Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

After a hugely successful season 1, we have the highly anticipated sequel, Code Geass R2.


Story: 3
The story involved a reset but kicked off to a very strong, solid start with Lelouche as cunning as ever in getting his ways. However, around 1/3 into the season it all starts falling apart. We start getting rather outrageous, unplausible plot twists and sequence of events. While this has happened in Season 1, R2 takes "outrageous, unplausible" to an entirely new level which continues right until the end of the series where finally, the ending had a very good twist to it.

The mecha battles have also ... suffered from the same problems from Gundam Seed Destiny - a few Nightmares that are just so ridiculously powerful.


Art: 7
If you can stand the stick-thin characters (I knocked a mark off for this), then the art is pretty damn good. The colours are vivid and the costumes varied in design. The animation was also rather smooth as well. Overall, it's good but not exceptional.


Sound: 7
Geass has a rather unique soundtrack style and I especially enjoyed the jazzy battle themes and Hitomi's vocal tracks. Hitomi's track which was played in the finale had a very appropriate feel and was awesome.

However, I found many of the choices for the OP/ED rather questionable!


Character: 4
A very large cast which was rather interesting in season 1 but with the butchering of the storyline, also came the butchering of the characters. The large cast prevented the development of key characters and they often made superficial appearances. Kallen, as awesome as she is was totally lacking towards the end of the series.


Enjoyment: 7
Despite the negativity, I did rather enjoy watching this series. It was whacky and corny which may be the wrong reason to enjoy a show, but that's how I managed to derive lots of enjoyment from.


Overall: 5
Geass R2 shone well in some aspects but was totally lacking in other departments. It had such a huge potential yet I feel it was utterly wasted. R2 wasn't a total disaster but it could have been so much better.

I recently revisited this series, it has been many years since I last saw it and so refreshing my memory of it has brought with it a number of revelations. NOTE - THIS IS A SPOILERIFIC REVIEW DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN BOTH SEASONS.

Okay, so what is Code Geass? Code Geass as you're all aware is a story about one man's struggle against an empire. It's also a combination of Gundam and Deathnote (unashamed melange) with elements of mindfuck Eva thrown in at the end, oh and not to forget the whole high school atmosphere that is so woefully and forcefully maintained ... throughout. So what this leaves us with is a show that wants to take the best of every genre and combine it with the typical light yagami personality (of course this is in reality the Reinhard von Lohengramm personality but most people haven't seen Logh).

For all its flaws the first season was actually very well executed in the sense that the plot progressed as it should have done and the rebellion failing at the end was hunky dory. I felt I could look beyond all of the high-school antics and silly dilly dallying which are heavily out of place in a show that wants to be taken seriously, I could ignore them because the show had spirit, you could sense Lelouch's hatred for the Empire and I found myself sympathizing with his struggle.

There are of course a number of inexplicable loop-holes that the show seeks to rely on, in s1 for example - how on Earth did a school-kid start commanding an army of Knightmares straight off the bat (yes he had geass but geass implies the ability to control people - not pilot knightmares and command forces on a battlefield). C.C saves his ass a number of times very conveniently.

Suzaku's role was simply to play the Athrun Zala to Lelouch's Kira Yamato, nothing like a bit of potential yaoi teenage angst to get the show moving, Suzaku's own motivations remained understandable in R1 but went completely Haywire in r2...in fact the whole show went haywire in R2.

R2 Begins with Lelouch getting his memory restored, but the whole scenario with him being watched to draw out CC was too convenient as it was used as an excuse to keep the high school drama going for almost the whole season, even if you have managed to brainwash your observation team and create a dummy any rational empire would have noticed something was up when Zer0 had returned and proven himself to be as dangerous as the last Zer0. The transition to s2 was dismal, and Suzaku had turned into a complete asshole (which is odd considering his personality in r1) - one might blame it on Euphemia's death but then wouldn't he want to live on in the same way she would have?

Nina that useless lesbian from R1 somehow gets a main role after becoming the show's albert einstein and creating a nuclear bomb, Schneizel is an idiot and could have been turned into a much better "L" like character - certainly the way he used Euphemia in R1 made me get my hopes up that he would turn into a real adversary in R2.

Charles and Marianne want to turn the world into a giant lump of frozen consciousness so there will be no more lies.....Yeah....this is where you've jumped off the deep end and started with all the ham-handed philosophy and Evanegelion imitation..actually this could count as a Haruhi imitation too, in any event it was unnecessary and uncalled for. Strange how quickly Lelouch decides to kill his mother too (considering he has acted up until now for her sake)

Lelouch killing Mariann leads me to another problem with the show which is: that people seem to have no problem backstabbing one another, I mean fine I can understand backstabbing when there's an environment conducive to it BUT Why did the black knights betray Zer0 after some bullshit from their enemy Schneizel? I mean at the most they would have demoted him as their leader but instead they sold him out.

Essentially the show relies on this abysmal allegiance switching mechanism that it throws into overdrive in r2 - so people change sides like nobody's business, this is supposed to create excitement and in a way it does but if it's not well justified it leaves you with a sense of being cheesed off.

Also the whole "Area 11 will become the Nippon Area" card was then recycled with Schneizel's "Nunally should become Queen assertion" - the enemy offers the other side a solution that they would be amenable to in order to stop the battle (another trope I found in the show).

Clearly there are some good thing's about the show
- all the women are amazingly hot, C.C's pizza-butt and Kallen's tits are yummy
- there is still the same underlying spirit that r1 had (just toned down and more heavily destroyed by bad writing)
- The ending is satisfying and provides closure.

I actually finished Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 only a few days after reviewing the first season. To be blunt, at that time I was under so much rage and bitterness caused by the first season that I was in no state to review again without unjustifiably dumping all over R2. But here I am, perhaps to fulfill my ocd to review the second half of a series or perhaps to be less biased than last time, but its most likely because I have to let others know why this series is far from a masterpiece. It feels funny actually saying that. "Masterpiece", ... I mean that word gets thrown around alot when people are excited. Its like waking up with your arm asleep. It's just not natural.

