Code Geass Roze

[Seto Kaiba]

Seto Kaiba wrote: All of the development is being done by the tech industries of the various nations

How much information is out there in the different tech companies in the Code Geass Universe? There being multiple different companies would actually explain the wide difference in technology across different factions (i.e the Europa United's vastly different Knightmare Frames in Akito the Exiled).

Almost none. It's mentioned that the Ashford Foundation was one of the original Knightmare Frame developers, but that they fell out of favor after the death of their patron Empress Marianne. Schneizel's Damocles was developed and manufactured by the Toromo Agency in Cambodia. Lancelot was developed by the Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps, a department of the Britannian Army with support from unspecificed corporations. The Black Knights units all come from India's military district, but no specific company is menitoned.

The manufacturer is usually just listed as the nation that produced it.

[yugioh54]

Any thoughts on part 2?

[Seto Kaiba]

Any thoughts on part 2?

Basically the same as Part 1... "this series is breathtakingly shameless in how lazy, unoriginal, and uninspired it is."

Bandai Namco Filmworks pulled a UC Gundam on Code Geass. Roze of the Recapture is just a one cour speedrun of the same plot that they used in the original Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion with only the most token effort to mix things up. Every important character is just an expy of one from the original, the plot proceeds through the same beats in roughly the same order, and they even threw a "Neo" in front of Britannia and made the leader of the not!Rounds a Char for unoriginality extra credit.

The first episode was basically just the assassination of not!Clovis, now we've had the rescue of not!Todo from a Britannian prison before he could be executed, which is followed by the not!Black Knights receiving the latest non-Britannian Knightmare Frame from abroad as a reward for their victory in battle.

Lord Norland seems to be pulling double duty as Bismarck and Cornelia,

Spoiler

since the Neo Britannian Emperor governing Hokkaido died and he's clearly set to take over as regent.

[yugioh54]

Part 3 is out, releasing the series quickly should help keep the hype up, any thoughts on it, the final part will be here in no time

[Mafty]

So as of Episode 9, quite a lot has happened.

Spoiler

Roze's secret is out and a conflicted Ash still agrees to help, then as a Peace Treaty between Neo Britannia and the Resistance begins, whirling blenders begin graphically killing random people all over the world in a manner that calls to mind the end of Blood-C, while the machines themselves are reminiscent of the Bugs from F91.

Obviously there are some questions from all of this

Spoiler

Who exactly sent these machines and why? They appear to be indiscriminately attacking everyone all over the world, including cameos from Suzaku and Nunally as well as the Akito the Exiled cast, all of whom are now in peril.

Also there seem to be some other cameos in the episode as several characters are randomly focused upon

Spoiler

When the Britannia Republic city is being evacuated we focus upon a Red headed female solider leading civilians as well as a Green haired mech pilot. In Cape Town we see a scarred man with an eyepatch and a woman with a big hat looking in shock at the chaos.

Are these characters cameos from the side story manga or video games?

[Seto Kaiba]

TBH, I legitimately forgot that this series existed until I was forum browsing and saw the previous post.

Started episode 4 over lunch, and was not surprised to see they're already starting to lean on cameos by the Lelouch of the Rebellion cast, as...

Spoiler

the episode opens on a brief appearance by C.C. and Lelouch that confirms that Lelouch is the one who gave Sakuya a geass power, then cut to the Black Knights discussing the situation with newly returned commander Cornelia li Britannia and namedropping Colonel Todo, followed by a cut over to the Britannian side name-dropping Emperor Charles with multiple reminders that Sakuya is Cornelia's niece and the daughter of the Britannian Emperor's first daughter.

The rest, well, it's just more of the same lazy speedrun of the original's plot... there's a Special Administrative Zone created to appease the Elevens and the protagonist's "sister" is now the ruler they must fight against. It's made even more frustrating and blatant by how utterly indistinct the characters in this are. None of them have been developed at all, so hearing them reiterate the same worries we heard Lelouch voice over Nunnally's appointment as governor of Area 11 just serves to remind how unoriginal the whole thing is. (Especially when the few characters who actually do something are either blatant expies of ones from the original, or clearly just there for fanservice. Seriously... the amount of screentime given to this one girl whose only role seems to be to wear a corset that gets smaller in every scene is pretty ridiculous on its own.)

