In 2019 I was excited at the announcement of a new Code Geass film. I was aware of the
existence of the recap films but never had any interest in watching. I don’t exactly
remember the reason exactly , most likely I assumed the films just recapped the original
show and added nothing new. But with Lelouch of the Resurrection, we finally got a continuation
of R2 or close enough. I knew that it was technically not a sequel but I was still excited.
It happened to be showing at a theater near me so naturally, I went to watch it. The sub
was sold out leaving only the dub. option I was never going to see the sub anyways and
if anybody did well you’re not really fans of Code Geass anyways. Being with other Code
Geass fans enhanced an already enjoyable experience. I remember everyone was laughing at the nude
scene with Shamna or trying to understand why Shirley was even in the film.
I walked out of the theater feeling happy and satisfied. I did not expect a masterpiece
or some profound story, just another Code Geass story will Lelouch. One final hurrah
with our characters from Code Geass much like Trigun Badlands Rumble was.
The thumbnail is not just for show as I saw this film in the same way as the expendables.
Only here we have the original cast both in the characters and voice actors getting together
for one more adventure. And from a dub fan I really thankful that the original cast came
back. Considering that Code Geass had an all-star dub team I imagine this was no easy feat.
We also had some legendary voice actors appear in the Code Geass universe for the first time.
After coming back home from the theater, I realized that many things about the film did
not add up. This phenomenon is often referred to as fridge logic. Since these ideas came
to me when I was well looking in the fridge. Let’s go through some of those oddities.
When I think of the issues, Mr. Potato Head quote from Toy Story. “Did you all take
stupid pills this morning” comes to mind. You are probably wondering what does this
has to do with anything? This quote summarizes much of the film. The film treated the audience
like the characters as if they took stupid pills.
For example, Schneizel embarrassed Cornelia by suggesting the idea of attending her wedding
someday. I’m thinking the whole time. Wait Schneizel tried to kill you and killed most
of your family. Why are you acting nice around him? In fact, why is anybody acting nice around
Schneizel? The same goes with Nunnally. And to be fair this is a complaint I have with
the ending of R2 but it’s only made worse in this film.
Kallen had a weird moment after Shanma used her knowledge of the future to ruin Lelouch’s
plan. Kallen was losing to Bitur and was asking Zero for orders on specifically on what to
do.
Now Kallen had these moments in the original series. Like when Suzaku was revealed as the
Lancelot pilot. The difference between the film and the original series. Is that Kallen
never needed instructions on how to fight. Why would she? And even in this case after
Lelouch took control, all of sudden she figured out what to do.
Infact I can’t remember a time after Lelouch took control that she need to take orders
from him in order to defeat Bitur.
I understand that a leader can boost morale. But Kallen seemed unable to even fight without
Lelouch’s commands which goes against her character.
And speaking of Kallen the fan service with her and through most of the in this film was
mostly tame. But one scene really pissed me off[show roy mustang looking at envy]. It
was when Bitur joked about raping her. I understand it was to make Bitur seem evil in a easy and
lazy way. But Kallen deserves better. She is still very young and innocent and cleary
not over Lelouch. I don’t care if She is used for fanservice. It does not justify this
scene.
And one more thing on Kallen I know she felt bad about removing the Frame Coat. But seeing
her say I’m sorry repeatedly was so weird. I did like how at the end you see Kallen apologizing
to Shanti for destroying her Frame Coat.
But back to characters who took stupid pills. Suzaku said “the world was boring without
him” referring to Lelouch. I am wondering if Suzaku is talking about how the fans feel
or how he feels?
Because what happened at Narita and to Euphy were anything but boring. Didn’t Suzaku
beat up Lelouch earlier for being alive? I am not buying that that he forgave him after
that. Considering Suzaku has beat up Lelouch many times in R2 and still upset at him.
And speaking of the beating why did Suzaku only discuss Lelouch lying to him again and
the pain he put people through. Shouldn’t he have focused it on the fact that Lelouch
had to die as part of the Requiem? This was his way of atoning for Euphy’s death. What
he said seemed generic to me and Suzaku had specific reasons for why he hated Lelouch.
In addition to these moments in this film, we have scenes that make light of key moments
from the original series. For example, Ohgi almost kills himself in front of Lelouch.
Everyone in the theater thought it was funny but not me though, I was not laughing. I was
angry. First of all, why was Ohgi the only apologizing, Lelouch was using the Black Knights
as well? This was as much as Lelouch’s fault as it was Ohgis Instead, Lelouch just accepts
the apology as if Ohgi was the only one wrong here.
