Everyone knows that Code Geass is trash, but for Sunrise to make an such an obvious and gross error is purely moronic laziness. There is no excuse for this. Not even if the next episode has a character talking about the (fake) rules of Fascist British Chess to justify this massive inaccuracy.
Even worse is that it breaks the characters of Lelouch and Schneizel. My impression of them as lasting figures will never recover now. I think I’ll sue Sunrise for damages. Isn’t Lelouch supposed to be some hardcore chessmaster and Schneizel an intelligent nobleman? I’m disappointed that Lelouch didn’t yell out “Objection!” as soon as Schneizel made that move. Preferably while drawing a gun because nobody makes an illegal move in chess and lives. Not in our great country of America Japan.
I don’t care that the scene was attempting to contrast Schneizel and Lelouch’s personalities and philosophy. I don’t care that Sunrise was trying to be all cute on us. I don’t care that this is anime and I’m complaining about a “minor” error. Yes, I’m aware that Goro Taniguchi loves being wacky and I commend him for it most of the time, yet there’s a difference between crazy and insultingly wrong.
If I cared enough about Code Geass, I’d say Sunrise should fix this up for DVD. Given that watching Code Geass R2 on DVD is just above playing Russian Roulette with a P90 on the priority list, I’d rather challenge Goro Taniguchi to a chess match with correct American rules. I’ll annihilate him in one turn with the sheer force of my awesomeness. No king movements needed.
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June 8, 2008 at 6:59 pm
TheStupidOne
Umm, those are queens dork.
June 8, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Link
I didn’t take the screencap from a fansub, but Schneizel says “checkmate” right there. Both pieces are kings.
June 8, 2008 at 9:33 pm
drmchsr0
You mean INTERNATIONAL CHESS.
June 8, 2008 at 10:01 pm
roast-beefy-weefs
My days in the Chess Club made me hate this shit.
June 8, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Samuel
You act as if no other show ever made similar or even worse mistakes when dealing with other sports, legal, medical or scientific procedures.
It’s laziness, but it’s all the same thing.
I’m not getting my underwear in a knot over this.
Also…I can think of many, many shows that are more fairly labelled as trash than Code Geass, but whatever…your blog, your business.
June 8, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Samuel
Case in point: Initial D, Captain Tsubasa, Slam Dunk, even freaking Touch, shows were the sport itself is the main event (and should supposedly pay far more attention the rules and their implentation than Code Geass, where the matter is almost tertiary, if not less, in important), take liberties that are equally sloppy or worse. Of course, I’m sure there are examples of shows or instances in the above shows that are 100% realistic, but…guess I’ll stop there.
June 9, 2008 at 12:31 am
roast-beefy-weefs
>It’s laziness, but it’s all the same thing.
No, not really. It’s an entirely different level of laziness. When I watch a show like House, MD, I simply enjoy the humor and the drama, and I don’t give a damn about the actual medical accuracy. But for my father, a doctor, it annoys him so much that he can’t watch the show. Sure the writers do some research to make these things seem plausible to the average viewer, but they simply don’t have the time to research every disease they bring up on the show, analyze every situation, and then make the correct medical choice for the characters on the show to make in a way that would please real doctors. That takes time, and it takes money to pay for your series to have a medical consultant. It’s a lot of work. As for sports series, they don’t even try to be realistic because that would be boring. They need to have a hook that makes them unique somehow, like having the players use special techniques or some shit.
I can look up the rules of chess on wikipedia in ten fucking seconds. See the difference?
June 9, 2008 at 1:26 am
Camario
Shrugs….stealing this from Gamefaqs, for the heck of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_chess
“A common rule used in fast chess tournaments is that if a player makes an illegal move, the player’s opponent may point it out and claim a win. For example, if a player leaves his or her king in check, the other player may claim the win. This rule can be left out for a friendly game or left in for what some consider to be a more exciting and fun game.”
Requires a few assumptions and is almost too convenient, but hey, better than nothing. I know too little about chess myself, been years since I played it, and didn’t immediately notice anything wrong until I checked the internet.
June 9, 2008 at 3:03 am
Kaioshin Sama
Wow, somebody bashing Sunrise, how original. I think anime bloggers have pretty much run this idea into the ground by now.
June 9, 2008 at 4:54 am
Geoffrey
Seriously Kaioshin, this crusade to protect Sunrise is just as pathetic as their attempts to bring down Sunrise. Worry about your own thing because they obviously don’t care about your opinion.
I see no difference between bashing Sunrise and bashing Michael Bay for his so-called inept directing skills for everything but explosions and car chases. Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour is like Sunrise’s SEED Destiny and whether you wish it or not, it’s going to be a stain on their record.
And I don’t think I need to remind anyone how much of a shitstorm the mention of the movie, Pearl Harbour, can create.
