Disclaimer : All of this are my personal opinion and is not intended to offend anyone by any means.
Story : 9/10
The story itself is pretty basic but some of the characters' intentions are left unknown until the future episodes such as why Lelouch wanted to overthrow the Britannia Empire. But basically, the story revolves around the life of Lelouch Lamperouge or some may know him as Lelouch Vi Britannia for his real name. Like Death Note , both series have a genius protagonist that thinks that the current world is corrupted and needed salvation.
One main difference between the two masterpieces would be that Lelouch does not want to be god like Yagami Light. But rather , he just wants to overthrow the Britannia Empire , or in other words , oppose his father for abandoning him and his sister when their mother were brutally killed in front of their eyes , causing his sister , Nunally , to be blind and crippled.
As such , he opposes his father and attempts to overthrow the empire by becoming a terrorist. But it did not start off that well as he was just an original student with a genius intellect which some may argue to be comparable to Yagami Light. Out of pure coincidence , he got into a sticky situation where he got involved with the Japanese terrorists. Oh did I forget to mention ? The Britannia Empire had conquered most of the countries and renamed them which is the main reason why the terrorists are.. well.. committing terrorism.
Back to where I was , he chanced upon a girl named C.C and in the face of death , the girl granted him a mysterious power called the geass. The power he was granted was the power of absolute obedience and anyone whom have direct eye contact with him would fall under his power and do his commands.
As such , Lelouch began to challenge the Britannia Empire with his new-found power while keeping his identity a secret , thus the alias and the mask of Zero. All for the sake of revenge and to create a world where his sister could live happily and safely without fearing for their lives.
Art : 9/10
Taking into account that this is a fairly old anime that originated from the 2006 , the animation quality is great with cool mechas and unique character designs. Many people would probably dislike the character design at the start but trust me , it will grow on you. There's nothing much to add on except that the animation for the mecha battles are really well done and fanservice is not abundant here. (Karen)
Sound : 8/10
Hate to say it but the soundtracks are not exactly great. There are some scenes that simply does fit with the soundtracks and it had me going ,'wtf?' most of the time. However despite that, I have to commend Jun Fukuyama for voicing Lelouch. He have done an excellent job of being his seiyuu and I definitely do not believe anyone else could have done the job better.
One notable scene would be where he started laughing maniacally upon finding out that the pilot piloting the dreaded Lancelot that had hindered his plans countless of times was actually his childhood friend , Suzaku.
As for the openings and endings , some are definitely catchy and I will give props to that , especially the first opening Colours which I thought was really well done.
Character : 10/10
Like I said before, Lelouch is often compared to Yagami Light because of their similarities. However , I believe that Lelouch is a better character than Light because of the character developments he had throughout the series instead of just having a god complex like Light. Unlike Light , Lelouch would actually stop and think about his actions and the consequences such as when he found out that he had accidentally killed one of his classmate's (whom happened to have a huge crush on him) father while fighting with the Britannia army.
He did not know of the consequences of his actions and that had served as a good wake up call for him after he had involved an innocent party and he almost wanted to quit the Order of Black Knights which he had formed with the Japanese terrorists because of it. He then hardened his resolve to fight Britannia once more so that he would not waste the blood that he had already spilled in what he had thought was a game of chess all along.
The second main character , Suzaku , was a disappointment sadly. However , he offered another perspective to the series as Lelouch wanted to change the Britannia system by overthrowing it whereas Suzaku wanted to change it from within and this led to both of them slogging it out despite not knowing of their identities until much later in the series.
Like Lelouch , Suzaku is a complex character however , it does not justify for his hypocritical ways and don't even get me started on his insane physique. He's probably the only character except for Nina that I really wanted to kill throughout the series because their character was that hateful and I guess I can give the story writers credits for that.
The other characters are also developed splendidly as well other than the two main male casts. Honourable mentions would be Shirley and C.C. Sorry Kallen's fans , I find her to be slightly superficial and that her character development was barely there.
Enjoyment : 10/10
As you start off the series , there are quite a lot of complex things such as Sakuradite that you would have no idea what it is about and why Lelouch would behave that way until further on the series where it's explained. As the series progresses , one would normally get excited and cheer for Lelouch despite what he's doing is morally wrong since he's committing terrorism but it's hard to not get drawn into his pace and his genius plans which he refers as real time strategy.
Every episode was pretty well-paced as well with enough character development to go around and considering that this is only season 1 , questions would be left unanswered as more characters would be introduced in season 2.
This show is capable of pulling in the audience and letting them be in the shoes of each character as emotions are depicted really well and without doubt , Lelouch is one of the most realistic characters that I have ever seen in any manga and anime because of his emotional conflicts along with the character development which I had already covered earlier. I find it hard not to sympathize and root for him , which is why this series is such a masterpiece.
And to add on to it , there are three main romantic interests which are C.C , Shirley and Kallen. For those people whom like to see a little romance here and there , pick your ship! Thank god Lelouch isn't as dense as most main characters.
Overall : 10/10
I would give this series a perfect score because I feel that it deserved it for being able to engross the audience. Despite not being much of a mecha fan , I find myself wanting more and more of this series. To be exact , wanting more and more of Lelouch because the character is what lit up the flame of this show.
ALL HAIL LELOUCH!
