Code Geass Episode 21 Discussion / Poll

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by kakashi524

I added some comments to the quote above.

Thanks -- you made me lol at the post that taken me 30 minutes to place all together. :3

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by quina

No offense but...

I blame all these chaos on Shirley.
Euphie didn't plan to just do a surprise announcement just like that. She was about to tell Lulu about it too. "Don't worry, I found a way.." then Shirley just shouted out interupt and screw everything. If Lulu was to hear the plan first, he would surely stop it. She even plan to tell this to Susaku too.

How far was shirely from the audience?

Because if she was a certain distance, what with Rivalz talking, I mean she really really did shout out loud (Which begs the question why?). That or the audience has really good ears.

I probably won't go back and dig out history of what Shirley has done before to screw things up including almost get Lulu killed since ep1. But by now you must have known she is the real lady of destruction. She destroy everything and extends the plot x 100 times even when she didn't intended to. Why can't she die already?~

Because she just keeps coming back for more.

Though I must admit, Euphimeia must've really really really been sheltered because she obviously did not take politics 101. Actually what school did she attend?

Another thing I'm concerned is why she did not discuss it with her sister, sure Schneziel said he would talk to her but nevertheless she would still see her to see what she says.

Her intentions and ideas are good, but executed rather poorly (No wait very pathetic). She needs someone who can guide her through the politics and Suzaku obviously isn't made for that, he's a soldier and inexperienced in this stuff.

So she needs a whooping to snap her back to reality and do things smarter.

Oh and BTW, points for Schnezeil (if done right, he doesn't need to DO anything. It's doomed to fail from the start).

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

*Ranting snipped*

Then don't tourture yourself watching a crappy show like Code Geass.
Watching something just to feel disgust about it isn't a healthy way of enjoying anime.

Meanwhile, we'll be enjoying our favorite show.

Originally Posted by ashlay

I have heard this before too. 0_o well, I've enjoyed all his other stuff, I don't doubt it'll be fun. (still, what about Planetes? ). anyway...

It's a little hard to give full credit to Taniguchi for Planet-ES, considering it wasn't his original. (it's based on a manga series)
Whereas Ryvius was completely Taniguchi and Kuroda's original work, so I personally regard it his highest achievement.

[zalem]

Originally Posted by SoldierOfDarkness

Oh and BTW, points for Schnezeil (if done right, he doesn't need to DO anything. It's doomed to fail from the start).

Yes, Schneizel may be showing his true colors at last. The guy is sharp. He's executed everything perfectly so that when the shit hits the fan, Euphie takes the brunt of everything.

[Malintex_Terek]

Originally Posted by zalem

Meanwhile, we'll be enjoying our favorite show.

I'm sure if the federal government took that sort of approach to crack cocaine, society would be a melted pot of human waste right now. So, it's my sworn duty as an educator to point of this stuff to stimulate critical thinking over the subject, since that not only en-riches discussion but has a positive impact on the world as well.

No good can come of people circle-jerking over or universally bashing a series.

[Juvyniled]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

My initial impresson of Geass was that it was a shounen "rags to riches" story with a mecha flavour, but now it's been overburden with a ton of romantic filler we've been told with never bear fruit and the plot frequently repeats itself or goes in a complete circle.

I suppose if you are willing to simply classify a whole plot under a specific category, then you really won't be receiving much from watching this series (or any series for that matter). I will agree with you that some of the romance is rather unnecessary, let alone very spontaneous. But it develops relationships between characters who would otherwise be interacting primarily with themselves.

In December, I said Geass was the best anime of 2006/2007. Now it's not even worthy enough to be flushed down the toilets of Studio Deen; the plot is riddled with outrageous implausible events that seem only possible by relying on coincidence or plot armour, the supreme idiocy of certain characters and the iron-hard sterotypes only serve to aggravate an intelligent or experienced viewer.

All I can really say to this extent is, if you throw in supernatural forces, what more can you expect?

At this point, Geass has become more of a joke/harem love-dove show than an actual epic depicting a young man bearing his own revolutionary arms and seeking revenge. Lelouch himself is the only saving grace of this show thus far; everything focusing around him and his reactions to everything around him are downright fascinating, and without him Geass would be a diarrhaetic travesty.

