#i compare everything to code geass

[suzalulusource]

Then I’ll become a prince! I'll become her prince and save her! [...] I swear, I’ll become a prince! I swear!

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA DUEL 34: THE ROSE SIGNET

I swear... Suzaku, I swear! I’m going to obliterate Britannia!

CODE GEASS: LELOUCH OF THE REBELLION STAGE 1: THE DAY A NEW DEMON WAS BORN

[stackslip]

Always embarrassing to like smth people are saying sucks (and scary in case you watch it and end up agreeing with them) so that's why I'm on anon but I strongly disagree with the people saying Code Geass is fun but not good (paraphrased badly). It IS a fantastic show actually. Here's my very long essay about why you should watch it.

I got my brother interested in rgu by comparing it to Code Geass bc it's his favorite show. You'll be disappointed if you're expecting them to be actually similar, bc they're not really, but they have a similar tone in that it switches rapidly between Serious Plot and Touga Punches a Kangaroo. There's an episode where they have to chase a cat and that's what they do that day. The plot isn't all that similar and the comedy isn't all that similar but it's similarly inconsistent in swapping between the two. And I would argue that it doing this is thematically relevant, bc it's a double life show. Lelouch has his alter ego as Zero and when he's Zero everything feels different to when he's Lelouch. School life is just stupid in comparison, and he's constantly frustrated by it. His school life is pretty much just a humiliating liability, but he can't easily abandon it, so he just has to live with the fact that in between fighting in giant robots he has go to pizza parties (sponsored by Pizza Hut tee em) and whoops! It's Valentine's Day so everyone in the school has to wear heart hats and if a girl knocks off his hat they get to kiss him!!! And he's forced to take that seriously even though he knows how dumb it is and would much rather be commanding robots.

Now look. I do have to warn you. There is a part where he says if he wins the revolution he's gonna make the United States of Japan. That part isn't good. I want you to know I know that part is bad. The politics of this show are Not Always Great. HOWEVER. When I was watching, the main thing that compelled me politically about it was the contrast between Suzaku as the person who wants to Change Things From the Inside vs Lelouch who wants to actually just shoot the people who are oppressing you. Suzaku sucks and the show knows it and I like the show knowing it.

I'm not gonna argue this is a show with generally good politics, but it's not a show that actually cares a whole lot about, like, how a country should be run. The bad guys say fascist shit about like the strong ruling over the weak and the natural order, and they're racist against Japanese people, and the good guys want. I dunno, Freedom. Democracy. United States of Japan. They're bad guys and good guys. That's not what the show is about. The show is about the specific motivations of our important characters. Lelouch talks about wanting Japan to be free or whatever but he makes it very clear from the beginning that the Only thing he Actually cares about is creating a world where his little sister can be happy. And later on you find out what the evil emperor guy is trying to do too (although it's kinda more abstract and weird. Arguably another point of comparison between this and rgu, when it cares more about themes than about telling you What's Actually Happening). I guess I shouldn't act like the political positions of the two sides are irrelevant, but I really don't think it's the focus. Lelouch's politics are My Sister and secondarily I suppose Free Japan if I have time. Suzaku's politics are Free Japan but also you have to be niceys to the government and do what they say bc they're in charge :). The freedom fighters' politics are Free Japan. The Brittanian's politics are We Do What We Want. It's not gonna be a realistic depiction of a good revolution bc the writers didn't know anything about those.

And here I suppose I have to say that I last watched it probably years ago when my politics were worse, so maybe the politics are generally worse than I remember. But my point is you should treat the specific politics stuff like you treat the chess stuff. No one in the writers' room knew how to play chess. They probably didn't bother to watch someone play chess before writing it. When Lelouch says you should move your king first bc "how can a king expect his subjects to lead if he stays back and does nothing" laugh at it and take it as a thematic statement about Lelouch's beliefs. When he says United States of Japan laugh at it and. Well I suppose that one isn't even thematic. You see what I mean though.

Another warning is that there's a specific Very Important plot point that doesn't really make sense and feels really dumb and cheap. That specific thing genuinely does undermine a lot of the show, because it happens kinda suddenly and is very serious and the whole rest of the show is majorly impacted by it and it's very difficult to ignore that that Doesn't Make Sense At All. And you're supposed to be really upset and like. It just doesn't make sense. The second time I watched it it didn't feel as egregious as the first time but the first time I think I almost stopped watching. My advice is to do your best to pretend it makes sense bc I think the results of that thing are actually interesting.

Generally, I think that's the important thing to remember actually. Maybe that's my thesis. Of the essay. Yeah, that sounds smart. Code Geass is a show that doesn't always make total sense, and even when it mostly makes sense it's frequently Really Dumb, so like I can see why people might come away with the impression that it's just a silly nothing show where robots fight and he says United States of Japan. But genuinely I think there's a lot to get from it thematically if you can take it just seriously enough to see what it's trying to do.

There's more I kinda wanna say but I think I need to text my mom back and I can't save asks as drafts. Um um last two points, first, how much you like the show probably depends at least a little on your tolerance for Anime Geniuses knowing everything and pulling bullshit, I don't think Lelouch is as bad in that department as Light Yagami but smth to consider. And second don't watch the movies. The movies suck.

honestly anon i'm genuinely charmed by your sheer passion for this. it feels like it's mirroring me when i defend my fave flawed media including me with fma 03 tbh. like YES it sucks the politics suck but IT IS compelling. that's the kind of shit i enjoy most, ngl. you've made your case convincingly. i think what i really hate is when people claim something is The Most Perfect Thing Ever and then you watch it and it's dogshit in a number of ways that people absolutely refuse to acknowledge and definitely some code geass fans are Like That but also your talking about it kinda echoes how some friends i trust have been talking about it too. i think i'm still gonna go in with low expectations if/when i do watch it, mostly bc that allows me to be pleasantly surprised by something the series DOES do well.

also i grew up on 2000s shounen and seinen. my tolerance for anime bullshit is extremely high as long as i'm into what it's doing thematically or character wise tbh

[alicent-vi-britannia]

This beautiful drawing was a gift from a dear friend and a reader of my fanfic, @kireikoami. I think it's a great way to celebrate that today I finally finished writing my Code Geass fanfic. Code Geass: Bloodlines.

It took me tears, sweat, blood and several headaches, but I did it! You cannot have the slightest idea of the immense satisfaction I felt when I wrote the word "end." Not even I can describe it. It's an extraordinary feeling that can't be compared to anything (well, I like to compare the creative process with labor, although I think that the creative process is more enjoyable despite everything; I don't know, I'm not a mother). Some authors don't like to use that word. I suppose because it will seem childish to them or the story of the characters doesn't conclude after the final point. I do it more than anything because of the meaning it carries for me. It's the end of a project that I have spent several years of my life working on with love and dedication. It's my farewell to some characters that I became attached to after giving them a fair ending. It's my break and theirs.

