Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

I’ll have to say, the most intriguing part about this story to me was definitely its protagonist — our anti-hero, Lelouch Lamperouge (aka Zero). Not to forget the ULTRA-HYPE opening song “Colours” in the first half of the season >almost unfathomable but that is exactly what makes him very much a three-dimensional (or more!) character, unlike most of the other characters in the show. And it is his character that makes a captivating premise for the whole series — exiled royalty fighting to overturn the power of his own father, the head of a kingdom called Britannia which colonises & oppresses the story’s fictional Japan, who is mysteriously linked to the killing of Lelouch’s mother.

Throughout, Lelouch executes iffy plans and makes risky decisions which question his morality in the process of achieving his goal: to defeat his father and seek revenge for his mother and sister Nunally. The story development jumps ahead a little too quickly at times, and really only gets to a good, adrenaline-pumping pace in the last 8 episodes. Prior to that, the leaps in logic and lack of character development that come up don’t really sit well with me. Irrelevant fan service (not that it is normally relevant) did no service to improving the enjoyment of the story, as it was unfortunately pinned mostly on one poor Kallen and did not add any value to the scenes where it featured. Perhaps it was to break up the cold, uptight nature Kallen had but uhhh… yea.

Character relationships also were lacking as it was not given much coverage or development, probably owing to the need for plot development. This was a pity to me especially in the case of Suzaku and Princess Euphy, who shared similar ideals and were closely linked to each other; in my opinion, this could have been fleshed out more regardless of how the plot had to progress — in fact, more personal and relationship developments may even have made some story developments leave an even stronger impression on viewers. Nevertheless, the core of the story and the lighthearted scenes in between made up for the show’s shortcomings to some extent. AND, I did come out of season 1 itching— no, I didn’t even have time to itch because I went straight into it— to start on season 2. So all the “potential areas for development” that I mentioned can pretty much be overlooked owing entirely to the core storyline of Code Geass and its protagonist.

Overall: Honestly, other than the story’s novel premise & protagonist (though these are HUGE factors to give merit to — they were honestly CAPTIVATING), and the exciting build up towards the end, Code Geass wasn’t a show which made me feel that “ok NEXT EPISODE!” adrenaline rush for most of it. There was also a lot more room for characters’ personal and relationship developments but instead the show simply glosses over many things and the story jumps over things erratically. STILL, worth watching to THE END… and no less.