Spoiler

Oh, hey... and ANOTHER original series character is dragged back before the halfway point. Nina Einstein. She's here to deliver an improved FLEIJA eliminator. Of course, she also has to have a breakdown because being the creator of this world's nuke is the only thing she's known for besides her encounter with table-kun.

The writers seem to keep forgetting that Roze is a nobody to basically everyone outside that one resistance group, and keep acting like she has the same kind of clout Lelouch had as Zero.

Spoiler

What a shocker... off-brand Kallen has a talent for close quarters combat so she's getting the Black Knights new close combat ace model... followed immediately by the Britannians announcing their plans to commit genocide against one of the ghettos.

[Seto Kaiba]

Also, woah... the fight animation between the Apollo and off-brand Cornelia in the fifth episode is INCREDIBLY bad.

It's really, REALLY obvious that the fight and the background were done by two different teams who weren't talking to each other, with the Apollo and the Britannian KMF doing circles around each other like they were fighting in midair... but the background is the ground that they're supposedly on, and it's scrolling past with seemingly no regard for the direction the KMFs are moving in.

[Mafty]

The most recent episode (10) is sort of a mixed bag

Spoiler

For a start the episode portions concerning Norland seem very derivative of Rau Le Creuset. Being a misanthropic Clone who wants to wipe out humanity who gets a powrful Greyscale robot in the last episodes., the Episode almost acknowledges it's cliches by having Sakuya list off all the potential excuses characters usually give , only to have them all rejected. On the other character front we finally get more development for Catherine, with her backstory and loyalty to Norland explained, though why she was kidnapped is unclear. Also the final duel between Ash and Arnold ends rather quickly and anticlimactically, with Arnold being impaled on debris and crushed.

For a more positive part of the episode

Spoiler

It will be interesting to see what exactly Norland's plan is and the interaction between Catherine and Sakura works at being dramatic.

[Seto Kaiba]

At what point do we admit they've just lazily Gundam'd Code Geass and start referring to this as Mobile Code Geass SEED?

[Seto Kaiba]

Started episode 6, and we now have Great Value Jeremiah filling in for that disgusting k-pop creature who normally guards the Empress.

Spoiler

Who isn't actually the empress, but anyway...

They're also now doing Ash's version of Suzaku's big secret, and it seems like all they could think of was that Ash didn't commit the murder that he feels guilty of instead of being guilty of it and having it covered up the way Suzaku did.

We get an extended flashback to Ash's youth...

Spoiler

Norland adopted him under a Britannian program meant to place war orphans with wealthy families, and it seems the Einberg knights spent years grooming him to be Norland's hitman. We get to see Norland and Knight of One Sir Bismarck Waldstein assessing the performance of Norland's young Einbergs and he does not approve. Apparently their win-at-all-costs conduct is unbecoming of a knight in his eyes. They're using what appear to be old Glasgows in their duel.

They went with something super edgy too...

Spoiler

Ash is apparently the Knight of Thirteen... even though their are only twelve Rounds. I guess the Knight of Thirteen is just a glorified title for an assassin?

[Seto Kaiba]

Episode 8 rolls out some more laughably bad fight choreography... honestly it's like the animation team isn't even trying here, the direction that the background scrolls in the cockpit shots doesn't even match the direction they're moving.

The actual fights themselves... they're just boring. Ohashi Yoshimitsu is clearly out of his depth as a director. His filmography shows that he's been an illustrator and a storyboard artist since the 90's, and I think that's probably a comfort zone he should stay in. I'd like to say I can't recall the last time I'd been this bored by a mecha anime, but I do remember Tatsunoko's 2019 stinker The Price of Smiles as much as I'd prefer not to. They only seem to have two tactics: driving in straight lines at each other then backing off in a straight line, and driving in circles around each other while magically also strafing because what even are backgrounds anyway?

