Code Geass
コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ
Action
Mecha
Sci-Fi
Political Drama
Details & Synopsis
Lelouch vi Britannia is seventeenth in line to the throne of the Holy Britannian Empire, exiled to Japan, now called Area 11, a conquered territory with no rights and no name, following his mother's assassination and his sister's crippling. He attends school, plays chess for money, and waits.
Then a mysterious girl named C.C. gives him the Geass: the absolute power to command anyone to do anything, once, through direct eye contact. He puts on a mask. He calls himself Zero. He tells himself he is doing it to destroy Britannia.
He might even be right.
Produced by Sunrise and directed by Goro Taniguchi, who made s-CRY-ed five years earlier and clearly spent the intervening time thinking about political violence and what it costs, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion aired on MBS from 2006 to 2008. Fifty episodes across two seasons built around a chess match played in real time between a revolutionary who cannot stop lying and a childhood friend who joined the empire to reform it. The show understands that both positions are correct and neither of them will survive being correct.
The plot moves. This is the understatement of the decade. Code Geass was downloaded faster than most fansub groups could release it because no one watching it was willing to wait a week between episodes. The cliffhangers are not cheap, they are the load-bearing structure of a narrative that never stops accelerating. The Knightmare Frame battles are spectacular. The political maneuvering is genuinely intricate. The character work earns what it asks of you.
The ending of R2 is one of the most argued finales in anime history. It is also the correct ending. This is not up for debate.
Fifty episodes. Clear your schedule.
Then a mysterious girl named C.C. gives him the Geass: the absolute power to command anyone to do anything, once, through direct eye contact. He puts on a mask. He calls himself Zero. He tells himself he is doing it to destroy Britannia.
He might even be right.
Produced by Sunrise and directed by Goro Taniguchi, who made s-CRY-ed five years earlier and clearly spent the intervening time thinking about political violence and what it costs, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion aired on MBS from 2006 to 2008. Fifty episodes across two seasons built around a chess match played in real time between a revolutionary who cannot stop lying and a childhood friend who joined the empire to reform it. The show understands that both positions are correct and neither of them will survive being correct.
The plot moves. This is the understatement of the decade. Code Geass was downloaded faster than most fansub groups could release it because no one watching it was willing to wait a week between episodes. The cliffhangers are not cheap, they are the load-bearing structure of a narrative that never stops accelerating. The Knightmare Frame battles are spectacular. The political maneuvering is genuinely intricate. The character work earns what it asks of you.
The ending of R2 is one of the most argued finales in anime history. It is also the correct ending. This is not up for debate.
Fifty episodes. Clear your schedule.
Alt Title
コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ
Studio
Sunrise
Network
MBS / TBS
Aired
2006 - 2008
Episodes
50
Genre
Action, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Political Drama
Status
Completed
Guides and reference pages for this series. More coming.
- Fansub & Scanlation History
- Ashford Academy & the Civilian Cost
- C's World & the Ragnarok Connection
- Euphemia & the Special Zone
- F.L.E.I.A., Damocles & the Final War
- Factions & Geopolitics
- Geass Mechanics & Order
- Knightmare Frames & Tech
- Lelouch & Suzaku
- R2: Memory, Return & Betrayal
- Zero & the Black Knights
- Zero Requiem