They also did the same thing at the end when Nunnally apologized to Lelouch. He even says
the same thing water under a brigde.
Number two why did this come across as a joke, the entire betrayal of the Black Knights regardless
if you agreed or disagreed was serious and a pivotal part of the story. So, why are we
making light of it? It changed everything and Ohgi was really upset about it. Even in
the new film Glorification, they added a scene of him and Tamaki expressing regret for the
whole thing. This was one of the worse scenes in the entire
film.
A bigger issue than this are the contractory parts in the story. The one that stood out
the most was when Lelouch explained to Shamna why he would not want to change his past.
He says “why would I shed the greater part of who I am? My past is the crucible for which
I was forged. My scars are a testement.”
What’s funny here is that the film is in a way defending Code Geass as a whole from
legitamete complaints, but then it we have the recap films prior, which in my opinion
were designed to correct past mistakes. And even if that’s the purpose it does change
the story regardless. So which is it?
You can’t have Lelouch state that the past should not be altered when the creators themselves
made films which do exactly that.
And this contradiction fuels the agenda of this film to glorify Lelouch. The idea being
let’s make everyone act against their nature to forgive and seemingly forget what Lelouch
did. This agenda is the worse part of the film because of how wrong it feels. Just because
Lelouch is back does not mean what he did is completely forgiven and characters should
not act like that either.
I know that this film is supposed to invoke nostalgia but I was disappointed that they
copied the opening to R1 and R2 again. Making it the third time we see Lelouch gain the
power of Geass and commanding soldiers to kill themselves.
The even copied the method and scenario in which Lelouch killed Colares on Sheta Fōrgnar
But at least we get that epic soundtrack that was playing at the time and brand new Geass
animation. Another thing that this film copied from R2 was introducing more Geass concepts
with little to no explanation.
I understand in simple terms how Lelouch got his memories back, but I am not sure what
happened to Shamna, or what she was trying to do? The best I could gather is she was
trying to do something similar to Charles with two codes. But I think she was trying
to amblify her powers to go back in time.
And I was wondering where did she get her Code and Geass for that matter.
And going even further I am not even sure what Lelouch and Shamna even are. From what
I gathered they are failed ones meaning they have a code and a geass and have a partial
immortality but this should have been explained in the film. For example they could have brought
up how Lelouch was able to control his Geass power again.
I am guessing that is one of the abilities from failed ones.
To be fair they do at least provide some clues which I have been going off to try and piece
this all together. For example C.C. mentions that Zilkhstan left the order 200 years ago.
Okay so at this point you are wondering if I was lying about liking the film. And I promise
I enjoyed the film. So let’s talka bout what I actually liked.
This film was a gift to the fans and you can see this with just the easter eggs alone.
In fact, the easter eggs alone could be its own video. Let me know if the comments below
if that's what you would like to see. My favorite easter eggs are the Glinda Knights
at Nunnally’s wedding, the Guren MK-2 shown covered by sand, and Jeremiah with the Oranges.
This might also be a easter egg but the last episode of R2 is called Re; with a semicolon
at the end. The film’s title is has the same semicolon after Re in Re;surrection.
This was obviously not a coincidence.
The film did a good job in introducing classic characters from the original series and retreading
gags from the original series. My favorite being Cecile’s strange recipes.
The animation in this film is amazing. Every character looks so good. Just compare it to
the R1 or R2 even on Blu-ray and it's night and day. Kallen, C.C., Cornelia, Milly, Rakshata,
and Cecile were already beautiful but my god did they look stunning in this film. And we
can forget about Lelouch. They did an excellent job animating this legendary character. And
that scene of him putting on the Zero costume one more time was so badass.
The Knightmare Frames was another element that I loved in the film. There were so many
new models and it looks like Shanti is working on the next generation of Knightmare Frame
herself.
Cornelia’s Knightmare Frame was amazing they kept the original Glauster design but
added elements from Vincent Ward and other seventh-generation KFMs. It was cool seeing
in fly. And the knight armor was nice touch.
And when I saw Jeremiah’s Knightmare Frame I was thinking okay a Sutherland with a paint
job? But omg its firepower surprised the heck out of me. Plus when I looked at the Knightmare
Frame closely I noticed the clever design for the head which parralles jeremia’s.
I was so happy to see the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements now with an updated version
called the Type Special and Lancelot Albion now the Lancelot siN outside of the Frame
Coats. I was getting worried for a little bit that they were going to stay in those
Frame Coats forever.
But I can’t deny that the two Frame Coats were an awesome idea. And packed serious fire
power. Did you know that Kallen killed more than 77 units at once. I like how this idea
built off the Sutherland Sieg which is what Jeremiah was piloting.
