So, Code Geass is over. Impressions then!
I've been watching Code Geass for quite some time. Not half as much time as the people who started ever since the first episode aired, but still. I guess I started (and finished) season one when Code Geass R2 (season two) was up to about five episodes. When I caught up with season two, episode seven had just been released. That leaves us with about 19 weeks (one episode aired each week, and there was one week of break). So, a bit over four months ago, I started watching this.
Well, yesterday was the last Sunday with a Code Geass episode. The 25th and final turn of R2 was released, and I watched it last night, so now I'm done. I was kind of tired last night, so I left the blogging for today.
This here is my impression post containing my ideas on the entire show. As a general conclusion though, I have to say that this was a GREAT anime. I loved it and at some points it was so addicting that waiting even just the one week for the next episode was torture. However... I'm a lot less affected by the fact that it's now over than I thought I would be. I mean... yes, I realize there will be no more Code Geass episodes to look forward to from now on. But somehow it doesn't sound as bad as I thought it might.
Still, Code Geass was good enough to remain among my all-time favorite anime shows, that's for sure.
Fair Warning: The review is spoiler-heavy, so unless you've finished watching Code Geass as well, you might not want to open this cut.
So, let's start the impressions/review.
BEST POINT
In my opinion, Code Geass can boast of a great capacity to draw in the audience. The producers did an amazing job of surprising everyone with their sudden and very clever plot-twists. Even more; it happens at every single turn. This not only keeps you interested in the story (since personally, I was always DYING to find out what would happen next), but also makes you CARE. I really found it had this effect: due to how shocking and sudden the plot-twists were, I couldn't help but hope the situations would be resolved the way I'd like it to.
What's even better? I don't think this effect will be lost even for people watching it now, when it's over, and not having to wait one week to see the next episode and how the complicated situations ended.
WEAK POINT
The general plot. See below in the storyline section, but really, this show doesn't have a MAJOR drawback that isn't fixed by anything.
STORYLINE
I'm sorry to say, but the plot of Code Geass started out pretty lame in my opinion. When I watched the first episode, my first reaction was "*eyeroll* pffft, yeah right". It's just the context it offers... Some "Holy Empire of Britannia" has conquered other regions, among which there's also Japan, now named "Area 11". The Japanese, now named "Elevens", are being heavily discriminated against in there. Oh, boo-hoo. Maybe the Japanese audience was more affected by this, but for me it was a poor sketch of a premise, and too simple to be interesting.
Later on, the main character, this Lelouch who is apparently very smart (another eyeroll), receives the power of Geass. Again, very simple and typical. However, what drew me in was the very last scene of the first episode. It's pretty shocking, and really well done; sort of the warning that you should be expecting a lot of impressive moments from this anime, although I didn't know that back then. But in all possible honesty, that scene was the ONLY thing that kept me watching this back then. If it hadn't been there, I'd have probably dropped the anime after episode one, never to try it again.
Needless to say, with such a premise, the story never gained a great deal of credibility. It's lacking, in my opinion. But the way they address it, with the numerous shocks that I mentioned, manages to make up for that (especially the part taking place in the Chinese Federation). I think they managed to shift the attention from the general picture, which isn't that brilliant, to a more... spontaneous interest. It's done in such a way that, by the end of it all, I didn't care that there wasn't very much of a plot in the regular sense of the word. There were more like... a bunch of mini-plots that you can get interested in, and they're so good that you completely forget about the larger scheme.
Overall, really captivating, even in such an unnatural way.
As for humor, there is plenty. See Arthur&Suzaku, easily the best source of it and the most acclaimed one. Then there's Jeremiah's nickname, Orange, which has become some widespread joke among the fans. Lastly... I swear seeing pizza will always make me think of CC now! But if you want more, I suggest watching the Picture Book mini episodes.
