The filler annoyed me because as I've said before I felt there was a line. The end of season one crossed that and after that, it just feels unnatural for the show to fall back into highschool drama and fanservice. I'm sure this is something that had to be done to pacify the target audience, but in terms of the story it was step back. I don't want to get into 00 spoilers but it looks like season two of that is intending to hit the ground running with all the previous build up. Geass didn't do this it wasted time on fanservice and needless tangents and the whole 'who is Zero?' stuff again. I'm sure you could argue this fangirl bait was always part of Geass creation but it doesn't make for a strong story. I feel much like GWOtaku that the core of Geass, Lelouch's story, is very strong. So I think it's awful that something that seems genuinely well done has to be dragged down with all this audience pandering crap. I mean, even the director partially bemoans it. I feel sorry for him. I'd love it if we had more directors who were like "No. Screw the sponsors, screw the fans. We're telling a story here. If they don't like it, go watch something else".