CODE GEASS / First Impressions

Summary:
Back in Imperial Calendar Year 2009, Lelouch carried Nunnally up a long set of stairs to the Kururugi Shrine. He had to explain to his sister that Japan was still under a system that elected a prime minister instead of having a king. Despite being only nine years old, he carried her all the way up because he didn’t want the Japanese to touch her. The two of them had been given a small storehouse to live in on the shrine grounds, and when Lelouch first saw it, he had been at a loss for words. Inside, Nunnally had asked him what kind of place it was, and Lelouch lied to her by describing it as somewhere wonderful. He had suddenly noticed that someone was there and demanded that this person show himself. It had turned out to be Suzaku, and he had told Lelouch not to talk with such a superior tone since this place belonged to him originally. Suzaku had seen Britannians as impudent for wanting to make Japan into a colony, but Lelouch pointed out that Japan also controlled underdeveloped nations through their economies, so they aren’t that different. Lelouch had heard all this from Suzaku’s father, but that doesn’t stop Suzaku from calling him a liar and revealing that he lied to Nunnally about what the room looked like. The two ended up fighting and Lelouch lost badly. Suzaku only stopped hitting Lelouch when Nunnally spoke up and he realized that she was blind. He apologized and ran out, and Nunnally proceeded to check if her brother was ok. Lelouch claimed to be fine and had figured out by this point that Suzaku was the son of Prime Minister Kururugi. Speaking in a retrospective tone, he explains that this is the first time that he met Suzaku. For Lelouch, who had up until then been surrounded by nothing but rivals and vassals, Suzaku was his first friend – and became his worst enemy.

The first DVD of CODE GEASS is out today, and with it came a four-minute picture drama special that shows what happened back when Lelouch and Suzaku first met at the Kururugi Shrine. I rather like this type of picture storytelling, but I’ll also admit that any additional CODE GEASS material, especially stuff explaining background story, would always be welcome. This in particular is interesting because we see here a lot of tensions already between Britannia and Japan as evidenced by Lelouch and Suzaku’s attitudes towards each others’ peoples. There’s a certain irony in the fact that by the time the actual series is taking place, Lelouch is fighting against Britannia and Suzaku is fighting for Britannia.
I look forward to seeing more of these picture dramas on future DVDs. Incidentally, the first DVD has the first episode in 16:9, and it looks very nice.

21 Comments

  1. Maybe Suzaku was a very very bad boy who liked to bully people until blind girl in wheel chair told him to stop beating up her onii chan.

    At least that’s what I get from the screencaps here.

    mikeon
    Reply

  4. Where it all began…

    CODE GEASS The Movie – ‘Before the power’

    Coming soon to a cinema near you

    This movie not yet rated (don’t like the cartoon image fool you parents…its from Japan! Remember what happened with the wolfs)

    Batteries not included

    Per-order now and get your very own Cheese-kun! Call 555-tehhut

    Manji
    Reply

  6. Actually it was because Lelouch was a Britannian and Suzaku was a japanese. You really think those two go together?

    What happened was that Lelouch and Nunnally were given that storage room to stay in but unfortunately that was Suzaku’s hideout. The two hurled insults about how Britannia wanted Japan as its colony and how Japan oppressed other nations to the point. Then it bogs down to how Lelouch lied to Nunnally about the place they are staying in so Lelouch attacks Suzaku but gets beaten back. Thus, Suzaku is shaken when Nunnally speaks out so he runs off.

    soldierofdarkness
    Reply

  17. ^^ It’s awesome they’re going into Suzaku and Lealoch’s backstory. I’ve always enjoyed the friendship they appear to have and I wondered about their respective backgrounds. I hope they put their back story in the animé, too.

    Belle Starlia
    Reply

  18. Hmm…I’m not sure if this is asking too much, but is it possible for you to put up a few screencaps with the first episode in widescreen? Or maybe rip the OP and ED in widescreen format? I can’t believe MBS cropped Code Geass, and all along I thought that Sunrise made a great mistake in not making Code Geass a widescreen anime.

    Defade
    Reply

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