Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch Overview
So this stubborn person finally gave in and found the opportunity to marathon eight episodes of Code Geass on a boring Thursday night. Originally I had no plans to watch this only because CLAMP was involved, but I had some spare time after dropping a couple of series recently so I thought, “Ah, what the heck.” I blame Rankendrake for suggesting this series as a cure while I was in my vulnerable state, trying re-stabilize myself after the shock of finding out that I had an awfully short range of series to choose my favorite bishoujo’s from this season. Eh, it’s all right since it’s still technically a Sunrise anime, but those ever so reoccurring CLAMP character designs still scare me. It’s fine now, but I fear for how it will end. Here’s my attempt at a fancy character analysis from what I’ve seen so far. Shouldn’t be too bad since English teachers always told me I had above average analyzing skills to make up for my horrible syntax errors. Oh and before we go on. Suzaku must die.
Lelouch Lamperouge
Lelouch was the sole reason I got hooked after the first episode, and ended up catching up with all the series in one day. Although it is a pity that he’s not the one who operates the the star Knightmare of the series, Lelouch immediately got my attention because he’s an anti-hero type of character like Light from Death Note. Anime series usually avoid giving such complex personalities to main character to prevent isolating the viewers so it’s an aspect of the anime to really cherish. So what if all those brain-dead happy-go-lucky viewers can’t relate to the main character? All it matters is that the anime world is doing a great service by finally starting to feature characters people who have been hiding in the dark alleys like me can finally relate to. Don’t understand how Lelouch can go against his own country and people? Too bad, go out and get more experience in the world. However, I can’t help worrying about how the series will end up because he’s exactly like Light in so many ways. You know that he will make a foolish slip-up sooner or later. Actually he already kind of went bonkers in the latest episode after creating his very own Power Rangers group and declaring that they are the defenders of justice. Tell me why Kurogane thinks Code Geass isn’t actually a comedy series. Lelouch, why the change of plan so suddenly? If that was me right there, I would have teamed up with the Japanese Liberation Front. It was a perfect chance to take Euphemia hostage and eliminate the threat that is Cornerlia, and he just blew it. That was a deal to kill two birds with one stone. I have absolutely no faith in this future dictator until he can show some of that backbone again. Hopefully the Geass isn’t the extend of the power C.C. can grant to Lelouch. Give him a personal Knightmare so he can go head on with that wussy Suzaku.
Suzaku Kururugi
Suzaku’s one of those goody-goody type of characters I hate with a passion. You heard me right, with a passion. Simply put, Suzaku’s the opposite of his best friend Lelouch. He’s a naive idealist who thinks it’s possible to reform the Britannia Empire while Lelouch is the more logically thinker who believes that the only way to take down the Britannia Empire is by destroying it. Sadly, after that stupid stunt he pulled in episode eight, we can’t say that he wants to indiscriminately get rid of all Britannia’s though. Going back to Suzaku, I guess it is a general rule that the main character’s rival has to have a completely different type of personality, but the combination is just way too explosive for me to take. It’s like screwing up the general rule of plumbing and forgetting to put a brass fitting between a copper and a galvanized. I have been living fine with other opposing end characters like Naruto and Sasuke so I’m assuming that the reason I can’t stand their awkward relationship is from the lack of a character to act as the brass fitting to divide two elements that just don’t blend well together. Shirley might work, but I think she’s annoying so it won’t help. Anyway, Suzaku disgusts me. He’s not only a typical pacifist type. You don’t know how painful it is to find out that a guy like him is terribly good at fighting and operating a Knightmare. Seriously, someone go put him out of commission. I’m really going to vomit the next time he says something like, “Watashi wa yari masu!” And well, if Suzaku wins over Lelouch, you better not stay within five meters of me. At least people who know me in real life know that I have strange obsession with scissors after watching this one Korean mafia movie. Oh, and episode eight was a good episode. I laughed when he started crying because Zero stole his saves. Yeah, like how people kill steal in online games.
