Things explode this episode!

So Zero and his pals have owned the palace guards and escaped with Chinese loli

Of course despite his maniacal laugh Zero is neither crazy nor dumb, so he attempts to convert her to his side. Although she proves to be too moe for Zero to handle easily

Just as predicted he wants to create a new coalition of countries, including China and India to have a power that can stand up to Britain. Going from being a resistance to waging a war on Britain is something I’m really looking forward too.

Black Knight’s Knightmares are getting upgraded it seems. Todou’s one got flying gear and Gurren-like weapon system. Enough to stand up evenly to Suzaku’s upgraded Lancelot.

But this is just a short showcase of upgraded gear, because this episode is all about China vs Black Knights!

Of course eunuchs can’t stand up to the might of Zero (well, no wonder, he has something they lack… well… balls too, but I’ve meant intellect in this particular case )

They do have enough brains though to know when to plea for help

And Xingke; still furious that Zero dared to steal his loli is more than willing to help.

And damn, does he own or what?! He gets bad ass Knightmare that India designed, but nobody previously managed to pilot (and it’s good to see some ultra high tech not made by Brits!) and after bad ass fight he captures Kallen

Yep, our favorite Geass fan service provider and Knightmare pilot extraordinaire gets captured. She’s immobilized, the Chinese army is closing in and Xingke is owning everybody. Logical thing is to retreat and that’s what Diethard recommends. So what does our Lulu do? He actually attacks to rescue Kallen. I mean, wow, that’s something old Lulu would never do, not when it’s so damn risky, not only it was surprising, but it;s also very satisfying to see Lulu slowly develop and change as a character.

So we get a battle!

Not only it’s scale is beyond anything we’ve seen in Geass so far (I don’t mean visuals, which failed a bit at showing the scale of it), but Zero actualy looses! And now just the “OMG! Suzaku activated the god mode!”. No, this time Zero actually looses in strategy and tactics. Xingke proves to be excelent tactican (man, he’s great tactician, great fighter and he attracts lolis, how much better can this man be? ) and he uses Zero’s lack of knowledge of terrain against him,

I must say it was such a refreshing thing to see. I love how in this season Zero is actually getting some competition on intellectual level. He needed one, if only to raise above his previous level. And it’s so much more satisfying to see somebody actually deserve their win against Zero, instead of lame deus ex machina that Suzaku and Lancelot were in season 1.

Of course this is Zero, he manages to make a retreat and Xingke might predicted much, but he failed epicaly when predicting how dumb the eunuchs can be.

The moment they have Zero under siege in a fortress they turn on Xingke and allow Brits to do all their dirty work

Zero’s situation doesn’t look good, but he’s always doing best when in desperate times And now Xingke pretty much is destined to join Zero. In the end it’s the only way to make his little loli empress happy

The episode ends with a pretty big shock. It seems Lulu has put his double at academy. It must be it, because Zero has been using Geass in China. And I’ve wondered why didn’t he take Rolo with him, it didn’t make any sense. But if they’re still keeping the illusion that Lulu didn’t reclaim his memories and that Rolo didn’t betray his masters, well it makes sense now

Anyway a great episode, finally the plot reached bigger scale, which is something I really hoped would happen once Zero and team leave Japan. His reaction to Kallen’s capture and his defeat were a blast to watch. The episode lacked a bit of punch in action scenes, but the development of plot more than made up for it. I’m afraid sooner or later we’ll go back to the Japan and school life (especially since it looks like Xingke’s time is running out with him coughing up blood and everything), but until we do, let’s enjoy the rest of the world tour

rating 8.9/10

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