You win 10,000 bonus points good sir!
I've always been a HUGE fan of the Distressed Watcher on the 'That Guy with the Glasses' website. He usually will do movie commentary or music commentary and I always find it intelligently thought out and put together. I honestly think the guy deserves more praise then he gets for his videos but I have a feeling he is hated on due to his 'Amazing Atheist' persona. In this video he discusses the Top 8 Anti-Heroes of film and TV.
I just have to give the guy props for adding Lelouch to this video. 1) Because I really think anime is starting to return the underbelly of society and trying to lift up an anime or animated character would be looked down upon more-so these days then say.. 4-5 years ago. 2) Because he actually brings up why Lelouch is superior to Light Yagami as a character and anti-hero, even though Death Note is more popular than Code Geass. I have to agree with everything DW says in this video about the two. Light soured on me after the first volume of manga. Light didn't really care about anyone but himself.. so he wasn't a hero even though he killed off people who did bad things. Taking justice into one's own hands doesn't equate heroism. I think in that case, depending on the person, that form of justice can turn into a very ugly and twisted thing.
Lelouch was actually concerned about the society he lived in. He cared about his friends and ended up having to cut himself off completely from the people he cared about and force them to hate him in order to achieve a happy ending for most everyone. Most people wouldn't be strong enough to handle turning the people they love against them. Also Lelouch realizes that achieving his goal will actually mean having to sacrifice.. big time. Where-as Light only made sacrifices in cases to preserve his own self and his hidden identity as Kira.
Yeah.. I could talk forever on how Code Geass plays on some really interesting themes of truth, justice, sacrifice, and other political and social themes.. but I wont continue to bore you. I should save all that for when I go into my 'Why John Marston is the best character evar' post when I finish Red Dead Redemption. But seriously, if you havn't seen Code Geass, go check it out. It is a lot more complex than it looks..