Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion starts off with a young student and his sister Nunnaly. Lelouch comes from a royal family, and has long since denounced it. Background goes like this; Eight years ago, Brittania took over the majoirty of the world, including Japan. Japan became known as Area 11, and its members known as Eleven's. Some members of the Japanese populace sought to become honorary Brittanian's so they may have rights, but others went to hiding, prefering to be japanese, though that term had been outlawed. Lelouch, member of the royal family and good friend to Suzaku, watched the discrimination with anger and horror, swearing to make the world a better place for his sister. He also swears vengeance against his father, the emperor of Brittania, for letting his mother die in the war. Lelouch is a brilliant young man, and is met by a woman, by the name of C2. C2 gives him a power, a Geass as they call it. This Geass is also refered to as 'the Power of Kings' and it has the ability to ultimately bend people's will to his own, regardless of outcome. This Geass helps him along with his plans, and to shape the future.
The Beginning: Lelouch watches as stolen semi passes by him and his friend, and crashes off of the road. He rushes down to see if they are ok, and gets caught in the back with this capsule. In the progressing scenes, this capsule opens to reveal C2, who forms a contract with him. This editor will not mention the terms of this contract, other than the fact this is how he gets his Geass. The thieves of the semi are a small group of radicals who want to liberate Japan from the rule of Brittania. They get into a fight with the Brittania government, and Lelouch watches from afar, giving them tactical advice, and leading the small team to both victory and profit, also managing to deliver them with a train of medications to take back and/or sell on the black market. This is how he ends up meeting Karen (english name). Karen and her group of rebels eventually form quite the task force, without ever meeting Lelouch.
The Middle to the end: Lelouch takes up a mask and calls himself Zero. He leads the rebels, but gives them a name, "The Order of the Black Knights" and refer to themselves as the ally's of justice. Throughout the story, they meet many other friends and ally's, and in time lose many. Again, this editor is trying not to give too much information away, as I do not want to spoil it for anyone. Zero and his troupe gain much notoriety in wars of not only violence, but of political and image as well. He has each planned laid out so well, that he never seems to be trumped, leading his group to victory time and time again. However, this all goes sour when the face of Zero is revealed (sorry) and the world turns on him, leading us into R2.
Before I go into R2, aside from the story arc I laid out for you, there is also something to be mentioned about battle sequences. Yes the dialogue is fantastic, and the story runs quite deep, but this is also an action anime, with the characters using something like the mecha from Full Metal Panic, if any of the readers have seen. (And Full Metal Panic is another that would be recommended)
R2: (And if you don't like spoilers, stop reading now) Is the second series. This follows Zero as he is hated by everyone, save for a select few... It isn't until halfway to two-thirds of the way the world fully places Zero as an enemy, but his life gets harder and harder, and we see the hurt from Lelouche's life as he has to get more and more detached from reality, at least publicly. This series really culminates around tragedy, and loss. I cant say much more without giving away much more to the story. But I thoroughly recommend watching this second series.
This Jack Rabbit gives Code Geass an easy 5 out of 5. If I may add personal notes here, I am not found of the actual art style, but that's an issue of preference. But the show was so good, that in the end, the art style did not matter at all. I loved it, and would recommend it to anyone.
Code Geass is an anime produced by Sunrise in Japan, and licensed in the States by Bandai. Sunrise is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings. I'm just a viewer. ^_^
