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Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 is the second and final season of the highly-acclaimed and much loved mecha, sci-fi action anime, with deep themes of politics and my favourite: psychological. Though less emphasis on that last one, it’s not that crazy. It’s up there will the likes of FMA: Brotherhood as one of the most loved anime of all time. While I did watch season one, I was very disappointed at the way it ended. I recommend watching it before reading any further due to plot spoilers for that season.

The entire 1st season ended on a cliff-hanger, which is one of the worst things that can happen to a plot in anime, usually due to lack of sequels to conclude the story. The plot in a single season needs to be wrapped up to some extent, if not completely. I’m reminded of season 6 (I think) of Dexter where it similarly ended on a cliff-hanger. I never got the chance to review season 1, but if I did, I wouldn’t call it perfect. And it’s not necessarily the sequel-baiting that’s the concern, it’s the absolute dependence of the plot on the sequel. Usually that type of anime would end after a resolution to a big climax with something like ‘the battle may be over, but the war is just getting started.’ Enough of the rant on season one which I never got to review, does this second season do the first justice? Or is it just overhyped by a lot of fans?

Animation

The high animation quality from the first season continues. I watched this in 720p, but I’m sure an anime as popular as this is available in 1080p. The unique style also continues. I’m quite surprised at how there is quite nothing that looks like this anime. The character designs are tall, sleek and slender, most of all are the distinctive facial designs. Though there still can be beefy or large characters who looked appropriately imposing. The mecha almost look a bit generic, but still remain unique with their hook-shot style weapons.

Fan-service/ecchi is there, maybe a few suggestive camera angles and poses here and there, especially of Kallen in her nightmare mecha. Man, there’s so many shots of her sticking her butt out. And then there’s the absolutely dumb school-swimsuit café in the school festival. Ugh, I really don’t see how these ugly swimsuits can be so popular among adolescent boys. Thing is, the way this anime does ecchi is very subtle. It’s not too aggressive, the fan-service is only really limited to camera angles and shots of characters. Like a shot up a characters panties during a serious discussion. It’s almost tolerable and honestly, it’s not too bad compared to most ecchi anime. This is probably the best way of adding fan-service without being too off-putting and I must commend them for that. Still… it was obvious and cringey at times.

If quality determined the calibre of an anime, then this anime would be a strong contender for top dog, despite there being many newer anime.

Sound

The music is varied an interesting. The first intro outro combination is decent, but the second got a lot more interesting. The 2nd intro was more ‘rock’ than the first, while the 2nd outro seemed very reminiscent of the intro to Another and the outro for Phantom, Requiem for the Phantom. I think the same artist did the music in all 3 of these instances.

Like the first season, this anime is available in both English and Japanese. I watched it in English and considering that the imposing empire in this anime essentially originates from Britain, hence the Britannia Empire in this anime, I think my choice of audio is appropriate. And then there’s the excellent voice cast.

Lelouch is voiced by none other than Johnny Young Bosch, voice of Renton in Eureka Seven, Michael in Gun X Sword, Rinnosuke Uryuu in Fate Zero, Koizumi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Yu Narukami in Persona 4, Rossiu Adai in Gurren Lagann and Haruto Sakaki in Witch Hunter Robin. C.C. is voiced by Kate Higgins, who also voiced Talho in Eureka Seven, Saber in Fate Stay Night and Nanako Kuroi in Lucky Star. Yuri Lowenthal voices Suzaku Kururugi, as well as Daedalus Yumeno in Ergo Proxy, Joshua Lundgren in Gun X Sword, Simon in Gurren Lagann and Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4. Kallen Stadtfield is voiced by Karen Strassman, also having voiced Rider in Fate Stay Night, Striker in Gargantia (it had a dub?!?! Awesome anime btw, check it out), Fasalina in Gun X Sword, Kiyoh in Gurren Lagann, Miyo Takano in Higurashi, Miyuki Takara in Lucky Star, Nanako Dojima in Persona 4 and Yasuko Takasu in Toradora. Did I mention Spike Spencer famed for Shinji Ikari in Evangelion also voices Rolo Lamperouge? So many other voice actors feature voicing the large cast of characters including Troy Baker (who’s been in everything) and Kim Mae Guest of Metal Gear Solid fame. The former is also Ocelot in the upcoming (this review was on hiatus for a long time…) MGS5, I can’t wait!

Characters

There are so many characters, that I wished I’d done a season one review for the returning characters. For all intents and purposes, the high school characters in this anime are 18 years old (they were 17 in season 1).