I must say that I cried a couple of times writing the ending and if I start to remember the final scene, I would start crying (I was already crying when I wasn't writing it yet, because I knew it was going to move me at the time). I suppose it will be inevitable that I will cry again when it is time to edit the epilogue to publish it. So it's not the "final goodbye" for now, it's the "see you soon."

I loved writing to Lelouch and accompanying him on his journey. I trust that I won't disappoint readers or the source material. They will read it in a few months and tell me about it. The fanfic has a total of 45 chapters, including the epilogue, and I have uploaded chapter 39 so far. With this, I'll be able to be more constant with updates.

I'm a little sad that I can't continue updating the English version of my work, but I wasn't the one who translated it. It was my friend who since she started her new job months ago she doesn't even have time to talk to me for a few minutes about the weather. A shame.

Now that I've freed up a bit, I hope to bring back this week an analysis that I wanted to do. Expect it soon.

[yuseirra]

What are your thoughts on the claims that Aqua is heartless and psychopath like Kira (death note) and Lelouch (code geass)? I have read this on here and reddit however I can not agree do you think Aqua is misunderstood?

Heyo Anon! I wouldn't say I'm an expert on things, and I really don't prefer getting into arguments, so I cannot promise I'll answer questions like these in the future, pardon me in advance... there will be better people in the fandom who answer questions regarding the plot, I consider myself to be a fan artist who hangs here for fun and my thoughts aren't too important regarding how people should feel about things. I hope you all have fun with your takes!

With that being out of the way,

I... don't think there's even a need to answer this question, the answer is very obvious, isn't it? At least, I think so! How do you feel about such takes, anon? Are those ideas very important to you? Does it influence how you feel about the character? To add, in terms of Light and Lelouch, I haven't seen code geass but I read Death Note, I think Light is a very interesting character and Lelouch.. I bet he's a pretty complex character as well. They must all have their own charm, so labeling them as a flat-out heartless psychopath may be a bit unfair. Death Note was really good! I even bought myself a hard copy of the book. My favorite character is L (and I like Near too), but Light is a well-written character as well and that's one of the things that's made the series really charming and intriguing!

Comparing Aqua to Kira is kinda.. I might get it if people compare his DAD to Kira since people keep dying around the guy but if you've seen me, I take even him as someone who really may be kind but is being misunderstood and horribly unfortunate. I think they're very different to begin with, their circumstances and what they go through and their mindsets and everything, I personally can't find a lot of similarities between the two. But maybe people who feel that way may have their own reasons for feeling so. Everyone has their own reasoning.

Aqua used to be my favorite character when I picked up the series back last year, and so I wrote an analysis about how I feel about the character. My thoughts about the character hasn't changed so drastically, so this should be how I take him still.

What other people say about things can matter and affect your heart, I know where you're coming from because I get influenced very easily because I care about what people say, but I feel that in the end, it's really up to you to form a take and interpret the things you believe that make sense for you. Perhaps it could be a good idea to curate your dash in ways that won't negatively affect you. I never knew there were those takes in the first place, and even if I do, I don't think I would actively go looking for those or read it thoroughly, I'm not saying they would be entirely wrong or have no base, not worth reading and such, it's because it'd be very different from the way I see it and there would be no need for me to read them over on purpose.

Again, I didn't have any thoughts because I wasn't aware.. if people feel that way about Aqua, they must have their reasons upon believing so! I don't feel that way though.

[matt-the-radar-techncian]

With how things actually ended I think I am seriously thinking Steven not forgiven Rose at all feels like a subversion to the trope where the protagonist forgive their parent for their misdeeds and I think that has been quite been done a lot and Steven only acknowledging the bad of rose not forgiving her is a refresher or something even if it kind of rubs some people the wrong way because it's unfair or it feels kind of weird after seeing different characters from other Media be forgiven or a kind of a slap on the wrist for worse things they did to everyone that's makes Rose kind of look like a saint.

But then again it goes back to her being dead and the other characters in question are alive or the way their backstories and what they went through are told view them in a sympathetic light. The only other character who I can think were the protagonist ends up hating their parent is Eren Yeager with his dad Grisha Yaeger from attack on Titan with Eren not saying anything nice about his father when talking to Zeke in the memories and making him kill the Royal family but I think that's probably extremely complicated right there because of the fact Grisha didn't want to kill the younger royal family members as well living behind the Walls changed him and Eren hated his father showing Mercy to the people who don't give a damn about their people who been demonize so heavily to the point where the entire world thinks that they are devils on Earth because of what their ancestors did. Basically the sins of the ancestors (which is kind of like what happened with Rose and her decisions affecting everyone? I don't know about this comparison but I guess it's interesting) and it's kill or be killed.

The idea that Steven not completely "forgiving" his mom and still having some negative feelings regarding her at the end of the story actually being a subversion and not just lazy or bad writing isn't one I've seen a lot, but it does make a lot of sense. It strikes me as something the showrunners might've done to make the story seem more grounded and realistic, since not everyone is just gonna be completely fine with everything a dead parent left them with, especially if it's someone who's been through as much as Steven has

And it's funny you mention Attack on Titan here since I've actually talked about Eren and his father while comparing them to Rose's story once before. The biggest difference for this discussion is that the story never really involves Eren "forgiving" his father at all. He doesn't particularly blame Grisha for everything that has happened to him in his life, it's more that he just thinks that the state of the entire world is fundamentally wrong and can't be saved, so the only choice he sees is to kill everyone else. The scene of Eren telling his father to kill the royal family isn't out of hatred for his father or a desire to traumatize him; the royal family has to be killed in order for events to happen the way Eren has forseen them (using Attack Titan's power to see the future). It's left ambiguous whether the future events can be changed or are predestined to happen but that's not really the point

The situation with Rose and Steven is somewhat different than that of a lot of other well-known dead/absent fathers in anime. A lot of times its either you start off thinking they're bad but they turn out to actually be pretty sympathetic (Grisha from Attack on Titan, van Hoenheim from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) or even worse than you thought (Gendo Ikari from Evangelion, Charles zi Britannia from Code Geass). Meanwhile, Rose is originally introduced as loving and flawless, but soon we (and Steven) see that she's not as perfect as we thought and did some questionable things in the past. But the difference is Rose isn't around anymore to right any of those wrongs, and Steven and the other characters are the ones who have to deal with what she left behind (Steven says exactly this to the fake Rose in the episode "Storm in the Room"). And since Rose can't do anything to solve the problems of the present, (and wasn't given more screentime in flashbacks to explore her morals) people (wrongly!) assume that the show is saying that she was totally in the wrong (which it isn't)

[bluemooncove]

For the faceclaim meme: Akiza Izinski from Yugioh

Character Creation meme! (Actually my favorite one)

Oh my god it's Kallen Stadtfeld ... What ... it's not? Oh man.