CHARACTERS
Overall
For me, it took a long while to begin relating to the characters of this show and to see them as more than puppets. They didn't seem that human and impressive to me at first. I think it was only as far as the half of R2 (that's insanely late!) that I actually began to feel for them. Until then, I was purely watching for the adrenaline rushes that the plot-twists were causing. But somewhere along the way, I started to care about the characters. I have no idea if that's the intended effect of the producers, but I think not. Nevertheless, that's how it was for me.
As variety, though, the anime offers a nice gallery. Not the best I've ever seen, but definitely among the better ones when it comes to making individual characters stand out from each other. And I like that they put a twist on the types, and weren't true to the patterns these characters were built after. Everyone's morally corrupted at some point and makes mistakes, yet everyone is also somehow right in a different way. Best part ever is that I didn't find anyone I could hate or really dislike in Code Geass. All of the characters were acceptable and balanced.
Main Character
Lelouch, the main character of Code Geass, is not my favorite of them all, but he definitely served well in his role. This is a character that actually moves things around and has some sort of connection with everything in the anime, but without actually monopolizing everything. He's got qualities, but even he makes giant mistakes, and there's another especially prominent aspect of things: a third party always comes to mess up his plans just when they were working at their best.
Another good part about him is how the producers chose to show a lot of his thoughts and emotions, while at the same time keeping an equal amount hidden. We see things through his eyes most of the time, but somehow that doesn't show what plans he has for the future at all. I'll have to say that for me Lelouch was a very unpredictable character until the very end. That's partly due to how he builds his plans based on things he's not sure about either; it's sort of as if he's constantly testing the ground with everything he does. So, since the unexpected always shows up in this anime, the main character is forced to act accordingly. I think they tied him into the plot the best possible way.
One thing that gained me some aversion for Lelouch was his attitude towards Rolo, and I guess his Nunnally obsession in general. However, he redeemed himself by letting Rolo die happy, and subsequently learning how to place other things before his sister. Being resolved this way, this actually stopped being an annoying bit about the character, and turned into a strong point: character development, and major at that. Randomly mentioned, too: Lelouch's crazy moments were absolutely awesome, especially the scenes where he uses Geass on random people to amuse himself and get rid of his depression. I guess I loved the fact that the character turns from a spoiled, selfish brat into a proper Emperor who does what's best for his people, even if it means giving his life for that.
Speaking of self-sacrificing Emperor, there's the ending. I'll have to say it was hinted at quite some time before it actually happened, but it seems I wasn't smart enough to figure it out until it was just about to happen. I'm not sure how much I liked it; I think I was expecting it to be somewhat more... powerful. Something to beat all of those plot twists from before with how grand it would be. But it wasn't quite like that; it was quite peaceful, actually, in the sense that I wasn't as surprised as I could have been. But for managing to convey emotion... it did that quite fine. The main character's death was quite moving, despite the fact that his plan and reasons were soooo cliché and kind of the cheesy heroic type, which the character hadn't been at all until then. I class this as a good ending for him.
Though I hear that some people speculate he might be alive. I confess that this possibility didn't even cross my mind until I saw other people discussing it. To me it seemed as though he had died, and CC was only musing on everything that happened; the Lelouch she addressed was just figurative - she was actually speaking rhetorically in my opinion. Taking a look at it, though, it's valid that she might have been addressing an actual, living Lelouch; damn this for being a Sunrise show! xD Well, ambiguous ending then, so be it. It's not bad if everyone can interpret as they like. Personally, I favor my original interpretation; although it's sad that Lelouch had to die, it's more impressive that way.
