What?! He dies? Noooo!!

Spoiler warnings should never really expire either. It doesn’t matter how long something has been out. There is someone that hasn’t seen or read it. Most online communities have spoiler policies lasting several weeks or several months after a release, and that works fine for an contained group where it isn’t completely unreasonable to assume that most members have seen or read something. But for the general populace, it’s not good to assume anything. Case in point: Death Note is a huge franchise and many, many anime/manga fans have experienced it in one form or another by now. I watched the dub with several friends when it aired on [adultswim]. At the beginning of episode 25, one friend commented, “Oh, is this the episode where ******* ****?” Without thinking, she just gave away the biggest spoiler in the entire series ’cause she figured everyone already knew, right? Oh, snap, another friend had not followed Death Note prior to the dub’s broadcast. Experience thwarted! And apologies don’t erase that newfound, unwelcomed knowledge.

Especially with stories that are retold in a variety of medias, it’s impossible to guess who has read or seen what based on the fact that they’re a fan of such and such. The last Harry Potter book came out two years ago. Two years is a sufficient spoiler buffer for people who consider themselves fans, right? The book’s already been released in a majority of other languages too, so there’s no using that as an excuse either, right? No. There are still a ton of fans that only follow the movies (the misguided fools! The books are infinitely better, but movie fans are fans all the same), and the sixth movie doesn’t come out until next month. I can already hear the assholes driving by and yelling the popular spoiler at unsuspecting kids at midnight openings. Some people only read books or manga; some people only watch anime or movies. Don’t spoil something for someone by assuming they read and watch the same version of the series you did.

More recently, I was considering anibloggers who use Twitter to tweet briefly and semi-episodically about series they’re currently following, including myself. The tweets usually consist of vague exclamations in reaction to something that’s happening — presumably nothing spoileristic, but is what you think is a spoiler the same as what everyone else thinks is a spoiler? As noted, I’m currently rewatching Gundam Wing and I’m tweeting about it. Most are relatively harmless no matter how you look at them, but some of them, upon further reflection, could probably be taken as spoilers. Incredibly minor spoilers, but spoilers all the same.

The rest of this post contains minor spoilers of varying degree for Death Note, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Code Geass, and Gundam Wing, though as is the topic of discussion, some of them are debatable in their status as spoilers at all.

Are there universal guidelines for what is to be considered a spoiler? For Death Note, anyone who’s seen or read the series in its entirety can pretty much agree on what the one major spoiler is aside from the ending itself. It’s similar for the Half-Blood Prince. Both cases involve a death, but does that mean all deaths should count as spoilers? (Incidentally, is the fact that I’ve revealed that both cases involve deaths a spoiler in itself?)

Lelouch kills Clovis in the third episode of Code Geass. Clovis is an extremely minor character partially because he dies so early, but his death reveals very little to either Lelouch or the audience. Should Clovis’s death count as a spoiler? Honestly, the very premise of the series can imply Clovis’s death at Lelouch’s hands. Of course Clovis isn’t important enough to be mentioned in general summaries, but if you came into the series knowing that Lelouch intends to destroy Britannia, then you can pretty much guess that Clovis will be a target from the moment he’s introduced in the first episode. So if Clovis’s death isn’t a spoiler then, is it because the event takes place so close to the beginning of the series? Though Clovis is a much less important character, is his death like Yusuke’s death at the beginning of Yu Yu Hakusho or Goku’s death at the beginning of Dragonball Z?

But “close to the beginning” is also a tricky line to draw. Episode 8 of Gurren Lagann is highly spoileristic — is 8 of 27 not close enough to the beginning? Or does it count as a spoiler just because you can’t really see it coming like you could have for Clovis? Perhaps that’s what should define a spoiler then, something that you can’t see coming? In one of my GW tweets, I mention that in episode 7, Treize stages a huge coup de’tat . 7 of 49 is a bit better than 8 of 27 in terms of closeness to the beginning, but I can’t decide if the coup de’tat is something that you can “see coming,” especially considering how haphazardly paced the first dozen episodes in the series are. It’s also debatable as to whether the coup de’tat has a lot of lasting significance since the political factions of the series are also so turbulent.