Kallen Stadtfeld
Even if Code Geass didn’t have Lelouch and had hard gay Suzaku as the main character instead, I still would have watched it just for Kallen. Well, it probably won’t be as fun when there’s no community of Lelouch x Kallen shippers to join in with, but that’s besides the point. Eh, Karen or Kallen. I really don’t know which is the correct spelling either since both are actual names. Kallen sounds sexier though. Code Geass isn’t complete without Kallen for me. Even though she doesn’t do much to progress the story, I know I would go insane trying to watch a show without any bishoujo’s I like. Hm, it’s still fun watching her inadvertently mess around with Shirley’s mind. I still can’t clearly define why I like her besides the looks. I really like how her student hair droops down as if it was greased or drenched down in water. Let’s take water there. Anyone can look hot when they’re wet. Hey, wipe that dirty thought! Well, I guess it’s safe to say that I like lite-tsundere’s, but not the hard-core tsundere’s like the queen of denial, Suzuka. Either that or it’s because girls with knives magically attract me to them. Writer of the now deceased blog Shuffled Thoughts!, akurashy, has expressed his grave concern over this when I said that on AnimeBlogger.net’s IRC channel. Thank you for your thoughts, but no thanks. I do not have any bondage, dominance sadism, or masochism fetish. How did you even go from knives to bondage? If he was any familiar with 4chan and other image boards, I bet he would have already suspected that I frequent a guro board, which I don’t. How could you aku-chan! The rest of you too, don’t get strange thoughts. It’s more simple than that. I just happen to like both sharp objects and psycho girls in no particular order. It’s explosive when those two combine. Even more explosions whenever Kallen complains about how why she had to pick such a weak persona to act out at school. And if you’ve been following all the yon-koma’s I’ve linked in this passage, one siscon explodes to death every time Kallen says, “Onii-chan.”
C.C.
Oh yes, the notorious Pizza Hut mascot girl. Other than the fact that this one picture of her from a magazine yells at the makers to changed the title Code Great Ass, I still can’t seem to see why everyone’s fanboying over her even after watching the series. Heck, I would rather go into my Gar-for-Lelouch mode after looking closely to find that Lelouch is man enough to slip his fingers underneath. If it’s because of that surprise-surprise personality, then I will definitely pass on her. Again, I don’t like tsunderekko’s or tsunderekko-ish characters. I will acknowledge she’s a character with a powerful influence at least. If Lelouch is the king in a chess set, C.C. is the queen, and we all know the queen is the most powerful piece. Leaving that aside, she’s still interesting plot-wise. Unlike the apple-crazed shinigami Light got stuck with, C.C. has every reason to care what happens to Lelouch who pretty much became her other-self after the contract in the first episode so we know that she will eventually grant Lelouch all the powers she can grant. Lelouch may have slip-ups like Light, but he has a little more edge because he will always have C.C. to help him when he’s cornered. Just give him a tokubetsu Knightmare and I’ll be a happy man. Now, the problem is this. What if C.C. gets captured, leaving Lelouch hopeless without her? We obviously know she was locked in that weird gadget after she was captured once for lab experiments or something so it’s not wrong to assume they just can send in Cornelia and claim her again. The opening also suggests that C.C. isn’t the only one of her kind, which can be good or bad. Okay, now I’m getting Innocent Venus vibes and I know for fact that this is bad at least.
Jeremiah Gottwald
Orange-kun! Jeremiah’s the poor guy who became one of the first major victims of Lelouch. People can tell me I’m free to laugh and cackle at him all I want. I know there won’t be that same stupid grin on my face in the future. At least I’m sure that the new characters like Cornelia won’t face the same humiliating defeat after a round with Zero. Going back to Death Note examples, Jeremiah is the equivalent of those cannon fodder criminals Light killed off with his Death Note. Now that L, or Cornelia in this case, comes into the pictures, Lelouch won’t always have his ways. Our dear orange farmer still has the potential to come back Lelouch’s worst enemy though. Or should rephrase it and say that Viletta will cause that ultimate downfall of Lelouch unless C.C. saves his butt again. Here’s another example of where Lelouch slipped and failed to use that smart brain of his. Now I know for sure that Viletta, who is the only one who saw Lelouch, will go searching for him at his school to force him to cough out information about Zero. Even though she doesn’t know that Lelouch is Zero, Viletta can mean danger for him. When will that boy realize that it’s common sense to have the person he Geass-ed commit suicide after carrying out his orders, I don’t know. C.C. probably still has other powers she hasn’t given to Lelouch, but that’s still no excuse to say that Lelouch can use his ability so carelessly like that. No, it probably won’t make a difference even he knew that he can only use it once on a person before he used his eye on Viletta.
Shirley Fenette
The annoying girl. I always wondered why everyone only talked about Kallen and C.C., but now I see why. If you thought Eruruu, Utawarerumono’s wet blanket status girl, was annoying, Shirley’s probably worse. For Christ sakes, she almost killed Lelouch with her stupid phone call in the first episode. What if that was really was a poison gas? Then what? Well, we all know for sure that Lelouch would die and that wuss Suzaku would be the main character since he’s the next important character in line. Go ahead and elope with Suzaku for all I care. At least I finally have a classmate type of character that don’t like. Now that I think about, she’s pale in comparison to other classmate characters like Yumizuka Satsuki and Yoshida Kazumi because she doesn’t go psycho. Psycho is moé, and girls who always ruin the fun are not. Yes, this one ended short, but I probably got my point straight. She’s probably my least favorite after Suzaku.