Personal Character Preferences
My favorite male of the anime was, overall, Suzaku. He was almost dethroned by Li Xingke at some point, but the fact that the latter lost a TON of screen time after the Chinese Federation arc, naturally, meant that Suzaku got to keep his spot in the end. In my opinion, Suzaku is both the antithesis and the complement of Lelouch; I think mostly everyone would have to agree with me on this, since the show was more than blunt in depicting him this way. The two of them even have the stated agreement that when they work together, nothing is impossible, but despite that, for most of the show, Suzaku's views on matters are the exact opposite of Lelouch's own. I think that it's impossible to dislike one of these two characters while liking the other, and I suppose the choice between them depends on the viewer's own moral code and point of view on the debates between the two. Most of the fandom, however, seems to hate the crap out of Suzaku; which, I have to say, contributed to him being my favorite quite nicely. Still, I somehow preferred his outlook to Lelouch's from the very start, which quickly made him my favorite. And actually, in a very ironic manner, I liked him even MORE when he was misguided (as I said, all characters have been both right and wrong in a way). The fact that he returned to Lelouch's side by the end was no surprise; I had been expecting that for a long while (even Shirley was at one point used to anticipate it). I think it's fitting that Suzaku ends up in the role of Zero, which is, just like in Lelouch's case, the exact opposite of what he started out as. I was glad, though, that despite the major change, he's still Suzaku, with his idealistic concept of 'accepting the burden' and his difficulty to act against his feelings, which he has to overcome.
My favorite female of the anime was CC. The major contribution to this was her role as narrator and background philosopher of the series. CC is pretty much the embodiment, or at least the conflux point of the concepts scattered across the anime, and to me it seemed as though she had little in the way of a point of view of her own; or more likely, she's confused about her own thoughts. This was confirmed to me at some point in the last few episodes, when, even though she's been Lelouch's accomplice all along (and still is), she tells Suzaku that he is similar to her. I guess CC is not a very lively and attractive character in normal terms, and her apathy detracts from her overall charm (although for me it did the opposite), but she was very interesting to study, and I paid a great deal of attention to her every word. Her backstory was very intriguing as well, although it remained quite largely unexplored by the end of the show, with Lelouch carrying some revelations about her to his... well, grave, whether there is one or not. Anyway, somehow, though irritating, the fact that I don't fully know the character made me like CC even more. xD
There were also other characters that I found very interesting in one way or another. I already mentioned Li Xingke. For a while, I was worried they'd make him into a pedo. xDD But they handled his relationship with Empress Tianzi well, making it seem more like fatherly affection on his part. Anyway, I guess in his case I was just refreshed to see a character with a fixed moral code and list of priorities, acting by those without hesitation. This character was supposed to be portrayed as mature and ready to acknowledge his mistakes and also to act immediately as he thought best. At least that's how I see it, and I have to say it was more than properly conveyed.
The same is the case with Cornelia, who is my second favorite female. She's actually a very balanced individual, who learned her lessons (and she faced about three of these, all VERY clear) more quickly than any other character, which I liked very much. From her initial portrayal, I thought she would never be able to see anything beyond the fact that Lelouch killed Euphemia. But I was wrong, and the character gained my respect.
Then there's Lloyd, of course; I don't know a single person who doesn't love this character, but I wonder how many notice the non-humorous second side there is to him. He's that kind of dual character that should be observed more closely; I always like those.
Lastly, Diethard and Schneizel both had a lot of potential, but I think they were cut out of the show due to lack of time, towards the end. Although they received proper endings to their careers, just really... rushed. Especially Diethard's death; that was a little too out of the blue and definitely not dealt with in enough detail. Schneizel reminds me a lot of Gilbert Durandal from Gundam SEED. (As in... Neither of these two characters had a personal ambition or lust for power, but each thought that he could reform the world and control it; both were also opposed by people who apparently 'want tomorrow'. xD)
My least favorite character was Nunnally; I don't hate her, but she did absolutely nothing to impress me in the slightest.
SEIYUU & SOUNDTRACK
For the soundtrack... The insert songs were very good (especially the ones by Sakai Mikio, although I can also see why everyone likes Hitomi, to an extent), and used appropriately, so I have absolutely no objection here. However, the second opening theme to season one was... suffice to say, I didn't like it at all and it got on my nerves. It just not only doesn't fit the anime in the slightest, but it's not my kind of music, either. The other openings were mediocre in my opinion, but at least they were appropriate enough. The ending themes were very nice, though; they used two ALI PROJECT songs, which is made of win, but for me, SunSet Swish's "Mosaic Kakera" was the best ED theme of Code Geass.
