How the New Code Geass Film Makes the TV Series’ Ending So Much Darker

One of the most important things about Code Geass: Lelouch the Re;surrection is that it isn’t a sequel to the 2006 TV series but rather to the compilation films that came out in Japan during 2017 and 2018. This allows anyone who doesn’t like the way things unfold in the new film the ability to ignore it because it’s not technically in continuity with the series they know and love. And while this might seem great at first, this is actually a double-edged sword that inadvertently makes the TV series ending even darker.

**Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for both of the Code Geass TV series, the three compilation movies, and the new, original film.**

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As I’ve written about at length before, there are more than a few changes between the TV series and the recently made compilation films–some major, some minor. Most of these are cuts due to the abridgment process. However, one major addition was made as well: Shirley is never killed off.

Despite now being alive in the story’s closing third, her actions are rather limited: She talks with Lelouch on the phone before he sets his world conquest plan into motion and she’s there at the end when “Zero” runs him through. She also gets a few lines in the closing narration. And while she and Jeremiah send a letter to C.C. in the epilogue asking her to drop by for a visit, Sherly’s inclusion doesn’t really seem to impact the story much at all.

Though, as we find out just minutes into Lelouch the Re;surrection, the fact that she’s alive changes everything. After all, she’s the reason that Lelouch is alive in the film.

Image source: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Channel on YouTube

During the Zero Requiem Plan, few people knew what was really going to happen at its conclusion: Lelouch, Suzaku, and C.C., knew, of course. So did Jeremiah as he had to let Suzaku get past him and sound the retreat once the “evil” dictator was no more. Yet, while Lelouch and Suzaku were prepared to end it all with Lelouch dead in a pool of blood at Nunnally’s side, C.C. was not.

With Lelouch, C.C. had finally found a true partner–one who promised her her heart’s desire: to be loved. Now while she wasn’t going to interfere with the Zero Requiem Plan, she’d be damned if she’d let Lelouch go without a fight. Thus, she hatched a plan to save him.

Like herself, Jeremiah had no want to see Lelouch killed, so he became her co-conspirator. Moreover, as anyone in a Zero costume could command Schneizel, he could be used as well. But it was the next part that presented the main problem.

Assuming they could get their hands on the body they would need to keep everything under the radar. If anyone even suspected what they were doing, it’d all be for naught. Therefore they needed another co-conspirator. The Black Knights, even if they could be trusted, couldn’t be allowed to know about the Zero Requiem Plan until it was already over–lest they be treated as conspirators of the evil emperor–so they were out.  

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What C.C. needed was a true outsider. Not someone who was an associate of Zero or Lelouch vi Britannia but someone who knew him as normal high schooler Lelouch Lamperouge. She needed someone who loved and would risk anything for Lelouch. Luckily, there was one person who fit this bill perfectly–a person who Jeremiah had been in contact with: Shirley.

After the events in the parade, Shirley along with some help from Schneizel was eventually able to move the body unseen to Jeremiah’s orange farm–leading to Lelouch’s resurrection. Now that’s not to say that the plan went perfectly and as Lelouch was left as a shadow of his former self, but it’s safe to say that the plan wouldn’t have worked without Shirley.

Image source: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Channel on YouTube

Now, in Lelouch the Re;surrection, C.C. is eventually able to restore Lelouch to his former glory. He, in turn, sets out to save both Suzaku and Nunnally from the forces of the Kingdom of Zilkistan. But soon Lelouch discovers that not only has Chamna, Queen of Zilkistan, built a machine to let her enter C’s World, but also has her own Geass that is far more powerful than any he has encountered before–the power to go back in time six hours when you die.

In the end, it’s safe to say that no one but Lelouch would have a chance of beating her–and that’s what makes the series ending so much darker.

In general, the state of the world is identical in both the TV series and the recap films. And as the only major change seems to be Shirley’s continued existence, that implies that all the events we see in Lelouch the Re;surrection would still happen in the TV series continuity. However, without Shirley, it’s almost certain that Lelouch would have stayed dead–and this is but the first in a long line of dominoes that spells doom for our heroes.

Image source: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Channel on YouTube

If Lelouch is dead for good, then C.C. would have no reason to go to Zilkistan searching for a working doorway to C’s World. Thus, she would not be around to help Karen, Sayoko, and Lloyd when they are attacked by a Geass user who makes people confuse friend for foe–meaning the trio could easily end up captured or killed.

With them out of the picture, there is no one to save Suzaku from his own captured state–and even if Karen et al made it out of the aforementioned sticky situation and did attempt a rescue, it’s unlikely to the extreme that she and Suzaku would have made it out of the prison alive without Lelouch, his tactical mind, and his Geass.

Image source: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Channel on YouTube

And this doesn’t even begin to cover the climactic battle against Chamna. With her power to rewind time, she has infinite tries to make sure every battle turns out well in her favor. Without Lelouch, it’s highly likely that the vast majority of the characters we know would be killed in Zilkistan–Nunnally, Suzaku, Karen, Sayoko, Lloyd, and Cornelia for starters. More than that, she’s already on the edge of being able to alter C’s World, and who knows how the world at large would be affected by that regardless of whether she succeeds in her goals or fails.

At the very least, without Lelouch around to stop Chamna everything Lelouch died for is undone. The world returns to war with Nunnally a prisoner even worse off than she was when in chains at Lelouch’s feet. In other words, all the sacrifices Lelouch made to obtain world peace–his reputation, his soul, and millions of human lives–were for nothing in the end.

And if that’s not a downer, I don’t know what is.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection was released in Japanese theaters on February 10, 2019. Funimation will be screening the film in North America some time in 2019.

Top image source: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Channel on YouTube