Lelouch Lamperouge is the high school student main character of this anime, a member of the school council. His true identity is a secret, he and his sister are among the many children of the Britannian emperor (Lelouch is the 11 prince), but his mother died when he was but a child during the fall of Japan. He disagree’s strongly with his father and was thus exiled to Area 11 (formerly Japan). Through meeting C.C, Lelouch has gained the power of Geass, by staring into someone’s eyes with his left eye he is able to give them any command which they will comply with regardless of will. These Geass powers only work once per individual and is thus his trump card. Lelouch’s alter-ego is the anti-Imperial terrorist leader known as Zero, leading his group the black knights in a fight to liberate Japan. Even as Zero, his identity as Lelouch the student is a secret, none save for C.C. (also Kallen and Suzaku as of the end of S1) know that he is behind the mask of Zero. Lelouch is smart and analytical, confident and egotistic, manipulative and vengeful. He will let nothing get in his way and will protect those he cares about as he pursues his goal.

C.C. AKA C2 is the mysterious green-haired woman who is always by Lelouch’s side. He freed her from imprisonment at the very start (back in S1) and she rewarded him by granting him the power of Geass, which he could use to attain his goals. Her origin is unknown, other than the fact that the government had her imprisoned and used her to grant Geass powers to individuals. C.C. is also completely immortal as was evident by her first meeting with Lelouch. She encourages him in his goals and helps him out, on occasion standing in as Zero when required to maintain the secret of Zero’s identity. She seems to like pizza, but other than that her own ideals and goals are unknown. Only a few people know about her including Lelouch, even the Black Knights are not privy to her importance.

Kallen Stadtfeld AKA Kallen Kozuki is a half-Japanese girl in the same class as Lelouch and joined the rebellion when her brother Naoto was killed before the start of this story. Revenge is what she seeks, both for her real (Japanese) mother and her brother, though she was adopted by a family from within the empire helping to hide her Japanese bloodline. She became close to Zero within the Black Knights and is their ace Knightmare pilot, given the position of Captain of the Zero Squad and her Knightmare mecha is the Guren Mk2, which has a unique arm that can melt and destroy armour. She is a very athletic and well developed (those ass shots… *facepalm*) girl for her age, a strong-willed, feisty, short-tempered and forceful girl. Inside she is gentle and sensitive, but this diminished after her brother died and she became a member of the Black Knights. Similarly to Lelouch, nobody in school (except for Lelouch of course) knows that she is a member of the Black Knights. Oh and did I mention that there seems to be a thing between her and Lelouch?

Suzaku Kururugi AKA the White Knight is the son of the late Genbu Kururugi, Prime Minister of Japan and warden of the Lamperoug siblings. He was also Lelouch’s best friend, having been a student at the same school in the previous season. Since the start, Suzaku has worked within the Britannian military as the pilot of the Lancelot, initially an experimental new type of Knightmare. Unlike Lelouch, he desires to change the empire from the inside, in his own way by serving them and showing them acceptance. This is his own way of avenging his father’s death, to surpass him and do what he couldn’t. Due to his great servitude and loyalty, he became an honorary Britannian citizen (the Britannians dislike ‘elevens’, what they call the Japanese) and gained promotions much to the shock and dismay of many Imperials. In season 1, the kindly princess Euphemia le Britannia fell in love with him and the two were to be married. Due to events, Euphemia was controlled and killed by Zero, while being disgraced and stripped of royalty by the Imperials, giving Suzaku newfound hatred and desire to avenge her. Suzaku has now been promoted to one of the esteemed and powerful Knight of Seven, under direct orders from the Emperor himself.

Nunnally vi Britannia is Lelouch’s own blood sister who has gone missing since the end of the last season. When they were children, their mother was assassinated and during the chaos that ensued, Nunnally was paralyzed by bullet wounds on her leg and blinded (her eyes are always shut… nuff said). There were then exiled to Japan shortly afterwards due to a disagreement Lelouch had with his father, the emperor. The two were looked after by the Kururugi family before the Ashford family took them in, following the fall of Japan. In season 1, Lelouch was very protective of his sister, wanting to destroy the Britannian Empire just for her and as revenge for their murdered mother. Nunnally on the other hand, desires peace and tranquillity, she was happy as long as she had her brother and friends.

Rolo Lamperouge is Lelouch’s younger brother. He attends the same school as Lelouch and is very protective and loyal to his older brother, but is even more protective of his locket, a present that Lelouch once gave him. The odd thing is… he wasn’t even mentioned in season 1… watch the anime to figure out the answer to that mystery. He is deeply devoted to Lelouch, his obsession is bordering on creepy. It’s almost like he is dependent on Lelouch.