Then, the seiyuu were, in my opinion, very well chosen for all characters. Even if some weren't breath-takingly good in their roles, all of them fit with their roles. Although... man, Lelouch sure showed us a different kind of JunJun (Fukuyama Jun xDD, if you want to compare to his usual, think... Ayasegawa Yumichika from Bleach, or Watanuki Kimihiro in xxxHoLic). He deserved that award he won in 2007 for this role, for sure! xDD Suzaku's voice actor, Sakurai Takahiro, performed very well too. When I saw the cast I was expecting to not be able to lose that Haseo feeling because of his seiyuu, but that didn't happen. He doesn't sound much like Cloud, either. But definitely the shocker of it all: Jeremiah Gottwald and Narita Ken! I can't believe I didn't realize that was Sesshoumaru's seiyuu. xDDD
Switching to females... Koshimizu Ami, for Kallen, also stands out as a very good seiyuu who fits her character perfectly; she seemed kind of like an unexpected choice for me, but she did very well and she got a rightful award for it, too. Then there's Shirley... Orikasa Fumiko is an excellent seiyuu and one of my personal favorites, and she really didn't disappoint in this role, either. I'm still amazed at how many different voices this woman has in store. xDD Yukana did very well as CC, too; I wasn't as impressed as with the other two, but she did live up to her character, and she made a nice narrator. Cornelia's seiyuu was a bit of a shocker; I didn't guess her to be Minagawa Junko, so there's no question that I didn't think of .hack//UdeDen's Shugo while listening to her! xD
MECH
I'm reaaaally not the best person to ask about this, but I think that hardcore fans of the mecha genre weren't ecstatic about the machines in this anime. I mean, there was some variety, the main two received several upgrades and a decent amount of screen time, the artwork and animations for them were nice, but... the focus of the show was definitely on events and characters, not on the mech. It seemed to me as though the Knightmare frames were playing a more important role in the beginning, though, but they were gradually forgotten. Though not completely; they do get a role in the plot to satisfy everyone. xD
PUBLIC CONCLUSION
I've got a very short thing to say here. Go watch it if you haven't! It's a must-see! If you have, I severely doubt you didn't love it to death. xD
Well, yesterday was the last Sunday with a Code Geass episode. The 25th and final turn of R2 was released, and I watched it last night, so now I'm done. I was kind of tired last night, so I left the blogging for today.
This here is my impression post containing my ideas on the entire show. As a general conclusion though, I have to say that this was a GREAT anime. I loved it and at some points it was so addicting that waiting even just the one week for the next episode was torture. However... I'm a lot less affected by the fact that it's now over than I thought I would be. I mean... yes, I realize there will be no more Code Geass episodes to look forward to from now on. But somehow it doesn't sound as bad as I thought it might.
Still, Code Geass was good enough to remain among my all-time favorite anime shows, that's for sure.
Fair Warning: The review is spoiler-heavy, so unless you've finished watching Code Geass as well, you might not want to open this cut.
So, let's start the impressions/review.
BEST POINT
In my opinion, Code Geass can boast of a great capacity to draw in the audience. The producers did an amazing job of surprising everyone with their sudden and very clever plot-twists. Even more; it happens at every single turn. This not only keeps you interested in the story (since personally, I was always DYING to find out what would happen next), but also makes you CARE. I really found it had this effect: due to how shocking and sudden the plot-twists were, I couldn't help but hope the situations would be resolved the way I'd like it to.
What's even better? I don't think this effect will be lost even for people watching it now, when it's over, and not having to wait one week to see the next episode and how the complicated situations ended.
WEAK POINT
The general plot. See below in the storyline section, but really, this show doesn't have a MAJOR drawback that isn't fixed by anything.
STORYLINE
I'm sorry to say, but the plot of Code Geass started out pretty lame in my opinion. When I watched the first episode, my first reaction was "*eyeroll* pffft, yeah right". It's just the context it offers... Some "Holy Empire of Britannia" has conquered other regions, among which there's also Japan, now named "Area 11". The Japanese, now named "Elevens", are being heavily discriminated against in there. Oh, boo-hoo. Maybe the Japanese audience was more affected by this, but for me it was a poor sketch of a premise, and too simple to be interesting.
