Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

There are several popular anime whose success is difficult to understand, but perhaps none more so than Code Geass. This anime has been called a masterpiece by various sources, often using such adjectives as "deep". This strikes me as a bit odd, because if there's one thing that I think the show lacks, it's intelligence. The premise seems reminiscent of Death Note, setting up an allegedly intelligent male high school student against incredible odds while armed with nothing but his wit and an incredibly potent superpower. In the case of Code Geass, however, the power the protagonist is given is too useful and lacking inany particular weaknesses to allow the kind of entertaining intellectual competition that was present in Death Note. Perhaps to try and compensate for this, the series contains several battles between armies of mecha, but the action in these is actually somewhat dull, and they quickly become repetitive and predictable.

These problems are fairly minor compared to some of Code Geass' other issues though. For one, the characters are archetypical and uninteresting, although that problem becomes more apparent in the next season than in this one. Some of them are quite grating as well, a trait for which Suzaku, one of the most important characters in the series, deserves special mention. The plot is a bigger problem than the characters are. It starts off tolerable enough, with the premise looking like it might deliver an enjoyable conflict between Lelouch and his opposition, but it kind of collapses toward the end of the season. About twenty episodes in, an event occurs that makes it look like there will be an end to all hostilities and Lelouch is unwilling to stop it. This could actually have served as a possible ending to the series, but instead it is resolved with one of the most contrived and nonsensical occurrences I've ever witnessed in anime. The next few episodes seem to waste a bit of time almost, and then it ends with a cliffhanger ending that could also have possibly served as an ending to the series but is also resolved by an utterly nonsensical chain of events that makes several supposedly intelligent characters embarrass themselves so that there can be a second season.

The art and sound are less worrying. The art style is kind of strange and not visually appealing, but it also isn't terrible. The music is actually somewhat enjoyable and the voice acting is competent. There are a few other things that work somewhat as well. It's kind of enjoyable to watch the fight scenes early on and there are some conflicts that Lelouch gets out of using reasonable tactics rather than something impossible or a deus ex machina. There's a few episodes early on that are fairly solid, and Lelouch is tolerable as a protagonist.

So that's Code Geass. A poorly written anime with a messy plot and bad characters. Its creators clearly thought that they were more clever than I think they are, and evidently a lot of people agree with them. The bright side is that this season has a few strengths and is certainly not as terrible as the second season is.