Taken from this tweet by MegaHouse.
Also, a Rolo plush from the same series as these is set to be released in November, but the design hasn't been announced yet.
There was a "to 20th" Geass event a couple days ago, starring the voice actors of Lelouch (Jun Fukuyama), Rozé (Kouhei Amasaki) and Ash (Makoto Furukawa). I've been checking twitter comments and reports of fans who attended, and, at some point, apparently kind of out of nowhere, Rozé's voice actor asked FukuJun about his opinion on Rolo, and said that he (Amasaki) at first couldn't forgive Rolo but now wants to. FukuJun answered by first asking the audience to raise their hands if they didn't forgive Rolo, and only some people did. When he asked for those who did forgive Rolo to raise their hands, about 3/4 of the audience did, so people weren't just being shy! FukuJun then said that Daichuu kept calling him "Niisan" with a cute voice for years, so he can't help but feel a bond.
This year almost completely went by already without any new Rolo in Lost Stories (😭), but there's going to be some "if" routes (or just one? I'm not sure) next year, and the announcement of the route(s) features, among other tragedies, the scene where Rolo dies (there's also Euphy, Shirley and Lelouch) followed by the message "If you are alive, then...", which sounds a lot like we are getting a route where Rolo doesn't die?? Please please please please but don't hire the bk shirley & rolo geagene writers kthx
Also, currently people are voting for him to get a new KMF, so there's Rolo fans out there still! And I don't know much about Vtubers, but Takane Lui became an official Code Geass ambassador some months ago and, in her official introduction as such, she called herself a Lelouch and Rolo fan, and has claimed that Rolo is her favorite character. She's now going to show up in Super Robot Wars DD with a Vincent (not Rolo's Vincent, but nonetheless). Not that she has any power over what happens with the franchise, but I'm happy to have as many Rolo-supporting voices as possible!
I recently acquired all of the WAVE CDs and, other than the 1st one, Rolo appears the most in volume 5. He barely has any lines in the other CDs, so I have nothing to say about them, except for that bit in volume 3 where Lelouch talks to “you” (you are a student from the gardening club at Ashford, and he’s helping you) and he decides to throw in a paragraph about Rolo, for some reason:
“I like looking at flowers, but I don’t go as far as growing them myself. Rather, my little brother, Rolo, likes them more than I do. He even cultivated flowers as part of student council service together with the president last year. But… recently, it seems he isn’t as into it anymore. Maybe he’s just going through adolescence, huh? Even though he likes flowers, he’s reluctant to admit it. He might look androgynous, but he’s a boy at that age, after all.”
Okay, just listening to this, I don’t know if the one who cultivated flowers last year was Rolo or Nunnally. It probably suits Nunnally better, and perhaps there’s a scene like that somewhere in the previous Student Council HOPE CDs, which focused on season 1.
Nonetheless, this Lelouch is supposed to be speaking after his real memories are back, because the rest of the CD takes place somewhere around Turn 5 (right after Suzaku has returned). Therefore… Is he simply coming up with some excuse so “you” won’t be suspicious that, in your memories, Lelouch’s sibling used to like flowers, but now he doesn’t anymore? But "you" never even met Nunnally, right? I believe the Student Council members were the only ones Charles used his Geass on, since Turn 5 says that everyone else, including teachers and students, returned to Britannia. Wouldn’t that mean that, other than Shirley, Milly and Rivalz, nobody else currently studying at Ashford could possibly keep lingering memories of Nunnally being Lelouch’s sibling, since they all enrolled at Ashford last year, at the earliest? If Rolo has no interest in flowers and never did, why make up some story about him secretly liking them but not wanting to admit it? Could it be that Lelouch is in fact talking about Rolo and not Nunnally? If there’s a scene somewhere where Nunnally cultivates flowers with Milly, I'd be sure that this is 100% referring to her, but I have no confirmation.
