Code Geass; ”。。。な、ルルーシュ。”

So, I just finished the last episode of Code Geass, and after taking about the episode's length to calm down(and using half the tissues)I searched an anime blog I knew could provide closure. So this is why this post exists.



I thought it clever that Orenji-kun ended up picking Oranges in the epilogue, and I was glad he ended up with someone after loosing "Chigusa" to Ougi. The picturebook from season 1 made them look like such an angsty pair.




Then I realized the man driving the cart. And that Lelouch is so NOT not-alive. (and now I'm crying again...F_CK.)

So, here's why I think I wasted those tissues; So far in this anime, the direction and style has been flawless. There have been no purposeless camera angles and such, which makes it obvious that the slight focus of the "camera" on the wagon-driver and the prolonged frames on the paper crane(when did C.C. learn how to make that...) are very important.
To me, I can't understand Lelouch NOT being alive. I mean, when C.C. says, "the Power of Kings, called Geass, will make people lonely," and then nods her head upwards and declares,

"I suppose that wasn't quite true...na, Lelouch?"

Isn't that proof enough? I know, I know, she could be talking to him in an aside and hes really dead blah blah, but the fact that C.C. denounces the loneliness of the 'king" and her own at the same time must mean that she has been set free of her geass-imposed immortality. But that doesn't mean Lelouch is driving the cart! Well, who else would C.C. have given her code to?

Really. I'm not an optimist, and far from it. But this "open-ending" is really not so open-ended, when you stop hyperventillating/screaming at the monitor(or loosing all the water you drank today out your tear ducts...this is why I watch GOOD anime alone...).

The one thing that really struck a chord with me, is that Lelouch's final actions up to becoming a hated dictator were all done in order to erase himself from the hearts of the people who loved him - and it didn't work. As Suzaku thrust the sword of Zero into the hated Lelouch, all the people who once loved and respected Zero (and knew he betrayed them) then turned their heads or called out in an expression of regret.

No matter what he had done or who he had become, they had once given them hope; had once been a shining beacon of the future. Even in giving all he had, he could not make everyone hate him. I think that's the saving grace of humanity; that no matter how terrible it is, we will never forget what was once good. And I think that was the "thesis" of Code Geass; no matter what we forget, we will always remember that there is good and that hope lies in Tomorrow.