Code Geass R2 10, a return to unexplained battle tactics

June 15th, 2008 by Shirukii

KA…ME…HA…ME…HAAAAA

First of all, with regards to the severe lack of posting of late, there are a lot of reasons I could offer, but the end result is that I’ve been neglecting my duties, and for that I apologize.

Quite the awesome episode this week’s Code Geass R2, which was to be expected given the caliber of last week’s lead up. And yet, I find myself annoyed that Code Geass has once again returned to its pattern of leaving the viewers in the dark as far as battle tactics go. More on that in the “Thoughts” section…

Using the ongoing coup d’etat to strike, Lulu swoops in and kidnaps Tian Zi, much to the dismay of Xing Ke. The first prince and Schneizel are quick to flee when given an opening, while Lulu’s escape is covered by Toudou in his new Zangetsu knightmare, and escorted by Kallen.

Suzaku is quick to arrive on scene in Lancelot, engaging Toudou one on one, each with their respective tricks to play in the midst of battle, Zangetsu being protected by the same radiation shield equipped on Guren and Lancelot’s Yggdrasil driver output stronger than ever. The battle ends in a stalemate with Toudou taking some light damage but managing to clip Suzaku’s flotation device before having to retreat.

Afterwards, Lulu tries to negotiate with Tian Zi, talking of the promise of freedom and the underhanded tactics of the Britannians, but quickly realizes that talks of reasoning and morals are useless and leaves her in Kaguya’s care.

Meanwhile, the pursuit force of the Chinese Federation catches up with the OotBK, only to be wiped out immediately, ambushed by a three pronged pincer attack. Having predicted the outcome, the Chinese Federation give Xing Ke a chance to redeem himself, giving him control of the army with orders to retrieve Tian Zi.

Along with control of the army, the Chinese Federation lend Xing Ke a powerful knightmare, whose strength is on par with the Guren: Shen Hu. Halting the OotBK’s convoy, Xing Ke’s Shen Hu draws Kallen’s Guren into battle, their respective Baryon and Radiation Surge cannons matched in power. However, victory goes to Shen Hu when Guren’s power supply runs out, having been partially depleted from supporting the kidnapping of Tian Zi, Kallen being taken hostage in defeat.

Lulu is now faced with a difficult decision, to turn and fight the Federation, risking annihilation, or retreating to rendezvous with their Indian supporters. Diethard suggests the latter, reasoning that fighting here would be reckless and a display of love fueled irrationality, however, the rest of the OotBK seem to think that leaving their ace pilot in enemy hands is far worse. And so, they fight, charging ahead in three platoons, they meet the enemy head on, Toudou occupying Xing Ke’s attention in place of Kallen.

Despite Lulu’s superior knightmares and battle formation, the tide of the battle goes in favor of the Chinese when Xing Ke floods the area, causing the OotBK’s knightmares to sink into the muddy ground. Xing Ke’s victory seems inevitable, all that remains is the question of whether his health will hold out for long enough. While Lulu acknowledges Xing Ke’s skill and battle tactics, he’s not without a few tricks of his own, firing two massive Radiation Surge cannons mounted on the Ikaruge, wiping out numerous Federation knightmares and damaging their mothership.

Afterwards, they retreat to the grave of one of the previous Tian Zi for their final stand. Not only is is a psychological barrier for the enemy to attack such a sacred place, the terrain makes it such that their assault will bottleneck in the path of Ikaruga’s cannons. However, three unexpected guests join the fray on the Federation’s side: Anya, Gino and Suzaku offering their support against the OotBK.

The episode ends with news broadcasts around the world showing a Britannian bias account of the events in the Chinese Federation and the bold announcement that Zero’s end is inevitable. Even more shocking than that though, is a shot of Lelouch at Ashford as the rest of the studen council watches this unfold on TV. What. The. Fuck? Did I miss something?

Thoughts

While this episode was fun to watch, it brought back one of the major gripes I have with Code Geass, and that’s its reliance on deus ex machina battle tactics. What I mean by that is that everything that unfolds in battle seems to be pulled out of thin air from the perspective of the viewer.

If you recall the first episode of CG R2, we see everyone setting up explosive charges on the frame of the building that Lulu then used to crush the Britannian force in waiting outside. THAT is good exposition of battle tactics, we see the setup, and while we may not know exactly what’s going on at the time, we can wager a guess and when the plan is carried out, the “OSHI-” factor is that much greater because it makes sense!

