Double-Shot Anime Review: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 17 & 18

Ep. 17 - "The Taste of Dirt"

Review
Finally after a whole season of both Lelouch and Suzaku playing a game of cat and mouse they finally have a face to face meeting were they are their true selves in front of the other. I got to admit the meeting actually went the opposite way I actually thought it would go when this series started. I always thought that it would be Suzaku that would call Lelouch for help and/or to join him. But seeing how it was Lelouch who was actually the one to call Suzaku for help was a nice twist. And the meeting did not disappoint as just as it looked like things were looking up for the two former best friends, and after Lelouch ate some humble pie, everything went to hell with the meeting.

It was cool to see Shneizel was the one to interfere in the meeting and not the Emperor. He really put the final nail on the coffin for the death of Lelouch and Suzaku's friendship. It was cool to see that Lelouch was prepared for Suzaku's "betrayal" as he escape the situation by using his Geass to make Guilford think he was Cornelia. With their relationship dead it makes the eventual battle between Lelouch and Suzaku during the war in the next episode much more compelling. And it was cool to see that power neutralizer that Lelouch tested early in full use in this episode as the anger Lelouch has gained should add to how brutal he will be during the upcoming fight.

I also liked that while the meeting was the main part of this episode that we got to see the start of the war between Britannia and the Black Knights. This episode did a nice job building up the Knights of the Round members especially the Knight of One. I dug the Knightmare he uses as it may be the strongest Knightmare frame their is currently with how easily beat Xingke. With how strong the Knights of the Round members are the Black Knight will need to get back Kallen within the next few episodes if they want to win the battle over Tokyo as they don't have enough power yet to actually beat Britannia.

Another thing that was cool that was underlying this episode is the growing dissension within the Black Knights. With how much bad blood there is within the Black Knights with Zero I kind of wonder what would happen if Lelouch does help to beat Britannia if Todoh or someone else will backstab Lelouch if the war is won.

Episode Rating - 9.2/10

Ep. 18 - "The Second Decisive Battle of Tokyo"

Review
Finally after a long build up the second war between the Black Knights and Britannia is here. And man this episode definitely made up for the missing mecha fighting that has been missing from the previous episodes. This episode had a lot of action going on and this might actually be the most action we have gotten in one episode of Code Geass.

This was definetly were it was not only the writing but also the animation behind this show that was at had to be at the top of their game. And when all that was combined with the battle music all the action and strategy behind the fighting was pretty awesome. I like that not only did we have the battle above Tokyo happening but also that Lelouch had his best hand-to-hand fighters on a rescue mission to save Nunnally and Kallen. It was a nice balance with what was happening above and below ground.

And it was interesting that while Lelouch did send Rolo to save his sister that Rolo only agreed to find her but not save her. It adds to the brother complex Rolo has with Lelouch. With what happened at the end of the episode it will be interesting to see how the relationship between these two "brothers" goes from this point in future episodes.

One of the things that was interesting about the beginning of the battle was that Lelouch was so focused with destroying Suzaku and the Lancelot that he was actually surprised when the other Knights of the Round members entered the battle. With the appearance of the Knights of the Rounds it put the odds against Lelouch and the Black Nights which gave the reappearance of Kallen to the battle field a much more dramatic punch. It was cool to see how Kallen handled her new super Guren. With how much power Kallen's new Guren displayed here in this episode I would have loved to see her go up against the Knight of One with how easily she took care of the other Knights of the Round members.

Now while I enjoyed the battle that took place in this episode I thought that the creators kind of rushed through this episode and it might have been better to stretch out the battle over Tokyo to one more episode as a lot of the characters, especially the Knights of the Round members, weren't given an opportunity to stretch their muscle and show the viewer how strong they actually are. I am kind of wondering that the creators didn't give more time to this battle was because we still have yet to get much more information about the Emperor's and Schneizel's endgame. I hope that with only a little over a half-dozen more episodes to go with R2 that the creators start rushing through the plot as the battle in this episode did feel rushed due to how many episodes are left.

Also I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get more deaths of major supporting characters during the battle. Now with the FLEIJA bomb activated it does seem that a lot of characters did die with the biggest being Nunnally. Now I will wait until we actually some dead bodies in the next episode as it is a rule in TV shows, movies, comic books, mangas, and literature that until we see the dead bodies that no one is actually dead. So I will wait to see if my complaint is valid till the next episode.

With the FLEIJA bomb launched it will be interesting to see the aftermath of the events of this episode in the following episode. But even with that the rushed feel of this episode did take away from how good this episode could have been. Hopefully the next episode doesn't have the same rushed feeling as this episode.

Episode Rating - 8/10