Anime / Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection

Suzaku Kururugi: You're actually alive?
Lelouch vi Britannia: So it would appear.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection is a 2019 Animated Film sequel to Code Geass, directed by Goro Taniguchi, written by Ichiro Okouchi and produced by Sunrise.

One year after the events of Zero Requiem, the world has unified around the reorganized United Federation of Nations and regained the semblance of peace. However, following that peace is soon broken when Suzaku Kururugi, now operating as the masked man "Zero", and Nunnally vi Britannia are assaulted by a mysterious new Knightmare frame and kidnapped while visiting a refugee camp.

In response, Schneizel el Britannia tasks Kallen Kouzuki, Lloyd Asplund and Sayoko Shinozaki with infiltrating the Kingdom of Zilkistan, a small country known as the Land of Warriors and one of the few countries that successfully drove off the Holy Britannian Empire, where Schneizel suspects Nunnally was taken. In the process, the group discover both a set of new geass users, and C.C., Lelouch's mysterious immortal ally who has been traveling the world for the last year for unknown reasons.

The film was released in Japan on February 9, 2019. A North American limited release is scheduled for May 5 (subbed) and May 7-8 (dubbed), 2019 to be distributed by Funimation, following premiere screenings at select anime conventions (AnimeBoston 2019 on April 20th for the East Coast, and another a week earlier on the West Coast). An Australian release by Madman Entertainment is scheduled for May 16, 2019 (following a premiere screening at MadFest Sydney on March 17).

A manga prequel is being serialized by Kadokawa's Comic Newtype, written/drawn by Tomofumi Ogasawara. It explains what happened after the compilation movies, but prior to the events of Re;surrection.

Previews: First Look, Trailer

Be warned: spoilers from the compilation movies will be left unmarked.

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This movie provides examples of:

