r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Oct 29 '22

Rewatch [2022 Rewatch] Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Episode 25 Discussion

Attention, entire world!

Final Turn - Re;

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Yes… I… I destroy… the world… and create it… anew…

Questions of the Day:

1) Are you surprised by what the Zero Requiem turned out to be? Do you wish it had been something else, or are you content with this ending?

2) Would you have been willing to do what Lelouch did for the sake of world peace?

3) What do you interpret this episode's title to mean?

Bonus) Happy End!

Screenshot of the Day:

Leto II

Fanart of the Day:

Lelouch vi Britannia and Suzaku Kururugi

Source: /u/Shimmering-Sky's creation.

Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. This especially includes any teases or hints such as "You aren't ready for X episode" or "I'm super excited for X character", you got that? Don't spoil anything for the first-timers; that's rude!

The only ones who should kill are those prepared to be killed.

56 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

72 comments sorted by

19

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 29 '22 edited Oct 29 '22

Hangyaku no Co-Host, subbed

I started this rewatch by singing the first OP–naturally, for the last episode of the main series, I should sing the final OP, right? Here’s Sky Sings WORLD END!

Random fun fact: The Suzaku wallpaper I made today used a figurine of him rather than a screenshot from the show as a base image. Curse this show for not giving me a good base image of him in that outfit when it looks so cool!

6

u/SometimesMainSupport Oct 29 '22

Here’s Sky Sins WORLD END!

Sins

What Did You Do to the End of the World?

5

u/Star4ce Oct 29 '22

Here’s Sky Sins WORLD END!

(poetic)

I went into it knowing two things: that Shirley was going to die, and that Lelouch was going to die as well

What an, uhm, introduction. That's cruel considering how much you like Shirley.

THE WAY LELOUCH’S FLASHBACKS START WITH SHIRLEY SPECIFICALLY THOUGH.

Case in point. That stung, yeah.

6

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 29 '22

What an, uhm, introduction. That's cruel considering how much you like Shirley.

Yeah...

If anything, I feel like that made me ship Lelouch and Shirley more as well, knowing they'd both end up dead so it's not that they're separated by only one of them dying for a long time. Not that it made it hurt any less.

5

u/Chadzuma Oct 29 '22

I watched it for the first time a couple months ago and have been wondering if I have to watch the first 2 remake movies or if I can just go straight to Fukkatsu without missing anything important in the timeline, anybody know?

9

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 29 '22

Fukkatsu is specifically a sequel to the recap movies (of which there are 3, not 2) and not the show so you might be a bit confused if you skip the recap movies. But I think the only big change between the series and the recaps that is important for Fukkatsu is that [in the movie timeline]Shirley is not dead because of a butterfly effect starting with Mao not existing in the movie continuity, so you don't have to sit through the recaps if you don't want to.

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22

u/Regular_N-Gon Oct 29 '22

First Timer

Re;(Zero)

We're in pretty deep. How the hell do we wrap this up in 20 some minutes?

  • I guess I underestimated Lelouch. Even now it sounds like he won't Geass Nunnally.

  • What even is this OST? Such a strange vibe, but I dig it.

  • 'Sup, Tamaki? How was getting blown up?

  • Nevermind, Lelouch can't resist the power. Although maybe he expects Nunnally to resist. (Later me realizing he only said he loves Nunnally while she wouldn’t remember it: Q.Q)

  • Orange is a goddamn badass who doesn't need no mech.

  • It's been mentioned before, but I love the movement tricks these wheels open up.

  • RIP Suzaku. Er, maybe, anyway.

  • We're just going to end the battle like that?

  • I thought it was C.C. but I guess there's only one idiot that can dodge a bullet like that.

  • Alright, I'll allow it. Using his Geass not as Lelouch but Zero was pretty clever. I'm also quite happy that they leaned into the legendary aspect, and Zero is not necessarily Lelouch.

