My Eye’s on this One: Code Geass

Howdy, howdy, folks!  As far as I can tell, Part 1 of Hanime on Autism was a success, but Part 2 is going to happen next Friday anyways regardless.  Anyways, this week I will be reviewing a show that I’ve had my eye on for a while-much like the title implies.  To give a little detail, it’s one of the most acclaimed sci-fi/mecha animes of all time and probably one of the finest shows in the genre that I’ve seen.  It also features one of the greatest anti-heroes in anime.  And every Johnny Yong Bosch fan knows this role as one of his most famous.  Ring any bells?  Well, if not, then let’s finally get on with this week’s review of Code Geass.
Also known by its proper title Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, the show follows high school student and exiled Britannian prince Lelouch Lamperouge.  In the world of Code Geass, the largest and most dominating power is the Holy Britannian Empire, taking over countries to the point of changing their names to “Areas.”  In 2010, Japan falls victim to this and is later renamed as Area 11.  Fast forward seven years later and we return to high school student Lelouch Lamperouge.  Although the Britanian teen lives a pretty privileged life as a student, Area 11 is still dangerous with constant terrorist attacks.  Lelouch unintentionally becomes involved with one of these terrorist attacks and comes across a girl named C.C.(said SEE-TOO).  Through this contact, Lelouch gains the power of Geass, a mysterious ability that can command a person to do whatever the holder of the power wants.  This power later leads him to become involved with the terrorists of Area 11, establishing a terrorist group called The Black Knights and leading the group as the masked Zero, where he hopes to take down the Britannian Empire.  And for those who have seen the series in its entirety, we all know how that goes.
I do want to note that this review covers the entire series, not just season one.  That being said, this is certainly one of the finest anime shows I’ve seen in sci-fi, mecha, and even drama.  I give Code Geass a 4.5 out of five star rating.  When it comes to Code Geass, I think that it actually has all of the great things that “modern” anime has.  It has great animation and a great story to go with it.  And while the character design is really great-not to mention the Knightmare units are cool to look at, too-, I think Code Geass’s biggest selling point is its story.  One thing that I always look for in just about every show is some debate.  And believe it or not, Code Geass was one of those shows that had that; it was one of the first shows that got me into anime, and was the first show to have me look at the finer details in plot.  There’s a lot of great debate and discussion that can be taken away from it, from the lack of morality and humanity of the Britannians to whether or not Lelouch is dead(SPOILER!!).  That alone is what I think makes it great.  Oh, and no Johnny Yong Bosch fan has lived until they’ve seen his most famous performance in English dubbed anime-wait, didn’t I talk about him last week?
So with me going on about how fantastic this show is, what’s the bad part about it?  Nothing really, unless you can’t sit through the racism and discrimination that goes on between the Britannians and the Japnese-also called elevens.  And just wait till the end of season one.  Let’s just say you better be ready for what happens then.  I wasn’t when I first saw it.  Still, this is a must see for all anime fans!
So in a much long awaited and long overdue review, I’m proud to say that this show is one of the finest animes out there.  And I don’t need any puns to say it either.  Both seasons one and two are available on DVD where ever anime is sold.  I also recently heard that an OVA spinoff of the series called Akito the Exiled was released in Japan a few years back.  However, it has not been dubbed.  And so, that ends this week’s review.  But before I go, I need to make a correction on one of my previous reviews.  To quote from Steve Hardy, I made a mistake.  In my Guren Lagann review, I said that Studio Trigger was the company that produced the show.  This was made based on the show Kill la Kill and its similar style in animation.  I learned recently that Guren Lagann is not a creation of Studio Trigger; it wasn’t even around at the time of the show’s creation.  However, both shows are the creation of director Hiroyuki Imaishi.  I’m sorry for this error and will try to do better in finding facts for my reviews if further information is called for.  Anyways, be sure to stay tuned this Friday for Part 2 of Hanime on Autism,and of course, more reviews from yours truly!

-Hanime on Anime

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Devilman (1972) vs. Devilman Crybaby: Which Is Better?

Welcome to Hanime on Anime!

Character of the Month of April: Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya