Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

(Note: this review is for both seasons of Code Geass) Many regard Code Geass as one of the best anime of all time, and I fully understand why: it's compelling, unique, action-packed, and ultimately entertaining. Unfortunately, I disagree with those who hail this show as a masterpiece, and this is primarily due to the poor writing of a few key components—aspects such as the deuteragonist, Suzaku Kururugi, and the antagonist, Britannia. While Code Geass possesses a great theme and an intriguing plot, its characters are what brings it down to a 7/10. Plot: 10/10 Let us start on a good note: the plot of Code Geass is oneof the most intriguing ones there is. Put simply, an outcasted prince, Lelouch, revolts against Nazi Germany in the form of Britannia (Great Britain) and is given a supernatural power that allows him to compel others to obey him. The story touches prevalent themes such as "does the end justify the means" and "is it better to change things from the inside or use war." Implementing these themes is a brilliant move because the show does not have to give any exposition to explain these themes as they are concepts almost all are familiar with, therefore not slowing down the pacing as a result. There are very few plot holes present, which puts Code Geass on that upper echelon of anime. If I were to rate solely on plot, Code Geass would be one of the greatest anime of all time. Unfortunately, its plot suffers due to inherent flaws that stem from its characters and conflict with its themes. To be specific, one of the weaknesses is its "school life" aspect. The "school life" illustrates what Lelouch is not doing when fighting Britannia as Zero, and how careful he has to be to keep his identity secret as well as build relationships outside of his rebellion. Unfortunately, the writers struggled to execute this idea and instead decided to input tons of crappy comedy that comes off as weird instead of funny. The most famous evidence of this is the "cat" episode, where Lelouch is chasing after his Zero helmet worn by a cat, and the student council turns it into a competition. The event focuses on developing the bond between Lelouch and the deuteragonist, Suzaku, but unfortunately falls flat on its face while doing so. Another major flaw is its battles: there will be significant battles that have tension, and the outcome is unpredictable. However, the presence of escape pods removes all pressure as nobody ever dies in a mech. While it's conceivable to craft escape pods, is it inconceivable to craft something to combat that? Every time Lelouch is about to kill one of the main antagonists, they just escape pod out of there, and it gets old after the second time. Still, Code Geass has a masterpiece of a plot despite some of its flaws.

Art: 8/10
The art is one of the more controversial aspects of Code Geass due to character designs. While they are attractive at first, whenever we see their whole body, we vomit. The bodies of all the characters look like they've been fasting their whole life-maybe fat-shaming is prevalent in its world. Also, it doesn't help when the characters are taller than the average anime design, further emphasizing how anorexic these characters are.
On the other hand, the background scenery is beautiful and makes it feel like an alternate timeline while maintaining believability. Individual buildings look futuristic and otherworldly; others seem very similar to our own. The actual animation is nothing to scoff at, the fight sequences are very fluid and are some of the best in the mecha genre. It uses some 3D animation, but while watching, I couldn't even tell. However, due to Code Geass being a mecha anime, it would be wrong to ignore the actual designs of the mechs. Unfortunately, if I had to rank the mech designs from the most popular mecha anime series, Code Geass would rank pretty low. They lack unique patterns and color designs; the legs of the mechs are very awkward as well. Overall, the art in Code Geass is a very solid 8/10, even with its flaws, the fluid animation boosts it to the "excellent" status.

Sound: 7/10
The music of Code Geass is somewhat underwhelming. Most of the OST utilizes trumpets and fanfare. Some tracks sounded beautiful; unfortunately, it was difficult to differentiate them and, as a result, lacked variety, which contributes to the 7/10. The first OP and ED sound marvelous: the former pumps you up, and the latter compels you to watch the next episode. However, not only are the next OP and ED terrible in terms of sound, but the second OP reuses the same animation as the first one. I just cannot condone laziness. Moving on to the voice acting, I was one of the people who decided to watch Code Geass in English; this was due to the Japanese voice actor of Lelouch sounding like his balls dropped so low that they could touch the ground. While the Japanese voice is compelling as Zero, and at times was very good; unfortunately, it wasn't the same for the rest of the Japanese cast.
On the other hand, the English VAs all had voices that didn't stand out as weird or unrealistic. I would recommend watching this in English due to the fact it makes more sense in terms of story and the belief that a good English dub will almost always be better than the Japanese version, no matter how great the sub is. My only criticism is the English VA for Lelouch sounded "fake" during those school life moments, and that is a large part as to why those moments failed. Whenever Suzaku and Lelouch spoke to each other, their relationship felt superficial and fake, partly due to the voice acting. Other than that, I have no complaints.