Hmmmmm. What vibe do I get from the not Code Geass lady? I'm finding a title for this one a bit challenging. Wait wasn't her name Izayoi in the Japanese? ... Izayoi ... Izayoi ... Time Fencer.

Time Fencer is the master of a martial style perhaps unique to only her. An art that has developed the name Chronodueling. She first developed this style at Paracelsus the top library of magical research in Rum. Fencer's mother, an esteemed mage, was the head of the institute's Chronomancy Department.

When Rum fell to outside invaders the library fell with it. Time Fencer's mother and much of the remaining staff at Paracelsus perished in defense of the facility against contracted adventurers from The Order of the Gifted Magi that were promised access to the institute's secrets. Time Fencer herself fled but has long held a bitterness against The Order.

Rum was conquered with only outlying border territories remaining. Time Fencer had lost her homeland and most everything she knew. Yet, with the ravaging of Paracelsus, she may well be the only one with her set of skills. This uniqueness made her perfect for Beauty & Beast. She joined half as a way to sustain herself and half due to the guild's rivalry with her new found enemy.

Time Fencer has been with the guild for three years now, putting her as a fourth generation, but has made a remarkable impression. While her swordsmanship is not up to par with the other duelists in the guild her unique mastery over time causes her to stand out significantly. She's made quite a name for herself and is held in a higher esteem compared to most other rookies.

Chronodueling is a style of swordsmanship which integrates time manipulation to increase one's speed. In this style the user focuses only on their own presence in time, speeding up time for themself to move and strike at a far quicker pace. This is not simply a matter of speeding up but, rather, a mixture of speeding and slowing one's own time down to disorient their opponent. More advanced forms of chronomancy are typically not capable of being performed in the midst of dueling but the most developed of techniques can integrate brief time blinks into one's movement.

[mysticdragon3md3]

🦩…

Fire Emblem Three Houses: Is Edelgard Likable? by Adam With FED

I'm glad to see that even 4 years ago, lots of people did recognize El as a villain. By this point in 2023, I've heard from too many of her stans, and I was getting the impression that people were refusing to think critically about the given narrative, to even consider her as a villain.

Personally, I like to compare my rejection of El, against my love for Lelouch from Code Geass. I don't think it's a simping issue for me, because 1) I'm aroace, and 2) I've never thought of Lelouch as "husbando" material. I liked Lelouch because I respected his resolve, intelligence, and compassion, and I loved indulging into the villainous fantasy of it all. His maniacal laughter, his unnecessary slaughters, and just him doubling down into his own darkness, until the very end, when he realized he was wrong, and set up the world to take power away from him and anyone else like him in the future. I know there are lots of El stans who would say the same thing about El---though, I've never really heard them say they enjoy reveling in the fantasy of being a callous villain. I've only heard them preach that El "did nothing wrong" and was nothing less than a hero, driven by compassion, etc. So I'm not sure my reasons for liking Lelouch can be properly compared to El stans' reasons for liking her. But I do hear them compared a lot. I've certainly heard from more meticulous analyzers of FE3H, that FE3H's writing went out of its way to simp for El, even if they had to write other characters out of character or reasonable sense for their established motivations. And they've convinced me, backed up by screengrabbed evidence, combined with the logic of characters' motivations, rejecting the nonsensical "bad writing" that contradicts established characterizations. (Intelligent Systems proved that Atlus wasn't the only one doing canonical bad writing.) But even before the Edelcrits' input, the thing that made me lose the chance to sympathize with El, unlike Lelouch, was the world setting. Aside from the fact that I really don't think the war was necessary and I dislike her for starting a war, despite Fire Emblem being a "war story" series, I don't think FE3H's act one effectively set me up to sympathize with El. White Clouds was "happy, sunshine, school days", occasionally sprinkled with Agarthan intrigue, so of course I'm going to be sore at whomever started the war. And the writing didn't even make the war feel necessary TO ME. If the writing had made the war feel necessary, in an effective way, then maybe I would have sided with El. But with White Clouds as ineffective as it was in that aspect FOR ME specifically, I just can't side with El. In contrast, Code Geass starts with a melodramatic close-up of a tiny child, declaring war and destruction against an entire empire, then when act 1 proper gets going, we're introduced to a bleak world with bleak adults, breaking the rules to crush anyone and everything for fun, and the downtrodden can do nothing but suffer. That's very different from White Clouds! Code Geass made Lelouch's extreme actions feel like the only option, and the tone made it all feel completely warranted, justified, and satisfying. But FE3H White Clouds didn't justify El's war to me.

Another interesting angle I see is religion. Sometimes I see the people so ready to follow El unquestioningly and jump to feel her war is justified, and some of them I KNOW have experienced religious trauma. As someone who went to Catholic and Christian schools all my life, came out disillusioned with religion, and was horrified to remember all the times they had brainwashed me to go against my personal values and even judge others, I understand wanting to glorify the story route that's shouting "down with the Church of Seiros!". There's a certain amount of vendetta craved against organized religion in general. And El is saying the Church of Seiros is evil and the ultimate villain to defeat at the end of the war. It sounds very gratifying and cathartic. But I saw Rhea in White Clouds. I saw first hand, that she was a nice person. Maybe a little creepy, but when Garreg Mach was attacked, she equated any loss of life there to "another Red Canyon Tragedy". She equated human life to be as valuable as Nabatean. Meanwhile, the obvious villains, the Agarthans, who El teamed up with, regarded all humans and above-ground creatures as "lower beasts". And the Agarthans acted with no sympathy or regret towards the lives they took or the suffering they caused. We even have several characters who barely survived their human experiments. It's just hard to take Rhea as the villain, when contrasted versus the Agarthans and when I've seen her be nice with my own eyes. On top of that, Cyril is constantly worshiping her, so she must have been treating him well. And Cyril is too blunt to be anything else than sincere, so everything he describes is effectively truthful. And then we get into the Ashen Wolves DLC to discover that even though Byleth's mom Sitri was a "failed experiment" who couldn't achieve Sothis's resurrection as Rhea wanted, Rhea still treated her well, almost like family. And when we hear the truth of Byleth's birth during Silver Snow, we find that Sitri was the one who asked Rhea to trade her life for Byleth's, and Rhea was just respecting her wishes. And then by the time of FE Engage, I hear from more veteran FE fans that the series usually uses "green dragons as good and purple dragons as bad", and Rhea is a green-haired dragon lady. Despite my beef with organized religion in real life, I just can't see Rhea as the villain in FE3H. Sure, she loses rationality when it comes to Sothis and I don't think she should be allowed a position of power, especially militarily, except as a purely spiritual leader in worshiping Sothis… But I just don't buy her as the bad guy. Either FE3H's writing was very bad in trying to portray her as a villain, or it was very good at hinting we should question this narrative of "Rhea bad" that El was peddling.