Now we move onto Lelouch’s friends. Shirley Fenette one a fellow member of the student council and is also a member of the swim club. She is also a very cheery and upbeat individual and is just all-round nice. She was very accepting of Suzaku when he first transferred to the school. She had a crush on Lelouche, but wasn’t all too obvious with it and in typical anime fashion, she is too shy to confess her feelings to him. She’s not too clingy, but does get slightly upset if Lelouch is getting along with other girls or if he hangs up on her phone calls too quick. During S1, her father was indirectly killed by actions of Zero, thus she had developed hatred towards Zero. She got the chance to try and shoot Zero and discovered Lelouch’s secret identity during a tense moment, where he was being arrested by Villetta. In order to protect Lelouch, she shot Villetta, causing temporary amnesia and Lelouch had to eventually remove wipe her memories of him using his Geass, in order to maintain secrecy and keep her sane. After all, the man she loved had caused her father’s death and she had shot a person trying to protect him. The current Shirley is slowly redeveloping feelings for Lelouch, while not having a single memory of him.

Speaking of, the woman Villeta Nu is a Brittanian elite Knightmare pilot and subordinate of Jeremiah Gottwald, a high-ranking Brittanian who was a member of the purist faction and was thus fairly racist. As in the aforementioned paragraph, she discovered Zero’s identity and lost her memory after being shot by Shirley. During her period of amnesia, she was discovered by one of the Black Knights, Kaname Ohgi, who took her in and nursed her back to health. During this time the two became close, but eventually her memories returned to her during the events of the Black Rebellion at the end of season 1. She turned on Ohgi and gave him in as a prisoner, also getting promoted for discovering Zero’s identity. Currently she is a gym teacher in Lelouch’s school, working with Secret Intelligence to keep an eye on Lelouche. She still can’t shake off the time she had with Ohgi and is conflicted about betraying him.

Back to the Britannian school friends, Nina Einstein is the initially quiet and trope glasses girl. Except she’s actually more unique than that. She’s a bit obsessive and maniacal, deeply loyal to the empire disliking ‘elevens’ due to a prior traumatic experience and especially Princess Euphemia, who she completely idolises, thusly going literally insane when Euphemia dies in season 1. She now works for the empire, developing weapons and unpleasant stuff, channelling her extreme hate for Zero and the Black Knights. Milly Ashford is the granddaughter of the Ashford Academy superintendent, student council president and a senior student retaking her last year of school. She is engaged to Lloyd Asmund, (the creator of Suzaku’s Nightmare) who shares her passive disinterest in their relationship. She doesn’t care much for her nobility and simply wants to enjoy life and have fun. The final member of the student council, Rivalz Cardemonde has a crush on her. He’s the chilled out and generic male friend of the group.

Schneizel el Britannia the 2nd prince of Britannia, is the very regal and handsome Prime Minister of the Empire, Lelouch’s older half-brother. Unlike Lelouch, Schneizel is of course loyal to the empire, but similar to Lelouch, he is a highly cunning strategist and even doubts the aims and objectives of their father. The two have a history between them, they used to often play chess against each other and Lelouch never once managed to beat Schneizel. Thus Schneizel is very familiar with how Lelouch thinks. The man is cold and ruthless in strategy, he is willing to get rid of anything that stands in his way and sacrifice lives without hesitation to achieve his goals. He is very charismatic and somewhat honourable and strangely, he does not hold too many lofty goals. He doesn’t seek the throne but simply wishes a world of peace… intriguing.

Cornelia li Britannia is the second princess of Britannia, Lelouch’s older half-sister. She is very skilled in combat and has her own Nightmare mech, Euphemia is her direct younger sister (like Nunnally is Lelouch’s sister) and similar to Lelouch, she is very overprotective and concerned with her sister. Unfortunately for her, she lost her sister during events in season 1 and due to knowing her sister, she is adamant to find out the truth about what really happened. She doesn’t believe that Euphemia would ever do what she ended up doing. Thus she goes on a journey that will eventually lead her to Geass. Unlike her brother Schneizel, she is slightly less graceful and allows her emotions to control her. But she also is more humanitarian than Schneizel, she probably wouldn’t always agree with her brother’s tactics.

Charles zi Britannia is the 98 Emperor of the Holy Brittanian Empire, and father to Lelouch and his siblings. He is also the leader of the Geass order, commanding research into Geass and even toting a Geass power of his own that allows him to wipe the memories of those he uses it on. Lelouch is at odds with his father, believing it was him who had his mother killed. Most of all they differ in beliefs. Charles is a cold, intelligent ruler who has a strong belief in the idea of social Darwinism, in which only the strong can rise in society, a strong supporter of inequality. His ideals and morals are corrupt, he killed and manipulated many to get to where he is, yet he still has charisma as his subjects will rally to his cause. This contrasts his upbringing, where his family killed each other including his mother for the throne. He has little concern over his children, treating Lelouch coldly after his mother’s death, banishing him and his sister to Japan. And yet, this man has concerns other than the world in which he rules, unbeknownst to his children and most others. He is full of secrets and mystery.

