Watashi wa Zero, woof

Great episode, despite the plan being a bit far fetched and presumptuous, as well as a blatant ripoff of V for Vendetta. And FINA-FUCKING-LY Lulu manages to pull something off without Suzaku getting in the way, bonus that Lulu actually based the entire plan on the faggot’s personality. Although I can’t help but wonder how Lulu is going to get away with playing dumb when it comes to being Zero when he returns to Ashford, if he does, that is.

Suzaku, Anyo and Gino are forced to back off on their assault against Zero and the Order of the Black Knights after Lulu agrees to Nunnally’s will, that the Special Administrative Region of Japan be formed once again. When Lulu joins up with everyone else back inside the ship, it’s only Kaguya that comes to his embrace with full confidence behind his actions, everyone else, even Toudou, begin to have doubts concerning his plan. The general Eleven population is also concerned, thinking back to the first attempt to establish such a place and the scene it degenerated into at the hands of the Euphy the Genocide Princess.

Meanwhile, Suzaku continues to mull over Zero’s decision, trying to understand the reasoning behind it and tie it to Lulu, thinking back to his actions in the past, Euphy’s murder and his order to him to “live on”. Lulu is also busy preparing something, making calls to Diethard who is hiding out in the Chinese Federation.

Elsewhere, at the Dallas Laboratory, we catch a glimpse of Nina’s work, serving under Prince Schneizel, who has just returned from making peace with Paris. Nina argues that it would have been faster just to conquer them, but the prince wisely states that defeat is all that waits one who wins all the time. We’re also shown that Nina owes her current research position to the devotion she showed towards Euphy, willing to take action against Zero to avenge her, even at the cost of her life.

Later that night, after training, Suzaku has a talk with Anya after she bails him out of having to sign the execution orders of a man who attacked him. She wonders if he’s a masochist, coming to Area 11 knowing that he’d be criticized no matter where he went as one who betrayed the Japanese to the Elevens, and one who rose up from the numbers to a member of the Rounds to the Britannians. Suzaku then admits his sins and says he doesn’t care what people think of him at this point, comforted knowing that someone once understood him in the past.

Afterwards, the two are called to a meeting where Zero will address a panel consisting of Suzaku, Anya, Gino, Cecile, Lloyd and Nunnally’s secretary. He informs them that he will bring a crowd of over one million people to participate in Nunnally’s Japan, but in exchange he ask that Zero be exiled from the area, and not killed. With his terms accepted, Lulu goes to a mourning site to pay his respects to Euphy, cutting off his ties with Area 11.

The day of the ceremony for the Special Administrative Region of Japan finally arrives and just as promised, over a million Elevens show up to participate. In the midst of Nunnally’s speech, Zero appears on screen, an address that everyone was anxiously awaiting. Refusing Suzaku’s offer to be escorted personally out of the area, Lulu instead asks him what it means to be Japanese, to which he responds “heart”, exactly the answer Lulu was hoping for, as long as one possesses awareness and pride, they’ll be Japanese regardless of where they reside.

With that, a smokescreen falls over the crowd, the Britannians awaiting the smoke to clear to quell the revolt. But when the smoke clears, what stares them back is a crowd of over a million all dressed as Zero, who calmly walk away from the ceremony, enacting Nunnally’s exile order, the Britannians powerless to stop them since Zero’s identity is not known to them, so by the letter of the law, all million+ of them are subject to exile. The military wants to open fire on the crowd, but Suzaku stops them, conceding that there’s nothing they can do to stop what is in motion.

Shortly afterwards, a large glacier ship comes to pick up the million Zero’s in disguise, ferrying them away to the Chinese Federation, all under the watchful eye of Li Xingke. In the aftermath, Suzaku stands amidst the deserted field, knowing that he made the right decision, a decision that saved over a million lives and Nunnally’s reputation, but well aware that he would go unthanked…

Thoughts

Really great plan on Lulu’s part, putting the Britannians in the “damned if they do and damned if they don’t” position. Had they opened fire on the crowd, they’d have yet another massacre on their hands, one that wouldn’t be so easily explained by a single person’s action this time around. However, letting them go means the loss of a workforce of one million people, that’s going to be a heavy blow to deal with for Area 11, as there can be no royalty without working class people to serve them. And they couldn’t forcefully detain them either, that would only leave them with an unruly workforce, which is perhaps worse than no workforce at all, since they would continue to consume resources.

Their are certain fundamental flaws in the plan though, which were exploited by Lulu, but stupidly not caught by the Britannians. How can you exile a person whose identity you don’t even know?! If Zero were truly willing to accept exile, they should have forced him to reveal his identity, what guarantee would there be that he couldn’t just waltz back in after the fact, rename himself “One” and continue along his merry way. Exiling a symbol is stupid, it makes no sense, Lulu knew this and had to pray that he wasn’t called out on it. I also didn’t like the fact that he chanced his entire plan on the presumption that Suzaku wouldn’t issue the firing order, I’m not entirely sure that Suzaku’s personality would ensure such a decision.

Personally, from a purely political stance, I would have ordered to open fire. While not a physical rebellion, the actions of the crowd defy authority and constitute a silent rebellion. Also, the loss of the workforce was guaranteed at that point, so why risk the uprising of an army of million in its stead. And unlike the last time, conscious action by the crowd was taken, so in that sense returning fire would be more justified this time around.

Anyways, enough on plot analysis.

It was great fun watching Villetta having to act as Lulu’s bitch. I don’t know why, but I’ve never liked her. I would like to see some back story on what happened after she regained her memory and left Ougi to rejoin the Britannians though.

I’d also like to know what the deal behind Li is, and by extension, the Chinese Federation in general. They’re plotting something of their own, there’s no doubt about that, and it must align at least somewhat with Zero’s plans, since they’re working in collaboration. Li is a wild card though, he killed the ambassador before, but never really revealed if it were for personal gain or in loyalty to higher powers. Whatever he’s plotting, seems like he has a death timer going against him, which makes me think he’s on a crusade of moral righteousness rather than power, since the latter is pretty useless when dead.

Kaguya-samaaaa <3

What an awesome waifu, faithfully standing by Lulu’s side, knowing not to question his methods based on past results, unlike Toudou and the gang, who began to doubt. Not to mention that she’s the queen of lolis and isn’t entirely against the notion of polygamy.

No preview this week, seeing as next week there will be no airing of Code Geass, a report on Akiba taking its place for the week. Shitsux.

Random Anya shot, just because. A cat is fine too.

~ Shirukii ~