Code Geass Stage 1 Dub
I'm kind of bored and thought it'd be fun to check out the Code Geass dub because, well, it's not dubbed by 4Kids. That's generally a good reason to check out any sort of dub.
So it starts off the same as the Japanese episode, as far as I can tell. I actually hate the beginning of this episode, dub or not, because that buzzing noise is extremely irritating. Plus I'm not quite sure what the point of it actually is. Although seeing lil' Suzaku is more than enough to make up for it.
Lil' Lelouch needs help climbing up the small cliff, which is understandable. It's more than twice his height and I don't see any handholds. Then again, Lulu is also a failure when it comes to any sort of physical activity. Good thing Suzaku's with him.
"Do you trust me?"
Suzaku succeeds in pulling him up (there's a deep meaning to that, I'm sure) while C.C. spies on them. Lulu is breathing heavily from...being pulled up the cliff, and then both boys stop and look at something. Whatever it is, I don't really care because I'm busy spazzing over how cute the two of them are. Actually, mostly just Suzaku because Lelouch looks kind of weird from this angle. Also, he has really bad fashion sense.
I love love love love Suzaku's hair. Lelouch's hair is usually pretty sexy too, but it looks bland here. I guess he hasn't been using Herbal Essences every day like the label told him to.
Some boring exposition...though I guess it's pretty important stuff if you've never seen the series before. In a nutshell, Britannia has invaded Japan using their "humanoid autonomous knights," a.k.a. the Knightmare Frames, and changed its name from "Japan" to "Area 11." I've always loved this part of the story, to be honest, because of how it incorporates the ideas of name and identity and stuff. 'Cause this'll become more important later on.
I still don't know whether all those dots are a swarm of locusts or the Britannian air fleet or what. Or maybe that's entirely the point.
Whoever designed the Britannian flag must have shipped Godric Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin.
There's a shot of a huge fire and then Suzaku looking depressed. Poor kid. I just want to hug him. And then patch up that hole in his pants. Now that I think about it, are we ever told what happened to Suzaku's mother? I hope she isn't some mentally unstable parent that is mysteriously absent in her child's life... though considering this is an anime series and this is Code Geass, that's entirely possible.
Anyway, Lelouch, who doesn't notice that Suzaku is not exactly in the mood, solemnly swears that he's up to no good. Or rather, that he'll one day obliterate Britannia (!). Same thing, really. He sounds pretty stupid when he says this, and I'm not too fond of his kid voice actor. Hopefully, this isn't a reflection of what his teenage VA will sound like.
Just in case you weren't sure which show I'm recapping. Ha. In other news, I absolutely adore this opening. For those who don't know, the song is called "Colors" and is performed by a band called Flow. It's probably the best song in Code Geass's set of OP/ED.
I like how I can kind of guess what the title's saying from the four Chinese characters in the title. ;) But anyhoo. Back to the show.
A helicopter of some sort is trailing a truck, and some military-like voices are in the background. A TV reporter talks about a terrorist bombing that resulted in 59 Britannian casualties. Clearly, however, nobody really cares because the next shot is that of a chessboard and an old nervous fogey freaking out because he sucks at chess apparently. The referee dude (or whoever he is) tells the old man that he'll need to make his next moves every twenty seconds because he's taking too freakin' long. The old man's opponent, a rich-looking aristocrat kind of guy, is filing his nails with a smug look on his face and has no qualms about the time limit.
To the eternal gratitude of the old fogey, the door opens and in walks his substitute, Lelouch Lamperouge, with one of his friends, the blue-haired Rivalz. Mr. Aristocrat seems mildly surprised at the presence of two schoolboys. Lelouch throws this surprise right back in his face. Speaking of which, Lulu's only said six words, and I already hate his VA. Though that was kind of to be expected. No one can match up to the sexiness of Jun Fukuyama's voice. Except maybe Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons. But that's beyond the point.
More pointless banter. Rivalz thinks Lelouch is going to have one difficult time making up for all the mistakes the old man made. Lelouch, on the other hand, thinks otherwise and says he'll finish up with Mr. Aristocrat in nine minutes. What a joke, right? Except this is Lelouch, so obviously not.
"I'm bored already."