Also, Shirley said Rolo’s face looks like a girls’ in one drama CD, but other than that, we don’t see people going around claiming that Rolo looks androgynous, at least not often enough for Lelouch to bring it up simply because everyone does. So, I think it’s cute that he makes such a comment unprompted. The mere fact that he actually noticed Rolo’s facial features instead of ignoring him due to there being no need to pay attention to the face of a borozoukin
---
As for volume 5 (official samples here), there are two main Rolo moments:
1)
At school, Milly explains that she’ll soon leave in order to go to the Chinese Federation (while Lelouch is also there, but they don’t know). Shirley notices that Rolo is nervous, but Rolo pretends that he is not. The reason he’s nervous becomes obvious the moment Sayolouch enters the scene: The first thing she says is “That’s right, Shirley. You look cute today, too!”. Rolo’s “Brother!” reaction makes Sayolouch ask “What’s wrong? Is there anything weird?” and Rolo whispers to her “Yes, there is! Brother isn’t like that! Behave more normally!”. Rivalz wonders whether Lelouch was imitating someone, and Rolo quickly explains that he is and that “Brother got hooked on a series we watched yesterday.” That seems to convince them not to question Sayolouch any further, although, a bit later, when Milly is worried about the president tasks that she won’t be able to carry out while she’s away, Sayolouch confuses everyone again when (s)he offers to take care of everything. Rolo sighs with exasperation.
The story jumps to after Milly has left and Sayolouch is taking care of all the tasks. (S)he makes ninja-like "Ha!" "Ho!" sounds while working.
Rolo: Bro-Brother! You are overdoing it! If you don't take a break, it's bad for your body!
Sayolouch: Hm? Is that a-
Rolo: IT IS! It is a thing! So… just take a moment… to wipe your sweat…
Sayolouch: Really? If you say so, okay.
Rivalz: Haha. Rolo really cares about his big bro, huh?
Shirley: He really does. Although I think he is worrying a little too much.
Rolo: Ahaha… *dead inside*
Afterwards, everyone else continues working while Sayolouch rests. But then, Shirley finds a maid headpiece on top of a table! Shirley and Rivalz have no idea where it came from. Rolo, panicking, suggests that perhaps someone used it during a school festival, but Shirley doesn’t remember any item like that. And, if that were the case, they still can’t explain how only one part of an outfit got inside the Student Council room. Rivalz jokes that maybe it’s someone’s way of asking Shirley to wear it, which she finds creepy. Rolo proposes the idea that a student probably just gave it to Lelouch so he’d bring it to the room, but Shirley insists that there’s another odd factor, which is that she has the feeling that this headpiece was worn by someone she once knew. Rivalz feels the same. Sayolouch shows up. Shirley is about to ask him about the headpiece, when Rolo... uses his Geass to remove it from sight. Shirley and Rivalz are puzzled, as they could have sworn it was right there, but Sayolouch believes that the tiredness and the heat caused them all to collectively daydream. He offers to prepare some tea so they can rest. Rivalz jokes that Lelouch just wants to take a break again, and Rolo emphasizes it (to Sayoko) that, indeed, Lelouch gets tired quickly when doing physical activities, so he totally just wants to take a break. Rolo is the one who is definitely the most tired.
Afterwards, they all drink the tea that Sayolouch prepared (because, again, Rolo has to remind everyone that Lelouch just prepared tea in order to distract them from Sayolouch saying strange things, such as randomly telling Shirley that a maid headpiece would look good on her). Rivalz and Shirley are amazed by how good Lelouch is at preparing tea, and they think the taste feels nostalgic. And, to his own surprise… even Rolo finds it tasty. His "Ah... Hontou ni oishii" is really cute. What am I saying, everything he does in this CD is really cute.
Rivalz: Your big bro can do anything! He’s a brother to be proud of, huh, Rolo?
Rolo: Y-yes… The real one is, indeed.
Shirley: What do you mean by that?
Rolo: N-nothing! Brother is a brother to be proud of, yes! Ahaha! *dead inside*
2)
Rolo also shows up inside the track where Lelouch talks to "you" (explicitly a female, since Lelouch says "her" [kanojo] at some point). In this case, "you" are studying, and Lelouch approaches you. Since you need help, he does what every genius character has done at least once in their lives, which is to explain something in a really convoluted way and then act surprised when the other person didn’t get it. If that is how Lelouch helped Rolo with his homework, then Rolo must have felt really dumb (OR he’s a genius too! He definitely had to do a lot of quick thinking around Sayolouch). Anyway, Rolo shows up all of a sudden, worried:
Rolo: Aah, Brother! So you were here, after all!
