Roze of the Recapture – First Impressions

Article at a glance:

• The story returns to a colonized Japan under “Neo-Britannia,” similar to the original series, which feels repetitive.
• Roze’s identity and Ash’s “condition” are major plot twists, with unique Geass powers like Sakuya’s vocal-based abilities.
• The Knightmare Frames’ creative designs and well-animated battles are highlights, showcasing Sunrise’s quality animation work.

Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture is finally out, actually, I missed the release of the first episode completely. It came out at an odd time after all. But no worries, I watched both of the available episodes and I have my thoughts on the show to say the least. Certain things about this anime feel like nostalgia bait but at the same time, certain things are doing right.

Also, the ending of episode 2 dropped a huge plot twist on us so I am also curious to see how that will play out. There will be spoilers ahead as Roze’s identity itself is a huge spoiler so please proceed with that in mind. But well, welcome back to another first impressions article. I haven’t done these in a while but the next few weeks are going to be full of them. Today we are talking about Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture, let’s get started!

What do I think of Roze of the Recapture?

First of all, I kind of eye-rolled at the setting. After going through all that in the main series to liberate Japan and destroy the Britannia Empire, we are back to a colonized Japan and a “Neo-Britannia” Empire. Come on, the setting could’ve been a lot better. We’ve seen his setting play out before. My other main issue is that sometimes the dialog writing choices are annoying. And by that I mean the dialog is very exposition-heavy at times. They could’ve come up with a lot of different ways to make the dialog better instead of exposition dumping.

Moving on to things I did like though, Roze’s identity reveal was amazing. I did not see that coming and the fact that Ash is under “his” Geass is pretty wild too. The ending to episode 2 was an amazing plot twist. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out. I also noticed that Roze always talks to Ash in disguise so I wonder if Ash is even aware of his true identity.

Sakuya’s “Geass” is also very different. I am not sure if it even counts as a Geass. Because the Geass powers we’ve seen before are all eye-based and rely on eye contact for usage. Sakuya’s Geass is vocal-based it looks like. And she is also shown to be able to present “conditions” to the person she is commanding. Interesting stuff.

And of course, this article wouldn’t be completed without mentioning the awesome fights. Man, I screamed like a little child when I saw the Knightmare Frames again. They’ve gotten pretty creative with their designs this around and I look forward to seeing more Knightmare fights. And of course, it is Sunrise so they are really well animated too.

That is all for now

So yeah, those were my thoughts on Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture. By the way, in Japan, this anime was being released in groups of 3 episodes in the theatres. We are getting the worldwide release now so be careful, there are a lot of spoilers floating around already as the Japanese version is already up to episode 9, With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!

Check out my thoughts on Whisper Me a Love Song here!