Macross Frontier 25 vs Code Geass R2 25

So here it is boys & guys, the final faceoff between two of the biggest series of 2008. Last week saw Macross Frontier win, can it maintain its momentum and win the battle of final episodes?

Sux for all the guys out there… this is the last time you’ll see these ladies for a while.

Story

Macross Frontier

For the most part we enjoyed watching episode 25 of Macross Frontier.  A lot of the questions we had were answered, such as what the Aimo song was all about, and the true purpose of the vajra.  However two things that we wanted to see happen in the series failed to materialize….

#1 - Alto didn’t get a hair-cut.  The fact that he kept his long blue hair which makes him looks way too pretty to be a man, means we are still anti-Alto.

#2 - Alto didn’t make a clear decision between Alto & Ranka.  Not providing conclusion to this integral plot point is a cop-out in our opinion.  This was really, really weak sauce.

There was also some minor question left unanswered. Such as if Grace is really good and dead for good?  Remember Grace’s consciousness can exist on another dimension and can she can download her consciousness into the bodies of many clones.  So wut up with this?

But even with these outstanding questions, we didn’t totally hate the final episode Macross Frontier.  Although it would have been better if Mishima got stabbed in the eyeball or something.

The ending was very much the typical - everyone lives happily ever after together endings.  So in one sense it did provide more closure than Code Geass.

We do feel that at least someone of significance should have died in the final episode of Frontier.  Our vote would have been for Luca (or Alto).  But in the end, Macross wasn’t that kind of series, and everybody was saved by the power of love songs.

And finally - did anyone actually believe that Alto died in the last episode?  Yeah - didn’t think so.  We all knew he survived, the question was just how.  For us personally the ending would have been better if Alto died.  Now the dreaded possibility exists that he may show up in any pontential sequels.

Code Geass

Code Geass EP 25 certainly started off with a bang, with Nunnally confronting Lelouch.  We never thought that Lelouch would use his Geass on Nunnally, but we guess after hearing that Nunally was seeking to become the symbol for hatred, he had no choice.

But damn we almost tear up a couple of times during this episode.  Once was Nunnally fell off her chair trying to grab a hold of Lelouch.  And hearing that all she wanted was to live happily with with Lelouch. We guess Nunally had a Onii-chan complex.  Those Code Geass Hentai doujinshi writers are going to have a field day with this now.

The second was at the end when Lelouch died beside her.

Oh - we also think that sighted Nunnally is cuter and less annoying than Blind Nunnally.  Not sure why, but we do.

One of the questions that remained answered was around Xingke - what kind of disease did he have and why didn’t he die from it yet.   Oh and is he a pedophile.

Also how exactly did Suzaku survive his battle with Kallen?  We saw Lancelot go BOOM didn’t we?

So after finally hearing what Lelouch and Suzaku’s plan was all about we had two immediate reactions.  First - wow that was one noble plan for sure. Two - it was the right thing for Lelouch to do.  Why?  It was the only way for Lelouch to redeem himself.  We said all along that we couldn’t see Lelouch living on because of all the blood on his hands and the innocent people he had a hand in killing.  How could he live with all that guilt and sin?  So to us the right thing for Lelouch to do was sacrifice himself.   Now the issue of Lelouch’s death brings us to this….

Just like Macross we had some issues with Code Geass R2 ending.  First is the fact that the ending leaves it open to the interpretation but doesn’t confirm that Lelouch is alive.  You know by now that we were in the camp that believed Lelouch should die as attonment for his sins.  But then when we saw how much he really loved Nunnally and how much Nunnally loved him and after seeing her breakdown at the end when Lelouch “died”, we changed our minds and wanted Lelouch to live.  For our full opinion on this contention issue of Lelouch “dying” click here.

The second issue we have with the ending is the fact that if Lelouch is alive - he ends up with CC.  Not that we don’t like CC, it’s just we liked Kallen better, and want LuluKall to have a happy ending.  But also Lelouch x CC makes us go “ewwww” a little bit, because CC and Marianne were bff’s the whole thing is a little creppy.

Also - how come Lelouch is the only one that gets his comeuppance?  What about Suzaku?  He killed lots of people too, yet he lives.  Sure he can no longer live on as Suzaku, but now as Zero,  but Nunally knows it’s him, and she is all he would ever care about telling.  So he kinda got off free didn’t he.

But perhaps the biggest culprit - CC - just gets to walk away. We would have much preferred to see CC as the sacrificial lamb.

Overall though, despite the open-ended ending we liked what we saw from Code Geass more than the finale episode of Macross Frontier.

Winner: Macross Frontier EP 25

Action

While Code Geass had the better signature battle between Kallen and Suzaku, Macross Frontier had a more epic battle.

90% of Macross Frontier featured some kind of action, which we loved.  And the battles were stunning to watch.  That’s really no slight on Code Geass, but we really dug the CG enabled animation of Frontier.  You certainly have to say that overall Macross Frontier had amazing animation for the action sequences and did really a poor job of character design.  Character design in our opinion was one of Macross’ biggest weaknesses.

Our favorite part of this episode and perhaps the entire series was the sequence with Brera and Alto fighting together to defeat Grace, while Ranka and Sheryl sang together to defeat them. Awesome animation,awesome music.

But a close second was seeing the massive ships transform and fight it out was pretty amazing.  Even Grace’s queen ship looked rather cool.

On the Code Geass R2 side we didn’t have as much action as Macross.  But it had the most signature battle - Suzaku x Kallen.  And damn what a battle it was.  Kallen ends up winning (yeah!) but Suzaku ends up surviving (boo!).

And it can be argued that the single most intense sequence in Code Geass - ever - was the final slow motion of Suzaku stabbing Lelouch.   If you watched it you were pretty much holding your breath for the whole 2 minute sequence.

Winner:  Macross Frontier EP 25

Fun Factor

This is probably the hardest category to evaluate - because both shows were fun to watch…. Up until the end.

On  the Macross side we had so many awesome performances from Sheryl and Ranka that were tied in extremely well with the action on screen.  Although the ending duet did sound like a bad remix X mashup of all their songs.

So what it come down to for us is that Code Geass R2 had us on the edge of our seat waiting to see if Lelouch would die, and we didn’t get that same feeling with Macross.  Code Geass R2 EP 25 was more intense that Macross Frontier 25 and since there were a couple of times we almost shed a tear, it had more of an emotion impact on us.

Winner of the Week:  Code Geass R2 EP 25

Overall Season Winner: Code Geass R2

Don’t hate - we actually liked both shows, we just enjoyed Code Geass R2 a little bit more.

Tags: Code Geass R2 EP 25, Macross Frontier EP 25