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eli_gv 's review for:
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion - Stage 0: Entrance
by Goro Taniguchi, Ichirou Ohkouchi
4.5/5 stars.
I... am emo.
First of all, I’m reading this having finished watching the whole anime a second time. So all the feels and pain are fresh wounds.
Second of all, finding an actual physical copy of the first three books was hard and I couldn’t even find a copy of the last two books that was within my price range so I probably won’t be reading those two any time soon.
Ok, so I am fine. Let’s get on with this review.
We really get to see the birth of the friendship between Suzaku and Lelouch specifically. Many things about this book broke my heart. I’ll make a list of every time my heart broke within my chest in a minute.
We really get to see the depth of the friendship and Lelouch and Suzaku make despite the fact that basically everything, tells them they shouldn’t be friends. Lelouch and Suzaku don’t get along at first for their own reasons. Lelouch’s own father, Charles didn’t help him when his mother Marianne was murdered and his sister went blind and was no longer able to walk. So, having his own father turn his back on his own kids, when they needed him most, led Lelouch to have trust issues. Suzaku hears people around him talk smack about Britannian’s and how they’re horrible and how Lelouch and Nunnally are invaders. At first, yeah, he’s hesitant to befriend them especially considering he’s never had a friend.
So, we have these two boys with emotional constipation like you’ve never seen before. And the bridge that helps them be a little friendlier to each other, is the wonderful all superior Nunnally aka the sweetest girl. They both make it very clear that they want Nunnally to be safe, she is very frail and she needs support, and her older brother and his best friend are the ones who can ensure her safety.
Suzaku starts to show that he cares in his own way. Is it the fondest? No. Do we care? No, let Suzaku live.
Lelouch sort of starts to feel comfort when Suzaku interacts with Nunnally. He’s glad that his sister can feel comfort and safety around someone else beside him. He’s especially grateful when he finds out the Nunnally becomes destructive when he’s not around. She is so dependent on her brother, that not having him around breaks her down. And you know what else that breaks down? My heart. Because I cannot deal.
Suzaku is pretty much out here, protecting Lelouch and Nunnally left and right. Until, one day, after they’re surrounded. Lelouch decides he does not want to leave Suzaku behind with the enemy, so he goes back. And here we sort of see it become clear that Suzaku is the impulsive one with the best physical abilities while Lelouch is level-headed and better at negotiations. In other words, they’re an iconic duo. They are able to defeat their enemy by working together.
Lelouch is pretty severely bullied and attacked for being a Britannian, and he doesn’t like to rely on others so he himself goes out to get fruits and such for Nunnally. Whenever he’s alone, he gets attacked. And the first time we see this happen, he’s crying. Lelouch is not crying because he is physically being attacked, he is crying because the pears he got for Nunnally were crushed. Do y’all-? Hello? That is the softest thing and the most pure thing. I had to stop reading for a split second, but it didn’t surprise me because Lelouch loves Nunnally more than he loves his own life. I had to stop, because it caught me off guard. Anyway, Suzaku comes to the rescue. He’s the son of the Prime Minister, no one, and I mean NO ONE, is going to mess with Lelouch if Suzaku says don’t mess with Lelouch. They sort of reach this quiet agreement to have Suzaku accompany Lelouch whenever he goes out. Suzaku says the only reason he does this is so Nunnally doesn’t worry, but we all know it’s also because Suzaku cares. If only a little bit.
Lelouch and Suzaku banter a lot. But what’s a great friendship without some bantering excellence? *crickets*
That’s what I thought.
Suzaku is literally hesitant to call Lelouch his friend because he’s a) never had one and b) all he hears about Britannian’s is negative and it’s all political stuff this ten year old doesn’t fully comprehend. To which I say, let these three precious kids live.
So, one day, Suzaku overhears Todoh and his father discussing the fact that Genbu wants to kill Nunnally as part of a huge political strategy. Suzaku understands the breadth of his father’s greed. And he obviously doesn’t want his first two friends to be killed off. He doesn’t want a war to happen between his country and the country of his only friends.
So, what does Suzaku do? He kills his father.
Now, for the anime watchers, we knew he killed his father for the sake of trying to prevent war with Britannia. But, we hadn’t really had a whole scope of the situation. This novel really went in depth with just how much of a bastard Genbu Kururugi really is.
Oh wow, look at that, he and Charles both suck. Aha! Welcome to the sucky father’s club, enjoy a glass of expired lemonade, bitch.
Quick thing, and hear me out.
