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Code Geass: Akito the Exiled (OVA).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:57 pm Reply with quote


Code Geass: Akito the Exiled

Synopsis:

Quote:
The side story takes place in 2017 a.t.b., around the time Lelouch took on the alter-ego “Zero” and built up his “Black Knights” rebellion army. The setting is in Europe, where the Euro Universe (E.U.) allied nations are being invaded by the overwhelming forces of the Holy Britannian Empire. On the verge of defeat, the E.U. army forms a special division known as “W-O″, of which a young pilot named Akito Hyuuga is a member. Layla Malkal , a former Britannian Aristocrat comes to the E.U.'s aid, commanding the “Wyvern” Knightmare corps comprised of Japanese teenagers. They recklessly plunge into a battlefield, where the survival rate is extremely low, at about 5% only. They fight for their freedom, and for a "home" to which they can return.


Number of episodes: 4
Genres: Action, Mecha, Military

The first ten minutes of this side story has been posted and seems alright. Reila Malkal debuts in the first few minutes and from there, some mecha battles are shown. There seems to be tension already but overall gives the nostalgia feeling of Code Geass. Hope to see more of this soon this month.
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Boomerang Flash



Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 1021
PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 11:05 pm Reply with quote
Unfortunate implications abound when the last hope for survival of the European Union is a group of Japanese teenagers whose subleader is a Britannian.

Then again, Code Geass wasn't known for being politically correct either.
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Arkov



Joined: 15 Jul 2011
Posts: 120
PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:29 am Reply with quote
That didn't whet my appitite. That didn't whet my appitite at all!

Looks good so far, despite me not speaking a lick of Japanese. The Alexander (is that the name of the mech? Can't remember) seems pretty cool, but I hope its not too overpowering. It would be nice if they went for more of a season 1 vibe, with tactics being at least as important as who had the better mechs.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:32 pm Reply with quote
Boomerang Flash wrote:
Unfortunate implications abound when the last hope for survival of the European Union is a group of Japanese teenagers whose subleader is a Britannian.


To be fair, it's not that the Japanese are going to "save" the E.U. in any real sense (even if we didn't already know they are doomed).

According to some information from the official website...the war has been going badly for the E.U. and that puts political pressure on its democratic government, so they're essentially recruiting Japanese volunteers as additional cannon fodder in order to prevent even higher casualties among their own citizens and keep the population from growing too exhausted too quickly. The exaggerations of fiction aside, it's a relatively common line of thought that both old and new societies have historically followed in times of looming or imminent crisis.

The Britannian in question is said to come from one of several families that returned to Europe back in the day, after the continent became democratic and abandoned its monarchies for good during a wave of revolutionary success. The resulting implication here is that she was in fact raised and possibly born in Europe, not a recent immigrant.

Arkov wrote:
Looks good so far, despite me not speaking a lick of Japanese. The Alexander (is that the name of the mech? Can't remember) seems pretty cool, but I hope its not too overpowering. It would be nice if they went for more of a season 1 vibe, with tactics being at least as important as who had the better mechs.


I'd say the overall vibe is already closer to the first season than the second, at least going by these first ten minutes.

To borrow a term used elsewhere, the Alexander seems like a glass cannon: it's extremely agile and that makes for good performance at anti-Knightmare combat, compared to the bulky standard-issue E.U. machines, but it's not particularly meant to protect the pilot's life and may even be cheaper to produce than a technologically outdated though still more armored model. Which makes it an appropriate weapon for suicide missions and a useful yet potentially double-edged sword in the hands of a skilled pilot.

The way I see it, this will be a story about a small number of tactical successes (well, probably only until the last episode or two) in the midst of an inevitable strategic defeat. Some might find that idea too predictable, but I tend to like the tragic themes of a "fight against a known fate" premise.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:04 pm Reply with quote
I'm not sure how "recruit foreign volunteers to blow themselves up for our country" works. Even the original show's rebels weren't willing to go that far, and they were fighting for their own country.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:44 pm Reply with quote
The main character is pretty good-looking and I was a fan of the original series so I'll probably check it out. Anime hyper

(yeah, I'm shallow like that lulz)
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:13 pm Reply with quote
Yttrbio wrote:
I'm not sure how "recruit foreign volunteers to blow themselves up for our country" works. Even the original show's rebels weren't willing to go that far, and they were fighting for their own country.


