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.