Characters: 6/10
The character side is where things take a turn for the worse. Due to many inherent flaws that connect, it is complicated to discuss why the characters are underwhelming; therefore, I'll talk about the well-written aspects of the main characters first. So, let us start with our protagonist, Lelouch Lamperouge: he is dynamic, engaging, likable, compelling, and well-written. He is primarily a Char Clone (not that it's a bad thing). It is easy to get caught up with his charisma and goal of creating a better world while destroying Britannia. It makes sense that he is number one on MAL in favorites. Next up is the tritagonist, Kallen Stadtfeld, who is in a unique situation and gets a good deal of character development early on regarding this individual situation. As a result, she becomes a likable and memorable character in the series. In terms of supporting cast, Shirley is at the top and is one of my favorite characters in this series. What sets her apart from the cast is that she is Britannian and does not hate the Japanese. This decision makes her likable, which is something many of the series' characters lack. Not to mention her subplot is where the series got interesting for me. Now, it's time to talk about the bad, and oh boy, do things get bad. Let's begin with CC. She feels like Rei Ayanami but sarcastic and likes pizza but not philosophical. As a result, she becomes very flat and is essentially waifu bait. Kallen, while she starts well, gets no character development the res of series, and her later actions contradict her personalty and are senseless. Not to mention, she turns into a fan service character almost immediately after receiving development. Then there's Britannia as a whole: as the main antagonist, Britannia does a phenomenal job at making you hate them. However, that's where the problem lies. Britannia feels like Nazi Germany, the only thing missing is extermination camps. They are racist, arrogant, selfish, rude, and utterly evil. The very first act they perform is killing a whole district full of Japanese as a publicity stunt to blame the terrorists and better their public image. Now you might say you don't see any problems with that in terms of making them the villain, and you would be correct. Here is where that complicates things: the studio writes Lelouch as an anti-hero, and Suzaku is Japanese and fighting for Britannia, the nation discriminating against his people. Starting with the former, Lelouch performs questionable acts throughout the story and uses war as a means to an end, as the audience we are supposed to question his methods and at times feel as if he is the villain, similarly as we do with Light Yagami in Death Note. Unfortunately, this does not occur; we never question Lelouch's actions because Britannia is so evil that there is nothing one could do to become worse than them. As a result, Lelouch fails as an anti-hero due to Britannia. The theme also suffers as a result because we never consider the opposition to our own belief that "the end does justify the means." This fiasco is due to my next point: Suzaku Kururugi. Suzaku is a Japanese who is a Britannian soldier. Why is he a soldier? To save people, however, throughout the show, Suzaku kills more people than he saves (he saves like one person, and that's in the first episode). His hypocrisy is intolerable, and he is unlikable instead of what the writers meant, which was likable. Once again, this stems from Britannia being irredeemably evil. Suzaku's lack of self-respect is frustrating and ruins your enjoyment, unfortunately. In addition to his belief in saving people, Suzaku also believes in "changing things from the inside." This belief establishes him as a foil to Lelouch's "war solves problems" mentality. Saying he makes Britannia better by rising through the ranks. However, Suzaku is not Britannian and is not a politician. He is Japanese and a soldier, he is essentially the bottom of the barrel. Let me put it in a way that's easier to understand. Suzaku is essentially a Jewish person claiming that they can change Adolf Hitler's mind about exterminating the Jewish and will do that by fighting for him. Do you know how dumb that sounds? Remarkably dumb. As a result, what was supposed to be a compelling argument between beliefs becomes an annoying, childish tantrum on Suzaku's side. You will never support any character associated with Britannia, but instantly encourage anyone associated with Lelouch. The relationship between Suzaku and Lelouch feels superficial and fake. The show makes them out to be life long friends, but it appears they only spent six months together and didn't see each other for over a decade. Now, I mentioned before how the voice acting plays a role in this but the dialogue too. Nothing meaningful and believable happens between the two of them, all of it feels forced and doesn't come off as organic. Not to mention all the students except Shirley are racist and unlikable. Initially, I thought this was clever and well written. However, what changed my mind is when they tried having Lelouch bond with people with racist ideas and who outright insult the Japanese, which contrasts his beliefs. There are just way too many dumb decisions by the characters. Even Lelouch makes some due to his "special" friendship with Suzaku that doesn't feel like that. Euphemia is another character that feels shallow: we are supposed to support her endeavor to delegate equality between Britannians and Japanese. Unfortunately, we just can't support it because it goes against Lelouch's beliefs, and even common sense knows it won't work. Her naivety is supposed to be cute but comes off as annoying. Overall, the characters had interesting concepts but fell flat because of Britannia's evil actions and attempting to humanize them. While this seems like one flaw, it is a flaw to causes a domino effect where other character aspects fail as well. In the end, Code Geass' characters could've been something special, and, unfortunately, they never reached their potential.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Honestly, this can range anywhere from 1/10 to 10/10. It depends on how much you focus on whether a character makes sense or not. The more you focus, the less enjoyment you gain. However, because the plot is so compelling, you will, at times, HATE certain characters, and a single decision can make you LOVE another person. There exists such a polarizing contrast between their nature that can either raise or lower your enjoyment. I, personally, had a tough time stomaching the show with its dumb characters, other than Lelouch, Shirley, and Rolo, I hated almost all the characters. I typically enjoy "unlikeable" characters. Most of my favorite characters are incredibly flawed. An example of this being that my favorite anime character of all time being Shinji Ikari, one of the least liked characters ever. However, there is a difference between likability and how well-written a person is. In CG's case, they're unlikable because of poor writing. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed CG's remarkable plot and its action.

Overall: 7/10
Code Geass is no masterpiece and is overrated, in my opinion. However, it is quite damn enjoyable and has the potential to be a masterpiece if Sunrise ever decides to make season three. I humbly recommend this polarizing anime to you and hope you have at least as much fun I had when watching it.