Code Geass

コードギアス(Code Geass (E7:gías)) is a Mecha Anime franchise about a group of terrorists cosplaying as Knights in Japan fighting against an oppressive and questionably evil Empire of super-Brits from America. The guy in charge of the cosplayer knights has a super-powered eye that gives him mind control abilities.
Needless to say, Code Geass is pretty crazy.

This includes both seasons.
I’d say Code Geass is a perfect blend of serious and hilarious. On a subjective level…well, I’m grinning like an idiot the whole time I’m watching it. Honestly…I didn’t realize what a presence Pizza Hut was prior to re-watching it.
Code Geass has a handful of storytelling issues that vary from big to small. Let’s start with some of the early series ones.
The meeting between Lelouch, Suzaku and C.C. in the first episode is incredibly coincidental. Though this is fine because it’s the event that leads to the entire rest of the story happening.
Next, Suzaku becoming the pilot of the Lancelot is incredibly unusual and I’m not sure whether this is a major or minor issue. But yeah, this is a problem, though there are likely ways of justifying it.
Next next…Suzaku and Euphemia meeting was highly coincidental. While Suzaku actually being there is mostly okay, the problem is with her jumping out and landing in his arms.
Basically, the very beginning of the series relies on coincidences a lot to set things up, when it realistically didn’t have to do that, besides the initial coincidence.
At this point I’ll share that my notes are so haphazard that I’m struggling to figure out how to write something coherent. It’s basically just a list of observations.

Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything suspicious with that…

I’ll take this moment to talk about the transition from Season 1 to Season 2. Basically, Season 1 ends with a tense cliffhanger where everything has gone to shit and Lelouch is close to blowing himself up…while Suzaku aims to shoot him. Season 1 begins back at Ashford Academy…as if nothing had happened, with Lelouch being chased around by Viletta, his gym teacher. And, to add insult to injury, Lelouch now has a brother for some reason. The transition is so jarring that I believe most viewers experience emotional whiplash. Of course, by the end of the first episode we get back on track and figure out what the Hell happened. Considering all that…I’d actually say this is a pretty good transition.
To be clear, it’s really freaking weird but all the surrounding context kinda makes it work. Lelouch had basically fallen to rock bottom at the end of Season 1, forcing him to start over. And the way the writers went about it was strange, but it works.
Now let’s move on and skip forward a bit. Later in the series, Suzaku and Lelouch meet at a shrine to talk. Lelouch doesn’t explain himself to Suzaku properly, leaving out vital information which obviously angers Suzaku. On the surface this seems stupid but, after thinking about it, I think it does make sense. Lelouch isn’t explaining himself properly because he’s probably (correctly) assuming that Suzaku won’t buy his explanations, so he’s just kinda allowing himself to get beaten up. This made me come up with the term Plot Hiccup. Lelouch is also desperate and likely not thinking straight, while Suzaku is convinced Lelouch is a monster. Which all contributes to the situation.
Alright, let’s move on to some other later series nonsense.
It’s never explained how Ogi and Viletta got out of falling off of a cliff into a waterfall. Seriously, that is shown and then they appear completely fine later.
Ogi turning on Lelouch is uncharacteristic of him. Like, yeah, he loves Viletta but him blindly believing her is another thing entirely. It’s not surprising this was changed in the films. He is the second-most-loyal Black Knights member after Kallen.
Marianne, Lelouch and Nunally’s mom, being bad all along is a weird and probably bad twist. My notes note, somewhat hilariously, that it might make more sense than it looks on the surface and simply requires thinking. Though, I don’t think so anymore.
Nunally being blinded and shot as a cover-up during the assassination attempt is odd and pretty cruel for a cover-up, though I’m not calling it a flaw since it lines up with the Emperor and Marianne not really caring about the current world.
Oh, right, this is an early series thing, but I started wondering why the Hell Lelouch killed his half-brother Clovis. There isn’t much good in-universe explanation for why he did this. When I first watched the series, I assumed this was setting-up Lelouch to start killing off his relatives one-by-one but that just never happens. The longer you sit and think about this, the stranger it seems, so I’m going to stop for now.
Moving away from story…the series is really good at portraying the chaos of the battlefield (not that I’d have experience) and especially with how quickly things can happen. The battles are always tense as you wait to see what happens…and the characters grow more and more desperate.
Next, the music is pretty damn good, which I didn’t notice until my re-watch. I think the second season has slightly better music…and this is where my notes say ‘just that one track sounds a bit familiar to something else…’ and I have no idea what that means.
The picture dramas, which are a side thing, are a pretty good insight into the characters and the world. It’s where we learn all kinds of things like Jeremiah’s (‘ORANGE IS THE NAME OF MY LOYALTY’) reasons for being a purist…and other such smaller things. It’s all mostly fluff and, besides maybe the Jeremiah thing, I don’t think there’s anything really plot relevant. Maybe C.C. and Kallen hanging out.
My notes are pretty much gushing about the series ending, which they call ‘fantastic’, so I guess I’ll repeat that. Although Code Geass goes the Japanese Kumbaya route, it doesn’t really technically stick with it? It’s a pretty good ending overall, especially with the picture drama epilogue included.

