Code Geass Finale thoughts

[salinea]

An okay episode. I was expecting to be more surprised than I was. Way to go Sunrise, surprising me with an unsurprising ending! Nice in execution, pretty scenes and all that, and I always like a good character death scene (which it was) and Schrödinger!Lelouch makes it even better - I like this kind of open ending. Passing-of-masks is the big tradition of Masked Revolutionary Avengers everywhere so it's a fitting bit if not surprising. And I kinda love that Suzaku is condemned to live, very fitting and nice way for him to grow. On the flip side, many characters were kinda pointless in the end, or just never got to do anything to drive their own story (my big issues with CC, who is awesome otherwise, but just never does anything for herself argh!)

My big issue with this end is this bit of Fridge Logic : Lelouch's plan sucks.

Seriously, lamest plan for world peace ever. The world doesn't lack in reviled tyrans that everyone hates. This has yet to create insta world peace. The only thing Lelouch's earned is that for the 50-100 years from now on, in chats and forums when someone doesn't like what you say, they're going to compare you to Lelouch. You'd think that with the number of WW2 and Cold War era parallelism that was in Code Geass, the writers would have been aware of the fact that lots of folks being united against a common ennemy at one point of History didn't result in an era of hearts and puppies. If the people from the world of Code Geass manage to get more stability, global cooperation and human rights protection than they did before, it will be thanks to the leaders that were left, the institution they'll built and the work they'll do - which Lelouch, whether dead or alive, chose not to be a part of after all the mess he caused (and even if said mess probably helped some of those leaders get into the right state of mind to create this peace it's more of a side effect than the whole of Lelouch's plan).

Does anyone see something I missed in the Zero Requiem besides DRAMA to make it a brilliant plan?

Comments

[evilmooglequeen.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing.

Probably the argument people would make supporting his “brilliant plan” is that Lelouche needed to erase himself to effectively end Britania as it existed before so the world could start anew. World peace isn’t guaranteed, but people now get a chance to fix things or screw up again on their own, instead of being controlled by the Britannian empire or whatever crazy plans Charles and Schneizel had.

But there are so many things I find wrong about Lelouche’s scapegoat plan. For one, I do not think it is remotely ok to do horrible things and act like an ass to get people to hate you so you can then die and become a scapegoat to pay for your sins. We’re probably supposed to feel sympathetic for his sacrifice because in the end it was all for the “greater good,” but I guess I still don’t agree that the ends justify the means.

The idea of throwing the blame onto one person and then moving on with life strikes me as a somewhat Japanese way of thinking. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems that in Japan if something goes wrong, the politician or CEO or whoever’s on top takes the fall and then everyone else gets to innocent and move on. The same thing kind of happened with WWII, when most the blame for the things Japan did got placed on the government of the time so now Japan can have a victim complex about the war too.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

World peace isn’t guaranteed, but people now get a chance to fix things or screw up again on their own, instead of being controlled by the Britannian empire or whatever crazy plans Charles and Schneizel had.
This is true. From a strategic point of view, he certainly succeeded in wiping the balance of power clean-er. However Britannia was only one part of the problem. I think the strongest thing he did from that pov was the creation of the United Nation thingie that was done mid season. Then he removed Britannia as a threat from the equation, so that it can get involved into that structure without destabilizing everything... hopefully.

I agree with you that the ends do not justify with the means. There may be necessary evils, but not justification for it. I guess Lelouch does see himself as doing necessary evils. For the most part, I found Lelouch sympathetic despite this because, well, he's adorkable and full of drama :D but it's hard not see him as selfish in the end. He destroyed the world, but he didn't rebuilt it - that's going to be Suzaku, Kaguya, Tianzin, Ohgi, etc. 's job - and it's going to be the hardest job.

The same thing kind of happened with WWII, when most the blame for the things Japan did got placed on the government of the time so now Japan can have a victim complex about the war too.
That's an interesting point. One of the thing I did like about Code Geass is that I thought it handled the WW2 themes in a way that wasn't all out apologetic about Japan's. The way there was constant talk about Japan's role before the war occurred, Genbu's do-or-die resistance, terrorists as terrorists...
So in the end it leaves a bitter taste. Scapegoating to me is something very wrong, morally speaking. Something that leaves real scars in the way a society could get built.

[jjblue1.livejournal.com]

but it's hard not see him as selfish in the end. He destroyed the world, but he didn't rebuilt it - that's going to be Suzaku, Kaguya, Tianzin, Ohgi, etc. 's job - and it's going to be the hardest job.
True however I don't think he could stay around and help them out after what he did.
It's all in Ep 2 & 22 of the second season.
In Ep. 2 he says to defeat an evil justice couldn't bring down he would become an even greater evil and Xing-Ke and/or CC point out that in this way Evil would remain.
In Ep. 22 he says a leader must be capable to destroy the world and himself. I guess he meant to add 'if they aren't working right' and not that leader must go around randomly destroying the world and themselves.
In short he himself condemns his job and execute the sentence (fine so he got Suzaku to do it but Suzaku had been rambling through the whole second season he wanted to kill him so Lelouch might have thought Suzaku would be fine with it). He knew after what he did he wasn't fit anymore to live in that world because the necessary evil he committed is the thing he wanted people to be stopped from doing which is why he felt he had to die.
Unless you're going to believe that he got VV/Charles' code and therefore survived and might be still helping people from behind...

when most the blame for the things Japan did got placed on the government of the time so now Japan can have a victim complex about the war too.
Well, government is responsable of the actions of a country. People might rebel to it, of course, but Japanese believed the Emperor was a God and I figure this made hard for them to even consider he might have been wrong.
And defeated countries almost always feel like victims because when you lose the winner isn't going to just tell you 'too bad, you lost, well, let's shake and go each other for our way'. In fear the loser will rise again and again challenge the winner the winner tries to put the loser under his control. Which generally means stripping him of some rights, properties and money.
So sure, it's your fault if you lost and you might have considered this before starting a war but this won't make losing any better...

and also I don't think they even remotely considered to handled the WW2 themes in a way that was all out apologetic about Japan's. They're Japanese after all and, even if CG plot moved worldwide there was a lot of focus on Japan. Sure it might be the Black Knights were allowed to go to free it from Britannia because people saw it as the starting point against Britannia but... but really the Japanese people in the UFN is so minimal it seems difficult all the members would agree they need to go into a war against Britannia to free it.

Said this I don't like how the scapegoating thing was handled.
I'm fine with killing Lelouch and using the society he built as a new starting point for a new world. But the world was in a mess much sooner than Lelouch took control of it. Blame him of every fault when he ruled only for a bunch of months is silly. I would have preferred if Kallen hadn't said Lelouch got all the evil and hatred and that since now world had its scapegoat for everything other people did they could go on.
Lelouch has his share of faults for whom he deserved blam and imprisonment (maybe even death penality if you're among the people who agree to it)... but he isn't responsible for EVERYTHING. I would have prefered other people too took responsibility for the wrongness in the world, starting from the Black Knights who have their share of faults as well.
Instead, now that Lelouch had taken the blame of everything, it seems everyone else can go on as if nothing had happened and be happy... until the next trouble. Then they'll have to search for the next scapegoat.

[chibi-plum.livejournal.com]

Amen. I mentioned this below. I do agree with you about the Japanese way of thinking, perhaps. My biggest complaint was that I wanted his redemption to come from reaching out to his loved ones with his heart... not his death. Therefore, I find his departure as a weak path to take.