I can't disagree that Lelouch is holding up his show; his character is simply different from what would be expected from a traditional hero. The psychological factor of his actions definitely sparks some interest. Yet, I see that they backed down from doing a strict psychological thriller and went for something that would appeal to a more general audience.

This is why it would be natural for me to be pleased with the "Sayoko being close to Zero all along but not knowing who he is only to learn his identity and Lelouch and Sayoko experience flushes of surprise"; it's easily potential awesome for Lelouch, and Sayoko as well; she's my favourite character.

Unless Sayoko is a pivotal figure, or is a character with a mysterious background, she's really just a maid. But I suppose to each their own. Even given that Zero could possibly be at risk if Sayoko manages to find out his identity, it would merely be another hindrance like Shirley, with the exception that she'll retain her knowledge. I can't see what the potential is for Lelouch within this situation, unless you're trying to say that he'd be 'climbing that ladder' you mentioned later by having to deal with her.

By promoting people like Suzaku and Euphemia to main character status, the focus on Lelouch has dulled and now the series feels so utterly superficial/contrived it's chocking the entertainment sector of my brain.

I definitely agree with this, but given the direction they took initially, the potential for this quickly faded away. It would be more interesting to focus simply on Lelouch's character, but even his epic tale can't be completed in 25 consecutive episodes without some sort of timeskip. But really, it's better that he's approaching his goal systematically rather than trigger-happy. He could've brought the empire down by Geassing tons of people into assassins, but that's not what we want to see (maybe some people do).

[ashlay]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

1. How is Geass ground-breaking?
2. If not ground-breaking, how does Geass improve on established stock situations/characters?
3. Is the artwork original/refreshing? Explain.
4. Is the sound-track original/refreshing? On what basis are these attributes founded on?
5. What of the voice acting? Can you draw comparisons?
6. Describe the animation quality; do you feel it to be higher than other shows? If so, which?

1.not particularly.

2.rearranging standard tropes does amazing things for a show's freshness. (look at how much people liked that new James Bond film last year) The biggest difference between geass and most mecha is that they've taken the show's "Char" and placed him in the protagonist position, and the "Amuro" in the antagonists.

Geass also left itself a relatively massive 'toolbox' of characters and settings (school, military, black knights, geass characters, etc.) and moves at a somewhat faster pace than a lot of mecha out there (I'd estimate it at about 3 to 5 plot developments an episode)

otherwise, the show just manages to do things "well" by setting up through cliched or unbelievable methods often interesting situations. about half the reoccuring characters have had a plot twist reveal at some point in the series (Sayoko got one this episode), the show can be split up into well defined 2-3 episode arcs (10-11, 14-16, etc) with occasional one-shots (ex: this week), and mantains some variety between arcs (read: fighting and major plot developments aren't limited to the mechs. again, just look at this week)

this episode is a nice example of playing with a lot of characters (what, there's like half a dozen interactions this episode?) with a lot of developments of varying sizes (Sayoko, Euphie speech, VillettaxOugi reveal, Suzu-Kallen agreement, glennstone appearance, etc.) outside of the mecha/war scene. they also play with some fun situations of "a knows more than b, and c knows more than both of them." a number of times, which makes for an amusing watch.

3. the protagonist's side doesn't pilot 'gundams'. even though there's the Lancelot, half the fighting cast is in more FMP villian type mecha, and Gawain looks just evil compared to standard protag. mecha (Lelouch's black color schemes are also something of an oddity) all the 'ugly' ones also happen to show up this week in their various hangers. I mean they really do look like "villian mecha".

4. not particularly, but most of the music is fairly well placed. (giant pizza dough on a tree! NOES! ;_; )

5. this show has Jun Fukuyama, Jouji Nakata, and Norio Wakamoto working on it. I don't think more need be said. just look at Jun's wonderful shifts between Lelouch's multiple "personalities". 21 being a school episode, he does just about all of them.

6. gundam seed/GSD. we rarely, if ever, have to deal with reused fight animation between episodes. (though occasionally we see animation from the openings used once in an episode proper) though I did see carve-tan had just been traced over with a demon costume this week.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

I definitely agree with this, but given the direction they took initially, the potential for this quickly faded away. It would be more interesting to focus simply on Lelouch's character, but even his epic tale can't be completed in 25 consecutive episodes without some sort of timeskip. But really, it's better that he's approaching his goal systematically rather than trigger-happy. He could've brought the empire down by Geassing tons of people into assassins, but that's not what we want to see (maybe some people do).

