Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (TV)

Pizza Hut yet again makes an appearance in Code Geass. The Japanese Pizza Hut website features promotional material related to Code Geass R2.

There are many parallels between the first episodes of the two seasons of Code Geass - in both episodes, bored Lelouch cuts class to challenge and defeat an aristocrat in chess, observing with indifference the social injustice of Area 11, then becomes involved in a terrorist plot, and on the verge of execution by Britannian soldiers, meets C.C. and receives the power of Geass, which he uses to force the soldiers to commit suicide. The similar names of the two episodes ("The Day the Devil Was Born" season 1, and "The Day the Devil Awakened" season 2) also indicate this parallelism.

In the eye-catch after the commercial, there is an instance of Engrish; it reads "Lelouch of the Revellion". This is fixed from Episode 4 onwards.

Code Geass has a slight Arthurian theme, with Knight Mares named Lancelot, Gawain, Vincent, Tristan and Mordred, and a cat named Arthur. Also, the elite knights of the Britannian army, the Knight of Rounds, is clearly a reference to King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.

At the end of episode 4, Suzaku is seen staring into the Ashford Academy campus, fully dressed in his school uniform, late at night. Suzaku went to the school because when he arrived from Britannia, he forgot about to adjust to the local time.

In the middle of episode 21, an italian sentence is is shown in pink : "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate". This is taken from a well-known work of italian Dante Alighieri. This sentence is written on the door of Hell, in wich the main character of the poem is about to enter.

Dante's "Divine Comedy" (the work in which the "Lasciate" sentence previously mentioned appears) is the book Lelouch is reading in the Episode 1 of R2, while in the side car on the way to Babel Tower. (Cover visible at 06:02.) There's a brief flash of the inside of the book at 06:18, and you can see that he's reading the 22nd canto of the "Purgatory" book. The "lasciate" line is from the 3rd canto of the first book, "Inferno".

In the episode 3, when Shirley & Lelouch are on their "date" looking for a birthday present for Ms. Villetta, it can be noticed that : 1°) when Shirley is listening to music in a music shop, the track she chose is "Masquerade", performed by Hitomi Kuroishi, and this song can be heard in the Code Geass 'season 1' OST ; 2°) a little later, Shirley & Lelouch go into a boutique named "Lever du Soleil", French for... "Sunrise", just like one of the production studios of "Code Geass" !

Last episode: When Suzaku's "grave" is showed, its epitaph says "Knight the Zero", instead of Knight of Zero.

While the first season of Code Geass is well known for having immaculate English, Code Geass R2 on the other hand appears to have many errors, even in the first episode. Most well known is in Episode 1, @ 12:03. When the commander of the Secret Intelligence Agency hops into his Knight Mare, the third line of the startup screen reads "That we shall be the shields which defend our momeland". What isn't as well known, is that this is an error carried over from the first season of Code Geass, from episode 1 noless.

[(minor) SPOILER] In Episode 1, at 13:03, there is a flash of Rolo's locket, then a shot of Kallen on the ground looking dazed as Rolo and Lelouch run off. It's very likely that Rolo used his Geass at that point to retake Lelouch.

In Episode 4 (08:54), Xing-ke says "The crimson sky has perished..." after killing (a traitor). According to Eclipse's translation notes, that line is an adaptation of one used by Zhang Jiao in the Yellow Turban Rebellion (a situation which mirrors China's situation in R2), the original of which reads, "The changing of times will bring prosperity". With that in mind, it's interesting and very fitting that the track which plays over the anime's last assassination is called "Madder (crimson) Sky".

In Episode 5, Shirley was cosplaying as Combat Waitres Mikuru from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu. On top of that, when she falls over she was photographed by Anya, whose voice actress is the same as that of Asahina Mikuru, namely Goto Yuko.

In episode 9, when Zero and Schneizel are playing chess, the final move that Schneizel makes is not a legal move. He moves his king into a position in front of Zero's king where both Zero's king and one of Zero's pawns can capture it. That would be putting his own king in check (in a position where it can be captured) which isn't legal. In addition, he says "checkmate" which would mean that he has won - that is that Zero's king is in check and it cannot move to any position where it would not be in check. However, (assuming that his move had been legal) he only would have been putting Zero's king in check - not checkmate - since Zero could move his king out of harms way - which Zero does as his next move.

When Cecile and Gino are playing pool in episode 20, the tables are shown with support beams linking the legs as Lloyd leans on a table. But when they're shown again, the supports joining the legs are gone.

When Lelouch and Charles are in the Thought Elevator and Charles makes it look like a library in episode 21, the titles of the books around where Charles takes the book Paranormal Phenomena are Akasha, Kollektives Unbewussts, Ragnarok, and Encyclopedia Britannia. The last is a possible comic reference to Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Kollektives Unbewussts," correctly spelled "kollektives unbewusstes," means collective unconscious in German, an idea by Carl Jung skewed to mean the collective knowledge of humankind in the show. Akasha and Ragnorok are concepts referenced in the show based on Eastern thought and Norse mythology.

In episode 21, as Charles is trying to activate the Ragnarok connection, the words "lasciate agne speranza, voi ch’intrate" flash on the screen. It is Italian for "abandon hope, you who enter here."