Lelouch: Huh, Rolo? Oh, right, I'm taking too long to return.
Rolo: You are! You went to get some documents, and you wouldn't come back! I know you were also doing a round of the school, but it's so late that I got worried and came to check!
Lelouch: I see. Sorry for worrying you.
Rolo: Sheesh... What were you doing?
Lelouch: I was just helping her study a little.
Rolo: Eh? ... Hmm?😒 *talking to "you"* You. Brother is busy, so at least study on your own, please. 😤Lelouch: Don't say that. It was me who pressed her to solve the problems quickly.
Rolo: *murderous pouting sound*
Lelouch: *talking to "you"* Sorry. I'll help you during tomorrow's lunch break, so let's stop here for today. Thanks.
Rolo: Brother! Let's go back soon!
Lelouch: Ah, yeah, yeah. *talking to "you"* Well, see you tomorrow.
I'm not sure if this "you" is the same "you" that shows up during the next CD. I'm not sure if "you" survive.
Taken from some official Bandai Twitter account.
I'd like it if any of those "secret" combinations turned out to be Rolo and Lelouch or the three Lamperouges together, but I assume Zero, Kallen or other Lelouchs and Suzakus take priority. We'll see when they come out.
More GraffArt Rolo, to be released in August this year:
Taken from Animate Online Shop.
P.S.: As expected, Kaguya won the Lost Stories poll against Pilot Suit Rolo and Benio. The official tweet says that "some characters who didn't win might still be added in the future," but whether that includes PS Rolo is unclear.
The newest Lost Stories event features Rolo as part of Lelouch's family! Alternative Universe, but that's okay. They could have easily excluded him and didn't.
(Note: マギアスティック is "Magia-stick" within the game's English text, but I thought they were going for Mageasstic... Right? Isn't that the obvious pun?)
Lelouch: Well then, time to display my abilities by making your favorite dishes.
The setting is that, in this world, people have magic that allows them to summon Knightmare Golems, but not everyone belongs to the same rank: people like Kallen and Suzaku are S ranks and they summon the strongest Knightmares and such, but Lelouch and his friends, Shirley, Rivalz and Milly, and also Nunnally, are Ds. For some reason, Rolo is instead a B, though! Summoning magic from this AU kind of parallels piloting skills, but also Geass, I think? And Rolo is both a skilled pilot and a Geass user in the original, so I'm assuming that's why he gets to belong to a higher rank.
Lelouch: I'm home, Nunnally, Rolo. You were both doing homework, huh?
Rolo: Yeah, Nunnally was teaching me the theory. I'm behind everyone else, so...
Nunnally: That's because of your chronic heart condition. It can't be helped.
Rolo: No. As a class B, if I could enter the Owner of Rounds through achieving excellent grades, that would make your lives easier. So I'll do my best.
Nunnally: I'm sorry, Rolo. Not only are my legs incapacitated, but I'm also a class D, therefore...
Lelouch finds this society unfair, where one's rank/class determines the treatment they get, their opportunities in life, etc. He himself ends up becoming a rank S through training his magic for years, but he knows that his little siblings have physical handicaps that make it difficult for them to improve their ranks, no matter how hard they try.
The rest of the event is quite long and I skimmed through it a little, not gonna lie, but mainly it focuses on a Knightmare Golem tournament at the school which Lelouch is actually using for his goals. The participants' strong attacks (Kallen and Suzaku, powered up by everyone's magic) will help him unseal "the witch without a name": this AU's C.C., who was sealed in the past because people feared her. Lelouch had already come into contact with her when he was a child, and he had been training his magic ever since in order for her to grant him the wish of "a world that isn't bound by power," for his siblings' sake.
The story is almost over. A week after he unseals C.C. and makes his wish, we see that everyone is happier now. Kallen's mom is healed because her illness was magic-related, and the same goes for Nunnally and Rolo:
Rolo: Me and Nunnally too. It seems that a magical power dysfunction was one of the reasons for the strain on my heart and Nunnally's legs being incapacitated.
Nunnally herself adds that she'll be able to walk again one day.
However, when the student council friends ask them if they too haven't seen Lelouch since last week...