Now compare that to this episode which had Lulu’s troops conveniently positioned in place for a three way pincer attack, a “sigma formation” which we have never heard of before, and the sudden flooding of the battle field that just happened to deposit water underneath OotBK’s troops while the Federation’s. Sure it was cool to see the chaos unfold, but imagine how much more epic it could have been if we had a scene of Lulu and Xing Ke both sprawled out over topographical maps of the area, trying to figure out ideal troop position. Instead we had to blindly accept that they both had the time to devise this plan and sit back watching the “JUST AS PLANNED” “LOL, NO U!” fly back and forth.

But anyways, enough of that, it’s not the first time this has happened and it definitely won’t be the last, I guess it’s just something I’ll have to come to terms with, or continue to bitch about…most likely the latter.

More than anything, this episode was a display of Xing Ke’s prowess as a tactician and a fighter, and in that sense he’s even more hax than Lulu or Suzaku, more like a mash up of the two. He managed to foresee a step ahead of Lulu in terms of battle strategy and defeated Kallen in one on one combat, keep in mind that the former is because of his familiarity with the terrain and the latter because Kallen ran out of power, but his feats are impressive nonetheless. Luckily, his hax is balanced out by terminal illness and he’s not a moralfag like Suzaku, fighting for the sake of the Tian Zi instead. I like him.

In terms of relationship development, we got some interesting insights this episode. Lulu risks being wiped out to save Kallen, his weak rationalization that the Indians might betray them is a load of crap, he wants Kallen back. Now whether it’s because he knows that she’s an indispensable tool in his plans and doesn’t want to lose his best pilot, or whether it’s because he has romantic feelings for her is up in the air, as it will be for the rest of the season.

On that note, Diethard’s reasoning for retreat was kinda iffy as well, while it could be interpreted as a crusade of love, I don’t think the OotBK would have questioned Lulu’s decision either way. Retreating was the most tactically sound option, however, attacking for the sake of recovering a comrade, while reckless, is no basis for loss of confidence, rather, it might inspire more, showing that Zero isn’t so heartless that he would abandon his subordinates.

C.C.’s reaction was also quite interesting, smiling at Lulu’s decision to turn and rescue Kallen. She’s probably torn between the jealousy of seeing him risk it all for her sake and the reassurance that his personality hasn’t turned him into such a blackened soul that he would leave her for dead.

Next episode looks to be another action filled one, being the OotBK’s final stand before the Chinese Federation and all. Lulu worries that this might be his end, but only 10 episodes in, that’s hardly likely. I can’t wait to see what he pulls out of his ass to get out of this one.

You wake up and find a scared loli on your bed, what do you do?

~ Shirukii ~

Post Script: Again, sorry about the lack of updates recently. As the few of you who actually read them may have noticed, I’ve dropped blogging Soul Eater. While the plot has picked up in the last few episodes, I just can’t bring myself to write about it because I end up seeing the same set pieces repeating themselves in my entries. Kurenai, on the other hand, has -NOT- been dropped, I just missed blogging it this week due to time constraints, posting will resume on episode 11.


23 Responses to “Code Geass R2 10, a return to unexplained battle tactics”

  1. on 15 Jun 2008 at 5:52 pm1 totali

    So much cheeze-kun! fap fap fap

    During the early fight against Suzaku, I was almost expecting a “Are your defenses secure? I asked if your defenses were secure!” PEWPEWPEWPEWPWEPWEW

  2. on 15 Jun 2008 at 6:21 pm2 Vadigor

    Dammit I forgot all about the episode. Now I want to see it but I also need to sleep….options options.

  3. on 15 Jun 2008 at 7:19 pm3 Vadigor

    Hmm interesting episode, as indeed it had to be considering last weeks episode, but now we’re left with another cliffhanger/what the hell will he pull out of thin air next-feeling.

    I agree that we could use a bit more set-up for these deus ex machina tactics with the tide of battle constantly shifting from one side to the other. The flooding of the battlefield with Lulu and Xingke trying to outthink eachother reminded me of a certain finale from Death Note… >_>

    http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/4/5/13/biankita/f_geass0602m_85c98a9.jpg
    “That guy who’s at least 20 years older than you must be your fated partner!” Queen of the loli’s indeed.

    And with your lack of posts for Soul Eater and Kurenai I haven’t seen either of them now, damnit Shirukii. ^^

  4. on 15 Jun 2008 at 8:03 pm4 RJ

    “KA…ME…HA…ME…HAAAAA”

    In Kallen’s case, I was more thinking of…

    SEKIHA TENKYOKEN!

