Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2

One year has passed since the Black Rebellion, a failed uprising against the Holy Britannian Empire led by the masked vigilante Zero, who is now missing. At a loss without their revolutionary leader, Area 11's resistance group—the Black Knights—find themselves too powerless to combat the brutality inflicted upon the Elevens by Britannia, which has increased significantly in order to crush any hope of a future revolt.

Lelouch Lamperouge, having lost all memory of his double life, is living peacefully alongside his friends as a high school student at Ashford Academy. His former partner C.C., unable to accept this turn of events, takes it upon herself to remind him of his past purpose, hoping that the mastermind Zero will rise once again to finish what he started.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Lamperouge, Lelouch Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

C.C. Main

Yukana Japanese

Stadtfeld, Kallen Main

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Kururugi, Suzaku Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Gottwald, Jeremiah Supporting

Narita, Ken Japanese

Asplund, Lloyd Supporting

Shiratori, Tetsu Japanese

Fenette, Shirley Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Lamperouge, Rolo Supporting

Mizushima, Daichuu Japanese

li Britannia, Cornelia Supporting

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Lamperouge, Nunnally Supporting

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Yukawa, Jun Producer

Morotomi, Hirofumi Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jul 12, 2025

felix_2008

Recommended

When I clicked on the first episode I didn't expect much, the show was pretty old and looked unique. Many shows make their characters look cute with small statures and big eyes, but Code Geass does something different. Instead of small statures the characters have long limbs and their eyes aren't so big. It's not a bad thing though and you'll get used to it after a couple of episodes. The show started slow but it quickly picked up and you WILL hooked. In my opinion this show is straight peak and I don't care what anyone says. the vibe, the characters and fights are ... so gas. If you are going to watch this show don't look anything up about it and just watch the show. It's absolute cinema and I definitely recommend it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 30, 2025

k-0da

Mixed Feelings

Code Geass is undoubtedly one of the most beloved shows on MAL, and unfortunately, like most of MAL’s top hits, I just do not get it. What starts as extremely compelling melodrama flanders into messily executed Jungian philosophy, messy world politics, and every single character getting shafted in season 2 EXCEPT LELOUCH!

To start with, Code Geass has really good animation. Like, crazy good. Obviously any designs done by clamp are bound to slap, and slap they do. Every design is at the very least, memorable, and it’s interesting to see CLAMP design so many characters, and how they’re forced to push against their usual ... design tropes in an effort to make everyone standout/fit better with the shounen mecha setting. The fight animation is spectacularly done, good ol’ 2D mecha before the advent of 3D design. The robot design itself is fine, though not as memorable as I’d like it to be. Please Bandai, release the guren and lancelot model kits. Please.

Music is fine and works. Please stop asking me about music, I am not very good at describing it. It's cool that there are character songs though; Lelouch gets two salsa songs, Milly gets something, and Suzaku gets nothing, which I think is very funny.

Code Geass immediately pulls you in with its tight, tight pacing. Every episode, at least at first, flies by, and you’re at the edge of your seat. The tension is razor sharp, especially since you’re following Lelouch Lamperouge; in another series, he’d be the antagonist, but he’s the hero of Code Geass, and that dichotomy between him and the plucky shounen hero Suzuaku, an actual antagonist, immediately grips you. Lelouch is supposed to lose, and he somehow keeps getting away with things, but the shining hero Suzaku is right on his toes. More on their dynamic in a bit, as it’s the best thing in the show.

On Lelouch: what a guy. His pretty boy looks contrasting with his fake deep voice are kind of an immediate draw, but he really is the most (if not the only) fleshed out character in the show. Throughout the whole series we follow him agonizing over revolutionary politics, his messy relationship to his family and friends or like, a school festival. And that’s fun! We see many sides of the guy that leads us to understanding why he does all the self-destructive bullshit he does at the end. I think his “mastermind strategist” schtick gets tiring very fast, but we balance that later on with Lelouch being made fun of by his peers or emotionally brutalized by his antagonists. Sadly, he is one of the few characters with multitudes we are privileged to, except maybe his counterpart, Suzaku.