Also, this reminds me of my feelings on Akechi Goro, another very popular villain character which I despise. I won't even play P5R because I heard it tries to redeem him and make him into the core trio with Joker and Violet. (No. The Core trio is either Joker, Skull, and Panther, or Joker, Skull, and Morgana!) I think the value in Akechi is how he acts as a villain and a foil to all the ideals the Phantom Thieves stand for and all the story themes advocated by the narrative. I HATE Akechi as a person, but I think he is a great villain. And I'm glad he was there in Persona 5 to demonstrate the antithesis of all the themes and act as a cautionary tale for the Phantom Thieves. I loved his function in the story, but as a character, he can jump off a cliff and die. lol

It's nice to hear other people talk about how divisive El is, because sometimes you avoid the fandom's toxic vibe so much, you begin to wonder if you're crazy for having any opinion. But yes, she was divisive. Which is why I blame her for why there are still no FE3H Nendoroids or Figma. Good Smile Company probably didn't know how divisive she was, so when she was their first Figma, I'm sure they were confused when she didn't sell. I don't have any sales numbers, but generally, if one character from a series sells well as a figure, GoodSmile will make more for that series. And yet, no FE3H Nendoroids and no more FE3H Figma, their primary figure lines. FE3H eventually got some Pop Up Parades, but those are cheap for GSC to make. Nendoroids and Figma are an investment for their production schedules. Characters/series MUST sell well, to be made into Nendoroids or Figma. But El was their first test into FE3H figures. Either 3/4 of the fanbase dislike her as the villain (if we assume the fandom is split evenly among each route), or people who like her don't like her enough to spend $60-$90 on her Figma. I bet if the first FE3H articulated figure was a Byleth or a post-timeskip Dimitri Nendoroid, they would have sold well, and we'd have a whole set of FE3H Nendoroids by now. Curses…Intelligent Systems probably told GoodSmile, she was the safe bet. After all, even though half their writing is hinting she's wrong, a bunch of their writing still simps for her. x_x;

It's interesting that this video suggests the Thought Experiment of giving El's role to Claude, and vice-versa, because 3 years after FE3H, 3Hopes kind of did that. I often call the Golden Wildfire route, 3Hopes' version of Crimson Flower. I will have to preface my reactions to Golden Wildfire, with the caveat that I pulled multiple all-nighters to watch its cutscenes, out of order, so my brain didn't exactly process the story correctly. But I do remember initially enjoying the angst of Claude so frequently expressing all his hesitations in begrudgingly carrying out their attacks, then too quickly rationalizing them. He didn't talk that much about his worries and vulnerabilities in FE3H! It was refreshing. But my biggest hint that there was something wrong, was in Golden Wildfire's ending. Despite my foggy sleep deprivation, I clearly recognized that the ending of Golden Wildfire felt wrong. It felt like the opposite of all the things I loved about Claude in FE3H. Not only that, but it was exactly the ending of Crimson Flower. From then on, I began to wonder what other parts of Golden Wildfire mirrored Crimson Flower, and there seemed to be more, the more I looked. Later, because I circulate in Dimiclaude circles, I heard a lot of criticisms about Claude invading and attacking Faerghus. I remember thinking that the writers COULD HAVE done better to justify Claude's belief that he had no choice but to invade, BUT THEY DIDN'T. And that was disappointing. They could have emphasized how Faerghus was too locked into their alliance with the Church, so they wouldn't be able to split that alliance without the appearance of being forced to by another military's force. But not only did Golden Wildfire not do anything like that, but they also made it a point of the story's plot that during Leicester's invasion of Faerghus, Leicester killed some key, named characters from Faerghus. That is something you avoid doing, if you are trying to convince someone to be your ally! And the worst part was, that in the very same game, 3Hopes had another route which demonstrated how Claude could slip into Faerghus and ask for an alliance, without expending Leicester's military and Faerghus commanders' lives. The more I looked at Golden Wildfire, it was as messed up as Crimson Flower. As for my impressions of 3Hopes Claude taking on FE3H El's role: I remember distinctly, loving Claude's 3Hopes outfit during the pre-release trailer reveals, but then after the game came out...to this day, I have a hard time looking at or enjoying that costume/character design, simply because it reminds me too much of a Claude that had dropped half of what I loved about him. And aside from that, Golden Wildfire had turned into a Claude-whump-fest, that is also painful for me to think about. And not in the beautifully angsty way that I fondly remember Code Geass and Lelouch. So to answer this video's thought experiment, changing El's gender, specifically swapping her role onto Claude, would not help me like her more. The only thing left of 3Hopes Claude that I enjoyed was his warm, casual demeanor. And unless El completely changes her personality too, from her characteristic "trying so hard to look dignified" to "warm, friendly, playful, and mischievous", then just swapping her gender wouldn't help me like her. I think this proves her gender and simping/waifu material were not pivotal points that would make me like her. Because Claude is definitely "husbando" material, and even that didn't help me not feel sick about him playing out El's Crimson Flower role.

[sweet-evie]

Lelouch & Nunnally : Seto & Mokuba

I NEED TO WORD VOMIT AND AIR OUT SOME THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS 😂

I love their sibling relationships. 🥰

I love that Lelouch dotes on Nunnally the same way Seto dotes on Mokuba.

I love how both older brothers did everything they could to raise and protect the younger.

But while I love both of them, I adore the other more.

I think Kaiba’s relationship with Mokuba (in the anime) is better than Lelouch’s with Nunnally’s. 😁

Mokuba, at least, is aware of most of the things his brother is doing. He’s rarely in-the-dark when it comes to Kaiba’s schemes. He implements some of them, and is technically the 2nd-in-command at Kaiba Corp. Whether something is done to selfishly feed Kaiba’s ego or otherwise, Mokuba knows a lot about it. And because of that, acts as a solid buffer between Kaiba and Yugi’s group. (Seto will never admit it, but they are friends xD). Mokuba is Kaiba’s moral compass and only anchor to his humanity.

Nunnally, on the other hand… Well~ Lelouch kept her in the dark through his entire plot. Yes, I understand he did it because he thought it was best, and he’d rather have his sister shielded from the cruelty of the world.

