Code Geass R2 - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[ashlay]

Originally Posted by Charred Knight

That was one arc, and their where several Britannians that turned good

Cornelia, Guilford, Villeta, Jeremiah, Anya, Gino

In the ending sure, but during the story proper only Jeremiah became and protagonist. Face it, people died, a number of protagonists too. Despite what some people may want to imply, this show wasn't like Mai Hime by a long shot. >_>

[Charred Knight]

Originally Posted by ashlay

In the ending sure, but during the story proper only Jeremiah became and protagonist. Face it, people died, a number of protagonists too. Despite what some people may want to imply, this show wasn't like Mai Hime by a long shot. >_>

That's not exactly that hard not to be Mai Hime, its got one of the worst endings I have ever seen. it was more like Gundam Seed, and Seed Destiny where they kept ruining sad moments for no reason.

A death count out of an 80's Tomino series would have been more appropiate. Instead we only got three deaths that where well done in the entire series.

[Kang Seung Jae]

9/10.


Given the various problems of timing and other things, this series turned out better than I expected.


If Sunrise releases backup info in the DVDs, I'll raise it up to 10.

[Strong Logic Speaker]

8/10...................could been better if it was not a messed up plot.

[TOP]

At the beginning of the season, I was in love with this anime. The animation quality was very precise and the storyline went in an interesting direction.

However, the animation quality started to drop during a few episodes and did not pick back up until around the last two or three episodes.

Also, the story seemed very rushed near the ending. Not only that, not all answers to all questions were given (assuming that R2 is the final season.)

Overall, I'd still give this a 9/10, mainly because this was the only anime that actually kept my interest throughout the whole time and made me anticipate the next episode.

[Discerptor]

Originally Posted by Charred Knight

That's not exactly that hard not to be Mai Hime, its got one of the worst endings I have ever seen. it was more like Gundam Seed, and Seed Destiny where they kept ruining sad moments for no reason.

A death count out of an 80's Tomino series would have been more appropiate. Instead we only got three deaths that where well done in the entire series.

Euphy's death was in S1, and Shirley's death actually made me laugh. Therefore, it's more like one well done death in all of R2, and that belonged to the token yaoi-bait character whose existence turned out to be inconsequential anyway. It's quite a shame that the number could have been higher if Nunnally and the other characters that were in Tokyo settlement at the time of the Second Decisive Battle hadn't been Sunrisen from the dead. It made FLEIJA completely lose all value as a threatening tool too, since statistically it only killed 25% of the people it supposedly hit, and that was with its intro episode boost to awesome.

[Kusaja]

I thought Shirley's death, or rather that episode in general, was fine so I can't honestly complain there, aside from Jeremiah's all too quick turn which would have worked better as a two-parter.

Setting aside the issue of actual in-episode evidence which hinted at Sayoko's and Nunnally's not dying, which is more than what can be said for others...the last arc would have to be modified by a fair amount in order to accommodate Nunnally's early death. Schneizel would lose his bait, though that's relatively minor, and the final act of Zero Requiem would be less emotional, without that particular confrontation and its consequences, which would be a bigger deal.

A workable alternative could have been found somehow, admittedly, and at the time I did say Nunnally should have stayed dead for the purposes of better storytelling, but the fact is that wasn't what the staff had in mind even back when Turn 18 aired. Rather, I'd have kept Guilford and/or Cornelia dead or avoided seemingly killing them off in the first place, to minimize the amount of changes.

[Rydrallen]

Story:
a) Content: 9.0/10
b) Pace: 9.0/10
c) Dialogue: 9.5/10

Animation:
a) Character Expressions: 9.5/10
b) Styles: 10/10
c) Battle Scenes: 10/10

Presentation:
a) Quality: 9.5/10
b) Camera: 9.5/10
c) Music: 10/10

Overall: 9.5/10
Comments: I think CG raised the standard of anime in general.

[Halibel-sama]

Trainwreck.

Other than Rolo's death scene, which was very beautiful and emotional, and the OP's and most of the fight choreography, R2 was a joke from the very first episode.

It's like Gundam SEED Destiny, but with more animation. Actually, GSD is better, excluding the amount of animation part.

1/10 for being such a huge disappointment.

Code Geass Season 1 was brilliant, and should have been the end of the series.

[Droplet]

Originally Posted by Halibel-sama

Trainwreck.

