CODE GEASS R2 – The Episode 03 Leak

In an odd twist today, the final six minutes of the third episode of CODE GEASS R2 were leaked a few hours ago.

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According to a 2ch post, one of the staff members was arrested, and episode three may not air this weekend (to be decided tomorrow). Supposedly the alternatives are to air either a shortened version of the episode four or nothing at all this weekend while they remake episode three. That’s very disturbing news to say the least, but I can understand why they might feel inclined to do that since the leaked part does have some huge spoilers for the entire episode. And given that they’re thinking about remaking some of it, it’s not even clear if the leaked part is canon anymore. In any case, an official announcement will probably come in the next 24 hours, and I’ll be sure to update this post.

Update 4/16/2008: According to an announcement on the official site, the leak occurred when someone at Bandai Channel accidentally uploaded it while in the process of implementing a system to prevent unauthorized postings. The production committee apologizes for this, and episode three will air as scheduled this Sunday. While this all still strikes me as sounding a little suspicious, I’m happy that things got worked out and that there won’t be any delays, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the episode.

CODE GEASS – An R2 Primer

 

With the release of CODE GEASS R2 less than a month away, I’ve thrown together a primer to help anyone who’s interested in getting ready for the new series. Everything here is based on information that’s been released via magazines, trailers, the official site(s), and 2ch. Be forewarned, there are some spoilers. At the same time however, most of this is just an introduction to characters and setting – information that I think would be useful to know going into the series. A lot of this is cut and paste from a post made by AmuroNT1 made on the GameFAQs messageboards, but I’ve reorganized it, corrected some stuff, added more information, and added some images. Thus, a big thanks goes out to AmuroNT1 and also to Celiss Galvea for all of the hard work done translating the tons of stuff coming down the pipeline.

I’ve also included the five trailers and three commercials that have been released so far, so if you’ve missed one, you can find those videos under a spoiler tag at the bottom of this post.

CODE GEASS R2 – Commercial 01

Today’s episode of Gundam 00 featured a CODE GEASS R2 commercial that included a few new shots of scenes that have already appeared in past promos, but more importantly, it previewed what’s likely to be the new OP. There’s been no official indication of who the artist was, however it sounded a little to me like High and Mighty Color or a similar group. I find it interesting that they’ve recorded an OP already – a sign of perhaps just how popular this series and its merchandising is.

Random Musings – CODE GEASS Second Series in Spring

A quick note before I head off to class: Newtype’s January issue has announced that GEASS’s second series is confirmed for Spring of 2008. As you can see in the image above, there’ll be a new boy named Rollo (I didn’t think we needed a shota character, but whatever), and the white text questions if that Zero is actually Lelouch. Also, the setting for the new series will be the entire world instead of mainly Japan. They haven’t yet declared a broadcast time for it, but I assume that since the Gundam 00’s first part’s ending will coincide with the beginning of this, there’s a high chance it’ll be taking that coveted Saturday 6PM slot.