July 6th, Sunday.
The time was once again eleven-thirty at night.
Under the eager anticipation of countless viewers, Code Geass season two premiered and then continued airing at a pace of one episode per week.
That cliffhanger ending from season one finally got its answer in season two.
The one who fired the gun was Lelouch, but the shot missed Suzaku. After that, Suzaku captured Lelouch and brought him before the Emperor of Britannia.
Thanks to the accomplishment of capturing Zero, Suzaku was promoted within the Britannian military.
The protagonist Lelouch, meanwhile, had his memories rewritten and was sent back to Area Eleven. The purpose was to lure C.C. out of hiding.
The first episode of season two was titled "The Day A Demon Awakens," and it told the story of Lelouch recovering his memories with the help of the remnants of the Black Knights and C.C.
With his memories altered, Lelouch was still smart, but relatively speaking he was just an ordinary person.
Once his memories were restored, however, he took command of the Black Knights and quickly secured a small victory.
In the words of some viewers: "The hype is back."
But even with his memories restored, Lelouch still faced a mountain of problems. For one, his sister Nunnally was still missing. Somehow, he had gained a younger brother named Rolo, and his memories of Nunnally had been replaced with memories of Rolo.
Rolo also possessed a Geass, one that could freeze the subjective sense of time for people within a small radius.
Rolo's mission was to monitor Lelouch and find C.C. If he discovered that Lelouch had regained his memories, he was to kill him.
On top of that, someone at the school was posing as a teacher to keep tabs on Lelouch.
Over on the Black Knights' side, all the former officers, including Ohgi and Todoh, had been captured.
In short, the problems were truly endless.
But Lelouch was the leader of the Black Knights for a reason, and the protagonist for a reason.
He pretended his memories were still gone while secretly working to rescue the captured Black Knights members. He even managed to win over his fake brother Rolo along the way, turning Rolo from an enemy into an ally.
However, just as everything seemed to be heading in the right direction, the new Viceroy of Area Eleven was announced, and it turned out to be Nunnally.
Suzaku called Nunnally's number to test whether Lelouch had regained his memories. With a few precious seconds bought by Rolo's help, Lelouch briefly told Nunnally about his situation. Then, to avoid blowing his cover, he had to pretend he did not recognize her.
While Nunnally was being escorted to Area Eleven, Lelouch launched an attack with the Black Knights, hoping to rescue her.
But when he finally reached Nunnally, she had no idea he was Zero, and she told him that what he was doing was wrong.
After that, Nunnally revealed her wish.
She wanted to carry on Euphemia's legacy and re-establish the Special Administrative Zone, and just like Euphemia before her, she invited Zero to join.
Lelouch was shaken to his core.
At that moment, Suzaku arrived in Lancelot, intercepting Lelouch before he could reach Nunnally.
Lelouch rushed forward, trying to take Nunnally with him, but Nunnally chose to reach toward Suzaku instead.
In the end, Suzaku carried Nunnally away, and Lelouch's rescue attempt failed.
After this, Lelouch was devastated. For a time, he nearly lost the will to continue fighting, believing that everything he had done had been for Nunnally's sake.
But eventually, he realized that his battle had grown beyond just protecting her.
Deep underwater, the submarine carrying the Black Knights was discovered by Britannian forces, and total annihilation seemed certain.
At that critical moment, Lelouch regained his composure and took command, leading the Black Knights through the crisis and securing their survival.
Soon after, Nunnally announced that the Special Administrative Zone of Japan would be re-established.
Lelouch, however, had no intention of cooperating.
Instead, he secretly devised a bold plan.
During negotiations, Zero proposed that on the day of the Special Zone's establishment, one million Japanese civilians would participate in the ceremony.
In exchange, he demanded that Zero alone be pardoned and exiled.
The proposal shocked both allies and enemies alike, but it was accepted.
On the day of the ceremony, an enormous crowd gathered.
When the condition to pardon Zero was announced, smoke suddenly filled the area.
In that instant, thousands of participants revealed identical black outfits, fastening capes around their shoulders and donning black helmets.
Every one of them became Zero.
Suzaku and the Britannian forces were completely blindsided.
Amid the confusion, the disguised Black Knights and civilians slipped away in plain sight, escaping Britannian control entirely.
Seven or eight episodes in a row, and the show still carried the same style as season one. The highs were incredible, but every now and then the story would twist the knife, leaving countless viewers in a state of blissful agony.
Online discussions were naturally as heated as ever.
"I keep telling myself I won't watch, and then every single time I end up turning on the TV anyway."
"Damn it, all I wanted was a pure hype show. Why does it keep stabbing me in the heart?"
"I want to file a formal complaint against that bastard Shido for viewer abuse!"
"When he went to rescue Nunnally and she chose Suzaku instead, I actually cried."
"I thought that after falling out with Suzaku, Nunnally would be the only person Lelouch still cared about. I never expected even Nunnally to end up on the opposite side."
"It was so hype when season one first started, and now it hurts this much. Every time I remember what Shido said before the premiere, I want to grab him and strangle him."
"Shido is truly the worst. But at least my tolerance is decent. Other than Euphemia in season one, none of the major characters have died so far. I can still handle it."
...
Getting emotionally wrecked every now and then was the one thing everyone kept complaining about.
And yet, despite all the complaints, the show's popularity refused to drop. People could not help but acknowledge that this was exactly what you would expect from an anime made by Yuta Shido.
The spring season had not featured any particularly dominant anime, and in the summer season, while there were shows with decent results aside from Code Geass, none of them were serious contenders.
In the anime market, Code Geass continued to reign supreme.
The only series that could have competed with Code Geass was The Girl Called God, but since it was a light novel adaptation and the source material had not progressed far enough for a second season, 2008 in this world was destined to fall short of 2007's glory.
Even though nobody knew yet what anime would be airing in October, people had already started calling 2008 "the year of Code Geass."
The show was simply too popular and too dominant.
As for The Powerless in the Psychic Academy, the one that had tried to ride Code Geass's coattails, it probably did pick up some attention from the stunt, but its actual performance was lukewarm at best, and the show caught a fair amount of flak.
For example:
"Brainless power fantasy."
"Code Geass has plenty of logic holes too, but at least it's not trying to be cool just for the sake of being cool."
"Kind of boring, honestly."
"Code Geass at least has some depth to it. This one has none whatsoever."
"It's watchable, but I still prefer Code Geass."
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