As per usual, we don't actually get to see Lelouch in action, though we can rest assured knowing that he is kicking Mr. Aristocrat's butt. As compensation, we're treated to a scene between three more of Lelouch's friends: Shirley the resident spaz, Milly the Student Council President, and Nina the modern-day Einstein (her last name is actually Einstein). Shirley is squeaking (there's really no other way to describe her voice) about how Lulu's wasting his brain on stupid things, like gambling. Milly teases Shirley about her "darling Lulu."
I don't love her voice, but I don't quite hate it either. It's rather appropriate for Shirley, and it kind of reminds me of how Safty voices Rebecca Hawkins in Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged.
Oh look, it's that truck again. The driver is pissed off about all the problems in his life, although his companion can't quite bring herself to care at the moment. They do have bigger things to worry about, after all. Good to note that they're both wearing seat belts, though. If 4Kids had gotten their hands on this, they surely would have emphasized that.
The long truck drives are always the best time to bond.
Lelouch wins the chess game. (Duh.) According to Rivalz, he set a new record of 8 minutes, 32 seconds, whatever significance that's supposed to hold. Lelouch tries to sound bored, because that was how Jun Fukuyama sounded, but he can't really pull it off. He just manages to sound like someone who's trying to sound bored.
Outside, a giant TV screen shows smoke pouring out of a building. This is the same image that TV reporter was previously talking about. The innocent citizens are all freaking out and saying stuff like "The Elevens terrify me." Yeah. Like people really say that in public. Prince Clovis then appears on screen and addresses his imperial subjects. Lelouch's eyes narrow. Keep that in mind, folks.
Clovis says his "imperial subjects" also include the "many cooperative Elevens who choose to serve the empire Britannia." The pink-haired girl in the truck gets pissed at this: "We're not Elevens, we're Japanese!" I kind of like her voice. On any other person, I'd hate it, but the grittiness of it rather fits Kallen.
Clovis continues with his BS'd speech and asks for a moment of silence for the eight who died in duty (what about the civilians?). Or rather, demands a moment of silence. Britannian royalty don't ask for anything. Lelouch and Rivalz purposely don't participate, although Lelouch's reason is actually reasonable (crying won't bring the dead back to life).
"O! Heartburn."
This is "A camera." As opposed to, you know, "The camera."
As the cameras lift off Clovis, a person at his party congratulates him on his performance, saying, "One would never guess that you were attending a party while doing that." I don't know why she can't just say "No one" instead of just "One." People don't talk like that.
The Britannians suck up to Prince Clovis, except for Diethard, who thinks Clovis is rather lame and is looking through a binder labeled "Osaka Crisis Special Presentation." A rather rotund soldier runs past him and starts freaking out to Clovis over something or other. We'll find out what it is later. For now, all we know is that "the police were informed it's medical equipment." Don't you love it when the government and law enforcement don't get along? Clovis orders him to deploy the Royal Guard and Knightmares because that's all he knows how to do.
Y HALLO THAR JEREMIAH. :3
MOAR JEREMIAH. :3
Lelouch and Rivalz are now off to school. While Rivalz does the grunt work, Lelouch reads a book. Rivalz also asks him why he moved his king first, and Lelouch delivers this classic line: "If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?" Rivalz thinks this is deep (probably) but doesn't have time to apply it to his own life because "HEY LELOUCH I THINK A TRUCK IS TRYING TO RUN US OVER."
The people in said truck are obviously Kallen and the nameless driver that we saw before. I guess they've gotten so caught up in their bonding that they forgot to pay attention to the road. Driver swerves to the left to avoid them and ends up crashing. Oops.
Stop terrorizing the traffic cones; they never did anything to you.
Rivalz wonders if the crash was their fault. Lelouch says it wasn't. Elsewhere, General Bartley (the rotund guy who reported all this to Prince Clovis) is still freaking out. Lelouch notices some green and yellow sparkles and is about to ask Rivalz whether he thinks Edward Cullen is in the truck when he spies a ton of useless Britannians checking out the accident. Of course, none of them help, so Lelouch goes over to the truck himself. The Britannians take pictures of him. One of them sounds eerily like a valley girl.
"Good thing we were wearing seat belts, huh?"