Writer Kimura Noboru's filmography suggests that he's far better suited to ecchi and romcoms than mecha or action, with credits like Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Motto! To-Love Ru, and Cosplay Complex. He does have a few prior mecha credits to his name, but they're substandard offerings like Mobile Suit Gundam AGE and Cross Ange... which I guess explains why this show manages to be boring, incoherent, and horny on main at the same time. The writing is terrible because they hired a writer with a terrible track record in this genre.

That's how dull this is. I looked up who made this mess and read their filmographies because the actual fight scene in episode eight was doing THAT bad a job of holding my attention. When every character is axe crazy, no character is interesting. This isn't Berzerk or Hellsing damn it...

Spoiler

Oh boy, Ash is doing his low rent Suzaku thing again and it seems we have TWO Great Value Jeremiahs on the field at the same time! Red card, ref! Send this formerly blue-haired femboy off! He uses a geass canceller on Ash, so now Ash knows that Roze isn't his real (dead) brother.

Characters in this series have a disturbing habit of reacting to new events like they've been aware and involved in them... without actually doing so. Dollar Tree Jeremiah 2 here reacts to Japanese reinforcements like he's been fighting them the entire time, instead of literally standing still and just letting them shoot at him.

Spoiler

Ash runs away from the fight because he's confused, and everyone just kinda... lets him.

Scissorman's apparently got enough free time to make battle royale collars for all his test subjects? He's killing anyone Sakuya doesn't use a geass on.

Ash somehow knows, without being told, where Sakuya is being kept and manages to get there within minutes of leaving the fight against the other Einbergs to singlehandedly raid the facility. Were they holding her in a facility right up the street from the fight or did he magically teleport between shots? So we get to see Ash 1v1 Scissorman.

The Britannian forces instantly overpower the Japanese forces once the Einbergs get bored, so one of the other Japanese resistance groups starts committing suicide bombings with sakuradite bombs, wiping out dozens if not hundreds of Neo-Britannian KMFs.

Once Scissorman is defeated, everyone just sorta lets Ash take Sakuya... because stopping ONE DUDE you outnumber hundreds to one who has neither guns nor body armor is just too much effort, right?

[yugioh54]

ANN reviewed it, Now that it's ended was there an announcement for more Code Geass spinoffs?

[Seto Kaiba]

ANN reviewed it, Now that it's ended was there an announcement for more Code Geass spinoffs?

They've announced an interquel manga set between Lelouch of the Re;surrection and Roze of the Recapture to run in Newtype... that's all, AFAIK.

After the unnecessary and disappointing mess that was Roze of the Recapture, I kind of hope they won't announce any future animated works in the Code Geass universe. Not every IP needs to be flogged to death in the name of infinite unnecessary sequels. Let Code Geass end. The story reached a natural conclusion TWICE already.

[yugioh54]

no fanfare, big disappointment...

[Seto Kaiba]

no fanfare, big disappointment...

"Big disappointment" is definitely a fair summary of Roze of the Recapture.

It's not surprising that all that's been announced for it so far is a halfhearted prequel in Comic Newtype. Roze of the Recapture mindlessly repeats plot points from Lelouch of the Rebellion with none of its predecessor's wit, charm, or intellect. It's a lazy, halfhearted sequel that brings nothing new to the table and what it does have to offer can be had better from any of its predecessors.

Considering this was supposed to be the flagship of the Code Geass Next 10 Years Project at Sunrise and the only other thing they've done for it was a mobile game that shut down after only two years... I hope they have something else on deck or the remaining six years of their ten year plan are going to be awful quiet.

[Seto Kaiba]

Finally finished watching Roze of the Recapture tonight... and the writing never improves to a tolerable level.

The final story arc just flat out does not make any sense at all. They're basically just ripping off Gundam SEED Destiny and Gundam F91 at the same time.

Spoiler

While the plot holes are numerous to the point of being uncountable, the biggest problem with this conclusion other than its punishing lack of originality is that the writers seem to have forgotten that Neo Britannia is not a Side with billions of people living in it nor it is a massive Empire able to leverage the resources of almost 1/2 the world's territory and population. Hokkaido's population is just 5.1 million people in 2024. It's doubtful that it has significantly more people than that in Kowa 7. It's smaller, population-wise, than Scotland.

