CODE GEASS / First Impressions

Summary:
On the ride to Lake Kawaguchi with Shirley and Millay, Nina becomes afraid when the train passes through a tunnel. Millay reassures her that they’re going to a peaceful place with a lot of tourists that’s not scary like the ghetto. Lelouch meanwhile has donned his Zero costume and has invited the rebels to his new hideout – a large upscale vehicle that was given by someone he calls a libertine noble. One of the men turns on the TV and sees a live news report coming from in front of the Lake Kawaguchi Convention Center Hotel. It seems that the Japan Liberation Front has taken some hostages, and footage from inside alerts Kallen to the fact that Shirley, Nina, and Millay are among those being held. The report states that the leader of this group calls himself Commander Kusakabe, an ex-Japanese soldier, though their actual leader Toudou is watching the same report back at their base and is calling Kusakabe a fool. As this situation is unfolding, Lelouch gets a call from Rival, but he ignores it.
Cornelia is also present on scene and is getting briefed on how they can’t attack by air or sea. However, there is a tunnel underneath the convention center hotel through which the Britannia forces are planning to destroy the foundation and sink the building. The problem is that the three Sutherlands they send down there get destroyed by the Liberation Front’s large gun. To complicate matters further, Cornelia knows that Euphemia is also part of the hostage group, though the terrorists still aren’t aware of this fact. During all this, C.C. is at school watching the girl who carves into the side of the school building everyday. Seemingly talking to herself, she says that she understands and that she’ll do it well next time, but that she’s not the guardian. Back at the edge of the lake, Suzaku is asking about participating in the rescue, but Lloyd makes him realize that Cornelia wouldn’t leave an operation up to an Eleven.
Lelouch meanwhile is still considering what to do as he watches Shirley’s desperate father on TV. He knows that he needs to organize to fight against Britannia and thinks that if he left the situation alone, Cornelia would act without care for the hostages. But realizing that she hasn’t yet done that, Lelouch suspects that something is up. When Ougi comes by and asks about their uniforms not being right for the Resistance, Zero declares that they are not the Resistance – they’re aiming to be allies of justice. As night approaches and the situation doesn’t change, Cecil is noting to Suzaku how some of the hostages are student council members. Suzaku, however, thinks of himself as a man of structure, so he gives precedence to logic over personal feelings. At that moment though, he sees a group of the terrorists push a hostage over the edge of the building. It seems that Kusakabe is threatening to kill a hostage every 30 minutes as long as there’s not a reply of some kind from Britannia about their demands.
Cornelia’s advisers bring her the option of getting the women and children released first, but she turns it down because any response would be acknowledging the terrorists. The situation changes however, when Cornelia gets a communication from Zero, who has stolen a TV station van. She surrounds him and is ready to kill him for Clovis’ revenge, but Lelouch poses her a simple question about whether she chooses a dead Clovis or a Euphemia who is alive. Cornelia’s shocked look confirms for Lelouch what he had suspected. He thinks that Cornelia is still the same in terms of how she doted on Euphemia when they were young. Therefore, the reason she hasn’t acted is because the tail of affection is hindering her. Playing on this, Zero declares to Cornelia that he will save Euphemia. Cornelia isn’t happy about it, but she lets him through to the convention center hotel. Lelouch wonders to himself if the Japan Liberation Front will accept him as a friend or treat him as a nuisance. Regardless, he knows that they’re lured by the temptation to meet Zero.
Cornelia meanwhile authorizes the Lancelot to launch, but Cecil recognizes that Suzaku will be acting as a decoy. Despite this, Suzaku is ready to do whatever he can to help the hostages. His job is to take the underground tunnel and destroy the foundation blocks of the hotel, sinking it. Another force will take care of the rescue and the terrorists. Part of the reason Suzaku is so determined is because he remembers how Shirley had invited him to go on the trip, and how he had turned her down because of work. At that moment, the situation inside the hotel is worsening after a scared Nina calls one of the guards an Eleven. The angry guard turns his gun on her because he considers himself to be Japanese, not an Eleven. Nina’s screaming prompts Euphemia to finally stand up and tell him to stop. Identifying herself as the third princess of Britannia, Euphemia demands to see their leader.
Meanwhile, Zero is already meeting with Kusakabe, asking what they intend to accomplish with this. When Kusakabe answers that they want people to know that the Japanese aren’t dead yet, Zero calls them antiquated and thinks that they can’t be saved. An angry Kusakabe draws his sword and attacks, but Lelouch simply opens the eye slit on his mask and uses his GEASS to command Kusakabe to die. More guards are bringing Euphemia to the room when they hear gunshots from inside and burst in to see Zero with a gun. The soldiers and Kusakabe have all killed themselves because they realized that their actions were meaningless, or so Zero claims. And after spotting Euphemia, Zero also mentions that she’s the same as ever for having volunteered herself as a hostage for the sake of the people. Below ground, Suzaku has launched his attack on the Liberation Front’s mecha and is able to dodge the cannon fire. As he approaches the enemy, he decides to use the Lancelot’s VARIS (Variable Ammunition Repulsion Impact Spitfire) rifle.
Zero is at that time mentioning to Euphemia that he heard she became the vice-governor-general, but Euphemia says that she’s not happy about it. Zero suggests that it’s because her brother Clovis is dead, killed by him, and recounts how Clovis had begged for his life with the same mouth that he ordered Elevens killed with. When Euphemia asks if that’s the reason Zero killed Clovis, Zero reveals that it wasn’t – the real reason is because Clovis was a child of the Emperor of Britannia. That reminds him that Euphemia is also one of the Emperor’s children, so he brings out his gun and prepares to shoot her. However, it is at this point that the building starts to sink because Suzaku has successfully defeated his opponent and destroyed the foundations blocks of the building. As he hovers alongside the building, Suzaku sees Zero in one of the rooms, but then Zero triggers some explosives and the entire floor blows up.
Although the Lancelot is fine, all signs would seem to point to the people who were inside the building being dead. Suzaku is frustrated that he couldn’t save everyone, but in actuality, all the hostages including Euphemia are alive and on life rafts. Zero and his group of rebels appear on another boat and Zero starts broadcasting a speech, announcing that all the hostages have been rescued and can go home. He then declares his group to be the Order of the Black, an organization which doesn’t have weapons and is everyone’s ally. According to him, the Japan Liberation Front cowardly took Britannia civilians hostage and cruelly murdered them. He and his people found this meaningless, so they punished the Liberation Front. Former governor-general Clovis was the same way in how he ordered the slaughter of unarmed Elevens, and so he was punished too. Zero does not deny the fighting, but he will absolutely not allow the one-sided killing of weak people by strong people. Thus, it’s only ok to shoot people who are prepared to be shot. Their group will appear again when people with power attack people without power, even if this enemy has a lot of power. By this point in the speech, Kallen is wondering to herself if this is the ally of justice Zero had mentioned earlier.
Zero finishes by telling the people with power to fear him and the people without power to ask for him. They, the Order of the Black, will judge the world.

