Quote:
Originally Posted by Xander
The thing is, it's only "too quickly" if we look at it from an outside perspective or otherwise get too distracted by the fact that the pace of events in R2 was too compressed and rushed (because they wasted a lot of time early on, for well known reasons, and then found themselves lacking it later).
Honestly, you don't need to be a genius in order to notice all of the signs, stars and other heavenly phenomena in both seasons were indicating Lelouch was never likely to live past the end of the show, from the perspective of the narrative and its storytelling. Dark and tortured characters like Lelouch who bear some sort of curse (Geass) and are on a cynical quest for revenge are often intentionally created with at least one foot in the grave.
The first episode of R2 even has Suzaku saying he will be the one to kill Lelouch. If that's not blatant foreshadowing, at least thematically speaking, then I don't know what it is. When Okouchi wrote that line and Taniguchi directed that episode, I don't think they were unaware of what their ultimate goal was going to be (though they probably weren't very sure about how to pace the story at that point).
If we go all the way back to season one and its first episode, we have a line like "those who are allowed to shoot are those who are prepared to be shot" and its very obvious fatalistic meaning that, in retrospect, feels a little too knowingly crafted. It wasn't exactly the most natural thing to say.
What both of the creators have said in interviews also confirms they had this type of ending (by which I understand the underlying concept, not the specifics of Zero Requiem or whatever else is involved) in mind from the start. Lelouch wasn't supposed to grow old, get married and die quietly in an off-screen bed somewhere.
Even if R2 had been perfectly planned and executed, it's possible we would be having this same debate...in an alternate reality.  |
Don't mean to get nitpicky, but a lot of it was either highly incidental or just plain contrived. I mean, the "I will be the one to kill Zero" line spoken by Suzaku? That was because he was against what he was doing at the time.
And while it's true that Lelouch was tortured, just as much of it was due to him getting hit by Diabolus Ex Machina, particularly in the latter half of R2. Heck, the Zero Requiem could have been averted had either of the following two circumstances been reversed: 1) Nunnally apparently getting lost in the FLEIJA blast and hidden from Lelouch until after he was already Emperor and she had been used against him by Schneizel, and 2) the Black Knights turning on Lelouch, the latter of which happened on spurious bases. (Not to mention that the two people responsible for the latter, Ohgi and Villetta, get away with their hypocrisy with the happiest ending.)
And about the "those who should be prepared to be killed..." line, the likes of Cornelia should be dead by all rights.