Lelouch calls out to the two in the truck and, instead of a response from them, hears a voice saying "It's you! Finally I have my found my--" This voice is conveniently cut off. The driver, whose name I've learned is Nagata, starts the truck up again, causing Lelouch to fall into the truck and perform the one acrobatic feat he pulls in this entire show: the front roll.
The Britannians in the air issue a warning to the truck and then start shooting. Nagata does some fancy swerving (i.e. randomly turning to the right and to the left), even though that's exactly how they crashed earlier, and Kallen whips off her cap to go play with the army. In the back, Lelouch is wondering which is worse, jumping out and breaking his neck, or jumping out and getting shot. (The answer is jumping out and breaking his neck and getting shot.)
He sees Kallen and seems to recognize her. In the meantime, Rivalz is worried about missing school. Good to learn that there's such a devoted Britannian student. I was worried myself about how education seems to be going down the drain.
Back at the more important scene, a Slash-Harken shoots out of the truck and destroys one of the Britannian copters. Surprise! Kallen has a Knightmare. And can actually pilot it.
"RAWR!"
Kallen takes out some more Britannians before (drumroll!) Jeremiah Gottwald arrives, sounding very eloquent as he raves about how his Sutherland is superior to Kallen's Glasgow. Oh, and also about the "compassion of our glorious Emperor." Yeah, we totally believe you, Orenji-kun. At least he has a somewhat decent voice. Kallen takes a hit from him, causing Nagata to suggest that they should split up. (By the way, shame on you, Nagata, for talking on the phone while driving. Weren't you just in a car crash?)
Another Sutherland drives up the wall of a building or something and lands in front of the truck, so Nagata swerves to the left. The pilot of the Knightmare, Villetta Nu, smirks because Elevens are apparently simple-minded. Well, at least they wouldn't win a prize for Most Disappointing Character Ever.
Kallen's not doing so well, but she manages to run away from Jeremiah, who gives a lovable little smirk. Oh, those Britannians and their smirks. A Britannian who isn't smirking, however, is Lelouch because his cellphone is fail. At least he's using that famed brain of his to figure out where he is. And how to get out.
"Rise and shine!"
Lloyd, the guy with glasses, is busy pushing General Bartley's buttons. Just 'cause you're never wrong, Lloyd, doesn't mean you can go around being mean to other people. But then again, he wouldn't be Lloyd if he weren't socially awkward. His voice pales in comparison to his Japanese VA, but it's decent enough. It just doesn't have the same quirkiness. Anyway, General Bartley reveals that the terrorists have stolen poison gas. Cut to a shot of Lelouch sitting next to the container of poison gas.
As we return from the commercial break, a guy from the Royal Guard is giving orders. Listening to him are the honorary Britannians, those who were born in Japan but don't consider themselves Japanese. They're the ones who have to do the dirty work, i.e. finding the truck in the Shinjuku Ghetto.
In the meantime, Nagata is struggling along and runs the truck into a ditch of some sort. Then he pulls a lever, and a door to the truck opens, revealing the container of poison gas.
An honorary Britannian spots the truck and reports this to his superiors. He also sees Lelouch, who's trying to climb up somewhere. I have no idea why, because he can just escape. Like, out the open door. Anyhoo, the honorary Britannian spinkicks his way over and knocks Lelouch to the ground.
Spinzaku's debut.
The two trade some heated words, and Lelouch actually manages to kick the honorary Britannian away from him. Hooray for one episode of athleticism! Lelouch, annoyed that he's being accused of terrorism and mindless murder, wonders why his attacker doesn't just OBLITERATE BRITANNIA (!).
And then--ZOMG! The honorary Britannian recognizes Lelouch and reveals that he's Suzaku, Lelouch's friend from way back when. His voice is definitely better than Lelouch's. He kind of sounds like a jock, which is appropriate. Lelouch is surprised that Suzaku became a Britannian soldier. Suzaku is surprised that Lelouch became a--"What are you saying!?" demands Lelouch.
"It sure is a good thing we still look exactly the same, otherwise I might not have recognized you and you'd be dead."
Then the container thing starts to open. Suzaku grabs Lelouch, covering his mouth with his hand because he still thinks it contains poison gas, and both of them fall away from it. Inside is a glowing ball of light. Remember those sparkles Lelouch saw before? I'm pretty darn sure this is where they came from.