Later on, the main character, this Lelouch who is apparently very smart (another eyeroll), receives the power of Geass. Again, very simple and typical. However, what drew me in was the very last scene of the first episode. It's pretty shocking, and really well done; sort of the warning that you should be expecting a lot of impressive moments from this anime, although I didn't know that back then. But in all possible honesty, that scene was the ONLY thing that kept me watching this back then. If it hadn't been there, I'd have probably dropped the anime after episode one, never to try it again.
Needless to say, with such a premise, the story never gained a great deal of credibility. It's lacking, in my opinion. But the way they address it, with the numerous shocks that I mentioned, manages to make up for that (especially the part taking place in the Chinese Federation). I think they managed to shift the attention from the general picture, which isn't that brilliant, to a more... spontaneous interest. It's done in such a way that, by the end of it all, I didn't care that there wasn't very much of a plot in the regular sense of the word. There were more like... a bunch of mini-plots that you can get interested in, and they're so good that you completely forget about the larger scheme.
Overall, really captivating, even in such an unnatural way.
As for humor, there is plenty. See Arthur&Suzaku, easily the best source of it and the most acclaimed one. Then there's Jeremiah's nickname, Orange, which has become some widespread joke among the fans. Lastly... I swear seeing pizza will always make me think of CC now! But if you want more, I suggest watching the Picture Book mini episodes.
CHARACTERS
Overall
For me, it took a long while to begin relating to the characters of this show and to see them as more than puppets. They didn't seem that human and impressive to me at first. I think it was only as far as the half of R2 (that's insanely late!) that I actually began to feel for them. Until then, I was purely watching for the adrenaline rushes that the plot-twists were causing. But somewhere along the way, I started to care about the characters. I have no idea if that's the intended effect of the producers, but I think not. Nevertheless, that's how it was for me.
As variety, though, the anime offers a nice gallery. Not the best I've ever seen, but definitely among the better ones when it comes to making individual characters stand out from each other. And I like that they put a twist on the types, and weren't true to the patterns these characters were built after. Everyone's morally corrupted at some point and makes mistakes, yet everyone is also somehow right in a different way. Best part ever is that I didn't find anyone I could hate or really dislike in Code Geass. All of the characters were acceptable and balanced.
Main Character
Lelouch, the main character of Code Geass, is not my favorite of them all, but he definitely served well in his role. This is a character that actually moves things around and has some sort of connection with everything in the anime, but without actually monopolizing everything. He's got qualities, but even he makes giant mistakes, and there's another especially prominent aspect of things: a third party always comes to mess up his plans just when they were working at their best.
Another good part about him is how the producers chose to show a lot of his thoughts and emotions, while at the same time keeping an equal amount hidden. We see things through his eyes most of the time, but somehow that doesn't show what plans he has for the future at all. I'll have to say that for me Lelouch was a very unpredictable character until the very end. That's partly due to how he builds his plans based on things he's not sure about either; it's sort of as if he's constantly testing the ground with everything he does. So, since the unexpected always shows up in this anime, the main character is forced to act accordingly. I think they tied him into the plot the best possible way.
One thing that gained me some aversion for Lelouch was his attitude towards Rolo, and I guess his Nunnally obsession in general. However, he redeemed himself by letting Rolo die happy, and subsequently learning how to place other things before his sister. Being resolved this way, this actually stopped being an annoying bit about the character, and turned into a strong point: character development, and major at that. Randomly mentioned, too: Lelouch's crazy moments were absolutely awesome, especially the scenes where he uses Geass on random people to amuse himself and get rid of his depression. I guess I loved the fact that the character turns from a spoiled, selfish brat into a proper Emperor who does what's best for his people, even if it means giving his life for that.