There’s also the idea that spoilers don’t need to be confined to singular events — should character development and personality details be counted as spoilers too? Sure, if something in a character’s past is a big reveal (if you can’t see if coming), then it should count, but what about things like… the fact that Lady Une has a split personality? In the series, there is no “big reveal,” and even though you may not expect it, it isn’t very surprising. But still, should it count? It isn’t obvious until maybe episode 10, but I already can’t remember since I don’t find it to be that big a deal. Then again, if I hadn’t already seen all of GW, I might consider that a spoiler — I’m usually pretty high-strung about this kind of stuff.

Ahh! It's a spoiler! Run!

There are many degrees of spoilers, and I’m sure that what one person considers a spoiler might not be for someone else. For my paranoid self, I tend to avoid contact with anything discussing a series I’m interested in and haven’t seen yet. If I inadvertently take a look, I’m the master of skimming things quickly and not picking up more than I need, if anything at all. You can’t be too careful, after all. You only need to be spoiled once.

Note: You can use spoiler tags in the comments with <spoiler></spoiler>. Just kidding! o_O Beware spoilers in the comments! Woo!

(And for the record, this post is actually about 1200 words long. Darn.)

The final illustration drama is already supposed to address more of what happens after the ending, actually, but the new announcement makes it seem like they have something more up their sleeves. So what’ll it be? Another season? A summary-type movie/OAV? Side-stories or spin-offs? Prequel? SEED Supernova-style crack shorts?

I will accept all of above except the sequel option. I absolutely do not want a third season. Taniguchi, you bastard, you said this was the end of the story, and I’m going to hold you do it. :| I loved the ambiguity of the ending. I want to believe that Lelouch is dead. I don’t want a third season calling it either way, especially since he pretty much has to be alive for a third season because it’s his story. A third season wouldn’t work without him. I do not want to follow the adventures of C.C. and L.L. through the countryside. Seriously, do not want.

The other options seem more reasonable anyway since they all require less work. A summary-type condensed release seems like the most likely path to me. It would probably work like all the summary movies they did for Gundam SEED/Destiny, which I think did pretty okay (not sure though, and I’m too lazy to go look it up right now). Side-stories illustrating what the rest of the characters did after the series would be okay since they’d probably be short and wouldn’t require Lulu’s resurrection. A prequel would probably be the most interesting since there are still tons of holes left in the mythology and mystery of Geass, and we never did find out C.C.’s real name. To make up for her having to live forever, we could explore her past! Sounds good to me. I’d definitely be up for some crack shorts too. It wouldn’t be hard considering the series was some 50% crack anyway.

It’s more wait and see, I guess. I don’t know why I keep hoping that Sunrise doesn’t pull a Sunrise though. It’s like hoping for a Gundam series without giant robots and war.

Despite the fact that I’ve said that the nature of reviews is to be opinionated, I have a pressing need to consider all sides of everything and to present as fair an assessment as possible. Naturally, being fair while simultaneously trying to convey your own personal feelings about a series is difficult. Code Geass has been one of those series that remind me why I’m a fan of anime in general, so of course I’m biased, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the fact that there are a lot of things wrong with it. How to get both points across without being more verbose than I already am? It’s a huge challenge, and I’m still not sure if I like how the review turned out. I did the best I could though, and I guess that’s all I can do for now. I may revisit the review sometime in the future like I did with my review of the first season.

I rewatched the first live action Death Note movie with my roommate last night. Hopefully the second movie and the L movie will soon follow, and I’ll be able to write all three reviews.

So my first thought was this:

Then again, considering all of the madness that Sunrise has put on the Code Geass drama CDs and sound episodes and the over-the-top, blatant fanservice they put in magazines like Newtype, maybe this Geass-Pangya association is supposed to be taken with that same grain of salt. It isn’t like any of it is canon anyway. And I guess it really isn’t that hard to imagine that Ashford has a giant golf course tucked away somewhere that they take occasional field trips to, and Lelouch is really the only character that would fail hardcore at it anyway — I guess golf isn’t all that physically extraneous, but I still like to think he would fail utterly at it.

