I hope you won’t mind if I use this blog to share some romantic problems with you, dear readers.
You see… Well, it’s a bit embarrassing. There’s this girl with whom I’ve been spending a lot of time. I’ve haven’t known her for long, but already I find myself liking her. A lot. Her name’s Code Geass, and she’s quite the looker – but that’s not my problem, obviously. Who would mind going out with such a good-looking, popular girl?
No, the problem is upstairs, if you know what I mean; I can’t figure her out for the life of me. On the one hand, we have tons of fun together, that much I can’t deny. She’s a roller coaster, and hanging out with her is never boring, even though she has a tendency to yap and yap. That’s okay, though, I don’t mind putting up with it. But… she can’t make up her mind about what she wants to be, and that bothers me a whole lot more.
I mean, at first, right? She was totally a mecha show, with sexy action scenes and just enough mystery to keep you guessing. Sometimes she’d wax political a bit, a nice diversion, and I loved that more intellectual side of her. Then she got into the political stuff, heaaaavily, and the week after she was a high school harem show, then it was the stupid school festival episode, and oh God, then she had a bunny suit! Even with GPS I can’t keep track of her nowadays.
Worse is that I suspect she’s all over the map just to please me! Which is great when you realize it at first, because having someone bend over backwards (sometimes quite literally, *cough* Guren cockpit *cough*) makes you feel like a total badass, but after a while you catch yourself thinking… Who is she? What did she set out to achieve for herself in this world? That’s when your eyes start wandering, and you catch sight of other potentials. Like that Kaiba chick: smart, intriguing, very beautiful exotic face… Not nearly as chatty as Code Geass but when she opens her mouth, you’re listening, man. Sure, she sticks to the sci-fi drama and won’t do some of the, uhm, more “pleasing” stuff that Code Geass doesn’t even bat an eye at anymore… Which should be a plus for Geass, no?
But why do I feel so damn dirty then?
Why do I feel ashamed when Milly’s rack takes over the screen? Why do I sigh when Viletta struts in a non-existent bikini? My God, I won’t even get into the pangs of guilt when Karen is trotted out in yet another skimpy outfit and stuffed into a position so awkward a gymnast’s spine would snap.
You don’t have to do these things, baby! I like Code Geass because she’s a rare mix of beauty and brains. But lately I wonder if I’ve misjudged her, if the beautiful brainiac that attracted me at first isn’t a mere pseudo-intellectual strumpet.
I guess the crux of the matter, to tell you the truth, is that I’ve invested a lot of time in Code Geass and I want a little reassurance that it wasn’t wasted. We’ve had a lot of laughs together, and more than once she made me scream “HOLY SHIT!” at the top of my lungs while I pumped my fists, but it’s feeling a little old by now, as if she’s used up all her best tricks and is just rehashing more of the same. And the one time we took a break from each other, we left with some unresolved issues we promised to discuss… But when she returned she ignored them and pretended nothing had happened! The nerve! I called her on it and she eventually coughed up an explanation and we spent an evening settling those issues, but boy, was I pissed for a while.
So, yeah, that’s it. Thanks for listening. Don’t worry, I won’t break up with her after all this time; it’s not my style. But please, baby, I’m begging you. Don’t be like all the other girls. Be unique. Be yourself.
And for the love of all that is holy, have someone rescue Karen already.
-Mr. K
Today’s Karen is: PONDERING
You’re right, Code Geass is something of a (to borrow a term from an ancient PC Gamer article – about Deus Ex, no less) ‘genre-slut’. Personally, I think it’s pretty original to be so unoriginal, or, to put it another way, I admire the writers and director for managing to pull off what they do – most of the time.
I find the way the premise of the show shamelessly borrows from other successful franchises equally admirable: saying ‘it’s Death Note meets Gundam SEED‘ doesn’t do it justice, but it’s not wrong. By now, however, I’m so addicted to Code Geass that I can’t view her objectively.
And I’m sure they’ll rescue Karen soon. I’m guessing she’d pulled ahead in the fanservice screentime stakes, so they had to shift her offstage for an episode or two (while at the same time fulfilling their small quota of light bondage).
Hehe, Deus Ex is still one of my favorite games of all time, and the comparison is spot on, friend. :) I do worry that Geass is setting a new trend by throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the watcher with no discrimination. Already I am seeing hints of the same tendency in Macross Frontier. Call me imaginative, but I can see myself five years from now shaking my fist and yelling “GIT YER HIGH SCHOOL HAREM OUTTA MY MECHA” at every new show, and it’s not an amusing prospect. (Call me a purist if you must.)
As for Karen, there are rumors – based on some concept art – that the Emperor will do terrible things to her while she is imprisoned. I am a sad, apprehensive panda. :(
Legacy is a good question, not one I’d thought about. I suspect that any show which goes beyond the normal process of genrevolution and attempts to be as genre-sluttish as Geass will need to employ writing staff at least as good; I also suspect that that won’t happen, and that this hypothetical show will wind up failing.
Macross Frontier is an interesting contrast. A friend compared the two shows and suggested that Frontier is sticking to a much simpler, archetypal skeleton plot. In the same vein, I’d say that it’s also sticking very close to the essence of Macross (love triangle, affirming the power of music, with transforming robots), just with lolita-figures and a school element as dressing. Whereas, for Geass, the things which would be dressing in other shows become the essence. That’s probably just me spinning empty rhetoric, though.
(Deus Ex was a favourite of mine, too. Sadly, I don’t think I have a computer old enough to run it anymore.)
[...] already expounded on my love-hate relationship with Code Geass, and so instead of wasting your time, dear reader, I’ll tread new [...]
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!