Okay, so whether you are an anime veteran or virgin, one can appreciate genuine originality in a medium that isn't afraid to go at anything. I mean, general plots for anime involve incest,giant robots, pop bands, westerns, samurai duels, crazy dances, bombastic humor, and genuine what the hell moments. The plot for R2 tries to be original, by striking a balance between eccentric twists and down to earth qualities to no avail. Most of the main characters are just anime iconographies that try to act like they aren't by being unpredicatable and contradictory to what they believe in.This sort of left me thinking after every line "oh, well she is probably lying to make a moment more dramatic down the road". This sense of manufactured, maliable plot is interesting at first in R2, because it lets on that the plot might be heading somewhere worthwhile, but it doesn't. The show doesn't really "do" subtle. This next part is a spoiler, but it proves my point. Consider the character Shirley. Her mind is erased to protect her from danger. Then she finds out it was erased and realizes who did it. This was worthwhile because it set up a stronger bond between herself and Lelouch. It seemed realistic in a non realistic universe, which is what epic (large) animes do time and time again. However, in R2 her mind is wiped again and then she finds out who it was again. Great, we are back where we left off. Then she dies and Lelouch couldn’t give a damn. All of that seemingly original and shocking plot development for nothing. This pattern is constant in R2 and gives the viewer the sense that none of the characters mean anything more than dramatic payoffs to Lelouch or Suzaku.

For the most part I didn't seize violently from actually watching the second season. The art was to be expected from such a big budgeted series. It gave the stereotypical, polished, anime good looking characters justice. All the characters were made to look appealing to viewers, male or female. Except when some were made to be ugly(very few) in which case they were automatically killed off. This ode to perfection in beauty only made Sunrise's anime/mtv aspirations more apparent to me. The art played no other role than "pretty" and shed no light on character development at all.

What can I say about sound? This is the highpoint of sound in the series, “pew, pew, yargggh”. All of the openings get you more pumped up than when listening to the Jonas brothers make sweet love to their synthesizers. The tracks for the plot are more transparent than Casper on a Sunday and they let you know it time and time again. If something is bad, you better bet on some tense overtones, if a big plot twist occurs (about every 5 minutes) you better bet some fluttery instrument is going to be played. Basically, the producers said “we don’t want to leave anything to interpretation, I mean, these anime freaks want to escape their sad pit falls known as their lives, so just get them turned on and play the appropriate f**king music.”

It’s a letdown when these high priced shounen campaigns come out because they often give the general non-anime populous the wrong idea concerning what anime can achieve in art. People flipping channels only to see someone like Lelouch cackling like a mad man might think A) this is cool!, B) wow, anime really is just weird Japanese cartoons, or C) This is sort of like mtv. What I mean to say is that R2’s characters do absolutely nothing to redefine anything in the medium. The girls look good and are subtlety subservient to the guys. Even Kallen and Cornelia. Kallen is a tool for Zero, no matter how strong she is and later a larger tool for Schneizel. Cornelia was actually great at first but then she became grouped in with the sort like Villeta and becomes one of those people who wait for their men to come home from war. If the main characters are considered, things get a little different. Lelouch has to question his reasoning many times over and is actually believable when he acts ruthless. I mean, most people are like that but just don’t have the balls (or in this case Geass) to back up their claims. He is a pseudo anti hero in that regard, but the producers always flipped him back to “good Lelouch” to make him likable at school. I thought that was also believable at first since one would most likely lie at school if they were a terrorist. But when he started speaking with sympathy for his friends it just didn’t seem justified. The only thing that really validated his motives as a character came at the end of the series, which was ironically helped by another character, Suzaku. I'm not even gonna go into Suzaku, because, he is the walking epitome of what the show tried to be and failed at. A genuine contradiction.

Watching R2 is like watching a show because you feel like you'll miss out. Its like high school. If you want to be and see a part of anime hype, this is the anime for you.. Want to kill some time after working? great. Sunrise put this little mellow-dramatic action piece that will take you out of your life for 30 minutes, check it out. But please, please, I cant stress this enough. Don't call up a friend and say "ah man, I just watched this show called Code Geass and its the best anime ever". Because you will have just fulfilled Sunrise's shadow Nazi corporation agenda.

First off, take note that I have not seen the entire series at the point of writing the review.

Story: If you haven't seen Code Geass the original, there is really no point in you being on this page, and if you have seen it...it's almost exactly the same.

Art: Average for the time. It is good, probably the best point in the series, but it's average.

Sound: I like the VAs (Voice Actors), and the songs were OK, but nothing really wow-ed me.

Characters: I do say, Lelouche is a very good character, but he becomes predictable, and that kills his only good point - the rest of ... the characters are seen everywhere else, nothing new, really.

Enjoyment: I gave it a three. It really wasn't entertaining. After seeing the first season, this was like watching it over again. I knew what was going to happen, and then watched it happen. This series is basically Death Note, except replacing the suspense with the occasional sighting of a mecha. Between the two series, there is an innumerable amount of "plot twists". I put the quotes around that term because they stop becoming twists, and become so predictable it seems like that would be the obvious thing to do.

Overall: I would not recommend this show, I remember after finishing Code Geass the first, I wanted to watch more! I wanted more! But I was disappointed...I wanted more Code Geass, not the first season. Overall, the show is HIGHLY overrated, I mean at 10 episodes, the watchers rated it number two out of every single anime out there, behind only the infamous (and highly enjoyable, although some of the other features are often debated about) Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. But back to my point, how did a second series, only half-way through, pass not only every single other anime in existence, but also the first series!? People are idiots.

