I’m an Idiot… D:

What the bleeding hell is wrong with me!? Code Geass has been out since October and I haven’t started watching it until just but a week ago. I feel so ashamed… But, my failure aside I did get to finally watching the first episode a week ago which had been sitting on my hard drive for a few months now and by the very end, I was frantically rushing to loading the rest of the torrents to download the rest as fast as I could… XD

Alright let me just tart by my initial first impressions from the first episode alone. First off, intro was quite mysterious and foreboding giving way to a little historical information of the world. Now, for me this was actually one of the thing I was most interested in with the world being so alternate to our own. Knightmare Frames (initially called Nightmare Flames in the sub I got) were introduced here as well and at first I just thought gimmicky, but then again this was exactly my thoughts when I first watched Eureka Seven and look how that turned out… From the beginning, it’s all quite morbid indeed which really had my hopes high for the show as I like that sort of atmosphere in an anime once in a while.

Anyways, moving on, some things happen and cripes, we get some good drama and action with our main character Lelouch getting involved with some terrorists… He meets Suzaku who is in the Britainian military *gasp* and the thing stolen is shown to be not a poison gas but a girl. More gasps abound as Suzaku is ‘killed off’ much to my amusement and then Lelouch and the mysterious girl are cornered by the special forces where she dives face first in front of a bullet to save him and I was mesmerised by what was now unfolding on screen. Lelouch gets the Geass and in utter badassness orders everyone to kill themselves, which they do! Lelouch looks unstable and shaky as he looks upon all the corpses but in the final moments, his face just morphs into the most sinister grin ever and that was truly the moment I knew this show was going to be good. And no kidding either but my 9 year old sister saw it too and thought it was cool, and also bugged me to get the rest as well… The fact that none of the show fazed her at all has me slightly worried actually…

Alright, a slight look at the plot in whole across the whole series so far. Britainia taking over Japan is definately a new angle but the main emphasis is still class struggles which gets boring after seeing it so many times, but it is made up for with good plot pacing and action the whole way through. I find that Code Geass is very good at the dramatic reveal of some pretty gasp worthy information the whole way through even if it was extremely plot hole ridden or even right out of the blue, and in all honesty, I actually like that about it. It is this that has kept me interested the whole way though.

At the moment there are two plots really: the rebellion against Britainia and (the one that has come to the limelight only recently) the mysteries of CC and the Geass. The first is the whole emphasis of the show and encompasses the majority of the characters. At first, I had some doubts about how this was going to be pulled off having been weighed down a lot by sluggish war driven anime but by episode two, which set the tone for most of the war relating episodes in the show, I was very confident that this wasn’t going to turn out like the rest. It was alot more character driven and Lelouch at the lead of the terrorists (AKA pawns) is a fun thing to watch. It actually a lot more fun later on when he faces off against Cornelia who is actually even with him in the war game.

What i especially loved was him coming into power as ‘Zero’ through some spectacular plans (orange lol) and clever planning. By episode 10, it was a whole new ball game for Lelouch as he instated them as the Order of the Black Knights, not as terrorists but protectors of the weak. I thought this was brilliant strategy to get all of the people onto his side. With this, it opened up a whole more oppertunities and allies to help him reach his goal of destroying Britainia.

Zero: Do not mistake who your enemy is. The enemy is not the Britainians. It is Britania!!

Now only recently in the last few episodes has it given some focus to the plot involving CC and the Geass. This is actually the one I am more interested in, especially from the brief view we got from episode 11 when Lelouch touched CC as she was using the Geass through the Lancelot. Mao, is quite a good side villian for this section of story especially how he’s drawing out more about CC’s past. Although I was a bit sceptical how he came back to life after basically getting the Swiss cheese treatment from the police, but I must say he did come back with much dramaticism.

Mao: CC, I had a house built in Australia. It’s a beautiful, quiet, white house. But we need to take a plane to reach Australia. But CC, you’re too big to bring on the plane as carry on luggage. So… *turns on chainsaw* I’ll make you compact!

Alright let’s have a little more look at the characters.

First, the main character: Lelouch. The chess match to begin with in the first episode was a brilliant way to introduce Lelouch as he is now and has been a running theme for him really, showing off his calculating side and basically made him look cooler straight off the bat. In this aspect, he really reminds me a lot of Light from Death Note who is another one of my favourite characters. I have loved it recently though as he’s been somewhat beaten by both Cornelia and Mao as it kinda showed a new side of him, but I would love for his comeback as well…

CC is a mysterious character indeed. At first i thought she would be featured more heavily myself from some stereotyping and also it was kinda hinted in the OP, so to see her ‘die’ in the first episode and not to come back until episode 4 was a big surprise to me. Mysteries abound for her, even when we get some answers, it just leads to more questions, for example on the subject of her real name. She also seems to be developing feelings for Lelouch as well, as her many arguments with herself seem to suggest. I don’t have any doubts that she will feature a bit more heavily in the latter half of the series that we are in now.

Now Suzaku, well, for most I thought he died off the bat in episode one, but he’s back in action from episode two in the Lancelot, which is near top spot for the coolest mecha I have ever seen (in action as well). Suzaku was a little annoying to me at first as is most of the overtly pure quasi- hero of justice characters but it wasn’t until about episode 16 that I kinda wish he had stayed dead before. I mean, what the hell was the bit where he was out running machine gun fire and running along walls. All it was missing was a bullet time sequence and he would have been the fricking ‘One’. And then perfectly matching the speed of a swinging bomb as to not jog it at all as he was slicing one of the wires!? :S Suzaku for me became a very broken character from that point on, but at least he’s gotten some character depth now as it was spilled by Mao that Suzaku killed his father. Can;t wait to see what comes from this one actually?