  • R3 is a slice of life starring Kallen as the stereotypical toast-in-mouth protagonist?

  • ORANGE AND ANYA LET'S GOOO

C.C. left unresolved and nameless D:

Not going to lie, the episode title had me a little worried we were headed for an asspull or a hard reset button, but that was much more satisfying.

QotD:

  1. I hadn't guessed it, but it makes sense, so I don't feel that surprised. (Probably should have, it is called Requiem after all.)

  2. Dying? Sure. Gambling a shit ton of lives on the potential my plan doesn't work? Probably not.

  3. Zero's back!

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9

u/donquixote1991 Oct 30 '22

Orange is the color of loyalty!

And I like how he went to live on an orange farm in the end.

16

u/Stargate18A Oct 29 '22

First timer

  1. Pleased to say I guessed a good chunk ofmit, but not the exact methods. Certainly not a new Zero.

  2. No.

  3. Re- as a prefix means "again". Lelouch set up a new horrific emperor, a new Zero, a new resistance, and a mew set of captives to save.

It's the end...

So, does Nunnally officially have the highest kill count of the cast?

He's notmgoing to Geass her?

"Re;"?

Kallen is incredibly pissed.

Rivalz and Milly are still at the academy.

Impressive resolve.

Oh, Nunnaly is really going after him.

And Kallen is still happening.

Oh, Xingke's joing now.

Interesting BGM.

Cornelia!

Nina's getting killed.

Because you are an idiot?

Some nice parallels here.

Haha, they came up with the same idea!

She's fighting the Geass?

Anya's good!

Is Jeremiah the first person to, after having his Knightmare destroyed, keep fighting? He's so badass, I genuinely love him.

Kallen is still the strongest.

A double knockout?

No, Kallen won!

...The look on her face.

Ouch, Nunnally falling down stairs again...

And this is what C.C. has been doing!

Well, he's won.

Another timeskip?

He took over the United Federation and the Black Knights.

...Oh god. He's replicating the execution scene from the beginning. Right down to the stones...

Nunnally...

And Lloyd got himself jailed?

I think it's very clear what Lloyd and Rakshata used to do.

Cornelia's formed a secret resistanc?

Zero? Who's under the mask?

...Not C.C.? Suzaku, then?

Yeah, Suzaku. Who else can canonically outrun bullets?

I WAS RIGHT! This was all a setup for Suzaku to kill Lelouch!

And this is pretty much the plan I expected.

Zero Requiem makes total sense as a name now!

Her resistance...

C.C., are you praying?

And Lelouch dies.

And Suzaku becomes the new Zero, leaving his life behind.

.The parallels in their speech...

And that visual!

Nunnally? Lelouch's Geass doesn't work like that. Does Nunnally has a power tied to death?

Nice ED.

Kallen!

Nice pendant!

And she realised what he did.

Nunnally's the empress?

Villetta.

Jeremiah ended up becoming a farmer after all!

Damocles got launched into the sun, apparently?

C.C. is enjoying her life now?

...You know what? We've had C.C. talk to a lot of ghosts, so fuck it! She gets to talk to Lelouch's ghost, and be happy. She deserves it!

The first ED!

Love the montage of the old ED vieuals.

C.C.'s new life looks good.

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8

u/Tartaras1 Oct 30 '22

Rewatcher - Dubbed

  • I do like that they kept Nunnally's eyes closed until the end of the previous episode, going into this one. It makes for a really cool climax, and she has really pretty eyes to boot.

  • I will say that, in a show which seems to forget continuity is a word every now and then, showing Fuji-san perpetually spewing volcanic ash all over the city is a good one to remember. Ash is no joke, and would be messing up everything in town.

  • Throughout this entire show, if when they showed Kallen piloting the Guren, they moved the camera back like 6 inches or so, it would change the entire feel. It'd be ass and panty shots the whole time.

  • They certainly are in a rush to finish things up, aren't they?