Story

First off, there are a few inconsistencies with the plot concerning a few small things. Such as which countries belong to which empires. Maps in the anime show different things and even though canonically, the Britannian Empire is created from the remnants of the British Empire, the British Isles themselves are not a part of it and are instead a part of the EU? It is not listed where the capital city of Pendragon is located (besides West Cost US) and the concept of ‘America’ simply doesn’t exist, despite the geography being the same as the real world. Makes no sense, thus I choose to ignore some of the botched geography in the plot of this anime.

The plot in this anime is the strongest part. Excluding the cliff-hanger, the entire series has great pacing and is intense. However, I will say that the pacing isn’t perfect as it progresses at an exponential pace. It’s not a gradual climb to the conclusion, it gets faster and things change up quickly later on, with multiple climaxes and cliff-hangers at the end of episodes (which are okay, unlike seasonal cliff-hangers). It has many similarities to another popular anime: Death Note, it has similar conflicts of intellect and is similarly unpredictable.

Unpredictable is an understatement, viewers will be played like fiddles. Very few of the important characters in this anime are seen as complete and constant protagonists or antagonists. The plot is very fluid in this regard, alliances shift and change, character relationships are very dynamic and arguably this lends to the chaos. And this is the good kind of unpredictable, everything falls into place. A lot of things might not make sense early on, but later the answers are given and revelations occur. That’s another good thing about this anime, no loose ends. Every little detail is accounted for and each thing matters and has impact on the world.

The anime has a lot of flair and includes a lot of deep themes, at one point it feels very psychedelic, especially concerning the character of the emperor and the C’s world area. Towards the middle/end this really comes to the fore and the crazy ideas briefly become major aspects of the plot. Unfortunately this is too short-lived to have a significant impact on the overall story, it doesn’t help that much of it is hidden as mystery before that point of the story. The themes throughout include things like oppression, rule, loyalty, struggle, betrayal, equality. Things also get very political at many points and there’s an awful lot of philosophy, both good and bad, presented in this anime. With that, this is no simple anime that exists to entertain, it has underlying subtext and social commentary to be discovered. Which is something I very much appreciate, it makes the viewers think a lot about these situations and the plot, to consider the morals and ideas presented.

And of course, it also includes the regular nonsense of a bit of romance too… except it’s actually done rather well here. Despite the final conclusion that there appeared to be a bit of a herm surrounding one character, it was almost unrecognisable as the focus shifted between the different characters gradually. Finally, the conclusion. It sums up this anime very well and is rather representative and suitable. I did have it spoiled for me long ago, but even knowing what would happen, it was still satisfying and enjoyable. As I said before, no loose ends with a healthy ‘epilogue’ segment to boot too. A much better conclusion compared to season 1.

Conclusion

Code Geass (both seasons together) is regarded by many to be among the best animes ever made. And while that is not exactly so, it’s not far from the truth. This really is a great anime. It is one that many types of people can enjoy, if one is willing to ignore a few things like the small hints of fan-service and the high-school antics, which admitted are very minor aspects of this anime. If you enjoyed anime like Death Note, the fast-paced, action-packed constant fluidity and unpredictability, you will enjoy Code Geass a lot. And even if you don’t you are still likely to enjoy Code Geass. I know many folks who regard it to be within their top 10 favourite anime. Personally, I do see the flaws this anime has, but I still enjoyed it immensely. It’s difficult to hold my attention so well these days and this anime managed to do that. Thus, I'd say give the first few eipsodes of season 1 a go and if it let you down, this 2nd season corrects the wrongs of the plot. As always, the ‘overall rating’ is more just my opinion, since I don’t find a single number to be helpful or representative of an anime. To this note, I’ll be changing the scoring from ‘overall rating’ to ‘personal rating’.

A final note, I’ve been on a major hiatus from anime in general. This review has been in progress for over half a year (the period during which I slowly, but surely watched the episodes of this anime) and I’ve not reviewed anything for months. Similarly I’ve not had the time to watch anything recently. Here’s hoping I can watch more anime and write more reviews nowadays.

Family-friendliness Rating: 2/5 Just a little fan-service (lower is better)

Personal Rating: 10/10 (higher is better)