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alicent-vi-britannia · 1 year

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The parallels between Code Geass and Hamlet

In the first episode of R1, when Lelouch and Rivalz go back to Ashford Academy after the former defeated a noble in a game of chess, Lelouch reads a book. For a fraction of a second, we see that this book is Hamlet, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1601 and it is his most recognized work (some would define it as the quintessential Shakespearean and I personally call it the epitome of Baroque). This is a detail that called my attention because it wasn’t necessary to give the book a title. They could perfectly invent one or leave it empty. Instead, the creators of Code Geass opted to choose a real and distinguished work of English and world literature. I read Hamlet a few years ago and it's fresh in my mind, at least I remember it more than other books I've read, and I drew parallels between the two as I reminisced and came up with some interesting results that I'd love to share with you.

To do this, I have to gut the play of Hamlet. Therefore, if you are one of those who don’t like spoilers, or stop wasting time and go read Hamlet, which is on the internet, or, if you are lazy, go see the Kenneth Branagh film, which is Hamlet word for word (hence it is an even longer movie than Avengers Endgame) or continue reading my comparative analysis and I will convince you to give this great work a chance.

Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince who has just returned home to attend the funeral of his father, the king, who recently passed away. But then he hears that a ghost with a striking resemblance to the late king appears in the castle at night; so Hamlet is encouraged to investigate and manages to meet with the ghost that, in effect, is real and it is about his father who has crossed the threshold of the afterlife to entrust him with a mission: to kill his uncle Claudio; for it turns out that he killed his own brother to ascend the throne and marry Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. This is the first act of the play and constitutes the premise of it; as well as establishing its two main themes: revenge and madness.

Immediately, we distinguish several parallels between Lelouch and Hamlet: both are princes who decide to take revenge for their deceased parents against a member of their family, who is precisely the monarch of their kingdom, after receiving a supernatural summons (the ghost of their father, for Hamlet; the Geass, for Lelouch); however, none of them imagine that on this journey they will lose themselves and the beings they love. Throughout the plot, Lelouch and Hamlet will be assisted by C.C. and Horace respectively. Horatio is Hamlet's friend and, like C.C., is the voice of reason and is Hamlet's greatest confidant. He is present in most of the scenes in the play, always accompanying Hamlet and conversing with him. Even in his soliloquies, which are the moments when Hamlet bares his thoughts, he is there; as well as C.C. who remains on Lelouch's side. Neither Horacio nor C.C. take actions in the plot, they limit themselves to being simple spectators and both, additionally, wanted to kill themselves, but they were stopped by Hamlet and Lelouch who wanted them to continue living, for different reasons that I won’t go into details.

Both Hamlet and Lelouch are gray characters that critics and fans of their respective works like to argue about by raising the classic debate: is Hamlet/Lelouch a hero or a villain? In any case, the conclusion is the same for both: they are two of the most human characters both in Shakespeare's work, in the case of Hamlet, and in the anime industry, in the case of Lelouch (if you want an answer , don't think too much about it: both are undoubtedly tragic heroes).

As someone who loves Shakespeare and Code Geass equally, I think Lelouch is a hybrid of Hamlet and Macbeth (another great Shakespearean character). This is because Lelouch and Macbeth live tormented by their crimes, however, they continue to justify themselves that the blood spilled would be in vain if they stop. On the contrary, Hamlet is a bit more pusillanimous and very indecisive (he's not an action type, he's more contemplative and thoughtful).

Although Hamlet has sworn an oath of vengeance in the first act, he doesn't take action right away because he doesn't fully believe the ghost's accusation or so he says (in my opinion, it's because he's afraid to act); so Hamlet decides to check if his uncle is the murderer of his father and find out who are his allies and his enemies by faking his madness (yes, like Lelouch, Hamlet has acting skills) . Of course, his alienated attitude causes strangeness at court, especially it baffles Polonius, who is the king's adviser and an impertinent bootlicker for Claudio, and that motivates him to investigate. At a certain point in the play, Gertrudis, worried about her son, confronts him alone in her room, while Polonius, who is a gossip, hides behind the curtains to spy on them. Hamlet spots Polonius's feet and, believing that he is his uncle, savagely stabs him, only to discover that he wasn’t who he thought he was. This stupid mistake will affect the children of Polonius, which will lead to the great tragic ending of the work.

