Code Geass: Akito the Exiled [OVA]

[gamma1661]

What do you think the chances are of the first ova getting an english dub? Good or bad?

[Scherzo09]

No one's gonna liceense this until the series is complete (In America I mean, Madman already licensed it in Oz). I don't think it'd be economical for them to license it in parcels. I'd suspect Viz would buy the license though; Geass seems bankable enough.

[Xander]

Originally Posted by Scherzo09

I could have somewhat forgiven a lack of an interesting hook if this were, say, the first in a 7 or 8 episode long OVA series, like Unicorn or the even longer Hellsing Ultimate (though I still highly think it should and feel Akito failed to achieve that). But this is a four episode OVA series with episodes less than an hour long, and this ties into another problem the episode has; there are looooads of dead air. Not much really happens in the episode, and I feel there were missed opportunities to develop the characters further or flesh out the setting more. There are hints of character and hints of setting, and it does create good atmosphere which I appreciate, but it can honestly be a bit of a hard sit because we don't have a lot of reason from the onset to care about these characters. Sure, it's the first episode so we can't expect to know everything about them, but there needs to be a hook, something to sink our teeth into, but if I'm perfectly honest the first episode doesn't really do that well.

The first episode didn't exactly establish a single overwhelming hook yet, if you want to put things that way, but I believe there is some merit to its alternative approach. There are several smaller hooks present, whose collective and specific effectiveness varies greatly depending on what each individual person watching considers interesting. For example: there's the setting, the alternate history angle, the mecha action sequences, a couple of mysteries, what the characters from the original series shown in the preview will do and the larger question of how everything will tie back into the big picture knowing that the EU is essentially doomed. Like I've said before, some folks don't like that sort of story with a predetermined resolution, but many of the details are still unknown and I also appreciate the concept of fighting against a known or implied fate.

I agree that there wasn't a huge emphasis on characterization though, as opposed to presenting the general setting. I'm willing to give the show another episode to start focusing on the characters and bring other developments to light, after going through the purely introductory motions of placing them in the necessary positions. The question of the "dead air" is also debatable, since it's hard to swap out too many of those quiet moments in exchange for more content without hurting the atmosphere and running into other risks, such as inadvertently making the pacing feel too rushed or compressed. Not saying it can't be done, since there are ways to balance such factors, but I don't see spending time on what amounts to an atmosphere-heavy prologue as an objective flaw. Some people will snooze halfway through, but I certainly didn't.

But if I were to show the first episode to someone who only has a passing interest in the Code Geass canon, they'd just say the episode was 'okay'.

I'd say many would agree with that...but the curious thing is both this very thread and a couple of other comments I've seen elsewhere seem to suggest there are at least a handful of new viewers who, despite not caring much for Code Geass as a whole, seem positively enthusiastic about the project. That's actually a welcome surprise, in my opinion. On the other hand, there are also some people who love Code Geass and yet strongly dislike this.

And I think episode 2 needs to step its game up in terms of pacing and characterization to be, objectively speaking, more than okay.

Hopefully the recently announced delay from Spring to Summer 2013, aside from resolving whatever behind-the-scenes production and scheduling issues might also be involved, will also give them the opportunity to "step up their game" in more than one sense. In any case, I agree that episode 2 will be key to determining many things about this project, both inside and outside of the fictional universe itself.

I agree with a friend who say's this is sort of overly generous and apologetic.

By the same token, one could say to your friend that having too much of the opposite reaction is close to being overly tightfisted and unnecessarily cynical.

When the show wants us to laugh, the horribly grating Academy hijinks, it's godawful.

Can't say I found them too funny myself, but I didn't react with any disgust either. Humor is perhaps the most culturally subjective part of fiction in my experience and the Japanese seem to have more of a taste for slapstick than some of us do. In fact, Kazuya Murata, the person who did the storyboards for episode 6 (the cat chase), has said that he was going for a "classic" or "retro" style of comedy there and supposedly the Japanese viewers loved it. What was a failure of comedy for you apparently turned out to be a success for others.

Also, another comment someone from the staff has made is that after some internal discussion they decided to keep the ridiculous scene in R2 where the Emperor literally rockets across the screen because it was just too funny. In light of those and other pieces of evidence, the suggestion that the staff could never remotely recognize such over-the-top moments as being incongruously funny and somehow only left them in purely unintentionally seems rather...questionable. You could even argue that's in poor taste, rightfully so, but I still think it's not a case of self-absorbed blindness or total unawareness about the fact people would make memes out of such things.

