Thursday, March 5, 2009

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion - R1 and R2

Zero

For the last 2 years, I was a little reluctant to watch Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion because it's a mecha anime and I am not a fan of mecha.I am very happy that I finally watch it. It's simply Great!I love the plot twists, character development and the concept of the Geass. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is definitely very addictive and intriguing to watch. If you intend to watch it, do set aside more time as you may find it difficult to stop watching!PlotR1

Japan has been invaded and conquered by the Britannian Empire. Japan is now known as Area 11 and its citizens are known as Elevens. The Britannian Empire takes away Japan’s autonomous power and imposes its rule through the use of Knightmares.One day, a Britannian youth, Lelouch, accidentally gets involved with terrorists ('Elevens') , who've stolen a military secret. He is caught by a member of the Britannian task force, Suzaku, who is also Lelouch's childhood friend. The other members of the squad arrive and Suzaku is shot for defending Lelouch. However, he survives the shot and is secretly made the pilot of Britannia's brand new prototype Knightmare, Lancelot.The military secret, which is in fact a young girl called C.C., gives Lelouch the power of Geass, which gives him absolute power to give orders to anyone he has direct eye contact with. With the help of Geass and his own intelligence, Lelouch becomes the masked Zero and he leads the 'Black Rebellion' to destroy the Britannian Empire, which has taken away his mother away from him and his younger sister, Nunnally. His goal is to destroy the Britannian Empire so as to create a world in which his younger sister can live in peace.R2

A year has passed since the failure of the 'Black Rebellion' and the supposed execution of Zero by the Britannian Empire. Britannia has assigned Area 11 a 'correctional education' status, where Elevens are made an example of, by brute force, to prevent any future uprisings and suppress rebellious thoughts.Lelouch has returned to Ashford Academy as a normal student, with no apparent memories of his rebellious past as Zero. One day, after skipping remedial gym class, he sets off with his younger brother, Rolo to gamble on his chess play at Babel Tower. Led by C.C., the Order of the Black Knights launches an attack on Babel Tower to retrieve Lelouch. C.C. reawakens his memories, and Lelouch resumes his identity as Zero, while Suzaku declares to the Emperor that he will personally kill Zero. This time round, Lelouch sets out to finish what he started.Art/AnimationGreat job by CLAMP! The art is everything you expect from CLAMP. It's beautiful done. Lelouch is definitely one of the best drawn characters. I especially like how they portray the facial expressions of the different characters. It's very realistic.Animation wise, nothing to complain too. The quality is high and I especially like how they animate the Knightmare battles.CharactersThe characters are the ones who make Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion great! Lelouch reminds me a lot of Light from Death Note. Both are extremely intelligent, charasmatic and hard to comprehend. However, on a deeper level, I think Lelouch is a much more complex character than Light. Suzaku is also more than what he seems to be. Initially, he appears as the righteous Hero but, similar to Lelouch, his personality is much darker and much more complex than that.The side characters are quite generic. We have Princes, Princesses, students, terrorists, a weird Engineer and etc. As a whole, they make Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion a delight to watch. The only character I dislike is Nina. She's such a racist and the way she keeps doubting Suzaku is plain irritating!I like the love/hate relationships between Lelouch and the different characters. I must say it's very realistically done. I especially like the friend/enemy relationship which Lelouch and Suzaku share.Lelouch