement of him accepting the offer it only looks to backfire on Nunally’s face.
This episode was filled with some great Lelouch moments. It was interesting seeing Lelouch go through the different stages of depression. Johnny Bosh has done an incredible job capturing the voice of Lelouch and the differences of the voice Lelouch uses when he is Lelouch Lamperouge student, Zero, and the former royal prince of Britannia. Lelouch showed a great edge to him in this episode and he definetely had his Light Yagami moments in this episode in were he mercilessly made all those Japanese guys do different acts and then at the end of the episode he was able to quickly create a strategy to take down the Britannia army sent to hunt the Black Knights. But at the same time the writers of this show were quick to show that Lelouch may have similar characteristics to Light from Deathnote he is still a person that cares for the people around him. It was a nice moment when Lelouch regains his motivation to fight by realizing that the reason he fights his father is not only to create a better world for his sister but also for all his friends. It was an interesting image in the roof were Lelouch saw the image of all his friends from his school, that include Suzaku, Kallen, Nunally, and Lisa, but that CC was not part of the image.
This episode is were the LelouchxKallen shippers are going to start calling for that pair to end up together. It was interesting to see Lelouch actually proposition Kallen for sex, though not explicitly stated it was implied. I will be interested to see were the writers of this show take this sub-plot and will give more LelouchxKallen moments in this season. Though again let me say I could care less if Lelouch ends up with CC, Kallen, Shirley, or who ever since I do not consider this a romance anime and see it as a much more action/strategic based anime.
Outside of this part of the episode I enjoyed seeing the Emperor of Britannia back in the show. For being the ruler of the world it is surprising that we have not seen more of the Emperor in this series. He definetely gives that tough as nails Emperor vibe off well and hopefully we see more of him in the future.
Overall this was another great episode of R2. This new season has definetely done a lot more character work for characters that used to be supporting characters as we see Kallen, Todoh and the rest of the Black Knights have their moments in each episode. It will be interesting to see what Lelouch has up his sleeve in the next episode.
Episode Rating – 9.1/10