"You're impossibly fast--and strong. Your skin is...pale white and ice cold. Your eyes change color...and sometimes you speak like...like you're from a different time. You only eat pizza..."
Suzaku, being the brilliant boy that he is, realizes that this is not poison gas but rather a girl. Kudos to him. In the meantime, Kallen is stuck somewhere, and she has no idea how Nagata is doing. He's almost dead, by the way.
The Royal Guard arrives, and the chief calls Suzaku a "stinkin' monkey." That was totally uncalled for. I'm sure Suzaku showers. In fact, he looks cleaner than you. D:< The chief orders Suzaku to kill the terrorist, i.e. Lelouch. Suzaku protests because Lelouch is, after all, just a civilian. For now, at least.
"It's not what it looks like, I swear!"
The chief pulls the "didn't you swear loyalty to Britannia" argument, but Suzaku isn't swayed and refuses to shoot Lelouch. Yay! I love you, Suzaku.
It should be against the law to be so cute and handsome at the same time.
Unfortunately, the chief doesn't love Suzaku like I do and...shoots him. :( Suzaku slumps to the ground as Lelouch calls out his name. The chief orders his cronies to collect the girl and then kill the Britannian schoolboy, i.e. Lelouch. Things look bad for Lelouch until Nagata, after saying "Death to Britannnia. Long live Japan!," makes the truck blow up. After that, we hear the chief reporting to General Bartley. Apparently, Lelouch and the girl got away. Because he doesn't want anyone to hear about this screw-up, Clovis gives the order to destroy Shinjuku Ghetto.
I guess all members of Britannian royalty have a tendency to make dramatic sweeping motions.
Jeremiah and fellow Sutherlands get sent out again. All the Japanese people in the ghetto are running, and two elderly people meet their death in a rather unpleasant way. I hold a moment of silence for them.
Someone tries to give Jeremiah an order, but he wants to remain on the frontline, saying he hasn't had this much fun in ages. Oh, Orenji-kun. That was kind of mean.
"I take orders from just one person--me!"
Lelouch and the girl are running away. The girl trips and Lelouch, instead of helping her up, yells at her instead. He's freaking out over Suzaku's death, though, so I'll cut him a little slack.
Lloyd and his assistant, Cecile, are moping because they brought the Lancelot but don't have anyone to pilot it. Maybe Lloyd should learn how to pilot a Knightmare. I'm sure it's a skill that would come in handy.
Lelouch sees an exit, but it's blocked by the Royal Guard, who are shooting up innocent civilians and little children to boot. Things get worse when his cell phone rings. Good going, Shirley.
"What could he possibly be doing that would make him hang up on me!?"
Lelouch hangs up, but it's kind of too late. The Royal Guard grabs the girl and beats him up. As the chief prepares to shoot him, the girl -- okay, I'm just going to call her C.C. from now on because that's who she is -- jumps in front of Lelouch, yelling "He mustn't die!" WOW, she has a weird voice. She gets shot instead.
Lelouch freaks out because he thinks he's going to die, and then C.C. grabs his wrist. Apparently she can sense that he has a reason for living -- or in other words, a reason for not dying, at least not yet. She proposes a deal with him: she'll give him power, if he makes her one wish come true. Lelouch accepts the terms of this contract.
Such a beautiful eye. Ha.
For some reason, the Royal Guard hasn't shot him to pieces yet. Instead, they watch dumbly as Lelouch stands up, his hand over his left eye. He asks them a rhetorical question: "How should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?" The Royal Guard still doesn't shoot him, and Lelouch smirks and says, "The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed." Then his eye starts to shiiiiine.
GEASS. (This is a sucky screencap. Sorry.)
Lelouch, calling himself Lelouch vi Britannia, orders the Royal Guard to DIE. Giggling madly, the chief says, "Happily, Your Highness!" What happened to "Yes, Your Majesty!"? All the members of the Royal Guard shoot themselves, and as their blood spurts everywhere, Lelouch looks rather confused.
"Is this what blood looks like?"
The camera pans over all the dead soldiers, as well as C.C., who's still lying in a pool of her own blood. Not to fear, though, she's not actually dead. Lelouch is standing by himself in a shaft of light, and he muses about how his life is all a lie. And stuff. You can really hear the shortcomings of his VA here. Or maybe I'm just too used to Jun Fukuyama.
