Difference between revisions of "Code Geass"

Revision as of 08:32, 16 May 2009

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Director/Artist	Goro Taniguchi
Format	Anime (TV)
Made By	Sunrise
Episode Length	24 minutes
# of Episodes	25

Genre

Drama, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Action

Sum it up in a Sentence

An exiled Imperial prince living in Japan obtains a power called "Geass," and sets out to liberate the country from the corrupt Empire that destroyed his life and happiness.

Main Description

The Empire of Britannia has invaded Japan using giant robot weapons called Knightmare Frames. Japan is now referred to as Area 11, and its people the 11's. A Britannian who was living in Japan at the time, Lelouch, vowed to his Japanese friend Suzaku that he'd destroy Britannia. Years later, Lelouch is in high school, but regularly skips out of school to go play chess and gamble on himself. One day, he stumbles on terrorist 11's who've stolen a military secret and is caught by a member of the Britannian task force sent after them, who turns out to be Suzaku. As the rest of the squad arrives, Suzaku is shot for disobeying orders, while the military secret, a young girl, gives Lelouch the power of Geass, which makes anyone obey any order. While Suzaku is secretly made the pilot of Britannia's brand new prototype Knightmare, Lancelot, Lelouch becomes the masked knight Zero to lead the rebellion to destroy Britannia once and for all.

If You Liked This, You Might Like...

• Pizza
• Death Note
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (less of the crazy-awesome)
• Gankutsuou (incredibly suave, cunning protagonist gets his sweet, sweet justice/vengeance)
• Gungrave

Personal Opinions

Nate RFB

Code Geass is in many ways the anti-Sunrise-Giant-Robot show. Most particular of course in how vengeful Lelouch is, and how far he is willing to go to realize his desires. He's the ultimate anti-hero, and shatters many preconceived notions about how characters in these type of shows should act. It's like Sunrise realized that after 30 years, it's Char that fans want to watch and not Amuro. But despite this, it never feels like Lelouch is truly winning his war, at least not effortlessly. He's no saint and often even his "ends justify the means" style feels like it goes to far. There is no one truly "evil" in this story, only many souls consumed by hate. Code Geass takes painstaking measures to be as unpredictable as possible, and the plot twists that ensue make it a, I dare say, gripping drama.

Just watch out, because the first season in no way finishes off the story. Lelouch and his war against Brittania won't be finished until at least then.

Petah

When I look back at this show, it becomes quite apparent that it is littered with filth, and in many ways, is filled with stereotypes that would usually put an anime at "mediocre". This includes gratuitous fan service, high school episodes, and laughable product placement.

The interesting thing about this show is that it redeems itself like no other anime. Lelouch has to be one of the most intriguing protagonists in the history of anime and is essentially a big "fuck you" to previous white-knight mecha heroes. While Lelouch has certainly taken a few notes from Light in Death Note, his plans are far more out in the open and action packed. While Light plays chess with his mindgames, Lelouch plays chess with his cavalry and it makes for story that will keep you coming back for more (no matter how campy some of the supporting characters are).

Doomisland

The first season of Code Geass was something fresh to watch and that is why a lot of people enjoyed it. It had a nice blend of different genres to satisfy most people. Unfortunately after a stellar 1st season for the most part season 2 ruined it. Fuck Code Geass.

iddqd

Code Geass is succulently, deliciously, delightfully ironic. It's nearly as ironic as it is Pizza Hut, which makes it... well, in any case, it's a lot of fun to watch. But do yourself a favor, Mr. Prospective Watcher, pretend the second season doesn't exist.

Zorak

Season 2 isn't BAD per se, it just sort of abandons any presumption of limits the first season had, focusing more on being as FABULOUS as possible. The ending was pretty decent, I thought, and a lot of second season was the series' pacing because kicking repeatedly in the groin by publishers forcing the writer to dick around with it.

wielder

Code Geass is a heavily polarizing show that subverts the audience's expectations in ways both good and bad, right from the beginning of its first episode to the end of the second season's last, but somehow the series manages to remain entertaining and interesting all the way through. I give the staff credit for accomplishing that much despite having to deal with unexpected pressures (time slot change).

The main draw is a strong protagonist who gets the lion's share of character development. Lelouch's victories and tragedies lie at the heart of a very theatrical story with too many plot twists, love or hate them, and an appropriate finale.

The importance of almost everything else varies, which also goes for its execution quality. The second season stumbled through because of rushed pacing as well as a number of bad decisions and stupid mistakes, but the main themes still remained, though all too often rather misrepresented. Looking back at the big picture, now that everything's over...I think it was a worthwhile ride and, while messy, not nearly as nonsensical as it can appear to be on the surface. There is a certain method to the madness if you can find a way to appreciate it, but even when all else fails, Code Geass is still one of the more amusing anime series in recent memory.

Daydream

I've been watching both seasons of Code Geass with a friend for a couple of weeks and we just finished it. I must say that this is definitely one of the better anime series out there. Did you like Death Note? This is probably right up your alley. The show got really fucking complicated the last couple of episodes with intrigues and plot twists all over the place and I felt like I got off a station too early on the series' last train of thought to mindfuckery-ville. Nevertheless they got a really nice spin on it in the last episode and I'm very satisfied with the whole series. A clear 5/5

Links

• SA Thread

• Official Code Geass Homepage (Japanese)