• Abdicate the Throne: At the start of the movie, the Holy Empire of Britannia had dissolved and is now the Principality of Britannia and Nunnally is a figurehead princess, with a parliament in charge instead of the traditional monarchy. The country's leadership appears to include Schneizel but he's still under Lelouch's Geass, essentially making Zero (Suzaku) the ruler of Britannia. Cornelia is also no longer a princess, and is now merely a sub-commander of the Black Knights.
• Alternate Continuity: The film follows the continuity of the Compilation Movie retelling of seasons 1 and 2, which has multiple different events compared to the original anime, like the exclusion of Mao or the outcome of Shirley's storyline, and most notably C.C. being unable to accept Lelouch's death which then leads to her resurrecting him, unlike in the original series where Lelouch remained dead forever.
• Anti-Villain: Zilkistan has a few, most notably Princess Chamna, who uses her power to play to the only strength her desolate nation has: winning battles. C.C. offers her mercy in the end, but Chamna politely declines, preferring to remain in Cs world with her fallen countrymen and await her brother. Bolvona Forgnar is also firmly in this territory, as well as his son for the most part; Bolvona even succeeds Chamna as ruler of Zilkistan and leads the kingdom into an era of cooperation.
• Apologises a Lot: Kallen repeatedly apologizes before shedding the new armor off the Guren so she can maneuver fast enough to beat Bitool. This is because she's close with Shanti, one of Rakshata's child apprentices who personally designed the new Guren.
  • Some of the primary cast as a whole towards Lelouch/Zero, partly due to initially being Locked Out of the Loop regarding the Zero Requiem - Ohgi and Nunnally both express remorse for the betrayal of the Black Knights and assuming the worst of Lelouch, respectively.
• Ascended Meme: Shalio and the Zilkistani military were able to deduce Suzaku as the new Zero because of his signature spinkick.
  Shalio: "I've made a close study of your fighting prowess. What was your attitude control? These moves aren't in the programming. Come on. How is that your technique changed halfway throught the battle while using the Albion?"
• Babies Ever After: Ohgi and Villetta now have a son together. They named him Naoto after Kallen's brother.
• Back from the Dead: Unsurprisingly given the film's name Lelouch Of The Re;surrection, Lelouch returns from his death. Lelouch's body is resurrected after the Zero Requiem, thanks to the combined efforts of C.C. and Shirley, and he further regains his mind after she uses a gate to access the collective unconscious in Zilkistan to pull back his soul.
• Backup from Otherworld: While trapped in C's world, Lelouch and Nunnally are aided by the people that care about them the most, allowing them to escape. Word of God confirmed that Euphemia and Rolo were two of the more prominent consciousness' aiding them.invoked
• Badass in Distress:
  • Suzaku spends about half of the movie in captivity and torture until C.C.'s group rescue him.
  • Kallen was briefly captured by the Zilkistan agents in the prison.
• Bilingual Bonus: Zilkistan also uses Urdu, which shows up quite a bit in signage and texts.
• Bodyguard Babes: Chamna has a squad of six young women wearing Stripperiffic outfits and carrying spears acting as her royal guard.
• Brick Joke: Kallen Apologises a Lot before shedding the Guren's armor because Shanti will be upset when she hears of it. In the end credits, she still has to apologize to Shanti in person.
• The Cameo:
  • The remaining Glinda Knights under Oldrin Zevon and former Knight of Nine, Nonette Enneagram, show up in Ohgi and Villetta's wedding video.
  • Eliza, Leila's pet cat from Akito The Exiled, can be seen briefly interacting with Arthur in one scene.
• Came Back Wrong: Lelouch, in some ways twice. The first time his body is resurrected but his mind/soul didn't come with it, and Downplayed the second time his mind/soul does return, but he is noticeably different than he was before, no longer seeing himself as having the right to meddle in world politics (partly due to the pragmatic need to make sure no one knows the Emperor is still alive) but going so far as to refuse taking up the masked mantle of Zero again, preferring to let everyone else enjoy the peace he helped create. Nunnally being kidnapped gets his involvement but he's initially thrown off by Chamna's Geass power and about to give up, leading to C.C. expressing her frustration that she managed to resurrect him...just not the him she wanted. This is enough for Lelouch to regain the will to try, even though he doesn't resume being Zero again at the movie's end, leaving the care of the world to Suzaku and Nunnally.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Kallen can't bring herself to talk to Lelouch about her feelings for him before the final battle, a fact C.C. lampshades. This might be a contributing factor for why, after the battle, he leaves without saying goodbye to her and goes traveling the world with C.C. to clean up the aftermath of Chamna's actions in the World of C.
