So you may sit here and see those 100 hundred recommendations and think that you may give Code Geass a try.
Don’t.
Code Geass is nothing like Death note. If you watch it expecting for it to be like DN, you may end suffering a lot.
Then why so many people recommend it? Are they all nuts?
Well, it’s because the main character looks and acts like kira.
But believe me , he’s no kira.
Don’t get me wrong, this show not bad at all, and its has a little voice of his own. But if you keep comparing it to Death note, you will realize some its obvious mistakes, like when a "plan" its half assed, or when it was impossible altogether, or the constant feeling that you might be smarter than the main character ( something that in DN will be a heresy) because you could had it done better.
Worse of all, DN needed no mechas, no wars, no fan service nor bishoujo characters (well, just one) to be entertaining. It was the pure intellectual combat that made it so thrilling and that kept you asking for more, just that.
There’s nothing of sort here. Lelouch intelligence is constantly unmatched, and only his own screw ups keep the plot flowing. His enemy is not another genius but a guy who could have been the main character in evangelion. Destiny replaces long term strategies and Mecha fights replace deep thinking.
Basically I am saying that you can put lipstick in to a Gundam, but its still a Gundam. And that’s what’s this series is , just another Gundam arc( Gundam Geass, if you like) and the only difference with it predecessors is that a guy like Light is the good guy in stead of the bad one. Thats not change we can believe in.
Yet, even if its not as good as Death note, its still better than most of the things out there. There’s a whole in the market for something like DN , and this is as good as its gets right now. And it might be worth giving it a try if only for the fact that everyone else has seen it and you will look like an ignorant if they start making geass jokes or adding Li Brittania to their names and they find you staring blank.
And it might mark the beginning of something, an era where intelligence and not emoish behaviour while piloting a giant robot is admired, and where thought replaces sticking fingers into some ass as the weapon of choice. CG isn’t there yet, but it might be the first step.