Code Geass is very much in the Guilty Pleasures camp for me.

I can see why it would be there, after reading your comments, even if I can't sincerely agree with some of the harsher ones.

But as for me, I feel no shame or guilt about liking Code Geass. I sure wouldn't be typing anything about it by now if I did.

The scene with those two was kind of weird to me. Like I know they figured they needed to show the primary antagonist in the first episode, but I wish we'd seen more of them so we could've actually cared that that seemingly decent Britannian got killed off.

That's a fair point. The scene was mostly used to confirm that the antagonist is going to be merciless, even if we felt no significant sympathy for his victim. I suppose that's something else we'll have to keep an eye out for in episode 2. Will there be another relatively reasonable Britannian? I hope so.

[Scherzo09]

Originally Posted by Xander

The first episode didn't exactly establish a single overwhelming hook yet, if you want to put things that way, but I believe there is some merit to its alternative approach. There are several smaller hooks present, whose collective and specific effectiveness varies greatly depending on what each individual person watching considers interesting. For example: there's the setting, the alternate history angle, the mecha action sequences, a couple of mysteries, what the characters from the original series shown in the preview will do and the larger question of how everything will tie back into the big picture knowing that the EU is essentially doomed. Like I've said before, some folks don't like that sort of story with a predetermined resolution, but many of the details are still unknown and I also appreciate the concept of fighting against a known or implied fate.

True, there are some interesting aspects about the movie and personally there's enough to make me excited about the next episode. I just also need to look at from a more objective standpoint, which means I can't simply overlook some of the OVAs flaws.

I agree that there wasn't a huge emphasis on characterization though, as opposed to presenting the general setting. I'm willing to give the show another episode to start focusing on the characters and bring other developments to light, after going through the purely introductory motions of placing them in the necessary positions. The question of the "dead air" is also debatable, since it's hard to swap out too many of those quiet moments in exchange for more content without hurting the atmosphere and running into other risks, such as inadvertently making the pacing feel too rushed or compressed. Not saying it can't be done, since there are ways to balance such factors, but I don't see spending time on what amounts to an atmosphere-heavy prologue as an objective flaw. Some people will snooze halfway through, but I certainly didn't.

I sorta see it as a movie's obligation to go out of it's way to introduce us to the characters. I just say this from the experience of sitting down a friend of mine who also sort of see's Geass as a guilty pleasure (though not as enthusiastically as I do), and he came out of it liking it alright but finding the movie a bit lacking, like considering Akito be a pretty boring protagonist and there being stretches of dull moments. And to me these are problems that can't just be ignored by saying "Well people have different tastes," these are structural problems that need to be addressed.

I'd say many would agree with that...but the curious thing is both this very thread and a couple of other comments I've seen elsewhere seem to suggest there are at least a handful of new viewers who, despite not caring much for Code Geass as a whole, seem positively enthusiastic about the project. That's actually a welcome surprise, in my opinion. On the other hand, there are also some people who love Code Geass and yet strongly dislike this.

Oh I don't deny that; I bet a lot of people would've dug the atmosphere this OVA created. I just think it would've been a stronger episode in its own right if it had tightened up its pacing and explored its characters a bit more.

Hopefully the recently announced delay from Spring to Summer 2013, aside from resolving whatever behind-the-scenes production and scheduling issues might also be involved, will also give them the opportunity to "step up their game" in more than one sense. In any case, I agree that episode 2 will be key to determining many things about this project, both inside and outside of the fictional universe itself.

I hope so too. I think at the very least it should be longer than 50 minutes.

By the same token, one could say to your friend that having too much of the opposite reaction is close to being overly tightfisted and unnecessarily cynical.



Can't say I found them too funny myself, but I didn't react with any disgust either. Humor is perhaps the most culturally subjective part of fiction in my experience and the Japanese seem to have more of a taste for slapstick than some of us do. In fact, Kazuya Murata, the person who did the storyboards for episode 6 (the cat chase), has said that he was going for a "classic" or "retro" style of comedy there and supposedly the Japanese viewers loved it. What was a failure of comedy for you apparently turned out to be a success for others.

Also, another comment someone from the staff has made is that after some internal discussion they decided to keep the ridiculous scene in R2 where the Emperor literally rockets across the screen because it was just too funny. In light of those and other pieces of evidence, the suggestion that the staff could never remotely recognize such over-the-top moments as being incongruously funny and somehow only left them in purely unintentionally seems rather...questionable. You could even argue that's in poor taste, rightfully so, but I still think it's not a case of self-absorbed blindness or total unawareness about the fact people would make memes out of such things.