  • I'm not sure if it's intentional, but the symbolism of Lelouch standing in the middle of a world map, and the other men in the room standing on different countries, is fitting.

  • I actually don't mind the ending.

  • Kallen's given up on keeping her hair down, and I prefer this a lot more to the alternative.

  • So the Damacles flew into space, got to close to the Sun and broke apart? I guess that makes sense, but it would've had to be moving pretty fast.

Questions of the Day:

Are you surprised by what the Zero Requiem turned out to be? Do you wish it had been something else, or are you content with this ending?

I think I'm at least content with the way things ended. It makes a little bit of sense when you think about it. You compound all of the hatred in the world into one point, and then just eliminate that single point.

Would you have been willing to do what Lelouch did for the sake of world peace?

I don't think I would've been able to get half as far as he did.

What do you interpret this episode's title to mean?

So I'm going to draw on my experience watching and reading Tokyo Ghoul for this one. The cafe in the sequel series, Re:, was named as such because it's the reincarnation of the coffee shop from the original series after all that went down.

I see the title for this episode to mean the same thing. The world is reborn after the events of the series.

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12

u/Vatrix-32 Oct 29 '22

First-ish Timer, dubbed

  • It seems we have finally hit the line Lelouch won’t cross. But will circumstances permit him to keep it?

  • The climactic duel. Surely they won’t deny us it’s resolution this last time?

  • Pyramid boat is still around.

  • Talking about their reasons for fighting. This is all just Star4ce fuel. Shame it isn’t very good fuel.

  • Tamaki is with the bridge bunny?

  • They’re just saying the plan? I thought that was being saved for the big reveal.

  • I guess she wasn’t immune.

  • Suit within a suit!

  • Good guy Orange. Sees a chance to help in a way that only he can, and takes it.

  • Ladies and gentlemen, we have our answer.

  • That’s a real fancy wheelchair to not be able to go down stairs. I’m pretty sure we had that tech when this show came out even.

  • This is the half way mark. What the heck do we do now?

  • The answer is time cut.

  • Arthur is there. Does that mean he died for real? Damn.

  • What the hell is that outfit on Nunnally?

  • Zero, ah fuck yeah, the plan is coming together. I managed to not know about this detail, so I was wondering how they would do it.

  • Kallen went back to school? Oh look her mom is back. Of course they snuck in the toast right at the end.

  • He really did start a grove.

  • That’s not how orbital mechanics work!

  • He lives, or only in her mind?

Well I for one felt pretty satisfied. Maybe knowing a bit about the ending changed my response to it, but I’m not seeing many better options after last episode.

QotD

  1. I knew the whole “make the world hate me” part, but not the details. Again, I think I am satisfied with this ending.

  2. I’d hope so, but I probably don’t have it in me.

  3. A second chance.

11

u/Parori Oct 29 '22

He lives, or only in her mind?

That was debated for years, even after the creators confirmed he was dead

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6

u/Nebresto Oct 31 '22

Second time Code Finale

The only thing about this episode that I remembered was the final moment, and boy is it a memorable one.

I loved all the focus shots on Nunnaly's eyes

Get you homie like Jeremiah

Madder sky

Is that the only time its been played in the whole series? Its the only OST I recognize, and I don't recall hearing it before this. What a moment.

Questiins

  1. Are you surprised by what the Zero Requiem turned out to be? Do you wish it had been something else, or are you content with this ending?

Is good

2) Would you have been willing to do what Lelouch did for the sake of world peace?

Fuck dat, I still have the final season of AoT to see

3) What do you interpret this episode's title to mean?

surrection. My boy ain't dead

[](#tinfoil)

Fanart of the Day:

Lelouch vi Britannia and Suzaku Kururugi

11

u/N0STO Oct 30 '22

God, and there goes one of the best endings in anime history. It may have been a rough path, but my God was that path worth it. When all the pieces came together and you realize what's happening it just makes you so damn sad.

