This review will cover both seasons of Code Geass Lelouch of The Rebellion.
When you people ask me what is your first favourite anime it would be Code Geass. The answer is not surprising to anyone as you will often meet people who have Code Geass as their first anime and I am no different. Before Code Geass came into my life, I always thought anime was nothing more than glorified cartoons on TV.
Sure I did watch some episodes of the Slayers, Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop back in the day, but my younger self thought they were Family Guy, South Park tier of cartoons meaning I was basically too young to watch them and the majority of my early anime years I was watching Pokemon, Beyblade as well the Dragon Ball franchise and Bleach. That mindset all changed when I decided to surf the internet and watch Code Geass out of pure curiosity as my friends back in the day told me to come out of my baby anime phase and watch real anime. My younger self was blown away by how smart, and engaging the show was. I was better than I had seen back in the day and it ended up being my favourite anime.
That was all in 2010 however it’s now it’s 2021 and I have seen tons of anime and Code Geass while not being my number 1 favourites due to certain show’s beating it it’s still one of my personal favourite anime even with its flaws.
The experience of watching Code Geass’s story play out is like riding on a roller-coaster. It’s bombastic, but it has a lot of charm and substance, making it intriguing to watch.
Out of all of the anime redux that I have done so far, this was the anime redux that I wanted to do the most. I didn’t give Code Geass the justice that it deserves. Heck my original Code Geass R2 review was just my pathetic attempt of crapping on it for the sake of fitting in with the anime elitist crowd at the time despite not watching re-watching R2. I was insecure at the time and I didn’t want to get mocked for having an opinion that will displease the elitist crowd.
Heck Code Geass is the primary reason why I started doing these anime redux is not only I wanted to take some of my older anime reviews and bring them up to my currently reviewing standards, but I want to share my updated views on the show which I have re-watched about 5 times since my original Code Geass R2 review.
Before producing this review, I have watched and read some of the most negative and positive reviews out there and part of my review has been inspired by these reviews alone. I feel it’s fair to tackle the show’s strengths and weaknesses despite being a personal favourite of mine.
I also re-watched the show alongside my other reviews that I’m currently working on such as Gurren Lagann, Shakugan no Shana and Slayers which will all be released this year.
From the very first of R1 to the finale of R2 I was hooked into the story of Code Geass.
I wanted to see how Lelouch aka Zero achieved his goal of taking down the Holy Britannian Empire. I wanted to see the effects of the war on a national scale.
I was amazed at how did Code Geass did all that nicely well.
Code Geass tackles the themes of mortality, genocide, racism, terrorism, reasonably in a coherent and meaningful way. It’s a show that makes you think about topics that are still going. Not only that, I found the politics in Code Geass to be intriguing to watch. It was nice seeing our characters share their political views as well as having those views clash with one another. This was achieved by the show’s excellent writing. Despite the show being set in an alternative universe of our own the show managed to make the setting believable as we do see the lore and conflicts in the show universe.
That’s not all Code Geass has to offer. Just like Full Metal Panic, and Eureka Seven it tries to combine various genres into one package and I feel that concept was fully realised here..
To begin with, it doesn’t suffer from an identity crisis as everything from the High School hi-jinks to Military Warfare has a purpose. The school stuff despite having a lighter tone for the most part serves as downtime for Lelouch and Suzaku, foreshadowing plot elements to the thematic social commentary of racism, terrorism from a students perspective. Episode 6 is a prime example of this. What could have been a pointless filler episode ended up being a social commentary about racism from a student perspective while Suzaku and Lelouch are bonding with each other after being separated for so long?
Future-more this school stuff serves as mortality of Lelouch’s character as prior to the story he has gone through a lot of hell being an exiled prince as well as taking care of his blind vulnerable sister Nullay. It’s natural to have school stuff in the story even if it may not be for everyone’s tastes.
It makes the world of Code Geass feel alive and immersive.
