Code Geass

[Zeak]

My friend just recommended that I see Code Geass. I was just wondering what you guys thought of the anime series?

[Koby]

Good story, plays out decently, but is full of deus-ex-machina and poor pacing. If you can get over the fact that the pacing sucks or that shit happens to all the time come out of no where with no explanation to help further the story and happens perfectly to take Zero where he needs to go to get revenge on everyone involved in what happened in his past, then there is a really good story underneath it.

[Xitrons]

It's really good, it's like a fusion of Death Note and mech based anime.

[Hicks]

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

(25 episode series)

When I caught my first glimpse of this series when it aired on Adult Swim, I have to admit that I wasn't really impressed. It looked like just another mecha anime to me, and to be frank I really don’t care for shows like that, partly due to the large number of them. They just tend to all be the same and even kind of run together. This one involved a character with a weird eye who liked to dress up in a weird costume, and I really didn't care for the visual design at all. But, just as I'd been talked into watching Gurren Lagann in large part because of the alleged fan service, I'd read quite a bit about how naughty Code Geass was supposed to be, in particular the first season before the executive meddling took place and ruined everything, or so I'd read. Something about a female character using a table to masturbate? At the same time there was supposed to be a great deal of awesome going on due to this series being on real late and largely ignored by the censors and the like. So I decided to give this series a chance, and I have to say that I'm glad that I did.

The series follows a somewhat spoiled, smarmy, arrogant high school student named Lelouch Lamperouge, who apparently likes to skip out on class to gamble with rich aristocrats on the outcome of chess games. This all takes place in a rather interesting alternate Japan, which has been conquered by the Holy Britannian Empire, and of which Lelouch is actually a member of. In fact, he's even royalty, albeit disowned by his own choice due to an assassination-induced grudge. Actually the world this story takes place in is kind of interesting by itself as an alternate history, in which a branch of the British monarchy escaped to North America and founded yet another empire ruled by a hereditary monarchy. At the time the series takes place, the Britannian Empire controls a third of the world, and has a rather nasty tendency of erasing the national identity of any country it conquers (usually over resources), reducing them and their occupants to numbers as one of the many ways they continue to treat conquered peoples like crap long after the conquest has taken place. Personally I find the idea of Japan being conquered by an empire over resources kind of funny in an ironic kind of way, considering that whole world war thing back here in the real world. I also found it a little amusing that for all the ways the world developed differently in this alternate history, Japan was basically the same, except that they were already a more or less democratic nation led by a prime minister rather than a militaristic empire themselves. But that's just me.

Lelouch is far from a sympathetic character, but the series does a good job of explaining just what lead him down the path to becoming Zero, the mysterious masked leader of the rebellion against Britannia who vows to destroy the Empire, starting in Japan. He does this for rather selfish reasons, mainly out of revenge for the assassination for his mother and the way his father treated him and his now crippled daughter like crap afterwards. Of course he's always had dreams of bringing down the Empire, but as fate would have it he'd be given a unique power called "geass", which would enable him to essentially brainwash people into doing whatever he wanted. Of course one of the first things he does when he realizes his power is to meticulously and mercilessly test it out on his classmates. But then that's just him.

I actually like that he's far from the typical flawless hero. The show manages to keep him just sympathetic enough while he plays chess with peoples' lives and very pragmatically tests out exactly what he can do with his power on his classmates, among other things. Actually at one point he even kills would-be allies of his in order to take out some Britannians along with them. And yet his character managed to evolve along the way, keeping just on the sympathetic side of crazy for me to actually feel a little excitement when he was under the threat of being exposed and his double life catching up with him. Part of that was actually kind of funny, as some of the members of the Japanese resistance were students at his school, among other unlikely connections. Plus his name kind of lends itself to a pun on the true nature of his character.

The series also has an interesting number of layers to it. For instance, pretty much all of the royals Lelouch ends up fighting and either trying or succeeding at killing are actually members of his own family, even if they are only half-siblings. He also ends up fighting a childhood friend who he actually helped to save back when Japan was first conquered seven years before, though at first he doesn't realize this. It makes it that much more interesting when he finally does find out, though.