Not many of them did, to be sure, but I believe there were at least a handful of cases among the different resistance factions in existence during the first season of the original series. For example, the truck driver from the first episode eventually blew himself up, and Zero even used the concept of "Japanese killing themselves" as a cover story to explain away how he got rid of some troublesome military officers.

In this case, it depends on where they're coming from. If they or their families are going to receive certain benefits, whether financial or in terms of civil rights, as a result of their military service...it's not exactly hard to imagine that at least some young people, perhaps feeling depressed after the loss of their homeland and lacking any hope for the future, would find the offer to be worthwhile. People have plainly killed themselves for much less in reality.
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WhiteHairGirls



Joined: 27 Apr 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:18 pm Reply with quote
The first episode of the OVA was great. I liked the new battle animations. It looks like EU liked running insect type Knightmares that are quick and agile. I wonder what Akito spoiler[geass powers is. The other user, Xin, looks like he has the same powers as Lelouch.]
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:21 am Reply with quote
Boomerang Flash wrote:
Unfortunate implications abound when the last hope for survival of the European Union is a group of Japanese teenagers whose subleader is a Britannian.

Then again, Code Geass wasn't known for being politically correct either.


IF you watch Code Geass, you will know that they can't save European.
britannia has too many powerful people and Knights of the Round.
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PrecisionCrab



Joined: 02 Nov 2012
Posts: 215
PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:22 am Reply with quote
So I'm a bit late to the party with this, but I finally caught up with the first episode.

Without any spoilers...I loved it. I'd go so far as to say it easily has the potential to trump Lelouch of the Rebellion - at least, with the direction its headed. It's definitely giving off a way different vibe than LoB did - it's more somber and melancholy, not to mention MUCH better paced. There isn't any weird scenic cutting (fierce mecha battle! - girls chatting in locker room for five seconds - fierce mecha battle!), so it definitely gives itself better cohesion than Rebellion did. If I had to put it in comparison...it's like the 08th MS Team of the Code Geass universe. And that one, as we know, was easily some of the best Gundam material out there. So once again, the potential is there.

That said, there are a few things that piss me off. Firstly, Bandai is dead stateside, and legally, they're cockblocking anything from Sunrise. Sooooo...90% chance that we won't see this stateside for many, many, many years, if at all. And say that we DO...once again, many, many years left to go... Secondly, the OVA format. I like the increased budget, but the format is just tedious - 40-60 minutes every 6-7 months. And people complain about Game of Thrones - at least you get that consistently for ten weeks a year!

All said and done, I'm definitely looking forward to more.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 4:24 pm Reply with quote
Speaking of being late, the second entry has been translated.

I'd say it was worth the wait, at least for me, especially because of the battle sequence but also thanks to the increased focus on a few characters that had been initially neglected. Even if the cast is too large to give everyone an equal chance, any improvements are welcome. There was less emphasis on the overarching setting this time around, although we still learned some interesting information in exchange for that.

I could go into the details, but don't want to make this too long. I suppose the one controversial element that must be mentioned is the spoiler[apparent "return" of Lelouch ] and so on, though it must be reiterated that this production takes place between seasons before people start getting crazy ideas. What do I think of this move? I'm indifferent, personally speaking, since you can stretch logic a little bit in order to justify it without breaking things. Having said that, in this context the character is essentially a guest star rather than providing our point of view.
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Galap
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:19 pm Reply with quote
Seen the first part, not the second. Will comment on that later.

Boomerang Flash wrote:
Unfortunate implications abound when the last hope for survival of the European Union is a group of Japanese teenagers whose subleader is a Britannian.

Then again, Code Geass wasn't known for being politically correct either.


Yttrbio wrote:
I'm not sure how "recruit foreign volunteers to blow themselves up for our country" works. Even the original show's rebels weren't willing to go that far, and they were fighting for their own country.


