"Episode 68/Vigilance/The Black Knights/Crash, Test Dummy/Makeup, Little Penny/Fairly Bad Things"

A commenter last week asked me what I liked about Code Geass, and while I did my best to answer then, I've been thinking about it since; more to the point, I've been thinking about anime in general, what I hope to get out of the various series recapped and reviewed here. What, exactly, is my context? What is the ideal?

I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable answering that–to me, being a critic is less about defining what's good and bad, and more about recognizing quality (or lack thereof) when you see it and being able to describe your reaction after the fact. It's like that Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin talks about justifying one's choices only after they're made; you can have a criteria for what, say, makes a kickin' episode of Shin Chan, but that criteria is only useful in as much as it looks to explain a previously existing phenomenon. Once you start applying a set of rules to entertainment, you're on dangerous ground–common sense is always required, no question ("Steven Seagal hasn't made a passable movie in over a decade. Ergo, his face on a DTV box does not bode well for my evening."), but you have to be willing to adapt as appreciation dictates.

All of which is a high-falutin' way of saying that I don't have expectations when I watch Geass and the rest, or at least not specific ones. One of the best parts of this job is getting a chance to discover things I might never have bothered to look at on my own. I've seen some anime–loved Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, revolutionary opinions to be sure–so I'm aware of the general conventions, but my only standard to go by in all these reviews is watching what works and what doesn't, and then trying to figure out why. My job is descriptive, not prescriptive; which may mean some initial fumbles (I cry your pardons!), but, in the end, makes for more valuable commentary.

A lot of "Episode 68" of Bleach works; in fact, right up until the end of the ep I was thinking that maybe I'd been too hard on previous weeks. At the very least, we got some action for all our waiting. As Ichigo and his crew try and plan their next move, Yoruichi and Soi Fon, last seen saving Ichigo's bacon back at school, investigate an anomaly in the real world while officials back in Soul Society study their findings. Yoruichi stops a strange woman from killing a man at the train yard–a strange woman she recognizes, and who, according to the computers back home, doesn't have a recognizable reishi.

But the real story of the episode is the reveal of the mastermind behind all those nutty "games." After sucking Our Heroes through the Spooky Door that they'd been using to swipe people, the Creepy Giggling Girl (aka, Lirin) and her pals give Ichigo an ultimatum; he must find a way to defeat Kuroda and Noba (the afore mentioned pals) or Chad will drown in sand in a giant hourglass prop left over from the old Batman TV show. Ichigo and Renji swing into battle, but prove almost entirely ineffectual; Ichigo can't even summon up his bankai. Thankfully, Chad's over-sized prison shatters, freeing him instantly, and the gang learns that Urahara, he of the kickin' green and white hat, has been behind the whole thing. Apparently, it was all a training exercise to teach the group to work together, and, well, waste about four episodes.

I was all set to give "68" high marks–the scenes with Yoruichi were sufficiently interesting, and the supposed final battle was a kick. But the "Ahhh, I appeared to put you and everyone you care about in danger so you could learn!" twist is fairly insulting, only a few steps above a dream-ending; the show was still not terrible, and maybe the appearance of a new threat will pan out, but if they pull this crap again I'm gonna have to talk to somebody's supervisor.

Fortunately, both Death Note and Code Geass were firing on all cylinders. In "Vigilance," Near continues his hunt; after one of his agents catches Mikami apparently using the Death Note on a subway creep, Near has the agent break into Mikami's locker at a local gym and study the notebook in Mikami's suitcase. This puts the agent in direct danger from any potential shinigami attached to the note, but Near ignores the Agent's fears. Across town, Light has to deal with a jealous Takada, and Aizawa's suspicions of his boss are finally confirmed when he realizes that the new L has been passing notes to his paramour in their bugged hotel room.

When Aizawa visits Near with his suspicions, Near basically tells him that his involvement in the investigation isn't necessary, but that he should keep an eye on things and "be witness to the end of Kira." With only a few episodes of the series left to air, that end looks nigh inevitable; but we still don't know what happened with the "fake" notebook that Mikami was supposedly carrying around, and given Light's knack for wiggling out of tight situations, nothing seems completely certain–just that it'll all be over soon.

In "The Black Knight," it seems that the Code Geass universe operates under Lois Lane Logic, as three of Lelouch's high school friends go on a trip to Lake Kawaguchi, only to have the lake's hotel immediately taken over by Japanese terrorists. Lelouch, in his Zero garb, is in the process of showing his task force their new digs–a kickin' RV–and handing out new uniforms, when news of the hotel attack is broadcast on television. Zero's crew leaps into action, as does Princess Cornelia; when the terrorists readily defeat Cornelia's attempt to attack the hotel from below, she calls in Suzaku and his robot battle suit, Lancelot. Suzaku's strike hits at the same time as Zero makes his move, confronting the Japanese forces directly, with predictable results.