Code Geass R2 seems to be the most serious pretender to the throne of the most overrated series ever. This anime is nothing but watchable and does not deserve any remarkable praise. For me it is hard to understand why this series is so highly acclaimed.

Story (1/10)

Certainly, the screenplay is the weakest part of R2. What is most evident is the complete lack of any general idea for the series. Events usually happen at random. Lelouch simply causes stir somewhere and hopes everything will turn out the way he wishes. People change sides for no clear reason (and if the reason is specified, it is ... retarded). Plot twists are totally unjustified and often defy logic, not to mention probability. Generally, the dynamism greatly exceeds the substance of plot.

Ending was probably intended to be moving, but is simply ridiculous and makes you wonder why you wasted more than a few hours of your life watching that show.

Art (7/10)

Animation is rather good, but there is nothing exceptionally noteworthy. Mecha designs look quite impressive. So do battles. Unfortunately, there are too many cases of poor quality drawing to give animation a better score.

Sound (6/10)

There are a few catchy tones, but the soundtrack is nowhere near masterpieces such as NGE. The sound generally matches what happens on the screen well and cannot be described as annoying or anything like that.

Character (4/10)

Whereas characters were one of the best aspects of the first season, the second one looks quite lousy in that field.

The best character of the show - Emperor Charles, is no longer a brave and ambitious (albeit violent) king that cares about his country and has a consistent (albeit controversial) view on realiity. In R2 he is some kind of a maniac with superpowers who in some unbelivable way combines Gendou Ikari with Nietsche and Hitler.

Lelouch was a little bit irritating in the first season and it does not change in the second one. Actually, things get worse. Lelouch constantly rushes from place to place and does not think much about his actions. Later, he develops some kind of pseudo-philosophy to justify his strange deeds. His strong sister complex and ambiguous attitude to Suzaku remain just as disturbing, as they were before.

There is a number of new characters, but they are either completely unconvinving (Xinge) or terribly annoying (Lolo). Schneizel plays a much greater role in the second series and is presented as an evil genius obsessed with power, world domination etc. Yes, the only thing CG lacked were evil geniuses resembling those form old James Bond movies.

Enjoyment (7/10)

Surprisingly, the series is quite fun to watch. It is so chaotic and unpredictable, that it makes you really curious what absurdity is going to happen next.

Overall: 5

What should've been a well-written, expertly-paced thrill ride, Code Geass R2 failed in every aspect. Most of the time I thought, "What the hell were the writers thinking?" But nevertheless, it won't fail to entertain you. I know most people will get the pitchforks out for me not endlessly praising Code Geass, but whatever. I don't find my gripes with the show to be completely unreasonable.

Code Geass R2 basically starts out with a 'reset,' of sorts. Lelouch Lamperouge, aka Zero, gets his memory wiped and has a normal life with his little brother, Rollo. It is soon after we are re-introduced to the main cast ... of Allies and Enemies: Suzaku, King Charles, C.C aka Pizza Butt, Kallen and rest of the black knights. I felt this was a waste of time but the writers wanted to get some new viewers so why not start anew? From a logical standpoint, it doesn't make sense why King Charles didn't just kill Lelouch after the season 1 climax but for writing purposes, he let him live.

But that is not where the problem lies in R2. One of the big problems is that Code Geass loses it's identity. It does way too much pandering. What do I mean by pandering? Well, Code Geass becomes a rom-com, psychological horror, josei, seinen, shounen-ai, all in one season. Now I may be exaggerating, but only by a little bit. Code Geass was originally about Lelouch, a brilliant strategist with the power of Geass, who would masterfully outwit his opponents with style and flair. That does not exist anymore in R2. The writers tried so hard to appeal to every kind of anime fan under the sun, that Code Geass's original identity was lost in the process. What the hell man?

Next, is characters get stupider. They make completely illogical decisions because the plot dictates them to do so. I will give one example, but only one so I don't ruin the entire show for those who didn't see it. *Spoilers*Ohgi betrays Lelouch because Schneizel says so. He quickly sentences Lelouch, his leader, to the metaphorical guillotine because his ENEMY, yes enemy, tells them that Lelouch has the power to control minds. He throws out everything the rebellion fought for, for that reason. Also, Ohgi is a traitorous bastard as well but that is conveniently ignored. He knows Viletta works for the Brittainians yet he decides to do nothing about it. In the end, they make teh babies because they love each other so much and live happily ever after.*End of Spoilers* Stuff like that really pissed me off.

Finally, the pacing was atrocious. Every problem was met with a very quick resolution that was completely inorganic. This was probably due to the fact that code geass was only 20 something episodes long; it would have benefited from being a 50 episode long show. The show probably gets all of its high praise from its grandiose, but fitting ending. I felt the ending would have been better, if the rest of the show was up to par.

Now, looking in-depth at the characters, the cast is pretty weak. The only character I really liked was Lelouch, but who doesn't like Lelouch. He is bold, brash, arrogant, cocky, everything you would want in a main character. Everybody else, I can't speak highly about. Suzaku is still Suzaku, which means he is a hypocrite, idiot and morally righteous douche. Shirley still Shirleys, which means she serves no real purpose except to be Lelouch's, "humanity." C.C. is still there to be sexy, and eat pizza. The newest character is the Yandere Shota, Rollo, who is there to creep you the hell out. I hated him but who doesn't? Most of the cast becomes fanservice, especially Kallen, but I am no going to write an essay about it.



The art is pretty good. The animation is smooth, sleek and nice to look at. The mecha battle scenes are not on par with EVA or even Gundam but they will do.

Did enjoy Code Geass R2? I would be lying if I said no. No matter how stupid, how ridiculous or how frustrating it was to watch, I could never take my eyes off of the screen. Code Geass is really fun to watch, but only with your brain off. If you think too hard, you might recognize how simply ridiculous and nonsensical the show really is.