Actually I think what they are doing is building Euphie and Suzaku up. So then when the time comes they'll be able to do a dramatic breaking down on them. So as we've seen recently, Euphie is trying to go back to the old days and Suzaku is a high ranking knight in the Britannian military...like a dream come true...then bam, snap back to reality. When you look at it both of them are really being set up for a huge fall. THe higher you are, the harder the fall.

Believe me, after this episode, and I think everyone will agree with me here, I'm ready to see and focus fully on Lelouch pull off daring and ruthless manuevers along with Schneziel whose just as cunning.

The future events will also change them as well

Spoiler:

Lancelot in a field of fire in the 2nd opening I believe was to prelude to something....in which Suzaku will change

[Juvyniled]

Originally Posted by Malintek_Terek

So, it's my sworn duty as an educator to point of this stuff to stimulate critical thinking over the subject, since that not only en-riches discussion but has a positive impact on the world as well.

Are you trying to stimulate critical thinking, or do you expect us all to accept and convert to your process of analyzing matter?

How much satisfaction can you derive from life simply by criticizing anything and everything that is done, is seen, is heard, etc.?

[zalem]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

I'm sure if the federal government took that sort of approach to crack cocaine, society would be a melted pot of human waste right now. So, it's my sworn duty as an educator to point of this stuff to stimulate critical thinking over the subject, since that not only en-riches discussion but has a positive impact on the world as well.

No good can come of people circle-jerking over or universally bashing a series.

Eh, why are you quoting that as being from me? I didn't write that.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

I'm sure if the federal government took that sort of approach to crack cocaine, society would be a melted pot of human waste right now. So, it's my sworn duty as an educator to point of this stuff to stimulate critical thinking over the subject, since that not only en-riches discussion but has a positive impact on the world as well.

No good can come of people circle-jerking over or universally bashing a series.

Don't BS yourself.
You're comparing shows you personally dislike to something federally illegal?
That's the dumbest thing to ever come from someone who claims to be an intellect. Even if you mean it as a sarcasm.

What you are doing sir, to put it in your own words, is jerking-off in public.
Constructive criticism is always welcome. Masturbating in public, however, is not.

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

Are you trying to stimulate critical thinking, or do you expect us all to accept and convert to your process of analyzing matter?

How much satisfaction can you derive from life simply by criticizing anything and everything that is done, is seen, is heard, etc.?

Because, he thinks anyone who doesn't agree with him, or find his attitude out of place, is "circle-jerking to the show".

[Juvyniled]

I can understand what he was trying to say in relation to how you said "Meanwhile, we'll be enjoying our show." The people sniffing crack are essentially using that as a reason for doing what they do. But as you said, these two circumstances can't be compared because of the degree of seriousness in doing something that is detrimental to society and something that is viewed for entertainment.

[zalem]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

Geass was originally pitched as a ladder-climb; Lelouch killing Clovis was the first rung, and controlling all of Japan the final rung before switching ladders. Right now, Lelouch's climb has slowed so much it's implausible that he'll just jump nine or ten rungs up to "conquest of Japan"; Cornelia is still alive, his allies are growing uneasy, Schneizel has arrived, he's got personal problems that are trivial from the world's perspective, and he's letting those problems affect his vertical progression.

In sum, the short has stagnated, or "dragged". A LOT. Nothing feels epic anymore and even Zero's theatrics have died down, such that a lof of the mysterious/enigmatic appeal to the character have been deflated by his mundane and clumsy reactions/movements.

I personally like this aspect of the series. Lelouch is not perfect. He shouldn't be. He may be smart, but he is still a 17 yearold boy in the end. It's more realistic for him to make mistakes and for him to be hesitant because of these personal issues. Perhaps seeing this clumsy side does detract from the mystique of Zero, but I find it endearing as far as the character of Lelouch goes. And Zero is still the showman. I have the feeling that we'll be seeing that alot in the next few episodes.

I do agree that they've been focusing a ton of time on Euphie and Suzaku and that is kind of irritating. Lelouch DOES make this series. He is the driving force behind it, so when things move away from him for too long it can be jarring. Though I suppose it also depends on whether you actually like Euphie or Suzaku. I'm sure their fans are very happy with the extra screentime for them.