Translation Note: As you can see, I decided to go with the “Order of the Black” for 「黒の騎士団」 (Kuro no Kishidan). I believe the common translation that’s been floating around is the “Black League of Knights,” but league just doesn’t seem appropriate – silly even. Knight societies are typically called Orders and I think that would work best in this case given the word and the context. Actually, “Knights of the Black” or even “Black Knights” would be accurate direct translations. My point is that this can be translated various ways, but league is not among the best choices.

Preview:

Holy crap, I think this was an entire episode without a Pizza Hut reference. Either that or I was just too engrossed in the awesome story. I guess Pizza Hut doesn’t support the Rebellion this week. 🙁
But like I was saying, this episode had a great plot that kept me on the edge of my seat. Lelouch was faced with a predicament that had him facing a potential ally and a sworn enemy. I was impressed he managed to get past Cornelia without using his GEASS power thanks to some good intuition about Euphemia. I had thought that maybe the Japan Liberation Front would join him, but it seems like he looks down on them, at least based on what Kusakabe told him. Their real leader Toudou may yet leave a different impression.
They also scared me into thinking that Lelouch was going to shoot Euphemia and thus screw over all the theories about her, but fortunately that didn’t happen. I would have hated him if he did. And how the heck did Cornelia go from this to how she is now? That’s probably something more you can blame on the Emperor of Britannia’s influence.
Unfortunately next week appears to be a recap episode. Maybe they’ll add in a few new things, but we’ll see what happens.

