Thoughts on Code Geass
Here, at long last, is my long-overdue review (sort of) of Code Geass. I actually finished watching it last week - just in time for the second season! - but it took me this long to get over my laziness and to finally process my thoughts on the series. Um, I am no expert when it comes to reviewing anime, and I'm not a formal critic; nevertheless, I hope my thoughts came out organized enough. I was going to include side notes (which mostly involve my personal thoughts, fangirl squeeings, and all), but now I'm too tired to do so.
Synopsis:
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is set in an alternate universe in which the world's major superpower is not America but the Holy Empire of Britannia. A constantly expanding empire, Britannia has conquered about a third of the entire world, including what we know to be America, New Zealand, and possibly the Philippines (this isn't clear since, according to Wikipedia and pictures I've seen, there are inconsistencies between the maps of Britannia in seasons one and two). Anyway, on the 10th of August, a.t.b. (Ascension Throne of Britannia, the official calendar that Britannia follows), Britannia invaded Japan with gigantic robotic weapons of war known as Knightmare Frames, thus causing the Japanese people to lose their rights. Losing its freedom and rights, Japan became a colony and was renamed Area 11, while its citizens were stripped of their name and were called Elevens. Forcibly relocated to ghettos, the Japanese people suffered oppression while some rebel factions continued to fight for their freedom.
Our protagonist is Lelouch vi Britannia, a young prince. An assassination attempt on his mother, Empress Marianne, kills her and leaves Lelouch's younger sister, Nunnally, crippled and traumatized. When Lelouch dares speak up against his father, the Emperor's apathy at his mother's death and Nunnally's injuries, he and Nunnally are exiled to Area 11 as political hostages who are later presumed dead. There, Lelouch learns to hate Britannia and vows revenge against the country that caused him, as well as his mother and sister, to suffer. After seven years of living in Area 11/Japan as Lelouch Lamperouge, an encounter with a mysterious green-haired girl named CC (that's pronounced C2) leaves in his hands the power of the Geass, which enables him to make anyone do his bidding, provided that he has direct eye contact with that person (and that he has not used his Geass on the person previously). With his newfound power, Lelouch sets out to crush Britannia under the mask of Zero, who proclaims himself as an ally of justice, in order to avenge his mother and to create a peaceful world for his sister.
Review:
For me, Code Geass' strength is its complex, fast-paced and well-developed plot. It is difficult to categorize this series into a single genre, because it is a combination of action, science fiction and fantasy, with political and dramatic themes also added for good measure. What drew me to the series was Lelouch's Geass - it was the catalyst of the series, and I wanted to know how Lelouch would use his newly obtained power to achieve his ends. As a side note, the fact that the Geass is something that has its roots in folklore also interested me. (I did some research on Wikipedia, and I found out that, in Celtic mythology, a geas/geis is an obligation that a person is bound to follow for the rest of his/her life - as such, it can be a gift or a curse. Violating the geas/geis often leads to a hero's hubris.)
I found each episode to be engaging - there was not a dull moment, as every episode was always packed with memorable moments, revelations or plot twists. This anime may have a fast pace, but it is not that fast, so viewers won't get that feeling of having too much information dumped on them at the end of the episode. Most episodes end with a cliffhanger or a surprising revelation; many times, I was at the edge of my seat, dying to know what would happen next. As a matter of fact, the last episode ends with a major, major cliffhanger, definitely suspending faithful viewers' interests and making sure that they would tune in to the second season (which started airing nearly four weeks ago).