Other than Rolo's death scene, which was very beautiful and emotional, and the OP's and most of the fight choreography, R2 was a joke from the very first episode.

It's like Gundam SEED Destiny, but with more animation. Actually, GSD is better, excluding the amount of animation part.

1/10 for being such a huge disappointment.

Code Geass Season 1 was brilliant, and should have been the end of the series.

OK. Sunrise thanks you for watching.

[Liddo-kun]

Animation and background music are high quality, while the story may feel a bit rushed I still enjoyed the story of Code geass better than any Gundam series I've ever watched.

Giving Code Geass a high 9/10, it would have been 10 if they revealed C.C's real name. >_<

[ZeroSama]

Animation: Reasonably good overall with quality animation when it mattered. 8/10

VA: Top quality all around the board barring Gino. 10/10

Music: Barring the Ali project crap it was top quality music that was used effectively and definitely ehanced the key scens. 9/10

Characters: Definitely room for trimming. Being honest they could've just got rid of Gino, Dorethea, Monica, Nonette, Tamaki and the bridge bunnies without having that much of an impact on the main story. Apart from those characters all the key characters and to be more precise Lelouch and Kallen had some wonderful devolopment that really enhanced their characters. I'm sure C.C. and Suzaku has alot as well but since i don't really care about either of them that much its a moot point. Oh and Jermiah becoming spectacularly badass helped immensely. 8/10(but it becomes 10/10 for Lelouch, Kallen and Jermiah)

Plot: Exceptionally entertaining up to EP 20. As long as you were paying attention then nothing bar a few scenes should've came as to much of a surprise. Some near "jump the shark" moments notably the million Zeroes EP and some stupid Ashford EP's that barring the odd key scene could've been ommitted. Now onto the last 5 EP's. On the whole they weren't bad by any means just horribly average and forced. The last arc could've been redeemed if they stopped bringing people back from the dead, killed alot of key characters off(namely Ougi, Villeta, Gino, Xing Ke, Schenziel, Llyod and Cecile) or just extended the first half of EP 25 and finished the series with Lelouch taking over the world(okay so sue me i'm a Lelouch fanboy, i didn't want him to get a "bad" end). 9/10 for first 20 Eps. 5.5/10 for the last 5 Eps.

Overall: 9/10.

Since i've never given an anime series 10/10(and never will since nothing is perfect) this is a welcome edition to my favourites list that can feel proud in the company of titles such as Vision of Escaflowne, MSG, KNGE, Cowboy Bebop, Higurashi and a few others.

[Levy]

Originally Posted by ZeroSama

and finished the series with Lelouch taking over the world

Feel free to fanboy as much as you want, but are you seriously thinking that this would be a decent and logicall conclusion to everything that took place from the first episode of s1 till r2 ep.20..?

Nevermind me if you are just trying to be ironic, I guessed that this topic was for critical review only ^^;

[Train Samurai]

I like Code Geass. It was one of the most entertaining series I have ever seen for the past two years. It wasn't akin to the entertainment obtained reading a well-written and critically acclaimed novel, however. Most of it was a rush of adrenaline, or having finished watching a movie like Face/Off. When one would look back at it, one could not be able to deny its many flaws; however, one would also not be able to deny the fun that it produced. Geass is an entertaining show, there is no doubt about that.

However, it's not a very intuitive, or an intellectual show. The show itself appealed primarily to my emotions and not to my thinking. If I even tried thinking about the series intently, I immediately saw some inconsistencies with the plot (the FLEIA itself, for example), and some other things that were absurd, to say a word (like Jupiter, or the world of C). Nevertheless, it was a most entertaining show, and despite its pathos I was able to root for the relationship between CC and Lelouch (I guess the length of CC's suffering got to me).

Despite the lack of a proper conclusion, I was satisfied with the series as it entertained me. In my own criteria I would rank the series a 10/10. However, looking at its plot, its characters, its coherence, and ultimately, its believability I cannot but give the series any more than a 5.

There's my take, folks. This is Train Samurai; good day to all.

[Zenemis]

Damn fine, the ride was great.

Not the most intelligent, complex, nor realistic show, but I get plenty of realism in... real life. I believe it was a "rule of cool" show, and did a great job of doing so.

Citizen Kane had no mecha, 1/10, wouldn't watch again.

[posse02]

I gave it a 9/10

It felt rushed near the end of the second season (R2)
But the first season was just awesome

The second season felt like that the directors just wanted to surprise the watchers, because a lot of the stuff was like total "WTF? Where did that come from?"

