Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Length: 25 episodes (27 including recap specials) Airdate: 2006-2007 Demographic: Shounen (should be Seinen) Genre: Mecha, Military, Sci-fi, Fantasy Plot Synopsis 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 terrorists 11's who've stolen a military secret and is caught by a member of theBritannian task force sent after them, who is 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 Zero to lead the rebellion to destroy Britannia once and for all.
(From Anime News Network)
Personal Opinion
When watching this series I immediately noticed similarities to 3 other animes i've watched. However, Code Geass surpasses two of them and matches the third in quality. So here is the list of the three similar animes and my comparisons
- Death Note
This was the most apparent one early on. In Death Note, Light gains the power to kill anyone w/ no trace left behind... he uses this ability to make a utopia which he can be a god over. In Code Geass, Lelouch gains the ability of persuasion and uses this ability to attempt to overthrow the Brittanian government. Both Light and Lelouch are manipulative and show no remorse by the end of the series.
As for differences. Almost nothing could surprise Light in Death Note... Lelouch was suprised frequently throughout Code Geass. Death Note dealt with 1 or 2 key character interactions... Code Geass deals w/ many more. Light appeared almost inhuman in Death Note at a few points... showing no emotions or regret... Lelouch actually shows some understanding of what he is doing and at times... appears weak.
Indeed Code Geass succeeds whens Death Note fails. CG expanded the battle of intellect while managing to appeal to action fans with intense non-disorienting fights. The character interactions in CG take it to another level... which leads to anime similarity #2
- Gundam SEED
The usage of Mecha, and two childhood friends reuniting on opposite sides of the battlefield. Those were the first major similarities to SEED. But other then that... towards the second half of the series, the themes of "war is evil" starts to emerge... and you start to sympathize and criticize both sides.
In differences, SEED... although bleak at times... always showed hope for a bright outcome... Code Geass starts off dark... gets darker... teases us w/ happy ending... before crushing all chances and becoming pitch black. CG is incredibly tragic... with episode 22-23 almost bringing me to tears (if you know me... you know that this is rare).
As for why Code Geass is better... well the simple answer is that it expanded when SEED didn't... the same reason i stated w/ Death Note.
Now for the show it matched...
- Eureka Seven
The similarities in this case aren't in the plot and characters... rather aesthetics. Instead of sky surfing mechs, we had roller-blading ones (no joke... but it's still quite cool). The military Knightmare Frames (the name of the mechs in Code Geass) had similar coloring and design to the KLFs of E7. The main mech in series, the Lancelot, had a similar design to the main mech of E7, the "Nirvash" typeZERO. This can be explained due to the fact that the writer of Code Geass was the writer of Eureka Seven. On an unrelated note... the first opening for CG was made by the same artist who made he first opening for E7. (=P)
As for differences... way too many to list...
In fact... that's why I can't name a better of the two. Both are excellent in their own right but are too different to be compared. Eureka Seven was beautiful... Code Geass was awesome. There's a difference.
The ending of Code Geass is such a cliffhanger that it's obvious that there'll be a sequel series... indeed it's confirmed. Code Geass; Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 is set for release in Spring 08 (coinciding w/ it's first season release on Adult Swim). I look forward to finding out what happened, and how the plot advances...
9/10
Similar to...
Stated above