On the one hand, there is Ofelia, the sweet and innocent youngest daughter of Polonius (well, I presume that she is younger). She is in love with Hamlet and has had affairs with him, they have even consummated sexual relations; but ever since he assumed the role of his madman, Hamlet has been cold and somewhat cruel to her, on the grounds that he believes she is part of plot. Returning to Ofelia, the pain caused by the murder of her father at the hands of the man she loved drives her crazy and leads her to commit suicide. In a sense, her tragic fate brings me back to Shirley.

Like Ofelia, Shirley is in love with Lelouch, due to which she suffers from the barriers he imposes and she is left disoriented, while being curious about his strange behavior (Hamlet's feigned madness, on the one hand, and the Lelouch's efforts to hide his double life, on the other). Her feelings are conflicted when she finds out that her lover is the murderer of her father. It’s worth noting that neither Hamlet nor Lelouch had the intention of killing the father of their respective love interests. It was all a unfortunate accident. From here on, Shirley and Ofelia's paths diverge, but they end at exactly the same point: dead and Lelouch/Hamlet are indirectly guilty, or at least that's how they both feel, because, despite everything, they did love Shirley/ Ophelia.

On the other hand, there is Laertes, the impulsive and bellicose eldest son of Polonius. Laertes has a brief but forceful introduction that is, at the same time, a prelude. Laertes warns his sister that she should be careful around Hamlet because he fears that his love for her is insincere and he is only taking advantage of her. And he adds something like this: "if I find out that Hamlet hurt you, I'll kill him" (of course, Shakespeare says it in a more sophisticated and beautiful way than me; that gentleman did know how to use language properly). Saying that, Laertes leaves for France. When the news of the terrible deaths of his father and his sister reaches his ears, he returns to Denmark to take revenge on Hamlet and I’m inevitably thinking of Suzaku.

Like Laertes, Suzaku was immersed solely in his own business, but when Lelouch kills Euphemia, Suzaku turns to revenge by vowing to kill him (Shakespeare is known for his love of building narrative parallels between two characters, and Code Geass is rife with this kind of parallelism, the most obvious being that of Suzaku and Lelouch: one way or another, they end up becoming the other in the second season). Needless to say, Euphemia's death was an irremediable event as a result of a foolish joke, like Polonius's death that was a mistake. Two tragic accidents. (By the way, coincidence that Suzaku went crazy over Shirley's death afterwards? I don't think so). Suzaku and Laertes are blinded by pain and anger and, although Lelouch and Hamlet try to reach a middle ground, both flatly refuse to listen to reason; which pushes them into a confrontation that, to a certain extent, is sponsored by the enemies of the respective protagonists. Claudio, who already knows that his niece has discovered his crime and intends to end his life, manipulates Laertes to get rid of Hamlet. Charles never deliberately uses Suzaku's anger for his benefit, but Suzaku serves him and his empire, which works to their advantage in a certain way.

In the end, the poison of hatred corrodes Laertes in a literal and metaphorical sense, since he ends up perishing in the duel against Hamlet, being wounded by his own poisoned sword, although he doesn’t leave without first revealing the conspiracy he was hatching with Claudio and make peace with Hamlet, as he understands that his judgment was clouded.

And, to all these, what happens with Hamlet?

Well, he is killed by Laertes in said duel of swords (yes, they kill each other). As is Lelouch dies impaled by the sword wielded by Zero (Suzaku) in the Zero Requiem. Just like Laertes and Hamlet at the end, Lelouch and Suzaku also manage to settle their differences and make peace for the good of the world. And, just as Lelouch kills Charles, Hamlet gets revenge on him by murdering his Uncle Claudius.

See that Hamlet and Lelouch have in common that, though driven by a desire for justice, both are both victims and responsible agents of the misfortunes that befall them, their loved ones, and their nation, as Denmark falls into the hands of of a foreign king and I’m not going to dwell on the consequences of each battle of the Black Knights and the Zero Requiem, I trust that you remember in broad strokes how many losses and how much havoc there was in the world.