Man, is recapping tiring. I don't think I'll be doing this for the other episodes; it just isn't worth it.
So it starts off the same as the Japanese episode, as far as I can tell. I actually hate the beginning of this episode, dub or not, because that buzzing noise is extremely irritating. Plus I'm not quite sure what the point of it actually is. Although seeing lil' Suzaku is more than enough to make up for it.
Lil' Lelouch needs help climbing up the small cliff, which is understandable. It's more than twice his height and I don't see any handholds. Then again, Lulu is also a failure when it comes to any sort of physical activity. Good thing Suzaku's with him.
"Do you trust me?"
Suzaku succeeds in pulling him up (there's a deep meaning to that, I'm sure) while C.C. spies on them. Lulu is breathing heavily from...being pulled up the cliff, and then both boys stop and look at something. Whatever it is, I don't really care because I'm busy spazzing over how cute the two of them are. Actually, mostly just Suzaku because Lelouch looks kind of weird from this angle. Also, he has really bad fashion sense.
I love love love love Suzaku's hair. Lelouch's hair is usually pretty sexy too, but it looks bland here. I guess he hasn't been using Herbal Essences every day like the label told him to.
Some boring exposition...though I guess it's pretty important stuff if you've never seen the series before. In a nutshell, Britannia has invaded Japan using their "humanoid autonomous knights," a.k.a. the Knightmare Frames, and changed its name from "Japan" to "Area 11." I've always loved this part of the story, to be honest, because of how it incorporates the ideas of name and identity and stuff. 'Cause this'll become more important later on.
I still don't know whether all those dots are a swarm of locusts or the Britannian air fleet or what. Or maybe that's entirely the point.
Whoever designed the Britannian flag must have shipped Godric Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin.
There's a shot of a huge fire and then Suzaku looking depressed. Poor kid. I just want to hug him. And then patch up that hole in his pants. Now that I think about it, are we ever told what happened to Suzaku's mother? I hope she isn't some mentally unstable parent that is mysteriously absent in her child's life... though considering this is an anime series and this is Code Geass, that's entirely possible.
Anyway, Lelouch, who doesn't notice that Suzaku is not exactly in the mood, solemnly swears that he's up to no good. Or rather, that he'll one day obliterate Britannia (!). Same thing, really. He sounds pretty stupid when he says this, and I'm not too fond of his kid voice actor. Hopefully, this isn't a reflection of what his teenage VA will sound like.
Just in case you weren't sure which show I'm recapping. Ha. In other news, I absolutely adore this opening. For those who don't know, the song is called "Colors" and is performed by a band called Flow. It's probably the best song in Code Geass's set of OP/ED.
I like how I can kind of guess what the title's saying from the four Chinese characters in the title. ;) But anyhoo. Back to the show.
A helicopter of some sort is trailing a truck, and some military-like voices are in the background. A TV reporter talks about a terrorist bombing that resulted in 59 Britannian casualties. Clearly, however, nobody really cares because the next shot is that of a chessboard and an old nervous fogey freaking out because he sucks at chess apparently. The referee dude (or whoever he is) tells the old man that he'll need to make his next moves every twenty seconds because he's taking too freakin' long. The old man's opponent, a rich-looking aristocrat kind of guy, is filing his nails with a smug look on his face and has no qualms about the time limit.
To the eternal gratitude of the old fogey, the door opens and in walks his substitute, Lelouch Lamperouge, with one of his friends, the blue-haired Rivalz. Mr. Aristocrat seems mildly surprised at the presence of two schoolboys. Lelouch throws this surprise right back in his face. Speaking of which, Lulu's only said six words, and I already hate his VA. Though that was kind of to be expected. No one can match up to the sexiness of Jun Fukuyama's voice. Except maybe Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons. But that's beyond the point.
More pointless banter. Rivalz thinks Lelouch is going to have one difficult time making up for all the mistakes the old man made. Lelouch, on the other hand, thinks otherwise and says he'll finish up with Mr. Aristocrat in nine minutes. What a joke, right? Except this is Lelouch, so obviously not.
"I'm bored already."
