Japan Man

On Saturday, April 26 of 2008 at 1:30 AM, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network premiered the anime series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, a new edition to their night time line up. I honestly don’t know how well it did or if there was any hype about Code Geass before it dropped on the network, but I know one thing… I loved it. That first episode I saw on that night propelled me into a Code Geass two day marathon ( I know i’m hella late to this one, thanks all mighty Internets!!!) that left me thrilled, entertained and yearning for more. That being said, lets talk about this anime series that’s got your old boy darkmane in a tizzy.

Written and directed by Ichiro Okouchi and Goro Taniguchi respectively, with the art styling of the  CLAMP ladies (not surprised that they’re involved with this one), comes the story of Lelouch Vi Britannia under the alias of Lelouch Lamperouge who exists in an alternate reality of our own where the mighty Britannia super power has taken over most of the world, including Japan. Unfortunately, like all the previous nations Britannia conquered, Japan is given an area designation number ( Area 11) and Japanese people are robbed of their freedom and rights.

About seven years after Japan was conquered a fated incident occurs which brings Lelouch into contact with his old childhood friend Suzaku Kururugi and the mysterious C.C, who would give him the ability to command others by bending them to his will called Geass. With this power he attempts two things: to destroy the nation of Britannia so he can build a new world for his disabled sister and exact vengance on its’ royal family for the murder of his mother.

Code Geass’s story is adult and by adult I mean brutally honest. People die and questions of morality come into play as Lelouch and his friend Suzaku pave their own paths for the future of Japan and the rest of the world. The “Nightmare Frames” (the stories name for its big Gundam like machines) are beautifully designed and much cooler than the ones you would find in anime’s like um, I don’t know, lame ass Eureka  Seven. I felt none of the characters in the story were irrelevent.  All of them were basically memorable and had good roles to play like Shirley a love interest for Lelouch or the nerdy, filthy racist Nina who’s utterly terrified of 11’s (what the Japanese are now called)

In the end, Code Geass is well written with all of the right elements needed to make a great story excellent. This one will play with your emotions and tug at your heart strings. To be honest, there was a point in the story which almost brought me to tears. That is no easy feat, let me tell you. I doubt I need to comment on CLAMP’s art style because it is already famous. There’s a manga for Code Geass as well, but from what I’ve read of it so far on onemanga.com it’s not as good as the anime but down the line it may flesh out some aspects of the story the anime leaves out. If for some reason you haven’t seen this one yet, I suggest you get on it now especially since the second season started to drop in Japan this month. Trust me, it won’t be a waste of your time like Naruto, hehe.