Code Geass: Roze of Recapture is an unwanted, incredibly stupid sequel that squandered the chance it had.
To be fair, I will start with the positives. The animation style and general movement is pretty fluid. The action is passable, and I did thoroughly enjoy some of the fight scenes as they arose throughout the show. The overworld premise it tried to tease towards the end is also interesting and natural for the world itself. Considering how the world watched what Britannia was doing during its reign, it makes sense as to why the Neo-Britannians rose up and sought to claim their own land. The discrimination
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they also faced post Zero Requiem is believable, and it serves as strong motivation (if even indirectly) for each of the villains. The geass utilized throughout the show does change the mold in a good way, and I equally like how the villains immediately look back to the past to plan around a geass user.
Unfortunately, that’s about it for the positives.
At Roze of Recapture’s best, it is a 5/10 mecha anime with cool fights, at its worst, it chooses to piss on everything the OG series did right. The OG series was far from perfect, with its own share of mental gymnastics for some plotlines, but it still told a coherent story that naturally grew with its own world. Roze of Recapture doesn’t do that, instead choosing to retread old ground again and jingle the nostalgia keys in front of the viewer. The themes and side characters are almost 1:1 copies from the original series. I don’t know why Sunrise chose to do another resistance plotline with an “insurmountable” contrivance, that being the stupid shield introduced in Episode 1. The characters act illogically, with pointless massacres or battles that contribute very little to the overarching plot. In the original series, the battles with Britannia moved the plot forward and chipped away at the foundation of the Britannian Empire. In Roze of Recapture, however, the show writers must’ve thought that was too complex, so they just chose to never elaborate on Neo-Britannia OR the resistance. It’s impressive when three characters die in the span of an episode, and you don’t even remember their name after an entire season with them. The knightmare designs are all equally awful. The first series struck a great balance between flashy anime mech and realistic design for bipedal tanks. This show has knightmares run around in tutus piloted by women who would disappoint their fathers.
Lord Norland is the worst character by far in this show. Throughout the entire season we’re told how bad he is, how he values strength over everything in his new empire. We see people shake in fear when Norland enters a room, and how quickly he disregards any level of authority placed upon him. However, by the last few episodes, nothing changes. No real backstory, no coherent motive for his actions, we don’t even know how he learned to pilot a fucking knightmare. He just does and then activates a huge “fuck you I win” button and somehow exterminates millions of people. Who the fuck wrote this guy? I’m fine with characters just being unapologetically evil BUT THE OWN SHOW CHOSE TO COCKTEASE US BY SAYING HOW “DEEP” HE IS. Oh, and he’s Charles by the way. Cloning is a thing in Code Geass now. Wonder if that will be in the next series, knowing how shallow and lazy this was.
Speaking of lazy, here’s literally every main character from the OG series and then some getting a needless cameo for some reason. Sunrise thought it was not enough to just retell the original plot, they decided to throw in a bunch of better written characters too just so you can pay attention. The Black Knights are also prevalent in this show as well. What do they do? Absolutely fucking nothing, but hey look guys its like the old show please watch. It’s hilarious how stupid they act in this show because the plot demands it. The Neo-Britannian Empire is quite literally an illegal state whose sovereignty you never needed to recognize. You know how to sneak into the country and understand how to destroy its defenses in one fell swoop. Somehow, the Black Knights and UFN don’t immediately exploit those weaknesses and instead try to play politics. It would've been better if all the original characters had to go to their home planet and conveniently die on the way there as opposed to watching them leap skyscrapers to justify being complete idiots regarding the situation. Sure, glad that nostalgia bait takes up a quarter of the show.
In conclusion, this show is a mess from start to finish. It sets up countless obstacles and tells you they’re important, only to immediately remove any level of severity within an episode. Roze of Recapture thinks it has an interesting plot and group of characters, but it legitimately puts no effort into establishing these characters and their dynamics. It’s a shit sequel to a good show and leaves a lot to be desired. Every interesting idea and plot element was immediately thrown out for a half-baked show. Plenty of these concepts are fantastic ideas for where to take the franchise, but none of them are given enough screen time to be interesting. All the new characters are wasted and given one-dimensional personalities, with no room for growth ever being seen on the show. If you had even an ounce of respect for the original series, you will probably not enjoy your time.
But hey, luckily for us the next Super Robot Wars game is being teased. I can’t wait to see Shinji Ikari teach Roze to be an empathetic human while Ryouma Nagare simply nods and goes “ya done did good kids”, complete with a functional motive for Lord Norland. Lord Norland will also be oneshot and all the deaths will simply be erased. Somehow that will have better writing than this.
You can skip this one, and hope Sunrise comes up with something original for the next entry.
Sep 6, 2024
Code Geass: Dakkan no Rozé
(Anime)
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Code Geass: Roze of Recapture is an unwanted, incredibly stupid sequel that squandered the chance it had.
To be fair, I will start with the positives. The animation style and general movement is pretty fluid. The action is passable, and I did thoroughly enjoy some of the fight scenes as they arose throughout the show. The overworld premise it tried to tease towards the end is also interesting and natural for the world itself. Considering how the world watched what Britannia was doing during its reign, it makes sense as to why the Neo-Britannians rose up and sought to claim their own land. The discrimination ... 
May 21, 2022
Micro Teukgongdae Diatron 5
(Anime)
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A masterpiece of anime. You've heard of Evangelion, Berserk, Chainsaw Man, Gundam, well all of these awful titles are nothing compared to this gem. You will have amazing characters like the Green Goblin, Bald Man, and Protagonist Guy who will all blow you away with their depth. The action is amazing, I was always on the edge of my seat throughout every fight. Each time you see a rocket fly or a gun being fired you will literally cry from pure amazement. The audio is incredible, the sound effects were masterfully created and the voice acting could annihilate any other anime's. I personally watched it
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