As per usual, we don't actually get to see Lelouch in action, though we can rest assured knowing that he is kicking Mr. Aristocrat's butt. As compensation, we're treated to a scene between three more of Lelouch's friends: Shirley the resident spaz, Milly the Student Council President, and Nina the modern-day Einstein (her last name is actually Einstein). Shirley is squeaking (there's really no other way to describe her voice) about how Lulu's wasting his brain on stupid things, like gambling. Milly teases Shirley about her "darling Lulu."
I don't love her voice, but I don't quite hate it either. It's rather appropriate for Shirley, and it kind of reminds me of how Safty voices Rebecca Hawkins in Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged.
Oh look, it's that truck again. The driver is pissed off about all the problems in his life, although his companion can't quite bring herself to care at the moment. They do have bigger things to worry about, after all. Good to note that they're both wearing seat belts, though. If 4Kids had gotten their hands on this, they surely would have emphasized that.
The long truck drives are always the best time to bond.
Lelouch wins the chess game. (Duh.) According to Rivalz, he set a new record of 8 minutes, 32 seconds, whatever significance that's supposed to hold. Lelouch tries to sound bored, because that was how Jun Fukuyama sounded, but he can't really pull it off. He just manages to sound like someone who's trying to sound bored.
Outside, a giant TV screen shows smoke pouring out of a building. This is the same image that TV reporter was previously talking about. The innocent citizens are all freaking out and saying stuff like "The Elevens terrify me." Yeah. Like people really say that in public. Prince Clovis then appears on screen and addresses his imperial subjects. Lelouch's eyes narrow. Keep that in mind, folks.
Clovis says his "imperial subjects" also include the "many cooperative Elevens who choose to serve the empire Britannia." The pink-haired girl in the truck gets pissed at this: "We're not Elevens, we're Japanese!" I kind of like her voice. On any other person, I'd hate it, but the grittiness of it rather fits Kallen.
Clovis continues with his BS'd speech and asks for a moment of silence for the eight who died in duty (what about the civilians?). Or rather, demands a moment of silence. Britannian royalty don't ask for anything. Lelouch and Rivalz purposely don't participate, although Lelouch's reason is actually reasonable (crying won't bring the dead back to life).
"O! Heartburn."
This is "A camera." As opposed to, you know, "The camera."
As the cameras lift off Clovis, a person at his party congratulates him on his performance, saying, "One would never guess that you were attending a party while doing that." I don't know why she can't just say "No one" instead of just "One." People don't talk like that.
The Britannians suck up to Prince Clovis, except for Diethard, who thinks Clovis is rather lame and is looking through a binder labeled "Osaka Crisis Special Presentation." A rather rotund soldier runs past him and starts freaking out to Clovis over something or other. We'll find out what it is later. For now, all we know is that "the police were informed it's medical equipment." Don't you love it when the government and law enforcement don't get along? Clovis orders him to deploy the Royal Guard and Knightmares because that's all he knows how to do.
Y HALLO THAR JEREMIAH. :3
MOAR JEREMIAH. :3
Lelouch and Rivalz are now off to school. While Rivalz does the grunt work, Lelouch reads a book. Rivalz also asks him why he moved his king first, and Lelouch delivers this classic line: "If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?" Rivalz thinks this is deep (probably) but doesn't have time to apply it to his own life because "HEY LELOUCH I THINK A TRUCK IS TRYING TO RUN US OVER."
The people in said truck are obviously Kallen and the nameless driver that we saw before. I guess they've gotten so caught up in their bonding that they forgot to pay attention to the road. Driver swerves to the left to avoid them and ends up crashing. Oops.
Stop terrorizing the traffic cones; they never did anything to you.
Rivalz wonders if the crash was their fault. Lelouch says it wasn't. Elsewhere, General Bartley (the rotund guy who reported all this to Prince Clovis) is still freaking out. Lelouch notices some green and yellow sparkles and is about to ask Rivalz whether he thinks Edward Cullen is in the truck when he spies a ton of useless Britannians checking out the accident. Of course, none of them help, so Lelouch goes over to the truck himself. The Britannians take pictures of him. One of them sounds eerily like a valley girl.
"Good thing we were wearing seat belts, huh?"
Lelouch calls out to the two in the truck and, instead of a response from them, hears a voice saying "It's you! Finally I have my found my--" This voice is conveniently cut off. The driver, whose name I've learned is Nagata, starts the truck up again, causing Lelouch to fall into the truck and perform the one acrobatic feat he pulls in this entire show: the front roll.
