[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by roriconfan

So, I am to believe that killing yourself because of a Geass command is less of a reason to resist than staying alive? Yeah, right...
Here is a review I wrote some time ago about the series.

Spoiler for spoilers about the series follow:

PROLOGUE
This review covers both seasons of the anime, as I see no reason to write two reviews about the same story. Since this anime ranks top 1 at the moment, I took the time to write a review about it with a lot of meta-thinking in it. Do mind that I simply mention what everyone else already wrote so far, plus a few personal thoughts of myself.



ANIMATION SECTION: 9 [-I see Pizza Hut. -When? -All the time!]

Well, what can I say. The mecha are awesome, the battles are spectacular, and the environments are crisp and detailed. The CLAMP character designs do look strange if you are not accustomed to their long, thin limbs style; but that is not a reason to dislike it. In fact, it makes the series to stand out from the lot (but not from other CLAMP works of course). Anyway, the characters, the uniforms and the mecha do look imposing, cool, sexy and eye catchy in general, something that a seasoned viewer like me hardly finds positive. I have seen hundreds of mecha series and thousands of anime casts and these folks and their gismos easily become likable, thanks to the vividness of their body language and the perkiness of their personality.

The changes in the second season are mostly aesthetic, as everyone got himself a new set of cloths, mecha upgrades, and the battles got aerial and more grand-scaled. Oh yes, and fan service increased 300%…

I almost disliked all that subtle erotism, just for the sake of pleasing the fans. The characters were already imposing or cute looking and this element gave a shallow carnal-fan side to them that damaged the seriousness of their presence. Oh, sure, the average otaku’s opinion states that boobs and underwear raise enjoyment but remember that this was supposed to be a serious story. Adding fan service ruined that said seriousness. Not to mention the gray propaganda. Pizza Hut anyone? I understand that sponsors want to advertise themselves through anime but this was ridiculous. I now dislike instead of liking Pizza Hut for using such blunt methods of advertisement.

The above two reasons were not serious enough to deduct points (not in this section at least). The animation section is not a 10, just because there are some repeated scenes and several static cells that simply yell “This ain’t Miyazaki level, pal”.



SOUND SECTION: 6 [Lelouch Vi Britannia commands you. Be my slaves!]

I won’t stick much here. Everything was nice to listen to but was not awesome in any way. Lelouch sounds imposing but turns really lame when increasing the decibels of that artificially deep tone voice of his. Something similar happens to many others, whose pinch in voice is not always acoustically good; especially in moments of tension. Music themes and sound effects were good but not memorable for any given reason. I hardly remember the opening and ending themes; something that wouldn’t happen if they were really good. In many occasions the background music was just simple ambient tones that sounded like cell phone ring tones. It is a rather large contrast to the beautiful animation.



STORY SECTION [Weren’t you dead? … Never mind…]

General Scenario & Side Stories 4/4: No arguments that the general story is as epic as epic can get. It combines all the main themes in anime, such as revenge, world domination, mecha showdowns, war drama, trust and betrayal of siblings and friends, deception, intrigue, school romances, comedy and even metaphysical existencialism issues at times. Every character plays a part in the story with his personal troubles. Even the whole alternate history setting was great in all. I have nothing to say other that “bravo” for the general story. It was not original in any way but I loved the variety it had.

Pace of Plot 0/2: But the pace of the story… Well… Let’s just say it was less than awful. You see, when you want to add a thousand ideas and a dozen different genres in the same package, then you have a very complicating story that needs a lot of planning in order to unfold smoothly. The scriptwriters were half-excused in the first season, as things were presented for the first time and any holes in the story could easily be dubbed “mystery” and “to be resolved in the sequel”. Then the sequel came… and the scriptwriters didn’t plan anything! Seriously, they had a huge pile of unfinished side-stories that picked at random for each episode.

Believability/Reasoning/Realism 0/2: The flow of the story was impossible to follow logically. The result was a very, very confusing series that lacked not only realism but also defied reason in general. None of the major events unfolded smoothly and the secondary events simply went by in a flash. More specifically, several important events get forgotten by the characters for several episodes, while many less-important that are escalating for many episodes are resolved in a few seconds and are never mentioned again. Also, the characters seem to move around the world too easily, as if they can teleport anywhere they want.