I wonder if they’ll give Suzaku some kind of mad hax golf ability. I wonder if there’s a golf course at Clovisland! I wonder if I would have noticed these sorts of weird anime-game hybrids earlier if I actually played games? Ah, well… I guess I don’t really have much else to say. This is just one of those passing WTF moments, which seems to happen way too often with Geass. Speaking of which, how about that R2 review huh? …Oh, right, haven’t written it yet. :X (Hattip: CG LJ comm)

It’s been hard to get Geass out of my head. Today is the first Sunday in months where I won’t have any new episodes to watch! (I can’t watch the new season of 00 until I finish the first season, lol…) As such, I’m going to take this time to write about product placement and hilariously overt advertising in anime. My friend Andres recently wrote about it in the context of video games and lamented the fact that the American audience has been so keen on rejecting it. And I’m with him — why are people so against the idea of advertisement in their entertainment?

Most people seem to be against this whole idea of “selling out” and doing things “just for the money.” I can understand and will agree with that sentiment for things that take away from the value of the product, such as making unplanned sequels to popular series. Forcing a franchise usually only ends up hurting the property, but I’ve never found advertising to be intrusive or annoying? How distracting is it, really, to have a Coke on the table and Toyotas driving in the street? How distracting is it, really, to have a guy drive down the highway and pass a Samsung billboard. Do you really even notice?

In Japan, Pizza Hut is (obviously) a huge sponsor for Code Geass, among other series. There is a Pizza Hut logo in virtually every episode, and it becomes like a weekly Easter egg hunt to find it. Because it’s pretty much the only advertisement/logo in the series, it becomes pretty hilarious — Pizza Hut supporting the rebellion has become the butt of many, many jokes, but is anyone really distracted by it? Does it take away from the rest of the series, which is occasionally very serious? (I’m pretty sure a Pizza Hut logo never appears simultaneously with a heart or brain-wrenching scene, though pizza itself sometimes does.) Most people would probably answer “no,” and I find it hard to imagine that anyone would ragequit or refuse to watch the series just because, oh god, Pizza Hut wants you to know that they paid for it! Some people have other reasons for disliking the series, but Pizza Hut probably had nothing to do with it.

Like that whole thing about musicians promoting anime, this type of relationship can only benefit both parties. Pizza Hut obviously benefits from on-show screentime, and undoubtedly gets a slice (haha, pun) of the commercials as well. Meanwhile, Code Geass graces thousands of pizza boxes across the country and has merchandise available through some kind of points system at the pizza place. Fans of the show are directed to Pizza Hut. Fans of Pizza Hut are directed towards the show. Everybody wins. I also think the fact that some cosplayers pretty much have to go to Pizza Hut to complete their costumes is hilarious, though even those who aren’t cosplaying C.C. will probably go grab some pizza because it’s just so funny.

I wasn’t surprised when Bandai edited out most of the Pizza Hut logos from the overseas release (I say most because, hey, Bandai! You missed a spot), but I really wonder what their reasoning was when they decided that. They “don’t have permission” from the Pizza Hut of the US to advertise on their behalf, but seriously… why would Pizza Hut say, “No! You can’t have our logo plastered all over your silly cartoon!” Is it because Code Geass is about terrorism? Why would anyone refuse free advertising? And now I kind of wonder — would Code Geass have done any better on [adultswim] if they had left the Pizza Hut logos intact? Like I said, it’s so ridiculously overt, it’s amusing, and I wonder if the general [as] audience would have appreciated that kind of silliness long enough to consider the rest of the show. Maybe they would have been indifferent, but I really don’t think it would have hurt the series in any way.

So yeah. I don’t understand why people shy away from product placement because it’s probably one of the least distracting forms of advertisement out there, even when it’s as prominent as the Pizza Hut/Code Geass case. Most examples aren’t nearly as over-the-top, so I don’t even know why there’s an argument. It’s a fact that companies need money to deliever a product. It’s a fact that advertisers already contribute most of the money, whether it’s via advertisements at the broadcast or whatever, so why shun product placement? The world we walk through is plastered with logos and adverts; if anything, wouldn’t it only add to realism if our entertainment is the same?

