Review of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Very over the top and very edgy. But for the first time, that kind of anime exaggeration feels like an upside. It also has my favorite quote in all of anime. "The only promise a man doesn't break, is a promise he makes to himself." This perfectly describes Lelouch. In a horrifying world where Britain continues to colonize most of the modern world. Lelouch, an exiled prince, swears to exact revenge on his father. He leads two lives, one as a British noble studying at a school in Japan. The other is an enigmatic leader of a Japanese resistance group. Code Geass is interesting because you canview it as many stories in one. Most are good, but some are bad. The most obvious one is the overarching plot of the fictional Japanese resistance against the British empire, with all its politics, strategy and plotting. But there's the substory of every character individually. Furthermore, there's also the story of the relationships between all these characters.

The most interesting nexus of all these stories is the main character, Lelouch. An intelligent, narcissistic and cutthroat teenager with a newfound strange superpower. His personal story has been an absolute treat to watch. Not to mention, the show does a tremendous job of taking into account his personality + motives and translating that into how he treats others.

There are some bad aspects of the show, but they're mostly on par with usual anime faults. The most annoying one is that the school life aspect of the show is incredibly boring. The least interesting characters are the ones from the school (not counting the ones that exist outside the school too). There's also some random fanservice. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's kind of shocking how explicit it is. The fact that it's a mecha anime is also a downside for me because mecha fights are kind of boring.