Also see that both characters are haunted by death. In addition to the deaths that I mentioned and that are attributed to Hamlet, we must add those of his mother and his two childhood friends who succumb to the hatred and pain that Hamlet feels since his friends obeyed orders from his enemy and he believed that his mother was in cahoots or, in any case, that she didn't love her father because her mother got married quickly because she got married quickly, which, in his eyes, was a betrayal (yes, a lot of people die in this play and, in fact, I think it is the play that honors that Shakespeare meme that wanders Facebook saying that he has no idea how to finish his play, so he kills to all the characters; although it isn’t quite like that either, Horacio survives, a few characters who don’t appear again and Fortinbrás, who is the foreign king. Basically, it's like in Code Geass, all the important characters die except for C.C., the UNF members and the background characters).

I must say that in a certain way it reminds me of Lelouch because he blamed all of his family, not only his father, for the misfortune that fell on him, his mother and his sister (this is because they didn’t respond for them). Lelouch hates his siblings as well and was equally responsible for the death of his mother. Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, dies by mistake, but he was indirectly to blame.

Oh, I almost forgot! Horace tries to commit suicide, but Hamlet stops him because he needs him to tell his story.

Hamlet and Lelouch suffer more from the consequences of their own actions than those of others, that includes their enemies. Their vendettas consume them and make them lose themselves in madness; for until the damage is done, Hamlet and Lelouch are unable to see the destruction they leave behind.

We could say that Hamlet and Code Geass address the stories of two great men who fight to keep their sanity, if not they have already lost it.

I dare say that Hamlet is the most prominent tragedy in general culture (I think if I asked you to talk about tragedy you would think of Shakespeare and this play specifically) and I think it's great that they introduced this detail in the first episode of Code Geass because it's a subtle statement of intent: none of us knew what we were going to find in this series, so it ended up surprising us. Code Geass is properly a beautiful tragedy and no one better than Shakespeare to present it to us. I don’t rule out at all that Hamlet has been inspirational material for Code Geass. I perfectly imagine Okouchi in his house thinking: “hey! What if Laertes and Hamlet had been childhood best friends? That duel would have been more intense! Oh yes!”

Joking apart…

Maybe Shakespeare influenced the good reception that Code Geass had in me. I love tragedies. I love tragic characters. I love Shakespeare. I consider myself an admirer of his work and I recognize his influence on my writing. Hamlet isn’t my favorite work by the English playwright, although I enjoy the story and how things are handled, I find it hard to connect with Hamlet; unlike Lelouch, to whom I already professed eternal love. Anyway, I still have a lot of Shakespeare plays to read and fall in love with.

I hope you liked this analysis. I loved writing it, even though it took me longer than I had calculated. You should turn it into a video so that it lasts forever and ever. Let me know in comments the opinions of him. We will be reading soon.

PS: no, it's no coincidence that the Lelouch from my fanfic, Code Geass: Bloodlines, is a Shakespearean fanboy. I must even say that to build the dynamics of my Lelouch and C.C. I was inspired by Macbeth and his wife; just as I was inspired by the character of Brutus, from the tragedy of Julius Caesar, for my Suzaku.

#code geass: lelouch of the rebellion #code geass #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #lelouch #lelouch lamperouge #lelouch vi britannia #c.c. (code geass)#shirley #shirley fenette #lelouch x shirley #shirlulu #suzaku kururugi #suzaku #hamlet #william shakespeare #shakespeare #tragedy

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gutsberserkson · 9 months

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What I Believe Is The Answer To Solving The Problems Of Code Geass. Spoiler Warning!

Let me first clarify that I'm not talking about personal issues that fans have with Code Geass, like the Black Knights betraying Lelouch. Those are not the problems I'm referring to. I'm referring to the problems of the world in which Code Geass takes place.

What is the answer to how broken characters like Lelouch and Suzaku are? What is the answer to healing a world constantly at war (not helped because of Britannia and its rule of Social Darwinism)? I think the answer is simple, yet so hard to truly understand.