Code Geass R2 gets a 6/10 from me. I would never rank this among the best anime of all time, although it is one of the most popular anime. Everybody should watch this show as it is considered a modern day classic but I am not crazy about it.

I wonder just how many times R2 jumped the shark, because I lost count at around 50 or so. Everything that was great about the first season of Code Geass was absent in R2. Every character became annoying, the plot twists were idiotic at best and character alliances changed like the freaking wind. It almost seems the target audience R2 was aimed at are 14 year old brats with extreme cases of A.D.D. By the end of R2 I stopped caring who won, and who died... I in fact wanted everyone to die. No plot twist, no matter how clever could have saved R2 from ... the complete disaster it had become once it passed half way.

Code Geass R2: Messy, Gritty, Idiotic War Drama

Hyper super epic war stuff: Get ready for a rebellion of war, revenge, politics, leadership, corruption, incest fetishes, two-dimensional guys who never go anywhere, and a completely jacked pacing! Heaven in this show is on Earth and is more vaguely explained than how babies are born.

This show has anything that your typical war drama has done, and it does feel pretty epic! Lelouch constantly trying to win mass mech war battles over his sister did seem ridiculous with this obsession, but its better than none. However, I must, and absolutely must admit-though still great in variety, if your ... having 10 tonnes of ideas all shaped on a blender, that smoothie takes time, so it was clear that the writers were rushing the pacing and leaving many themes scratched on the surface for viewers to so seriously be invested. Because the story seems confusing as it leaves plot holes like “How the living hell is the Geass power even a thing?!” And what we got was like “It came from Heaven, and that I–blah, blah, blah I'm retarded C3, can you please tongue me again?”

Secondary characters do play a role, but they are left so uncompleted! Like why is it a necessity, for us to care about Mecha Scythe Master? He was just a cheerful teenage military lad whose just there as one of the strongest Knights in Britainia, and yet he is just a there because he is just flipping there. It doesn’t help that they are two-dimensional like this pink haired girl whose there... Just for the sake of some random part of the show that was meant to be philosophical and some other crap that seems vague?

It's as if Japanese people don't even know what’s 9+10!

The battles were seriously dumb down, and when I thought that the anime never explained how Lelouch playing chess seemed fairly faulty, it gets worse when they switched to aerial battles for the sake of mechs looking more stupid since feet are certainly necessary. No given explanation on how Lelouch manages to win these battles by glaring on that green mini-map and pointing his middle finger to the general that they have to kill.

At the end, its still some random stuff happening at the time of crisis and that confusing plot with 90 or so rubbish characters makes this a ridiculous and it makes for an unpredictable and a fun ride, nor the show is trying to contradict its nature, so its still all well and good.

P.S. Code Geass is a parody of Legend of the Galactic Heroes if you were to think about it...

SCORES:
Story: 6/10
Characters: 5.5/10
Animation: 7/10
Music: 6/10

FINALE: 6/10

Geass is back! Whether you pronounce it "geese" or "gayass" it's back. For another round. That's right, Round 2, or maybe Rehash 2. It's your favorite Geass characters, some have died, some refuse to die, and now have to collide with each other in this sloppy sequel to the original anime.

With the success of the original Hamlet-esque geass, and the cliffhanger ending--the entire fate of Area 11 and Lelouch's plot to get back at his family, they decided to stretch out a one season concept into two.

So what we get is the same characters. Acting as if they're really not sure why they've been brought ... back for the second season, rehashes of the same elements of the first show (rebellion, betrayal, power bids in the Brittanian royal family, the disorganized Japanese, Chinese, and godknowswhoever allies with them), except it's now BIGGER AND BETTER.

The mechs, clumsy affairs with only a few being superweapons ALL now fly, do weird Gundam and Dragonball style garbage. There are more characters, more exposition of the existing characters, more of Lelouch pretending to be a smarmy schoolboy, Zero, a schoolboy pretending to be Zero--but now the stakes are higher. Are they?

Any romantic interplay within the characters is really hackneyed and to the point of keeping the shippers talking. This all happens while the plot clumsily tries to outdo itself from exposing the "the truth is bigger than you think and the enemy is not who it sems" crap. Just when you think Lelouch has succeeded against the prescribed enemy, you realize that it was all a farce (wow, what script writing) and there's a NEW enemy he must defeat. If any of you are still awake after watching the show at this point, you know where it will eventually lead.

Characters die suddenly, but for no reason. We are forced to fixate on deaths of minor characters and major characters alike--often with little pretext or resolution, or impact. More like ______ has to die. It will get the fans riled up. Then some characters refuse to die, invoking the "if you don't actually see a close-up of their face and a quip at the moment of death, the fawker isn't dead" theme of Gundam anime. In fact, by the end of the show you're wondering why the HELL some of the characters haven't died.

But it's cool, because everything wraps up in such a bizarre and pointless way, as if to make everyone happy, that you'll hate yourself for ever picking this title up.

Um, the good parts?

The animation, character design, and overall production value of this anime is top notch. Nudity has been curtailed for this season, but there are enough crotch shots and random WTF thong moments thrown about for no good reason to get someone excited. Not me.

It also proves one thing, every ALI PROJECT song sounds alike.

I feel too sad that I started hating this series around mid-season 2. My hate was not because its a bad show but because it didn't have to be bad. The writers had all the flesh they needed but in the end, the whole season was just plotholes and stretching the story many times with just unnecessary introduction of new characters.

The plot was promising and the first season overall was really good but S02 is just meh, after the first few episodes it was clear that shows writers were just stretching it. The first had strategy and tactics going for it. My problem with ... S2 was that it has gone over the top with everything, with too many plots and twist which does not add up. You have superpowers and then super weapons to suppress them. Oh my sister died in the nuclear explosion I must kill everyone, oh no my sister is alive I must kill my sister for a better world.

