Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Imagine a small restaurant that sells one specialty food. This restaurant gets a following and it has something good going. Then with the pressure of having to serve more dishes, it turns to something it shouldn't have. It decided to offer foods not remotely related to their specialty food. It began to sell burgers, pasta, sushi, and curry. It became such a jumbled mess that the original specialty food was lost. Though it retained its popularity, it was no longer for the original reason. This, is how I see Code Geass. Code Geass started with a plot that centered around the character Lelouch and his desirefor revenge against his corrupt father. With his mastery in strategy, he leads the rebels against government forces with the use of large machines. This, is a promising start.

However, as the plot progresses, you can see that the story was not carefully crafted beforehand. It seems as though as time passes, new ideas are thrown into the mix and we are taken further and further away from the core of the story. And as the story becomes unnecessarily complex (Using simple ideas and forcibly mutating them to seem complex), they struggle to explain or conclude each part.

To not spoil the show, the end is basically "things look like they went wrong, but it was my plan all along!" This is so cliche and the easy way out in trying to make an ending for the out-of-control story that they no longer had any idea what they were doing with. (see spoiler review below)

Code Geass is good for some amusement, but don't expect a master piece.

<<SPOILER REVIEW>> (a more in-depth review, but with slight spoilers)

I'm going to go back to discuss the ending. Throughout the show, we slowly start to see Lelouch's descent into power madness and corruption. These are the same traits we know his father to have. We see him struggle with the idea that he is becoming like his father...and then we're told at the end that it was all a plot and he did it on purpose... It just cheapens the whole inner struggle. I just find this to be silly.