Some stated that the series was in fact very intelligent as it included chess matches and terrain strategies that made confrontations and battles to appear intellectual. Well, it was just an illusion. Chess matches were not unfolding before our eyes; we were only allowed a few glimpses of them. The setting of the pieces could be done in any way the scriptwriters wanted. As for the terrain battles, they were good at first, but quickly changed to aerial, where a mecha with the latest power up could destroy an entire army alone. Strategy on the part of the pilot and his comrades ceased to be important, as a super beam was panacea against any kind of adversary. Meaning, the battles became a lot more epic as the story progressed; but their realism dropped in the same time and turned the series to an average mecha show with pointless leveling up and fancy but also superficial explosions.

Others said that Lelouch’s plans were masterminded into perfection. Which of course, is just another illusion. Lelouch simply brainwashed people into doing his bidding for the most part. There are some instances were he actually does something without using his special Geass ex Machina trick, but in all his success is based on brainwashing and not on real strategies or personal charisma. And if you think otherwise, it is only because he Geassed you to believe so.

Several characters meet in the most impossible ways and force upon the viewer situations that are simply too dumb to accept. Meetings like Euphie dropping out of the sky and landing on Suzaku, whom she falls in love immediately. Convenient or what? Even death makes no sense in the series, as several characters are presented dead, only to appear alive out of the blue, several episodes later.

There are several other details that further ruin any credibility to the story. Subtle things that most wouldn’t notice, such as:
-why is Suzaku allowed to be part of so many important Britannia plans if he is seen as a inferior Eleven by all the Britannian people?
-why doesn’t anyone recognize Lelouch while dressed as Zero even if he sounds the same?
-why wasn’t a single Knight of the Round sent to destroy the rebellion in the first season, while the rebels still had no major weaponry and yet posed a big threat for Britannia?
-why was Lelouch used in order to kill C.C. in the second season and yet none of the soldiers in the ambush were aware of her immortality, despite being sent by a plan thought by the emperor himself, who clearly knew of this?

The funny thing is, that the majority of the fans didn’t care about all that and just loved the whole insanity of the deal. The “whatever” pace of the story was dubbed “unpredictability” and went along with it. Because once again, the average otaku’s opinion states that the majority of people don’t watch a story so to be troubled with social-political issues or think deep and get philosophical. They watch a series so that they will be entertained. And the producers did exactly that. They focused on what would entertain their audience and not on remaining true to the initial premise of the story. So, the general story may be great but the presentation of it sucked big time. And since the fans didn’t care much, the producers kept doing the same.

Conclusion 0/2: The first season, ended with a cliffhanger (a rushed and lame one, if you ask me), so this part would be a zero. The second season does a much better job at presenting a solid and concrete ending. It appears epic, it appears sad, and it appears to make the fans bow in respect and forget all the nonsense in the story so far, just because of it. And I say, “appears” because it is NOT solid or concrete. Really, if you read through the lines you will realize it was just another cliffhanger. Planning for a third season is already underway, ruining any satisfaction you may have had from an apparent finale. Meaning, the scriptwriters took us for suckers and keep milking the cow.

The comparisons to Death Note keep popping up and not without a reason. Both series have a lead with similar goals and demeanor. Yet, as I stated in my Death Note review, this series has a lot more emotion and jiggly jokes, thus becoming far more eye catchy and yet far less serious to the cynical and less complex world of the notebook that can kill you by writing your name in it.

TOTAL FOR STORY: 4/10



CHARACTER SECTION [-I will defeat evil in the name of justice! -STFU Suzaku!]

Presence 2/2: Yeah, I loved the way they acted big and mighty and moved around, and made jokes and goofs and ended in the most sexually awkward situations. It doesn’t take much to love every one of them by their looks alone. They are all either cute or cool or hateful in a positive way.