I liked the ending but it was hopelessly naive that because Lelouch is the enemy of the world, his death will result in peace and I've seen many fans drawing comparisons to real-world examples like the death of Hitler after WW2. But anyone who has ever consulted the pages of history can see how naive it is, as just a few years after WW2, we started with the Isreal-Palatine Conflict and Korean War. and it's just so sad to see how idealistic and poorly developed the philosophical views are for so many of these anime characters.


But in the end, I can't hate the show too much as I feel like the show tried to do something that was too ambitious and passionate. It aimed for greatness and failed and achieved mediocracy. That's a Win.

WARNING: This review contains an opinion that may differ from your own. I ask that you please read it with an open mind. If you're a fan of this manga/anime, hey I'm completely okay with that. I respect your opinion. Just how you should respect mine.

This will be a review for both R1 and R2. Before hitting the not helpful button, please here me out and take my criticism into consideration. Yeah I know, everyone loves this anime and people constantly list it in their top ten. But I felt like Code Geass had some glaring problems, which really prevented me from liking it ... more then I actually did.


First off, a quick synopsis of story. Code Geass takes place in an alternate universe where the empire of Britannia controls most of the world. The governing powers consist of 3 nations: Britannia itself, the Chinese Federation and the European Union. Japan has been renamed Area 11 by the empire. Since Britannia’s occupation of Japan, tension has been rising between the two nations. Enter our main protagonist, Lelouch Lamperouge, the former prince of Britannia who now lives in exile along with his sister Nunnally after the mysterious tragic death of their mother. One day, Lelouch gets caught up in the cross fire of a terrorist attack and encounters a women named C2, who saves his life. Not only that, but she hands him the power of the Geass. With this power, Lelouch can control anyone by just looking into their eyes and giving them a command. Now of course, there are more rules and guidelines for using this power but that’s the gist of it. With the power of the Geass in his hand, he adopts the identity of Zero and leads a rebellion, in hopes of creating a better world for his sister Nunnally and finding out why his mother was murdered. And blah, blah, blah, I think you got the big picture by now.


For the most part, the storytelling is great. Each episode was suspenseful, intense and it was just plot twist after plot twist; I was always wanting to know what happened next. About 15 episodes into the show, I started noticing some problems. The first being the lack of direction and focus. Code Geass tries too hard to appeal to every single anime fan. It’s like the series doesn't know what it wants to be. To some it up, Code Geass is a mecha action show, political war drama and worst of all, it’s a high school romantic comedy. Which results in the plot straying off from the main focus of Lelouch overthrowing his father along with the Britannian government and getting into these filler-ish types of side stories that no one cares for. Clearly, this was an obvious marketing strategy implemented by Sunrise. Their incentives were to appeal to all types of anime fans, like the ones who value good storytelling and characterization (like myself), and others who enjoy watching trash such as Harems, ecchis and moes/slice of life. Take for example, when they made that giant pizza at Lelouch's school. Wow.....really, honest to god, who the hell wanted to watch that ? Oh, lets not forget about the horribly contrived and cheesy sub-plot/romance between Lelouch and his female classmate Shirley.


Speaking of Shirley, that brings me to my next point, the characters. Lets start off with Lelouch, arguably the best in the series. He is arrogant, manipulative, intelligent and a condescending a**hole overall. But that’s what I liked about him. Easily the most well written and memorable, because he got the most characterization out of the bunch. Unfortunately, it’s a completely different story when it comes to the other characters.


Most, if not all, got no characterization or development. Code Geass definitely has a large cast of characters; but almost all of them were completely disposable. Now yes, you could argue that the show is only 50 episodes and so they don’t have time to flesh out every single one because then the it would go on forever. If that’s the case, then why did they even bother introducing all of them if they weren't going to make them a valuable asset to the series ? I personally, found most of them to be boring ( most of Lelouch’s classmates) or annoying (Nina anyone?). Even the ones who did get a good amount of characterization are later ruined by the writers inability to give them consistency.


Suzaku Kururugi is a perfect example of this. Without going into spoilers, out of the blue, his character does a complete 180 later on. There was no build up, foreshadowing, progression, or development to demonstrate this. Which resulted in some contrived plot devices. To top it off, most of the female cast member’s only contribution to the show was strictly fan service.


For instances, look at Kallen Stadfeld, earlier on, there were attempts at fleshing out her character by exploring why she hates Britannia and her reasons for joining the Black Knights (the rebel group led by Zero), which involved family troubles between her mom and step mom. Sadly, as the anime goes on, she’s reduced to nothing more then eye candy through fan service; exemplified with constant ass shots of her when she’s in the cockpit of the Guren MK-II while piloting it. Not to mention the seductive pink bunny outfit she wore in R2. That’s another problem this show has. Excessive, pointless, bland and tasteless fan service that is spread out over the entirety of the anime. It was incredibly distracting , annoying and unnecessary. There were numerous times when it took me out of the experience. Fan service would have been fine if Code Geass was a harem or ecchi. But it’s not, therefore it’s deemed pointless, out of place and adds nothing to the overall quality of the series.


Production values is where Code Geass excels the most. As far as the OST goes, it was a solid one. Most of it was orchestrated but it works just right for the show. That includes the openings and endings as well. All were good listens, and I don’t even like J-Rock, but my favorite has to be the first opening for R2. I’ll come out and say it. The art style here doesn't complement the tone and atmosphere of the narrative and overall experience. Code Geass is a story about imperialism, war, politics, power and corruption. Yet the art style looks like something you’d find in a moe/slice of life, a harem or an ecchi. This all leads back to my previous statement where I said that sunrise was trying too hard to appeal to every anime fan. Animation wise, Code Geass is top notch. It never lets up, especially during the mecha battles. It flows very smoothly and there’s little to no problems. You can definitely tell the creators put a lot of time into the visuals and aesthetics of the show. In terms of dub vs. sub, you decide. For the most part, the dub is good. But it never quite reaches the same level of excellency like the Cowboy Bebop, Death Note or Hellsing Ultimate dub. Nevertheless, Johnny Young Bosch gives a standout performance as Lelouch and possibly his best since his portrayal of Vash the Stampede. So yes, I’d say the subbed version is superior but it all comes down to preference.