Do y’all ever think about how Lelouch was severely bullied for being Britannian while he was in Japan and always Suzaku defended him. Then when he’s older & sees Britannian’s attacking anyone who’s Japanese he defends them the same way Suzaku fought to defend him? Just thinking.
So I thought the pain was over, I finished the novel, yay. But then I read the authors note and Jun Fukuyama’s commentary (Lelouch’s VA) and let me tell you I somehow, died inside even more.
Fukuyama discusses that Genbu’s act of trying to kill Nunnally for political strategy, is what essentially confirmed Lelouch going to the dark side, if you will, in the future.
Because of Charles’s greed and lack of empathy to his own son and daughter, because of Genbu’s greed and lack of compassion to a child, they literally caused the death and pain of so many. They set in stone the future of their children, when they were just kids.
So, Charles and Genbu, I hope you guys are having a great time choking in hell.
Lelouch and Suzaku were able to become friends despite the fact that so many inherent things pulled them apart. They were able to overlook all of that and understand each other. In a sense, they were the last threads of innocence (including Nunnally) that had power in both the Britannian empire and Japan. And because of Charles and Genbu, these kids had to mature and do whatever they had to do to survive. Which of course comes with a price.
Lelouch literally promised to destroy his own father and an entire empire. And he had to be seen as the bad guy and do a lot of things that would stain his conscience forever, to fulfill that promise.
Suzaku had to kill his father and live with that for the rest of his life. And he coped with that by throwing himself into every fight even though he knew he would likely die.
If you think about it, it goes full circle and is extremely symbolic that Suzaku killed his father to not only prevent a war but to protect his friends. And that later on, the only reason why he survives again and again, is because Lelouch commands him to live with his Geass. I mean holy cow. The level of depth that knowing these details adds to the friendship and future rivalry between those two, is insane and honestly, beautiful. Fukuyama phrased it best, their friendship is cause and effect, destiny, fate.
All in all, this book really added to the overall story. And I highly recommend reading this. Maybe watch the anime after because knowing these details is extremely important to really grasping the kind of relationship that Suzaku and Lelouch have in the anime. We always knew they were close and trusted each other, even when they were at the peak of their rivalry, of their enemy arc, Lelouch still trusted Suzaku with Nunnally’s life. And knowing the root of their friendship really just adds flavor to it all.
I... am emo.
First of all, I’m reading this having finished watching the whole anime a second time. So all the feels and pain are fresh wounds.
Second of all, finding an actual physical copy of the first three books was hard and I couldn’t even find a copy of the last two books that was within my price range so I probably won’t be reading those two any time soon.
Ok, so I am fine. Let’s get on with this review.
We really get to see the birth of the friendship between Suzaku and Lelouch specifically. Many things about this book broke my heart. I’ll make a list of every time my heart broke within my chest in a minute.
We really get to see the depth of the friendship and Lelouch and Suzaku make despite the fact that basically everything, tells them they shouldn’t be friends. Lelouch and Suzaku don’t get along at first for their own reasons. Lelouch’s own father, Charles didn’t help him when his mother Marianne was murdered and his sister went blind and was no longer able to walk. So, having his own father turn his back on his own kids, when they needed him most, led Lelouch to have trust issues. Suzaku hears people around him talk smack about Britannian’s and how they’re horrible and how Lelouch and Nunnally are invaders. At first, yeah, he’s hesitant to befriend them especially considering he’s never had a friend.
So, we have these two boys with emotional constipation like you’ve never seen before. And the bridge that helps them be a little friendlier to each other, is the wonderful all superior Nunnally aka the sweetest girl. They both make it very clear that they want Nunnally to be safe, she is very frail and she needs support, and her older brother and his best friend are the ones who can ensure her safety.
Suzaku starts to show that he cares in his own way. Is it the fondest? No. Do we care? No, let Suzaku live.
Lelouch sort of starts to feel comfort when Suzaku interacts with Nunnally. He’s glad that his sister can feel comfort and safety around someone else beside him. He’s especially grateful when he finds out the Nunnally becomes destructive when he’s not around. She is so dependent on her brother, that not having him around breaks her down. And you know what else that breaks down? My heart. Because I cannot deal.
Suzaku is pretty much out here, protecting Lelouch and Nunnally left and right. Until, one day, after they’re surrounded. Lelouch decides he does not want to leave Suzaku behind with the enemy, so he goes back. And here we sort of see it become clear that Suzaku is the impulsive one with the best physical abilities while Lelouch is level-headed and better at negotiations. In other words, they’re an iconic duo. They are able to defeat their enemy by working together.