But as we see through the story’s progression, that didn’t pan out very well, did it?

If Nunnally knew about Zero and Lelouch being one in the same person early on, I’m sure she would have objected at first, but with explanations from Lelouch, she would’ve understood. Perhaps things would have panned out a lot easier, and maybe even Euphy would have stayed alive.

Because he lied and insisted on the mask, he created a weakness (a hole) that Schneizel later manipulated and exploited. Unpopular opinion, but I think Lelouch underestimates his sister’s ability to see the way he sees things.

But that’s also because Lelouch is actively seeking revenge. He uses Nunnally as an excuse and to validate his own ongoing vendetta against the royal family. It’s fun to think of Lelouch as a character with a noble heart. Yes, he does have one. But it’s clouded by hatred and wrath, and a thirst to see his adversaries crumble. At least, in R1, that’s how it is.

Yay character development!!

But with that said, when it comes to picking the better person, I would say ‘Lelouch’ any day.

Lelouch is a better person than Seto Kaiba.

Seto Kaiba does most of the things he does for Mokuba or for his own pride. (That's why I love him, bitch 🤩)

Lelouch was similar in the beginning, but his ambitions eventually matured, and turned into selfless wishes for the world instead. And I love that about him.

[tetcho-apologist]

The blessing

Just finished code geass, I’m destroyed Fyodor x reader as an apology for the short post Backstory Au since there is no information about it. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The slums of St. Petersburg were the closest thing to hell on earth. Instead of being woken up to the songs of birds, the people were woken up by cries of suffering. The streets and people were filthy. In some alleyways, people would beat each other for money. On others, starving children would huddle together to keep warm. It was an ugly place full of despair, with just one look any observer would know these people were willing to do anything to get out of this hell. They wanted salvation. You pitied their souls, however, you weren’t a god. Only a supreme being could save them and cleanse their sins. Only he could bear the burden of becoming a god. You had to find him. His desire to save sinners was even stronger than yours. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your ability allowed you to feel people’s desires, if their desire was stronger than your own a blessing was granted to them. Most people in poverty and despair had great desires. Even so, they couldn't compare to yours. You had almost given up on the place. One morning while buying some supplies, a frail-looking boy no older than thirteen bumped into you. He had long hair and heavy eye bags, not unusual for someone who lived in such a place. His desire immediately overwhelmed you. How could someone possess a desire that strong? He apologized and quickly ran away. You searched for him, but he had completely vanished. You wouldn’t give up that easily. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taverns were the best place to gather intel, drunkards would usually tell you everything they knew after offering them a bag full of coins. The place you were visiting was near the market, since you assumed the boy lived nearby and people in the area would know him. The best people to ask were ones who were a bit tipsy, but not to the point of muttering nonsense. A man sitting in a corner caught your eye. “That boy? You wouldn’t want to get close to him. Everyone who involves themselves with him ends up dying.” “He has a curse, apparently killed his family with it.” People in this place referred to abilities as curses, since a lot of them had ended up in their current situation because of them. Accidentally killing someone with their ability and having to run away, or being replaced by someone with an ability who could do their job better. “Do you know where he lives?” He put his beer glass down and gave you a suspicious and concerned glance. However, after taking a look at the money bag, he began talking again. ” In an abandoned warehouse, it’s two blocks away from here.” You had gotten all the information you needed. The tavern was starting to get full and the smell of alcohol became stronger, you began packing your things. “I heard he can kill people by touching them” he whispered to you before leaving the place —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You had been observing Fyodor for some days, to see if he had a particular routine. Usually, he would wake up early and go out to wander around. He was an unusual kid, muttering to himself and walking around without a reason. Sometimes he would return with some bread or fruit. When he bumped into you, it wasn’t because of fate or some silly force, he had stolen some fruit from you after you had fallen and were distracted. In the slums, if you wanted to survive, stealing was necessary. After returning to the warehouse, he would climb up and stand on the roof for a while. You were waiting for him. The sound of footsteps disturbed your thoughts. You faced him. His eyes went wide, and his face became pale, he probably thought you had come for revenge. You expected him to run, but to your surprise, he stayed. He stood straight as if awaiting his punishment. “I know you stole from me, but the reason I’m here is not because of that.” A puzzled expression stared at you, waiting for you to explain yourself. “My ability allows me to feel the desires of others. Most of the time they’re weak compared to mine, but you have a desire stronger than mine. Tell me, what is it?” “What will you do if tell you?” a cautious question “That depends on your answer.” He was quiet, deciding whether to tell you or not. “To save others” he finally replied The look in his eyes was identical to your own, being aware of the price saving others had. You knew how his ability worked, yet you extended your hand towards him. “Take my hand and I will give you power that will allow you to save others and clean them from their sins.” All the previous hesitation he had left him. He took your hand. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was somewhat of a lie, your ability. It didn’t give people power, it gave them confidence in themselves, allowing them to reach their true potential. He had figured it out by now. You had made a promise, you would do everything you could to help him achieve his dream. His plan was finally going to start. The decay of angels would start their operation and Fyodor would pursue his goal. You could see Yokohama from the ship, the infamous port mafia buildings, and the Ferris wheel stood out the most. A tall slender figure stood at the deck of the ship staring at the horizon, you walked up to him and carefully placed his cloak over his body. He smiled at you slightly, a rare gesture. The world would be saved.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[fang11803]

Wrow Colleen i sure am glad you reblogged that artist questions list three times today. I'm sure all of your followers and mutuals have already flooded your inbox with numbers, because its really easy to just click on a blog and type a single number into someone's ask box and hit the submit button, thus giving you the illusion that you aren't screaming into a void, but i just GOTTA KNOW what your answers would be for EVERY QUESTION, please.

Golly random anon, I'd be happy to do that. In fact, this will be the only ask I'll answer out of the windfall of messages in my inbox, because it's so convenient to have allllllll the answers on one post instead of many individual posts. How helpful of you.

1. Art programs you have but don't use: I've had a program on my computer for a while that lets you draw only in hexagons. It's neat but has limited uses.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left, right, or center: Left.

3. What ideas come from when you were little: Well, Fang is my oldest oc, so anything having to do with her. I had a lot of cool ideas about werewolves when i was 12.

4. Fav character/subject that is a bitch to draw: I like plants a lot, especially Weird Plants(tm). The issue is when it comes to making a bunch of foliage for a background, i end up making everything look too samey or too busy.

5. How much of your art do you post online vs. Keep to yourself: I keep 90% of it to myself now for two reasons. 1) little to no feedback on pieces i worked hard on. 2) number 2 is personal but related to number 1.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously: music, probably. Music affects my mood which affects what i want to draw.