Code Geass is far off from being a masterpiece in my opinion. The inconsistent characterization, under developed characters, excessive fanservice and lack of focus prevent it from being one. This anime is one of those types of shows where you try and want to love it but you just can't. Despite that, I still think it’s a decent alright show that’s worth a try; just don’t go rushing yourself to watch it.

I loved Season one of Code Geass and consider that one of the best that anime has to offer.

I also loved Season two. Why would I give an anime that I love only a 6?

The problem is that the character's motivations become shallower and shallower to create that same chessboard concept that occurred in season one.

In the first season it all felt natural. Each character felt like they did what they did was their choice.

In the second season it felt a little more forced in that this character has to do an action in order to keep the story moving. The plotline is genius but ... it comes at the cost of authentic character motivations.

Code Geass R2 is the sequel aka second season to Code Geass with the Progainist Lelouch once again as Zero " but the sequel was a bit of a disapointment unlike the original one And the storyline was a bit rushed to me But Lelouch is enjoyable and this anime is for fans who liked the original one like i did

Studio Sunrise hit hard and hit fast by releasing a sequel to this hit property. Original creator and director Gorou Taniguchi returns. He is a long standing member within Sunrise and has worked on a number of Gundam shows and directed Planetes previously. Could the sequel live up to the hype and catch lightning in a bottle once again; even if the ending to the first season was something to debate about, or will the second season falter at the very end?

Exactly a year has gone by since our main character Lelouch took up the mask of “Zero” and lead a vigilante crusade against his ... father and the Britannian Empire. At this point, the resistance is dumbfounded without their leader Zero, while Lelouch has had his memories wiped and altered not remembering his alter ego. From the person whom gave him his mind control eye power, the green haired immortal known as C.C. brings Lelouch and his memories back to take up the fight where it left off.

The animation and music from the previous season see no decline in high quality. Suspense and character dynamics of bro-love revolving around Lelouch and his “frienemy” Suzako remains top-notch. In the previous instalment, Code Geass loved hitting the viewer with a few convenient plot devices, but the filler and arcs did seem to have meaning as well as the characters knowing their purpose and place within the story. The same can’t be said for R2.

Ultimately, R2 just seems to run out of steam and ideas until the culminating conclusion. Before it though, this entertaining anime does the best it can by taking what made the first season weak and stepping the game up solely in that category. Most, if not all, of the previous characters in the show are thrown to the side to be made essentially worthless for the sake of new even more worthless characters to the plot. The show feels forced for the 25 episodes and while R2 no doubt has moments of absolute anime brilliance, this should have been better kept down to less than 12 episodes.

There is way too much comedic filler, an arc revolving around China seemingly could have been non-existent, and the sheer amount of convenient plot devices and magic creates a story in which our main character could have become something straight out of fan-fiction and made just as much sense. As much fan service the show throws at the viewer, the writing follows the worst template imaginable, becoming convoluted in every way instead of establishing and working with the plot elements already made in the first season of Code Geass.

Is Code Geass ridiculous and fun? Yes and even better for the most part. Is R2 as mindless and fun as say Gurren Lagann? Not even close. No matter how absurd the odds are, Lelouch will overcome them and the story follows suit. The finale as stated earlier is brilliant and show saving mostly. If a fan of the first season, then grab some pizza and enjoy some R2.

After the very good first season of Code Geass my expectations for the second were quite high, since the story was going well the protagonist was incredible and even though he had mistakes they were nothing to complain too much. Tremendous disappointment take me. Really this is considered the best anime endings ?, when it has many errors, horrible characters, and a completely horrible story ruining the potential of what was seen in the first. The Deus Ex Macchina of this anime is simply horrible, a lot of nonsense in order to benefit both the plot and the plot. The development of certain characters was ... so bad that they did not even have identity or depth, nor did they know the side they were on since they simply put them out of nowhere with the side of the prota. They never killed anyone, they didn't take any damn risk, we saw at least 5 characters who should have died that by magic revive them, including the leuloch himself who obviously couldn't kill him and give him the absolute power of the geass to make him immortal end of the anime (or at least they give you the end and that is what I understood). It bothers me that they gave so much prominence to a character so horribly worked as susaku to "kill" leuloch and be like the hero, even though no one knew he was the person behind zero. Summarizing:
1-Horrible story.
2-Very badly worked characters) with the exception of leuloch and a few others).
3-Deus ex macchina horrible and meaningless.
4-Complete indesicion on the part of the story about certain actions, which simply laughed.
5-The end, yes, the much acclaimed end by many, considered one of the best of the anime, simply with all the best mentioned does not save it. I think the simple fact that this ending is so acclaimed is because they give you that "fair" taste in many quotes. But the simple fact of not giving a good development to the characters that give a lot of importance in the end leaves him decent by pulling bad.
The plot of the film released this year simply confirmed more my theories that they have no idea how to make a meaningful story, not killing leuloch at once to simply continue the story, you already have the idea they have to bring Turn a popular anime to make money, as many companies are doing the same.
FINAL NOTE: 5/10

Here we have Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2...

Before i start to analyze my ratings i'd like to say that having heard so much praising for this anime my expectations were quiet high to begin with.

Generally while R1 had so much potential for a deep and original plot , R2 came to wreck ... any p rogress R1 had made towards a unique and truly meaningful show.

Story: 5

While the flow in R1 was easy to follow yet fulled with plot twists and unexpected events nicely mingled around the main character's objective, R2 follows a too fast pacing targeting to "paralyze" the viewer with shocking but poor and in the end meaningless twists leaving the viewer with a "mindfucked" impression so that its plenty plot holes go by unoticed.

