Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture ep 8 Review: Underdog status

Arnold officially returns to the game to be able to fight Ash once again, the battle is gradually becoming unfavorable for the Seven Shining Stars side when Sakuya is now in the hands of Christoph. Besides, after 2 episodes without any fighting scenes, now in this episode 8, viewers will be compensated reasonably (they fight almost full the length this episode lol). Let’s see how Einberg prevailed in this episode.

As I mentioned in the previous episode, Christoph is a formidable villain and also a key factor in Einberg’s side. He is not only smart but also ruthless. He was also the one who sent Arnold and Catherine to attack the resistance hideout, capturing the key figure of the resistance, Sakuya, and was able to cause damage to the Seven Shining Stars’ forces to the point that the Eastern Dawn Brigade and the North Wolf Army had to sacrifice themselves to open a path for Kuroto’s forces to escape. He was also willing to kill 3 people in front of Sakuya without hesitation and planned to dissect her to know how Geass works. I used to evaluate Kuroto as a leader with a good leadership mind, now I have to overvalue Christoph for being a truly scheming mad-scientist villain to the contrary.

Next is Ash, who finally has someone tell him that his current problem is that he is under the influence of Sakuya’s Geass and that there are holes going on in his head. Throughout the series we have seen a quiet and shy Ash with women and there hasn’t been much development until the last episode and this one. He still hasn’t defeated Norland (saved the best for last) but in this episode we have seen his skills surpass his teacher. I was quite surprised to see that Christoph piloting the KMF used the same fighting style as Ash even though his weapon was a large sword and not a dagger. It could be due to his age or it could be that the machine didn’t suit Christoph’s fighting style but either way it seemed like his role as the KMF pilot was over.

Next is the visuals of this episode, still a lot of Fan-service from the animators. Honestly, I couldn’t think of any other way to tie someone up in a BDSM way like that. They actually drew a hook on Sakuya’s butt and 2 holes on each side of her breasts and shot it from different angles in this episode. How dirty mind these staff are, even in the serious moment like Ash vs Christoph.
The highlight of this episode has to be the battle between Ash and Christop as well as Catherine and Haruka. The smooth movement as the two machines collide with the rock music in the background. The battle scene uses both horizontal and wide angle shots from above to let us see the battle from many different angles. If there was anything to regret, it would be that his battle with Ash didn’t last long. On the contrary, Catherine and Haruka’s battle was somewhat one-sided, Catherine was just playing with Haruka, she used KMF and martial arts to attack Haruka and even had the upper hand over Haruka in the field she was good at is melee combat.

In conclusion, Ash is now free from Geass’s control and the recent fight has also caused great damage to the Seven Shining Stars. Even though I am angry at Sakuya for what she did, I think Ash will keep his promise to Jugo and kill Norland to avenge his real brother. Besides, I am also looking forward to seeing what will happen to Sakura and Walther as well as Natalia after being captured in the last episode.

\Golgo17/
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