Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Review

This deserves a 10/10 in my opinion. I've never been so on the edge for an anime, waiting, wanting, and thinking "Holy SH**, what's next?" The characters weren't developed A LOT as in an anime such as Clannad, but they develop a lot. The story has never been as intriguing as it was for any other anime I've ever seen. I don't know about you, but 8/10 for sound is just plain ridiculous. You must tell me another work with a better soundtrack and voice acting, that can meet your expectations of a 10/10. Like come on. This will be known as one of the best animes of this time. It will be a classic that is not without flaw, but what isn't? I agree that a lot was sacrificed for the sake of dramatic twists at the end of each episode, but I rarely felt it was forced or a WTF moment to me. Your overall score of Code Geass was disappointing, in my opinion, and is BS through and through, no offense to you.

VivisQueen: I would like to thank you for at least taking the time to read my comment, even though I'm afraid we will nevertheless have to agree to disagree.

I think it's important to point out that my words weren't exclusively meant to be a response to your review but were intended, primarily, as a general overview of my thoughts about the show and a criticism about how others appear to perceive it throughout the web. In other words, I wasn't trying to only address your particular views so there are several statements that may not, in fact, be entirely applicable to this particular context.

I don't believe you are insincere or unintelligent, not at all, but perhaps that's where the principle you've just mentioned applies: If you don't like or enjoy something, you're going to be more critical about its flaws and, if necessary, cynical about its virtues. If you do, then you're going to be more forgiving and appreciative. I hope we can agree there.

The show certainly had too many ridiculous moments, even from my own perspective, but just as you might conclude that they were disastrous for both your enjoyment and suspension of disbelief, in my case that wasn't an issue. I was able to tolerate or, more importantly, understand the point of superficially absurd occurrences because there was, whether immediately or retrospectively, an apparent sense of basic coherency to the overall plot even if specific details were blatantly sloppy and messy. I may have read too much into certain things, yes, but perhaps there were also occasions where you read too little and missed something. Either way, that's not outside the realm of possibility.

This doesn't mean that you are wrong and I am right, nor vice versa, but it is simply my own conclusion after having seen the series twice and thinking about it. You're quite free to support an entirely different line of thought, most certainly, just as I will stick to my own.

PS: For whatever it's worth, I completely agree with your recommendation for Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It happens to be my favorite show, as a matter of fact, and is definitely one of the few shows with a real sense of political and ideological maturity that, naturally, makes not just Code Geass but far too many anime series look absolutely primitive and superficial in comparison.

Now that sothis has removed the crazies, I'd like to address some of the more interesting responses:

Souther: "First, there's the evident fact that many now place the first season in a golden pedestal it never deserved precisely because they want to make R2 look not just worse, which it is, but inherently useless."

I watched both S1 and R2 as they aired. I rated Code Geass 8.7 months before the second season aired so its rating is not relative to R2. Code Geass is one of my favourite mecha shows because I genuinely enjoyed every moment of its corny, fast-paced, if verging on ridiculous journey. R2 flopped because it didn't verge, it crossed the borders of ridiculous with a mighty leap. I did see some of the recurring flaws in S1 but thought the show had a refreshing gall and daring in its breakneck execution, but also allowed me to feel thrilled to bits because I didn't have to worry about its basic coherency. My ratings and opinions are always sincere, and not because I'm overly emotional, irrational, have an ulterior motive, didn't pay attention, or am stupider than an 11-year old. I will also clarify that I never saw this show as 'useless'. In fact: “As a standalone series, R2 is shamefully lacking; as part of a set of two, however, its worth lies in delivering the only thing S1 was missing – a spectacular finish.”

koogco: You made a point about the difference between enjoyment ratings and 'review' ratings. I make no claim to separating the two ways of looking at an anime (cassiesheepgirl and ThePatches do, however). In my view, if you enjoyed an anime, you look at why this is so and stress it's good points. If you don't enjoy the anime, you do the reverse. If you think you are the wrong audience for a particular show, then don't review it in the first place. Bottom line: I did not enjoy this sequel, and when I looked critically at why, I found many valid reasons. As such, it scored dead average (yes, AVERAGE - see my rating scale).

SluggaSlamoo: "The reason i want to comment is because this review by-far biases its rating on minor inconveniences like fan-service, over a story which would require a genius author well grounded in fields such as war strategy, diplomatic relations, history, psychology, Sun Tzu, and so on."

I can't comment on your understanding of real war strategy, diplomatic relations, history, psychology etc, but speaking as a Politics graduate who has dabbled academically in most of these fields, I'd say Code Geass has no meaningful relation to any of them. For a genuinely outstanding political warfare sci-fi with intellectual depth and plenty of moral grey areas, look to Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Re: my Overall ratings... they're never mathematical calculations because Animation/Sound usually count far less towards an anime's quality than Story/Characters. The reason I use decimals is mainly to rank the anime. R2 5.4, Kurozuka 5.5, Black Jack Movie 5.6, FMA: Shamballa 5.7... I base the specific ratings on where I think a show ranks in comparison to other shows I've reviewed. Believe it or not, what made me eventually rate R2 5.4 is how I saw it relating to FMA: Conqueror of Shamballa. Similar disappointing experience - great ideas, poor execution, lacklustre characters.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback - the constructive comments, critical and positive, are all taken on board and will hopefully help make me a better reviewer in the future. :)

It was good.  Amazing... far from amazing.  But I enjoyed it thoroughly.  The emotions in the series was shallow in my opinion, but the action and twists were good.

I kinda disagree with this rating.  I actually just finished watching both seasons back to back over the past few days, and I must say I think R2 was better than the first.  The animation was crisper, tensions and emotions were raised, and a lot happens without any of the boring foreshadowing you see in most anime.

Of course, there were a few bad episodes thrown in there full of fluff (such as the Lelouch Love episode), but the majority were dramatic and action packed at the same time.

If you gave the last season an 8, I'd think this season is worthy of a 9.

I'd have to take some points off the sub though... some of those lines flew by fast and furious!  I might have to rewatch it dubbed to make sure I understood alot of the heavy stuff they were talking about in the last 5 or so episodes.