Art: 7

Even if everyone says the art is one of the strongest points of the anime i think i'll have to disagree. If i had to describe the character art i'd say "over-streched moe beings". Ofcourse having seing the manga's art it's clear that they were designed as they were depicted in the manga. However having the sam overstylized character designes as some light novel adaptations, it's really hard in my opinion to take this anime seriously even if it has to do with mature and violent themes. Another con considering the art is repetitive and overacting idles of some characters such as Zero's ( that over-dramatic hand move he makes every time he thinks he's saying something big) or the guy who could read thoughts (with his getting-on-one's-nerves clap clap). Well at least the mecha designs weren't THAT bad.

Sound: 9

Thankfully i was pleased by the musical investment of the show and the opening-ending songs.

Character: 5

It wasn't in fact coincidental that i wasn't moved by most of the character's deaths because simply most of them didn't have any character (development)! Lelouch was the angst-revenge-magically ingenious type of character and while at least in R1 we could see some of his inner monologue thoughts in R2 he just acts with no known motive until literally his lasts moments so he can become the martyr for the later good in the eyes of the viewers, but serisously in R2 Lelouch became for at least the half season just a stranger in my eyes. Then you got Suzaku and his ever ending dilemas until suddently all of them are gone and becomes a faithful follower in the requiem zero plan showing not real emotion from at least the second half of the season and on. Lastly we got Jeremiah who Suddently in turns to Lelouch side even though loyalty to Queen Marrian doesn't justify at all why he wants to be faithfull to Lelouch since until then his willpower seemed to be taking revenge from Zero/Lelouch. There are a bunchfull of characters who suddently turned the complete opposite for no real reason like King Charles and Queen Marrian, etc...

Enjoyment: 6

To be honest when i started the series i was wandering from the inside "What makes people put this show so high on their lists?". Sadly i was left with the same question till the very end of the show whose main objective seemed to be just to "hook" the viewer with some cheap plot twists and get a good sponsorship from yall' good "pizza hut" (seriously the commercial intention was too strong with this one). Even the fanservice seemed out of place as everyone would just go silly in these events making it seem more like a fanservice ova/filler. Well at least the battles could somehow keep you satisfied before they became too repetitive and unnecessary.

Overall: 5

Conclusion: you must be too easily impressed to seriously hype so much about a show that mix and matches mecha with school drama and yall' good "revenge" angst. It was just a Frankenstain show trying out its commercial skills

"Code Geass is the best anime ever" "You should watch Code Geass" "Code Geass is way better than X anime"

Well, hearing all of that, what do you think I did? That's right, I watched the anime. All of it. Both seasons. And did I enjoy it? Did I finally realize how amazing the anime was, as everyone says? My answer is no, no I did not. For a time I did maybe, but in the end I was thoroughly disappointed by what many consider to be the "best" anime. Just look at the amount of reviews on here that give the anime a 9 or ... a 10. I'd beg to differ.

Art

It has a unique art style, though at times the anime was oddly animated. Also, some character designs were odd, as well as clothing designs. Lelouch's casual clothes are just plain weird!!! Reminds me of the weird thing the main character wears from Higurashii.

Sound

This anime had a few good OSTs.

Story

I actually just finished the anime a few minutes ago and I am crying inside....Throughout the entire second season I was waiting for something great to happen. I wasn't that impressed with season one but I saw some comments saying that season two blows season one out of the water, so I was really excited. But all of those positive views only managed to blind me from the truth- Code Geass is incredibly boring. I skipped through the last five episodes. I did this by clicking on the video bar 30 seconds ahead throughout the entire episode. This way I didn't waste my time staring at the boring screen and I still knew what was going on.

The anime is good at disguising its plot holes at first, because it moves so quickly. There is rarely a moment when you are just sitting at a non-action scene. That way you don't have time to register that a lot of important aspects of the plot are being glossed over before the show moves on to the next big scene. But after dealing with that in season one, I could barely handle it in season two.

Characters are in two places at once (not when they are pretending). Important things are never shown, they are just inferred. One minute Lelouch will be sitting on his butt in the student council room and in the next scene he'll be annihilating troops with this big plan he worked on that you never saw him working on (it is never explained afterward either, like in Death Note). This happens a lot. Lelouch knows things and does things that are impossible. He's supposed to be a genius but all he ever does is look at a map and whip out his magical "I just took control of that entire headquarters and destroyed the battle ground" card and saves the day.

Oh, also, the way battles were won was by bringing out updated mecha. One of the sides would bring out a new mecha that was even more powerful than the last, and so on. These mecha came from no where. This happened every battle.

Let's not get started on Geass.

Why did no one ever recognize Lelouch's voice when he was Zero?

I wish I could remember every little thing that bothered me about this show but that would require forcing myself to rewatch the anime, which I don't want to do, so onto characters.

Characters

By the end of the anime, I didn't like ANY of the characters. The only way I decided on who I wanted to win the big battle was by picking out the character I hated least.

I rarely felt sympathy for other characters. All of their troubles confused me. Many characters seemed to have side-baggage and I didn't care about it. I don't care if you don't know who's side to be on now. I don't care if your memories are fractured. I don't care if you have a crush on him. Who are any of you anyways?

There was very little character development. New characters popped up faster than weeds and were discarded just as quickly. Someone who poses a a big obstacle today will be sitting in an outdated mecha the next. Characters constantly thought to be dead were brought back to life. Nothing made sense.

Overall

My head hurts thinking of all of the problems within this anime. I gave it a five because I did manage to enjoy it sometimes, but I can't give it any better than that. Don't believe anyone when they say that this is the best anime ever. Please move on to better things...