[Droplet]

Originally Posted by Zenemis

Damn fine, the ride was great.

Not the most intelligent, complex, nor realistic show, but I get plenty of realism in... real life. I believe it was a "rule of cool" show, and did a great job of doing so.

Citizen Kane had no mecha, 1/10, wouldn't watch again.

lol at given Citizen Kane a 1 out of 10, but I'm glad you were thoroughly entertained by CG R2.

[darthfury78]

Originally Posted by killbethy

When I went back and watched season one after watching R2, I had a realization that R2 was less of a sequel to the original Code Geass and more like a story based off of what they already created. Somewhere during the gap, the pacing and mind games that made Code Geass such a great series were lost. R2 was less about the characters and more about giving the fans what they want (a Lelouch that is not concretely dead or alive, a major battle with no major character deaths, a battle where no one comes out the winner, kissing scenes with all love interests but no victor)... basically, R2 gave fans everything they wanted and took away any plot elements that would anger fans of x, y or z. It was fanfare done in the best possible way, and enjoyable while watching (but significantly less enjoyable looking back and thinking about it.

We wound up with an ending that was like candy for babies to not get fans of any character angry. It's insulting that they couldn't write a concrete ending for the series without fearing they would anger someone. Most of the plot was completely left out if it didn't concern Lelouch (what is Geass? what is that Jupiter planet? who/what are the gods? what does Geass have to do with the beginning of the world?). The story was incredibly rushed... there was more time devoted to Shirley's death (3 episodes) as the Zero Requiem (which might explain why it was such a silly, half-thought out plan). The Zero Requiem was so hyped up that they made it impossible for themselves to create a Zero Requiem that lived up to what everyone had decided in their minds and opted for the worst possible route... making it obvious. But too many strings were left untied.... Lelouch, atleast a character painted with his intelligence, would no the peace he created is fragile at best; Kanon is still wandering around somewhere and knows the truth about everything, including what Schneizel's Geass is and could derail the whole Zero Requiem by sewing a cape and buying a mask; no political ending was given, just a shot of Ohgi shaking hands with Nunnally... is there even a Britannia anymore?... I could go on and on.

So 8/10, because the art direction, music, and all of those goodies. Each episode was like a jewel that kept you hanging on till the next week... but somehow at the end, you didn't wind up with a treasure. Just another slightly above average anime. Maybe it would have been impossible to end Code Geass in a way that gave justice to the entire series and was as good as watching the whole show. But this ending certainly wasn't it.... it seemed like Tanaguchi gave up on Code Geass a long time ago.

It seems that Tanaguchi wants us to forget that R2 ever happened because it was the "Not As Planned" version that should be considered as non-canon. He killed off Lelouch because he wanted to make sure that the series didn't continue from where R2 left off. When he had to make changes to his "Planned" season for R2 by removing a lot of details so that the younger viewers could be reintroduced to the storyline, it left the series as rushed and disjointed, in contrast to R1.

I get the impression that Tanaguchi wants to do a Director's Cut of R2 to the format that he wanted it to be. So he might get his chance at doing another Code Geass project that takes place after Turn 25 of R1. So we might see another Mai Hime set in an alternate universe. Or should we say the REAL Code Geass of R1 returning someday. One of the scenes that was suppose to happen was a possible relationship between Milly x Lelouch. There is no way that the staff could buildup Milly's interest for Lelouch, only to drop it as if it never happened unless it was dropped as part of the changes that was made to reintroduce the series.

To me, what we saw in the last 13 episodes was seasons 3 and 4 down the drain. I certainly hope that Tanaguchi get to do Code Geass again. But I feel that anything that he does from this point will take place right after season one because it appears that he HATES R2 with a passion.

[Droplet]

@darthfury

Yeah. Can't blame Taniguchi. It's like being able to finish a poem that's so passionate that you consider it your masterpiece. Then comes along a pseudopoet who takes three fourths of your poem then butchers the last part.

Then publishes it.

[KrimzonStriker]

Uh, look, I'm telling you all right now, I saw the original scenarios that Taniguichi was playing around with, they didn't look much better, overall I'd say the direction of R2 seemed the stronger one from my own comparisons. BTW, the ending from the directors own words is up to our imagination, so in my imagination he did not kill Lelouch, so its all good I think