Code Geass S1

Code Geass is well-known in the anime world for being one of the greats. I’ve never had the opportunity myself to watch it before, for various reasons—it aired in 2006, I don’t usually go out of my way to watch mecha, the character design isn’t really up my alley—but after doing so, I can definitely see why this series is so highly regarded.

Art: 2/4

There’s nothing too special about the art in Code Geass. CLAMP’s character designs do lend a distinctive look and feel to the characters though, with their spindly limbs, piercing eyes, and sharp jawlines. I personally find CLAMP’s designs to be not visually offensive, and I have fond memories of binge reading xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle in the library as a kid, but there’s just something offputting (I would go so far to even say alien) about how elongated the characters in Code Geass look. But when animated, the characters look fine, and I think that Cornelia and CC have particularly nice character designs and outfits.

The mecha designs are pretty down to earth. Most mechas neither fly nor run. Instead, they do this skating thing on wheels, which is the first time I’ve seen something like that in a mecha show. I’m on the fence about this—on the one hand, it does look cool when they actually skate (e.g. Lancelot), but on the other hand, most just statically wheel forward, which decidedly does not look cool. They also have grappling hooks that they can use for both mobility and offense, which is an interesting idea I have also never seen before. I appreciate the show’s taking creative liberties with how the mechas operate.

Background art is nothing spectacular. I would say that the art in general is pretty much par for the course. There’s nothing egregiously bad, but there’s also nothing eyepoppingly good. I do appreciate the old-school hand-drawn mechas though—they look infinitely better than the CG stuff we usually get nowadays.

Story: 3/4

Setting and characters

I’m not a fan of school settings in anime where they’re not necessary—-I think it’s a lazy excuse to have a common area for the main and side characters to have a place to gather, and that’s exactly what the student council clubhouse functions as. It allows filler (read: useless) characters to limp along in the story, just sort of being there in order to have something for the main cast to talk to. I would classify Milly, Nina, and Rivalz as filler characters—do any of them actually do anything? Maybe Nina will end up being impactful, seeing how this season ends, but she is largely a nonfactor.

That being said, the setting does provide an interesting twist to the relationship of the trio of Lelouch, Suzaku, and Kallen. These three are quite clearly the strongest characters of the story, and I think the series does a good job of making them all feel like an important part of the story. One of the strongest story beats for me is the defeat of Mao at the hands of the duo of Lelouch and Suzaku. The absolute trust that Lelouch places in Suzaku in this scene and, later, his seething hate for him, do much to characterize their relationship. Kallen, too, is a complex character, with a compelling backstory and strong agency in the Black Knights. Lelouch himself works well as the main character. He knows what he wants and how to get what he wants, which seem to be traits sorely lacking in many anime protagonists. He shows emotion—arrogance when he wins and rage when he loses. He just needs to ditch his awful catchphrase (“All the conditions have been cleared.” 😤)

Mechas

I’m also not a massive fan of mecha because I can never get myself to stop thinking about the impracticalities of mechas. They’re tall and top-heavy, which makes them easy to topple when they’re standing and vulnerable to attacks on their legs. When they’re flying, they aren’t as aerodynamic as regular airplanes, so they are sitting ducks in the sky. At this point, why not just have helicopters or hovercraft if you’re feeling scifi-y? They tend to engage in melee combat, which makes zero sense in the scifi setting they exist in because they would simply get shot down by any competent enemy equipped with ranged weapons.

Putting that aside, I found most of Code Geass’s mecha combat to be pretty ok. There are a lot of instances of cannon fodder mechas with awful aim, but they’re balanced by some nice sequences of Lelouch thinking through tactics and directing his subordinates. Nothing looks to be too overpowered, besides Gawain and Lancelot. I appreciated seeing the cerebral Lelouch taking a backseat and having Kallen become the ace of the Black Knights—but then he promptly gets his hands on Gawain (and the Britannian military doesn’t care for some reason?).

Miscellaneous

The story ends on an insanely gripping high note. The gunshot straight into black—amazing. I can also now see where Aldnoah:Zero got its idea for ending the first cour from.

I want to point out how the Britannian military has no idea who Zero is, despite there being a disgruntled former royal who happens to disappear from school every time the Black Knights carry out an attack. If Shirley can figure it out, surely the mighty Britannian Empire can.

The general competence of the Britannian military is actually awful. They have this OP mecha in Lancelot, so why do they keep insisting on not using it, and why do they just let it run around and get captured (twice!) when they do decide to use it?

Sound: 2/4

Nothing spectacular. There’s the all-too-famous JIBUN WOOOOO and one or two tracks that jive super well, but the second OP and both EDs aren’t my cup of tea. Sound design is largely what I expect from a mecha action show.

Overall: 8/10

I’m pretty impressed with the first season of Code Geass. I definitely didn’t lose interest while watching, and I’m pretty stoked to find out what season 2 is like.