Actually all these connections culminate until he finally reaches the point that he can no longer lead his double life. He can no longer control his power, which leads to a rather sad, if completely outlandish, incident where he almost achieves a kind of peace with a member of the royal family who still loves him from their childhood days. She actually sets up a little slice of land where Japan exists again, and Zero/Lelouch is basically explaining what has led him to this point in the story, only to lose control of his power just as he's all like "if, for example, I told you to kill all the Japanese, you wouldn't be able to resist that command." So of course she ends up doing her best to do just that and he ends up having to kill her and using the incident as a way to drive the rebellion to its strongest point. But still, who would use something horrible like that as a hypothetical? Why not give a hypothetical about her giving him a blowjob instead? I mean, I know there's that whole incest thing there, but between that and a massacre? But I'm getting off track here. The point is that not only could he never look anyone in the eye again without his mask, but at the very end of the series he's finally unmasked, too, and exposed to two of his former friends.

The series ends on a kind of Blake's 7 note, with characters dying or looking like they might die, the battle suddenly going south because Lelouch has to leave to go rescue his kidnapped sister, and Lelouch himself looking like he might buy it from one or both of his former friends who are present as he is unmasked. It doesn't make the most sense, but it's still a pretty good sequel hook, which makes it that much more frustrating to know that this ending is never really followed through on. It kind of makes me wish that the series had ended with Japan gaining its independence, with the sequel hook being that Lelouch is unmasked pretty much the way he was, and Britannia set to retake Japan.

Anywho, addressing the reason I had originally decided to watch this anime, I was somewhat surprised at the lack of naughtiness. Sure there was a bit of nudity, though most of it missing certain features, the way a lot of anime tries to be discrete. Nipples do show up very briefly at one point, but other than that this series isn't really any worse in way of fan service from most every other anime I've seen. Even the infamous table scene was somewhat underwhelming, as nothing was really seen or even heard for that matter, taking place in the dark for all of about two or three seconds while said lesbian character got off silently. I'm not exactly disappointed, but if the series had actually sucked I might have been, partly because most every character in this anime is so androgynous anyway. So I'm not really seeing what people were talking about. Yes, there are the bits I talked about, plus some light and not so light bits dealing with homosexuality thrown in the mix, but it nothing that other series I've seen haven't done.

Actually, if anything, the biggest weakness of this series is that it's somewhat generic. Granted, it’s a much better take on the whole mecha theme, as the mechas themselves aren't really the focus of the story so much as a rather convenient plot device, but it is still very generic in nature. We have a seemingly average high school student with power and/or leadership thrust unwittingly upon them and they go on to fight against overwhelming odds. The sad fact is, that last sentence describes a disturbingly large number of animes. Then there are all the logical brain farts and conveniences in the plot itself, one of the last ones being how the rebel army is suddenly unable to operate or function despite having already basically won simply because Lelouch had to take off to deal with something else, even though he hadn't been actively participating in the battle for some time prior to that.

Still, it isn't really a bad series, and I'd even call it more than just okay. I'd say watch it, but keep in mind that the ending leaves a lot unresolved, and the continuation doesn't really logically follow either. 7/10.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2

(25 episode series)

Well, I can see why a lot of people like this series, and I can also see why a lot of people hate it. It's a mixed bag, really. I had a lot of the same things from the first season/series that made it good. But then it also had plenty that was bad. For me, the worst aspect wasn't anything in particular from the story, it was that everything was reset back to the status quo.

The last episode from the first season/series left things at a point that this should not have been possible. Great change was finally coming in that the Black Knights, the group Lelouch/Zero formed, were pretty going to win, despite the implication that they were somehow going to lose without Zero there to direct them in the closing stage of the battle. Lelouch had finally been unmasked, he'd finally really crossed a line by having a well-meaning would be ally order and participate in a massacre and then killed her, and either his friend Suzaku was finally going to kill him or his best soldier Kallen was because for some reason she felt betrayed as well. So how did that turn out? Well, they conveniently missed each other and Lelouch was captured and brainwashed instead. The first episode was actually a little insulting that way, because there were a lot of things about it that made no sense. One thing that still doesn't is how Lelouch's geass power was suddenly repressed when he was brainwashed by his father, the Emperor, who apparently had his own geass power all along. Then there was how one of the first people he ever used his power on and who had sworn to kill him was suddenly just a concerned teacher watching over him and trying to get him to go to class. And then Lelouch also suddenly had a brother and everyone at his school was playing along.