That the creators are taking their time to really develop the characters is a good thing to me. I don't see it as dragging the series along at all. Good characterization, especially of the main characters, is vital to me. I think they've delivered in that department. Of course, this slow pace could very well come back to haunt them if they aren't REALLY careful about it. If they don't pace themselves correctly then they could end up being at episode 40 and suddenly realize they have a ton of plotlines to resolve and not enough time. But they have been picking up the pace lately and if they give us a second season, I do have hope they will resolve everything.

I'm going to attempt to break down "fabulous" into bullet points so that you can elaborate. My questions included below are not meant to be leading.

1. How is Geass ground-breaking?
2. If not ground-breaking, how does Geass improve on established stock situations/characters?
3. Is the artwork original/refreshing? Explain.
4. Is the sound-track original/refreshing? On what basis are these attributes founded on?
5. What of the voice acting? Can you draw comparisons?
6. Describe the animation quality; do you feel it to be higher than other shows? If so, which?

Eh? Aren't you taking things a bit seriously? ^^;;; But what the hell I'll give it a go.

1. Ground-breaking? Not necessarily. Nor does a series have to be ground-breaking to be a good one.

2. I think so. You'll be hard-pressed to find a mecha anime series with a main character like Lelouch. It's a rare, rare thing. I think that's what I find refreshing about the series. All and all, he's a fascinating character to follow. Flaws and all. I can't think of a main character in any currently running anime that is nearly as interesting, except Yagami Light.

3. Well, two of the reasons this series even grabbed my interest before it even aired was that the characters were designed by CLAMP and that it was a mecha series. I'm fond of my mecha. CLAMP has been one of my favorite group of mangaka for many, many years. Needless to say, I like the art very much.

4. Hmm...I think I like Death Note's soundtrack better. Maybe Iroha too. However, I think the music suits the mood of the series excellently. Is it "original"? Probably not, but if it suits the series and captures the mood, that is enough.

5. Great. This is Fukuyama's best work by far. I've heard him in many things and I like the fact that he is versatile. Compare his roles from Gakuen Heaven (LOL!!!), to XXXholic to Code Geass and you can see the difference. The rest of the cast is wonderful as well.

6. It's good. Is it perfect every episode? No. It's weak at times. But it's a TV production so I don't expect every episode to be absolutely the highest quality ever. I think it's hard to find any series that perfect. Plus we are blessed with not having to see stock footage over and over and OVER again. *coughs*GS/D*coughs*

Wow this ended up being very TL;DR. Sorry people!

[Malintex_Terek]

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

I suppose if you are willing to simply classify a whole plot under a specific category, then you really won't be receiving much from watching this series (or any series for that matter). I will agree with you that some of the romance is rather unnecessary, let alone very spontaneous. But it develops relationships between characters who would otherwise be interacting primarily with themselves.

Yes, I am familiar with how Japanese "shounen-oriented" shows tend to mix all genres into a massive un-organized mess, but keep in mind Geass wasn't originally punted as a generic shounen title. Much of the shounen material was layered in subsequent recent episodes; I'd say the jump the shark moment was the introduction of a cliche character like Mao, who appeared suddenly and departed just as swiftly.

If we cannot quantify Geass as any one particular genre, who does it appeal to? Who would be the "intended audience"? I'm not going to talk about Japan right now since they'll eat up anything; in fact, rarely do I take any Japanese person's opinion on anime seriously since they're less bigoted and more tolerant than those of us in the West (not to be rude, of course, it's just their views are not as releveant to ours because there's less congruence); everyone here is swept up in the "passion of Geass" so this show can do no wrong right now.

...but what about months after the show ends? Are we really going to bait some English-language dubbing corporation into getting this show by a couple month's worth of intensive popularity and then nothing afterward? I've seen vast criticisms of FSN and Utawarerumono now that the shows have ended, from those who followed the series originally and those who joined in after the heat died down; right now, we can't view the show objectively unless we're willing to brainstorm over it.