To be completely honest, Geass is just a show I can't help but feel somewhat cynical about. A lot of it just strikes me as being a commercial product first and foremost, and in doing so tries to be all things for all people. And that's why to me it doesn't work a lot of the time. You make a fair point about them being a bit aware of silliness and honestly, I love the Writer and Director's work on Planetes. It's just a lot of the show has a sort of 'phoned in' quality to me, that they weren't really being all serious about it, not about serious tone but making a piece of media. This is probably something we'll have to agree to disagree on though.

And in terms of comedy; it's just I've seen shows like TTGL or Diebuster which do a really good job mixing comedy with drama. And when comparing them to Geass, Geass falls flat, imo.

I can see why it would be there, after reading your comments, even if I can't sincerely agree with some of the harsher ones.

But as for me, I feel no shame or guilt about liking Code Geass. I sure wouldn't be typing anything about it by now if I did.

It's weird for me, I use that term not to mean I feel guilt exactly for it but more that I don't think the media itself is all that good, but I still like it anyways, partly because there are moments that really do work (Most of CC's and Lulu's interaction for example) but a lot of it for the ideas that could've worked but were executed poorly.

That's a fair point. The scene was mostly used to confirm that the antagonist is going to be merciless, even if we felt no significant sympathy for his victim. I suppose that's something else we'll have to keep an eye out for in episode 2. Will there be another relatively reasonable Britannian? I hope so.

Just felt like a bit of a waste; dude seemed like a total Bro.

[wredsa]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

I keep my idea, Akito will die like a hero fighting against Suzaku.

LOL. Suzaku hate is gonna be over 8000 if that were to happen.

[ChocoBar9]

Originally Posted by wredsa

LOL. Suzaku hate is gonna be over 8000 if that were to happen.

Yeah....sure it is

[ChocoBar9]

Originally Posted by Xander

I'd say many would agree with that...but the curious thing is both this very thread and a couple of other comments I've seen elsewhere seem to suggest there are at least a handful of new viewers who, despite not caring much for Code Geass as a whole, seem positively enthusiastic about the project. That's actually a welcome surprise, in my opinion. On the other hand, there are also some people who love Code Geass and yet strongly dislike this.

The thing is that after R2 the fanbase became split, people loved the series for two entirely different reasons, the people who liked Akito also hated R2 and saw it as the series return to form similar to the first season but the people who hated Akito liked R2 because it was over the top and entertaining so they saw Akito as boring in comparison there's also people who loved the old cast and thought Code Geass would not be Code Geass without Lelouch at helm since to them he carried the show through the worst and there wasn't enough standouts of the same caliber in the first episode Akito, mostly silly reasons mind you but not completely unjustifiable. I'm the OVA had stellar sales cause it does show that people will like Code Geass regardless of who's the lead which is the opposite of Gundam SEED which can't sell anything without it's two lead characters faces on it.

[Xander]

Originally Posted by Scherzo09

True, there are some interesting aspects about the movie and personally there's enough to make me excited about the next episode. I just also need to look at from a more objective standpoint, which means I can't simply overlook some of the OVAs flaws.

That's a bit of a philosophical difference, I can tell. The argument could be made about how the underlying act of labeling the lack of a big "hook" or the existence of those atmospheric scenes as "flaws" is just as subjective as the alternative can be objective. For another reviewer, a subtle and gradual build-up is preferable to an obvious hook, since it rewards patience and develops the setting instead of providing instant audience gratification, just as the more subdued and quiet sequences can be considered to serve a valid role within the structure of the film, precisely because of the atmosphere they create. This view is not overlooking anything since the same factual elements are still being taken into consideration, but they are merely part of a different form of categorization and analysis.

I sorta see it as a movie's obligation to go out of it's way to introduce us to the characters.

Even so, the filmmakers still provided an obligatory introduction to the characters and established a set of basic characteristics for several of them, Akito included, while deliberately choosing to focus a bit more on Leila instead. She comes closer to being the true protagonist of the first episode, all things considered, even if the title suggests Akito will be at the center of the entire story. Perhaps the camera will focus more on him next time? Probably, even if we don't really know yet. I still wouldn't cry foul if Leila continued to be more fleshed out than Akito though.