Duality is arguably the dominant motif in this series - there is pretty much no notion of black and white; nearly everyone and every action is a shade of gray. The protagonist, Lelouch, is very much the anti-hero: he wants to create a world where the strong will not lord over the weak, but to do so, he acknowledges the fact that in order for drastic changes to happen, sacrifices must be made, that lives must be spilled, and I quote him: "If someone wins, then the war will end." He also says that to create, one must first destroy. And destroy he does. He is not above using people to achieve his ends - for instance, siding with Japanese freedom fighters in order to crush Britannia, despite fighting Britannia for revenge. At the same time, however, he does seem to care for the people he loves and tries, as much as possible, to put them out of harm's way. Because his loved ones often get caught in the crossfire of Lelouch's actions, Lelouch often treads the border between his caring side and his Machiavellian side. When one of his friends suffers the consequences of a battle between Lelouch and Britannian forces, Lelouch feels guilty but at the same time, feels that he still has to keep going so that the blood shed by his victims will not be in vain. When a joke goes horribly wrong and results in carnage (no spoilers there), Lelouch has no choice but to put a stop to the bloodshed, even if it means taking the life of a person dear to him. Thus, one of the questions the plot raises is whether the ends do justify the means.
Lelouch's foil and best friend, Suzaku, also exemplifies this duality that I've noticed. Lots of people online have criticized Suzaku for being a self-righteous hypocrite because of his idealistic nature. Whereas Lelouch believes in resorting to extremities to achieve his ends, Suzaku believes in changing from within. Thus, he swallows his pride and becomes an honorary Britannian, joining the military, possibly in the hopes of working his way up the ranks so that he can help the Japanese. With the way Britannian society works (being an honorary Britannian does not spare Suzaku from discrimination; in fact, it leads to Suzaku being hated even by some of his fellow Japanese), it seems almost impossible to achieve such a goal - it might take years, or it might never happen. Yet Suzaku continues to fight for his goal, and I think he is called hypocritical because he wants to avoid bloodshed, and yet, as a soldier of Britannia, bloodshed is inevitable. Because Suzaku believes in playing by the rules, he is against Zero and Zero's ideals - not knowing that behind Zero's mask is Lelouch! And I guess this is what makes the series engaging: wondering how things will unfold if and when Suzaku finds out that his best friend is the extremist Zero, and when Zero learns that the pilot of the Knightmare Frame, Lancelot - the one who often interferes in Zero's plans - is Suzaku!
Having expounded on the two protagonists, I can safely say that Code Geass does a good job of developing its main characters. I find it hard to take a definite side - I'm not sure whether I support Suzaku's or Lelouch's ideals more, since both of them are hypocritical (only Lelouch draws less flak because he never claimed to play by the rules). Lelouch and Suzaku actually remind me of Rizal's protagonists in his novels - Lelouch is the vengeful and extreme Simoun from El Filibusterismo, while Suzaku is the idealistic Crisostomo Ibarra from Noli Me Tangere. The other characters also exhibit dualities in their personalities as well - Zero's most loyal follower, Karen/Kallen, is a shy and quiet student by day but by night, she's a confident and strong fighter against the Britannians; the mysterious CC is often cold and detached, but there are times when she almost exhibits a longing for her humanity. Oh, and did I mention that Suzaku and Lelouch are also students? Thus, by day, they act like the teenagers that they really are.
Except for the Emperor of Britannia, whom we hardly know about, the antagonists are not one-dimensional either. For instance, Princess Cornelia, despite being a ruthless warrior, has a soft spot for her sister Euphemia, and feels resentment for Japan because of her devastation at losing her siblings there (she thinks that Lelouch and Nunnally are dead). Before he became the comic relief of the series, Jeremiah a.k.a. Orange-kun took his duties as a Knightmare Frame pilot and elite soldier seriously to redeem himself for his failure to protect Empress Marianne. Because of the human side in the antagonists of the series (however little their "human side" may be), I actually found myself interested in them. Jeremiah and his loyal subordinate Villetta (who, for a minor antagonist, undergoes a lot of development) were the antagonists I found the most interesting. (On a less serious note, the fact that they're hot and that they might as well be the evil versions of Roy and Riza from FMA helped too.)