7. A medium of art you dont work in but appreciate: Anytuing related to sculpture. From ceramics to metal work that stuff is cool af.

8. What's an old art project idea that you've lost interest in: when i was about 22 i had this idea for a comic series that was just me illustrating dreams from my journal. I didn't get very far because i didn't think people would enjoy it.

9. What are your file name conventions: up until I save the final draft it's called whatever, but after I'm done I usually do title_year_intendedUse

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw: Jackets. Or those skirt things i made up for world building purposes.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing: Sometimes, usually music.

12. Easiest part of the body to draw: Hands.

13. Skip. Unnecessary drama starter.

14. Any favorite motifs: i love celestial bodies and floating crystals. And eyes.

15. *where* do i draw: at home. On my bed or at my desk.

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing: Clouds imo. They sure are there. In the sky.

17. Do you eat/drink while drawing: No thats messy

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken: ive worn out two drawing tablets and dried out much acrylic paint.

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw: jewelry

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy: architecture and interiors in perspective. I don't bother most of the time, but i really enjoy it when i take the time. It's like a puzzle.

21. Art styles nothing like your own, but you like anyways: pixel artists are Next Level Coolness

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing: i do wrist stretches

23. Do you use different layer modes: yes? Work smart party hard.

24. Do your references include stock images: if i can't draw the thing i google it and upload all the results directly into my brain and then hopefully i can draw it afterwards.

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by: one time someone saw a picture of Bill and asked why I drew a genderbend of that green haired girl from code geass, which I had never heard of at that point.

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended: have you ever been part of an art pipeline where you hand your drawing off to be digitally inked, and the other artist completely misinterprets the facial expressions you gave the characters, because this has happened on several occasions!

27. Do you warm up (etc): No oh my god.

28. Any art events you have participated in in the past: ive participated in a zine and a few game jams.

29. Media you love but doesn't inspire you artistically: most podcasts. I don't really draw anything for podcasts.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated: i once did a big painting of Korra and Raava in a field of stars that i thought was beautiful but nobody else seemed to like it. I want to get it framed someday.

[namelessexistence]

Final part of my top 100 favorite characters

10 – Percy Jackson

A books series I loved as a preteen, and I loved the main character. It’s been a while since I read, so it’s not so easy to organize my toughts and feelings about the character to tellwhat I loved about him, but maybe I’ll do it in the future

9 – Nie Huaisang (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

If I remeber correctly, the very first thing WWX told us about NHS in the novel was that he was inteligente/wasn’t stupid (it was a scene where someone was telling WWX about the repuation of the Sect Leader Nie as the Headshaker, so WWX’s inner monologue was a response to that). Then, in WWX’s memories of Cloud Recess, we see NHS plotting to cheat in the exams and convincing WWX of doing the work for him. One of the very few changes/additions in the live action I actually liked was that scene where he and WWX first met and he talks about how he captured that bird. The reveal in the ending wasn’t really obvious or expected, at least not to me, but it’s not like it came from nowhere either. Teenage NHS already had some of the personality traits that would be “revealed” later on, but not the motivation of doing anything great with this.

8 – Tomie

From the works of Junji Ito. I find her fascinating as a character and as a concept. First of all, she is a chaotic villain, is simply entertaining to read about her, so I woud like the character even if it didn’t go any further. But there’s something deeper that fascinates me about her, that I won’t go into Much detail now, because I intend to write a separated post with my Tomie essay. But there’s something about how the stories lay out and how inevitable it Always feels, not Only to Tomie’s victims, but to Tomie herself.

7 - Sans (Undertale)

This character got a bad reputation due to horny fans in the peak of the game’s popularity. Even so, I love him in the game. The mistery, his personality, his judgments. I love howthe reason why the possibly most powerful character in the game has a painfully beliavable reason to not act in his full potential. How pointless everything seems to him, how hopeless he must feel. That “just give up. I did” line in the pacifista route. And also his monologue in the genocide route battle about the player’s motivation to keep playing the genocide route “...because you think you ca. And because you ‘can’, you ‘have to’”

6 – Sal Fisher (Sally Face)

I loved this game and Episode Four broke me. Sal was such a likeable character, he Always made my heart warm, and his friendhip with Larry was so sweet.

5 – Luo Qingyang (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

One of the things that annoy me the most about the live action i show they LQY so Much she could as well be an original character. She was such a great character in the novel, despite having so few scenes. I already made a post about how she was a narrative parallel to WWX and WJL. She was amazing and had one of the better endings/lifes in the story. Good for her.

4 - Lelouch Lamperouge/Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass)

My personal history of problematic faves goes far. I remember how many nights I spent comparing him to Light Yagami, trying to understand why I loved Lelouch so Much while I hated Light so much When both characters are so similar. And I remeber how frustrating it was to try to find someone analysing/comparing this characters, because I could Only find debates about who’s smarter, wich is not importante. Was Lelouch right? Did he had the right to do the things he did? Not really, but he had a better understanding of humanity than Light, and actually tough about the causes ofthe violence, instead of only repressing the symptons. He was an interesting character with a lot of emotion.

3 – Okumura Rin (Ao no Exorcist)

He was impulsive and sounded rude a lot of times, but had a kind heart, despite his tendency to violence. That’s one thing I find interesting about him, that fans often overlooked, is that he wasn’t naturally kind, he learned to be kind, and it wasn’t easy. It’s not because he had a good nature, it’s because he putted the effort on that, and he did so because his father believed he could. He actually told little Rin that if he tred hard to be kind to people, he would become kind. I just love that scene of small Rin being vioent and believing he coudn’t be good and his father saying this. It’s surprinsigly rare to fiction tell us that we’re not doomed to be bad people just because being nice doesn’t come naturally to us.

2 – Original Shen Qingqiu/Shen Jiu (Scum Villain Self Saving System)

A very tragic and complex character, undeniably my favorite svsss character, and it’s not because I have anything against SY

1 – Wei Wuxian (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

Am I confidente to say that WWX is my favorite character from all times? Yes, absolutely. I love him so much, I don’t even know how to exlain how much I love him. I’m so glad he got his happy ending, he deserved it.

[silver-wield]

Omg, finding Cloud and Tifa are labelled doki doki must been wild when it first happened lol I feel bad for messing it but not really, thank for your answer! And thanks for your efforts! Honestly If someone think their ship has to be canon for them to enjoy it it’s sad, nothing wrong on moral stander from enjoying a non canon couple if thats someones jam, so them announcing war and believing Cloti has to be not canon (it is canon) for AC to be valid is setting the bar for how premature they are, totally never adulated.

