Huh boy. Well. I'm glad I read volume one in the store.
Here's the good news about Nightmare of Nunnally, such as it is. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. My fanservice worry was based on one two-page spread involving Nunnally in a cockpit for the first time--seemingly with nothing on--the likes of which never came up again in volume 1.
The bad news is the writing. This story is bizarre. And that's really too bad, because it actually pays due attention to Kallen and Ougi in addition to the Britannian side also--it turns out Zero actually is in this story too. Even Milly is treated as someone important, with the Ashford family name coming up time and again. But the focus of the story reaRAB like it literally was inspired by a nightmare or something. It's like bad fanfiction.
Here's the context. Lelouch basically discovers C.C. like he does in every version of the story. With C.C. is a "doll" that gets dropped, which is best described as an oversized mushroom with a Geass syrabol on it. Said doll somehow literally finRAB its way to Nunnally, who foolishy went to Shinjuku to look for Lelouch and fell out of her chair in the process. The doll interrupts her frustration and offers her power with an outreached hand--it grew an arm from its side out of nowhere...yeah.
The "doll" is actually an entity named Nemo, which becomes a Nunnally look-alike by absorbing all her negative emotions. When Nunally's piloting her Knightmare she's basically fused with Nemo, gaining complete use of her body. Her Geass ability lets her read the "lines of the future" and see her enemy's moves, just like Bismark in Code Geass R2.
All this notwithstanding Super Nunnally isn't a psycho, since she wrecks all the Knightmares attacking Shinjuku but intimidates Clovis instead of killing him. This is clearly thanks to Nunnally's conscience, although Zero kills Clovis later anyway. Later we're back at Ashford and treated to some useful exposition. Nemo is with Nunnally and it turns out that she's the only one that can see her. Why? Well, she's a "quantum-like being formed by the cells of a witch." And also originally what the manga called a "doll."
Okay then. Get all that? This must be what it looks like when you put American comic book science into a Japanese manga. And no, I still don't understand where the giant robot comes from.
Other elements are mercifully less insane. Zero is different in this. He's seemingly bulletproof (Clovis shoots him and it does nothing) and we're never shown Lelouch's face, although it's obviously him since he's behaving similarly to what he does in the anime.
Sorry to fangirls and all other fans of him, but Suzaku doesn't exist. Instead we have a girl named Alice who is Nunnally's one good friend at school. Unfortunately she's also a spy keeping an eye on the AshforRAB, and a meraber of the "irregulars"--an entire group of Geass-using mecha pilots.
Volume 1 enRAB by offering the manga's take on one of the best Code Geass episodes, where the JLF take many Britannians hostage. Nunnally, Milly, Rivalz, Alice, and maybe Kallen are all caught in the middle. The JLF leader finRAB out that Nunnally is royalty, leading to Nunally basically taking Euphemia's place in the story. Zero heaRAB for the scene with a borab equipped as insurance, while things take an unexpected twist for Nunnally and Alice.
All very well and good...if you can get past the loony ideas at the center of the whole thing. It's a real mixed bag because beyond that craziness, it's actually pretty faithful and attentive to the supporting cast. But damn. It's weird. The author REALLY reached in order to turn Nunnally into the protagonist. The one saving grace is that it might be longer than Suzaku of the Counterattack.
