Anime Number 3 – Code Geass

Hi guys and welcome to my place!

It’s already time to give the bronze medal!!!! OMG!!!! Time flies! It has beem 7 weeks since I started this blog…. Well, as always… As you already know from the title xD, my third favorite anime is Code Geass!

Now let me explain you something… I am not, but terribly NOT into mecha anime. I don’t know why, but it isn’t really my thing, so you know from the bat that the mecha factor was not what made me fell in love with Code Geass.

Let’s start with the premise of the story, as always with no spoilers:

In the year is 2010, a huge Britannia Empire enslaved Japan using their really powerful mecha. They lost their culture, freedom and rights. Japan is not even called Japan anymore, it is addressed as area 11, so it’s only natural that the japanese are not really fond of the Empire . Here is a map with all Empire territory:

The story follows a britannian highschool student living in Area 11 called Lelouch (7 years later after the occupation and he has grown up hating everything about the Empire. One day he gets himself in an area where there is a terrorist attack. Running and hiding for his life he ends up in a place where he finds a strange girl called C.C.. This strange girl gives him a power, she gives him a geass, a power where everyone who Lelouch gives a direct order, are obligated to follow it, however this power only works once for each person. In other words, Lelouch cannot use the power to give more that one direct order to the same person.

He decides to use this power to fight the empire back, even if he has to go against his own father, the britannian emperor. He goes undercover with the name Zero, becomes an enemy of the state and forms the Order of the Black Knights.

The rest of the story is seeing his strategies to win power over Britannia and to win mecha fights. And, god… It’s just so perfect and intelligent. I came through this anime from Death Note where I loved the intelligence from Kira and L and all of their strategies to beat each other. Well, in this department I think Code Geass is even better and it does not have the lame ending arc/episodes that Death Note had.

The Characters: Going to be honest to you, Lelouch steals the show. I’ve seen this anime many years ago, but I don’t really remember how the other characters evolve. Lelouch is fighting to be the leader of a country, normally that’s a lonely path. It really is enjoyable to watch this evolution from a high schooler to a mastermind want-to-be nation leader.

The graphics are good for a 2006 anime. It’s not really that polished, or have those kind of landscapes that takes your breath away, but they are decent enough. The mecha also seemed cool enough and the fights were also really fluid and top-notch (but again, not really a mecha fan so I may be saying something completely wrong). Also, it gets better with each season.

About the openings. From what I’ve found, there are 5 openings (2 of them from the R2 series) so, by bullet points:

• Opening 1: Really like the visuals they give of the nerves when the camera enters Lelouch’s eyes. I also like that it doesn’t contain spoilers. The rest is just introducing the characters in a really “lazy” way. The music does not work for me, it doesn’t really makes you feel that you are from seconds to start watching a mecha/intelligent anime)
• Opening 2: The visuals change a little and you at least receive a little more of the mecha they use! The music is even worse than the first rofl
• Opening 3: It gets darker and gives you glimpses of the story, not enough to tell you anything though 🙂 Again, didn’t like the music XD
• Opening 1 (R2): The transitions are way better in this one. There are also more mecha fight time in this one, making then the transaction to the character who raids that certain mecha, which is cool. The music…. Meh
• Opening 2 (R2): You can really see how much the animation improved along the years while watching all of the openings one after another xD Well, this one takes a step back… Basically they present you all the characters and all the mecha, the problem is, they are so many at this point that they pass so quickly that you can’t even see really well who is who. The music… Not a fan xD

So, why did I love this anime?

First of all, the intelligence behind it. Who wrote it has to be a genius, not in million years would I create something so intelligent. Everything as a reason to be! You may find one or other thing that is “by chance”, but always to start a problem, never to come out of it. Lelouch is a genius, in warfare, in using his power to get where he wants, in politics, in driving the mob… The anime really surprises you with the intelligent ways Lelouch finds to solve something.

More than this intelligence, I love being left into the dark. Maybe I’m just dumb… Without giving away anything, Let me just say that sometimes there will be a solutions that you only understand it after Lelouch explains what and why has he done something xD

Gotta love those plot twists! Good stories are made of plot twists, that part of the story that you weren’t expecting and just made the story 2x better! Well, in Code Geass you will have more than enough! I am not really a person who gets stunned easily, but Code Geass made my jaw drop a couple of times and just let me thinking “What he is going to do NOW?”

And that’s all folks! I have the idea this one was a little more extensive than what I normally write! Did you have the same feeling? Other thing I would like you to ask you, do you like the openings reviews or not so much? And of course, did you already saw Code Geass? What did you feel about it? If not, are you thinking of giving it a try? 😀

See you soon! 😀