As to the Lancelot crew; unlike Suzaku they are actually some of my most favourite all time characters. Cecille being a lovable kind character who at times seem so utterly caring although you know she’s pissed off. And Lloyd, he’s actually one of my favourite characters. he has a certain flair to him, doesn’t seem interested at all in his social status as an Earl, made the Lancelot and also straight off the bat agreed that he and Millay (a hot teenage schoolgirl possibly about ten years younger than him) should get married. Indeed, a great character indeed.

Speaking of Millay, shes also one of my favourites of Lelouch’s high school friends. Not that innocent at all and hawt to boot. Nina, racist and gay for Euphie (the table scene with the magazine… WTF!?) is a character I don’t see a lot and I’m kinda glad cause I don’t like her really. Shirley, although an okay character at first really grew to grate on my nerves. From her emo moment in the rain getting a pity kiss from Lelouch to the whole thing with her and Zero actually, it was these that sort of did that for me although I loved how the plot went to Lelouch making her forget all about him with the Geass. You can tell something is going to come from that at one point later. Now Rival is actually an okay character, not great but at least he’s not deteriorating into an excessively irritating character like some others.

Kinda Creepy… And even creepier, but LOL anyways

Kallen, the last of the bunch, is from what I can see from the interweb response is the favourite female character in the whole series, which I can understand from her utter moe moments in school to her tough sassy character when she’s at work, piloting Guran Mk. 2 (which has an excellent cockpit indeed… especially since Kallen pilots it). Another gasp moment for me was when she was revealed to be a student at the same school as Lelouch, although painfully obvious at the same time, in episode 3 which is probably where the Kallen love all started (He purse knife is utterly cute for some reason as well) and is it just me or do I detect some jealousy vibes from her over Zero when she found him and CC together…

On the antagonist side, Clovis was an ass and I was happy that Lelouch offed him really especially since Cornelia took up his mantle to dealing with Zero. Cornelia is a great cold and calculating character herself and when she’s alone with Euphie, she’s utterly cute as well. Euphie herself is an okay character, but really so far nothing much has happened for her in my opinion, nothing noteworthy at least except now having a creepy stalker (and not even the likable Shizuru like creepy stalker) in Nina. Jeremiah (I’m never so sure on his name, I always only think of him as Orange-kun anyways) was first set up to be one of those higher tier bosses that you’ll get to face off against later but he’s been defeated sorely and alot to the point he’s actually comedy relief for me every time he’s on screen recently, especially when he was getting almost literally killed by the Guran Mk. 2 and later on when he had his moment on the street where he passes out in front of the scientists. I smell some foreboding here….And Viletta, in the same class as Orange-kun but instead of that route, she’s gotten amnesia and has turned totally moe. A marvellous development in my eyes.

Mecha-wise, well, there actually are only two mecha in the whole show that really stood out, the rest being basically mass produced ones or ones done in batches. The notables are the Lancelot and the Guran Mk. 2. Now, the Lancelot; it’s sleek, cool looking and very heavy on the technologically advanced theme (being a work of Lloyd i expected no less). Right from episode 2 onwards the Lancelot has again and again shown it’s utter dominance over any other Knightmare Frame with the one exception being the Guran. The Guran itself is the super sleek mecha like the Lancelot; looking grittier and more raw (sort of matching where it’s come from) it makes up spectacularly for its battle prowess. Indeed, the radiation wave claw is amazingly cool, especially used against any other Knightmare Frame. The whole thing and the pilot boiling is a cool sight to see. And also, the Guran’s cockpit is excellent as well as I said earlier. XD

Fightwise, it’s actually been pretty much was Suzaku in the Lancelot decimating any other Knightmare Frame (which only helped to enforce for me that Suzaku was kinda a broken character) but since the Guren stepped into the game, it’s been better balanced and well, Guran vs. Lancelot, even though it was pretty short when it had happened so far, was spectacular. I’m hoping they’ll have another clash or some more Knightmare Frames of that level are introduced.

And so there ends my rant really… glad you were able to survive through all of it. I really have been laxed with anime since I started college it seems and this was one of the anime I suffered without because of it, it seems. Well, here are some resources I’ve garnered from here and there on Code Geass as well (most of which thanks to Lil Donkey and others from the Code Geass FC on NF Forums I haunt nowadays).

R.E.B.E.L.L.I.O.N.
The Code Gease Fan Site

Photobucket Gallery
Lots of Pics… managed by Lil Donkey and Youko

Code Geass Community Forums

Hillarious… DM at it again… (check the source  )

Also, on the side note as well, what about those many inserts of Pizza Hut, eh? A lot of people have been asking whether Pizza Hut are sponsers of Code Geass or not with the multiple amount of times CC and others have ordered some Pizza, CC earning enough points to get the stuffed doll as well (which my sister so wants, and secretly so do I actually…). Well, it is true… Pizza Hut supports the rebellion it seems…. Although with a lot of solely Lelouch, Suzaku or the two of them together stuff, I wonder which audience they are aiming at?

And with all that out of the way, we can come to the more important thing; waiting for the next sub to come out… My sister has been bugging me for it. I don’t know who wants the next episode more anymore D: What I’m sure of is we’re both looking forward to more CC (and some more Kallen too but that’s an after thought for us somewhat). XD

Hoping for a swift release soon… because episode 17.5 raw just came out a while ago :S