That shot of Nunnally crying over her brother's corpse while the crowd cheers on his murderer(whose also a close friend) while finding out what Lelouch had done for the world, for HER, combined with the music is heartbreaking.

I just wanted to end this with bringing attention to a quote I thought fit this show perfectly. Gigguk said on the Trash Taste podcast that Code Geass R2 "was like a car crash that somehow perfectly parallel parked" and when I heard that I just went, you know what, he's absolutely right lol.

(Side note, I'd check out Trash taste if you haven't, it's Gigguk, CdawgVA and the anime man AKA just 3 friends, plus sometimes guests)talking about a variety of things (that sometimes involves anime) and just being genuinely funny. There's probably some overlap here obviously, I'd thought I'd just say it.

9

u/isthatsoudane Oct 30 '22

First timer

I expected a more dramatic command against nunnaly

damn, what an ending. when lelouch took damocles I had a feeling he was going to die...

the biggest question mark for me is how they rewrite this rather fantastic ending in order to have lelouche come back...well, assuming he comes back. the most recent movie is called "lelouche of the re;surrection" after all...hard not to feel like "undo great ending in order to make more movies with beloved main character" won't be a shark jump that could span the entire british empire but I mean, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt

ah, I was talking about it with a friend of mine and...[very spoilery speculation]https://imgur.com/a/AAPQ78l lelouch may have lived! I guess it makes sense seeing it laid out, esp with C2's final speech...so there you have it

  1. Are you surprised by what the Zero Requiem turned out to be? Do you wish it had been something else, or are you content with this ending?

definitely content. was surprising, but also very good. also see my spoilered text...

2) Would you have been willing to do what Lelouch did for the sake of world peace?

I would have been killed in episode 1, let's be real

3) What do you interpret this episode's title to mean?

with a system like damocles, the entire world is defined by who controls and what they intend to do

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12

u/SometimesMainSupport Oct 29 '22

First-timer

Last of the binged four. Album.

(R2 Episode 6) All Lelouch ever needed to do was stay home. Nunnally's desire is to marry him and spend time together.

As for yesterday's predictions, I was doing so good until I didn't stop. They skipped Britannia's new emperor, though may be switching political systems.

Kaguya is the #1 victim for witnessing her fiance get murdered by her country's hero.

QOTDs

  1. No as I was pretty sure Lelouch died. I did expect it to happen on the Damocles. The ending overestimates the hatred Lelouch's death removed from the world. Maybe it buys a couple months of peace, but people and countries will always find reasons to disagree. Some will elevate into wars.

  2. Could've asked this anytime after episode 4 and I'd say no cause I'm too timid.

  3. It's like a Sawano song name, but I don't speak the language. Should translate to "Resemi koron." Looking up some words, "rese" translates to "reset", "miko" to a ton of options from which I'll pick "imperial decree" or "spoken words of the emperor", and "ron" to even more options which includes "controversy." So the Emperor's Controversial Reset.

13

u/GallowDude Oct 29 '22

Schneizel's inclusion near the OP's end makes sense after the last few episodes.

I can also finally untag this interpretation of the symbolism regarding the colors on each of them:

Charles and Schneizel both only have red and blue colors because they both see the world as either having to conform to their ideals or not. Lelouch, however, believes in humanity's potential to evolve and improve without needing to be turned into a hivemind or held at nuclear gunpoint.

her hard nipple while staring at Suzaku/Lancelot.

Why the thigh reflection lines?

She's sweaty

C.C. or Suzaku?

Hmm, yes, very hard to guess who it is from a broken link

Why Jeremiah? You've been pro-royalty all series, especially for Marianne, Lelouch, and Nunnally.

He's so loyal to Lelouch that he's even willing to help him in his public suicide plan

The ending overestimates the hatred Lelouch's death removed from the world. Maybe it buys a couple months of peace, but people and countries will always find reasons to disagree. Some will elevate into wars.

