Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Code Geass is an anime with continual surprises, both good and bad. Often, episodes featuring conflicts boil down to unseen and unknown trump cards being pulled out at the last possible second to save character(s) from certain destruction. More on that in a bit. Lelouche, the main character, is ... a narcissist on a mission. That plants him in anti-hero territory fairly firmly. There's a lot to find "cool" about Lelouche but not many qualities to actually admire or emulate. He's a great and at times insanely good strategist. He loves his sister, presumably, and is doing what he does for her... again, presumably. He alsohas very little regard for actual friends or allies and sees most as pawns in a chess game. Again, it certainly is a character archetype but he's not anyone I'd want to spend much time around. He moves the story forward. Much more relatable is his counterpart, Suzaku, who is a good, earnest kid caught up in a political machine that only partly values him for his usefulness as a pilot. Fortunately, there's plenty of storytelling that pits Lelouche and Suzaku against one another... and of course, they were childhood friends once, so now their interactions have that much more gravitas. There are definitely some moments where you feel pity for or anger towards these characters, the interpersonal stories do a good job of drawing you in.

The "real robot" mecha designs are pretty good to great overall. Some characters have superhuman abilities, though these are not related to piloting their mechs as much as they are, well, "magic" or mutant powers, essentially. The origins behind this power are touched on, and the mysticism is a heavier theme in the "R2" second season.

Story-wise, it's a rebellion against the empire tale. This is cut with some slice-of-life stuff involving the students of a prestigious academy, which our two protagonists attend. Episodes involving antics around the school do break up the wartime dread, but tonally it can also be a bit of a whiplash as the greater conflict of nations starts to bleed into the zany happenings with a bunch of teens at university.

I'm enjoying the series, but man, are there a lot of "pull X out of your ear to save the day" situations where the tension ramps up and all seems dire... until a sudden twist of fate turns the tables. Again and again. Usually this is some scheme Lelouche put into play earlier on, recapped in a flashback of prior events we haven't seen until now, to try to drive home his being a strategist. This doesn't let up in the second "R2" season, either. They double down on it if anything. So, if you prefer storytelling that is a little easier to follow and where characters have to adjust to circumstances as they come, where triumph is hard won if won at all, rather than be pulled from the frying pan by a carefully laid plan set up hours or days beforehand... you'll probably roll your eyes a lot during this show.

Generally, a pretty gorgeous show to watch. Character designs are pretty good throughout but there's a bit of same-y qualities as the cast expands episode by episode. There's a good bit of gratuitous shots of curvy ladies, but a few of the boys are thrown into tight jumpsuits as well. Oh, and there are a LOT of product placements for Pizza Hut. Take a shot every time you see one, you'll have a blast... but by the end of the show, if you binge it, you might get alcohol poisoning.

Overall, enjoyable. Early on, I got into it and wanted to buy some of the merchandise, so it did its job on that front. By the end of season 1, I wanted to dive right into season 2, so that's an accomplishment as well. The show deserves many of the high marks it gets, but it isn't perfect. Then again, what is?