Lelouch is pretty severely bullied and attacked for being a Britannian, and he doesn’t like to rely on others so he himself goes out to get fruits and such for Nunnally. Whenever he’s alone, he gets attacked. And the first time we see this happen, he’s crying. Lelouch is not crying because he is physically being attacked, he is crying because the pears he got for Nunnally were crushed. Do y’all-? Hello? That is the softest thing and the most pure thing. I had to stop reading for a split second, but it didn’t surprise me because Lelouch loves Nunnally more than he loves his own life. I had to stop, because it caught me off guard. Anyway, Suzaku comes to the rescue. He’s the son of the Prime Minister, no one, and I mean NO ONE, is going to mess with Lelouch if Suzaku says don’t mess with Lelouch. They sort of reach this quiet agreement to have Suzaku accompany Lelouch whenever he goes out. Suzaku says the only reason he does this is so Nunnally doesn’t worry, but we all know it’s also because Suzaku cares. If only a little bit.
Lelouch and Suzaku banter a lot. But what’s a great friendship without some bantering excellence? *crickets*
That’s what I thought.
Suzaku is literally hesitant to call Lelouch his friend because he’s a) never had one and b) all he hears about Britannian’s is negative and it’s all political stuff this ten year old doesn’t fully comprehend. To which I say, let these three precious kids live.
So, one day, Suzaku overhears Todoh and his father discussing the fact that Genbu wants to kill Nunnally as part of a huge political strategy. Suzaku understands the breadth of his father’s greed. And he obviously doesn’t want his first two friends to be killed off. He doesn’t want a war to happen between his country and the country of his only friends.
So, what does Suzaku do? He kills his father.
Now, for the anime watchers, we knew he killed his father for the sake of trying to prevent war with Britannia. But, we hadn’t really had a whole scope of the situation. This novel really went in depth with just how much of a bastard Genbu Kururugi really is.
Oh wow, look at that, he and Charles both suck. Aha! Welcome to the sucky father’s club, enjoy a glass of expired lemonade, bitch.
Quick thing, and hear me out.
Do y’all ever think about how Lelouch was severely bullied for being Britannian while he was in Japan and always Suzaku defended him. Then when he’s older & sees Britannian’s attacking anyone who’s Japanese he defends them the same way Suzaku fought to defend him? Just thinking.
So I thought the pain was over, I finished the novel, yay. But then I read the authors note and Jun Fukuyama’s commentary (Lelouch’s VA) and let me tell you I somehow, died inside even more.
Fukuyama discusses that Genbu’s act of trying to kill Nunnally for political strategy, is what essentially confirmed Lelouch going to the dark side, if you will, in the future.
Because of Charles’s greed and lack of empathy to his own son and daughter, because of Genbu’s greed and lack of compassion to a child, they literally caused the death and pain of so many. They set in stone the future of their children, when they were just kids.
So, Charles and Genbu, I hope you guys are having a great time choking in hell.
Lelouch and Suzaku were able to become friends despite the fact that so many inherent things pulled them apart. They were able to overlook all of that and understand each other. In a sense, they were the last threads of innocence (including Nunnally) that had power in both the Britannian empire and Japan. And because of Charles and Genbu, these kids had to mature and do whatever they had to do to survive. Which of course comes with a price.
Lelouch literally promised to destroy his own father and an entire empire. And he had to be seen as the bad guy and do a lot of things that would stain his conscience forever, to fulfill that promise.
Suzaku had to kill his father and live with that for the rest of his life. And he coped with that by throwing himself into every fight even though he knew he would likely die.
If you think about it, it goes full circle and is extremely symbolic that Suzaku killed his father to not only prevent a war but to protect his friends. And that later on, the only reason why he survives again and again, is because Lelouch commands him to live with his Geass. I mean holy cow. The level of depth that knowing these details adds to the friendship and future rivalry between those two, is insane and honestly, beautiful. Fukuyama phrased it best, their friendship is cause and effect, destiny, fate.
All in all, this book really added to the overall story. And I highly recommend reading this. Maybe watch the anime after because knowing these details is extremely important to really grasping the kind of relationship that Suzaku and Lelouch have in the anime. We always knew they were close and trusted each other, even when they were at the peak of their rivalry, of their enemy arc, Lelouch still trusted Suzaku with Nunnally’s life. And knowing the root of their friendship really just adds flavor to it all.