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Sol Falling · 2010-10-13, 20:48

(Written approximately 8 hours ago; excuse me if the point has pretty much already been made.)

Not so much the fingerprints, but 1) the unusual location for a bullet for a suicide, and 2) Lelouch's (or rather, some other person's) easily detectable presence around her body, would make a "it was suicide" conclusion from authorities about Shirley's death extremely questionable. Far from being 'considerate' enough to instigate a cover up, I don't even believe Lelouch went so far as to report her death in the first place, so the whole 'suicide' thing is definitely a plot hole in my opinion, and yet I can't really take that to mean that Shirley's death wasn't planned from the beginning. At the very least, what we do know is that Zero Re:quiem was planned from the beginning, and insofar that both Shirley's character and death dovetail so nicely with the themes of that conclusion, I can see now that if not planned, Shirley's death was certainly probably inevitable. For what it is, and Code Geass as a whole, I am actually pretty okay with Shirley's death and Zero Re:quiem in terms of them as a demonstration of her impact on Lelouch's character.

The key point of my own disappointment with Shirley's death is in terms of what it meant for narrative potential. Shirley was always an inspiring character for me, even moreso when I projected myself upon Lelouch, so when she died for me it was essentially the ruination of any theme of hope in the story. Idealistic 'world peace' ending aside, I still see this as essentially true--Lelouch died deservedly a monster at the 'barely lived life yet' age of 18. Code Geass is, on a personal level for me, a depressing story. That's why I do hold a level of disappointment about Shirley's death; however, nonetheless I also want to say that I still have a fair degree of respect for the story Okouchi and Taniguchi succeeded in conveying.

lol, now that I actually think of it--in terms of 'respecting a story' I mean--there's a surprising amount of similarity between Code Geass and my more recent (though actually a 2004 production) favourite anime, Kannazuki no Miko. Shounen tragedy, ridiculous plot twists, complete abandonment of any concept of rational storytelling wrapped around a powerfully dense and expressive emotional core--it's even got the terrible mecha, lol. Guess I haven't really moved on that much after all.

2010-10-13, 20:48	Link #1792
Sol Falling Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Age: 35	(Written approximately 8 hours ago; excuse me if the point has pretty much already been made.) Not so much the fingerprints, but 1) the unusual location for a bullet for a suicide, and 2) Lelouch's (or rather, some other person's) easily detectable presence around her body, would make a "it was suicide" conclusion from authorities about Shirley's death extremely questionable. Far from being 'considerate' enough to instigate a cover up, I don't even believe Lelouch went so far as to report her death in the first place, so the whole 'suicide' thing is definitely a plot hole in my opinion, and yet I can't really take that to mean that Shirley's death wasn't planned from the beginning. At the very least, what we do know is that Zero Re:quiem was planned from the beginning, and insofar that both Shirley's character and death dovetail so nicely with the themes of that conclusion, I can see now that if not planned, Shirley's death was certainly probably inevitable. For what it is, and Code Geass as a whole, I am actually pretty okay with Shirley's death and Zero Re:quiem in terms of them as a demonstration of her impact on Lelouch's character. The key point of my own disappointment with Shirley's death is in terms of what it meant for narrative potential. Shirley was always an inspiring character for me, even moreso when I projected myself upon Lelouch, so when she died for me it was essentially the ruination of any theme of hope in the story. Idealistic 'world peace' ending aside, I still see this as essentially true--Lelouch died deservedly a monster at the 'barely lived life yet' age of 18. Code Geass is, on a personal level for me, a depressing story. That's why I do hold a level of disappointment about Shirley's death; however, nonetheless I also want to say that I still have a fair degree of respect for the story Okouchi and Taniguchi succeeded in conveying. lol, now that I actually think of it--in terms of 'respecting a story' I mean--there's a surprising amount of similarity between Code Geass and my more recent (though actually a 2004 production) favourite anime, Kannazuki no Miko. Shounen tragedy, ridiculous plot twists, complete abandonment of any concept of rational storytelling wrapped around a powerfully dense and expressive emotional core--it's even got the terrible mecha, lol. Guess I haven't really moved on that much after all.