CODE GEASS: LELOUCH OF THE REBELLION R2 (VOLUME 6)
August 2nd 2010 22:55
Category: Videos
Original story by: Ichirou Ohkouchi & Goro Taniguchi
Director: Goro Taniguchi
Script by: Ichirou Ohkouchi
Character Design Concepts: CLAMP
Producers: Hiroshi Morotomi, Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, Takuo Minegishi & Atsushi Yukawa
Starring: Johnny Yong Bosch (Lelouch), Yuri Lowenthal (Suzaku), Kate Higgins (C.C), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Cornelia), Michael McConnohie (Emperor Charles), Kari Wahlgren (Marianne) Liam O’Brien (Lloyd Asplund), Deborah Sale Butler (Cecile Croomy), Karen Strassman (Kallen Stadtfeld), Rebecca Forstadt (Nunally), Julie Ann Taylor (Milly Ashford), Brian Beacock (Rivalz), Steve Blum (Colonel Tohdoh), Jamieson Price (Diethard Reid) Megan Hollingshead (Villetta Nu), Kirk Thornton (Ohgi), Laura Bailey (Rakshata Chawla), Kim Mai Guest (Nina Einstein/Sayoko), Stephanie Sheh (Kaguya Sumeragi/Anya Alstreim), Jessica Strauss (Tianzi), Troy Baker (Prince Schneizel), Lex Lang (Bismarck Waldstein) Crispin Freeman (Jeremiah Gottwald) David Wittenberg (Gino Weinberg), Roger C Smith (Gilbert GP Guildford), Adam Bobrow (Kanon Maldini) & David Vincent (Li Xingke)
English Version produced by: Bandai Visual in association with ZRO Limit
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 125 minutes Rating: M
The Sword of Akasha, the means by which the very collective consciousness or ‘God’ can at last be destroyed and the world turned into a reality that is rational, kind, ordered and governed by justice. This is the hope of Emperor Charles, ruler of Britannia, the mightiest nation in the world. For many years the activation of the Sword of Akasha has been the driving goal of the emperor, so much so that as time has passed he has come to view the mundane concerns of ruling the superpower that is Britannia as something beneath him. He delegates these mundane concerns as he calls them to his various underlings, either his family members or knights of the round. So as this episode opens we find him in the final stages of his grand scheme, confronted by his rebellious son Lelouch who seeks to prevent the fruition of his grand agenda.
Zero Hour is now very much at hand now, the once revolutionary is now the ruler of the largest empire on the face of the planet and he is focused on pursuing his agenda, the agenda that he feels will make the world a better place, a safer place, but a place in which there is not stagnation but vitality. This sudden emergence of the onetime member of the Ashford Academy as the emperor sees an amazing shift in the balance of power within the various other nations that were once arrayed against the Empire of Britannia. And naturally there are those within the Empire itself who aren’t too happy with the new regime. The old guard is never keen when there is a sudden regime change that sees an end to their power and status, and Lelouch is focused on bending the situation to his will by whatever means necessary.
From the drama that unfolds over the final four episodes it would seem that the maxim, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely is holding sway over events. Or is it? The premise behind the drama of both seasons of Code Geass: LOTR is that Lelouch wants to make a better world for his injured and traumatised sister Nunally; it is to fulfil this dream that he makes his bargain with C2 and starts down the path he follows to the throne. Even though he manages to become a major player in world events and has the vast resources of the Britannian Empire to answer to his every whim this has never been about him. In fact throughout the entire drama he has sacrificed pretty much his own dreams, his own desires upon the burning pyre of his one true dream, the dream of a better world.
But the irony of the situation is that he knows that even though he has become a paramount ruler of the greatest nation that the world has seen, or will ever see, the world is still on the precipice of stagnation, a stagnation that is caused by the momentum of history. Yet despite this Lelouch knows that he has to do something to break this cycle of impending stagnant decay, although on the surface it seems as if he is essentially focused on simply perpetuating the cycle. That like Bonaparte at his zenith in the Napoleonic Era he is only focused on achieving greater power and prestige, putting in place his opponents so he can gain more glory. Enter the Sword of Damocles, a vast aerial fortress armed with a plethora of FLEIJA warheads, the very weapon that completely destroyed the Britannia area of the Tokyo settlement in Japan. And later the imperial capital Pendragon...
One could almost say that this final instalment in the Code Geass: LOTR second season has caught a dose of the Death Stars with not one but two super weapons being unveiled as plot devices. “Hmmm always two there are...” as a wise old Jedi master is wont to say and there certainly seems to be that dualism being played on here with the Sword of Akasha at the start and now Damocles in the final stages. Damocles is the perfect plot device, whoever controls it can have it hanging over the world like the original sword, poised by a hairsbreadth above the world’s collective heads ready to drop and rain down disaster and despair. Of course the end when it does come is somewhat different from what you’d expect, but then again it’s all down to the fact that throughout the whole series in its first and second seasons the key protagonist has never given ground despite being on the back foot, he always has a plan, a scheme to push through his objectives and the end is very much due to his plans.
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Volume 6 has all that you would expect for a mecha anime, filled with moments of pathos, humour, action, carnage and a sense of impending doom in certain moments and then at last a rather interesting denouement. Strangely there are reports going around on the internet that there may be a third season of Code Geass: LOTR on the cards, which sounds potentially interesting although what’s the premise going to be? This volume ended in such a way that a third season seems rather a stretch, still who knows? Regardless on whether or not there is any truth to such rumours Code Geass: LOTR R2 Volume 6 is well worth taking the time to track down and watch...Zero Hour has arrived...
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