Personality & Backdrop 4/4: Initially, all of the characters have interesting personalities. Lelouch’s goal to avenge his father and build a better world feels a lot better than the average shonen or mecha series out there, where the lead simply wants to become the best in the world or save his friends by some archevil. All the characters are in fact not that easily divided into good and bad. They are all selfish, make mistakes, have fun and care only for the sake of their own side, as real people do. In fact, the most ridiculous characters are those who don’t follow this recipe and perceive everything as simple black or white. Suzaku is one, for being a stuck up Paladin who thinks that he can save his people by betraying them. Or Euphy for thinking that there can be world peace without sacrifices. Or that one-dimensional Knight of the Round vampire-like idiot, who was simply there to be hated and killed for acting like a jerk. Anyway, besides these exceptions, the cast numbers around a hundred people with their own quirks and demeanors and can easily become likable.

Development & Catharsis 0/4: The problem comes when all said characters need to be developed. It does not occur in a believable way. The erratic pace of the story inevitably turned the characters into idiots, in order to excuse the fact that several important events were totally forgotten for a dozen episodes. Plus, it gave room for a lot of romantic school comedy to crawl through and make a jackass out of their higher goals, ludicrously transforming even the coolest characters into a typical harem cast.

A character would conveniently do Lelouch’s bidding and then wouldn’t even remember doing it. Or would lose his memory entirely in order to be deemed harmless, only to regain it later and double-cross him in the least expected moment. Or appear as a simple maid in season one and as an elite ninja in the sequel. This is NOT character development. This is playing with Barbie dolls and changing their cloths or unlocking new costumes in some beat-em-up game and thinking the characters changed.

TOTAL FOR CHARACTERS: 6/10



VALUE SECTION [Fan service moves the otaku world.]

Historical Value 3/3: It’s no.1 in anidb, so it is obviously omnipotent.
Rewatchability 1/3: Personally, I will scroll through most of it, as I said, it has a lot of nonsense in it.
Memorability 4/4: Sure! The best of what we have already seen is present. Even the faults in it make it more memorable.

TOTAL FOR VALUE: 8/10



ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7 [-Take me Lelouch! Take me, you big stud! -I can’t in the main series. Wait a little for the doujin to come along…]

It is full of insulting-to-your-intelligence fan service and idiocy. Yet it was pleasing for the most part. The story could be presented a lot better and the characters could be a lot less harem-like. It will sure please the masses but then there is the minority who will bitch at it. Code Geass is practically fan pleasing with some serious overtones and not a serious anime with fan pleasing overtones. It has several serious themes in it but are all ridiculed by fan service and erratic pace. So, all its messages are easily forgotten in the name of superficial enjoyment in the form of half-naked chicks piloting super-slick robots and blowing everything apart. If the erotic innuendos were lower and the direction was better planned out, the series would be much more believable and creditable. Maybe less famous and enjoyable, since the masses seem to be fond of stupidity and nude.



VERDICT
They threw everything but the sink in the series and made a lot of mess in the house. But what a funny mess they made!

I'm kind of curious, do you ever plan to contribute to discussion on these shows or do you simply plan to post reviews from animedb and then bolt. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but there's a whole lot more to this forum then that. Anyway I could make the exact same points about this very subjective and over simplified analysis of the series as I did with your Gundam 00 one, but then I'd just be repeating myself. In any case I loled. Over the top and very negative, but not very helpful or easy to take seriously for anybody considering the show and looking for a solid review.

Originally Posted by morbosfist

As long as it didn't involve Lelouch. Whatever order Lelouch gave them, apparently it only had one answer in mind.

True enough, though Guilford was on the edge and thus did not so much run as avoid the unpleasant fate of being vaporized.

No clearly because we didn't see him outright get vaporized he must have been dead and thus he was ressurected. Of course I'm just saying this before anyone else brings up the same old gripes, I don't actually believe it. If one has any sort of imagination of course they could accept that there is always a possibility he could still have survived. Of course since we don't know how it will just turn into a bitching match between people who want their griping point and people who just don't care enough to arbitrarily disallow his survival and want to theorize about how he lived. Two very different classes of people seem to have watched this show and oddly enough they are about equal in number. Mostly for the second season though and after it got popular. I notice the old school mecha heads are far more open minded about the whole experience of Code Geass.