Neo Britannia took over Hokkaido in Kowa 3. It's Kowa 7 when the series ends. Somehow, in less than four years, Neo Britannia managed to build a Damocles, an enormous flying castle, an energy barrier able to cover ALL of Hokkaido and an energy network to supply it with power from a centrally located generator, at least one and likely several kilometers-long submarine carriers, and thousands of Loki autonomous killbots able to attack pretty much the entire world simultaneously. Where did they get the resources and manpower to build all this in just three years? It's completely absurd... a development like that might've fit the original Holy Britannian Empire which spanned more than half the world at its peak, but this is just Occupied Hokkaido carrying this off.

Otherwise, the last few episodes are mostly just a string of cameos as practically every surviving character from previous titles puts in some kind of cameo appearance.

Spoiler

Even Norland isn't actually a new character, he's just a clone of Charles zi Britannia and a blatant knockoff of Rau le Creuset.

Somehow, nobody ever considers jamming the control signal connecting the Foulbout to the various Loki units... even though that ought to be easy considering the sheer scope of the operation.

The fight between Norland's Foulbout and the Apollo/Artemis combiner is honestly incredibly dull. Put as much guitar-heavy rock music as you want over it...

Spoiler

...we're literally just watching the protagonists fly in circles around the Foulbout while it sits still not doing anything except spam beam attacks. They just fly circles around the Foulbout until its power system drains to the point that it can't shoot as fast anymore.

It's even more obnoxious that, after an entire series of IGNORING that these mecha are battery-powered, they suddenly remember it right at the very end as an excuse to kill Ash off for some cheap drama.

As conclusions go, I think Roze of the Recapture has a bigger problem than its punishing lack of originality... it's just plain boring. None of the characters are developed enough to be interesting, relatable, or particularly distinct from the original cast members they're clearly expies of. The fight choreography is very flashy but it's also devoid of substance. Most of it is just people driving or flying around each other in circles at very high speeds. There's no weight to the combat, in the sense that KMFs that are shot just explode immediately in neat little fireballs instead of suffering damage from hits and being disabled, and blade impacts just go clean through the enemy KMF like they're made of paper instead of seeing the MVS blades cut into the metal or lances punch holes.

Making it very flashy but also very derivative leaves the whole proceeding feeling less like a professional production and more like a fanfic.

[yazi88]

I am avoiding this show because it is written by the same writer as Kyokai Senki and Gundam Build Divers. Kyokai Senki was already a very low rent dumber version of Geass and Divers was a bad show. So far nothing this writer has done has been anything good...

[Rubybro]

It was an OK anime at least compared to Akito with the glacially slow pacing and half a decade of delays those movies had but its no R1. It starts off strong with the mercenary duo sneaking into neo britannia and creating a prison break and it really feels like the plot is going to be its own story about a guerilla war to save the population of Hokkaido from this rogue faction of Britannian Warlords. However the plot quickly deteriorates after that and has no idea what its doing with the plot by the half way point. All they needed to do was slow the hell down with the pacing and flesh things out a bit more and think things through a little. But the writers were apparently "too good" for the concept of a rough draft and threw in all the fanservice they could think of instead to pad out the later half.

I also hate what they did to Ruby by just killing her off in an assassination backstory that went nowhere instead of treating her like this spinoff's equivalent to Shirley. With Norland somehow being immune to persecution when he just randomly decides to have kill teams murder entire noble families for no reason overnight. There is absolutely no explanation as to how this senseless slaughter plays into the formation of Neo Britannia.

[Seto Kaiba]

[...] it really feels like the plot is going to be its own story about a guerilla war to save the population of Hokkaido from this rogue faction of Britannian Warlords. However the plot quickly deteriorates after that and has no idea what its doing with the plot by the half way point.

Nah, the writers clearly knew what they were doing with the plot the entire time.