Sure, it’s commercialism, but we survive on commercialism.

He’s dead.

He’s dead. Seriously. But before I get to that, I want to talk about everything in the episode leading up to it.

I liked Kallen and Suzaku’s fight a lot, but I always like it when an entire series or two’s worth of animosity and rivalry accumulate in one final battle. It’s especially great in a series like this where the two characters have ended up completely switching sides, which re-emphasizes their foilistic nature. It’s really interesting from an audience’s point of view, because the typical viewer is probably biased towards Lelouch’s side. As such, they were used to hating on Suzaku and his MADHAX live-geass, etc, and come on — you totally cheered when prisoner!Kallen beat the shit out of him a few episodes ago. But who are you rooting for now? Kallen’s awesome, but Suzaku’s the one on Lelouch’s side now. Their conversation was a little lacking, but I did like the final question of right and wrong. That’s what everything comes down to in the end.

Anya versus Orenji-kun… I was kind of annoyed that Jeremiah ended up anti-geassing Anya. Of all the people he could have helped with that thing, Anya was probably the least important of them all. Nevermind that Marianne was using her as a vessel for her spirit — Anya herself really isn’t that important. Jeremiah could have been fighting anyone else or no one at all; the position was completely expendable. That he used it on such an unimportant character in the end makes the entire notion of the anti-geass superfluous as well. I’d grown rather fond of Shirley, but let’s face it, we could have survived without her subplot. Lelouch would have had to leave school eventually, and we never knew enough about the Geass Cult for it to matter much in the long run, so Shirley’s death just seems convenient in retrospect. So what has the anti-geass really accomplished? The death of a semi-minor character (slash one for the harem) and the memory restoration of a similarly semi-minor character.

With the geass itself as such a relevant central point, that the anti-geass — the ultimate weapon against the geass — is rendered so irrelevant is incredibly disappointing, especially when you consider all that it could have done. The thing that stands out the most for me is the fact that Jeremiah could have very easily cancelled Suzaku’s LIVE-HAX and subsequently stopped the first F.L.E.I.A. (according to Wikipedia, F.L.E.I.A. actually stands for something and isn’t just a gross misspelling by every single sub group!) from being detonated, thus stopping Nunnally’s “death.” Sure, sure, in the end, it was all to move plot along, and you could argue that Lelouch probably wouldn’t have thought to tell Jeremiah about the “live!”-geass if he even realized all the trouble it was causing, but alas… the potential…

Toudou, Xing-ke, and Tamaki all should have died. Seriously, Sunrise, what the fuck? I can live with Toudou’s survival, I suppose, just ’cause he was legitimately saved, but Xing-ke has been sentenced to death since day one — come on, “blessed with [Lelouch]‘s strategic ability and Suzaku’s strength … but not [with] time” remember? He’s mysteriously absent from Ougi and Viletta’s wedding photo later on, but I still wanted an explicit death. And Tamaki… I appreciate your retarded crack humor. I really do. But you were impaled and exploded. Please stay dead. The same goes for you, Guilford. And hell, I still don’t really accept that Sayoko and Nunnally should be alive. I know it’s Sunrise, but they were right in the middle of the explosion. No way for escape. F.L.E.I.A. ended up not being some weird transportation device, so seriously, how the fuck did they survive? Especially when that creepy Britannian woman (apparently) didn’t? And why was Sayoko horribly injured, but Nunnally was as pristine as ever? I can accept that Nunnally needed to have a fake death to push Lelouch forward, but it certainly could have been done in a more believable fashion.

Anyway. Lelouch’s conversation with Nunnally was really well done. The emotion on both sides was very clear and moving. It made me wonder about when exactly Lelouch geassed Schneizel though. The flashback in the other episode was wonderfully vague and seemed like a huge cop-out, but I think most flashbacks tailored in that fashion can’t help but feel like cop-outs. Was the entire Damocles plot Lelouch’s idea all along? Or did Schneizel pretty much have the exact same idea as Lelouch, and Lelouch just geassed him to make sure things went according to just one plan, his, instead of two? If the former is true and the whole “vessel of hatred” thing was only Lelouch’s idea, then is Nunnally really “thinking for [herself]” when she relayed that to her brother? Or even if Schneizel had also conceived the idea, is Nunnally really thinking for herself?

