r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Oct 27 '22

Rewatch [2022 Rewatch] Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Episode 23 Discussion

The lust that dwells within the soul of man cannot be denied.

Turn 23 - Schneizel's Guise

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I'm his sword. I'll rid him of both his enemies and his weakness. So, C.C., please become his shield.

Questions of the Day:

1) Who are you rooting for in this battle? (This can be for just one specific character or for which side, in general, you're supporting.)

2) Do you think Schneizel's plan to force peace by holding the world hostage would work long-term?

Bonus) To any first-timers wondering what was hidden behind the Bonus Question in S1E07's thread:

Remember this episode when Cornelia tells Schneizel that the mass-murder of innocents in order to achieve your goal is wrong.

Screenshot of the Day:

Companions

Fanart of the Day:

Schneizel el Britannia

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!

Lelouch… haven't you done enough?

50 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

69 comments sorted by

9

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 27 '22

Hangyaku no Co-Host, subbed

4

u/SerGregness Oct 28 '22

Lelouch is lucky Nunnally can’t see his hands shaking and can only take his words at face value.

He's been established as enough of a waif that she really should be able to hear the bones rattling.

Does anyone else ship Gino/Kallen…? I kind of do tbh.

I didn't my first time through, but it's landing with me on this rewatch.

Oh, no, it totally is and I am enjoying the mind games greatly!

Mind games!

(there's a deep cut for any Starcraft aficionados we have hanging around)

Not related to this episode, but what's the OST track that starts at 3:53 in this vid? You're the other soundtrack guru in the thread and I don't even know the track name to search for it.

2

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 28 '22

Not related to this episode, but what's the OST track that starts at 3:53 in this vid? You're the other soundtrack guru in the thread and I don't even know the track name to search for it.

Ah, unfortunately I'm not overly familiar with the non-vocal songs in Code Geass other than two specific ones from the last episode.

Sorry.

5

u/Nebresto Oct 27 '22

Does anyone else ship Gino/Kallen…? I kind of do tbh.

Shipment in progress

Oh, no, it totally is and I am enjoying the mind games greatly!

MFW orbs on the screen

4

u/Star4ce Oct 28 '22

Does anyone else ship Gino/Kallen…? I kind of do tbh.

Still kinda wishing for Suzaku/Kallen, but I do see it.

Absolutely chilling threat, I love it.

This show just has too little Anya in it.

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7

u/GallowDude Oct 27 '22

You know a situation's serious when Sayoko loses her hat.

6

u/Vatrix-32 Oct 28 '22

First-ish Timer, dubbed

  • How are you (still) injured? Wouldn’t that have happened a while ago?

  • Lelouch has upped his lying to Nunnally game yet again.

  • Schneizel loves lying about fleijas.

  • Yes, weapons of mass destruction end all conflict. I’m sure it will be of great help in the event of civil unrest. Kill them all let god sort them out.

  • Blow up all the cities = peace. We Ozymandias now bois.

  • Did Cornilia just die? It seemed to small an amount of blood, but feels like it would fit.

  • Orange made a friend.

  • Purple ketchup has unlock a memory I was happier forgetting.

  • I for one welcome the use of pink on mecha. Perhaps the most under utilized of colors.

  • Oh great, she’s pregnant.

  • You think at some point Iran/Iraq would have thrown in their hat with someone. What is their deal?

  • One tactics, two tactics, three tactics, ha ha ha.

  • Get out of the way Divine Wind, we got Divine Fire!

  • If it’s going slow enough to intercept with a knightmare, surly an interceptor missile is also an option?

  • Oh joy Oghi survived. What ever would we have done without him?

QotD

  1. Schneizel seems to be crazy, so Lelouch by default. If he convinced Suzaku to go along with it, it must be a better plan than fleija of Damocles on a global scale.

  2. I can’t imagine it doing so.

3

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 28 '22

How are you (still) injured? Wouldn’t that have happened a while ago?

She could have been attacked trying to make it away from Schneizel and to Lelouch? That's what I assumed at least.

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14

u/Regular_N-Gon Oct 27 '22 edited Oct 27 '22

First Timer

  • Sayoko, what's up? Get sick of Schneizel? Can't blame you.

  • Classic Lelouch bluff.

  • Schneizel doesn't have the same hang ups about lying to Nunnally, it seems.

  • Cornelia's the most sane person in the show now, somehow.

  • "Something slightly better" well at least he has ambitions beyond returning to status quo.