Cheesy and corny as you might think, the answer is this: Love.

By which I mean truly unconditional love. And which characters represent this kind of love so perfectly? Those characters are Shirley Fenette and Euphemia li Britannia. Both of these girls demonstrate how incredibly loving and compassionate they are.

It is Euphemia who encourages Suzaku to keep living, because she loves him (and after her declaration, he is able to come to terms with his feelings for her and realizes he loves her too). It is Euphemia who wishes to bring Lelouch and Nunnally back together in her life with her well-intentioned Special Administrative Zone plan, which would also give Suzaku and Japan their rights back. And she's willing to give up her status as princess to do so, since she wants to be equals with Suzaku. She even manages to convince Lelouch to stand down and go along with her plan, and Lelouch admits that Euphemia is his most formidable enemy. Not Clovis, not Cornelia, not Schneizel, not V.V., not even Emperor Charles zi Britannia and Empress Marianne vi Britannia. No, this honor goes to Euphemia.

As for Shirley, it is she who comes to terms with Lelouch's secret life as Zero. It is Shirley who encourages Suzaku to forgive Lelouch for his misdeeds, just as she has forgiven him for accidentally killing her father and seeing how lonely Lelouch is. She is also lonely, as she's the only student at Ashford Academy who, thanks to Jeremiah Gottwald's Geass Canceler, has an idea of the truth going on, and immediately takes action when she knows something isn't right. The fact that, at that point in time, Nunnally is suddenly the Viceroy of Japan when she knows that simply can't be right allows her to empathize with how lonely Lelouch is in a world full of lies, and why she declares that she wants to be someone he can be honest with. This love she demonstrates shows that, if she had lived, the Zero Requiem would have been unnecessary.

And it is because of Euphemia's death that Suzaku spirals further and further into madness, not helped by the fact that Lelouch is Zero, and the fact that Lelouch is leading a rebellion against Britannia much like how his own father, Genbu, wanted to fight Britannia even when there was no hope of victory. Many of his actions against Lelouch are both to uphold his view that Britannia can be changed from within, like Euphemia was about to do had she not been accidentally subjected to Lelouch's Geass at the exact worst possible moment with the worst possible command. It is also out of spite, as he believes Lelouch is compromising any hope of peace between Japan and Britannia out of spite. Not helped by how Lelouch callously blames the deaths of the SAZ on Euphemia to rally the Black Knights in further rebellion, and by how he lies to Suzaku's face about how "horrible" Euphemia is. This foreshadows how the Zero Requiem will happen at the end, as Lelouch constantly makes himself the worst possible person for people to hate him, because, like Suzaku, he is full of self-hatred, especially after killing Euphemia to stop the massacre he unwittingly started.

As for Shirley, had she lived, there was hope for Lelouch and Suzaku to at the very least manage a bittersweet ending to their lives while keeping world peace, like they do in completing the Zero Requiem. When she dies, Lelouch loses any hope of a happy ending, and his life from Ashford Academy is permanently closed off, and his friendship with Suzaku is further strained. Her death starts a domino effect of pain and suffering for Lelouch and Suzaku, which (literally) explodes with the F.L.E.I.J.A. nuke, directly caused by Suzaku's "Live!" Geass, and indirectly caused by Lelouch placing that Geass on Suzaku in the first place.

When they both think Nunnally is caught in the explosion, only then does their relationship finally start to heal, as they come together to bring down both Emperor Charles and Schneizel to bring about the peace they want for Nunnally and the world. But any hope for Lelouch and Suzaku to have a happy ending for themselves is gone, because the girls who loved them unconditionally, Shirley and Euphemia, are gone. In completing the Zero Requiem, Euphemia's "sins" are taken away by Lelouch as he makes himself the Demon Emperor, and Suzaku runs him through as Zero. Lelouch's punishment is to die as the most hated man in human history, and Suzaku's punishment is to live while desperately craving death. Their acceptance of their fates as penance for their sins, and their sincere desires for mankind to move into the future with happiness, is made possible only by the love that Shirley and Euphemia freely give to them. That love is then passed on to Lelouch and Suzaku, who, in completing the Zero Requiem, share that boundless love for mankind to finally be free from war and move into the future with (hopefully) unending peace.

