Ash Phoenix’s name had always been on the nose in Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture. While it could be speculated in the start that it was Sakuya’s geass that would help him rise from the flames, another reason could have been that he was to atone for the sins he had committed in the past, especially of the blood of Sumeragi Jugo in his hands.
Narah’s surprise in the previous episode when Ash mentioned his brother had struck me as confusing because my first thought had been that he never really had a brother and for someone who had known him since his childhood, this made-up person would stand out as a glaring red flag almost immediately. However, in episode 7, Hazy Moon brought a new angle into perspective.
Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture Reflects on Ash’s Past
Episode seven of Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture takes the titular character to the Lavender orphanage in order to find answers to the newly formed questions in her mind. Sakuya is in a conflict with herself, wanting to understand just what happened to her father and Ash that has gotten him so remorseful. Walther pledges his allegiance to Sakuya and Sakura as Ash helps the Seven Shining Stars train.
Rozé meets up with the matron of the orphanage and uses her geass to give out everything she knows about Ash Phoenix. However, what she told wasn’t something the princess could have ever anticipated. The majority of the episode takes place in a flashback, looking into the past of the deuteragonist and just how wrong Sakuya had been about him.
Fans get to meet the real brother of Ash, Nichol. While Ash had always been figuratively stronger, it was his younger brother who kept him going. Upon being adopted by Norland, everything changed. Norland is no doubt a ruthless man and upon seeing the brothers, he decides to pick one over the other, opting to incline towards the survival of the fittest.
Haunted by No Will
Ever since Ash was taken in by Norland, he was only put through the worst. Constantly doing his dirty work and being brainwashed into becoming a trained weapon of war. Norland wasn’t raising a child, he was creating the perfect weapon. The more he kept getting brainwashed, the worse his mental holding became. He was barely managing with all the horrors he was forced to commit and only Nichol was there to love him and be by his side.
Ash’s story has been much darker than what was initially hinted and the mere tragedies the kid had to face would not only make fans sympathize for him but also increase their hatred for the antagonist. Throughout the series, he has barely shown a moment’s worth of weakness and this episode basically proves that everything he has been through forced him to do so.
After a failed mission, the brothers get brought to the knights and while Ash tries to take the blame, Nichol jumps in without a second though and blames himself for getting in the way of his brother. As a result, Norland’s blades pierce through Nichol’s heart and with that, Ash’s own soul.
Rozé Did the Worst Possible Thing
Enraged by the crime, Ash attacks Norland; something that gets him landed into a specialty prison in a cell right in front of none other than Sumeragi Jugo. Immediately the audience is introduced to the warm personality that Sakuya cherishes so much. It brings about the idea of how someone as kind as him could die at the hands of someone like Ash, who was filled with nothing but remorse.
As the story goes forward, it becomes clear that the only person he was ever able to pledge his allegiance to was Jugo, and so it is to be expected that whatever happens next would be much darker. While both of them begin to bond, Jugo keeps talking about Sakuya and how some day he would love to see Ash and her get married, a subtle nod to an already brewing romance.
However, fate has never been kind to those who need it as desperately as Ash. Just as things start getting better for him in the prison, Jugo’s execution date gets set. While the two of them try to escape, it becomes very clear very quickly to him that the plan was never for the both of them to escape and only Ash with Jugo sacrificing himself in the process.
Just as all these events get flooded to the audience, Sakuya is going through her own realization. She forced her geass onto him in a desperate attempt to get Ash to protect her. In the process, she asked him to protect her like he would the person he loves the most, Nichol. It is only when the scene cuts back to her that the horror in her own thoughts becomes clear. She had been walking around as his dead brother; something so horrid and cruel that even she finds herself repelled by it.
As she plans to let go of the identity of Rozé, Christoph captures her as the Neo-Britannian army begins their attack, setting up for the next episode after a dark, emotional, and heartbreaking roller coaster.
Rating: 9/10
Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture is available to watch on Hulu.