Rolo: You are right. We haven't been able to meet Brother after that.
Nunnally: We don't know where Brother is either...
So Milly decides that they should go search for Lelouch together, and they all agree.
Milly: Of course! It'd be too cruel for him to leave behind his dear little sister and brother, no?
The ending then shows Fukkatsu!C.C. telling this story to some NPCs, so I guess she was the narrator all along. Which means C.C. was the one who decided to change Lelouch's motivation in life to be Nunnally and Rolo instead of just Nunnally? Thanks...
---
On another note, there's a survey going on right now for users to choose characters/costumes they want added into the game, and Pilot Suit Rolo is one of the options. There'll more than one winner, because the characters are divided into different groups, and Rolo's group is made up of merely 3 options: Pilot Suit Rolo, Pilot Suit Benio and R2 Kaguya. If Rolo won, Pilot Suit Rolo would be added not as an alternate skin, but as an actual unit with his own lines and everything.
Now, considering the type of fanservice that the game focuses on, the poll could be just Rolo vs Unnamed Background Female Character and I'd expect the latter to get more votes. And Benio and Kaguya are actually characters with fans, so the chances of Rolo beating them are... I'm not going to say 0, but... Well, I personally won't mind it that much if he loses, because I'd rather he got a different alt and, so far, he's been the kind of character who only gets an alt a year at most. But if he won, I'd be happy that there's demand for him, of course!
Remember this post? I'd still been checking playthroughs of Super Robot Wars DD now and then, but only recently found out that Rolo died at least a couple months ago already. Most of his lines up to his final scenes are the same as R2's, but there's some small differences that I want to talk about below.
By the way, since I don't think the following screenshot needs its own post, Fukkatsu's story was wrapped up last week in Lost Stories, and Rolo's spirit could be seen saving Nunnally together with Euphy (Shirley is there too, but she holds Lelouch):
Back to SRW DD:
I said most of his lines are the same as R2's, but the events themselves are more similar to the movies, because Shirley never dies. The biggest difference is that in SRW DD there's a noticeable time gap between Turns 18 and 19: Lelouch doesn't completely lose his will to live after Nunnally "goes missing," as he nonetheless wants to defeat Charles, so the story continues with Lelouch still keeping Rolo and the others around after FLEIJA. He never flies into a rage at Rolo (except for the "Don't lie to me!" moment during that phone call, but that's it).
So Lelouch/Zero has been pretending that he's fine for some time (days? Weeks?), but he does miss Nunnally:
C.C.: That locket... It's pretty.
Kallen: Rolo, whenever something happens, you often grasp it tightly, huh?
Rolo: I calm down when I hold this. Because it's what I really wanted... The precious birthday present that I received from Brother.
(They are so friendly! Cute)
Lelouch: No... That was something to give Nunnally...
Rolo: Eh?
Lelouch: ...!
Rolo: Wasn't it a present for me?
(Turn 19.02's Rolo was very aware that Lelouch's kindness wasn't for him. This Rolo is a bit slow instead.)
Lelouch: ...
Kallen: (Lelouch... It seemed like he had recovered, but he's been carrying the loss of Nunnally all this time, after all…)
Lelouch: Sorry, please forget what I just said. Rolo, the fact that you are my precious little brother doesn't change.
Rolo: Brother...
(Hello, Geass writers, will Rolo ever be allowed to smile for more than 10 seconds?!)
While this conversation is taking place, Schneizel and the Black Knights are talking. Soon they are all going to turn against Zero. And that's when...
Rolo: Yes. I rescued you from that place with my barrier of absolute suspension.
Rolo rescues Lelouch, except in this version, there hasn't yet been any scene of Lelouch telling Rolo that he hates him!
Lelouch: So that was it, indeed. Rolo, don't overuse that power.
Rolo: It's okay. At any rate, I'm going to protect you no matter what.
(Rolo, "daijoubu" doesn't mean "I'm ready to give up my life"...)
Cornelia and Anya attack, and Lelouch gets more worried:
Lelouch: Using your Geass over such a large area...! Rolo, your heart won't be able to take it anymore...!
Rolo: Don't stop me, Brother! I...!
Lelouch: Stop, Rolo! I... hate you!
Rolo: !?
