October 31, 2008 

Code Geass – I command you to watch this… sometime

While Code Geass is only just being released in the US now, the Japanese and hundreds of thousands of fansub watchers like me have already seen the sequel Code Geass R2. Japan loves Geass, the R2 opening song by Orange Range was advertised EVERYWHERE when I was on holiday in Japan back in March (deservedly so too – an excellent song).

Even Tenchi and Shinji from NGE could take Le Louch in a fair fight. CC is Immortal though which proves useful

Even Tenchi and Shinji from NGE could take Le Louch in a fair fight. CC is Immortal though which obviously proves useful

The idea is actually pretty good, the “bad guys” are the awesomely named Holy Empire of Brittania (which actually doesn’t include Great Britain – go figure?). Anyway after taking over Japan and renaming it Area 11, and it’s people elevens, things don’t go to plan for the empire as anime’s most emo lead character has plans to overthrow them.Even Tenchi and Shinji from NGE could take Le Louch in a fair fight. CC is Immortal though which obviously proves useful

Luckily for him a) He is a genius and beats chess masters for fun and b) he meets a strange girl CC, who gives him the power of Geass. If he looks into the eye of someone, he can then give them an order to be carried out with absolute obedience. After ordering a soldier to give up his gundam-sized robot called a knightmare, he helps out the rebels and quickly becomes their leader and then it progresses quite entertainingly as he tries to lead a double life as normal school nerd and leader of the resistance. The robot designs are very good,with wheels on their feet so they can speed across town or zig zag through enemies in an instant. The battles while often tactical, never fail to have plenty of action.

As far as mech designs go, these are pretty sweet

As far as mech designs go, these are pretty sweet and the fights are top class

Code Geass has lifted much from various Gundams but the Geass helps to keep you from thinking what a rip. For season 1 anyway…

Season 2 starts off disasterously, ignoring what happened previously and only slowly going back to the ending in flashbacks while for the first 5-6 episodes, the lead character’s actions are written so badly that I ended up cheering on the evil empire. It does crank up the gears after that returning to form but then goes into a series of turns and allegience changes that make Gundam Wing’s coup d’etats look straight forward. It is redeemed by the last episode which is an excellent but entirely expected ending although there is a chance if you haven’t seen Gundam or Death Note you wouldn’t expect it.

I try to buy all the anime I download, but having seen it once, I honestly can’t prioritize this over completing the many other series I am still trying to complete. In many ways I wish I hadn’t downloaded it, especially the first season which is deserving of a purchase but we’ll see. If they bring it out in a reasonably priced thin pack I’d pick it up. As it stands I definitely recommend it, just watch Gurren Lagann, Macross Frontier and Gundam Seed,Destiny and 00 first.

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  • nikobe

    Funny I was looking at that and was going to ask you if it was any good. Were currently watching Macross 7 (Sarah’s joined me and likes it now as well) but will start downloading one now :)

  • nikobe

    Oh I know its a bit crazy and over the top but really enjoyed episode 1 of Soul Eater, tempted to watch that (and its in HD).

  • http://www.the-cwf.com sideswipe

    Soul Eater is one of the reasons I’m building a new PC. I’m halfway through it but my pc can’t play the intro and struggles through action scenes. Once I can watch it as it’s supposed to be seen I’ll post a review

  • Takatori

    Nice review.

    My cousin told me about Code Geass a few weeks back and definitely got me interested in it. I must say I get very disappointed in Anime series which don’t come off as well on their 2nd series as they did on their 1st.

    You mentioned you try to buy all your anime that you download, but you haven’t found this anywhere.. where do you normally buy it from? The reason I ask is because I usually buy all mine from ebay, and I quickly looked for Code Geass on there and found it easily, both series, Japanese Language, Eng Subs, all episodes, roughly £18 > £25 for both depending on which sellers you pick. Thought I’d let you know at least.

    Will definitely be putting this on my list though. Currently watching through Tokko so will probably switch to Code Geass afterward. Thanks for the good review.

  • sideswipe

    Thanks for commenting. I only buy official releases now, those ebay sets are illegal copies. I know fansubs are illegal too but at least I can try to justify to myself I’m not giving money to pirates when the money could go towards paying for official DVDs that then give money back to the creators of the anime which in turn keeps the anime industry alive and well. A healthy anime industry is more likely to make new and riskier anime than one in decline which just re-hashes things. An example of this is all the shops in the UK stocking re-issues of old stuff instead of new releases and the milking fans dry when it comes to DBZ and Neon Genesis re-issues and lame spin-off series and re-make movies in NGE’s case.

    For a quick guide on spotting fakes check out the following link
    http://www.animecornerstore.com/faq.html#1-5

  • Takatori

    Ah don’t get me wrong. I was just listing it as an example for a purchase if you couldn’t get it anywhere else.

    Many of my Anime sets bought from ebay are legit. In fact, I think the only set which is a pirated copy is Wolf’s Rain, of which I don’t have that particular copy anymore because I knew it was pirated and frankly the quality of the box set was utterly poor and pathetic, so I looked around and purchased a legit copy, which fully stood out amongst the other copy. Personally, the art of the box set and quality of the inside is what sets it apart from others, and also which makes me purchase them.

    The only things, that I have a few of, which I’ve bought from ebay which I can tell are pirated copies are mostly films. For example Yamato, Death Trance, Kairo, Grudge, to name a few. The cases are crappy, and I don’t know what it is, but there is always an odd high perfumed smell within the case, which is a notable pirated indication.

    Thanks for the guide, several of those legit company names I know of, so at least I know I am buying legit stuff. And although I have heard of the pirated company names, I don’t believe I’ve bought anything from those companies, unless that was where I bought Wolf’s Rain from ;)