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Code Geass is my favorite anime of all time, no discussion on why is to be made. It's genius, the pure story of how Britannia became the biggest country and super power in the world and the brit's prince and princess were sent to Japan during the war on an exile is amazing. Lelouch got to meet a friend called Suzaku and he helped him survive when they were young until one day they were split up, and on that day Lelouch swore to destroy Britannia to Suzaku. It's interesting to see later on how Britannia's exiled prince is fighting with Japanese against his own nation under the mask of Zero while Suzaku is hiding in the Lancelot, a next generation Knightmare (this anime has mechas and they're awesome, they don't really make the anime so it's ok if you don't like Mecha, you'll still like it :) ). Not only that, Japan later on loses the war and becomes Area 11, in which Lelouch vi Britannia and his crippled, blind little sister live in. This all happens before the anime begins so it's not spoils. This however kinda is (1st ep ending included) - So Lelouch's hobby is skipping school to go play chess against nobility and considered to be of great intelligence people. He often bets money on these gambles and he says how long it'd take him to beat his opponent, which by the way is a crucial psychology break, if you just announce your victory in that much time and you pull it off. Anyway, Lelouch completely destroys this guy after which however, on his way back to school, he gets involved into a terrorist run-away operation with a supposed "bio-weapon" of mass destruction. Surviving the catastrophe and accidentally opening the Bio-weapon container, he has been compromised by Britannia's military forces, which claim him to be a terrorist as well, true, I'd say that too but his friend Suzaku Kurugi (childhood friend btw) saves him by denying orders, getting shot in the process. Lelouch and the mysterious green-haired girl run away but he is once again found out and before his moment of execution, C.C. (or C2 as she calls herself) jumps in front of the bullet shot at Lelouch to save him. Thinking that she is dead, the military captain prepares to shoot Lelouch and say it was him who killed her in an act of terrorism. Before her "death" however, she touches his hand and offers him the "Power of the Kings" known as Geass. With that power he will be able to live on but his life, name, friends and future as a whole will be all a lie. In return for her power, he will repay her one day in a method she doesn't say until Season 2 (Episode 15). Lelouch, being in a tough spot accepts the power of Geass (which manifests in people's eyes) and he's come to this sort of "threat" where he asks the military : Why aren't they shooting him if he's so weak, powerless and a bird-like symbol appears in his left eye. That is his Geass, the power to execute commands, which will be obeyed and until they're done, the person who's being Geass-ed would lose his memories before and during the process. Lelouch gives his final philosophy on "power" as he says "The only ones who should kill are those, prepared to be killed" after which he commands them to all die, which they can't refuse after they made eye contact and shoot themselves in the head. After this whole scene of losing himself, Lelouch thinks on his life, saying it truly has become a lie and that this is not him.. "yet". He gives an evil grin as the screen turns black and Episode 2 follows as he is using the terrorists as "pawns" for his and their escape from Shinjuku Ghetto. You get the point, he's a badass and I dare say he equals, if not beats Light/Kira from Death Note as he is more strategical, thinking not only about himself and his identity's safety but also how to use his "people" to survive and fight off Britannia to avenge his Mother's death and his sister's current condition.
Character Design : 9/10 ( Rivalz and Nina shouldn't be so dull or overjoyed, other than that I think everything's alright)
Music : 9/10 Great OST, the bgm really makes you feel like you're following a royalty while the protagonist is no longer one, even in times of big battles, the OST fits awesome but it could use a bit more variety
Plot : 10/10 ... no comment, just watch it and you'll see why
Anime adaptation : 8/10 Okay, R2 shouldn't exist according to the Manga but it became so popular that they decided to make an R2 to explain what happened after the "show off" between the main protagonists. Still, I think they put a lot of effort into R2 and it's a really great adaptation, even with lack of Manga unlike Guilty Crown, I personally wanted to see more from it but just 2 chapters to make an awesome animation,music and character design go to waste by plot holes is breaking. Code Geass suffers from no such things .. maybe once when Nina constructed a super weapon (eh?)
Voice Acting : Now some of you may disagree with this but it's my opinion, my review of it
Jap : 9/10 | Eng : 10/10
When I watched CG for the first time, it was still airing, I was new to anime and reading subtitles wasn't really my thing. I was happy though, I liked it a lot but seriously, Johnny Yong Bosch deserves not only a piece of the cake, not the cake as a whole but at least 10 cakes for his dramatic, over-the-top performance on Lelouch's role, he is a master at voice acting and it has been proven as this anime is probably the best Eng-dubbed anime ever with top-notch voice actors on both ends but in the Japanese dub, I didn't feel like Lelouch sounded AS badass as he did in the English so yeah... flame me, it's my opinion :)
Overall : I'd say this anime deserves a 10/10 if it wasn't for some things such as Suzaku's crazy-ass hair.. was that supposed to distinguish him as a Japanese ? But my score for this, if I could give it a score, would be 10/10, ignoring those little things that make me want to strangle Rivalz and Nina