I have a slight problem with some of the minor characters, though. Code Geass has a fairly large cast of characters, so some of the supporting characters are shifted to the side and thus, get less development. Some characters might seem random, even - like the xenophobic and emotionally unstable Nina, for instance. Perhaps she would have been less random if, say, we were given a reason why she feared the Japanese people so much. Other characters like Lloyd, Cecile and Laksharta could also use some development - the writers could expound Lloyd and Laksharta's past, since they seem to know each other. Oh well, perhaps that's what Season Two is for. I'm hopeful that the characters who were given less development in this season will be fleshed out more in the current season, since it would be a shame to shove a cast of so many characters with potential to the sidelines.
As for the technical aspects of the show, I liked the quality of animation; it was superb. The series was consistent in its high quality of animation; as such, the fight scenes between Knightmare Frames were always a delight to watch. I never really liked mecha-type anime, but the mechas in this series really captured my attention, and I think I owe that to the animation.
The voice actors were also very good in their delivery of lines - they certainly brought the characters to life and did justice to their roles. It's not surprising that Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu won awards for their portrayals of Lelouch and Karen/Kallen, respectively. I also liked Yukana as CC and Takahiro Sakurai as Suzaku. Sakurai-san voicing Suzaku was a surprise to me, because I was used to him voicing blonde, calm and collected characters like Kagami in Get Backers and Maximilien Robespierre in Le Chevalier D'Eon, but he did a great job conveying Suzaku's idealism. Oh, and I also liked Ken Narita as Jeremiah; I can imagine him having fun voicing Orange-kun, especially during the latter episodes when the characters - and even the fans! - hardly took Orange-kun seriously anymore. I loved his last line - "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" It was so ironic that it was funny. And maybe I'm biased, but I also liked how Akeno Watanabe made Villetta sound really sultry.
On to the last technical aspect: the sounds. I loved all the opening and ending songs, my favorites being the first OP, "Colors," and the first ED, "Yuukyou Seishunka," because both were upbeat and catchy. It took me a while to warm up to the second OP and ED, but they eventually grew on me. I also liked the background music because they were always appropriate for the mood of a scene - a battle scene would have that awesome music that got me energized, while a Britannia-related scene would feature the formal-sounding music with deep operatic vocals. The insert songs by Hitomi stood out, too; my favorites were the heartbreaking "Masquerade," which, with its soothingly mellow but melancholic melody sounds like something I'd play to help me relax (or to give me the feeling of being in a coffee shop, haha), as well as "Stories," the song that reminds me of the New Age singer Enya.
To sum up this awfully long review, Code Geass is a highly enjoyable, but at the same time, highly thought-provoking show. With the characters and their actions painted in grey, and not black and white, the series makes the viewer think. Is there a side that is more right than the other? Do the ends justify the means? How does change come about? Which is the better choice - to swallow your pride and to admit defeat, or to not back down and to continue to fight for freedom and identity? Those of you who like series that make you think will enjoy Code Geass. On the other hand, there are also people who watch anime for entertainment and who don't want to think too much. I think that Code Geass will appeal to such people, too - even if you don't take the questions raised too seriously, you will have a good time as you are taken on a rollercoaster ride of plot twists and turns. It's a very good series, which leaves me with high expectations for the second season. (It's already started, but I haven't watched it! If I watch it now, I might get hooked and waiting for a week for the next episode might be too long a wait for me.)
To conclude this review, I leave you with CC's last words (transcripted from my fansubbed copy of the last episode):
"People, humans, chase after the existence of happiness. What the Britannian youth Lelouch wanted was just a tiny bit of happiness. It's nothing special. At the very least, the spark that triggered his actions, was just a very tiny wish that every human has. That dream, that vow - who could deny him that? Is anyone fit to do so?
But people are judged because they are linked to others and the world, whether they like it or not. That is their fate. In that case, when personal feelings face off against the will of the world, it is treated as nothing more than a pointless, misty existence.
