Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

What you need to know: 1. Don't expect a ponderous and dignified epic. It wears a grandiose skin, but the show is ultimately a soap opera. 2. If you don't mind melodrama, it's a visually beautiful show, and its commitment to scoring emotional low blows goes so far off the charts as to form something of an attraction in itself. _ anti-character-limit words:The show at first appears to be an epic adventure story, traditional tale of struggle, heroism, sacrifice and singularity of purpose, amid odds so fierce as to make despair seem wisdom and hope a fantasy for fools.

It is not such a story.

It is a story about shit happening whichever peculiar fucked up way gets more clicks, more melodrama, more shares, more complaints, more sycophantic paeans to the creator's daring, and ultimately above all else, more melting heads and breaking keyboards.

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There's no way somebody of my limited intelligence can get this across except by example, and apparently spoilers are banned, so you'll just have to trust me. (or read other reviews where they wisely ignore the spoiler restriction)

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Conclusion:

1. This is not a show for those who like slow, ponderous, dignified, or understated realism.

2. If you want tension, emotion and melodrama, it is just about possible that you may be able to find some here.

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disclaimer: I gave a score of 1 because that was my experience, having been decieved by shit eating liars on the internet into thinking this was a serious show for bespectacled people, but if you go in undeceived, I think the show could be quite fun, and in fact I do plan to go back and watch it all the way through some time.