Speaking of self-sacrificing Emperor, there's the ending. I'll have to say it was hinted at quite some time before it actually happened, but it seems I wasn't smart enough to figure it out until it was just about to happen. I'm not sure how much I liked it; I think I was expecting it to be somewhat more... powerful. Something to beat all of those plot twists from before with how grand it would be. But it wasn't quite like that; it was quite peaceful, actually, in the sense that I wasn't as surprised as I could have been. But for managing to convey emotion... it did that quite fine. The main character's death was quite moving, despite the fact that his plan and reasons were soooo cliché and kind of the cheesy heroic type, which the character hadn't been at all until then. I class this as a good ending for him.
Though I hear that some people speculate he might be alive. I confess that this possibility didn't even cross my mind until I saw other people discussing it. To me it seemed as though he had died, and CC was only musing on everything that happened; the Lelouch she addressed was just figurative - she was actually speaking rhetorically in my opinion. Taking a look at it, though, it's valid that she might have been addressing an actual, living Lelouch; damn this for being a Sunrise show! xD Well, ambiguous ending then, so be it. It's not bad if everyone can interpret as they like. Personally, I favor my original interpretation; although it's sad that Lelouch had to die, it's more impressive that way.
Personal Character Preferences
My favorite male of the anime was, overall, Suzaku. He was almost dethroned by Li Xingke at some point, but the fact that the latter lost a TON of screen time after the Chinese Federation arc, naturally, meant that Suzaku got to keep his spot in the end. In my opinion, Suzaku is both the antithesis and the complement of Lelouch; I think mostly everyone would have to agree with me on this, since the show was more than blunt in depicting him this way. The two of them even have the stated agreement that when they work together, nothing is impossible, but despite that, for most of the show, Suzaku's views on matters are the exact opposite of Lelouch's own. I think that it's impossible to dislike one of these two characters while liking the other, and I suppose the choice between them depends on the viewer's own moral code and point of view on the debates between the two. Most of the fandom, however, seems to hate the crap out of Suzaku; which, I have to say, contributed to him being my favorite quite nicely. Still, I somehow preferred his outlook to Lelouch's from the very start, which quickly made him my favorite. And actually, in a very ironic manner, I liked him even MORE when he was misguided (as I said, all characters have been both right and wrong in a way). The fact that he returned to Lelouch's side by the end was no surprise; I had been expecting that for a long while (even Shirley was at one point used to anticipate it). I think it's fitting that Suzaku ends up in the role of Zero, which is, just like in Lelouch's case, the exact opposite of what he started out as. I was glad, though, that despite the major change, he's still Suzaku, with his idealistic concept of 'accepting the burden' and his difficulty to act against his feelings, which he has to overcome.
My favorite female of the anime was CC. The major contribution to this was her role as narrator and background philosopher of the series. CC is pretty much the embodiment, or at least the conflux point of the concepts scattered across the anime, and to me it seemed as though she had little in the way of a point of view of her own; or more likely, she's confused about her own thoughts. This was confirmed to me at some point in the last few episodes, when, even though she's been Lelouch's accomplice all along (and still is), she tells Suzaku that he is similar to her. I guess CC is not a very lively and attractive character in normal terms, and her apathy detracts from her overall charm (although for me it did the opposite), but she was very interesting to study, and I paid a great deal of attention to her every word. Her backstory was very intriguing as well, although it remained quite largely unexplored by the end of the show, with Lelouch carrying some revelations about her to his... well, grave, whether there is one or not. Anyway, somehow, though irritating, the fact that I don't fully know the character made me like CC even more. xD
There were also other characters that I found very interesting in one way or another. I already mentioned Li Xingke. For a while, I was worried they'd make him into a pedo. xDD But they handled his relationship with Empress Tianzi well, making it seem more like fatherly affection on his part. Anyway, I guess in his case I was just refreshed to see a character with a fixed moral code and list of priorities, acting by those without hesitation. This character was supposed to be portrayed as mature and ready to acknowledge his mistakes and also to act immediately as he thought best. At least that's how I see it, and I have to say it was more than properly conveyed.
