Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture ep 11-12 Review: The end of the Nameless Mercenaries
The final battle took place with the upper hand belonging to Norland, not to say that only Ash could not defeat Norland – the person who caused trauma to his childhood and also prepared the world plan for a long time. However, I have to say that this was an unsatisfactory ending for many viewers including me even though the story of Ash and Sakuya probably ended completely.
First of all, about the ending of this series, compared to another spin-off of the code geass series, Akito the Exiled, it is completely inferior to Akito. A story with many plot holes should at least have a happy ending, but in Roze of Recapture, even the ending is unnecessarily sad. Sunrise let Ash die, Sakuya used geass on himself and made himself mute. I know that using geass has its price but I think director Yoshimitsu Ohashi did not exploit the resources throughout the movie well and wasted them and in the end he wasted both Ash and Sakuya – the main character of this series. I know that they wanted to make an ending where one person sacrifices and the one left behind will have to live for the person who sacrificed for them even though they are disabled, but when put into Code Geass, it’s quite inappropriate and Sakuya even had to make himself unable to speak using Geass, not because of any injury. However, I do not understand why the film crew came up with this ending but as a viewer I think this series is not deep meaning enough to watch again nor have a reasonable ending to buy the related goods or BD box set.
Next, as for the character, Norland is ultimately a disappointing, underdeveloped, and boring villain. I can sum up his character in three ways: a Charles clone, prioritizes results over show, and wants to cleanse humanity. Most of his screen time is like a nightmare for children that adults have planted in their heads. even in the final episodes, i just felt like he was a super hard final boss (with little dialogue) in a game and we were controlling the main character to defeat him. Like in episode 11 he showed himself to be an overwhelming force and defeated all those who stood in his way and through episode 12 he gave the same feeling but was defeated by the main characters. Norland is just like a tall wall standing there, in one place and only to be overcome lol.
And to the two main characters of this movie, Ash and Sakuya. Both of them finally got what they wanted, but they couldn’t be together anymore and what happened after they killed Norland. For Ash, he was finally able to avenge Nichol, he was able to protect Sakuya as he promised Jugo. He was not afraid of death, but he was in pain at the thought of not being able to see Sakuya anymore. As Jugo said, Ash finally found something to love and he sacrificed himself for it. Not a romantic love, but perhaps closer to family love. As for Sakuya, she has grown up and thanks to Ash she was able to become a true queen. She has regained what she had, she also has an irreplaceable family as well as the happiness that Ash left behind. It is a bit ironic that even though Sakuya wanted Ash to die after she achieved her goal, the outcome is still the same, only now Ash is different to her and will probably be an irreplaceable part.
And of course, I can’t help but mention the supporting characters that I appreciate on both sides (I even rate some of them better than the main villain – Norland). On Einberg’s side, in order from the most important to the least important in this story, they are Christoph, Catherine and Narah. And for the Seven Shining Stars side, first of all, I can’t help but mention Kuroto – the brains of the resistance, then Haruka and finally the person who I didn’t expect to leave some of an impression on me is Monobe (No gonna lie his death to me is more reasonable than Ash’s).
And to the two main characters of this movie, Ash and Sakuya. Both of them finally got what they wanted, but they couldn’t be together anymore and what happened after they killed Norland. For Ash, he was finally able to avenge Nichol, he was able to protect Sakuya as he promised Jugo. He was not afraid of death, but he was in pain at the thought of not being able to see Sakuya anymore. As Jugo said, Ash finally found something to love and he sacrificed himself for it. Not a romantic love, but perhaps closer to family love. As for Sakuya, she has grown up and thanks to Ash she was able to become a true queen. She has regained what she had, she also has an irreplaceable family as well as the happiness that Ash left behind. It is a bit ironic that even though Sakuya wanted Ash to die after she achieved her goal, the outcome is still the same, only now Ash is different to her and will probably be an irreplaceable part.
And of course, I can’t help but mention the supporting characters that I appreciate on both sides (I even rate some of them better than the main villain – Norland). On Einberg’s side, in order from the most important to the least important in this story, they are Christoph, Catherine and Narah. And for the Seven Shining Stars side, first of all, I can’t help but mention Kuroto – the brains of the resistance, then Haruka and finally the person who I didn’t expect to leave some of an impression on me is Monobe (No gonna lie his death to me is more reasonable than Ash’s).
There is probably nothing to criticize about the fighting scenes in these two episodes, still maintaining good quality. In episode 11, we witnessed the fighting scene between Zi-apollo and Foulbout, it looked like an assassin was fighting a mobile fortress. Through episode 12, Zi-Ortygia fought Foulbout in the air and we witnessed Zi-Ortygia’s new features as well as its performance in the air even though it is underdog to Foulbout – titan form, but then it used everything it had, sacrificing its head to defeat Foulbout.
Regarding Foulbout’s design, from a bulky KMF that had to use 8 wheels to move on the ground, it transformed into a Titan Form that could fly in the sky and was equipped with firing ports all over its body that had the same power as a situmpe barrier. Honestly, in Titan form, I think it resembled the bird gods of the Native Americans or Aztecs. Unlike Foulbout, this is Zi-Ortygia’s second appearance and it still has something it hasn’t shown us before. Speaking of which, I really think Bandai and Sunrise have internal problems. I don’t understand what business strategy they have when the series has ended but MRD Zi-apollo still hasn’t released until February next year, 6 months after the series ended, there is no information about Zi-artemis or any other KMF in this part. Plus an ending like this, it will probably affect Zi-apollo’s sales to some extent.
In conclusion, An ending that is not exactly good but it mark the end the journey of Ash and Sakuya, We also have enough Fan-service of new characters necessary for the series as well as the cameo of old characters. However, with such an ending like this I think there are still many parts that can be improved and replaced to make this story better.
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