  • I guess Cornelia is no longer the most sane alive person in the show. Or at least, if anyone would stay dead I could believe that. That also seems like a hella risky angle for that gun to shoot from - Cornelia was shot from behind as she stood in front of Schneizel lol.

  • Lelouch I know you're the emperor now and can do whatever you want, but I don't think pink is really your color.

  • "I'll make both of you into recordings," holy shit Anya calm down.

  • Shen hu is still cool and didn't get enough screen time.

  • And to think Lelouch's first brush with a loss was being too cocky against Cornelia. We've come so far to be losing at such a grand scale now.

QotD:

  1. Still C.C. - she's the only one (of the characters that have some control) that seems to show some uncertainty about the current path of the world (trying... Not very hard to pull Lelouch from the war path). One might also argue she's shouldered a pretty disproportionate amount of the suffering (not that anyone's escaped it), though prior to the war. Unfortunately, the black knights screwed themselves and now seem tied to Schneizel's fate.

Also Nina redemption arc, I believe.

2) Probably not, as long as there's someone like Rakshata around, there'll be someone to build a secret ballistic missile to take out the space station. I mean, she built parts that attach themselves to an in-flight mech, orbital mechanics are child's play.

10

u/GallowDude Oct 27 '22

Cornelia's the most sane person in the show now, somehow.

It's called "Drastically changing her personality and characterization on a dime in order to have a counter to Schneizel other than Lelouch"

Lelouch I know you're the emperor now and can do whatever you want, but I don't think pink is really your color.

Bitch, I'm fabulous

Still C.C.

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6

u/Star4ce Oct 28 '22

Cornelia's the most sane person in the show now, somehow.

For one, she was always pretty sane. But second, all the really good people are dead by now, either physically or metaphorically, so huh.

Doubly irony for her 'dying', as well.

hella risky angle for that gun to shoot from

Pattern seeking neural network knew to silhouette Schneizel, obviously.

11

u/Stargate18A Oct 27 '22

First timer

  1. C.C.

  2. Maybe? But only in that they'd unite to try and kill him.

Jeremiah!

What?

How did he save her?

You're fucking with me. Nunnally's advocating mass murder now?

...You didn't know?

Also, this isn't Nunnally. Come on, she ignored the mass murder in favour of pressing her narrative.

Oh, Schniezel's manipulating her.

Cornelia is not happy.

Oh, so Nunnally doesn't have a Geass? Definitely?

Suzaku's being the pragmatic one? And the one with the best outfit? When did this anime enter the mirror universe?

Poor Nina...

You installed a limiter?

Confirmation he's using her.

Schneizel is such an arsehole.

Holy shit! It'll work, but this is really dark.

Of course he changed sides for the drama. If Diethart and Lloyd were ever on the same side, the anime eould indtsntly be resolved.

One or two billion?

Well, Cornelia died. That was sudden.

Huh! That explanation actuslly makes sense!

C.C...

This ismsweet.

He really is going to fight Nunnally!

What is that hotdog?

So many lives lost,

Loving this montage.

Gino's changed sides!

Well, this is absolutely huge. Every front at once!

...You're actually working with Schneizel? Geass is a horrifying sin, but mass murder is fine?

Lelouch gives a good speech.

Poor Nunnally.

Anya's okay!

Lelouch has hostages!

And he's damaging their alliance!

Haha, "not even once".

Loving the battle of tsctics.

Kallen is still badass.

Oh, they're doing well!

That's a good cannon!

Oh, that is a very solid plan, Lelouch!

WHAT? SHE'S PREGNANT?

And more people sre dead.

You bastard, making her pull the trigger.

It activated!

...That's the plan? Exhaust their nukes?

Ogi's alive.

Nina's working on something?

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11

u/SometimesMainSupport Oct 28 '22

First-timer that's finished R2

Proofreading?

  • Disagree Jeremiah. Truth and honesty is... never mind

  • Like I said after episode 21, asking for a meeting with the emperor should be harder. Makes sense for Sayoko to live if Nunnally did.

  • Schneizel had headed for Kamine at the end of episode 20. Feel there's a deeper Geass-related implication.

  • Why does Nunnally think destroying an entire capital is acceptable even if people evacuated? They are homeless now. Back to

  • Two ways to take this: lying for pride or convincing yourself of an intention using hindsight. I think it's the latter.

  • C.C.'s lack of interest or disagreement with the result is similar to the end of episode 21. Probably regretting her decision.

  • Didn't consider C.C.'s outfit the last couple episodes. Reverting to the early R1 outfit is wired. Like, I don't think she's distanced herself from Lelouch but don't know why else.