I am glad that team that animated the Knightmare Frames learned from Akito the Exiled and did
a much better job in incorporating CGI with the Knightmare Frames. (add spot for that
video)
It was used sparingly and appropriately and the action did not suffer. But it never reaches
the insanity of Akito the Exiled. Which is not even a bad thing.
I like how they milked the moment of both the Guren and Lancelot removing the Frame
Coats. Even having Suzaku doing awesome Lancelot pose.
I am not sure why Lelouch’s Shinkiro lost to lower generation Knightmare Frame but I
guess he forgot how to use the shields correctly. But because of that, we get to see the unfinished
Gekkoei Knightmare Frame in action. And C.C. is once again a cowpilot to Lelouch in a Knightmare
Frame.
The Batalaran Do and Nagido Shu Mein were nice additions to the Knightmare Frame lore.
I liked Shalio’s more. The pilots Shalio or Bitur not so much god they were so annoying.
(put my biutr sick rapist I am glad Kallen killed him)
I liked seeing the world after the Zero Requiem. The UFN in full swing with everyone wearing
outfits with the Black Knight symbols, the wedding video, and the Britannians, with the
Black Knight members acting as equals.
Zilkhstan was an interesting concept and they did a good of creating a culture and making
distincst among the other nations. I liked the parralles between Shamna and Shalio with
Lelouch and Nunnally. Althought despite Shalio being crippled he actually protects Shamna
which was the opposite of Lelouch and Nunnally. I like the brief time we had with the child
prodigies and hope to see them again in Z of the Recapture.
I gained even more appreciation for C.C. while she took care of Lelouch in that state. The
entire opening of the Lelouch of Re;surrection from the café to seeing C.C. and Lelouch
travel together was a nice way to start the film. And I love the expression she makes
when Kallen tells her to follow her own advice. You can see even then C.C. had romantic feelings
for Lelouch.
Kallen, Lloyd, and Sayako surprisingly work well great together. It even looks like Nina
had some combat training.
The moment that Lelouch shares with Nunnally at the end was amazing. It was good closure
as he finally let her go. This was important because he never got to that at the end of
R2. This was excellent character growth because Lelouch prior to this was only living for
Nunnally and now he is letting her go. His finally starting to live for himself and others
it was a very special moment.
I love the whole operation to save Nunnally. Although Anya felt underutilized. And I know
that they were busy but not seeing Tohdoh or Gino in action was disappointing. The entire
operation reminded me of the expendables getting an all star team to defeat a common foe.
I love the wedding video, in particular, the part where Tohdoh talks about why marriage
is important but then Nagisa gives him this dirty look and if listened closely she says
hmmmm. Because obviously, Tohdoh has not realized that Nagisa loves him. I would have preferred
to just make them a couple but I guess they want to keep this gag going.
While I did not entirely understand the sequence of Lelouch in C’s world reclaiming his mind,
it was well done. The animation was beautiful especially the parts of C.C. flying.
And of course, we can’t discuss the film without talking about the ending. Lelouch’s
proposal to C.C. was adorable as was seeing the two walking together holding hands. I
often rewatch just those last scenes and I know I am not alone. I recently learned the
song played revive is actually a love song sang by Lelouch to C.C.
Lelouch of the Re;surrection much like R2 throws a lot at you maybe too much and ultimately
felt rushed. They clearly wanted to do a lot in this film and in the manga, you can see
there was more planned for this story. Maybe that was the plan for R3.
When I think back at this film, I had more complaints than praise so why then do I like
the film so much. It all comes back to what I said in the beginning I wanted one more
ride with these characters in a simple story.
I understand that some parts don't make sense and they don’t have to in this context.
If you disagree that’s excellent and even part of me wishes they cleaned up the story
a little more pre-production.
I have heard some argue that Lelouch should have never come back, to begin with. I disagree
since this a different universe it does not matter what they do. It does not ruin the
sadness and happiness that was the satisfying ending of R2. And if you don’t want to see
Lelouch come back then you do not have to watch the film.
With Z of the Recapture coming out as a sequel to this film, I am excited to see how they
are going to continue from here. And we also know that the game Genesis Re; Code is affected
by this story. Seeing as the Geass fragments from the film were shown in the trailor.
But until then we are going to have to wait. And with that with have come to the end.
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But now let's hear from you. Did you enjoy Lelouch of the Resurrection. If so what's
your favorite scene.
Do you have other topics that you would like me to cover let me know in the comment sections
below?
And remember the world is not a dark place and tomorrow will be a good day thanks for
watching.