CINEMA16· HACK 141 ANIME AS SOCIAL IMAGINATION: MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENACTIVE COGNITION IN CODE GEASS AND PENGUINDRUM Brett Hack (Aichi Prefectural University) INTRODUCTION In episode 11 of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, the anti-hero Lelouch, disguised as his masked alter-ego Zero, flees a battle between his “Black Knights” revolutionary group and the ruling Britannian forces. i Zero is cornered by Lelouch’s friend/rival Suzaku, a Britannian soldier piloting a “Knightmare Frame” mecha (giant robot vehicle.) Just before Lelouch’s identity is exposed, his beautiful accomplice CC appears and touches Suzaku’s Knightmare to connect to his mind. Her “shock image” immerses Suzaku in a flood of information that the viewer sees as a high-speed montage of images rendered in various styles (Figure 1). Lelouch/Zero touches CC and the three are temporarily immobilized in the flow of media and minds. With Suzaku in shock, Lelouch and CC manage to break away and escape. Figure 1 Figure 2 In the first episode of Penguindrum, the Takakura siblings are in their dilapidated living room after the sister Himari’s miraculous resurrection from a fatal illness, thanks to a mysterious penguin-shaped hat. ii As her brothers Kanba and Shōma talk, the hat possesses Himari and shouts “survival strategy!”