Sin and punishment. Fate and judgment. That which stands in Lelouch's way is the past he forged. Is that hatred part of human nature? Even so, he can be thankful now. Yes, at the very least, humans chase after the existence of happiness. A ray of hope, a vague wish, can only spark from despair."
Synopsis:
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is set in an alternate universe in which the world's major superpower is not America but the Holy Empire of Britannia. A constantly expanding empire, Britannia has conquered about a third of the entire world, including what we know to be America, New Zealand, and possibly the Philippines (this isn't clear since, according to Wikipedia and pictures I've seen, there are inconsistencies between the maps of Britannia in seasons one and two). Anyway, on the 10th of August, a.t.b. (Ascension Throne of Britannia, the official calendar that Britannia follows), Britannia invaded Japan with gigantic robotic weapons of war known as Knightmare Frames, thus causing the Japanese people to lose their rights. Losing its freedom and rights, Japan became a colony and was renamed Area 11, while its citizens were stripped of their name and were called Elevens. Forcibly relocated to ghettos, the Japanese people suffered oppression while some rebel factions continued to fight for their freedom.
Our protagonist is Lelouch vi Britannia, a young prince. An assassination attempt on his mother, Empress Marianne, kills her and leaves Lelouch's younger sister, Nunnally, crippled and traumatized. When Lelouch dares speak up against his father, the Emperor's apathy at his mother's death and Nunnally's injuries, he and Nunnally are exiled to Area 11 as political hostages who are later presumed dead. There, Lelouch learns to hate Britannia and vows revenge against the country that caused him, as well as his mother and sister, to suffer. After seven years of living in Area 11/Japan as Lelouch Lamperouge, an encounter with a mysterious green-haired girl named CC (that's pronounced C2) leaves in his hands the power of the Geass, which enables him to make anyone do his bidding, provided that he has direct eye contact with that person (and that he has not used his Geass on the person previously). With his newfound power, Lelouch sets out to crush Britannia under the mask of Zero, who proclaims himself as an ally of justice, in order to avenge his mother and to create a peaceful world for his sister.
Review:
For me, Code Geass' strength is its complex, fast-paced and well-developed plot. It is difficult to categorize this series into a single genre, because it is a combination of action, science fiction and fantasy, with political and dramatic themes also added for good measure. What drew me to the series was Lelouch's Geass - it was the catalyst of the series, and I wanted to know how Lelouch would use his newly obtained power to achieve his ends. As a side note, the fact that the Geass is something that has its roots in folklore also interested me. (I did some research on Wikipedia, and I found out that, in Celtic mythology, a geas/geis is an obligation that a person is bound to follow for the rest of his/her life - as such, it can be a gift or a curse. Violating the geas/geis often leads to a hero's hubris.)
I found each episode to be engaging - there was not a dull moment, as every episode was always packed with memorable moments, revelations or plot twists. This anime may have a fast pace, but it is not that fast, so viewers won't get that feeling of having too much information dumped on them at the end of the episode. Most episodes end with a cliffhanger or a surprising revelation; many times, I was at the edge of my seat, dying to know what would happen next. As a matter of fact, the last episode ends with a major, major cliffhanger, definitely suspending faithful viewers' interests and making sure that they would tune in to the second season (which started airing nearly four weeks ago).
Duality is arguably the dominant motif in this series - there is pretty much no notion of black and white; nearly everyone and every action is a shade of gray. The protagonist, Lelouch, is very much the anti-hero: he wants to create a world where the strong will not lord over the weak, but to do so, he acknowledges the fact that in order for drastic changes to happen, sacrifices must be made, that lives must be spilled, and I quote him: "If someone wins, then the war will end." He also says that to create, one must first destroy. And destroy he does. He is not above using people to achieve his ends - for instance, siding with Japanese freedom fighters in order to crush Britannia, despite fighting Britannia for revenge. At the same time, however, he does seem to care for the people he loves and tries, as much as possible, to put them out of harm's way. Because his loved ones often get caught in the crossfire of Lelouch's actions, Lelouch often treads the border between his caring side and his Machiavellian side. When one of his friends suffers the consequences of a battle between Lelouch and Britannian forces, Lelouch feels guilty but at the same time, feels that he still has to keep going so that the blood shed by his victims will not be in vain. When a joke goes horribly wrong and results in carnage (no spoilers there), Lelouch has no choice but to put a stop to the bloodshed, even if it means taking the life of a person dear to him. Thus, one of the questions the plot raises is whether the ends do justify the means.
