Double Shot Anime Review: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 21 & 22

Ep. 21 - "The Ragnarök Connection"

Review
Holy Crap! This episode was totally mind blowing with how many surprises we got in this episode. Still while there were some great surprises in this episode there were still some noticeable faults to the episode that have continued from the past few episodes but I'll get to that later. I liked the opening to the episode as it added a little comedy with Lelouch's mom Marianne, who is using Anya's body, trying to draw a mustache on Suzaku only for him to wake up before she could.

The biggest surprise is that Marianne was not only returned but that she was not the perfect mother that we were lead to believe. She is actually the Emperor's accomplise and lover in his plans to destroy God. It was a great twist as both of Lelouch and Nunally's parents were villains with how they used their kids in their plans without remorse. Also it was a cool reveal that Marianne actually had a Geass that transferred her mind into other people that she used right before she died.

The philosophical battle between Lelouch and his parents was fun to watch as it was two arguments that are understandable but the viewer still sides with our hero Lelouch. And it was awesome to see how Lelouch was able to turn C's World on his parents and had them destroyed. It was a great moment that made Lelouch look like a complete badass with how he not only activated the Geass on his other eye but also basically commanded all the dead to be under his control. And him becoming the Emperor with Suzaku was an interesting twist that I did not expect to see until the very end of the series.

Now even though I dug the battle between Lelouch and his parents as well as him becoming Emperor this episode continues to have the rushed feeling that all the past few episodes have had. Even though it was cool to see Lelouch basically declare himself as Emperor it felt like it was a rushed decision especially with the two month time skip. By having the two month time skip it only looks like a convenient plot device so that the Black Knights don't reach Kamine Island in time to find Lelouch even though they were on the island while the stuff in C's world was going on. Up to this point it feels like we are going to get very little development with the Black Knights now that Lelouch is not their leader anymore and they continue too look like dumbasses for what they did as they seem to be directionless without Lelouch as they did not accomplish anything in the two month time skip other than standing around.

Also with only 4 episodes to go we have yet to learn what Schneizel's endgame is as it has not gotten very much development. And with the Emperor, or former Emperor, gone it seems that Schneizel will play the role of final boss for the series. And up to this point it only feels like they are going to be forcing the ending and that the creative team are just coming up with stuff out of their asses hoping it fits. But by doing this it seems they are overcomplicating things as everything for the last 4 episode will be rushed.

Now even with the continued faults this episode had like the past few episodes I would be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued with what will happen in the last few episode. And with Lelouch as Emperor I have no idea how the creative team behind the show are going to end this series which should make these last few episodes fun to watch and will at least give me, and all of the fans of the series, plenty to talk about.

Episode Rating - 8.5/10

Ep. 22 - "Emperor Lelouch"

Review
For some reason I was very underwhelmed by this episode. This is not to say that this was a bad episode as there was stuff that I did like, but for some reason this episode did not click for me and it felt that it was just an average episode. The big problem was that it felt like it was a very slow paced episode that was not needed when their is only 4 episodes, or 3 after this episodes, left before the end.

I did like the action we got in this episode between Suzaku and Bismark, who was shown to have the Geass power to see the future, and the other Knights of the Round. Now even though it was some good mecha battle I thought it was rushed and only made the Knights of the Round look like weak chumps since we have not seen them fight much before this episode and makes Suzaku look like Kira from Gundam Seed Destiny when he got the Strike Freedom since he clearly has the strongest Knightmare Frame that no one other than Kallen, who I guess would be the Athrun of this show, can match. Still I guess this episode helps to build up the inevitable fight between Suzaku and Kallen as they both are the best pilots on the show and have the strongest Knightmare Frames. For that the action got its point across though the fact that the Knights of the Round looked like a bunch of weaklings really hurt a fight that should have gone a bit longer.

Also with the fact that we only have three episodes left to go it is still hard to see Schneizel as the final boss for the series. I know I am repeating myself from the my reviews for the past few episodes but this just feels very rushed and really comes across as unbelievable. Even the cliffhanger with Nunally appearing at the end, who I was surprised to see though since we didn't see her body I didn't think she was dead, wasn't very interesting as it doesn't help the fact that Schneizel's endgame has been vastly underdeveloped. It would have been better if it ended with Nunally opening her eyes since that would have been a great ending. If there was still 6 or 7 episodes left in the series I think there could have been more development in making Schneizel as big of a threat as Lelouch and Schneizel's dad but right now I can't believe that he turned out to be the final boss of the series.

Now I did find a few things interesting about this episode, the biggest being what Lelouch's real plans are now that he is the Emperor of Britannia. From his conversation with Suzaku it seems that Lelouch is only playing the role of an evil Emperor, which is obvious, and that it all has something to do with the Zero Requiem he mentioned. And I wonder now that how many people actually know what Zero Requiem is and how Lelouch's plan works now that Schneizel and Nunally are in his way. Also I found it interesting that after playing a character that had a serious screw loose most of the season that the creative team are setting Nina up for a redemption type arc now that she will be working with Lelouch.

The other thing that I found interesting is the kiss between Lelouch and Kallen. While I could care less who Lelouch ends up with it does seem that the creative team are giving a lot of the different fans of the LelouchxShirley, LelouchxCC, and LelouchxKallen pairing some scenes during R2 to satisfy them and give them hope that Lelouch ends up with one of the girls, sans Shirley since she is not around anymore. Still now that Lelouch has distance himself from Kallen by acting cold to her after the kiss it could be interesting to see were this goes as it seems Lelouch has feelings for both CC and Kallen.

Overall this was an average episode that does not live up to some of the great episode quality this show has been known for. The biggest thing going against this show right now is that it is rushing to the ending and it seems with only 3 episodes left we will see this show rush even more now as there still a lot that has to happen before the last episode.

Episode Rating - 7.1/10