• Composite Character: Lelouch and C.C.'s new Knightmare, the Gekkoei, combines elements of both the Gawain from season 1 and Shinkirou from season 2.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: It turned out Shesthal was no match for Lelouch at all. All he had to do was bait Shesthal into an underground passage, finding a bomb detonating in his face, leading to Lelouch's fastest checkmate in under 3 minutes.
• Doppelgänger Spin: A unique variation. Kujapat's geass power involves the recipient seeing everyone around them as himself, making it difficult to discern friend from foe. He uses it on Kallen during their first fight causing her and Sayoko to briefly trade blows as Kallen questions how many brothers he has. When he uses it again on Sayoko later, she knows what she's up against and doesn't take the bait.
• Due to the Dead: Cafe Zero has video screens that depict fallen members of the Black Knights, including Rolo and Lelouch himself (as Zero).
• Easily Forgiven: Due to the events of the movie making them more loyal than the past, of the characters are willing to work with Lelouch to save Nunnally. The only characters who visibly reacted negatively to his return, at first, were Suzaku and Cornelia, whose actions remained the same as the original series. That said, C.C. did have to stop Suzaku from punching Lelouch and explained that she's the one who wanted Lelouch resurrected, while Cornelia is initially wary because Lelouch killed Euphy and Darlton only to put her anger aside when he takes off the mask to beg her face to face so they can save Nunnally together. Though Suzaku's actions seem to be more out of anger since he assumed Lelouch coming back was part of some even bigger scope plan that Lelouch didn't let him in on, and so he had been forced to kill and grieve him for nothing.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Though he may not live together with his sister again, Lelouch is happy to see her and their friends safe and sound after the peace is finally restored. He joins C.C. in traveling around the world and even takes the name L.L while looking for Geass Fragments. According to the director's acting guidance to C.C.'s voice actress, this can be interpreted as Lelouch's idea of a marriage proposal. C.C. is also happy that Lelouch decided to join her because she won't feel lonely anymore.
• Fake-Out Opening: The film opens on Zero's mask as the camera slowly zooms out until it's revealed to be a display for the opening of Tamaki's Zero themed restaurant.
• Fanservice: Shamna spends an entire scene in the final act completely naked, as she had mentally traveled back in time six hours, causing her to receive a vision of the future while taking a bath.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: C.C. was examining a map of what is South Asia in her tablet and she was looking at a marked dot to indicate a location in the southern part of Pakistan while investigating for ruins that has links to C's World.
• Funny Background Event: Several BK soldier enter the cabin after they hear Nina scream due to Lloyd's fart that had a bad smell thanks to Cecile.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: C.C. to Zero after Shamna's Mental Time Travel allows her to thwart his initial battle plan on the second try, causing him to panic.
• He's Back!: After being resurrected from the dead and spending time in an infantile-like state, Lelouch returns to his usual self, thanks to C.C. And the first thing he does is using his Geass on the fake prisoners who are attacking his friends.
• Inconsistent Dub: In English, Shalio is told that Fognar is reaching out to India for humanitarian assistance. In Japanese, it's Indonesia.
• Invincible Villain: Zilkhstan, known as "The Land of Warriors", is said to be an invincible kingdom and even defeated an army of Britannians at some point. This is probably because Chamna can use Mental Time Travel to learn any strategies her opponents will use and distribute that information to her subjects as "prophecies".
• Keystone Army: Zilkistan's military might stems from Shamna's prophecies. Once Zero figures out how to neutralize her so that she can't reveal his plans to the army in advance, the Black Knights quickly regain the advantage.
• Killed Offscreen: Li Xingke is shown to be among the dead characters Tamaki pays tribute to on his cafe screens. Presumably he died of his illness that had been plaguing him all series that he mentioned he wouldn't last much longer from.
• Mental World: C's World, a manifestation of humanity's collective unconscious across which the souls of the living and dead roam, makes a return in the film. C.C. is hoping to use it to find Lelouch's soul and put it back into his Empty Shell, while Chamna wants access so she can enhance her powers. Both are complicated by the fact that Lelouch made quite a mess of the place when he foiled his father's plans.
• Mid-Movie Upgrade: Following his return as Zero, Lelouch initially piloted the Mahoroba Type-0 but after getting it heavily damaged, C.C. brought the Gekkoei to him so that they could continue in their mission to rescue Nunnally. He and C.C. became co-pilots again, a Call-Back to them co-piloting the Gawain in Season 1.