#code geass #lelouch vi britannia #suzaku kururugi #shirley fenette #euphemia li britannia #lelouch x shirley #suzaku x euphemia #this was going to be shorter #but i got on a roll #and it was a lot of fun to write anyway #shirley was right #love is power

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incorrect-codegeass · 1 year

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Shirley, just trying to do a school project: How much of your online presence is performative and how much is it you being you?

Lelouch: Baby every me is me, we are the mask and the wearer.

#incorrect quotes #code geass #incorrect code geass #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #lelouch lamperouge #lelouch vi britannia #shirley fenette #lelouch x shirley

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obi-pap · 1 year

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Late Valentine's Day

#code geass #lelouch x shirley #lulushirley #shirley fenette #lelouch vi britannia

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codegeassfacts · 2 years

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Shirley x Lelouch Official side material post R2 (Canon) + Bonus Newtype November 2008 Short Story (Novel // Not Canon)

Shirley really didn't get much after R2, given how fast she died, she didn't even get a second character song, so I included her season 1 Character song as an hommage, it's really a beautiful song and I hope you can enjoy it just like I did. (Translation included within the video)

Shirley's Character poem

O2 – Opening 1 of R2

Morning and night, I have always thought of you. It's mysterious. Even though that memory should have been taken by you. There was a stirring in my chest that keeps reverberating. Without knowing, I would come back to the same place.

When my memories returned, I was dreadfully frightened.

You making lies all the time, I have thought that I detested it. But, I realized. You were protecting me.

A gentle lie. A gentle geass.

I know. You have stripped yourself of kindness. Given it to others. And then, you continued to fight on your own. That's why, I alone thought of wanting to protect you, Lulu.

Somehow, it's like trying to climb glass. Until the end, you only ended up slipping through my hands. (1)

No matter how many times I am reborn, I will definitely fall in love with you, Lulu. (2) Even if the world may rot away, that much will not change.

(1) The exact words used are 'surechigau' - something like, so 'near yet so far'; missing each other on the way; one turns left, the other turns right (2) suki ni naru

Somehow, it's like trying to climb glass. Until the end, you only ended up slipping through my hands.

**My own analysis :

Her poem is beautiful, all about her feelings for Lelouch and still quite sad, since she seems convinced that she'll never be able to reach him despite trying over and over. It's always the thematic of fate and falling in love all over again with him.

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In a Q/A in Newtype, when asked what his type of girls was, Lelouch answered « fuwa fuwa na josei » with a smirk à la « you know what i mean » while it can sounds pretty ecchi actually if you google fuwa fuwa na josei (and it certainly was lol), it's first meaning is still soft girls, so ironically Shirley, who fits Nunally and Euphie, might have perfectly fit Lelouch's primal taste in women. It doesn't mean much but I thought it was cute to include this, more information are better than none aren't they ?

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As a a Bonus I wanted to add this short story which was published in the Newtype of November 2008; It's by one of the author who wrote the Bokura no Hibis and some of the Sound dramas (R2 especially), once again novels are not canon to the show, but they can be some cute headcanon for whoever like those.

In this one, C.C. looked over a sleeping lelouch as he dreams about a perfect world...

The story began with Lelouch waking up to a sunny morning. After washing up he found his little siblings, Nunnally and Rolo, in the living room, already setting up breakfast. (Awww…he counts both of them as his little siblings ;_;, and Nunnally and Rolo were portrayed to be siblings that squabble a lot here)

After breakfast they discussed about Nunnally's doctor appointment in the afternoon. She mentioned that she'd be able to walk after a few surgeries. (at this point she was still in wheelchair, but it seems she was able to see)

Lelouch stroke her hair when Rolo interrupted saying he'd escort Nunnally. Lelouch ruffled Rolo's hair in appreciation. Then Nunnally and Rolo got into a fight;

Nunnally said he'd probably get them lost again since he was bad at directions, while Rolo fought back saying she never watched where she was going and crossed streets at red lights. Lelouch just smiled at his cute siblings.