I can see you wanted to have a more detailed or in-depth look at both him and the rest of the cast, which isn't an unreasonable expectation on paper, but the director simply went out of his way to pick a different approach for the first of four acts, all within the limits of the available running time. My position is that only time will tell if this was or wasn't a risk worth taking.

I just say this from the experience of sitting down a friend of mine who also sort of see's Geass as a guilty pleasure (though not as enthusiastically as I do), and he came out of it liking it alright but finding the movie a bit lacking, like considering Akito be a pretty boring protagonist and there being stretches of dull moments.

We've already discussed Akito, but I think the use of relaxed transitions between tense scenes came across as entirely normal and never as an outstanding issue. I honestly never felt the movie was actively dull, since there were enough interesting bits of dialogue to pick up on, generally well-crafted backgrounds to look at, varying types of music to set distinct moods and two major action sequences that spiced things up in each half of the film.

And to me these are problems that can't just be ignored by saying "Well people have different tastes," these are structural problems that need to be addressed.

Whereas for me at least some of your objections can only be truly judged as structural problems at the end of the story, when we can actually look back and see the whole edifice from a safe distance. If those issues are addressed, then what would be the value of considering them structural in the first place? Not much, other than saying the first episode was weaker than the others (or vice versa, if things get worse).

This is probably something we'll have to agree to disagree on though.

Basically, yes.

And in terms of comedy; it's just I've seen shows like TTGL or Diebuster which do a really good job mixing comedy with drama.

I can only say that neither of those shows made me laugh out loud anyway. A lot of anime humor just doesn't strike me as too funny.

[Scherzo09]

Anyways, moving on from those opinions; I kinda hope they keep a more 'real robot' approach (or as real as this has been), keeping the fights on the ground and having that kinetic feel to them.

[Xander]

That seems to be one of the positives of the move to 3D in this case, since there's a lot more room for camera movement and the action choreography is heavier on the melee than on the big guns so far. It was a bit weird at first, when the initial footage came out, but after a while you can keep track of what's going on without much difficulty during the episode itself.

Then again, there's also that one strange shot at the end of the new PV for episode 2 showing the Alexander floating in space...which I honestly don't have a clue if it's meant to be taken literally or is just a random piece of promotional imagery. Such things tend to give me some sort of "this is only a cool visual for preview purposes" feeling, but you never know.

[Lost Cause]

Just a side note on the "anti-Knightmare sapper" idea, I always wondered how well armored those cockpits were too! As for the "super robot" thing, everything has an Achillies heel.
As for Akito dieing a hero's death by Suzaku, well the fat lady isn't even warming up yet, and unless "White Death" has an ace up his sleeve, I don't see the Alexander giving the Lancelot any quarter!
I for one find Akito much more entertaining than Geass, the writers on this one are veterans of some very outstanding shows, and thus far its working to every bodies benefit. It's obvious they're at least trying to make a show that as good as or better than the original.

[Masurao45]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

I keep my idea, Akito will die like a hero fighting against Suzaku.

I disagree, he'll survive but lose in the end since EU is already conquered by Britannia and it said that France which is EU's capital got conquered later on.

Originally Posted by Bonzo

As you wish, but we should keep in mind people have easily compared Akito and Lelouch despite their being ultimately different characters, when there are superficial similarities, so comparing this new guy and Luciano isn't exactly out of the question. the mere thought of it seems to offend you, for whatever reason, forget I ever said that.

I find Akito more like Sven Cal Bayan/Shiro Amada/Suzaku hybrid than that of Lelouch. Lelouch is just so narcissistic, arrogant, and kind loving and no way Akito could be compared despite their character designs plus their combat is opposite. Akito's personality is far mature and instable due to his bloodlust for battle but more parts of his personality is to be seen in later episodes. The only person who I can compare to Lelouch is none other than Leila due to their position as commanders and strategists with Geass powers (only if Leila has one which is a possibility as hinted by the one of the Clamp Arts shown at Episode 1 ending) and both are exiled by Britannia but also she could fall under the category of Xingke due to her piloting an Alexander while having commanding tactics at the same time. I agree because if people compare Akito and Lelouch too much, same goes for Leila and CC which would be out of the question.

Originally Posted by Bonzo

The thing is that after R2 the fanbase became split, people loved the series for two entirely different reasons, the people who liked Akito also hated R2 and saw it as the series return to form similar to the first season but the people who hated Akito liked R2 because it was over the top and entertaining so they saw Akito as boring in comparison there's also people who loved the old cast and thought Code Geass would not be Code Geass without Lelouch at helm since to them he carried the show through the worst and there wasn't enough standouts of the same caliber in the first episode Akito, mostly silly reasons mind you but not completely unjustifiable. I'm the OVA had stellar sales cause it does show that people will like Code Geass regardless of who's the lead which is the opposite of Gundam SEED which can't sell anything without it's two lead characters faces on it.