    “Instead we had to blindly accept that they both had the time to devise this plan and sit back watching the “JUST AS PLANNED” “LOL, NO U!” fly back and forth.”

    Hmm…but didn’t this happen in Death Note too? So then:

    If Lelouch=Light and Suzaku=L, then Xing Ke=Near?

    Well, with any luck, I foresee a split in the Chinese Federation, with Xing Ke and his rebel faction most likely going with the Kuran no Kishi-dan, maybe from a little persuasion from Tian Zi, whilst the weird men dressed as Mulan siding with Brittania using the recovery of Tian Zi as a motive. It would help to balance out things, because the way I see it, the main Knightmares of each side currently weigh in at:

    Brittania: Lancelot, Mordred, Tristan.

    KnK: Guren, Zangetsu.

    It’ll be three on three should Xing Ke’s faction join the KnK. Of course, let’s not forget whatever new Frame Jeremiah might be piloting, and from seeing C.C. in a pilot seat, Gawain might make a reappearance, or it might be a new frame altogether.

    And Kallen…well no doubt, she’s most likely fallen for Lulu by now. I’m pretty sure Lelouch doesn’t just see her as a tool, of course she’s a powerful ally for him, but I think he truly thinks of her as his friend, since he’s desired in episode 7 to ideally have everyone reunite at Ashford once he completes his task (he might have problems with Suzaku, I would think). Potentially, that’ll develop into romance, right now it’s definitely plausible.

    And the thing at the end…since Rolo’s wasn’t shown to join the KnK to exile, and he’s not in the shot, I’m going to guess he probably did something to either get Lelouch back or disguise himself like Lelouch. More leaning towards the latter.

    And now a little proposal for the mecha-heads out there: Lancelot’s VARIS (Minus the little Destiny Gundam cannon attachment on it’s back) is essentially a rail gun isn’t it? Toudou blocking the bullet really made me think “Oh crap, it’s not a laser, it’s launching the bullet electromagnetically!”

    Yes useless information I know, but it’s funny how mech knowledge in other media helps you realize things…if Metal Gear Solid 4 counts at least…

  5. on 15 Jun 2008 at 10:34 pm5 KYPMbangi

    Too bad Xing Ke’s not gonna be around when Tian Xi reaches puberty, Harhahahahahahahahaha

  6. on 16 Jun 2008 at 1:34 am6 Alias

    [i]”On that note, Diethard’s reasoning for retreat was kinda iffy as well, while it could be interpreted as a crusade of love, I don’t think the OotBK would have questioned Lulu’s decision either way. Retreating was the most tactically sound option, however, attacking for the sake of recovering a comrade, while reckless, is no basis for loss of confidence, rather, it might inspire more, showing that Zero isn’t so heartless that he would abandon his subordinates.”[/i]

    That perpective would only happen if the black knights survive the encounter with enough forces to face whatever comes up next. otherwise, the kuro shidan would view it as Zero abandoning them for personal reasons. It’s how it is, really, if you survive, you are a hero. If you die, you are a criminal. Plus considering diehard’s objective…. you get the idea.

    and about the death note thing, I think xing ge being L would be a much more suiting role, since, you know, Suzaku was more of a haxxor than a planner.

  7. on 16 Jun 2008 at 2:25 am7 Vadigor

    >Too bad Xing Ke’s not gonna be around when Tian Xi reaches puberty, Harhahahahahahahahaha

    Ever heard of a lolicon? ^^

    >And now a little proposal for the mecha-heads out there: Lancelot’s VARIS (Minus the little Destiny Gundam cannon attachment on it’s back) is essentially a rail gun isn’t it? Toudou blocking the bullet really made me think “Oh crap, it’s not a laser, it’s launching the bullet electromagnetically!”

    I thought it was some sort of beam cannon at first but that doesn’t seem to be the case after first Kallen and now Todo blocked the shot. It does seem to be some kind of rail driver, launching a projectile near the speed of light which would explain the distortion you see here:
    http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/1181_Lilith/VARIS-shot.png

    As you can see in the shot where Todo blocks it with a radiation wave, it’s definitely a projectile. To me it seems to be cornet shaped, although that could be a trick of the perspective.
    http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/1181_Lilith/VARIS-impact.png

    On a Geass Mecha forum they say that VARIS stands for “variable ammunition repulsion impact spitfire” indicating that it fires different projectiles with another delivery system than proppelant and primer in the casing, repulsion probably referring to a rail driver design. I’m not sure how the upgraded version of the VARIS figures into it, except that it would somehow use either stronger magnetic force or a different ammunition type.