The Britannians in the air issue a warning to the truck and then start shooting. Nagata does some fancy swerving (i.e. randomly turning to the right and to the left), even though that's exactly how they crashed earlier, and Kallen whips off her cap to go play with the army. In the back, Lelouch is wondering which is worse, jumping out and breaking his neck, or jumping out and getting shot. (The answer is jumping out and breaking his neck and getting shot.)
He sees Kallen and seems to recognize her. In the meantime, Rivalz is worried about missing school. Good to learn that there's such a devoted Britannian student. I was worried myself about how education seems to be going down the drain.
Back at the more important scene, a Slash-Harken shoots out of the truck and destroys one of the Britannian copters. Surprise! Kallen has a Knightmare. And can actually pilot it.
"RAWR!"
Kallen takes out some more Britannians before (drumroll!) Jeremiah Gottwald arrives, sounding very eloquent as he raves about how his Sutherland is superior to Kallen's Glasgow. Oh, and also about the "compassion of our glorious Emperor." Yeah, we totally believe you, Orenji-kun. At least he has a somewhat decent voice. Kallen takes a hit from him, causing Nagata to suggest that they should split up. (By the way, shame on you, Nagata, for talking on the phone while driving. Weren't you just in a car crash?)
Another Sutherland drives up the wall of a building or something and lands in front of the truck, so Nagata swerves to the left. The pilot of the Knightmare, Villetta Nu, smirks because Elevens are apparently simple-minded. Well, at least they wouldn't win a prize for Most Disappointing Character Ever.
Kallen's not doing so well, but she manages to run away from Jeremiah, who gives a lovable little smirk. Oh, those Britannians and their smirks. A Britannian who isn't smirking, however, is Lelouch because his cellphone is fail. At least he's using that famed brain of his to figure out where he is. And how to get out.
"Rise and shine!"
Lloyd, the guy with glasses, is busy pushing General Bartley's buttons. Just 'cause you're never wrong, Lloyd, doesn't mean you can go around being mean to other people. But then again, he wouldn't be Lloyd if he weren't socially awkward. His voice pales in comparison to his Japanese VA, but it's decent enough. It just doesn't have the same quirkiness. Anyway, General Bartley reveals that the terrorists have stolen poison gas. Cut to a shot of Lelouch sitting next to the container of poison gas.
As we return from the commercial break, a guy from the Royal Guard is giving orders. Listening to him are the honorary Britannians, those who were born in Japan but don't consider themselves Japanese. They're the ones who have to do the dirty work, i.e. finding the truck in the Shinjuku Ghetto.
In the meantime, Nagata is struggling along and runs the truck into a ditch of some sort. Then he pulls a lever, and a door to the truck opens, revealing the container of poison gas.
An honorary Britannian spots the truck and reports this to his superiors. He also sees Lelouch, who's trying to climb up somewhere. I have no idea why, because he can just escape. Like, out the open door. Anyhoo, the honorary Britannian spinkicks his way over and knocks Lelouch to the ground.
Spinzaku's debut.
The two trade some heated words, and Lelouch actually manages to kick the honorary Britannian away from him. Hooray for one episode of athleticism! Lelouch, annoyed that he's being accused of terrorism and mindless murder, wonders why his attacker doesn't just OBLITERATE BRITANNIA (!).
And then--ZOMG! The honorary Britannian recognizes Lelouch and reveals that he's Suzaku, Lelouch's friend from way back when. His voice is definitely better than Lelouch's. He kind of sounds like a jock, which is appropriate. Lelouch is surprised that Suzaku became a Britannian soldier. Suzaku is surprised that Lelouch became a--"What are you saying!?" demands Lelouch.
"It sure is a good thing we still look exactly the same, otherwise I might not have recognized you and you'd be dead."
Then the container thing starts to open. Suzaku grabs Lelouch, covering his mouth with his hand because he still thinks it contains poison gas, and both of them fall away from it. Inside is a glowing ball of light. Remember those sparkles Lelouch saw before? I'm pretty darn sure this is where they came from.
"You're impossibly fast--and strong. Your skin is...pale white and ice cold. Your eyes change color...and sometimes you speak like...like you're from a different time. You only eat pizza..."