When the Code Geass is not grounding our characters through its high school shangrians it’s being a fast-paced intriguing military-political drama. It’s fun seeing Lelouch and The black knight’s plan out a strategy to take down high profiled and even if they fail which they do quite a bit they still have the determination to keep going.
This clever level of storytelling does have its downsides.
Even though I love the journey that Code Geass took to get to its destination I felt like a couple of choices that the anime were too convenient for its own good. This was rarely an issue in R1 but it became more apparent in R2 where characters would often make questionable decisions that causes them to look stupid.
Yes, I would never forget that scene in one episode Mao goes and gets a shotgun in the train despite having a pistol in hand.
As much as I love the political side of the show, I wasn’t a fan of a good chunk of the villains. They felt so cartoonish for my liking.
Sure there was Coraellia and Euphy, which are excellent villains/foes in their own right, but you have villains like Prince Clovis, and Mao who felt like generic cartoon villains. Yes, I acknowledge that Mao was important to the story, but it doesn’t make it less jarring.
To Code Geass credit it did fix the cartoon villains in R2 where it introduced a lot of treating and compelling villains that pose a good challenge for Lelouch and the Black Knights being the Knights of the Round.
Then we have Season 2 aka Code Geass R2 as a whole. I’m just going to put this bluntly. I love Code Geass R2 I think it’s a worthy follow up to R1 and it did a lot of things right, but at the same time, it’s more flawed than R1 making it an inferior season. I appreciate the ambitious nature of R2 where it introduced many interesting story elements, but they didn’t always work out. Not only that but the little flaws that I mentioned (Minus the villains as they were better in R2) became more apparent, like the contrivances, the campiness being too much not to mention pacing issues in the first on top of that. I, also, wasn’t a fan of when the show spent the first couple of episodes trying to recreate the first couple of episodes in R1. It felt lazy and they could have used those episodes for more character/story building.
Then we have the fanservice issue in R2. R1 may have had its fair share of fanservice for certain scenes, but that show wasn’t in your face with its fan service. Also, the only girls that got fanservice scenes in R1 were Kallen and Shirley.
R2 is the complete opposite. Not only the majority of the female characters got the fan-service treatment, especially the ones that didn’t need it, but for some strange reason, R2 decides to have these bizarre fan-service angel shots. Like the infamous Kallen butt shot when she was protecting Lelouch at the school festival. Okay writers I know you like Kallen’s body so much, but you shouldn’t have to hamfist it right down our throats?
Lastly, we have the Sword Of Akasha arc.
It was an underwhelming mess. It felt so rushed and anti-climatic which was meant to be conduction of his revenge tale. Granted it had some powerful scenes in it that made me tear but the whole slaying god thing was dumb. It’s wasn’t a bad arc by any means, but it had a lot to be desired.
You may be wondering how I loved a show this flawed. Well to simply put. Code Geass R2 is dignity.
Over the years I’ve seen so many series that I could have loved crash and burn without any dignity and charm left.
Aldonah Zero, Darling in the Franxx, The Promised Neverland Season 2, Psycho-Pass S2, My Hero Academia post Season 2, Yu-Gi-Oh Arc /Vrains, Arifureta, Inazuma Eleven Orion to name a few.
Code Geass R2 despite being more flawed than R1 still retained the elements that made the series so charming and special. It had a lot of dignity left despite the questionable script choices.
Also, unlike those wrecks that I just mentioned, Code Geass R2 has a lot of positive elements that more than not overshadows the jarring negatives which I can’t mention due to heavily spoilers reasons.
Fun fact. Code Geass R2 was meant to air in a late time slot, but due to excessive meddling as well the popularity of Gundam 00. The show was moved to a prime-time slot meaning a lot of dark content that was established in R1 ended up being toned down or removed entirely.
Maybe someday I will get the R2 that was scrapped.
To put this bluntly Code Geass R2 is a flawed masterpiece that I cherish even to this day while Code Geass R1 is still to this day one of the best things I’ve seen from this medium.
The character cast of Code Geass is easily the show’s biggest strength.
