Random Curiosity

Summary:

With Euphemia’s announcement in effect, Suzaku reports to her that over 200,000 people have applied for the Specially Administrated Japan. Euphemia attributes Suzaku being here as the representative of the Japanese people to why everyone believes in this new place, but Suzaku thinks that it’s because of Euphemia’s proclamation. When she tells him that she’ll be needing his help for various things from now on, he at first answers with his usual “Yes, Your Highness,” but her disapproving look cuts him off and causes him instead just to say yes. The television news is meanwhile reporting that this Special Administrative Zone will be a first for Britannia and is Euphemia’s own idea. In addition, tomorrow’s ceremony for this will be broadcast all over the world. At school, Nina tells herself that she’ll go with what Euphemia says. Schneizel is meanwhile complimenting Euphemia to Cornelia, and he talks about how this helps them with the Area 11 terror groups and public order. Cornelia says that she is personally opposed, but she’s still going to get the public policy moving as the Governor-General.

As for the Kyoto group, they don’t think that a Specially Administrated Japan is a bad thing, and Kirihara feels that this concession came about because of their resistance efforts. One of the others notes that he heard Kirihara had been promised a position in the new zone, but Kaguya is more concerned about what Zero and the Black Knights are going to do. At that time, the senior officers of the Black Knights are discussing how they’re losing supporters and members. Diethard attributes it to how there’s no risk in the new zone unlike in the Black Knights. They know that Kyoto is going to cooperate, but Kallen doesn’t believe in the promised equality. All this reminds Ougi of the conversation he had with Villetta about her wanting to enter the new zone. Because of this, he wonders to the group about participating in the new zone because it doesn’t conflict with what Zero’s been saying. However, Nagisa Chiba says that they could be disarmed under the pretext of peace, and Toudou feels that they would lose their independence. Diethard, however, notes that if they don’t participate, they would become enemies of freedom and equality.

In town, Lelouch gets dropped off by Rivalz so that he can meet with Shirley for some shopping. Both of them see and hear a noble beating a Japanese with his cane because he believes that the inferior people should obey the superior ones. Lelouch interrupts and uses his powers on the man’s bodyguard to get him to go away. When the noble tries to stop his bodyguard, Lelouch says that the noble has mistaken a borrowed strength for the noble’s own ability. He is about to GEASS the noble to go die, but Lelouch ends up quickly shutting his left eye right as Rivalz steps in to defuse the situation. Watching from nearby Shirley saw how Lelouch saved the Eleven, but she questions why he was with Euphemia before. She realizes that it is dangerous for her to get too involved with this. Returning home later, Lelouch tells Nunnally that Shirley never ended up coming and didn’t contact him. Nunnally notices that he’s worried and asks if it’s about Euphemia. He takes the chance to ask his sister if she likes Euphemia, and Nunnally says that she does. When she asks him the same question back, Lelouch says that he liked Euphemia.

The next day is the day of the ceremony, and the news reports state that there are many Japanese here in the arena and even more gathered outside. All attention seems focused on how Zero isn’t there, but he soon appears standing on top of the Gawain right as Euphemia is about to being the ceremony. Kirihara isn’t so sure what’s Zero intends to do and thinks to himself that everything is over if it’s found out that Zero is really a Britannian prince. To Euphemia’s surprise, Zero says that he wants to talk with her privately. Although Euphemia’s men don’t find any weapons on Zero, Suzaku still thinks that he’s dangerous and wants to come too. Nevertheless, Euphemia says that it’s okay and asks Suzaku to believe in her. They go inside her command vehicle, and she turns off all the cameras so that he can take off his mask. After doing so, Lelouch pulls out a ceramic and bamboo needle gun that wasn’t found by the earlier detector. Euphemia doesn’t think that Lelouch will shoot, and he agrees with her because she’ll be the one who will be shooting.