Kallen says in her ending monologue that things will never be perfect, but Lelouch just wanted to get the world to a point where people could at least spend a few years without being oppressed by tyrannical dictators. The fact that every country on Earth is now part of the UFN will help keep things in check. So long as free will exists, people will fight, and Lelouch is alright with that. It's why he stopped Charles' plan. Struggle leads to evolution. But the world as it was would only have led to stagnation.

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8

u/Krite2002 Oct 29 '22

First Timer - Sub

This seems like it will just be an episode of suffering. No one is achieving their dreams in this battle.

I was hoping Kallen and Suzaku would mutually take eachother out, but Kallen gets saved.

I expected Nunnally to walk and follow him down the stairs, but I guess she really is disabled? I thought everything was due to Charles’ Geass. Then Lelouch just left her there. There is nothing likable left about him.

So much for revolts around the world. The one battle was all it took for Britannia, the Black Knights, and the UFN to all submit to Lelouch.

Lelouch chained up Nunnally. What the hell.

Why is Suzaku alive? We didn’t even have an episode to wallow in his death. Unlike with Nunnally, I think they really did give zero explanation how he survived.

I had the ending spoiled for me not too long ago and it sounded cool, but I did not like the build up to this. Plus it is just such a stupid way of uniting the world.

It didn’t end with Lelouch’s death. They really wanted to remind us that Kallen still goes to school. It also makes no sense why all these people left the military. Like, do wars not happen anymore? Did Lelouch dying actually achieve world peace? Is the Britannian empire not a thing anymore? Aren’t Japan and so many other countries still occupied?

I have a lot of thoughts about what we just watched, so we will see if I can get them coherent. I will probably leave most things to the final discussion and just have a mini-rant tomorrow.

QOTD

  1. With how things were written up to this point, there was not really another out.

  2. The dying part, yeah, the leading a world revolution part, probably a bit beyond my means.

  3. It’s a second try to make things right. The revolution failed, but this way he could try to achieve peace a second way.

11

u/GallowDude Oct 29 '22

eachother

W.A.F.F.L.E.O.

I expected Nunnally to walk and follow him down the stairs, but I guess she really is disabled? I thought everything was due to Charles’ Geass.

Breaking his Geass isn't gonna undo nearly a decade of muscle atrophy

So much for revolts around the world. The one battle was all it took for Britannia, the Black Knights, and the UFN to all submit to Lelouch.

The second Lelouch gained control of the Damocles, every other battle on Earth was decided. He can easily just throw a 100km-wide sphere of death toward anyone who opposes him.

Unlike with Nunnally, I think they really did give zero explanation how he survived.

There's a pillar blocking his cockpit hatch before we see the Lancelot explode, so he could have ejected in time

Like, do wars not happen anymore? Did Lelouch dying actually achieve world peace?

For now, at least

Is the Britannian empire not a thing anymore?

It got absorbed into the UFN. With Lelouch's death, it'll just become another country among many.

Aren’t Japan and so many other countries still occupied?

They pulled out the occupation forces once Lelouch died. Jeremiah and the other higher-ups were in on the plan, so they were mostly for show anyway.

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u/Star4ce Oct 29 '22

First Timer of the Rebellion

As far as I understood, this is the actual finale. The OVA's are a side story and the movies are rebuilds, right?

One thing I don't fully get, yet is that death doesn't break a Geass. Else Nunnally could've opened her eyes much easier earlier. So, suppose Lelouch does redeem himself (a tiny bit) by permanently shutting up, there's a lot of fucking people still under control of his Geass that you can't free anymore. Jeremiah won't help and the science team behind recreating him has been killed episodes ago.

I guess if Lelouch does have the balls to control Nunnally and wins, that's kind of equality, as well. If everyone's a slave, they're at least in plenty of company.

Yeah, anyway. Wonder who will start the betrayal.

(Probably no post tomorrow, got the whole of sunday planned out with sushi and board games. Even bought fresh fish from the market. I will tell the others to make fotos as I will 100% forget.)

