Boredworkers.com

Was watching Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 over the weekend but that’s a topic for the future. Today, the focus will be on the first season of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. The 25 episode original anime television series premiered on 5th October 2006 and concluded its run on 28th July 2007.

Plot Summary
The Holy Empire of Britannia is bent on global conquest. In 2010 a.t.b., the Japan was overpowered and conquered by the Britannian forces. Soon after the invasion, Japan became a colony of the Britannian empire and was renamed Area 11. The Japanese nation lost its freedom and rights, its people became known as ‘Elevens’, a mere number representing the colony. The Elevens were forced to live in ghettos while the invading Britannians lived a life of luxury. This discrimination gave rise to rebel Japanese factions who struggled against the Empire for an independent Japan.

The main protagonist/antagonist of the story is Lelouch Lamperouge, the exiled son of the Emperor of Britannia. Thought to have been killed during the occupation of Japan, Lelouch (his friends also call him Lelou) together with his blind and crippled sister, Nunnally Lamperouge, live a quiet life as a students of Ashford Academy. Behind the facade, the young Britannian prince vows to avenge the assassination of his mother and destroy the Britannian Empire and its Emperor.

The means to that end appears in the form of a mysterious girl, C.C., who gives him the power of Geass. The Geass has different characteristics depending on its user. Lelouch’s Geass grants him absolute command over a person. However, there are limitations in that it can only be used once on any person and direct eye contact is required for its activation. Using this new found power, he plots the destruction of Britannia and the creation of a new peaceful world his beloved sister. By day he’s an ordinary student, by night he lives a double life as the hero of justice, Zero.

In his quest of destruction, he teams up with Kallen Stadtfeld and various rebel factions to form the Black Knights. Standing in his way is the Suzaku Kururugi piloting a new prototype Knightmare frame, Lancelot. Suzaku is Lelou’s childhood friend, the son of Japan’s last prime minister and an honorary Britannian. Their fates both past and present are tied together in a complicated mesh.

What’s So Great?
If you haven’t yet guessed, the anime is very mecha (read: battle suits, body armour, mobile armour, etc) based. To a certain extent, I’m a sucker for this sort of anime. Stacking it Gundams (the mecha giants), I like the way the Knightmare frames are designed and portrayed in Code Geass.

My favourite frame is the one piloted by Kallen, the Guren Type-02. What I don’t like is how they turned it into a Gundam fest towards the end with the introduction of Gawain frame with its shoulder-mounted-one-shot-kill-1000-units Hadron cannons and the stupid Siegfried. You’ll just have to watch the series to see what I mean. Incidentally, you’ll see plenty of references to the Knights of the Round Table (Lancelot and Gawain are both member’s of Arthur’s elite).

Lelouch/Zero’s key strengths are his mental ability and the power of the Geass. Both are relatively non-tangible (e.g. you can’t exactly kick ass your way out of a situation). That means we see plenty of subtlety and manipulation.

I love the many twists in the plot. The relationship between the antagonists/protagonists are really complex and well developed. The fact that I can’t decide whether Lelouch or Sazuka is the hero/bad guy in the series says alot. Plenty of conflict and contradictions to keep you involved and interested.

There was no closure though. To a certain extent, you could say it was an open ending. I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t watched so suffice to say that in the end, there’s a gunshot and we’re left in darkness trying to guess who shot who. That really piqued my interest to Code Geass R2 where the story and explanation unfolds.

Overall, I really liked this series in spite of some holes in the storyline. The production was well done with enough variable elements to keep viewers interested. I highly recommend watching the series. However, you might want to hold off until Code Geass R2 completes its run to avoid waiting ;)

Episode Guide
Full Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion anime episode direct download in Real Media format (RMVB) are available via Reality Lapse

• Stage 1: The Day Of The Demon’s Birth
• Stage 2: The White Knight Awakens
• Stage 3: The Deceptive Classmate
• Stage 4: And His Name Was Zero
• Stage 5: The Princess And The Sorceress
• Stage 6: The Stolen Mask
• Stage 7: Strike At Cornelia
• Stage 8: The Black Knights
• Stage 9: Refrain
• Stage 10: The Guren Dances
• Stage 11: The Battle Of Narita
• Stage 12: An Envoy From The Kyoto Group
• Stage 13: Shirley At The Trigger
• Stage 14: Geass vs. Geass
• Stage 15: Mao Exalted
• Stage 16: Nunnally Imprisoned
• Stage 17: Knight
• Stage 18: Kururugi Suzaku’s Orders
• Stage 19: Island Of God
• Stage 20: The War In Kyuushuu
• Stage 21: The School Festival Is Open!
• Stage 22: Euphie Bloodstained
• Stage 23: With A Tear In His Eye
• Stage 24: The Collapsing Stage
• Stage 25: Zero