To oversimplify things, Suzaku is a hero working for the bad guys, and Lelouch is the villain working to defeat the bad guys. IT’s a very interesting (and yaoiful) dynamic, as the two butt heads with their philosophy throughout the course of the show, especially since they’re childhood friends who don’t know the other’s secret identity. It is however, unfortunately, one of the only interesting dynamics of the show.

Code Geass has a lot of characters. A lot of really interesting characters--the black knights, the student council, the soldiers of Britannia--however, past season 1, everyone is shafted for the sake of Lelouch running around on a world stage. Too many new characters and elements are introduced in season 2, resulting in everyone feeling really choked, even Suzaku! He’s the friggin’ co-lead! And he’s barely there! The knights of the round, the chinese federation, and the other new characters clog up space and don’t get much time to shine at all.

And then the melodrama reaches its only possible destination: being really absurdist to the point of stupidity. While bombastic twists are good for middle-of-the-season cliffhangers, having a show be build on extreme stuff happening all the time leads to a quick escalation that cannot be sustained unless there is a good team of writers onboard, which is not the case for Geass. With so many players on the stage, there are plot threads that hang loose, only for them to be resolved in baffling, rushed ways in a single episode, the worst case of this being Lelouch’s family drama.

Ironically, for an anime with such a cacophonic script, it kind of ends on an unexciting note, the climax seems to happen four episodes too early, and the rest of the show has a rushed plot that doesn’t have any of the oomph that the rest of the series has, once again, the most interesting part of the final leg is the dynamic between Lelouch and Suzaku, the best characters in Code Geass. The overarching narrative regarding the power system is poorly explained and poorly executed, leaving me feeling deeply confused and deeply unsatisfied. Things just kind of Happen, Lelouch BS’s his way out of it, and the story goes on for four more episodes.


I don’t understand why this show is such a beloved classic, and despite my own misgivings, I have nothing worse than mixed feelings--because the dynamic between Suzaku and Lelouch is truly that good. Like, truly, oh my god, hard carrying the show. If two dudes being emotional with each other is not your thing, Code Geass is a pass. But if you’re willing to go down and understand generational yaoi royalty, go in with low expectations, but be amazed at how horrible their relationship can get.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Aug 5, 2025

Mapinguari

Not Recommended

I watched Code Geass expecting something that would be on par with the top most popular animes here on MAL: be it on the basis of entertainment, plot, characters, emotional journey, anything really. Death Note and the more recent Attack on Titan are inevitable comparisons, due to various similarities among these shows and Code Geass, and those two manage to keep an above average quality consistency during their runs, even with their shortcomings.

The first season of Code Geass left me optimistic: there was an interesting political plot, some good characters that could evolve, raise some questions and tell a story that would be worthy of ... being told. Even the subplots served, even if a little, some purpose in the world building of this story and its development in season 1. I cared about what happened with the characters, could somewhat relate with their motivations and make sense what was going on in the plot.

All of this fell apart terribly in season 2. It fells like there is a story buried beneath the convoluted mess I just witnessed, but there is no realistic way to make sense of it because the pieces don't fit together. I failed completely to relate to or understand anything that any of the characters did in season 2 (with some very limited exceptions). The story is just propelled forward with an unrelenting momentum that leaves no room for breathing. That is so because, I'm afraid, if there was time to appreciate what was done with all the characters' motivations and development or the believability of the plot it would be painfully obvious that there was no care put to properly develop any of it to begin with.

This is the 1st review I feel compelled to write here on MAL because it feels like something terrible also happened with the reception of this show, and I can't make sense of it. I can't go back in time and appreciated what it was like to watch Code Geass back in 2008 and those who liked this show back then had their reasons. But it's 2025 and after watching season 2 it feels like people keep on liking Code Geass just because it's already at the top, maybe for the lack of watching other good shows to begin with, as if they got affected by the power of Geass, in a herd effect fashion.

Or maybe I just want to express my frustration on the wasted potential set up by season 1. Code Geass as a whole just doesn't work for me and there are way better animes (and shows) out there worth more of your time. If you disagree or are frustrated by this review, it's fine, I write this review and make this sacrifice so the world might have a lasting peace where the power of Geass is not misused.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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