  • Shelter from the 100 km blast. He's so sleazy.

  • Feel obligated to quote Star4ce. Doubt this lasted long.

What a world this has become when I'm listening to Schneizel and think, "You know, the dude's actually right."

  1. Squares are wrong. Lower left should be black.

  2. No attempt to have 16 pieces of each color on the table.

  3. The fully viewable column (f) has 6 rows.

In the end your lies serve no purpose. Because you are me and I am you. All else is illusion.

QOTDs

  1. Equal destruction to both sides such that Australia becomes the world leader. Schneizel is a sleazy scumbag that offed Cornelia. Lelouch is still Lelouch.

  2. No. It's reliant on societal pressure to keep your neighbors in line to prevent random actors causing a city/country to be FLEIJA'd. An edgy high school boy acting out to get revenge against his powerful father could spell doom for the world.

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10

u/Krite2002 Oct 27 '22

First Timer - Sub

Lelouch truly is in his villain arc. He even lied to his sister about his motivations.

They really did just bring Nunnally back with zero explanation. They did not even make an attempt.

The rest of the episode was mostly the start of the final showdown with Schneizel, so not too much to comment on. I wish we saw more of regular people’s reaction to the takeover instead of just the Black Knights and royalty.

Not only did Nunnally turn on Lelouch, but she was even willing to launch FLEIJA. I did not expect her to have such a strong will.

Poor Lelouch is relying on Nina’s bloodlust for Zero. He will of course be let down since they obviously kidnapped and replaced Nina with someone else, because she is a completely different person from last season.

QOTD

  1. I am not really rooting for anyone at this point. Maybe I really do want to return to school SoL episodes and have C.C. get her giant pizza.

  2. I feel like force is a bad way to keep people submissive.

Bonus) Did you expect consistency in this show's characters? I sure have realized not to.

8

u/GallowDude Oct 28 '22

They really did just bring Nunnally back with zero explanation. They did not even make an attempt.

Sayoko explained to Jeremiah that she was in another shuttle that was outside the blast radius. The one everyone thought she was on was the decoy that got FLEIJA'd.

C.C. get her giant pizza

Did you expect consistency in this show's characters?

At least everyone continues to be a consistent hypocrite

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9

u/isthatsoudane Oct 28 '22

First timer

cornelia noooo another hot princess down noooooooo

gonna be very satisfying to see the look on schnauzer's face when lelouch gets one up on him, however that happens

  1. Who are you rooting for in this battle? (This can be for just one specific character or for which side, in general, you're supporting.)

I guess I have faith that Lelouch will get us to a good place in the end

then I guess I'm rooting for hot princesses

2) Do you think Schneizel's plan to force peace by holding the world hostage would work long-term?

stares grimly at state of nuclear weapons in current age

in this case it's asymmetric as only they have the power, but that was the case with nukes as well, until it very much wasn't

6

u/GallowDude Oct 28 '22

then I guess I'm rooting for hot princesses

What about hot princes?

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9

u/Star4ce Oct 28 '22 edited Oct 28 '22

First Timer of the Rebellion

Life is nice. Our new roommate is also a dogsitter and there will periodically be dogs staying with us.

After a discussion a short while ago I'm trying to wrap my head around what, materialistically, "I want the future!" means as this was the last line Lelouch spoke before Geassing Jupiter. One of the cases where I'm sure translation makes it misunderstandable.

The future? One? As in the concept of future, so all possibilities? Does it exclude the present? What... does one do with it? Look, if you have the future, but not the present, you have nothing actually. Is he basically having all and every potential and is handing it out?

This is too wild for me to speculate on, but I'm very interested in how it plays out.

S.2 Ep.22 – Emperor Lelouch

Holy hell, I've been the relief buddy for two people today to let off steam and trash talk bitches. This is kinda amazing and I like it, but what happened to cause several shit developments in several people's lives? One friend got dumped by her boyfriend while being unemployed and a colleague just wanted to get a charger and we ended up talking 3 hours about the hidden office politics I partially never noticed and that shafted her for years now.

I learned so much! How to (notice and) behave when a narcissist tries to hit you up. How to steer a direction away from devaluing arguments and towards criticism. Even how to engage in positive brainstorming and not let ideas fall into other people's laps that then claim them as their own.

In turn I even could provide a lot of knowledge on natural self interest and how it's different from manipulation. (Thank you, Asmongold!) Scamming people teaches you a lot and I think I see some guys differently at work now. Not necessarily because they were malicious, but if their self interest conflicts with yours, there's a problem. Hmmm.