I think it's a historical reference to the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)]442nd Infantry Regiment[/url] of the United States army during WWII. The regiment was composed mostly of Japanese Americans, many of whose families back home were imprisoned in internment camps. Despite this, and the fact that like in this OVA they were used on extremely dangerous missions, they fought very hard and performed extremely well. It's a very interesting comparison to something that happened in our own world's history.

PrecisionCrab wrote:

Without any spoilers...I loved it. I'd go so far as to say it easily has the potential to trump Lelouch of the Rebellion - at least, with the direction its headed. It's definitely giving off a way different vibe than LoB did - it's more somber and melancholy, not to mention MUCH better paced. There isn't any weird scenic cutting (fierce mecha battle! - girls chatting in locker room for five seconds - fierce mecha battle!), so it definitely gives itself better cohesion than Rebellion did. If I had to put it in comparison...it's like the 08th MS Team of the Code Geass universe. And that one, as we know, was easily some of the best Gundam material out there. So once again, the potential is there.


I agree. Personally I'd already say that this is much better than the original series, and I like the original series. It has such an amazing melancholic and wistful mood, and does more with the alternate history setting than the show ever did (like the aforementioned. comparison). Another example is how the party scene took place at the Tuileries Palace. The Tuileries is a palace in Paris, which in our history was destroyed in 1871 in an uprising following the Franco-Prussian War. It had been the residence of the French monarchy since its construction in 1564. I think it's cool that they used a place that was real in our world, but was destroyed in our history and not theirs, since that era of Eruopean history progressed so differently for them.

I particularly liked the scene in the limousine when Smilas laments the death of Napoleon (hero of the Revolution) on the guillotine, wondering what his accomplishments as Emperor of Europe might have been had he lived to get to that point. The interesting irony here is that Napoleon did not die on the guillotine in actual history, but his dominion crashed out by being defeated militarily anyway. Smilas is speculating (and missing the mark a bit) about what might have happened had their history gone more like ours, inside an anime for which one of the main conceits is speculating how history would have progressed had those events gone that way. The point is that you can’t really predict what would have happened had things gone differently, which is ironic since that is what the show itself is doing. In this conversation, the question is raised as to whether a benevolent dictatorship by a talented individual is better than democracy. It’s an age-old question, but humanity has yet to discover the ideal form of governance. As long as government remains a monopoly, there is no inherent incentive for it to not become abusive of its citizens. Could a single altruistic individual in a position of power become that incentive?

Also, I think that Leila is a very interesting main character, much more interesting than the main characters in the original series. She has a kind of wistfulness and melancholy, but also has a very strong sense of personal integrity. She initially seems somewhat distant, but she is very friendly and compassionate when she finds someone who she thinks is worth interacting with. Her interactions with her unideal society are fascinating.
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nobahn
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:30 pm Reply with quote
I love the graphics -- just love them! Very Happy

Looking at the encyclopedia entry, I must say that I find it mind boggling that people would rate it even though only 2 of the 4 episodes have been released!
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SaiyanYasha



Joined: 19 Nov 2015
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 12:34 pm Reply with quote
The Original was better. end of story. I don't have any interests in this remake, and never will. i mean the first one was really more enjoyable especially around the Female cast in the first. Laughing sorry, I'm just having an animated crush moment here. but anyway, i think this is just ripping of the storyline of a great series and i don't think it's a perfect example of remake, it's just another reason as to why spin off animes aren't my thing.
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Yuki_Higure



Joined: 03 Nov 2016
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 11:42 pm Reply with quote
I hate to necropost (especially since it's my first post...), but...just what the bloody hell is happening with this series?

Funimation acquired it like, what, four years ago? They just released Lelouch of the Rebellion on blu-ray, but nothing on this one. And every day, they announce dub casts for shows that are still airing.

Akito The Exiled is FIVE episodes long, less than an hour in length. But let's be generous and say they ARE an hour in length. That's a running time of just regular old 15 episodes. And only THREE characters return from the original series. Just three. For everyone else, they can use whoever they want in-house.

So...what the bloody firetruck is taking so damn long with this one?
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