LogFAQs > #971140458

BONUS. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1575/Code_Geass__Hangyaku_no_Lelouch
Fall 2006 (25 episodes), Spring 2008 (25 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 8.70/10 S1, 8.91/10 S2
Best Character: C.C.
Recommended by: @Maniac64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8CFuZ9MseQ

Premise: After being conquered by Britannia, Japan is renamed Area 11. Many people still rebel against their occupiers, however, and a student named Lelouch Lamperouge joins them once he gains an incredible power.

The Good: Code Geass is a mecha anime set in an alternate history where Japan has been conquered by a powerful empire, Britannia. Lelouch is a Britannian student, but he carries an intense hatred for the country that abandoned him. Through various circumstances, he gains a power called Geass, which gives him the ability to order anyone to do anything as long as he's looking into their eyes. Combined with his incredible intellect, Lelouch uses the Geass to become a masked rebel leader called Zero. Now he needs to lead his group, the Black Knights, towards victory against the world's mightiest empire... all while also maintaining his everyday life as a student!

I really liked the concept of Code Geass. I'm a fan of weird powers and seeing how characters use them. The comparison isn't perfect, but the Geass reminded me of Death Note. It has great potential, but also certain limitations, and the intelligent protagonist needs to use it creatively to keep ahead. I was hyped early on to see what neat things Lelouch would do with it. While the scheming didn't end up being as deep as I'd hoped for, there were still a few times where he used it in cool ways to create a network of enslaved minions in key positions. However, this was mostly an action anime with a big focus on mecha combat. The animation was always good, and I liked how many pilots there were with unique mechas, especially by the end. Kallen's in particular had a kind of microwave hand that was really cool. As for the characters and story, this anime had some pretty harsh ups and downs. I liked Lelouch because he had the cool power and kept pushing the plot forward. Still, my favorites were C.C., Rolo, and Kallen because all three of them had great development and arcs.

The Bad: I complained quite a bit about Suzaku in my comments while watching this, and I'm comfortable saying he's one of the worst fictional characters ever. However, I think he was a symptom of a larger problem in Code Geass. Aside from a few exceptions, it didn't enjoy the way it examined its story, characters, or themes. Lelouch is touted as a strategic genius, and he certainly has his moments. Still, they mostly showed it by having him direct a battle saying meaningless lines like "use theta formation and move to point alpha". Outside of battle, there are a lot of instances where he makes some incredibly boneheaded decisions. There were times where I was begging him to explain himself a bit better or to use more tact when dealing with subordinates. It's hard to talk about any of those moments without big spoilers, but I could go on and on about smarter moves this super-genius could've made. Since I was excited about the potential for Death Note style mind-games and scheming early on, that was disappointing.

The story was also very focused on exploring certain themes, which often led to it ignoring other things. Characters would debate the merits of changing a system from inside or from the outside, but no one would point out that the system is literally slaughtering civilians at this very moment. Lelouch never made the arguments I wanted him to. A lot of characters did some really heinous things and were either never called out on it or were easily forgiven. There was also a supernatural plot related to the Geass powers running in the background, and I never felt like it integrated with the mecha war plot very well.

Overall: Code Geass had some great characters, cool moments, and large parts of the story were good. However, there were also some terrible characters, idiotic moments, and large parts of the story that didn't work for me at all. It might be that I went in with the wrong expectations. Early on, the Geass power reminded me of Death Note and I got excited for that level of mind-games. But, while Lelouch's intelligence and willingness to be morally questionable was vaguely similar to Light from Death Note, the closest thing to an L-style rival was Suzaku, and he was one of the worst characters I've ever seen. It's hard to explore a "which side is right?" theme when I have an intense hatred for one of the two sides. Still, there were enough good things in this show that I can't say I hated it overall. It'll probably end up in the 3/10s alongside shows like Violet Evergarden. That's the section for anime where I acknowledge the quality and enjoyed parts of it, but I found other parts to be really terrible. Still, thanks for recommending it, Maniac (and for being willing to swap to it so LotM could switch to Monster). I didn't love Code Geass in the end, but it had compelling characters like C.C. and Rolo along with a lot of fun mecha battles.