Either way, Lelouch’s belief that Nunnally had become autonomous was a brilliant way for Sunrise to justify his geassing her, and I completely accept it. Once he knew for sure that she would accept his final plan — that is, once he knew what he was doing was her true wish — he had no qualms about proceeding, and I really give the guy props for putting up his facade as quickly as he did. Walking away was probably the hardest thing he’d ever done, and he’s done a lot of hard things. It was an incredibly powerful scene, and I loved that Nunnally called him cruel because that comment was probably the cruelest thing she could have said. Yeah. Incredible scene.

Another semi-plothole though… why can’t Nunnally walk? It was established that the whole Marianne assassination was a sham and that neither Nunnally nor Lelouch were really present at all. As such, Nunnally’s blindness and the injuries to her legs were completely fabricated. So if she could overcome the blindness, then why not the leg injuries too? …Unless Charles was a huge asshole and shot up her legs for realz. I guess that wouldn’t be hard to believe.

The Zero Requiem. Honestly, the plan was probably one of the most predictable parts of the series because it certainly isn’t the first time this idea has come up. (Ironically, the second season of Gundam 00 begins airing in R2′s slot next week…) I contest the idea that focusing everyone’s hatred in one place and then getting rid of it is an effective means of peace. Sorry, Lulu, but I think things could have been much simpler if you had just played nice with the United Federation of Nations to begin with and made peace from there, especially if you already had Schneizel in your pocket. I understand that you wanted to erase Euphie’s “sins” from history and replace them with your own, but seriously, the book writers aren’t going to leave out an entire chapter about the Massacre Princess just because a few chapters later, there’s a whole long tirade about how horrible the 99th Emperor of Britannia was.

The idiocy of the idea didn’t really make its execution any less poignant and touching though. Even if it meant Suzaku was mad hax again. Oh, Sunrise. No body = no death, right? But seriously, that death scene was beautiful. I totally agree with my buddy Alexius: that death scene was pure, cinematic beauty. Everything about it was perfect, and for once, the flashback didn’t seem so contrived (well, except for the “lol Suzaku is alive!” part, but I think at this point, everyone has come to realize that zombies are completely acceptable). Even the overt homolust didn’t really ruin the moment for me (and undoubtedly, it enhanced the moment for hordes of fangirls), and I actually loved Lelouch’s last words to Suzaku. It is Suzaku’s punishment to have to live forever until his natural death, leading the world as a hero he never, never wanted to be. It’s also hopelessly ironic and symbolic — our two main foils living out each other’s roles. Suzaku had wanted to be the sacrifice. Lelouch had strove to be the hero. Ahh, I love shit like this. It’s so wonderfully tragic.

And poor Nunnally, seriously. The whole world is erupting in victorious chants of “Zero!” while she’s clutching her dead brother’s hand and wailing miserably. She’s right. It really isn’t fair. Poor Kallen too. I guess she gets to have Gino in the end, but her final realization is on the same level as Nunnally’s — “GODDAMNIT, LELOUCH!”

And finally… C.C. That final scene, along with Nunnally’s sudden flash of knowledge as Lelouch died, are the basis for most of the arguments that our beloved hero is indeed alive. I think it’s very interesting to invoke the title of the series, particularly the “Code Geass” part, but I don’t think enough was ever really revealed about geass for that argument to hold. It’s all speculation. I suppose it’s possible for Lelouch to take the Code of a person that didn’t give him his geass; after all, Charles had offered to take C.C.’s code, but whether or not that would allow him to retain his geass? Completely up in the air — absolutely no evidence for or against it. But Lelouch did not have a Code on his hand or anywhere else that we saw, so the easiest thing to do would be to assume that he did not get one and is thus not immortal.