• Montage Out: The credits of the movie transition from C.C. and L.L. walking amidst a crowd to various still shots of the other characters and where they are now after the events of the movie.
  • Kallen is shown vigorously apologizing to an upset Shanti for destroying the Frame Coat as the other prodigies and Rakshata watch.
  • Milly and Lloyd are shown goofing off as Cecile sits in a hospital bed looking embarrassed while Nina comes in carrying drinks for them.
  • Anya is happily picking bushels of oranges alongside Jeremiah as Sayako watches on disguised amidst the bushes.
  • Nunnally, Jiang Lihua, and Margaret Walpole happily play with a puppy while Minami stands off to the side happily watching.
  • Kyoshiro has his hair tugged at by his child while Nagisa happily gushes as she and Viletta are cooking, while Ohgi looks awkwardly at Tamaki's book.
  • Bolvona negotiating a surrender with Cornelia observed by members of the Black Knights, including Kaguya, Gino, Guilford, Xianglin, and Hong Gu.
  • Shirley receiving a phone call as she cries Tears of Joy, implied to be her being informed Lelouch was indeed revived.
  • Suzaku once more under the mask of Zero as he and Arthur stand over the SAZ memorial, Arthur looking as another cat approaches that is nigh identical in appearance to Eliza, Leila's cat.
• Official Couple: C.C. and Lelouch finally get together, with the suggestion by the director and series creator Goro Taniguchi to her voice actress that Lelouch's idea of changing his name to "L.L." could be understood as an awkward way of making a Wacky Marriage Proposal.
• Oh, Crap!: Once Lelouch regains his faculties and starts giving a hammy speech to a group of men ready to kill him, Lloyd and Sayoko hastily turn away their heads and close their eyes shut, knowing that he's going to use his Geass and they don't want to get caught up in it.
• Palette Swap: Concerning one of the tie-in merchandise products released along with the movie, the Lancelot Albion Zero is just the Lancelot Albion from season 2 with a black paint job and red energy wings instead of the original's white paint job and green energy wings.
• Product Placement: While no pizza, brand name or otherwise, is consumed over the course of the film, Kallen does return C.C.'s Cheese-kun plushie, which she had left behind after Zero Requiem, before she returns to Walking the Earth in the finale.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: The "kill yourself" Geass command returns in all its glory immediately after Lelouch regains his faculties.
• Revisiting the Roots: Several of the Knightmare's employed by the Black Knight's and Lelouch's forces have designs harkening back to older models from the first season, some lacking Float or Air Glide systems that became commonplace with the second season in favor of simple boosters. Cornelia and Guilford's Quinn Roses looking like their Glouchester's, the ground troops piloting the Sutherland II, Jeremiah piloting the Sutherland Loyal, and Lelouch and C.C.'s Gekkoei looking like the Gawain with elements of the Shinkiro.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Asides from the usual former royals such as Cornelia and Lelouch, we see that Shalio, the King of Zilkistan, is a talented pilot whose fighting ability can pose a challenge to Suzaku.
• Sealed Orders: One of the tests Lelouch does to figure out what Chamna's Geass is to come up with a number of battle plans and have C.C. choose which to use without any further input from him. Since C.C. is immune to Geass, the fact that the new plans were predicted proves that it wasn't mind reading.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: The Knightmares piloted by Suzaku and Kallen are built around a Lancelot and a Guren. In the climax, they shed all the extra armor parts to go back to their iconic Frames for the sake of keeping up with the tough Knightmares they're both fighting.
• Shout-Out: Considering that Code Geass share the same parent studio as Gundam, there are bound to be references in this movie to the latter:
  • Since Lelouch is often considered a "Char archetype", it's not too surprising that his final Knightmare Frame resembles the Zeong (i.e. being an oversized suit, lacking complete legs), which was the last Mobile Suit Char piloted in the One Year War.
  • In an Ironic Echo to the Universal Century, the Principality of Britannia is shown to be much more benevolent than the Principality of Zeon.
  • The Guren Type Special's Radiation Wave Surger is able to turn itself into a Drill
• Shower Scene: When Zero first confronts Chamna, she casually mentions that six hours ago she was taking a bath. After he shoots her, her mind travels back in time six hours, and we see her in said bath, learning about Zero's plans through her Geass, at which point she gets out and starts dictating prophesy to her brother and general while being naked.
• Shrine to the Fallen: Cafe Zero is shown to have one of these via tv screens flashing through images of the deceased Black Knights and their supporters. Among the ones shown are Inoue, Yoshida, Kirihara, Urabe, Senba, Asahina, Rolo, Xingke, and the original Zero/Lelouch.
