Code Geass: Dakkan no Roze – Episode 09 Review

「鉛心 -Reset-」 (Enshin: Reset)
“Reset”

ASH AND SAKUYA

It was hilarious to see exactly how complex the relationship between Ash and Sakuya has gotten since everything hit the fan. Ash has every good reason to turn away from Sakuya after remembering how he had always seen his dead brother Nichol whenever he talked to Roze thanks to the Geass. But because Ash had a positive experience with her father Juzo, it opens him up to staying within her orbit and having to go along with Sakuya’s stint as Roze.

Juzo’s kindness was out here doing miracle work because it gave Sakuya an extra lifeline with Ash, but also made the Raspberry revelation merely a mildly embarrassing situation. I wasn’t sure how they’d handle a Raspberry reveal because Ash straight-up learns that there are TWO instances where Sakuya lied about her identity to fool Ash. With the Roze info being more damning, it was wise of Sakuya to rip the bandage off on Raspberry within close enough proximity to the Roze reveal that it would land as merely awkward.

THE BLOOD-C ROBOTS

Plot-wise, this episode was Code Geass was a perfect encapsulation of what the series is about. Ever since last week, I’ve been playing a game called “First Shot / Last Shot” where I look at the first and last screen we see before the credits. In this one, it’s the juxtaposition between the first shot of the royal estate as Sakuya examines an official document and the last shot of Roze looking horrified at the latest cliffhanger atrocity.

As it turns out, watching the episode made the context of the last shot even wilder as they’re reeling from Neo Britannia’s roll-out of giant robot blenders. It was so horrifying to see all those people get sucked up into the new Knightmares’ turbines as they were ground into a fine bloody mist. It’s probably the most terrifying imagery the series has cobbled up since Euphemia gunning down a stadium of people or the FLEIJA warhead going off.

Not to mention that this episode was chosen as an incredible time for some of the characters to appear. I liked that Gino was involved with Cornelia’s ventures as a Black Knight since I remember him being relatively chill for a Knight of the Round and having a cute vest that could only be outdone by Suzaku’s Knight of Zero mesh outfit. But the episode had far more in store when we see a ton of familiar faces witnessing the Blood-C knightmares.

I haven’t seen Akito the Exiled so I couldn’t appreciate every shoutout, but I deeply feared that they were going to kill off Akio and his team in the same unceremonious fashion as Johnny Klebitz in GTA V. But no lie, it was also very funny to see where random people from the show wound up like Zero Suzaku watching over Nunnally as she and her cat Arthur met fans at the airport. Guilford and Anya showing up was also a fun little treat.

One older character that I’m most curious about is Kaguya Sumeragi. Considering that we get familiarized with other members of the Sumeragi family like Juzo and Sakuya, I’m wondering how closely related Kaguya is with the others and what role she could play or influence she has in the series knowing that she is related to our lead for Dakkan no Rozé.