Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

You ever see one of those places that makes fast food items but does them really fancy and gourmet? (Yes, this is an Anime review, just stick with me for a bit.) They make burgers and fries, but instead of using passable and cheap ingredients, they put time, effort, and resources into their product and make something that resembles what you see at a chain franchise, but after you've eaten it realize it's so much more than that. That is what Sunrise's "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" is. A great Anime disguised as a garden variety mech. Any great TV show, movie, etc. isgonna rely on a great story and great characters. This has both. In an alternate universe, in 2010, Japan gets conquered by the Holy Empire of Britannia. Re-named "Area 11" and is subjugated to a new, tyrannical rule by a bunch of fancy, pompous, bad guys with royal titles and really over the top outfits. These guys are easy to hate. Naturally, a rebellion starts up. Rag tag heroes we can easily get behind. Both sides use mechs (called Knightmare Frames) as primary weapons, but they are not the center of the story and the end all, be all of winning the battle like most other shows. The characters are the money. Lelouch, our titular character who is suddenly endowed with a magical power to will anyone to obey his commands, commands our attention as a master tactician even without his ability. Kururugi, torn between loyalties to country and those he is sworn to serve, easy to empathize with. Kallen, the endearing, bad ass resistance chick who also provides most of the fan service in the show, those are just 3 of what is a very rich cast with good depth of character to each of them.

The writing in this show utilizes this cast and provides some of the best story telling and plot twists I have seen this side of "Death Note" all while giving us great scenes of combat with giant robots for those who need a fix of that sweet, sweet, 'splosion porn. This is all beautifully done with some gorgeous art and character designs that are bright, vibrant, and colorful providing a good contrast to the nightmare of war that so often surrounds them. My only complaint being they are too long and lanky in some ways, can somebody get these guys a sandwich? I realize war doesn't add meat to bones, but not everyone in this show needs to look like a scarecrow. I digress. You put all of it together and you have a new standard for greatness for the mech genre.

While I adore this series on the whole, some things did bother me, and one is too much time putzing around in (you guessed it) A *BLEEPING* HIGH SCHOOL!!! It's a prestigious academy, etc, where all these teenagers would naturally meet and interact, so it makes sense as a plot device, but we spend much too much time here doing event planning and Character X has a crush on Character Y. As good as the writing is, some of the subplots are too drawn out and the cat and mouse game of when will this character learn the truth about this other character, which they inevitably do, gets tiresome when you know it's going to happen at some point. Even with this however, the 24 episode season is immensely binge worthy and these speed bumps do little to harm the pace of plot.

Sub vs. Dub time. This was a tough one. I must admit. But, I really like the English dub better than the Japanese cast. Mainly because Johnny Yong Bosch gives the performance of his career as Lelouch. With this he has forever separated himself from the "Power Rangers" franchise and establishes himself as one of the premier voice actors in the English dub world. The rest of the cast is hit or miss at times, but he makes it all worth it. Top the rest of the ear driven experience off with great sound effects and a very good score in the show (I found the opening and closing credits music to be basic and skippable) and you have a complete experience for the senses.

My personal journey into this show was like most others, word of mouth, "This is great! You should watch it." I saw commercials with big robots blowing stuff up. Sounds good, looks good, okay- I tuned in one day and I saw our main character chasing a cat who had run off with his helmet. "Okay, this is a waste of time..." was my reaction and I moved on to other things. After giving the show a proper watch, I realized how wrong I was and how I had walked in at one of the silliest scenes possible. This show inspires interest and gets you emotionally invested all while being supremely entertaining. This is everything one could ask for in an Anime and more than you could ever expect from a show with giant robots. This show is fantastic. Not perfect, but damn close. 8/10. Check it out. Cheers!