After all Code Geass is a combination genre from the most likes of Mobile Suit Gundam/Gundam Seed/Death Note despite having a Gundam Wing like ending. Of course Code Geass at times can't be great without a leading actor but possible good spin offs can make up for that until Lelouch's possible return and Akito is the best one for that along with Oldrin and Orpheus from Oz the Reflection. As for Oz the Reflection, I expect it to exceed that of Astray since it's a manga side story. After all people who enjoy 08th ms team, CE 73 Stargazer should enjoy Akito the Exiled.

[Raviel]

Would it be bad that part of the reason I'm watching this is to see how Suzaku makes life more difficult for everyone else because........well......Suzaku

On a more serious note, the KMF fights in this OVA have made me realize that the mecha of Code Geass can actually look like real military vehicles (kind of like TSFs in Muv-luv) instead of looking fabulous like in R1 and R2.

P.S. I am probably one of the few Suzaku fans on here and before anyone asks he was actually my favorite character precisely because of his many many flaws. That and like I mentioned before, seeing him make life harder for everyone else simply by being there became pretty funny after a while.

[ChocoBar9]

Originally Posted by Raviel

P.S. I am probably one of the few Suzaku fans on here and before anyone asks he was actually my favorite character precisely because of his many many flaws. That and like I mentioned before, seeing him make life harder for everyone else simply by being there became pretty funny after a while.

It's kinda hard to not find a character in Code Geass without many many flaws, except for Arthur, ironically people still love Lelouch despite his many many flaws.

[Midnight2352]

Originally Posted by ChocoBar9

It's kinda hard to not find a character in Code Geass without many many flaws, except for Arthur, ironically people still love Lelouch despite his many many flaws.

No one is ever perfect. Besides, it wouldn't be interesting if Lelouch never had flaws. His flaws are what makes the whole plot move as well as the characters.

[Raviel]

Now for a more important question......will Spinzaku (or better yet Spinzaku in the Lancelot) return in next OVA episode?

I will be very disappointed if he doesn't spin kick anyone.

[Lost Cause]

He is supposed to be in the next installment, along with C.C.
As for an english dub of the entire OVA series, I would think that depends on how well it does sales wise, and if anybody ponies up the money for the rights over here. Remember Bandai Ent. is out of business over here.

[wredsa]

"The Torn Wyvern"

So who else think that we will get to see broken Akito. He might be going to take desperate measures and thus expose his flaws to us?

[monir]

Originally Posted by wredsa

"The Torn Wyvern"

So who else think that we will get to see broken Akito. He might be going to take desperate measures and thus expose his flaws to us?

Whatever character exposition happens in this OVA, we can expect such to happen in measured steps. Length of the OVA series along with the people in charge assures me that I'll be spared from a CC-like daytime soap opera where the characters' playing out their role can see dramatic ups and downs in their established personality from one episode to the next for the sake of generating those twist-and-truns wildly cheered by the fans. In this OVA, traits like inner-conflict and such probably will be handled in a manner where the overall plot-point isn't overshadowed for the sake of creating artificial drama. I say the approach is going to be subtle, an word that has been very alien to the Code Geass franchise thus far. As has been pointed out already in this thread, Akito was far from interesting in episode 1 and yet, he did just enough to draw attention to his character.

[Lost Cause]

Originally Posted by monir

Whatever character exposition happens in this OVA, we can expect such to happen in measured steps. Length of the OVA series along with the people in charge assures me that I'll be spared from a CC-like daytime soap opera where the characters' playing out their role can see dramatic ups and downs in their established personality from one episode to the next for the sake of generating those twist-and-truns wildly cheered by the fans. In this OVA, traits like inner-conflict and such probably will be handled in a manner where the overall plot-point isn't overshadowed for the sake of creating artificial drama. I say the approach is going to be subtle, an word that has been very alien to the Code Geass franchise thus far. As has been pointed out already in this thread, Akito was far from interesting in episode 1 and yet, he did just enough to draw attention to his character.

EXCELLENT!! More "meat and potatoes" than "sizzle and flash"! Some this franchise needs badly. No wonder they assembled the heavy hitters to do this story, and I'm very much looking forward to more of Akito now!