I was re-watching the movie trilogy while writing out the notes…then forgot to keep watching. Whatever, let’s go off of memory.
These three films basically take the original two seasons and re-package them with new scenes.
The films kinda but not really assume that you’ve already seen the series. I think that the first film provides you with enough context to figure it out if you’re unfamiliar…it’s edited together very well, especially with those new scenes included.
The main downside of these films is the new animation, strangely enough. Since it’s of a noticeably higher quality than the re-used footage, it’s a little jarring.
It’ll be a while before I get to them again.

Nunally in Wonderland is a very strange thing to come out of Code Geass. Despite this, it’s also entirely understandable, at least in hindsight.
The premise is that Alice in Wonderland is one of Nunally’s favorite books and, so, Lelouch uses his Geass to manipulate all the characters of Code Geass into replaying that book for her. This is one of the few pieces of official content that acknowledges Lelouch’s siscon status, although I think it’s not subtle enough.
The artwork is cute and it’s fun to watch. Who is who is quite amusing.
This is not technically an anime, as it’s a picture drama (like one step above just a radio drama).

This is a spin-off set in an alternate continuity where Suzaku is a power ranger and he bangs the technician instead of the princess.
It’s a bit short, but still pretty good.

This is a really bizarre manga spin-off. It takes place during the historical time period of the Tokugawa Shogunate right after the US forces the country to end its isolation.
It’s kinda funny, the artwork is nice and…that’s all I wrote in my notes.

This is a very Neon Genesis Evangelion inspired spin-off. The premise is a ‘what if’ scenario…what if Nunally made a contract with C.C. instead of it being Lelouch. Except, not really.
My notes are, as per usual, sparse…they just say that it’s about average in quality. There’s twist after twist and the insanity ‘might be a bonus’.
I also wrote that the Knightmares resemble Evangelions; the ‘Eden of Vital’ is ‘just like the Black Moon and Instrumentality’ and, well, that’s that.

This is something I noticed and, since I noticed, I can’t un-notice…so I bestow this curse upon you as well.
Shirley is a Britannian. Britannians speak English as their main language. English is written left-to-right. So far, none of this is that unusual.
However! Shirley’s diary is opened right-to-left and, like a Japanese novel, is set up that way as well. However, the inside of the diary is still written left-to-right.
Now you know and, just like me, you will be cursed with wondering why.

• Official Portal website
• aniDB
• AniList
• Note for the above aniDB and AniList links: they are only for the first season, not the rest of the series. However, through the power of linking everything together, you can still find your way to the rest of the series.
• Code MENT
• This article used to have quite a bit here, but I cut it down and refined it to finally release it.
• I noticed a quirk that the Emperor and Imperial family (Japan) are not really mentioned at all during the series. I’m assuming they do exist…somewhere…though it’s strange they aren’t mentioned. Maybe some kind of taboo on portraying them in media? Kinda like how GATE implies the Emperor taking an action, but doesn’t show or even say it’s him.
• Suzaku of the Counterattack is referenced a few times in the anime.
• I keep forgetting that Code Geass is a mecha anime.
• EFAP has an exceptionally stupid opinion of this series.
• I noticed something a bit ironic during my current re-watch. The Emperor and Britannia are framed negatively by the narrative because, well, they’re a state that rules tyrannically and with a cutthroat monarchy and blah blah blah. However! It’s also true that this is the largest, most stable, most prosperous and most technologically advanced state on the planet in their universe. The series is, perhaps inadvertently, suggesting that this is a very effective form of governance.