Of course, the first part of this sequel series was pretty much focused on explaining how pretty much all that came to be. It was all very elaborate, and I have to say pretty disappointing. Of course that still leaves the matter of Lelouch's permanent loss of control over his geass power, almost like they were hoping no one would notice, despite all the other acrobatic explanations they came up with for everything else. But really this was all so this series could be pretty much like the first one, with Lelouch leading a double life, hiding his identity and all that with the constant threat of being revealed all over again. And really that was the lamest part of it all. You can always tell when a studio interferes, because when they find they have something successful, they try to copy it in the hopes that it will keep being successful. But here they missed the point, because it wasn't Lelouch's double life or the high school aspect of his life that made the series good, it was the revolution and how Lelouch was evolving as a character.

In this series, he pretty much becomes a complete bastard, and it's difficult to much care what happens to him. In the end we find out he's a bastard on purpose, though that, along with so much else, just doesn't make all that much sense. Suzaku also changes radically, but then so do a lot of the characters, apparently out of convenience. Even the evil Emperor is suddenly made out to be more of a well-intentioned extremist than the big bad he was originally made out to be, and Lelouch's mother who everyone liked so much ended up being made out to be more of an uncaring bitch than the person whose death had driven Lelouch to become Zero.

This series also really went to town on the aspect of friends and allies fighting each other. It even has the Black Knights turn on Zero and try to kill him. Actually pretty much everyone turns on him, despite all the victories or other good things he's actually done while fighting against the Britannian Empire. Then when he finally wins and has taken over the Empire, Lelouch becomes the evil emperor in a really elaborate plan meant to finally unite the world by having them focus their hatred on him. The thing is, that really wasn't necessary, because he had gotten himself in a position to bring the peace through simply leading the Britannian Empire that way. After all, it seemed like he was headed down that path, and it would have been a way to prove himself to people who would have been his allies, as well as against his enemies.

But that was simply one of the many contrivances that was either unnecessary or simply came out of left field. Pretty much everything was some elaborate plan. While it's obvious that whoever wrote this actually put some thought into these elaborate schemes, I just wasn't impressed by their attempts at trying to convince me various characters were the absolute geniuses they would have to be to plan and execute these impossible plans, mostly because the plans were simply far too elaborate. Part of that was how the different fighters were able to figure out each others moves and know what the other was thinking. It was probably meant to make each of them a worthy foe to their counterpart(s), but in the end it got on my nerves a little when the show would constantly jump cut between multiple characters who were all saying essentially the same thing.

In the end, though, I didn't really hate this series, probably because I didn't really have much invested in it to begin with. After all, it was a fairly typical anime from the start, filled with a lot of clichés. The things that stood out a bit and made it kind of good were still present, to an extent in this continuation of the story, but I can definitely see what upset so many fans of the first series. But it did keep me interested enough to watch, mainly to find out how they would explain everything, and how it would all turn out in the end. It wasn't really all that satisfying, though, mainly because there wasn't much in way of actual resolution, and the series ends on an unrealistically optimistic note. Even with the big bad finally defeated after all the world's hate has been focused this object to hate, that wouldn't automatically mean the peace would be maintained, nor that no longer focusing on military conflict would mean that hunger and poverty and the like would just all magically be solved for lack of anything else to do. Humans are humans, after all, for better or worse, and I have no doubt that without some big bad for everyone to unite against, the world would simply go back to the same kind of petty squabbling that the real world has to deal with. 5/10.

[Mordeth_Kai]

I was not very impressed with it at first glance but I finally gave it a chance and its worth watching, but in my opinion the second season was most disappointing. The first season was very well done and very intriguing, the concept of using a villainous hero was quite apealing as was his conniving manipulative character. However the second season was just sloppy, too many things were just convenient, they replaced quality story for flash and flair and instead of keeping with the original formula they tried a little to hard and focused way to much on the mecha action and the plot greatly suffered, by itself it wasn't horrible but placing it next to the first season is like eating a doughnut after creme brulee, its not that the doughnut is terrible its just the difference in quality

[Vonnie]

Personally I love code geass and I would recommend it. But the second season like said previously is disappointing. The whole Anime in general is great so just keep in mind that the first season is much better than the second.

[Hicks]

The first season was very well done and very intriguing, the concept of using a villainous hero was quite apealing as was his conniving manipulative character.

You know, "villainous hero" is actually a pretty good way of describing Lelouch; I wish I'd thought of it. Still, "Ledouche" is a pretty fun nickname.

[j9ws0i19k88ddjc]

Code Geass is great. If you like Gundam, you'll like this too

[silver_rain_121]

I don't know how I feel about. I felt that the first half of the series, R1, was really good; however during the second season, R2, everything just went way over the top.

So on one hand I really thought it was a great spin on the whole mech series, but on the other hand, it really can't break too far away from the basic formula.