82 Comments

  3. Aw no Pizza? C.C will not be a happy bunny. What is that ‘Marching Ever Onward To Tomorrow’ screen about? Looks like something from Mai Otome. Cornelia must have had a tough life to go from such a cute kid to the ruthless commander she is now. And er the Black Knights, lol, surely someone will recognize Karen’s hair?

    Sonhex
    Reply

  7. How can you recap 7 episodes?
    Awww no pizza hit? Oh well story progression at least.
    I like Euphimia, I thought i would hate her, her character design makes her seem ditzy, but she seems like a pretty normal girl. Her date with Suzaku reminded me of one of my friends. And in this ep she took down her Princess Leia buns 😛

    Sen
    Reply

  13. ALot has happened in the past 7 episodes, not enough to warrent a recap but we all hate recaps since we can download episodes at will. This is for the people who didnt catch it from the start and is the perfect time to recap on what has past before the action really gets intense.

    NinjiKiran
    Reply

  15. >>> is Fukuda directing this?

    I bet he secretly his 🙁
    but i remember X TV had at least 3 recap episode..so i guess this is to be expected 🙁
    and/or maybe we will olny have the first half of episode in recap and the second half will be so full of spoiler they won’t show it .

    kurotsuki
    Reply

  16. A lot? Nothing of significance has happened yet. Lelouch is barely past square one if he’s serious about a rebellion and not just personal revenge. He’s just starting. Why do we need a recap now? It’s so much unlike Taniguchi and Ookouchi…

    Or maybe they think we need a recap because what’s going to come after this would be extremely different than what went before, and we need a little summary-closure? Or kurotsuki could be right and the next episode could be half-recap and half-surprise spoilerific events of doom.

    verityisle
    Reply

  17. OMG, the recap episodes reminds of this one episode of Gintama (another anime made by Sunrise) where they go,

    Shinpachi – The Gintama anime is finally up to its third season.
    Gintoki – Yep, though at some point I thought it’ll end
    Kagura – We barely made it.
    Shinpachi – Since no one thought they’ll continue, they didn’t make more new episodes for the third season.
    Gintoki – Well, if things like that happen, you just fill the gap up by putting in flashback sequences.
    Kagura – And if you add two or three new episode clips, we can trick them all.
    Shinpachi – HEY!

    Sunrise does these recaps knowingly as fillers. XD
    Recap episodes: a Sunrise must.

    Ookuji-kun
    Reply

  18. Alot has happened in the past 7 episodes relatively speaking, but enough to justify and fill a full episode? Personally I do hope its not a full episode as I dont really think we have seen enough of the plot to really fill a whole episode without it being just filler. Granted yes people who didnt catch it from the start might need to be filled in but I dont recall at the top of my head any anime that has a recap ep within the first 10 episdoes.

    Oh well the anime has been great so far so I have faith in the writing staff.

    dg04
    Reply

  21. omg i fucking hate recap episodes, ok not so bad for a 50 episode one(still pisses me off), and ok i guess for a long running anime(still pisses me off though). BUt a 24-26 episode series should not have these, ESPECIALLY, after 7 episodes im mean come on not even halfway through. What are we idiots?

    oh and SHOOT HER!

    bak3donh1gh
    Reply

  23. Haha, looks like Pizza Hut finally ran out of budget. This proves that a rebellion does NOT come cheap. XD

    And I have a feeling Cornelia was either neglected or abused as a child, which could be why the sweet little angel became such an ugly witch who uses purple lipsticks…O.O;

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  25. Thats why the show is being counted as a 25 episode show. It’s actually 26 but with a recap not part of the main episodes.

    The show is planned as 25 episodes, so you’re not losing one episode or anything.

    After
    Reply

  29. i think it will be a full episode recap rather than a half ep. they stated that it will be stage “8.5”, so it wouldn’t progress to 9.
    thus, there will be no breakthrough. i think.
    since pizza hut took a break this week, i will take mine next week…

    tyllon
    Reply

  31. When I saw the picture of the terrorists at the end and the girl Lelouch hypnotized into marking the wall I remembered something he said in episode six. He said that if the terrorists were there he could implement his plan. He said this when he began chasing the cat.
    I think Lelouch plans to hypnotize people into becoming his loyal soldiers like dolls. We know Geass only works during eye contact but what if he leaves some kind of command behind like have respond to a key phrase?
    Damn I can’t wait to download this episode!