Roze of the Recapture's problem was that its writers applied Gundam's writing practices to it, so much of the story is just a speedrun of the major plot points from R1 and R2 with the names changed. Almost every character is an obvious expy of someone from the original series, and the plot is the same one we've seen before but in a slightly different (and smaller) place. It's not until the very end that it starts to go in a new direction, but that new direction wasn't original either... it just switched to ripping off Gundam SEED and Gundam F91.

Spoiler

Norland turns out to be Great Value Rau le Creuset complete with a nasty case of Cloning Blues and his grand plan for the world turns out to be the same one Carazzo Ronah/Iron Mask tried to carry out: flood the world with autonomous buzzsaw killbots to wipe out humanity.

With Norland somehow being immune to persecution when he just randomly decides to have kill teams murder entire noble families for no reason overnight. There is absolutely no explanation as to how this senseless slaughter plays into the formation of Neo Britannia.

Norland pretty much was literally immune to prosecution the entire time.

Spoiler

After all, Norland was a member of the Knights of the Round before the fall of the Britannian Empire. That fact alone gave him broad authority over the Britannian armed forces and de facto immunity from criminal prosecution for anything short of high treason. The Knights of the Round's authority as the Emperor's handpicked elites meant that the only one they officially answered to was the Emperor himself.

After the Holy Britannian Empire collapsed, his status as a Rounds would've made Norland one of the highest ranking officials of the old regime who did not defect to the UFN and a natural figurehead for the hardliners who became Neo Britannia. He had the military's loyalty and the backing of the elite Einberg Knights. The only things he needed to do to consolidate power and create Neo Britannia at that point was establish a puppet Emperor that he could rule through (which he found in Callis al Britannia) and purge any dissenting voices who might question his indirect rule too loudly.

It's not surprising he stacked a lot of bodies on his route to power. It's strongly implied that Charles did the same thing on his way to being the 98th Emperor of Britannia. Lelouch and his siblings were basically burning the whole world down in the race to be 99th.

[Rubybro]

Yeah I could see the parallels of speedrunning R1 and R2 since the Damocles came out of nowhere and they've also been doing that with the Lost Stories Gacha as they inserted their OC's into R2 and have moved on to rewriting the story of the R3 movie in it. They seem to only care about the vocal Fujoshi cunts who get assmad at anything that isn't suzaku x lelouch.

I don't know much about gundam as SEED was a horrible first impression of the series. But Its unfortunate they didnt try to do something original with the plot.

I liked the concept of the Caretaker of Spacetime and think she should have had an appearance talking about this Roze timeline as another pointless tragedy and going back to early Post-R2 as a potential restarting point for the franchise. I think preventing a geass cataclysm on the level of evangelion's third impact would have made for far better stakes than total human death via roomba droid army. It would also touch a little more on what Geass is and what happened to the geass civilization shown in the first OP of R1 without outright spelling things out. They also reference the Akashic Records a lot in R2, but it seems a lot more metaphysical on the level of marathon's Jjaro where they literally ascend out of universes and create their own as they see fit. Sometimes uplifting others like how people are granted Geass and the caretaker talking about how she didn't want Humanity to have geass but the decision wasn't hers to make.

Yes I know the ragnarok connection was basically that in R2, but it may as well have been some random wierd science experiment with no real context behind it until they did a exposition dump followed by lelouch commanding them to disappear with his enhanced geass in that same episode during his purging of VV's geass order.

Charles did show his hypocrisy in R2 around stacking bodies to "prevent" more tragedies like what caused him to form a pact with VV in the first place. I dont recall it being spelled out that Norland was a clone of Charles beyond that one brief scene in the 11th episode where they overlay his ghost over Norland and the OP ubermech was just boring overkill. The thing could essentially launch fireballs from its eyes and shoot lighting out of its ass at that point and consumed all its enemies with an endless number of giant blender roombas with the insane amount of point defense hardpoints it had. Was definitely a GUNDAM and not a knightmare frame. Since even the lancelot suffered battle damage several times. Gary stu/mary sue robots are the worst. I had no idea he was a clone and just assumed he managed to resurrect himself somehow since he'd achieved immortality and had a Geass Code. Which is never elaborated on what that is or how that is passed on.