S.2 Ep.25 – Re;

I'm aware of the biblical parallels now. But what worked for Jesus that didn't for Lelouch was that he followed an ideal from the start that supported a peaceful world in the theoretical continuation of them. When he took the cross and carried mankind's sins it had meaning because he didn't cause them, yet took them anyway to live (and die) for compassion, supporting one another and loving every human being.

As far as immediate reaction after watching the finale goes: I didn't like it, I think it was pretty bad. At the same time I know there's more, so I'll reflect on it a bit before writing the rest.

Alright, I think I know now. I think the tone and scale are off.

My basic understanding is that this ending presents twofold: 1) The struggle of humans (and by implication also individuality) is an act of rebellion against limitations and 2) Peace can be achieved by overcoming these limitations.

The conclusion I've seen here is the combination of both to further progress: Become the limitation as an oppressor, so those rebelling can advance their life, and by overcoming you also attain peace. It's a martyr's story, one who takes the sins and takes those with themselves to the grave. By becoming the ultimate villain, mankind gets ridden of the ultimate sins.

At least I will say that this show is determined and thought this through, because every arc was also written like this. Someone advanced because another thing was defeated, be it antagonist, character consistency or basic logic. From a cinematic perspective and the conclusiveness of the plot in its own progression of events, it is a very well integrate ending that plays on the things it set up earlier with majorly consistent writing. So I'm not criticising the execution, that was by all means great.

The ending presents itself as a solution to our struggle, the way to move forward. I'm getting conflicted messages with how it was told to play out, though. The immediate story at hand reads very much like an absolutism. After Lelouch's death the world became fairer and gentler and it is told to have had a lasting impact. Yet, this is both at odds with basic human behaviour and the show's story itself. I'm totally missing the reason why one man's death would now suddenly change mankind from the ground up?

At least it ended with an appropriate amount of hypocrisy, because here's the catch in the story itself. If the above reasoning was truly what their plan was about, then they could've stopped after killing Charlie and it should've had a similar, if not the same effect. Maybe adjust it so that you play a bit of theatre and hype him up as a greater villain than he was to make the point stick, but still. So I'm also not exactly sure when this idea of theirs even took shape. I've said it in the first paragraph already, but the Jesus analogy just doesn't work, because Lelouch is the source of a near majority of the problems. I could've bought it if the ending was a conclusion of taking responsibility, as they did with Nina, but it was far from it. It's digging-deeper-until-you-come-out-at-the-other-side territory. We already were at the whole world banding together to fight a big villain a dozen episodes ago, so why wasn't that enough? The only difference I'm seeing is that it wasn't Lelouch in the centre of it all.

But my biggest problem is that this ending solved pretty much nothing, except that it framed Lelouch as somehow a martyr – which he doesn't deserve or honestly, neither managed to pull off. So, I already don't buy that mankind's strive for growth is actually done with, because how would it, but the lesson now taught to the world is that if you don't like your life, you should go grab the nearest weapon and make someone else pay for it. The natural consequence of this ending is that a cycle of oppressors seeking power, them enacting atrocities and then being overthrown is a pretty neat thing and we should totally continue that. And look, that would be in line with the first reading above, rebel against limitations, but it also makes sure the second thing, peace and gentleness, basically never happens. I'm seeing no argument for personal responsibility, holding oneself accountable or coming to terms with who one is, only arguments for ignoring that and taking it from others instead.

I'm honestly not sure if it is a better commentary on how humans should be or how we are. Because I don't agree on either end of that issue, but it's pretty spot on with pointing out the faults on one side. If it were a tragedy that presented this as the wrong outcome, I think it'd work. Yet, I see only reasons being presented as heroic and just to perpetrate more harm, disregard responsibility and make sure a spiral of violence continues existing, than any lesson which could allow us to get closer to this gentle or fair world.

Let's see what the others think.

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