    White Star
    Reply

  34. >shezaei_neko

    “For some strange reason everytime I look at Euphemia the image of Lacus comes to my mind… :3”

    I can’t help but agree. Especially since she’s taken down her ‘princess leia’ hair buns. XD

    Oh dear. Recap episodes; I hope they’re not going to have one after every 7 episodes because that would be ridiculous. -___-

    krazy
    Reply

  35. wow, crazy action there.
    Love how the Japanese forces use Japanese tactical systems with the Kanji and all, while Brittannia uses the ones with English. =P

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Kaito
    Reply

  36. Lelouch’s fashion sense is contagious. XD

    Episode 8.5?! What the hell are they thinking? I guess the good folks over at Sunrise & Bandai weren’t expecting this show to be popular.

    lord lelouch
    Reply

  39. wow, just wow. i think lelouch became even more of a person on a “crusade” more than ever. its VERY interesting that hes not allying with the japanese liberation front…now he’s like the middle man…INTERESTING.

    mewmew
    Reply

  41. Well at my guess next week we definately gonna have a recap ep BUT I dunno whether we gonna have a ep 8 or not….Besides that, ep 8.5 might explain some of those mysteries yet to be revealed…. Lets watch b4 we comment :X

    CronuZ
    Reply

  42. Oh yeah and, about the last line wrote during the sponsorship credit, it said something about Theres an annoucement from Zero about present… I wonder what tat is, gonna wait till next week to find out

    CronuZ
    Reply

  43. >>> I dun get anime sometimes
    According to info, Cornelia supposed to be 11 years older than Euphemia.
    The picture doesn’t show that at all >

    The info also says that Viletta pilots a Glasgow, but she pilots a Sutherland in the anime.

    cclragnarok
    Reply

  45. While your translation of Black Order of Knights is more accurate in the spirit I think that it should be more along the lines of The Order of Black Knights since most military orders that had “order” in their names used Order of _______. Order of Knights seems rather redundant. The use of the term Black Knight is a bit more fitting IMHO since black knights outside of Monty Python had black armor because they had to paint it black to prevent rusting, black was indicative of masked fealty or lack there of thus contributing a sort of “wild card” to medievil politics. In this sense using the term black knights can be used to refer to their ambigious state as they are not taking sides with the principle groups involved. Black Knight can also be an allusion on how the dispossesed Lulu has to hide his identity to take part in political intrigue.

    Chibi Cornelia and Euphemia are adorable. Since Lulu is adopting a sort of black knight image I wonder if one of them is going to reduced to head and torso soon…

    Crusader
    Reply

  49. my thought on this episode:
    _Nina whining/fear about the “elevens” is getting on my nerves seriously
    _Lelouch should have killed Euphemia, too bad he didn’t :p

    and damn recap next week 🙁

    Nigredo
    Reply

  50. eden – Of course Cornelia-sama can smile. Haven’t you watched the ED animation? It’s pretty obvious she dotes on Cornelia from that and from the way she greeted her on her arrival in Japan. She is, of course, her precious little sister. (Similar to the way Lelouch dotes on Nanaly, for example.)

    Spectrum
    Reply

  54. AWESOME!!! THIS IS ONE THE OF BEST EPISODE AROUND (even though it can be better if CC is in there).

    well.. now Zero has knights
    Let’s see how long it takes to complete the chess troop’s set
    My guess..

    – King – Lulu
    – Queen – CC.
    – Knight – The former resistance group
    – Bishop – Susaku ( well very later on).
    – Rook – ?
    – Pawn – some random ppl who join the group after hearing his speech this episode

    lol

    Quina
    Reply

  55. Lelouch seems to be getting a little too arrogant because of his Geass power. It’ll probably come back to bite him on the ass.
    Aside from that this was the best episode yet! Too bad there wasn’t much of CC that’s my only complaint.

    White Star
    Reply

  57. Light and lulu are different, lulu fights to protect those who have no power (or at least that’s what he said in this episode). He fought to create a country where the weak (like his sister) can live in without fear.

    Light in the other hand, just kill anyone he wants. He doesn’t just kill criminal, he kills CIA and even…[spoiler censor]. He is all crazy about seeing himself being god having power to judge on people life. The world he wants to create is the world filled with fear of god so that noone would ever do wrong things.

