Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Yesterday, I finished watching the English dubbed version of ‘Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2’ and now, I feel compelled to write this review. It only took me a few marathon days of watching hours and hours on end to smash through the fifty episodes of the two seasons, which for me is a feat in itself considering my hectic school schedule. Even so, every minute I was away from my computer screen, my life was on hold as this extremely addictive, thought provoking and visually awesome anime played on my mind. All I could wonder about was Lelouch and his impossible conquest againstBritannia. To put it simply, ‘Code Geass’ is the greatest anime I’ve watched to date.

I honestly have to ask myself, where do I start? I have to say that the greatest strength of ‘Code Geass’ is its remarkable political complexity. While the subject of revolution may seem cliché and has been used in many forms of literature, film and even anime over and over again, never before have I encountered such an in-depth exposé of the subject. ‘Code Geass’ pulls no punches and fully immerses you within the world of both the fascist regime of Britannia and Zero’s ‘just’ revolutionary army known as The Black Knights. Both armies are brutal, unforgiving and ruthless, always sacrificing whatever it takes to reach their own objective. As the bloody conflict rages on you’ll constantly be asking yourself, do the ends justify the means? Is the lesser evil worth the cost? Your own morality plays an integral part in the viewing experience and if you take an interested in politics ‘Code Geass’ is a must watch, especially if you’re heavily invested in either the right or left wing.

Even if politics isn’t your thing, ‘Code Geass’ will almost certainly have something for you. There’s an insane amount of different themes blended into the story with everything from interesting characters, comedic school life and cute romances to clever military tactics, blood and violence and even sci-fi conspiracies, super human powers and strange alternate worlds. What’s great is that none of these themes turn any of the episodes into pointless fillers, but rather take the viewer deeper into the relationship between these different themes throughout the story. For action fans itching for a fight, this might be a boring diversion but the light-hearted breaks from the bloodshed shine a light upon the injustice of both Britannia and The Black Knights as their conflict affects the entire structure of the society, involving those who never intended to be and changing their lives for better or worse.

This leads into the characters of ‘Code Geass’, and with a large cast of both supporting and main characters, pretty much every outlook and walk of life you could imagine is taken care of. Diversity is key here and the writers and character designers have done an amazing job of creating individuals from every facet of society. Each character is an exhibition of the type of people who’re getting caught up in the conflict. It makes you wonder how others like them around the world are coping, adding a real human element into every character even if they don’t make a major impact to the overall narrative.

The main protagonist, Lelouch, is nothing short of a strategic genius and could only be described as the perfect general. On the battlefield, where failure is never an option, he dons a mask and takes upon the persona of Zero, and his cold, calculating and brutally efficient style of warfare is often carried out with a disturbing level of emotional detachment. The only objective is the one that’s set prior to the mission and Zero will do anything in his power to see that objective completed, even if it means sacrificing his own troops, manipulating those in his way with geass or slaying countless innocent civilians. All this is for the simple goal of preserving his little sister Nunnally and creating his ideal world where she can live in peace. Even so, as we’re exposed to Lelouch and his persona, there’s a certain level of sympathy that we can lend to him as his traumatic past has lead him down a path of death and destruction, all for the sake of avenging his mother’s death and ensuring that Britannia’s warmongering ways will never be repeated again in the future. Is this noble goal worth the sacrifice of millions, if not billions, of people to ensure that countless more won’t be slain? This is where your morality as a viewer comes into play, and I must say, it’s a disturbing thought.

The artwork is another strong point of the series and really goes the extra mile to amplify the intensity of the battle scenes and showcase the fantastic array of possible futuristic technology. The sheer scope and scale of the battles, especially large combat zones crawling with thousands of Knightmare Frames, tanks, aircraft, battleships and other forms of military arsenal, send a shiver up the spine as the vast conflict rages. I highly suggest watching in HD, whether it be streamed or downloaded, as a low definition picture really wouldn’t be able to do justice to the chaotic beauty of these particular scenes and the rest of the visuals in the series. Colours are vivid and lines are clear, however if there was one complaint it would certainly be the proportions of some of the characters as they stand when we’re looking at them from afar. Their physiques are way too thin, but this is only a minor complaint as the art really struts its stuff in fast paced action sequences. When characters aren’t in their Knightmare Frames, it’s the banter that’s the more important.

This is more opinion than anything else but for those who’ve not yet watched the series I would recommend watching ‘Code Geass’ in English dub rather than Japanese for continuity reasons. The English voice acting is of high quality and fits every character to a tee, but the main reason is that Britannia is an empire based in North America with its capital city in what we would call the United States. There’s no reason why any of the Britannian citizens or nobles would speak Japanese, except for a select few who live in Japan, and even then, considering the distaste towards ‘Elevens’ as they’re now known, it’s unlikely that they would even make an effort to speak Japanese at all. Even the students at Ashford Academy don’t have much of a reason considering it’s a school exclusively for Britannians and Honorary Britannians and not Japanese. It would make sense for English to have become a standardised language throughout the world during this time period as Britannia is the world’s major power in terms of military, politics and trade, with Japan only being a small conquered region. Just my two cents on why the English dub is preferable over the Japanese audio.

A further major point, as the explanation of the rules of the geass power become more and more abstract as time goes on, I would encourage some viewers to take the time to rewatch some scenes to understand just how it works because by the second season comes around, geass users, those affected by geass and the rules of geass become increasingly difficult to keep track of, which could cause a great deal of confusion for some viewers especially when it comes down to decisive moments within the story. This is also true for the philosophy of both sides and their reasoning for why they fight, as these issues become more complex as the war rages on and those fighting begin to question their reasoning behind their participation in the bloodbath.

With its complex take on world issues and the human condition, ‘Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion’ and it’s follow up season ‘Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: R2’ proves to be one of the greatest anime to ever hit the small screen. While questioning your own moral compass at every turn, you’ll be biting your nails on the edge of your seat, wondering how Lelouch will command his army of Black Knights to victory and just what drives him to commit the atrocities that he orders. Is it out of hatred and vengeance for Britannia and its tyrannical regime? Or perhaps a sense of justice for the people of Japan and the rest of the world? Maybe it really is just for the sake of his little sister’s safety, or is that simply a guise to justify a lust for power? With a scale and scope I’ve personally never seen in an anime series before, you and your own morality will be the judge.