We had a good laugh about it just from knowing how triggered the dumdums would be. They tried to deny it, then claim it for themselves and when that didn't work they decided we did it because we're salty and it doesn't even count compared to the ulti, even though both "doki doki" wouldn't even be known about because one is asset file names and the other is a notation on a scene where Cloud is visibly stoic af and the player has no clue how he feels. But ofc they decided theirs is "true" and ours is fake cause they're insane.

It's dumb they act like ffvii is like persona, which has no canon couple, and yet people in that fandom also argue about canon. I ship Joker with Queen but I wouldn't go around saying it's canon because there isn't one. I enjoy the scenes they have together and don't care about the other couple scenes. It's the same with Code Geass, although I'm slightly more on the side of CC being Lelouch's canon waifu since she's the only one who knows and loves all sides of him and he knows everything about her and loves her too. That's not to say the other girls don't get their chance at him, and the series isn't even close to the romance genre, but I'm not insane and still wouldn't go into the fandom screaming I'm right and everyone else is wrong when it's not set up that way.

Ffvii is set up to have a monogamous relationship between Cloud and Tifa. They have history and relationship development that goes from a point before we even engage with them and carries on after we have any interaction with them.

They're still together in Case of Denzel, which is the furthest point of the compilation. Did the player have any say in any of that? No, we didn't. The devs have shown they're together as a family. Cloud is the father, Tifa's the mother, Marlene and Denzel are their kids.

People need to get it through their empty heads that what Cloud does with his life is not up to the player. If they can't handle that they should go find a fandom for something where their weird ass control issues work in their favour.

[ultraericthered]

MY ALL TIME FAVORITE ANIME

In honor of two years of Anime Updates, I’ve reconstructed my now Top 30 favorite anime series’ of all time, and I also have a slew of honorable mentions for anime I also really enjoy and value dearly.

1. Dragon Ball Z Kai (The definitive distillation of everything that was great about the DBZ manga and all that’s great about DBZ in anime.)

2. Digimon Adventure (1999) (An absolute classic of children’s anime that has enough depth and maturity to appeal to its fans years later)

3. Pokemon: The Beginning (It may be cliché to say something in Pokemon was at its best in Gen 1 but...the anime absolutely was.)

4. Neon Genesis Evangelion (Some anime ascend even masterpiece status and become bonafide legends. This is one of the best ones.)

5. Cowboy Bebop (See what I just said above. It applies here too.)

6. Yu Yu Hakusho (Not only a Shonen masterwork, but one where the anime is actually an improvement upon the original manga!)

7. Assassination Classroom (Basically the Yu Yu Hakusho of the 2010s, and bar none director Seiji Kishi’s most astonishing work.)

8. Yu-Gi-Oh! / Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (While the latter faltered more compared to the former, both have undeniable merits.)

9. Sailor Moon / Sailor Moon R (Again, see what I just said above.)

10. The Slayers / Slayers NEXT  (This may not have really gone anywhere as a franchise, but I’ll always have a soft spot for it.)

11. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (In only 11 episodes, it tells a captivating and heartrending story that really sticks with you.)

12. Digimon Tamers (Objectively the strongest and smartest written of the Digimon series. It’s like a Digi-Evangelion - what’s not to love?)

13. Star Driver: Takuto of the Radiance (It’s just so - much - FUN. Criminally underrated, but it really was exceptional at what it did.)

14. Love Live! School Idol Project / Love Live! Sunshine!! (The latter more so than the former, but both of them just really delight me.)

15. El Hazard / The Wanderers (While I love the original OVA, I love the TV series version derived from it just as much in its own way)

16. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006) (Madcap chaos and a surprising amount of heart and depth from start to finish.)

17. Digimon Adventure 02 (Yeah, it’s a mess and it fails as a sequel to its predecessor, but it’s heart was always in the right place.)

18. FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (One of the most awe-inspiring and epic achievements of Japanese media, especially for Shonen!)

19. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (I enjoy a lot of what comes out of this franchise, but the original 12 episode story is forever the best.)

20. A Place Further Than The Universe (Who knew a short show about girls on a trip to Antarctica could end up so fucking good?)

21. Pokemon: Sun and Moon (The strongest single series that the Pokemon anime has ever done, with a great cast and stories.)

22. When They Cry: Higurashi (No horror anime can quite compare to this one. Note that this covers Kai & Rei too, but nothing else.)

23. Mobile Fighter G Gundam (The Gundam franchise is diverse and varied, yet no series in it could ever match this one in my heart!)

24. Vinland Saga (A work of historical fiction that is truly epic and compelling on a massive scale that few anime dare attempt.)

25. Excel Saga (In total contrast with the above Saga, this one is just balls-to-the-walls goofy and insane, and I love every second of it!)

26. Death Note (The manga and the film duology do it better, but there’s still much to be enjoyed in the anime adaptation as well.)

27. Pokemon: Best Wishes (The series that’s most to credit with rejuvenating a stale anime property. Shame 'bout that final year, tho.)

28. Nadja of Tomorrow (It’s like a classical, old fashioned novel played out across 50 episodes of anime, and a ride I enjoy a lot.)

29. Hellsing Ultimate (The sole contender to Higurashi in terms of being a superbly done dark and gory horror anime.)

30. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (The Code Geass franchise could never do anime better than in this initial outing.)

Honorable Mentions: Ace Attorney: The Animation, Angel Beats!, Bakugan: Battle Brawlers, Berserk, Black Lagoon, Carole & Tuesday Cours 1, CLANNAD / After Story,  Danganronpa: The Animation, Digimon Fusion, Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z, Eureka Seven, Fruits Basket (2019), Gintama, InuYasha, Kill La Kill, Little Witch Academia, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, March Comes In Like A Lion, Magic Knight Rayearth, Monster, My Bride Is A Mermaid, My Hero Academia, My-HiME / My-Otome, Nisekoi: Fake Love, One Piece, Pokemon Journeys, Re:Zero, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Rurouni Kenshin, Sailor Moon Crystal: Infinity, School Live!, Shaman King, SSSS Gridman, Tengen Tonpa Gurren Lagann, Tenchi Muyo, The Future Diary, The Promised Neverland S1, Toradora, Wolf’s Rain, and Zatch Bell.

[cerastes]

It’s not that mastermind characters are bad, I personally love them, but you need to make them believable beyond just telling the audience “this character is VERY smart”, which is what I think the problem with Shu is: You are just told all the time that he is smart, and basically, every time anyone does anything, it’s all going according to plan, no matter what wild thing happens, that’s always part of the plan, which is just pretty boring because you never see him actually lay the plans or do some backstage work in order to make everything work, it’s mostly Shu thinking “Hmm, I want this outcome”, then he appears in the map, his theme plays, and bam, it’s ALL going according to plan, it’s just way too boring.