    Quina
    Reply

  58. 黒の騎士 means knight in black, literally. 団 in this sense translate into battalion (as in 騎士団 = Knight Battalion). So Order of Black Knight is a better localization. I don’t like the word league either.

    Bladewind
    Reply

  60. >fai-san

    He is nothing near Light…. Hes aim has alwayz been revenge on the Brittania royal family and not on public(including Brittanian ppl).Yet in this episode, he didnt killed Yuffie cause in the end when during his speech, he said he killed Clovis coz he ordered the massacare of Shinjuku ghetto. Maybe hes trying to gain respect or trust from the public by his Justice to recruit other rebels, consealing a much bigger conspiracy but until it is revealed, I pretty much like wat he did in this episode.

    CronuZ
    Reply

  65. Lulu is Lelouch. Simpler way to pronounce his name. All this seems like a convenient way for the Emperor to pit his children against each other, to decide who comes out on top and inherits his thrown. Fits in really well with his survival of the fittest idealogy. I kinda Cornelia, she’s got a hard edge to her, but that doesn’t mean she’s a complete b*tch. But I gotta say, the trophy for hotness this episode has to go to the other student council girl, no not nina.

    EliteF22
    Reply

  66. Quina good one, but with your permission (or not) i suggest the following changes

    – King – Lulu (no change)
    – Queen – CC. (no change)
    – Knight – Black Order of Knights (no change)
    – Bishop – being the counselor and all that I suggest Kallen. She is in the order and might be more helpful and trustful after she learns Lulu’s motives and such. Shirley is a good option too. This girl loves him and might get used and tossed around like Misa. A twist for the unexpected would have to be Yuffie. She defects from Britannia cuz she finally realizes that they’r a bunch of crazed power whores and goes to oniichan to help him fight. Maybe that’ll bring out the emo from Cornelia-oneesama. No Sunrise production is women-emo-free. (Kallen and Shirley seem good combo since there r 2 bishops)
    – Rook – Susaku: since he brings to the game his aimbot-haxor-pwning Lancelot mecha, his power to bring the smackdown on anybody is very visible. Thus, a more powerful piece would suit him better. The other rook can be the left out bishop girl in nekomimi naked apron saying oniichan or goshoujin-sama as needed. 90% guarantee checkmate with just the bishops and this rook.
    – Pawns – in order from left to right:
    Rival: that’s what good friends do. Help each other’s rebellion
    Girl doing the wall scratches: substitute with machete or boxcutter and we gots ourselves a cheap bootleg Kaede/Rena
    Nina: bitch would serve as sacrificial opening pawn. She would either hold “Damn u 11s” flags or “Nippon Banzai” ones depending on the enemy.
    Nanaly: kawaii imouto in wheelchair should protect oniichan
    Pizza Hut delivery boy: hand toss double cheese double pepperoni
    cuz the queen needs this shit to operate effectively
    Millay: why not
    Lulu’s meido: cuz in every quiet meido there is a crazy Mad Dog who can sucker punch Revy
    The cat: he outsmarted the smart one.

    physics152
    Reply

  68. If Euphemia is the 3rd princess she must be older than Lulu (whos the 11th prince and 17th in line) unless they go by who their mother was rather than age when determining succession. Didnt it say somewhere she was 16, hence younger than Lelouch? *shrug*
    No pizza hut? ;_;
    *sigh* i wish the fansubs would hurry up.

    Sen
    Reply

  69. She may be the 3rd princess but what number in line is she? There may just be more guys than girls, thus explaining why Lelouch is so far down on the prince list. Besides, wasn’t Yuffie in school as well before she came?

    Waaaaa
    Reply

  70. An exciting episode despite the lack of Pizza Hut although I get my Pizza Hut fix every week since I work there. 🙂

    Looks like Euphemia is starting to resemble Lacus more and more.

    Damn next episode a recap? It’s too early for a recap. I am no looking forward to this 8.5

    Basilimux
    Reply

  76. but that’s true quinaa he can just go to hell ^^

    physiscs152 that’s a nice list and to suport your theory lets just go there on the last seconds of the op where Suzaku Lacus and co. appear on some kind of Jail-phile ^^ (no LULU doesn’t heck He’s the KING!) anyway moving into thopic I was mad that they diodn’t put a pizza hut ad this time, my friends and I always look foward to find the Pizza Hut ad on every episode ^^

    RickaZ
    Reply

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