    Edit: Yeah that projectile definitely looks cornet-shaped although that wouldn’t make much sense. Reminds me of this though ^^
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKivBbd3teA

  8. on 16 Jun 2008 at 3:03 am8 ItAintEazy

    Four points:

    1.) Real life comes first, despite whatever I spammed in the past.

    2.) It’s nice to see some contingencies fall apart for Lulu for a change.

    3.) Suzaku = Mikami, someone who is, at best, a puppet for other people’s morals.

    4.) For lolicons, puberty is a turnoff.

  9. on 16 Jun 2008 at 3:24 am9 Telliamed

    Funny how flooding the soft mud here mirrors the trick Lulu pulled (twice!) back at the Tokyo Settlement.

    Lulu really dropped the ball on this one. Not knowing the terrain like that. And this shows how he relies too much on his specialists. Zero without Gurren is like Lee without Stuart.

    I think we should’ve expected this when we saw Tamaki navigating (poorly) with a paper map. Get that man a Garmin!

    There were some shots of the Thought Elevator in the preview. Could the Chinese location be there in that tomb? Wouldn’t that be a gift for Orange-kun. Also seems that C.C. is having her “woman trouble” again. And the cockpit she was in kinda looked like Gurren. Did they build another one? (I doubt it’s Gawain, Lakshata said it was completely trashed.)

    @Vadigor,
    Sleep loses.

    >>> You wake up and find a scared loli on your bed, what do you do?

    [D]

  10. on 16 Jun 2008 at 9:46 am10 lalala

    “KA…ME…HA…ME…HAAAAA”

    It’s reality ! hahaha!!

  11. on 16 Jun 2008 at 11:54 am11 Siva

    >>”You wake up and find a scared loli on your bed, what do you do?”

    What else would you do even Zero still come up with a plan to kidnapped a loli?

  12. on 16 Jun 2008 at 2:39 pm12 Randor

    One thing which annoys me with some action series is explanation during fight scenes. Rather than let it run with one-on-one battles, they have characters talking constantly, like with Kallen VS Xing-ke; it completely sdetracts from the impact of a scene and slows it down with many things pointedly obvious being explained.

    And fair enough with Soul Eater, there’s not much to really be said about the series, its not amazing but nor is it that bad; I’m still waitin’ for Soul to go crazy from Ragnarok blood tho ;)

    How many more secret hax Knightmares are we gonna have!? This one was seriously out of nowhere; and they try to explain it by just having Lakshata say “Oh we made that one earlier but never said anything about it or its specs until now so it could be convenient for the plotline and to WTF the viewers”.

  13. on 16 Jun 2008 at 3:31 pm13 Rayndog

    AMAZINGING

    the shen hu rules but im expecting orange dude’s dude be amazing

    i mean in the season finale it took on the gawain, had a building hit it and sink to the bottom of the sea

    i think C.C. just goin to pilot one like the remaining holy blades’ ones

    oh and in episode nine you see lulu’s new knightmare its the black and gold one

  14. on 16 Jun 2008 at 4:56 pm14 Vadigor

    >How many more secret hax Knightmares are we gonna have!? This one was seriously out of nowhere; and they try to explain it by just having Lakshata say “Oh we made that one earlier but never said anything about it or its specs until now so it could be convenient for the plotline and to WTF the viewers”.

    I agree, I was sort of expecting Orange-kun’s new mecha, but certainly not Xingke riding in on his invincible hax machine without weak points, going so far as to pull the series into the “no one can pilot this walking hunk of metal” plot device.

  15. on 16 Jun 2008 at 6:15 pm15 Shirukii

    @ totali: Makes you wonder just how much pizza C.C. has eaten over the course of the rebellion, and how does she get it delivered to such weird places anyways.

    @ Vadigor: Sleep is for the weak, anime for the strong!

    I do see some parallels between DN and CG in terms of character interaction, and DN dis pull the “JUST AS PLANNED” card quite often, but at least it retroactively explained it!

    @ RJ: Hmm, I could see that happening, Lulu has an uncanny knack for wooing people over to his side in the direst of situations, an alliance with Xing Ke isn’t too much of a stretch, as long as he uses Tian Zi carefully.

    I’m not going to touch what Suzaku’s gun is. There was no case discharge so one would assume it’s a rail gun, as for what powers it…?