So it took a while, but here we are, the conclusion to a, well, at least unique show. Really, while the second season did nothing to erase the feeling of uncertainty i mentioned in my review of the first season, it's still a good show. I skip ahead, so i'll stop now. Also, i'll try to avoid spoilers as always, if there are some, i will warn you and furthermore, i won't repeat myself. Points i already made in my first review will be omitted, i will basically just point to my previous thoughts. You can read this one too if you want, but it ... schouldn't be required.

Story: Let's dive into the story. It's a very similar situation, where i can only call the bigger part of the story a bunch of nonsense, but with those little, actually brilliant moments scattered throughout. The payoff is tremendous, though i have to say, i prefer the first season when it comes to the story. While the plot there was also riddled with holes and conveniences, it somehow hold together. I can't say the same about R2, some of the twists are actually laughable, to the point of becoming a parody on itself. That might be a little harsh. I will add that i like the soft reset and the way events unfold similar to R1 at the start. From a narrative standpoint, that's interesting. So the the first season earned an 8 for the story, then R2 gets a 7, it was slightly worse, but still okay.

Art: The art didn't change at all, i still think it looks ridiculous. However, i am tempted to award a point for Jeremiah and Anyas character design, i really like those two. Then again, that's not enough, i'll keep the 4 for the second season as well.

Sound: Nothing changed again, i still don't like the ost. The first opening is nice, the second ending as well. But i won't even bother with the other songs. The score remains a 5.

Character: Right from the start: i will keep the 8, however i think the characters slightly improved. Lelouch is still absolutely fantastic, Suzaku also changed after Euphemias death to be more interesting and we even get some new faces. The knights of the round are likable, the chinese federation is....present, i guess and Rolo is fun to hate and even receives some redemption in the end. Honorable mention for Jeremiah Gottwald, how they turned the small fry tutorial-boss into such a badass is actually impressive.

Enjoyment: So as always, the final question: did i enjoy myself? And the answer would be, full of conviction: kinda? Honestly, i am glad that i am done with it and that's not a good sign, but at the same time, it's so enjoyable to watch Lelouch, how he plots, how he suffers, how he loses his goddamn mind, the way he talks and the way he moves. I am not in love, shut it! But for real, i stay with the 7 as a score, it wasn't worse than the first season, my enjoyment of it all.

So this is it, Code Geass. I didn't found my love here, my favourite anime and i think that's okay. It's a bittersweet ending, i don't want to watch it again, but at the same time, i am a little sad that it's over. All hail lelouch...
Enough of that, it's not even the end, since i intend to move on to the series of movies. I watched the first two before and if i recall correctly, i liked it. We will see, so you can look forward to that, whoever reads my ramblings.

While I really enjoyed the first season of Code Geass, the second season takes the show in a completely different direction. If the first season was Game of Thrones, the second is Harry Potter. The first uses geass as an interesting device but doesn't overplay it. The second season feels the need to explain every aspect of it but, really, the show was never about that and I personally didn't care to have it be focused on so much in the second season. Further, the characters were already pretty intolerable with their way over-the-top convictions that didn't make any sense in the first season. The ... second season is almost entirely driven by their illogical viewpoints and self-entitled attitudes (and I'm not even referring to Lelouch). The only people who should bother are those that finished the first season and were disappointed by the lack of an ending.

Geass is a very inconsistent series. Half of the time, it is very enjoyable and well paced. The other half of the time, it is bland and uninteresting.

One of the main problems with Geass is that most of the characters are flat and uninteresting. Some of the characters are excellent, like Suzaku and Rolo. Others exist purely to serve the plot.

However, Geass manages to compensate for this. Instead of writing particularly interesting characters, it excels at mixing different personalities together and seeing how they respond to conflicts.

Although Geass knows how to manage a large cast of characters, it ends up being tonally inconsistent. Sometimes, it's ... a mindless mecha anime. Around the middle of the season, it decides to be Evangelion. Other times, it chooses to be a serious drama. Then, after Lelouch commits 500 war crimes, it decides to be a lighthearted comedy.

Sometimes, it seems that this contrast supports Geass' themes of innocence and guilt. Usually, though, it feels like the writers did not know what they wanted the show to be.

Geass is at its best when it decides to be about a slower-paced drama. The show does a great job of letting characters' actions and their consequences gradually unravel. No single character feels entirely flawless, so the show leaves you to watch the conflict from both sides instead of rooting for a single character. This works especially well for Lelouch, whose actions leave you wondering whether he is a somewhat justified antihero or a complete piece of shit. The show remains morally gray like this up to the end, never feeling like it's trying to push a specific ideology.

Despite this, the show's plot feels like it could have done with a revision. The magical elements seem completely out of place and only serve to make the show feel bloated. The Geass power could have been left unexplained, and nothing about the show would have changed. That way, there would have been no need to tack on unneeded characters (C.C. and V.V.) just to have the plot make sense.

The largest problem with Geass is the way it handles its action. The show rapidly jumps from one place to another, giving you barely any time to react to what just happened. On top of that, the mechs look almost exactly the same, so you often have to rewind a few seconds to catch who is fighting or what is even going on. Additionally, none of the mech fights are fluid or fun to watch. Mostly, you'll see one of four things: mechs gliding across a bare sky background, someone yelling in a cockpit, a radar flashing a bunch of dots, or a bunch of mechs blowing up.

Additionally, Lelouch's battle plans either come out of nowhere or just seem totally contrived. For example, in one episode he steals a mech that can block almost anything just so that he could shield someone in a later episode. A lot of the time, the payoff just feels dumb and flashy instead of well earned.

At the same time, it's tough not to enjoy Geass. The show's pace is slow enough to build a large cast of characters, but fast enough to keep that you watching. As a result, Geass is still a good viewing experience regardless of whether it's a good show.

I would not recommend Geass to people that have barely watched anime when there are so many better shows. However, Geass is still a pretty good option if you don't know what to watch.