Lelouch: You can't replace Nunnally! I don't need you anymore! So...
Holy tsundereness, they managed to make Lelouch's "I hate you" adorable?! In this context, he's clearly only saying that to stop Rolo from sacrificing himself, and he even adds "So..." at the end, to make it more obvious that he means "So stop using your Geass!"
But, unlike that IF route from Taisen Z Saisei-hen, this Super Robot Wars won't spare Rolo's life:
Rolo: ... That can't be, Brother. Because...
Rolo's and Lelouch's lines afterwards are the same as R2's, the only difference being that, in this story, Lelouch didn't say that he wanted to kill Rolo.
Rolo: It's a lie, right? That you hate me...
---
I hope that, next time, I can translate something which isn't about Rolo dying, but for now, I'm happy that this Lelouch kind of stayed nice to Rolo all throughout the story.
The app game Monster Strike is currently collaborating with Code Geass, and Rolo is one of the obtainable characters!
He evolves from "Rolo Lamperouge" to "Assassin of the Order Rolo Lamperouge," which sounds more like a regression in his case, but...
I downloaded the game and got him pretty quickly, since he's easy to pull. But I've never played Monster Strike before and feel quite lost with all the menus, so I'm not sure I managed to record everything that he has to offer:
Everything here are lines from the show, but re-recorded. First I show the gacha results, then 4* Rolo's line ("Brother's family should be me alone"), then 5* Rolo's lines ("I must eliminate Brother's enemies," "Thanks to those memories I finally became human," "Perhaps Brother simply used me, but those moments at least were real!") then Lelouch's borozoukin line, which he has in this game too, then some sort of stamp called "Good Job" which has Rolo saying "Leave it to me, Brother!"
You can watch actual gameplay and Rolo's abilities here (9:46).
If anyone plays Monster Strike, please let me know if I'm missing something.
Sorry for the long absence, there hasn't been any new Rolo content for a while.
New merch for another Code Geass Eterno Récit pop up store, this time themed around "cat day".
Image taken from the official Eterno Recit Twitter account.
28th September is when Turn 25 “Re;” first aired, and together with Lost Stories also wrapping up R2 in its latest update, I’ve been remembering just how I miss what Code Geass was like before the year 2012ish. Rolo has been, in my opinion, treated worse since then.
Apologies in advance, as I'm going to complain, but I want to share what I remember about a time which may be forgotten or unknown to younger fans:
Before Akito, Code Geass’ “canon” story was mainly the 50 episodes of the anime. Picture/Illust Dramas, season 1 Sound Episodes (R2 SEs mostly stopped being serious) and official publications here and there were also part of the canon, but beyond that, comics like Majiko’s, Nightmare of Nunnally, or videogames such as Lost Colors diverged sufficiently from the anime to be clearly treated as AU spin-offs. Code Geass ended with Lelouch dying, and despite plenty of “the cart driver is Lelouch” theories, the creators themselves stated that Lelouch was dead (can’t remember the source, but it’s probably well documented somewhere).
I miss when Lelouch stayed dead, not just as a Rolo fan, but because that’s what made the story bittersweet. That’s what made Continued Story a song I personally couldn’t listen to. All the fanarts of the characters being happy together when you knew Lelouch never got to experience that… It was sad, but in a pretty way. And yet, I guess many viewers do like Lelouch resurrecting, considering that both Lost Stories and Rozé follow that canon. For me, watching L.L. do nothing but speak in cryptic messages with C.C. is sadder than accepting his death, and not the “pretty” kind this time, but the “Lelouch was forcibly turned into someone who isn’t him” kind of sad.
As for Rolo, during R2, Lelouch lived for 5 more episodes after Rolo’s death. And in such a brief period, he remembered Rolo as many as 5 times: Turn 20 preview, when Rivalz asked in Turn 20, Turn 21 preview, Turn 24 when Lelouch recalls the people who sought happiness, Turn 25 when his life flashes before his eyes.
Back around 2008~2010, believing Rolo had become important to Lelouch was easy. Hikari (summary) was canon. Kiseki no Tanjoubi most likely isn’t, but Lelouch and Rolo had the main roles and Lelouch worries when Rolo gets tired. New official illustrations were still being released. The Special Edition Zero Requiem was dedicated to Shirley and Rolo because they inspired Lelouch’s Zero Requiem plan. That’s a lot of Rolo attention coming not just from the staff, but Lelouch himself.
