User blog comment:Zero15/Code Geass R3/@comment-11499967-20130703070753

Lelouch is neither dead nor alive.

No, I am not speaking of some metaphysical plot device, but of the writer’s intent.

Here's the thing: Asian writers, particularly anime writers and indeed any multimedia writer have one goal to achieve; entertainment. There may be some lesson shoved down your throat, but it is entertainment first. Some choose to focus on creating wonderful action, others on making you laugh by comedy. In anime, this is vastly sought by developing drama for the sake of drama.

Writers for these pieces are very, very, very, VERY rarely clever and include anything "between the lines" and this is for the very reason that there are none.

Any kind of forensic dissection of such an inconsistent plot is frankly useless. If the viewer is being deceived, the writer will make it very apparent that it is happening or did happen. However, here, this did not occur and unless it is stated otherwise, it still has not.

When one writes a novel, their goal is to tell a story properly while gripping the reader differently and this requires them to follow rules that multimedia writers are freed from due to the visual aids they have at their disposal. When we read a novel, there are much different expectations. Having words alone as one’s source to produce a narrative requires a different approach to the plot (typically being clever or having a twist) then otherwise when we can see what is happening from an omnipotent view. Also, very rarely (and essentially never in anime) do we see writers follow these structures for proper storytelling that is found in novels

Why? Because the viewer almost never cares.

Anime create a fantastical setting and plot while placing characters within them that bluntly champion a theme (typically dealing with killing people) so we don’t have to think too hard about what motivates them. They are actually rather 2D but the experiences we see them share make us adore them.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">(I am not calling anyone stupid)

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">The writers gather these characters (albeit inconsistently) with astounding ability. They create drama to get the viewer caught up in it all so that by the end of it we don't much care what the plot is, we just want to see these people once more in a new setting of the future.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Indeed that's why many of us are here, we  want  Lelouch to be alive and we  want  these characters to interact again. Code Geass’s writers did an exemplary job of this. It’s why I had a lump in my throat when I saw Lelouch sliding down incline. It’s why my heart felt like it stopped when I saw the reflections of the story passed while Nunnally lay next to him. I knew it was the end of the line for all of these characters and that it would never continue into the future. All we would get are sliver glimpses of the past without them even. Because the universe is not what was the best part but the people within.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">However, my point here is that life and death are not things that concern anime writers and certainly within Code Geass the plot only cares about death in order to create drama. They could easily retcon Lelouch's death if it was profitable (remember, it's a business).

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">At the end of the day, these characters are in limbo. No amount of "evidence" will ever change the fact that this world we are so fond of and the characters that we so desperately want to see drama/interaction between do not exist and are stagnant until pen meets paper.

<p style="margin:4.8pt0in6pt;line-height:15.75pt;">

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Do not forget that.