The same is the case with Cornelia, who is my second favorite female. She's actually a very balanced individual, who learned her lessons (and she faced about three of these, all VERY clear) more quickly than any other character, which I liked very much. From her initial portrayal, I thought she would never be able to see anything beyond the fact that Lelouch killed Euphemia. But I was wrong, and the character gained my respect.
Then there's Lloyd, of course; I don't know a single person who doesn't love this character, but I wonder how many notice the non-humorous second side there is to him. He's that kind of dual character that should be observed more closely; I always like those.
Lastly, Diethard and Schneizel both had a lot of potential, but I think they were cut out of the show due to lack of time, towards the end. Although they received proper endings to their careers, just really... rushed. Especially Diethard's death; that was a little too out of the blue and definitely not dealt with in enough detail. Schneizel reminds me a lot of Gilbert Durandal from Gundam SEED. (As in... Neither of these two characters had a personal ambition or lust for power, but each thought that he could reform the world and control it; both were also opposed by people who apparently 'want tomorrow'. xD)
My least favorite character was Nunnally; I don't hate her, but she did absolutely nothing to impress me in the slightest.
SEIYUU & SOUNDTRACK
For the soundtrack... The insert songs were very good (especially the ones by Sakai Mikio, although I can also see why everyone likes Hitomi, to an extent), and used appropriately, so I have absolutely no objection here. However, the second opening theme to season one was... suffice to say, I didn't like it at all and it got on my nerves. It just not only doesn't fit the anime in the slightest, but it's not my kind of music, either. The other openings were mediocre in my opinion, but at least they were appropriate enough. The ending themes were very nice, though; they used two ALI PROJECT songs, which is made of win, but for me, SunSet Swish's "Mosaic Kakera" was the best ED theme of Code Geass.
Then, the seiyuu were, in my opinion, very well chosen for all characters. Even if some weren't breath-takingly good in their roles, all of them fit with their roles. Although... man, Lelouch sure showed us a different kind of JunJun (Fukuyama Jun xDD, if you want to compare to his usual, think... Ayasegawa Yumichika from Bleach, or Watanuki Kimihiro in xxxHoLic). He deserved that award he won in 2007 for this role, for sure! xDD Suzaku's voice actor, Sakurai Takahiro, performed very well too. When I saw the cast I was expecting to not be able to lose that Haseo feeling because of his seiyuu, but that didn't happen. He doesn't sound much like Cloud, either. But definitely the shocker of it all: Jeremiah Gottwald and Narita Ken! I can't believe I didn't realize that was Sesshoumaru's seiyuu. xDDD
Switching to females... Koshimizu Ami, for Kallen, also stands out as a very good seiyuu who fits her character perfectly; she seemed kind of like an unexpected choice for me, but she did very well and she got a rightful award for it, too. Then there's Shirley... Orikasa Fumiko is an excellent seiyuu and one of my personal favorites, and she really didn't disappoint in this role, either. I'm still amazed at how many different voices this woman has in store. xDD Yukana did very well as CC, too; I wasn't as impressed as with the other two, but she did live up to her character, and she made a nice narrator. Cornelia's seiyuu was a bit of a shocker; I didn't guess her to be Minagawa Junko, so there's no question that I didn't think of .hack//UdeDen's Shugo while listening to her! xD
MECH
I'm reaaaally not the best person to ask about this, but I think that hardcore fans of the mecha genre weren't ecstatic about the machines in this anime. I mean, there was some variety, the main two received several upgrades and a decent amount of screen time, the artwork and animations for them were nice, but... the focus of the show was definitely on events and characters, not on the mech. It seemed to me as though the Knightmare frames were playing a more important role in the beginning, though, but they were gradually forgotten. Though not completely; they do get a role in the plot to satisfy everyone. xD
PUBLIC CONCLUSION
I've got a very short thing to say here. Go watch it if you haven't! It's a must-see! If you have, I severely doubt you didn't love it to death. xD