Naturally, Sunrise being Sunrise, this proves nothing, but the fact remains that there is no concrete evidence for the idea that Lelouch obtained Charles’s Code. Except that flash of memory obtained by Nunnally. Honestly, I’d like to believe that that was just Nunnally’s sudden realization by her own intuition and deduction. She’s a smart girl — I don’t think it would have been that hard for her to come to the right conclusion given her impressions of both her brother and Suzaku previously. They didn’t need to show the specific jumble of flashbacks… though I also don’t think that that the visualization of the knowledge Nunnally received was in any way similar to the flashbacks we’d gotten from C.C., which had always detailed the World of C. The only instance where C.C. seemed to willingly transfer knowledge was at the beginning of R2, when she restored Lelouch’s memories, but that seemed more like Lelouch remembering on his own than C.C. giving him information.

I don’t buy the idea that the “R2″ of the series’ title is a reference to Lelouch. I agree that the name “Lelouch Lamperouge” is highly suspect, but his name is still in L’s, not R’s. Regardless of the Japanese’s inability to pronounce the “l” sound, the name of the character remains Lelouch, not Rurushu. Similarly, C.C. and V.V. are still spelt C.C. and V.V. despite being pronounced like “C2″ and “V2.” Of course, it’s always a possibility that Sunrise is trying to be roundabout and subtle.

The fact that Sunrise left everything up for lengthy discussions and interpertations, as evidenced by the literally hundreds of journal and blog entries that have surfaced since the episode aired less than two days ago, was incredibly smart of them. This pretty much lets everyone interpert the ending in a way that pleases them. The more people that like the ending, the better, eh? Doesn’t matter “which” ending they saw for themselves, as long as they like it. I alway love to hate these kinds of endings. On one hand, yeah, I have my view and it’s probably skewed by the fact that I prefer the tragedy and want Lelouch to be dead. On the other hand, that there’s so many ways to twist it so that it’s reasonable to think that he’s still alive… well, it bugs me that we’ll never know for sure either way.

C.C. wouldn’t have cried while praying in a church if she knew Lelouch would survive. Suzaku wouldn’t have cried from behind his mask if he had known Lelouch would survive. I believe that Jeremiah would have gone ahead with the plan anyway even if he had thought Lelouch would seriously die. If Nunnally really was glimpsing Lelouch’s memories when she touched him, then similarly, wouldn’t she also know that he would survive? There’s the possibility that none of them knew Lelouch would live, including Lelouch himself, and that he just happened to find C.C. later on for that cart scene, but if none of the involved people knew that Lelouch would live, then I think it would have been pretty difficult for him to sneak away into the night after his fatal wound magically healed itself.

Lelouch is dead. It would cheapen the entire plot too much if he were alive. C.C.’s comment about defying loneliness could still apply to Lelouch; after all, in death, he had the cooperation of his closest friend. He was not alone when he died. He’d been killed by the only person he would have accepted being killed by, and his sister held his hand as he drew his last breath. He was not lonely when he died. He had the Power of the Kings, and he was not alone. I suppose this leaves C.C. cheated out of her death, but there’s still something nice about her beginning the series as an immortal witch and ending the series as an immortal witch. At the very least, her perception of mankind has changed and she can probably find a little more happiness in her endless life. Maybe, when the time comes (because history inevitably repeats itself) in a few hundred or thousand years, she will take it upon herself to find a new Lelouch vi Brtiannia and start the cycle all over again.

Unless, of course, Sunrise is really just fucking with us after all and Code Geass R3: Spice and Wolf is announced in the coming weeks.

But do we really have to put up with this anymore?

The Anime Network and the FUNimation channel are still far from perfect, but they’re there. More and more, companies are embracing the digital distribution model. These alternatives aren’t really mainstream yet, and all the Narutards will probably stick with CN for a few more years, but things are starting to change. Where TV was once the easiest way for people to get their dosage of anime, they now have the likes of YouTube and Veoh, amongst hundreds and hundreds of torrents. More kids are looking online for their fix. With the way things are going, I really don’t think it’ll take long for all the online methods to become the norm and the “mainstream.” And then [as]‘s treatment of anime will no longer be tolerated.