And my brainstorming has lead me to the conclusion that Geass' original plot was just a fascade to sell heavy fan-service. No, not just fan-service in the traditional sense, it's just here to attract Death Note fans, Gundam Seed fans, CLAMP fans, certain voice actor fans, Ouran High Host Club fans, Pizza Hut fans...when I first saw this show and knew nothing about it, I was expecting something bold and unique. Now it's degenerated into an underwhelming, hole-riddled farce with cheesy cliches and stock situations. The intended audience is simultaneously everyone and no one; it's got a little for everyone, but "a lot" for none.

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

All I can really say to this extent is, if you throw in supernatural forces, what more can you expect?

That's not what I see as the primary problem of the story. Take Star Wars, where the super-natural element was only a small part of the story. It's the same with Geass.

But at the same time, Star Wars (at least the original trilogy) didn't lose its sense of focus. The universe was still much larger than Luke and his relatively petty and insignificant family affairs, id est, the Rebel Alliance would still have lived on without him and blown up the Death Star without Vader killing Palpatine.

While Lelouch is important, now it feels like he's sharing "his thunder" with a host of ants who should have been squashed far earlier. I mean, who really gives a flying fudge about Shirley? We already know she has no chance with Lelouch, and her presence has only aggravated people and sabotaged Lelouch's situation.

At the same time, we've been forced to watch Kallen degenerate from a strong, independent young rebel woman with a soft underbelly for family to a "tsundere/MOE" bloody stereotype. God dang it, if there's anything that annoys me more than excessive fanservice it's when a female archetype-challenging character gets forced to rescind her rebellious views and be sorted into a more traditional gender role. It's so...chauvinistic!

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

I can't disagree that Lelouch is holding up his show; his character is simply different from what would be expected from a traditional hero. The psychological factor of his actions definitely sparks some interest. Yet, I see that they backed down from doing a strict psychological thriller and went for something that would appeal to a more general audience.

I wouldn't say Geass to be a psychological thriller totally, though that's a major part of the show's appeal (I'm more inclined toward the "shounen progressing through ranks of power/glory" device) but you are correct in identifying the softening of Geass' themes. However, none of that was needed; the show gained its initial momentum from the refreshingly original premise and atmosphere. Knowing this, why bother to stack up so many detracting cliches? The whole matter reminds me of what happened to that show "Everwood" on the WB (?); the first season was glorious, but since it didn't have enough momentum to maintain its unique/fresh script, it had to adapt to what people were more inclined to like. Geass has the influence! None of this recent trash was needed!

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

Unless Sayoko is a pivotal figure, or is a character with a mysterious background, she's really just a maid. But I suppose to each their own. Even given that Zero could possibly be at risk if Sayoko manages to find out his identity, it would merely be another hindrance like Shirley, with the exception that she'll retain her knowledge. I can't see what the potential is for Lelouch within this situation, unless you're trying to say that he'd be 'climbing that ladder' you mentioned later by having to deal with her.

Actually, I see Sayoko getting involved with Zero as a vice, since like in all typical shounen it's one of those "even the most insignificant of side characters has a serious connection to the main plot". Of course, it's not nearly as bad as it could be, but a slight complication like this could be cool/touching/amusing/dramatic depending on the direction.

To clarify, I originally liked Sayoko because she was a pretty maid who worked hard but was fortunate to be employed by kind people who respected her and acknowledged her existence and individuality; she was kind to them in turn, but had no idea of their secret identities.

In that, I'd say my tastes are a bit eccentric.

Originally Posted by Juvyniled

I definitely agree with this, but given the direction they took initially, the potential for this quickly faded away. It would be more interesting to focus simply on Lelouch's character, but even his epic tale can't be completed in 25 consecutive episodes without some sort of timeskip. But really, it's better that he's approaching his goal systematically rather than trigger-happy. He could've brought the empire down by Geassing tons of people into assassins, but that's not what we want to see (maybe some people do).

Woah, I sure got lucky with that spelling error. o_O

...

But, as I said, because of the complications and in the interest of time, we might be having the "equivalent" of a time-skip in that Lelouch suddenly attains victory over his enemies. From our current perspective and the show's given speed, that seems impossible. There's four episodes left and Lelouch must:

1. Reconcile with the Black Knights.
2. Protect Nunally and his own identity.
3. Deal with Suzaku.
4. Kill/defeat Cornelia/Schnielzel.
5. Undo the damage caused my Euphemia's special zone (three eps).
6. Rally support of all Japan.
7. Gain control of the country.
8. Deciphering the GEASS mystery.

