You see the title and the overall score and just know that I adore this anime. There's a reason it's at the top of my favourites. Biased opinions play a part in this and I have a long way to go but follow me as I share with you Code Geass ; Hangyaku no Lelouch, or perhaps better known as Lelouch of the Rebellion.


The story starts off introducing the three most important characters ; Lelouch Lamperouge, Kururugi Suzaku and C.C.

The year is 2010 in the Common Era, and the Holy Britannian Empire, the last remaning superpower in the world, invades Japan. A new kind of humanoid powered armor called "Knightmares" are deployed to assist in the invasion of the nation. The Japanese defense forces fell faster than expected and the country became a territory of Britannia, stripped of its freedom, rights and renamed "Area 11".

And so the story begins with child Lelouch's one sentence ; "I...Suzaku, I'm going to crush Britannia."

The first episode left me breathless and hysterical. It was unimaginably exciting and the first anime to ever leave me in such a state. I was crying, laughing and getting excited for no apparent reason. The first time I tried watching Code Geass, I gave up because I was forcing myself to watch it. My particular adoration for blue-haired female protagonists in anime ruled over my preferences then. A year later, I tried watching it again and the series captivated me.

What was your impression of Code Geass before first watching it? I found it was overrated and overly-compared to Death Note. The latter was an anime I was not planning on watching anytime soon simply because I was not attracted by how "mainstream" it was, not that Code Geass is any less mainstream. After getting over my specific preferences, I gave the anime a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

The plotline might be a little cliché here and there, and less than unique but the way that the story and characters are woven makes all the difference. One thing to love about it is that the story stays focused on its plot and there's little time for subplots because everyone plays a part in contributing to the climax.

Lelouch is not a typical protagonist. He plans to "take over" the world and change it, simply for one reason ; his blind sister. The sister whom he loves dearly and wishes for her to have a better future. His morals are questioned in the very first episode. Will he accept the power of Geass and whatever pain may come with it?

He hesitates for only a moment before making his decision. And then reveals a beautifully evil smirk as he commands the men in front of him, the very ones who tried to kill him and 'killed' Suzaku, with whom he has been reunited just minutes before.

Things escalate from this point and taking over the world is never an easy task ( self-explanatory, I mean fifty amazing episodes ). Characters die, inevitably and everything makes sense at one point. Lelouch's sense of justice, depicted as shadowed by all his deeds is shown to be wonderfully clear right at the end, the one true climax and the point at which everything in the anime led up to.

The most complex character in the series would be Lelouch. He is not perfect in any way ( apart form looks *cough* ). The process of world domination would change anyone. From the very beginning, he has his faults and decisions that make him all the more human. In my opinion, he seemed very much human throughout the entire series. After that would be Suzaku, while overshadowed by his eventual enemy, Lelouch, whose own sense of justice and firm beliefs begin to show more prominently as the story goes on. The other characters are very much cliché but important nonetheless and I ship a lot of people ( no amount of shounen can make the hopeless romantic in me disappear ). C.C. and her strange sense of humour coupled with her weird obsession with Pizza lightens the series.

It might start out or seem light-hearted but one will notice that the story gets darker and implies more as the series goes on. It ends with a bittersweet note, not to mention quite a "cliffhanger" ending since there's still a lot of debate going on about what the real circumstances are ( so no I won't spoil the ending ).

The character design is gorgeous. I fell for CLAMP's animation style after Kobato and the quite impossible lanky-ness of the characters didn't really bother me but demotivationals are still irresistible.