    @ KYPMBangi: That’s why we have lolicon.

    @ ItAintEazy: Wat. Lulu’s plans have had a history of being foiled this season, usually by Suzaku though.

    @ Telliamed: Zero has always relied on the strengths of others though, he’s not much of a force on his own, it’s through his network that his genius is able to shine through.

    Totally agree about the terrain thing though, softened dirt + water = mud, he should have known this.

    @ lalala: Would have rather it not been though, the less DBZ comparisons I can draw to an anime, the better.

    @ Siva: Raep tiem?

    @ Randor: That’s more of a problem with anime in general, rather than just CG. Talking during a fight is as much a given as breathing for anime characters.

    I’m pretty sure we’ll see many more hax mechas and surprise upgrades as the series progresses, which saddens me a bit, but whatever.

    @ Rayndor: ORANGE-KUN! He better be beefed up after all the time he’s spent off screen and how confidently badass he sounded talking to V.V.

  16. on 17 Jun 2008 at 12:45 am16 blissmo

    You know, just reading your thoughts that Lulu may have romantic feelings for Kallen makes me happy :D

  17. on 17 Jun 2008 at 1:39 am17 ItAintEazy

    I guess I thinking more along the lines of how Lulu almost always seems to succeed in military tactics, even though he is often emotionally undermined. He was so confidant in his declaration that tactics always wins over military might, that it was satisfying to finally see the fogs of war rear its ugly head, forcing a retreat.

  18. on 17 Jun 2008 at 5:37 am18 Vadigor

    MAJOR Death Note Spoilers Here:
    Show ▼

    Pretty much the same thing happens here, and is probably bound to happen again unless they improve their screen writing. One of Geass’ strong points is the emphasis on battle tactics instead of the usual “giant mecha face off in even more ridiculous battles” but when they just throw those tactics in our face while both sides apparantly already figured each others plans out but one going even further, that’s not very interesting at all. It’s like you said, they’re just leaving us in the dark which is a tell-tale sign of poor writing.

  19. on 17 Jun 2008 at 8:25 am19 Siva

    When did you guys see Zero lost the battle and run for life?

    @Vadigor:
    >>”It’s like you said, they’re just leaving us in the dark which is a tell-tale sign of poor writing.”

    I think the main focus of this battle was to show that Zero’s tactic is amazing but not perfect all the time when he didn’t prepared it beforehand. As you can see the battle was a rush decision and it was against some1 he only met a few time and specially it was in their homeland. Zero only lost his first move against Xinke but it doesn’t he lost the battle yet and you can see that everything is still under his control which he managed to make a second move by asking Ogi “Ogi, what about that place?” the way he says that make it like he has already plan it beforehand. So I don’t think it was a tell-tale sign of poor writing and I think it is more interesting to see it that way.

  20. on 17 Jun 2008 at 4:36 pm20 Vadigor

    @Siva: Yeah I see what you mean, I guess it could be true that they left us in the dark to further highlight how Zero was caught off guard, but it feels like they’ve done that so much already, not so much in this season as in the last. It would be nice to see one of Lulu’s plans come to complete fruition without some random event screwing things up.

    If they manage to avoid pulling too much stuff like this again for the rest of the season it would indeed be a fair move on part of the writers, but if this continues I’m going to take it as another sign that they’re losing their touch.

  21. on 20 Jun 2008 at 7:33 am21 Vadigor

    *is currently half-blind from LASIK treatment*

    Still no Kurenai post? You have failed me for the last time Shirukii!

    I’ll force-choke you when I can see again. >_>

  22. on 20 Jun 2008 at 5:57 pm22 Shirukii

    It’s coming! I swear!

    …after Macross F and Code Geass R2 11

    *runs for life*

  23. on 22 Jun 2008 at 2:33 pm23 asoch_3

    I don’t think it is bad writting or anything to do with that. I just watched episode 11 (look for it on youtube… it doesn’t have subs yet… only the raw version). I think in the long run they show how Zero can pull things and use factors in his favor. The next episode it’s pretty good and Zero’s knightmare is the shit!

    @ Vadigor”it feels like they’ve done that so much already, not so much in this season as in the last”… yeah, they have done it… but I guess he’s still the same Zero… he makes mistakes… but he knows how to fix things afterwards and that’s why he’s lelouch.

    I think the writers are pretty good and they know how to keep people wonder wtf is coming up next…. that’s how I felt after this episode.

    I’m not gonna post any spoilers… just a hint… [/Kallen is not rescued]

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