Back outside, Suzaku suddenly gets a flash in his head of the GEASS symbol and then turns around to see a green figure materializing beside the Gawain. Inside, C.C. notes that Suzaku can see it and wonders if it’s because of indirect contact and what happened on the island or if it’s because of that person. Because of this, she gets out of the Gawain. Meanwhile, noting that this ceremony is being broadcast across the world, Zero proposes that Euphemia shoot him. He thinks that if she surprise attacks him, Zero would become a martyr and her own popularity would plummet. This causes Euphemia to question what Lelouch is joking about. She wants to make Japan with him, but he feels that she’d be the same as Clovis if she forces it unilaterally. He plans to be revived miraculously and explains that people are weak to miracles. Right as Lelouch is saying that a messiah must be one person and that the people will know she’s an impostor, he experiences pain in his left eye. At the exact same moment, C.C. is trying to question Suzaku about something and gets the same pain.

The GEASS symbol on top of C.C.’s head lights up, and when Suzaku goes over to see what’s wrong, he touches her shoulder. This results in him seeing another set of visions similar to last time, except that now he’s also shown an image of Marianne. After Suzaku collapses, Euphemia’s guards rush over and also see C.C.’s GEASS symbol. Their eyes all turn red, and they experience visions that cause them to fall to the ground. Back inside the vehicle, Euphemia tries to help Lelouch, but he swats her away and tells her not to pity him any more. He opens his GEASS-active eye as he calls out her full name, but Euphemia stops him by saying that she gave up that name - she has relinquished her right to succeed the throne. Lelouch thinks that she did it for his sake, but Euphemia laughs and explains that she did it for Nunnally. She reveals how Nunnally had said that as long as she could be with her brother, she didn’t need anything else. That’s what led Euphemia to this decision. Lelouch calls her an idiot for doing this, but his tone has changed and he says that she was always Euphie before she was vice-Governor-General and a princess.

Euphemia then holds her hand out to Lelouch so that they can promise to work together. Although he says that she was the worst enemy for him, he shakes her hand and calls this her victory. The two then get to talking about how he was trying to get her to shoot him, and Lelouch reveals that no one can defy him if he gives a serious order. He says that it can be any order, but since Euphemia thinks he’s joking, Lelouch insists that it’s true. Turning towards her, he says that, for example, if he orders her to kill the Japanese, it would have nothing to do with her own will. Suddenly, however, Euphemia comes under the influence of GEASS and her eyes light up red. Although she tries to resist the order, she soon falls to its control. Knowing that his GEASS eye is active now, Lelouch realizes that he has become the same as Mao in that he’s unable to turn it off. He then tries to get Euphemia to forget the order, but she picks up his ceramic gun and runs out.

Around this time, Schneizel is calling General Bartley to say that he’ll be returning to the home country by the end of the day. Bartley reports that their experiment’s intelligence is limited to Area 11, so Schneizel suggests that they talk with the Rosenberg Laboratory. When the communication arrives, he wants it sent to him with the experimental machine. Bartley then mentions the ruins on the island, but Schneizel is thinking more about how everything will go well thanks to Euphemia. By this time, Euphemia has run back onto stage and asks the Japanese people if they could die. She wants them to commit suicide, but when she realizes that they won’t, she orders her soldiers to exterminate everyone and cheerily announces a massacre. Hearing this, Darlton immediately orders all the microphones and cameras to be turned off. Zero then rushes onto the stage to stop Euphemia, but two Britannian guards get in his way. He opens the slit on his mask to GEASS them, but before he can do that, he sees Euphemia shoot a man in the audience. When she orders her soldiers to hurry to kill everyone, Darlton questions what she’s doing and tells her to stop. Euphemia responds by shooting Darlton in the abdomen, and although she immediately apologizes to him, she also says that she has to exterminate all of the Japanese.