Lelouch's foil and best friend, Suzaku, also exemplifies this duality that I've noticed. Lots of people online have criticized Suzaku for being a self-righteous hypocrite because of his idealistic nature. Whereas Lelouch believes in resorting to extremities to achieve his ends, Suzaku believes in changing from within. Thus, he swallows his pride and becomes an honorary Britannian, joining the military, possibly in the hopes of working his way up the ranks so that he can help the Japanese. With the way Britannian society works (being an honorary Britannian does not spare Suzaku from discrimination; in fact, it leads to Suzaku being hated even by some of his fellow Japanese), it seems almost impossible to achieve such a goal - it might take years, or it might never happen. Yet Suzaku continues to fight for his goal, and I think he is called hypocritical because he wants to avoid bloodshed, and yet, as a soldier of Britannia, bloodshed is inevitable. Because Suzaku believes in playing by the rules, he is against Zero and Zero's ideals - not knowing that behind Zero's mask is Lelouch! And I guess this is what makes the series engaging: wondering how things will unfold if and when Suzaku finds out that his best friend is the extremist Zero, and when Zero learns that the pilot of the Knightmare Frame, Lancelot - the one who often interferes in Zero's plans - is Suzaku!
Having expounded on the two protagonists, I can safely say that Code Geass does a good job of developing its main characters. I find it hard to take a definite side - I'm not sure whether I support Suzaku's or Lelouch's ideals more, since both of them are hypocritical (only Lelouch draws less flak because he never claimed to play by the rules). Lelouch and Suzaku actually remind me of Rizal's protagonists in his novels - Lelouch is the vengeful and extreme Simoun from El Filibusterismo, while Suzaku is the idealistic Crisostomo Ibarra from Noli Me Tangere. The other characters also exhibit dualities in their personalities as well - Zero's most loyal follower, Karen/Kallen, is a shy and quiet student by day but by night, she's a confident and strong fighter against the Britannians; the mysterious CC is often cold and detached, but there are times when she almost exhibits a longing for her humanity. Oh, and did I mention that Suzaku and Lelouch are also students? Thus, by day, they act like the teenagers that they really are.
Except for the Emperor of Britannia, whom we hardly know about, the antagonists are not one-dimensional either. For instance, Princess Cornelia, despite being a ruthless warrior, has a soft spot for her sister Euphemia, and feels resentment for Japan because of her devastation at losing her siblings there (she thinks that Lelouch and Nunnally are dead). Before he became the comic relief of the series, Jeremiah a.k.a. Orange-kun took his duties as a Knightmare Frame pilot and elite soldier seriously to redeem himself for his failure to protect Empress Marianne. Because of the human side in the antagonists of the series (however little their "human side" may be), I actually found myself interested in them. Jeremiah and his loyal subordinate Villetta (who, for a minor antagonist, undergoes a lot of development) were the antagonists I found the most interesting. (On a less serious note, the fact that they're hot and that they might as well be the evil versions of Roy and Riza from FMA helped too.)