Yet resurrected!Lelouch doesn't remember Rolo again! Except for maybe just once, when Rolo and Euphy were saving him… and unfortunately for me, he uses kimitachi, which implies he was addressing Euphy (he would have used omaetachi with Rolo)… 😭 I also gacha'd Emperor Lelouch a couple days ago, hoping to find ロロ in any of his lines, but nothing.
Code Geass’s canon expanding after R2 mostly took good things away from Rolo, and added bad things:
-Akito and Oz both did damage to Rolo and Lelouch’s meeting. When only R2 existed, we assumed that Rolo had met Lelouch very shortly after Charles’ Geass, and that Rolo and Lelouch spent a whole year together. Akito shortened their happy year because Lelouch now needed to be Julius first, and Oz introduced Clara, who, turns out, was actually the initial choice to replace Nunnally instead of Rolo?! And even though I don’t think she even got to meet Lelouch, I don’t like how Rolo was no longer *the* Nunnally replacement. Since Rolo mentions unmei in Arabesque, I think he would have preferred to believe Lelouch and him were “destined” to meet
-Couldn’t Benio and Savitri's stories be told without involving Rolo negatively? Did he need more sins? Ohgi and Nina have been redeemed in recent years, while Rolo… didn’t kill Shirley in the movies, but in the Fukkatsu manga and Lost Stories he did, so I still feel like he killed Shirley in the Fukkatsu canon
-We don't talk about GeaGene
-Mario/Maya ruining Rolo’s sacrifice
There’s another piece of knowledge seemingly lost to time, which is that those pictures of Lelouch and Rolo aren't official. You know the ones. They were drawn by Yukie Sakou, who WAS an official animator/illustrator, but she released Anniversary & Memorial on her own. I've seen misinformed comments...
Something else about Fukkatsu: I liked C.C. better when she wanted to live and be happy without depending on the protagonist for it. But if C.C. fans disagree, they certainly know her better than I do.
The 2nd Rolo in the series of monthly pictures called Small and relaxed Code Geass Life! This one is called: "Being considerate"
Here was the 1st Rolo we got, last year, which showed him under the rain. All of the pictures this year seem to match the ones which were released during 2023, and just like 2023's rainy day Rolo was followed by a rainy day Lelouch a few months ago, this month's Rolo is offering the bottle of water to last September's tired Lelouch.
And I might as well also include the translations for the remaining Lost Stories monthly lines here, since Rolo thinks about giving Lelouch something to drink in one of these too:
July (both regular and dying Rolo):
"Lately, the temperature and humidity have raised quite a lot. It's important to stay hydrated in order to avoid suffering summer fatigue."
Why does this murder weapon know about the importance of staying hydrated...
July (sailor Rolo only):
"Lately, the temperature and humidity have raised quite a lot. I'll bring some sports drink for Brother so he won't get heatstroke."
Tanabata (7th July - any Rolo):
"A wish... As a student of Ashford Academy, perhaps "for the Academy to stay peaceful"... or something like that...
Since regular!Rolo was added in July last year, the 1st of these was already available then, but I failed to record it.
For now, I think I have posted every month-specific (and date-specific, like Tanabata, Halloween, etc.) line, including those which have a variation when you choose sailor!Rolo. There have been no dying!Rolo variations so far (and oddly enough he gets the same lines as regular!Rolo despite sailor!Rolo being the one who is more attached to Lelouch).
The previous text was too long, so I couldn't send it in English. Sorry for the Japanese. I've read all the text on your blog, so I knew about the story of the nurse's office, but I never thought I'd be able to hear the actual audio, so I'm very happy! Thank you! It was rare to see the brothers being so dependent on each other, and they were so cute. I'm also curious about the content of the radio, so I've decided to continue looking for the CD.
Don't worry about asking in Japanese, I like it! Vol. 1 has very little Rolo outside of the 保健室とお迎え story, but maybe other Volumes are worth checking out. I wish I could find more information about them! And I also wish Lost Stories gave us more cute Rolo, but most events focus on season 1... 😭
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