Suzaku wakes up around this time to the sound of screaming and gunfire. He tries to stop the soldiers and is shocked to learn that Euphemia was responsible for the order. Running through the bloody stands, Lelouch calls for Euphemia to stop and realizes that this is all because of his GEASS. A dying woman grabs ahold of him, but Lelouch now knows that he’s not the savior or a messiah. As she breathes her last breaths, the woman tells him that he’s their only hope. Feeling that he’s been burdened, Lelouch then runs into a wounded Darlton in the hallway. Pointing his gun, Darlton questions what Zero did to Euphemia, but he collapses soon after. Outside the arena, there is mass confusion even amongst the Black Knights, and images of the incident are breaking through the normal news broadcast thanks to Diethard. After Lelouch gets back onboard the Gawain, C.C. comments on how she’s surprised with this, but Lelouch says that it wasn’t him. Turning around, C.C. sees that Lelouch’s GEASS eye remains active and realizes what happened earlier. Elsewhere, the Emperor of Britannia laughs evilly with all that’s going on whereas Schneizel is shocked when he learns the news.

The rest of the Kyoto group has noticed that Euphemia is different compared to how she was up until now, and they talk about how they’re the only ones left. Kaguya finds it shameful that after everything, they consider themselves most important. When the men tell her that they remain for the sake of Japan, she asks what they plan to do if only they remain. She then questions what the point of the Kyoto group is if they don’t act now. Back at the arena, the Avalon arrives to pick Suzaku up and he then launches onboard the Lancelot. He doesn’t think that Euphemia could have ordered the massacre and is determined to find her. As Lelouch watches the Britannian forces break through the wall towards the rest of the Japanese population, he decides that the only thing he can do now is to make the most of this. After destroying an oncoming fleet of aircraft with the Gawain’s cannons, he starts giving orders to the Black Knights. After explaining that Euphemia has become their enemy and that the Special Administrative Japan was a trap to lure them out, he says that he wants them to destroy the Britannian military and to hurry to save the Japanese. As Lelouch sheds a tear with his now perma-GEASS left eye, he orders them to find and kill Euphemia.

Preview:

Even though I knew that this episode would be called “Bloodstained Euphie,” I hadn’t been expecting her to personally go out and start slaughtering people. That just made it even harder and more frustrating to watch since I liked her character. I mean, here she was having finally gotten through to her brother Lelouch, and then what amounted to an accident changed everything. A part of me had hoped that she would survive to the end of the series, but that just doesn’t seem possible now unless they find a way to get rid of the GEASS control on her mind. If that doesn’t happen, then she’ll continue her path of blood and violence until someone kills her. I personally think that it would be fitting if she went after Suzaku because he’s Japanese, and then he was forced to kill her because of the GEASS order to live that Lelouch gave him from before.
Actually, for everything not working out for Lelouch, everything actually worked out very well for Zero. I make that distinction because Lelouch had agreed to work together with Euphemia, but it’s Zero as the head of the Black Knights who profited the most from Euphemia going berserk. With all those dead Japanese, Zero’s now got plenty of reason to rally his troops against the Britannian forces. Still, Lelouch really shouldn’t have used that example about killing the Japanese when he was talking to Euphemia, but I guess there was no way he could have known that his GEASS activated. The root of the problem goes back to C.C. and Lelouch both experiencing pain at roughly the same time, and it’s still not clear to me why that happened. Nor do I understand why the image of Marianne appeared when Suzaku touched C.C. again. It would seem that much would be explained if and when we learn more about C.C.’s background.
I also want to go back to how shocked Schneizel looked after what Euphemia did. Certainly he was plotting through Euphie’s plan, but that look he had seemed so genuine that I keep thinking that he’s not as evil as he initially appeared. The Emperor, on the other hand, seems to know what’s going on and really is as bad as initially thought. Then again, that’s hard to say for sure since there’s so much mystery surrounding the Emperor. I wonder how much of a conclusion we’ll get with these characters in the next three episodes and what will be saved for next season. Next week is the final regular broadcast episode since the air-dates of episodes 24 and 25 are still undecided. Regardless of when that is, I get the feeling that things won’t end well…