June 9, 2008 at 5:50 am
Kaioshin Sama
Seed Destiny was then, Code Geass is now. It’s not even the same staff working on the shows. It’s so easy to just bring up Seed Destiny as a reason to bash Sunrise, but it has nothing to do with the current situation and has been done to death in and of itself, though admittedly that show deserved it. What I don’t understand is why every show since has had to suffer prejudice and ridicule that started with that show just by being associated with the seem studio.
The whole Sunrise bashing thing has been done to death, that’s what I’ve been pointing out. I’m not even really trying to defend them all that much so much as argue a neutral point. Why people can’t find another target to harp on about I don’t know, as I guarantee there are a lot of shows and studios screwing up a whole lot more then Sunrise and Code Geass, if you can really call one shot during the chess match a screw up. Besides there’s a lot more to Code Geass then what Michael “Pyro” Bay could ever offer.
I also find this bloggers claim that it breaks the character of Lelouch and Schneizel absurd because anyone who has paid attention to Schneizel and Lelouch’s history as laid out by the dialogue over the course of the series would know the two are in their element. Both are sizing each other up for the impending battle and by making that illegal move with the king and inviting Lelouch to accept his charity, Schneizel is implying to Lelouch that he a)doesn’t find him a worthy enough opponent to be able to seize victory on his own and b)believes Lelouch is too soft to actually take the king in what is clearly an underhanded manner that isn’t really a victory at all.
It also harkens back to what Schneizel said in episode 08 to Nina about “winning by not winning”. Essentially that’s exactly what Schneizel ended up doing in this chess match. So really Sunrise knew all along that the chess match was and the rules were a shame and so did the characters, they were just trying to rattle each other.
It’s also as Samuel stated, this is pretty much the norm for any show that has ever featured a table top game of chess, they all have people making random moves nobody would ever make in a real life game of chess while making cocky comments and the people on the sidelines saying how great all the characters are.
All the blogger has done essentially is point out that the portrayal of chess in anime is very poorly handled, it’s nothing especially wrong on Sunrise’s part, but he just had to go with the old tired Sunrise are bad writers tack cause I guess he thinks nobody would pay attention otherwise. I could honestly name at least 6 studios that I think have more dodgy, lazy and uncreative writing then them, but for some reason they draw all the fire. I guess when your behind a lot of the most popular and well-received series out there then people get upset that they’re getting more attention then them and their favourite show.
Plus in order to allow for a really dedicated and uber detailed rendition of a typical real life chess match they would have had to dedicate pretty much the whole episode to it, which would have had serious ramifications for the rest of the series considering all the other stuff they ended up covering in this episode that would have had to have been crammed into another episode at random. In this sense Sunrise did what they had to and focused on what was important, the dialogue between Schneizel and Lelouch.
Blogger probably just saw somewhere that people like to bash Sunrise and decided to try and be cool and do the same.
June 9, 2008 at 7:09 am
Geoffrey
GONZO (who DOESN’T diss GONZO these days?), Bee Train, and a few others are known for creating absolutely horrendous work. But no one generally talks about them which is why they don’t attract fire (Bee Train is going to get absolutely roasted by their adaptation of Blade of the Immortal, just you watch). Sunrise/Code Geass produce constantly popular works hence they are the spotlight constantly.
And you’ve just proved your point why Code Geass (hence Sunrise since they’re producing it) catches flack. If the story was done is a method such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes, no one would be complaining as it doesn’t bother with *deep* symbolism. You’ve written 400 or so words just to prove your point about the chess match. Not everyone can be bothered do such a thing – if everyone thought like you, Michael Bay wouldn’t be in the directing business would he?
And re-reading this post, it doesn’t feel like a typical bash Sunrise post. He’s within reason to make such a claim since you’d expect Sunrise or whoever is in charge with the chess moves create a semi-plausible situation considering chess is an analogy used in Geass constantly. Doesn’t bother me, but I can understand why.
In the end, generally if I want to discuss a movie with someone, I do it face to face. Because they’ll think twice about being either trying to be a prick or trying to be a paladin figure infront of a real person. Being a mild fan of your blog, Kaioshin, it’s both amusing and annoying that you’re letting something simple like this frustrate you (almost like watching how Dungeon Masters absolutely love putting the Paladin in shitty alignment clashing situations).
June 9, 2008 at 11:25 am
sdf
Code GEass isn’t even ABOUT chess.
Just enjoy the fucking show and stop your damn whining.
June 9, 2008 at 7:56 pm
21stcenturydigitalboy
Getting serious about chess just makes you a pussy. Chess should only be played when you’re bored, have absolutely nothing else on you (you’re probably in school or camping or some shit), and you are eager to kick someone’s ass at something, but too lazy to actually fight.
June 9, 2008 at 9:21 pm
DrmChsr0
Fukuda made me do it.
No really Mitsuo fukuda made me do it.
If I didn’t flame Code Geass he’d eat my hamsters ;-;
June 9, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Link
I love you people so much. <3
June 10, 2008 at 9:03 am
shiro
I love British Chess.