Let me compare and contrast Shu with Lelouch/Zero from Code Geass: From the in-universe spectator’s point of view, Zero is this genius mastermind who keeps getting win after win. Us, the viewers, see the world from Lelouch’s point of view, and we see that his results come from a LOT of stress and him barely, haphazardly juggling things in just the right way for them to actually come together and give out the desired result. At no point is it a field trip for Lelouch, he’s always legit busting his ass and dealing with losses in order to come on top, so it’s interesting to see because, yes, he’s a mastermind, but we see the tangible effort he puts into making all these wild stratagems come to fruition.

Shu is just the narrative telling you “this, too, was part of Shu’s plan” and you’re supposed to accept it in awe and shock, like “Oh! He’s done it again! He’s played everyone like a fiddle once again, the cunning hawk!” except it fails to ever feel good because... We’re just told he’s so smart, we’re just told he’s carefully planned this, we’re just told it all has gone according to plan, but we never see him being smart, we never see him planning or laying the groundwork for his plans, and we never see what his plans actually are, we just know they exist and that they’re going great, apparently, just take the narrative’s word for it.

And ultimately, that’s why I can’t stand Shu: He’s smart because he’s supposed to be smart and you were playing to his tune because you were supposed to, but it never really feels as such in the actual narrative the moment you suspend your disbelief for even one second, and considering this is a franchise where some really buckwild stuff happens every other minute, including but not limited to the Hollow Earth theory being real, the Earth actually having another planet inside of it, engines powered by black holes exist, certain characters are actually capable of traveling between alternate dimensions, and timelines all lead to one definite timeline where apparently the End of All Ends, which has been foreshadowed since the SNES era, will occur, suspension of disbelief is not exactly difficult and the standard is pretty low, but Shu has a Ph.D in Limbo dancing and he can definitely go that low.

[purple-dragon]

12 episodes into code geass r2! some thoughts: 

the plot is literally all over the place and i’m so here for it 

i’ve also already been spoiled for so much of this but it literally has not taken any enjoyment out of the series at all. if anything i’m more excited to see everything play out myself 

i adore rolo. like i’m only halfway into the season and he’s already had such good development. i like to think that in a happier world, lelouch can have two younger siblings, as a treat. 

gino’s funny i do stan. anya is intriguing, and i’m trying to pick out whatever i can from her character that fits the spoilers i’ve already seen. 

v.v. ,,, shady

SHIRLEY. my poor girl. you deserve so much better. 

i’m actually starting to get conflicted about nunnally. this might be a hot take, but i feel like she hasn’t shown like,, an adequate amount of care towards lelouch, especially compared with how much he does for her. like it feels like she heard him in that episode where suzaku makes them talk and was like ‘bro where you at’ and then... she just fkn forgets his existence i guess? i’m just saying, if my sibling mysteriously vanished after i got kidnapped and returned to my horrible father, i would be doing everything in my power to find my sibling. idk, i’m trying not to judge too quickly bc there are still 13 episodes and i might not have seen all of her plans yet but like girl,,, bestie,,, 

i feel like i have some things to say about the other characters but i don’t quite have my thoughts collected on them yet so i’ll hold off on that for now. but fr how does code geass keep getting better (and more ridiculous, but mostly better) 

[cynthiaandsamus]

Death Note/Code Geass Retrospective

(So going into the Custom Toonami Block last year between watching people lampoon the live action Death Note movie and the amazing one-shot that came out I really was ready to re-watch the original Death Note and it was one of the main reasons I started this little block. However once I finished it, the next logical step was Code Geass, it gets comparisons all the time between Lelouch and Light (usually from crazy laugh compilations on youtube in the early 2000s) and going into the Code Geass rewatch fresh from the Death Note rewatch I did kind of want to see how apt those comparisons were with a fresh perspective.

It’s not hard to see why they get compared despite being such different series, between these two I kind of see the same sort of dichotomy that Evangelion has with Gurren Lagann where they weirdly feel like they’re talking to each other. Obviously Code Geass is first and foremost a mecha anime and Lelouch’s crazy bullshit schemes are rarely as complex or manipulative as Light’s but at the same time Lelouch being on the backfoot more and having to roll with the punches makes him a much more fun character to root for.

Death Note starts off great and is a bleak series that has an ending that’s a bit more than contested I would say. Meanwhile Code Geass has a good start and an amazing end though it drags a good bit in the middle. I’d go so far as to say Code Geass’s ending is nearly perfect and despite both series essentially ending with their evil masterminds dying for their attempts to change the world, the tones couldn’t be more different.

There’s a scene early on in Death Note where Light tells Ryuk his plan and Ryuk tells Light that if he murders his way to the world being a better place, he’ll be the only sinner left alive. Light brushes this comment off because he’s a narcissistic sociopath but you get the feeling this kind of mentality is something Lelouch takes with him long before the series even begins. He’s absolutely aware that radical change to a cartoonishly unjust system will force him to do terrible things (and things usually get a little extra terrible just to kick him in the dick) and that in doing so he won’t be fit to live in the new world he plans to create. And because of this idea that Light holds the opposite ideal in that his world isn’t worth creating unless he’s alive to enjoy it, hence why he doesn’t take Ryuk’s eye deal, his and Lelouch’s mirrored endings take on exact opposite meanings, and in fact while Light fucks up in ways that should’ve been obvious to him, Lelouch’s plan goes exactly the way he wants despite everything going bonkers towards the end.

Death Note has an ending that I would argue is at least somewhat intentionally unsatisfying, it’s not a series meant to make you feel good, death is a sepctre that no mortal can really overcome and Light is ultimately isolated by his callousness for human life in pursuit of detached and increasingly foggy ideals. Meanwhile the last bit of Code Geass is commenting on despite Lelouch trying to isolate himself and pushing the entire burden of the world on himself, he has made a lot of connections with people that have survived the Pirates of the Carribean level of backstabbing we get towards the end and the world has become weirdly idyllic despite Lelouch not being alive to see it.

So back to the original question of whether it’s fair to compare Death Note and Code Geass, it’s a bit of both, they’re vastly different series in a lot of ways, Death Note prides itself on being a meticulously intricate display of intellect that eventually ends up caving in under its own weight while Code Geass is messy and silly and weird but ends up with an ending that is honestly one of the best in anime and has stuck with people long enough that it’s on everyone’s mind when Eren Jeager starts doing similar things. It’s just kind of interesting, like the Evangelion/Gurren Lagann comparison earlier, that usually the bleak version is taken more seriously but the over the top fun tends to offer a more complete package while they go back and forth with each other on ideas.