• Small Role, Big Impact: After she was Spared by the Adaptation in the compilation movie triology, Shirley only gets to appear for a limited time on screen but is said to be instrumental in helping C.C. carry out Lelouch's resurrection, by delivering his corpse to Jeremiah's orange farm without raising suspicion.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: The brilliant Chessmaster Schneizel now wears a pair of glasses, which can be said to visually illustrate his intelligence. Also applies to Lloyd, whose glasses can now project shields and more importantly,they have windscreen wipers.
• The Stinger: Also counts as a Sequel Hook. In the last sequence of the film, C.C. and Lelouch, deliver a familiar yet slightly updated speech about the power of the King whilst also declaring that they will remove Geass from those lacking resolve. Setting up for a Picture Drama.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It's shown that while the UFN is the main global power and Britannia is now just a Principality, ensuring that the hard-earned victory won at the end of the series stays a victory is in itself a hard task. In addition to member states reviving national rivalries among themselves, there's also the question of Zilkistan, whose citizens and leadership are not too pleased with living in a world where peace, at least nominally, is the order of the day.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: After Lelouch and company meet up with the Black Knight members and UFN forces, the only person who doesn't welcome him with open arms is his older half-sister, Cornelia, who is understandably dismayed that Lelouch came back from the dead instead of Euphemia. But she gets over it, knowing that they have to work together to save Nunnally.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Pretty much everyone who was a main-to-secondary character in the original series is much less of a jackass in the film, mainly due to them not constantly having to deal with the threat of Charles or Schneizel continually trying to kill everyone. Especially notable in Lelouch and C.C.'s characterization. Lelouch now rarely uses his Geass to order people to kill themselves outside of very tight situations, and C.C. acts much more protecting and motherly towards him than in the main series.
• Undying Loyalty: Those that were in the know about the Zero Requiem maintain their loyalty for Lelouch, and as such openly support C.C. upon learning of her goal to bring him back, and follow his lead upon his return. This includes Jeremiah, Anya, Sayoko, Lloyd, Cecile, and Nina. The only played with case is Suzaku, who is initially furious upon thinking Lelouch lied to him about killing himself for the Zero Requiem, but once Lelouch lets him use him as a punching bag and C.C. explains this was her selfishness, Suzaku plays the trope straight, even wishing for Lelouch to take back the mantle of Zero rather than his decision to go Walking the Earth.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: As mentioned by the director while giving acting instructions to C.C.'s voice actress, Lelouch's suggestion about changing his name to "L.L." may be interpreted as an awkward attempt to Shed the Family Name, by implying that he accepts the same kind of life and identity as someone like C.C..
• Walking the Earth: At the end of movie, Lelouch joins C.C. in travelling around the world to look for lost Geass fragments, after seeing that his sister and their friends can finally live in peace on their own. He does add the caveat that he'll check in on time to time at least, he just wants to wait a bit since the world at large thinks he's dead.
• War for Fun and Profit: Zilkistan has few natural resources, thus their main exports are mercenaries and military hardware. The peace brought about by the Zero Requiem wrecked their economy, which is one reason why their leaders wish to take action against the UFN.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Chamna aims to break into C's World, even at the expense of using violence, such as risking war and Nunnally's life, all so she can change the fate of her nation and brother.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Though she's glad to see Lelouch again, Kallen calls out on C.C. for resurrecting him against his will and asks her if this is what he really wanted. C.C. truthfully admits that she did it out of selfishness and that Lelouch still has to fulfill his promise to her.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Subverted during the end of Suzaku's battle with Shalio. No longer aided by his sister's prophecies and with his Knightmare beaten down and deprived of all its weapons, the latter grapples the former and reveals it has 2 extra pairs of limbs to try and tear the Lancelot apart. Instead of prolonging the fight, Suzaku simply disengages the Lancelot siN's right arm and unloads a flurry of rapid fire energy wing shots, utterly destroying Shalio's KMF and killing him in the process.

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REVIVE!