To this day Lelouch is one of my favourite male protagonists on top of being one of the best protagonists to ever come from this medium. From his charismatic personality to his character development I adore him every step of the way. For starters, I liked how despite him doing all of these unjustifiable bad things he is still a good person at heart.
He deeply cares for his sister to a point where he would do anything to create that perfect world that his sister Nullaly desires. This motivation alone turns Lelouch into an interesting anti-hero rather than a basic villain.
Another reason why I love Lelouch is that he’s very good at what does. One of the most fascinating things about Code Geass is just seeing his genesis schemes in social life and in the battlefield.
From doing an excellent job of keeping his Zero identity a secret to his marvellous battle tactics Lelouch never fails to please me.
I also liked how they don’t make Lelouch an overpowered Gary Sue that overlays on his Geass power. Sure the Geass power is the main key factor that wins him a lot of battles he only uses it every so often.
Not only that, but we see him learn and experiment with his Geass power throughout the series.
Even though Lelouch is a charismatic genius that can win the hearts of many he’s still a flawed person at heart. He doesn’t win every single battle in the show and the show does show how he has to cope with these losses.
The show also points out that doing all of these bad things affects him on a psychological level and there are times especially in the R2 where he questions that whenever he has gone too far.
Lelouch is such an amazing character that often carries the show. This is not to say the other characters were not as brilliant as Lelouch. Most of the characters were great as well, but they aren’t Lelouch.
Suzaku is the perfect foil for Lelouch.
Sure he did have some questionable moments that bugged especially in the beginning of R1 where he literally handed himself to the Britannian’s after being rescued by Zero, but I generally enjoyed his character for the most part.
I love his ideas from beginning to end are complete opposites to Lelouch’s, causing them to be rivals on the battlefield. I also liked his warfare dynamic with Kallen. Seeing them but heads clashing with their mechs was satisfying.
Kallen is also another brilliant character in the show. From her strong will personality to her character growth I enjoyed her journey from start to finish. She’s one of Zero’s most devoted followers to a point where she put her life on the line for her which I find admirable. I also liked how she’s living a double life just Lelouch.
She perfect badass female character that I always wanted.
The only issue I have with she’s was the poster girl of fan service in R2 then again it’s not the character fault for questionable directing choices in the early portions of R2.
C.C is a fascinating character to watch. She’s the character that is filled with mystery that makes you curious about the character. Due to her state which I won’t mention in this review due to spoilers we see her struggle to deal with human emotions due to her tragic background that caused her to become less emotional. When C.C does display human emotions they are some of the most powerful emotional moments in the show and it’s all thanks to Lelouch.
Shirley is a character that I have rather mixed feelings for. I liked that she’s this normal girl that has a crush on a guy yet the same guy doesn’t what the girl to be involved in his double life, I liked the idea of the girl going to dangerous lengths to of that boy double life, understanding why the guy keeps on pushing her away from his double life. This is a strong character arc that provides tension and suspense.
It’s such a shame that the writers didn’t do much with her. It was going strong until the show decided to press the reset button on her twice. At the end of the Mao arc and the infamous character, progression reset at the start of R2.
It’s a shame as I kinda liked her character.
What an unfortunate waste of a character that had so much potential
This may sound like a hot take but I enjoyed Nina as a character. I don’t like her as a person but I liked how cleverly written she was throughout the series.
Like it or not Nina represents the dark side of Britannian Society. She may appear like a regular girl with glasses but behind the mask, there’s something sinister going on her head that causes her to do strange things which had me intrigued.
The rest of the characters were also very strong. Some were more memorable and interesting than others (I hate you Rolo) but they all provided a sense of importance to the story.
Notable supporting characters include Liloyd, Euphiemia, Gino, Jeremiah, Anya, Milly and Cornelia.
The visuals of Code Geass are absolutely outstanding.
Animated by Sunrise (My-Hime, Tiger and Bunny, Gundam, Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere, Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop,) Code Geass is truly a top-notch Sunrise production that’s filled with life.