Personally, once again citing my lack of an actual TV, I’ve been watching my dub Geass episodes online from [as]‘s website, but Moribito hasn’t gotten the same treatment. I’ve had it with [as] though. After Code Geass and R2′s dub run (if they make good on their promise to air R2), I think I’m just going to stick to the online things for anime. Sci-Fi’s airing of Gurren Lagann has been all right, but their four-five commercials per episode is frustrating as hell and their mispronunciation of the series in commercials for it is just embarassing. I guess after this final run, I really won’t have a reason to ever get a TV. Oh well. That’s just more money in my pocket for con merch, right? ;3

Anyway, sorry for the sloppiness of this post. I really should be packing.

The first season of Code Geass aired in a late-night slot in Japan. Thanks to its unexpected popularity though, R2 was upgraded to a prime-time slot. Drama ensues. You can read the details of it yourself, but it basically boils down to Taniguchi having to change, alter, or rewrite completely parts of the story because he had to deal with a new audience in a new timeslot. New elements were added in — /a/’s theory about Rolo has gained widespread acceptance in the few hours since it was formulated — and other elements were taken out, notably Kallen’s backstory and Suzaku’s funky connection with geass as seen in S1 episode 22.

Without knowing what we’re missing, it’s hard to decide whether those things were just supplemental storylines or if they were really supposed to be important, but honestly, considering the unfortunate mess of executive meddling, I think R2 has turned out pretty decent so far. I’ll save the long opinion for when the series finishes in five weeks, but yeah. Even though plenty of people have been ragging on it since it started, and even though I also subscribe to the near-universal belief that the first season was better, my general opinion of R2 is still positive. After all, the general themes seemed to have been preserved pretty well enough. There are a lot of parallels with the first season, such as the Shirley-centric episodes 12-14, followed by geass-centric episode 15, but those feel pretty natural too. And even though I would have loved for R2 to have picked up the second S1 left off, I think the flashback thing worked out okay. I mean, it isn’t horrible, anyway.

I also can’t decide if R2 has been more crack-filled than R1, and if it is, if that’s a consequence of this apparent not-as-planned-ness. Hmmm. Code Geass always did walk a thin line though.

I think Taniguchi has done a great job considering the circumstances, but I also think it’d be great if we could find out exactly what he had had planned originally. DVD extra? Magazine interview? Long letter to the fans? It’d definitely give greater insight into the inner workings of the series to see what was deemed critical enough to stay and what was tossed or changed. Code Geass is a complicated series as it is, but stuff like this makes for an even better discussion. I guess we’ll see what happens.

As for gg‘s cancellation, I’m not really sure how much of it was based on this revelation. A lot of people are calling it a hoax already. I’ve always liked Eclipse‘s release a bit better, but if anything, I’ll definitely miss their “Everything is FABULOUS~!” in the second OP.

Addendum: Oh, look. It was a joke after all. Figures.

But even though these instances are always highly amusing and full of lulz, and even though I usually participate myself, I kind of wonder about the effects of it all. Poll-sabotaging seems innocent enough, especially when compared to the sometimes very questionable activities of neighboring /b/, but polls are usually highly informative. There’s always a general public interest in the popularity rankings of characters, but I also can’t help but think that the companies that put out these polls intend to use their results for something. The BANDAI poll, for example, I wonder if they had wanted to use the results to decide what sort of merchandise to put out? Or what kind of character-centric extras to include with DVD releases? The Japanese poll could have had similar goals, though theirs might also expand to include possible characters to have in future voice actor radio shows and drama CD releases.

Do we really want merchandise with Clovis on it? Or of “NANI, MAI HANI” Miya? (That’s largely a rhetorical question.) Of course, I don’t think the companies behind the polls are stupid enough to think that Clovis or Miya are actually the most popular Code Geass characters — a quick glance around the Internet can easily pick out the real winners — but what’s the point of polling at all if all their attempts are thwarted by /a/tards’ quest for the lulz? There are still magazine polls, I guess, and it’d be much harder to coordinate a sabotage of those since they require much more effort to respond to. (That said, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it happened.)