I have a slight problem with some of the minor characters, though. Code Geass has a fairly large cast of characters, so some of the supporting characters are shifted to the side and thus, get less development. Some characters might seem random, even - like the xenophobic and emotionally unstable Nina, for instance. Perhaps she would have been less random if, say, we were given a reason why she feared the Japanese people so much. Other characters like Lloyd, Cecile and Laksharta could also use some development - the writers could expound Lloyd and Laksharta's past, since they seem to know each other. Oh well, perhaps that's what Season Two is for. I'm hopeful that the characters who were given less development in this season will be fleshed out more in the current season, since it would be a shame to shove a cast of so many characters with potential to the sidelines.
As for the technical aspects of the show, I liked the quality of animation; it was superb. The series was consistent in its high quality of animation; as such, the fight scenes between Knightmare Frames were always a delight to watch. I never really liked mecha-type anime, but the mechas in this series really captured my attention, and I think I owe that to the animation.
The voice actors were also very good in their delivery of lines - they certainly brought the characters to life and did justice to their roles. It's not surprising that Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu won awards for their portrayals of Lelouch and Karen/Kallen, respectively. I also liked Yukana as CC and Takahiro Sakurai as Suzaku. Sakurai-san voicing Suzaku was a surprise to me, because I was used to him voicing blonde, calm and collected characters like Kagami in Get Backers and Maximilien Robespierre in Le Chevalier D'Eon, but he did a great job conveying Suzaku's idealism. Oh, and I also liked Ken Narita as Jeremiah; I can imagine him having fun voicing Orange-kun, especially during the latter episodes when the characters - and even the fans! - hardly took Orange-kun seriously anymore. I loved his last line - "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" It was so ironic that it was funny. And maybe I'm biased, but I also liked how Akeno Watanabe made Villetta sound really sultry.
On to the last technical aspect: the sounds. I loved all the opening and ending songs, my favorites being the first OP, "Colors," and the first ED, "Yuukyou Seishunka," because both were upbeat and catchy. It took me a while to warm up to the second OP and ED, but they eventually grew on me. I also liked the background music because they were always appropriate for the mood of a scene - a battle scene would have that awesome music that got me energized, while a Britannia-related scene would feature the formal-sounding music with deep operatic vocals. The insert songs by Hitomi stood out, too; my favorites were the heartbreaking "Masquerade," which, with its soothingly mellow but melancholic melody sounds like something I'd play to help me relax (or to give me the feeling of being in a coffee shop, haha), as well as "Stories," the song that reminds me of the New Age singer Enya.
To sum up this awfully long review, Code Geass is a highly enjoyable, but at the same time, highly thought-provoking show. With the characters and their actions painted in grey, and not black and white, the series makes the viewer think. Is there a side that is more right than the other? Do the ends justify the means? How does change come about? Which is the better choice - to swallow your pride and to admit defeat, or to not back down and to continue to fight for freedom and identity? Those of you who like series that make you think will enjoy Code Geass. On the other hand, there are also people who watch anime for entertainment and who don't want to think too much. I think that Code Geass will appeal to such people, too - even if you don't take the questions raised too seriously, you will have a good time as you are taken on a rollercoaster ride of plot twists and turns. It's a very good series, which leaves me with high expectations for the second season. (It's already started, but I haven't watched it! If I watch it now, I might get hooked and waiting for a week for the next episode might be too long a wait for me.)
To conclude this review, I leave you with CC's last words (transcripted from my fansubbed copy of the last episode):
"People, humans, chase after the existence of happiness. What the Britannian youth Lelouch wanted was just a tiny bit of happiness. It's nothing special. At the very least, the spark that triggered his actions, was just a very tiny wish that every human has. That dream, that vow - who could deny him that? Is anyone fit to do so?
But people are judged because they are linked to others and the world, whether they like it or not. That is their fate. In that case, when personal feelings face off against the will of the world, it is treated as nothing more than a pointless, misty existence.
Sin and punishment. Fate and judgment. That which stands in Lelouch's way is the past he forged. Is that hatred part of human nature? Even so, he can be thankful now. Yes, at the very least, humans chase after the existence of happiness. A ray of hope, a vague wish, can only spark from despair."