Nickname of the day: Buffzaku.

Earlier, when I asked Shirukii if I’d be doing writing the entry for this episode again (I’ve been using this as an excuse not to do to-LOVE-ru, which I’ve decided to post a series entry once it’s done), I got the okay to do so with one of the reasons being that he was RAGE-ing about the way things turned out.  I see he had a reason to…see, while today’s episode certainly wasn’t bad, the way they turned out for some reason today left me scratching my head wondering why I was mystified and disappointed at the same time.  Maybe I’m on drugs…or maybe they slipped something in my drink when I went out last night…oh well…

 Lelouch finally decides to be the most ambitious he is yet by announcing the time-old cliche of taking over the world.  All while talking to Suzaku.  While I’m still very curious as to whether Lelouch revealed the entire truth to him or not, I’m pretty sure I’d be more correct to lean towards the former, citing that discussing Euphemia’s and Nunnally’s deaths (”death” in Nunnally’s case…) were a great loss to him.

And then we come to the reason for taking over the world: for something called Zero Requiem.  Now from what I can remember (thanks to watching last night’s Dub Geass), the whole reason for Britannia taking over Areas, according to Schneizel, was to secure the Geass ruin areas like the ones found at Kaminejima.  And from the looks of it, Lelouch is looking to do the exact same, and I wonder if this plan he has will involve anything involving Geass as well.  Well, more questions thrown here to make up for the answers from last episode.

Wing ZERO?  Strike Freedom?

Lancelot Albion finally makes it’s debut…about 8 episodes after it was shown >.> (Though, to be fair, it could’ve easily been 12-ish episodes to introduce the new mech, a la SEED Destiny).  Twin Buster VARIS Rifles,  more kickass Slash Harkens, and even the ability to shoot pieces from it’s Energy Wings (I can make an obscure X-Men or Yu-Gi-Oh GX reference, but I suppose everything before that comma suffices), this thing is set to sell more model kits faster than you can say “Gunpla!”  Of course, there’s is no big battle going on at the moment to showcase it’s kick ass powers, so what does one do?

Alas, Dorothea Ernst, we hardly knew thee.

By staging a rebellion amongst the other Knight of Rounds, of course!  And the first to go was this young beauty, Dorothea Ernst, a Yoruichi-cosplayer and the only Knight of Round that didn’t star in an episode until this one.  Hell,  she was even important enough to have her own custom Frame (or if she did, they certainly didn’t show it) before she was blasted to bits by Suzaku.

Here lies Monica Kruszewski, the woman eternally known as the girl Charles hung up on.

 

Mental note to all future mech-anime grunts: although not screaming “It’s a Gundam!” increases your chances of surviving, musing about how much better your enemy’s mech than yours isn’t a better alternative.

 Roofzaku, you are officially my hero.

Gino then comes and tries to intervene as well, using Vic Viper’s Tristan’s two Slash Harkens, but is easily broken by Lancelot’s hands.  When asked about if Gino is really a Britannian or not by Suzaku, Gino does not follow the musing advice and ends up getting kicked in the face for it.  Unfortunately, as much as seeing Gino get his ass kicked was amusing, this seems to be a foreboding sign in my KallenxLulu relationship…

 “Sharingan!”

“I can see your every move!”

Waldstein reveals his Geass, which is able to show Waldstein the outcome of movements before they happen and therefore dodge them.  He remarks that the only other person he needed to use it against was Marianne.  Really, though, it had to be this kind of Geass?  Shonen Jump aside, come on…ZERO System?  Bio Computer?  A freakin Newtype!?

But all is not lost!  Suzaku is able to use Lelouch’s command to “Live on!” as a weapon, and thus make it impossible for Waldstein to track his movements fast enough to react.  Um…wow…to be honest, I have no idea how Suzaku being Geassed is good enough to stand up to someone using a Geass…makes even less sense than implying Waldstein’s Geass, then killing him off the next time he made an important appearance.

*sigh* I need a drink…

Now here’s what strikes me odd:  although it looks like the two have made amends,  the why and how of this has yet to be revealed, and I was hoping it would be now.    And now, it looks like Lelouch has another agenda for Suzaku, because dramatic closeups of the face like this with enigmatic words don’t just happen for the sake of fangirls.  Is he just using Suzaku until he gets Zero Requiem done, similar to how it was with Rolo?  Is Suzaku planning something for Lelouch?  Are they using each other (…in a non-erotic way?).

O Rly?

Nina’s been on a big redemption streak lately.  I can recall how much I’ve hated her throughout this season, but I’m really glad that she’s slowly reverting to her normal pre-Freya self, and get back to what’s really important to her: tables.  Of course, there’s that whole issue of her being apprehended by Lelouch, so who knows what kinds of shenanigans she’ll be doing in the next 3 episodes.

o.o … ^_^ … O.o … ;_;

Now, you’d probably expect me and the other LuluXKallen shippers to be jumping for joy…but no.  The whole farewell kiss thing to me seems like a giant flag to indicate that at the very least, Kallen will end up with Gino, who’s obviously going to change sides (On a greater scale, it’s another flag that Lelouch will die seeing as how there might not be a rabu-rabu ending for him).

As Ougi stated earlier, letting Britannia into the UFN would create an imbalance of voters and effectively give him the ability to have them accept any proposal he wishes as well as reject any he does not.  Now, exactly why Lelouch needs this, I’ve no idea, seeing as how he’s already loved as the Emperor of Justice among the Elevens.  I’m going throw it out there and say it’s probably for the sake of Zero Requiem again, but since we don’t know what Zero Requiem actually entitles, it’s hard to doubt that Lelouch is really going to create that gentle world he wanted for Nunnally.

Pendragon Palace is annihilated and replaced by the big castle floating in the sky, Damocles. If the OP is any indication (and if we go by the logic of there being 3 episodes left), it looks like it will be the stage for the final battle, though we’ve also yet to see that ship in space launching missiles as well.  Perhaps those were Freya missiles launched and that’s how Pendragon Palace was eliminated?

The Nightmare begins!

And finally, the big revelation at the end of the episode, Schneizel unveils his trump card that is Nunnally.  It’s not surprising to see her alive, but the real meat of it was her declaring herself to be the enemy of both Lelouch and Suzaku.  What lies (or truths?) Schneizel convinced her with is up in the air, but now that she’s turned against Lelouch, it will be interesting to see if Lelouch indeed carries on with his plan by reiterating that he’s not just doing this for her.

PREVIEW

GinoxKallen End!?  Nooooooo!

Will the Luzaku combo disintegrate!?

Sayoko survives!  Learn which option she chose next week!

As seen here, Damocles really is nothing more than a giant anchor.

I guess the reason I felt this episode was weirder than most (and thus harder for me to write things about it besides turning it into a big “Why?”-fest) was because it all felt a bit rushed, though I guess it’s not unnatural seeing as how there are only 3 episodes left.  Which also begs the question: while I have little doubt that 24 and 25 will be shown as an hour episode again, will there be a delay like last time?  Guess we’ll have to wait and see

NinaxRivalz End.  ^^;

Obligatory…Schneizel? o.O