We’ve clearly demonstrated the power of the swarm. We’ve done it over and over again. /b/ organizes DDOS attacks. /a/ breaks anime polls. We’ve gotten plenty of lulz. The series themselves provide us with plenty of lulz. Now what?

I dunno. I don’t really think I’m against the poll-sabotage (like I said, I often participate myself), but I guess sometimes, I’m actually really curious about real poll results, at least for the real rankings of characters that don’t make up the top five.

Is it just the fact of the mecha itself? I find that notion silly considering all the other just-as-awesome substitutes that other series use in place of actual giant robots. Ghost in the Shell, as previously noted, might sit on the borderline of the definition with their Tachikomas, which don’t look anything like your traditional humanoid robot and can either be autonomous or facilitate a human rider. But even beyond that, there are supernatural powers, fantasy-based powers, dragons and aliens, and other companions and tools that may do the same things as mecha. Besides, mecha designs fluctuate from series to series, and it isn’t as if the ones with similar designs are collectively more or less popular than the rest of their comrades.

These days, as the newer generation encourages an increase in the number of AU timeline series and a gradual departure from the traditional, UC timeline, the only real connecting thread between the various Gundam series is the mecha design. Almost all of them retain the characteristic head and the red, white, and blue color scheme for the main protagonist. But these various Gundam series definitely don’t maintain the same level of popularity; indeed, there seem to even be universally praised (08th MS Team) and universally scorned (Gundam SEED Destiny, at least critically) series, and very few fans seem to compare the actual designs of the mecha unless they’re just wildly, wildly different as was the case with G Gundam and SD Gundam.

So I don’t really think it’s the mecha itself, but does the presence of mecha encourage better storytelling somehow? Better character development? Those are the two most important factors of any series, and I tend to be somewhat critical in both areas if you’ve ever read any of my reviews. Do a higher proportion of mecha series have good plots and good characters? Mecha series, because of the very simple fact that mecha are weapons of mas destruction, are almost always about war, which kind of limits things. Then again, you can consider that because of this limitation, writers for mecha series may have to work harder to secure something that can be considered fresh or different. When almost all of your characters are teenagers and young adults, personality elements become more important; war also forces characters to give morals and ethics more thought, which definitely adds a dimension of depth that many other genres lack.

It’s the same with the story — war after war after war, there’s gotta be something about each one that sets it apart from others, right? The motivation for the war, the politics of war, and the role of leaders and soldiers all make for a complex story… So maybe it is the nature of mecha series to offer more complex storylines? Could that generalization be applied to any other genre? Would anyone consider that maybe shounen series need to “work harder” to stand out when they’re a dime a dozen? Most of the top shounen series share many of the same elements and don’t offer amazingly deep or profound though, so what about another genre? Fantasy? Supernatural? Cyberpunk? Actually, I can’t think of any other genre that has an near-universal generalized theme like mecha has war, so maybe we’re on to something?

Gurren Lagann doesn’t call its conflict a war, per se, and actually, the most appealing thing about the series isn’t its deep or complex story as much as it is its grand originality when it comes to what is considered “the enemy,” not to mention its unprecedented progression upwards in regards to scaling (lol, no pun intended?). So then the series doesn’t utilize the previously derived “advantage” of mecha series because its story and characters aren’t forced to be “deeper” because of war; really, there weren’t that many morals or ethics involved. Gurren Lagann might just be the exception though, and that isn’t that hard to believe. Certainly Gundam SEED and Code Geass take advantage of their wars and introduce rich, three-dimensional characters that provoke emotion and thought. These characters in turn enrich the plot of the war and revolution because in the end, story and character rely very heavily on one another.

Hmm… obviously none of this means that other genres don’t generate equally complex and deep stories and characters, but now I’m really starting to think that maybe mecha series (and maybe other war-themed series) have a slight advantage. Or in any case, it seems that this theme is attractive to me personally, and that’s reflected in my favorites’ list… A curious note though: none of my favorite manga feature mecha, so maybe those previous deductions are only applicable to anime? Probably because war and robot action don’t look as cool on static pages…