As he watched them head off to the junior section in school, Lelouch went into the student council room and found Nina already there looking at the computer.

After gathering the necessary documents, Lelouch asked Nina for help in developing a computer program. Nina agreed to help and asked is Lelouch going into Science and Math in university. Lelouch said he was interested but he probably couldn't beat Nina if she would go there too. Nina was slightly embarrassed. Lelouch observed her action and noted that she had a nice face, if only she'd smile more.

Lelouch exited the room and headed into the school garden, where he found Kallen munching on a curry bread.

She went on quite a drastic change from her Miss Goody-goody look before, as she now had her tie and collar loose, and hair flying out, in Lelouch's words, like a crab.

Lelouch was asking why did she change it as the hair do before looked nice too, Kallen then say she noticed he liked her previous look and that she changed it because of exactly what he said, followed with a kick in the shin.

Lelouch said her fan base had changed because of this and begins doing a run down (with percentage) of how many people preferred her old and new looks. When she asked how did he know he said it was because he was the school idol Kallen's agent.

He also commented that Milly has set her up for "Monster Kallen on Stage" since her monster look received good feed-backs last time.

Before she could skin him Lelouch made a break for it, and ran into Gino and Anya.

Gino "borrowed" Rivalz's bike and was heading out for a ride. He commented that riding bike was great, you could feel the wind. Anya, who was in the side seat, said the wind was too cold for her. Gino asked whether or not was it because she showed her belly. She countered saying that was sexual harassment.

Before they could go one Rivialz and Milly came to them riding a bicycle and they made a break for it.

Lelouch asked what were they doing here, Rivialz said it was obvious that he was chasing the bike thief, while Milly said she left a memo pad in the side seat. It contained top secret event lists and ideas. Lelouch asked was it the legendary "Devil's Diary" while Milly told him to please call it the "Angel's Conceptual Note".

As Rivialz suggested that they should give up Milly said her hunter's blood was boiling and they should give chase, even if Rivialz was the one paddling. And so off they went.

Lelouch proceeded into the school building while Suzaku came greet him cheerfully. Lelouch said Suzaku was always cheerful in the morning, not knowing the pain and suffering of ones who suffered bad mornings due to lack of sleep and low blood pressure. Suzaku commented that Lelouch looked fine this morning and Lelouch agreed that he woke up nicely, though he'd had his share of sleepless nights.

Suzaku said it must be because he was thinking up evil plots again, he continued to say that he'd know since he had always been on the receiving end.

They laughed, then Suzaku made a sudden exit, leaving Lelouch confused, until Shirley ran up to greet him from behind.

Shirley asked him what was wrong, Lelouch noticed that his heart felt funny whenever he saw her warm smile, as if he knew some truth about her that not even she herself knew about, it was a complicated feeling.

They walked towards class together while making small talks. Every little stuff they talked about gave Lelouch a sense of fulfillment. He showed her the concert tickets he obtained and asked her to go with him.

Shirley was skeptical and asked why didn't he go with Nunnally or Rolo, Lelouch replied he only had two tickets. He then asked her was she not interested in classical music, she replied strongly saying she was, she really really was.

They arrived at the classroom right on the dot. Lelouch thought it probably would be another boring class as he met Shirley's gaze, who gave him a smiling nod.

The classroom door opened. Light poured in and swallowed him whole.

In the end C.C. commented saying "so this was what you wanted, Lelouch." It was a small and beautiful dream. Now that his journey was over he could forever rest within her heart. The dream would go on forever.

Translation curtesy of piggyhoho

That's about it. Shirley really didn't get much despite being an important character in Lelouch's life, but while I can't force this side story to be canon, I think had we never gotten in the Rebellion and war and losses, she would have been quite the perfect girl for Lelouch.

#shirley fenette #lelouch x shirley #shirlulu #lelouch vi britannia #lelouch lamperouge #anime couple #official material #novel #codegeass #code geass #original code geass

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