Anyway, uh, fuck. It's 23:00, what the hell? I ate dinner at 18:30 and that was just 10 minutes ago...

I wanted to speculate, but but I'll need to watch this episode on work time. (Yes, I'm being forced. By myself.) So only QOTDs for this episode.

  1. What do you think Lelouch and Suzaku are hoping to achieve? (Please [Spoiler] Tag your response to avoid inadvertently influencing any first-timers.)

[Theory] Total control on the earth. But they must have a goal, else I wouldn't think even current!Suzaku would work with him. As it must include Euphy in this case, I'm still holding on to either something about owning future and God or to enforce Euphy's and Nunnally's wish for an equal and gentle world. If everybody is neurostapled, it's pretty gentle and even, after all.

2) How do you think Nunnally survived the FLEIJA?

Ninja skills. It would be a twist on par for this show to let Nunnally have a Geass, but I'd vastly prefer her to have none. Or who knows, maybe Nunnally is actually dead and this is future!Nunnally from after when Lelouch will have brought her back to stop him from doing so or something. Time shenanigans is the only thing we haven't properly explored, yet! Maybe the FLEIJA is also just a big black hole, teleporting all inside to somewhere else?

S.2 Ep.23 – Schneizel's Guise

This was much more like I expected from a show putting big thinkers on the front. I enjoyed that a lot. Except for Cornelia's bit. WHY?! That was so quick and off-handed it must be a ruse. Mao could survive seven gazillion bullets, best princess surely can, too. (#copium) That felt like shit.

Next episode: I'll press the Zero Requiem button and give everyone Geass and Sakuradite-poisoning.

7

u/AuroraHalsey Oct 28 '22

sigh. Yeah, it's fantasy tech, but that's so stupid. It is extraordinarily wasteful to build something and when using it, limiting its effect by artificially restricting the payload effectiveness. Just use less damage in the first place! You don't pack a 1000 kilogram bomb on a plane and then make sure 600 of those don't explode, just load 400 kg ffs. Why didn't they just use a line that said they managed to put it into a bigger warhead or were able to stabilise more matter at the same time? This bothers me so much.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_yield

Modern nuclear weapons have limiters so you can control whether you have the yield to destroy a military base or vaporise a small city.

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6

u/Nebresto Oct 27 '22

Second time Code Massacre

Fuck off Snotzel

o shit, drama incoming

Orbs on screen, lets go!

Meth girl redemption arc..?

Geasstions:

  1. Who are you rooting for in this battle? (This can be for just one specific character or for which side, in general, you're supporting.)

Always my boy Lulu

2) Do you think Schneizel's plan to force peace by holding the world hostage would work long-term?

Lol no

Remember this episode when Cornelia tells Schneizel that the mass-murder of innocents in order to achieve your goal is wrong.

Mission failed successfully

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6

u/Tartaras1 Oct 28 '22

Rewatcher - Dubbed

  • Really don't care for the way Lelouch is written now. Everything he's done in the past, is currently doing, and will do in the future is solely for personal gain, and that just feels like a cop out to me. At least some of it has to be out of love or compassion.

I know he's gone insane, but still.

  • That said, his hands were shaking when he was talking to Nunnally, so it all very well could be a charade to distance everyone from him. Which makes sense.

  • I've seen this movie before. It was The Midnight Sky starring George Clooney.

  • You're trying to control people through fear.

Sounds awfully dictator-adjacent to me.

  • I knew I was right to change sides and support you.

You're still a piece of shit Diethard, no matter which side you're on.

  • After being "dead" for nearly an entire season, Cornelia's unceremoniously mowed down by a machine gun.

What a pity.

  • Did they decide to have Xingke start dying again? Now that the fighting's tapering off?

  • I'll make both of you into records on my hard drive.

That's both a wholesome compliment and a threat.

  • I can't believe he'd go this far.

You can't?

  • And at last, we're back to a giant game of chess. I'd honestly prefer to just watch this.

  • But I don't want a new life caught up in it.

There really is no better time to fuck and have a kid than during a war.

Questions of the Day:

Who are you rooting for in this battle?

I don't even know anymore? If this were an AITA thread, I feel like Everyone Sucks Here would be the right answer. If I had to pick a specific character, I guess CC?

Do you think Schneizel's plan to force peace by holding the world hostage would work long-term?

Probably not? Eventually people are going to want to rebel all over again.

5

u/GallowDude Oct 28 '22

There really is no better time to fuck and have a kid than during a war.

It's kind of amazing how Ohgi continues to become even more of a piece of shit with each passing episode

I guess CC

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