The character designs which were done by CLAMP (Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa, Angelic Layer, Chobits) were excellent and nicely drawn. It doesn’t suffer from the body proportions issues like Xxxholic and Tsubasa TV series did. The background scenery is phenomenal that’s filled with attention to detail.
The animation is smooth, crisp and wonderfully well animated.
I adored the fight choreography for the mech battles.
They are smooth
Even when the mecha choregraphy took a slightly more supernatural direction in the latter half of R2 the mecha fights were still exciting to watch.
It did all that without having any stock footage usage.
Speaking of mecha’s, Code Geass has one of the best-realised mecha designs to come out from the mecha genre. At first glance, the majority of the show’s mechs appear nothing special. They look like the typical mechs that you have seen before, however, once you see them in action you will be very impressed with what they can do.
Beyond that, there’s a thematic reason why some of the mechs especially in the first season were designed like that. That is technology progression. Just like real life, there’s no free ticket to getting the highly valued item, you have to work your way up through satisfying results. It’s the same thing for the black knights in fact they started off with really outdated gear that would get easily been defeated by the Britannia’s Sutherland’s, but as the show progresses through hard work they obtain more advanced mechs that give them more of a fighting chance against the Britannia’s Mechas.
Some of my favourite mecha designs were all versions of the Lancelot and Guren respectively. Gawain, Zangetsu, Tristan and Cornelia’s Gloucester.
One amazing attention to detail that Code Geass that most mecha anime lack is how the pilots of their respective mech actually input commands for various situations, from communication, using equipment to even cockpit eject. I generally wish more mecha would do this more often.
I’m happy that just like My-Hime Code Geass is a top-notch production that was milled ahead from its competition.
Code Geass soundtrack is a unique case as it was done by two music composers instead of one Koutarou Nakagawa (Planetes, Yu-Gi-Oh ARC V, Chivalry of a Failed Knight) and Hitomi Kuroishi (Hakkenden Eight Dogs Of The East, Last Exile, Shangri-La) This is an outstanding soundtrack that is filled with energy, sadness and exciting that fits the shows perfectly. The majority of the tracks were iconic and I never recalled a track that was bad or subpar.
Some of my favourite tracks include Stories, Beautiful Emperor, Knightmare, The Master, The Knight, Siegfried, School Festival, Baked Words, Final Catastrophe, Innocent Days, In Justice, Devil Created, Death Work and SuperNatural
Easily the best anime soundtracks to come out in anime.
Excluding Opening 2 for R1 Opening 1 for R2 which were mediocre at best, I loved every single opening and ending theme in the series. They were catchy and exciting to listen to. Helping you get pumped up for the episode.
The dub Code Geass is one of the best dubs ever produced.
Produced by late dub studio Animaze who also did the dubs for Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Wolf’s Rain, Fushigi Yuugi and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex. They produced an outstanding dub that is filled with talent, charm and passion
Johnny Yoh Bosh was perfect as Lelouch. He brought a lot of charismatic charm to the character. Easily the best performance in the dub
Other notable performances are Karen Strassman as Kallen, Crispin Freeman as Jeremiah, David Vincent as Xingke, Michelle Ruff as Euphiela, Troy Baker as Schneizel, Liam O’Brien as Liyoid and Yuri Lowenthal as Suzaku.
The original Japanese audio is also phenomenal as well filled with top-notch Seiyuu talent, but I feel the dub overthrow the original Japanese Audio in this case. It’s that good.
Code Geass is one of the most fascinating rides out there. It has almost everything I want from an anime. Brilliant story, Well written characters, superb production values, and a beautifully composed soundtrack. It had its flaws mainly in R2, but its outstanding positives outweigh the negatives.
It’s truly a one of a kind series that I recommend to those who’s new to anime or a veteran anime watcher to check out. No wonder why after a decade and a half later many people still go back to Code Geass as it’s the type of show that cannot be made today.
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