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
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