Review By CreedofDeath and Childofhate
Ok, firstly, a little heads up. This isn't a solo review. Me and CreedOfDeath collaborated on this one. Most of the critical comments are by me, while he does the fan/fanboi commentary. So, if you think that this article/review is bad in anyway, feel free to kill him! :evil:
Now that, that's outta the way, lets begin. Code Geass is a SunRise Production and its a wholly original anime with no manga background and features one of the most charismatic and vengeful characters in anime history, aka Lelouch Vie Britannia. Any discussion about Code Geass usually involves pitting Zero aka Lelouch against Yagami Light, consequently leading to flame wars on many anime forums. But, here I wont compare them, though I'll definitely differentiate between them. Light in Death Note was shown to be a character who wasted (pun unintended) anyone, including his own family for the sake of a better world, but Lelouch on the other hand wastes the whole world for his family. Starting to see the difference? Yeah, Lelouch is a character unto himself, the kinda guy who'd do anything for the people he loves and the guy who commands the power of the Geass. :devil:
But, we've got time enough to discuss Lelouch later. Lets get on with the actual anime. First the Artwork....Well, there's nothing much to say here, coz most of the Artwork is pretty bland. There are some hints of brilliance here and there but overall the Artwork is pretty much average, but I guess since I'm a sucker for Mecha I liked the Artwork on the Lancelot. Though I said it, there's nothing too bad about the artwork either, just that an anime of this high level should have had better Artists working on it.
Anyway, moving onto the story-telling itself. The year is 2010 a.t.b.(Ascension Throne Britannia), and The Holy Brittania Empire declares war on the Japanese Republic and conquers it with ease, giving it the name Area 11. The Story begins 7 years after this event and shows our main protagonist strutting his stuff against old geezers in a Chess match. Here's how it goes, "He enters, he wins, he leaves", all for the sake of money and self-satisfaction. Lelouch, has been shown to be an arrogant prick in the beginning of the series and only later on does his character develop to an extent that he realizes that ridding the world of The Britannia Empire will force him to commit sins, either knowingly or unknowlingly. The guy actually shows compassion, bravery and other noble virtues by the time, the second season (R2) finishes off. The reason I and CreedOfDeath highly praise this anime is not coz its just a one man show. No, on the contrary Lelouch faces his best friend in battle, a guy who's an 11 (native Japanese) and who thinks that the face behind the Mask Of Zero must be crushed without knowing that its his own friend who's rebelling against the Holy Empire. Suzaku himself is a complex character, with layers of anger, hatred, compassion, cunning, talent, valor and grey shades. In my whole life watching anime, I'm yet to find a character who's so complex, messed up and confused, but yet manages to struggle against his own self and always do what is right according to his own rule-set. Also the way the story is portrayed from the point of view of Lelouch, Suzaku, Lelouch's younger sister Nunally and Lelouch's friends makes the narrative extremely gripping. All the characters are shown having a human element and none of them is a super-hero or uber-cool. They are all shown fighting their destinies and living for the future and almost everyone has a few shades of grey in their character, which is actually a pretty good thing coz i hate Goody-Two-Shoes ones.
Onto the summary itself... Lelouch one day stumbles upon a helpless girl who before dieing gives hime the power of the kings, The Geass. Lelouch witnesses a huge massacre by the hated Brittania Empire's knights in their Mechs and decides to get his revenge by using existing rebels as pawns (told ya... He's a prick in the beginning). But, the rebellion gets thwarted though Lelouch still gains some measure of revenge on The Empire (Dont ask me about why he wants revenge, coz that's a spoiler and you'll havta watch the anime yourself to find it out). The story continues with Lelouch finding out that the girl who gave him the power of the Geass (called C.C.) is still alive and well. He gains influence over the current rebel movement under the name of Zero, the man of miracles. The story tells us about how Lelouch does all of this just for two reasons (though they're both inter-related), revenge and to create a better world for his younger sister. But, life isn't all roses and sunshine is it? A big plot twist at the end of R1 (season 1) shatters Lelouch's life until a year later he comes back with the help of C.C. and the Rebels' ace Mech-pilot Kallen who themselves have a dark past. Another memorable character who first opposes the rebellion only later to join it is Li Xingke who's just as good a commander as Lelouch and just as good a pilot as Suzaku or Kallen. The plot itself has so many twists and turns that a Corkscrew Roller-coaster would get a complex. Almost each and every episode ends with a revelation, and each episode confirms how bad-ass a strategist and a thinking man's character Lelouch is. Though Code Geass never lets one man grab the limelight, in the end its still a Protaganist-centric anime with every supporting character having their own history and character development. In fact, Code Geass is one of the few anime that I've seen where the character development just doesn't stop after the first season. Lelouch grows and becomes a more mature guy in the second season and by the time he finishes off his objectives he realizes that the bodies he walked over to reach where he has reached need him to atone for his sins and atone he does (For more on how, see the anime).
The other big thing that works for Code Geass is the direction, which in one word is absolutely amazing. No one character hogs the limelight and noone is a particularly screen-space wasting shithead. The story moves at a gentle pace during the first five episodes but picks up a humongous amount of momentum later on and doesnt let go of it until the very end.
Caution:The following text onwards is from a fan's point of view. If you don't like it you can go steam-piss on the power lines for all I care. :evil:
Well, I won't be adding in to the story as ChildOfHate explained the basic plot quite well. For the first time that dumbass did something good.I can't believe I was gonna drop this anime after the first 5 episodes. Yes people, the self-proclaimed biggest fan was plannin to give it a 5.
Now 'bout some characters in this anime which the moron forgot to discuss about. There are two characters who play a crucial part in this anime namely, Charles Britannia and Euphemia a.k.a Euphy. Well Charles Brittania is the man I despised the most in this anime (When u see the anime you will know why). Now for Euphy... Well all I can say is this that she is quite a likable character in the anime. And lil kiddies.. special mention for Mao. The battle between Lelouch and him is totally epic (No spoilers here).Every character in this anime has been given good amount of airtime for their development. I totally dug Xing-ke. He owns!!
And Animation: The anime had kick-ass animation. Let me tell you this in the animation department that its to each's own. If Childofhate didn't like it then he's a moron. I loved the fluidity of the animation in both the seasons.The second season has better quality of animation then the first season. Duh!!!!
Another big thing to notice about this anime is the background score which was nice in the first season but went epic in the second. Its among those animes whose background scores I have on my hard drive. The music blends in perfectly with the flow of the anime. Whther there being a battle scene or a intense game of chess the music suits it perfectly. This is the first anime in my life which I called cinematic in feel. One of the main reasons being the background score. The voice-overs are also top-notch in this anime. I personally liked Lelouch's voice done by Fukuyama Jun(He's the same guy who did the voice-over of Johnny in the Japanese version of MGS4).
Another noticeable aspect is the action in this anime. Despite the fact I ain't high on mecha anime I totally loved the action in this baby. You personally have to see the action and the mindgames going on during the action-sequences. My personal favorite being the finale battle in season 2. This is among a few other reasons a lot of people including me call Code Geass better than Death Note. Another aspect I totally loved in the anime was the emo content. The emotions portrayed by Lulu were excellent. His pain and suffering makes him more human of a character than most characters I have seen.
Well I think that pretty much wraps the review up. In the end I would like to say if you have seen code Geass then you know it owns you. And for those who haven't...You still havent seen the best anime of 2007-2008.
I would like to end this review with my fav qoute from the anime:
"If powerlessness is a sin
then is power justice
If revenge is a sin
then is friendship enough for justice!!"
Go figure!!
Rating(CreedOfDeath)-10/10
Rating(ChildOfHate)-10-0.01(for artwork and to piss off a certain fanboi)=9.9/10
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