Suzaku, being the brilliant boy that he is, realizes that this is not poison gas but rather a girl. Kudos to him. In the meantime, Kallen is stuck somewhere, and she has no idea how Nagata is doing. He's almost dead, by the way.
The Royal Guard arrives, and the chief calls Suzaku a "stinkin' monkey." That was totally uncalled for. I'm sure Suzaku showers. In fact, he looks cleaner than you. D:< The chief orders Suzaku to kill the terrorist, i.e. Lelouch. Suzaku protests because Lelouch is, after all, just a civilian. For now, at least.
"It's not what it looks like, I swear!"
The chief pulls the "didn't you swear loyalty to Britannia" argument, but Suzaku isn't swayed and refuses to shoot Lelouch. Yay! I love you, Suzaku.
It should be against the law to be so cute and handsome at the same time.
Unfortunately, the chief doesn't love Suzaku like I do and...shoots him. :( Suzaku slumps to the ground as Lelouch calls out his name. The chief orders his cronies to collect the girl and then kill the Britannian schoolboy, i.e. Lelouch. Things look bad for Lelouch until Nagata, after saying "Death to Britannnia. Long live Japan!," makes the truck blow up. After that, we hear the chief reporting to General Bartley. Apparently, Lelouch and the girl got away. Because he doesn't want anyone to hear about this screw-up, Clovis gives the order to destroy Shinjuku Ghetto.
I guess all members of Britannian royalty have a tendency to make dramatic sweeping motions.
Jeremiah and fellow Sutherlands get sent out again. All the Japanese people in the ghetto are running, and two elderly people meet their death in a rather unpleasant way. I hold a moment of silence for them.
Someone tries to give Jeremiah an order, but he wants to remain on the frontline, saying he hasn't had this much fun in ages. Oh, Orenji-kun. That was kind of mean.
"I take orders from just one person--me!"
Lelouch and the girl are running away. The girl trips and Lelouch, instead of helping her up, yells at her instead. He's freaking out over Suzaku's death, though, so I'll cut him a little slack.
Lloyd and his assistant, Cecile, are moping because they brought the Lancelot but don't have anyone to pilot it. Maybe Lloyd should learn how to pilot a Knightmare. I'm sure it's a skill that would come in handy.
Lelouch sees an exit, but it's blocked by the Royal Guard, who are shooting up innocent civilians and little children to boot. Things get worse when his cell phone rings. Good going, Shirley.
"What could he possibly be doing that would make him hang up on me!?"
Lelouch hangs up, but it's kind of too late. The Royal Guard grabs the girl and beats him up. As the chief prepares to shoot him, the girl -- okay, I'm just going to call her C.C. from now on because that's who she is -- jumps in front of Lelouch, yelling "He mustn't die!" WOW, she has a weird voice. She gets shot instead.
Lelouch freaks out because he thinks he's going to die, and then C.C. grabs his wrist. Apparently she can sense that he has a reason for living -- or in other words, a reason for not dying, at least not yet. She proposes a deal with him: she'll give him power, if he makes her one wish come true. Lelouch accepts the terms of this contract.
Such a beautiful eye. Ha.
For some reason, the Royal Guard hasn't shot him to pieces yet. Instead, they watch dumbly as Lelouch stands up, his hand over his left eye. He asks them a rhetorical question: "How should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?" The Royal Guard still doesn't shoot him, and Lelouch smirks and says, "The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed." Then his eye starts to shiiiiine.
GEASS. (This is a sucky screencap. Sorry.)
Lelouch, calling himself Lelouch vi Britannia, orders the Royal Guard to DIE. Giggling madly, the chief says, "Happily, Your Highness!" What happened to "Yes, Your Majesty!"? All the members of the Royal Guard shoot themselves, and as their blood spurts everywhere, Lelouch looks rather confused.
"Is this what blood looks like?"
The camera pans over all the dead soldiers, as well as C.C., who's still lying in a pool of her own blood. Not to fear, though, she's not actually dead. Lelouch is standing by himself in a shaft of light, and he muses about how his life is all a lie. And stuff. You can really hear the shortcomings of his VA here. Or maybe I'm just too used to Jun Fukuyama.
Man, is recapping tiring. I don't think I'll be doing this for the other episodes; it just isn't worth it.