Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Code Geass is one of the most well-known and loved anime of all time. Why? Because of it's grand, theatrical story that has tons of plot twists and turns. When I had first watched this, I was turned off by the mecha aspect of the anime, but went on to watch it because I was intrigued by it's "change the world for the better" psychological aspect (+ obviously it's crazy popularity). I am happy to tell you that Code Geass exceeded my expectations in both aspects, the anime was fantastic and definitely worth the watch, for everybody. “If strength is justice, then is powerlessness acrime?” - Lelouch Lamperouge Vi Britannia
This one quote pretty much sums up the anime. Social hierarchy in society. Equity among the people. Fairness. What the right form of government is, what the right way to rule the people are. Secrets, Deceits, Revenge, Power-Corruption, Friendship/Hatred, Love, Temptation, Evil/Good. This is a story of a classic hero's psychological and political struggle in his reality (similar to our reality)

Code Geass put simply revolves around an abandoned prince of the Holy Brittanian Empire (think of it like a royal country like Great Britain, but has the world power of the US), Lelouch Vi Britannia and his journey into rebelling against his father, King Charles Vi Britannia and creating a new world/society. Of course, the story would have been nice (possibly boring though) if it was more realistic; Code Geass is NOT realistic what-so-ever despite these true disgusting aspects of our reality being portrayed ingeniously. Lelouch obtains the "Power of the Kings" (Geass Power) that makes anyone who looks him in the eye directly obey his command. Using this power, the grand tale of Lelouch Lamperouge Vi Britannia unfolds. This is a psychological and political anime. The ideologies in the anime were beautifully portrayed and clashed with one another. Is murder wrong? Even if it means saving more people? What about "justice", how do we fairly carry out justice? Evil? Good? How do we distinguish between them? Human Nature, can we ever change it? Fate and Destiny, does it exist? Hope. What is hope? Is there hope for our world? The story has a buttload of questions with twists and turns that'll blow some people's minds and enlighten others. Overall the anime is quite fast-paced and doesn't linger around useless dialogue too often, which makes the anime all the more entertaining and captivating. Though, because of this there are a number of plot-holes here and there, leaving questions unanswered and thus confusing the viewers as to what happened to the ____, or ____. Furthermore a big problem with Code Geass' plot is because it seemed like the writers couldn't decide whether they wanted to add in school-life into the anime, but why add that into an anime that's something like a second coming of Hitler-World Domination story... The school scenes were touching~ly pathetic and a waste of Code Geass' time. But... that's okay, Code Geass' main plot was still superb. Like honestly, on paper, there are so many things about Code Geass that shouldn’t work. It's overall elements don’t really blend together; the mix of high school drama with the liberation of Japan via use of mechas' is quite the strange combination. Things that shouldn't be connected are, and outside the classroom the same characters are fighting each other in a war for freedom, like uh... what the hell. But somehow Code Geass makes it work. No, they make it into one hell of a masterpiece. Plus a side-bonus about the overall plot I really liked was that although there's one obvious "main" plot, there are also lots of sub-set plots as well that end up intertwining with the main plot to eventually create a satisfying (*cough* cliff-hanger *cough*) end.

Characters is one of all the points that Code Geass really excelled at, despite having a second main character that absolutely sucks balls: Suzaku Kurushit... But whatever who cares about him when there's the soul and heart of Code Geass, the most popular anime character ever, Emperor Lelouch Lamperpouge Vi Britannia. Lelouch is quite the unrealistic and childish character who somehow makes a great tragic hero that the audience can watch with respect and compassion as he strives to become an evil greater than evil itself in order to overcome evil and change the world for the better, yet maintain his humanity and pure dreams. Lelouch is quite the courageous, manipulative/smart and morally ambiguous (good or evil) character; my favorite type of main character. His character is pretty deep if I do say so myself. Lelouch was betrayed by his family, his loved ones, and eventually his friends. Lelouch was betrayed by the rotten world. With his burning hatred for the rotten world, he becomes a masked legend-knight serving for "Justice and Truth"; he's known as Zero. Lelouch never revealing his identity by wearing a mask symbolizes his lack of a true identity. Throughout the anime, Lelouch is struggling to truly find his identity. Lelouch is always at a constant battle with not only the world, but with himself. As Lelouch goes further and further in achieving his dreams, he is forced to make harsher and harsher choices and keep himself from crossing the line into the point of corruption and insanity (Lelouch is literally like a non-psychopathic and "Good and Genius" version of Hitler). Lelouch is truly a tragic hero: The wise Aristotle and Shakespeare stated that a Tragic Hero had to be
1. Of Noble Status (Lelouch is the Prince of the Holy Britannian Empire and later literally becomes King of the entire world)
2. Hamartia - Have a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, which you'll see in Lelouch constantly throughout the series.
3. Peripeteia - a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero's tragic flaw. Lelouch's downfall towards the end of the first season (this season)
4. And finally in his downfall, his actions result in an increase of self- awareness and self-knowledge. He reaches a sense of "Enlightenment" and sends a message to the viewers. # The audience must feel pity and fear for this character. -- This is Lelouch. His end acceptance of his consequences.

The characters all have unique ideals and motives, which causes conflict throughout the entire series. The characters are portrayed in a way that makes it difficult to determine who exactly is in the right. Even if your ideals are just, do the ends justify the means? Can you truly change anything with out taking huge, and sometimes costly, risks? These are some of the questions the characters are constantly struggling with. Code Geass also does a great job showing the humanity of the characters. There is genuine joy, and happiness, and there are moments of intense rage, and bitter sadness. The main characters in this series are well rounded and developed. C.C (whose identity is never revealed but in Greek Mythology C.C = Circe, whom is a sorcerer, a source of temptation for heroes which reflects C.C's role in Code Geass). Even though we don’t get as much information on the supporting characters, they all play their parts well too. They are unique, and they all add something different to the overall story. All characters are 3 dimensional and their own specific personalities shape what they do. Everyone has a fatal flaw take adds a lot towards the story. Characters: 10/10.

The art was stunningly beautiful, it looks as high quality as anime made in 2014, such as the Fate series. The characters were all distinctively different, which is quite tragically not the case for most anime. Lelouch = Royal, C.C = Beautiful~ Suzaku can go die~ The mecha were nicely designed, but I won't say that I enjoyed watching the mecha because I despise mecha. The sound of Code Geass is another aspect where the show really excelled. The openings very nice--they give a great impression of what's to come in the anime. But.. the endings were mehhh... The soundtrack was great, especially "The Master", "Madder Sky" "Stories" and "Continued Stories"; beautiful~ The music certainly added to the suspense of the fight/dramatic scenes, and the feels of the sad/touching scenes. The voice cast was great, both sub and dub (yes, even dub, in fact in my opinion Code Geass' dub was even better than the sub). Lelouch's voice was way too deep to fit Lelouch in the sub, but Johnny Yong Bosch fit/executed Lelouch' voice perfectly in the dub.

Code Geass was a thrilling ride from beginning to end (Season 2 isn't as good as Season 1 but the ending... The end of the entire show [season 2] is probably the greatest ending I've ever seen to a show). Code Geass is a classic, and it’s one you probably won’t want to miss out on. Overall, I'd go to the point of calling Code Geass an iconic anime; a model for future psychological "tragic hero" masterpieces to come. Sure you may not like the anime, but Code Geass is definitely a show you should give a try and decide for yourself whether you like it or not.