I'm seeing the next season as, "now that I've got Japan, Britannia is NEXT!" but I'm having trouble seeing Lelouch accomplishing all eight objectives before series end, else the show end on an "incomplete" note and it start up in season II awkwardly. That just wouldn't feel right or "capsulated/self-contained".

[Pracharat]

I'm quite sure that Sunrise will never reveal us how C.C. ....

Spoiler:

eats a lot of Pizza without gaining weight.


P.S How many Pizzas required to redeem 3 cheese-kun?

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Pracharat

I'm quite sure that Sunrise will never reveal us how C.C. ....

Spoiler:

eats a lot of Pizza without gaining weight.


P.S How many Pizzas required to redeem 3 cheese-kun?

12 stamps for a Cheese-kun pillow she got in episode 13.
No idea who many stamps you get per pizza, but I'm guessing one.

[Juvyniled]

Originally Posted by zalem

Though I suppose it also depends on whether you actually like Euphie or Suzaku. I'm sure their fans are very happy with the extra screentime for them.

And what of the people in between, who don't have a denomination toward a single character?
I'm not at all happy with the screentime these two are getting, although because they are "contributing" to the plot I suppose it is only necessary that they have screentime. It really only detracts from their characters, though I suppose this is how the characters are expected to develop because they are not at Lelouch's level of maturity.

But with their increasing screen times as well, there has been less and less growth with Lelouch's character. And everything seems to be at a standstill so far. Not to mention I'm disappointed that everything is taking place only on the Japanese homeland (limits the battlefield too much). If they couldn't advance anything further about Lelouch, they could've done a little more background on matters such as Kaguya, V.V. or C.C., the emperor, Geass, or anything that we really haven't had much to know about that is still vital to the conclusion of this whole series. I know they might want to save it up for Season 2, but then they'd simply be rushing matters once again (as we can see, there were no apparent timeskips in this season, so everything appears to be happening on a daily/weekly basis, and I'm pretty sure Lelouch's rebellion is not going to be resolved in a couple of months).

[ashlay]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

Yes, I am familiar with how Japanese "shounen-oriented" shows tend to mix all genres into a massive un-organized mess, but keep in mind Geass wasn't originally punted as a generic shounen title. Much of the shounen material was layered in subsequent recent episodes; I'd say the jump the shark moment was the introduction of a cliche character like Mao, who appeared suddenly and departed just as swiftly.

I'd say it's the exact opposite for "Shonen" such as Naruto or Bleach: they start with one setting and one setting alone.

Mecha has always been more of layered endevours, as there's usually at least a "political machinations" plot thread of some sort in the background.

[Guppy]

Just as a side note, has anyone else mentioned the reappearance of the girl who Lelouch was using as a Geass test subject? She was still happily marking the wall as Euphie's bodyguards were rushing toward the commotion.

Looks like Suzaku will be surviving for a while yet...

[zalem]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

There's four episodes left and Lelouch must:

1. Reconcile with the Black Knights.
2. Protect Nunally and his own identity.
3. Deal with Suzaku.
4. Kill/defeat Cornelia/Schnielzel.
5. Undo the damage caused my Euphemia's special zone (three eps).
6. Rally support of all Japan.
7. Gain control of the country.
8. Deciphering the GEASS mystery.

I'm seeing the next season as, "now that I've got Japan, Britannia is NEXT!" but I'm having trouble seeing Lelouch accomplishing all eight objectives before series end, else the show end on an "incomplete" note and it start up in season II awkwardly. That just wouldn't feel right or "capsulated/self-contained".

Eh, reconcile with the Black Knights? Sure some of them are having doubts, but I don't see this being so bad that he needs to "reconcile" with them.

I don't see Lelouch obtaining these objectives by the end of season 1 at all. Nor do I think he was ever intended to obtain them by then. I get the distinct feeling the season will end on a cliffhanger. From the spoilers we've seen...

Spoiler:

Since it's obvious Euphie's plan will backfire and the Japanese will be pissed because of the "event" that occurs at the ceremony, there is a good chance Zero will receive major backing after this. But I think that's the most that he will achieve. Then I'm guessing it will end with a big fight between Zero and Suzaku. I don't believe Schneizel will be taken down any time soon.