Things I finally noticed:
I realized a few things while watching that explain why things are written how they are, even if these are just my assumptions. I started to notice that Code Geass is written like a chess match mixed with a greek tragedy. Not because of the excessive usage of the word "pawn," but because of how obstacles came about. There's almost always a straightforward way to stop problems in how Lelcouh outsmarts his opponents. He comes up with no solution that includes complex planning over spans of episodes with problems besides the final plan he makes. Complex planning is an obstacle, but the solution includes multiple things before even reaching the first step of that big solution. Now there are times where that happens, but it's only two or three problems before everything goes really smoothly.
The Greek tragedy part comes in with how there are dilemmas in the show. For example, Lelouch and Suzaku's whole relationship is similar to something you would find in a greek tragedy, but this is a problem in the show itself. Greek tragedies are simple at their core and allow drama to happen mostly. It's kind of hard to do that in a series like Code Geass, where it has all this political talk and complex things happening with this straightforward drama that isn't that interesting half the time but also is exciting. It's a struggle that I see the series has between complex and simple.
With my assumptions out of the way, let's talk about the very few good things about season 2.
The good things in a terrible show:
The music and voice acting, as always, is still a great part of this and helps the unbearable moments feel a bit better. Even if I dislike a majority of characters and stories, the voice acting and the music still give me a bit of the emotion that they were trying to get me to feel in the first place.
While I don’t care for fights nor liked seeing the mecha fights since I was invested enough, they’re really well animated, and each fight is uniquely done for the most part. In fact, even the regular animation and facial animation are well done as well, and really show you what the character is feeling even without having to read/listen to the dialogue itself even though the voice acting does make it believable as well.
The slice of life parts are ;delightful even if they break the writing more and more. They're still pretty fun for what they're worth.
Suzaku is the only character with an arc that feels complete and worth it throughout the series. He starts out trying to redeem himself for his sin by trying to be on the "objectively right" side and change things from the inside out. This season is where he realizes that it's impossible not to commit sins when trying to change things for the better, so it goes down a path where he does whatever it takes to complete the last plan, which made me like the ending since his arc came to a great conclusion.
The things that make this a terrible show:
The story is structured in a way that makes it predictable and dull. Obstacles are placed, and Lelocuh must figure out how to stop it until he does something so bold; it ruins him later on until a giant mecha fight happens until Lelouch has another plan that wins him the day. Now, this is a gross generalization of how it's actually structured, but it sure feels this way a lot of the time since the mecha fights take so long. It always feels like there's no real danger in the show since Nunnally is the only thing Lelcouh cares about which is apart of his character, but makes everything feel less important since he doesn't care about any other character besides that. It makes us, the viewer, not care about them since why should we care if he doesn't care unless we have a personal liking to them or they affect Lelouch, which they mostly don't unless it's to be an obstacle for him to face later on. They feel like actual pawns, and it's not really interesting to watch that when the show is trying to make us feel for these characters when we already know it's pointless in the end. It's not like any of them actually get any consequence since most of the characters don't change in any way or lose/gain anything. This affects the story since its events are so depended on caring whether they will live or die, or who's going to change the outcome when you know only a select few actually do change the outcome. Some characters do give way to new plot points, but, as I said, there are only the select few. You then have this weird way of getting to Code Geass in the sense of what will actually change the country since it's a merry go around way of getting to certain stages of the plot. An example would be teaming up with the Chinese Federation and the making of the Untied Federation of Nations. They both feel like natural steps to take, but with how we got there, it doesn’t feel the least bit natural. Especially when the worldbuilding is poorly done in Code Geas where I have to wonder if this made logically sense in that world.To simply things, Code Geass’s story is where each set piece feels like the it makes sense but the buidlup and aftermath of it all never makes sense to me.
The characters have and still are a major problem with this anime. Already talking about how most feel like actual pawns themselves, the characters that do feel like ones are, sometimes, even worse. Firstly, I must address Lelouch as he’s arc does continue onward, but the one he has here doesn’t seem good either. If season one was about giving him setbacks but tons of victories that made him arrogant and insane, season two is more about crushing him with defeat after defeat to make him more sane but crush that ego he had before picking himself up to do what he has to do to save Japan. Writing it out like that makes it sound wonderful, but there’s only one problem. Because I just went through a season of seeing him success no matter what, and characters I couldn’t care less for, his defeats are meaningless to me because I know (with the result of not being invested because if I was, I won’t care about this) Lelouch will success and no one important, to him, will die because season one proved this fact, time and time again. There is one character that does die that could be used to counter this, but he already lost her once in a different way, so why should I care again when her character is still the same as ever? Rolo also dies but Lelouch starts to hate him as the season goes on, and even when he start to like him again, he’s not even close to his driving motivation (well, he technically is, but there probably was tons of other characters on his mind during that). When Nunnally “died,” it could have been that point where that idea could have changed in me, but she comes back with a lazy attempt to explain it away, and that was the point I lost all investment in this story or characters. Again, it repeats the problem that Lelouch (and the rest of the main cast besides best boy, Suzaku) where it does seem like a good route for that character, but once you start to see it unfold, it’s a mess. A side note are the two female characters Kallen and C.C. since those characters are ones that could have been more interesting, but, sadly, were half baked in this season.
The thing that was praised the most:
To finally say, the ending is good for a story. It ties up everything nicely and has a good conclusion to the whole series finally leaving it ended, and anyone that was invested and love the show throughout, completely satisfied. Not me though. Did I think it was bad? No, of course not, it’s the type of ending that anyone would want for their favorite story. Did I think it was amazing? No, of course not, I couldn’t care less for anything that happens at that point. Everyone could have died and Lelouch could have truly been a dictator, and I would still say it’s decent since I truly care no longer. That’s the thing about endings. The only way to say if they’re truly amazing or horrible is if you were invested in the first place. Endings are important since stories are technically waste of time and a distraction in life which is why we seek good stories or stories we find enjoyable so we don’t have to think like that. Endings are that final award to prove that the time we spent sitting in forward of that screen was truly worth it (I’m taking a jab at myself here since I put stories as my reason for living at this point), but if you just spent hours, not caring about what happened, the ending will naturally be something you don’t care for since it’s there only for the people that loved it. Hence, why I think it’s a mediocre ending and I feel I wasted my time on these two seasons.
Closing statements:
I like to believe I wanted to love Code Geass. No, I did because I love seeing a good story. No matter how popular, overhyped, old or new, simple or complex, I just want to see a good story unfold before my very eyes, and, if Code Geass was one, I would have wholeheartedly loved it. But, alas, I didn’t think it was good, and, even worse, thought it was so terrible that I’m still wondering why people enjoy it. I was going to watch the movie after this, but, at this point, I’m tired of Code Geas want nothing to do it with it no longer which brings me to giving this season a 2/10 for being worse then the previous one.
So long Code Geass.
I hope we never cross paths again.