As of now, I have full intentions to continue watching and blogging this series. Again, I fear for the worst, but I’ve probably seen worst endings so I’ll endure. Actually if all fails, I can always decided not to take this show in such a serious light of manner. After all, Code Geass did get nominated as the best comedy series of the season. At least that would be a safer alternative than getting all angry about the series and gathering a mob of anti-Suzaku fans in front of Sunrise Studios.
It seems that Lelouch’s morals are completely different to what we’ve thought. He doesn’t necessarily hate the Britannians, since he is half Britanninan himself, but rather any kind of tyrant who abuses those weaker than him/her. Yuffie, having done nothing wrong, was spared, while the Japanese Liberation Front, who were ruthless in their actions, got punished. I rather like this Lelouch, as it shows he’s not racist. I was hoping it would turn out like this.
That’s what I’m asking. Why the sudden twist to Lelouch’s morals? It shows he’s a good guy, but that’s really toning down on the aggressiveness I liked about him. He’ll be no different from Suzaku if there’s another change in his way of thinking in the future. Oh, and isn’t Lelouch a full Britannian who just happened to get kicked out from the royal family?
So Yuffie was spared. Maybe it’s just me but a small side of me thinks that he shouldn’t have killed Clovis either then. Never mind though. Eh, what’s he going to do Cornelia now? -_-;;
Well, he’s gonna kill Cornelia obviously since she’s become the new tyrant, as well as Lelouch’s dad. But he still kills without remorse, and Suzaku would definitely not do that. Lelouch can’t be compared with Suzaku, since their ways of doing things are just too different. And Lelouch’s mother was Japanese.
Personally I don’t think lelouch will ever be similar to suzaku. I think Suzaku and lelouch have a similar goal in that they don’t want things to stay the same, however they take a different approach. Suzaku is the idealist, reflected by his thinking of trying to change britannia from within and trusting the law.
Lelouch is the realist of the two. he has always hated britannia, and especially britannia’s motto which is “survival of the fittest” as declared by the king at clovis’ funeral. Lelouch has simply taken the exact opposite stance and point-of-view from the king. He’s not going to let the weak gets abused. I think he’s being smart by picking his fights. He’s thinking long term and using divide-and-conquer strategy. If he declared war on Britannia in general, he will have to kill all of Britannia. He simply doesn’t have the resources to go against the whole country. Instead, he only declare war with the elites and those in power. Because Britannia is always expanding by taking over other country, there will always be resistance from within Britannia. By declaring his desire to help the ones being oppressed (the resistance and pretty much a lot of people who’s not an elite), he’s gaining a lot of support and admiration from them. He’s simply changing the battlefield from Japan Vs. Britannia, to Those-in-power Vs. Those-without-power.
He could’ve killed yuffie, but that would make him in the receiving end of Cornellia’s anger. Knowing Yuffie’s personality, he will always have lots of chances to kill her. Yuffie is more valuable to him alive than dead, since she’s cornelia’s weakness. In fact, yuffie have the potential to become a useful ally since she’s different from the other family members. Lelouch can always use her to somehow interfere with Cornelia’s action, whether she likes it or not. Clovis on the other hand already knew his identity. He has no use for him being alive. Letting him live will only hurt him.
I don’t think Yuffie was spared. I think he used Geass on her and gave her some order and we will earn about it later. Second Lelouch is not half-Britanninan but full. His mother was a Britanninan commoner.
Actually, Lelouch is not against Britannia the country. He’s more against Britannia the ideal of natural selection. He doesn’t care about race, as Danny said, so much as he wants his vision of an equal world to become a reality. It’s quite shallow to think that Lelouch wants to destroy Britannia because of mere hatred. Someone that intelligent and ruthless wouldn’t do that. He wants Britannia in the DIRT because it propogates the world where the weak are trampled on. Also because Britannia poses a threat to Nanali.
Hey, wait! Why are you blaming me?!!T^T…
It’s a good show, come on, you ought to thank me, rather…
@ryuuu: (He simply doesn’t have the resources to go against the whole country. Instead, he only declare war with the elites and those in power.)
Ooh, that would make a lot of sense. So that’s saying he didn’t throw away his original plan, but he’s just toning it down temporarily to make it flow with his calculations? I still don’t know. It’s like when someone pretends to be crazy and ends up really becoming crazy. Okay, maybe I need to get the typical English literature stuff out of my head.
@wiseone: I’m fine with how he let Yuffie live, but he should have at least held her hostage to bait in Cornelia at least. Hm, the possibility that Lulu let Yuffie go after Geass-ing her is also interesting. That does sound like a method with a higher percentage of killing Cornelia.
@rdrake: I would say he hates both his country and the ideals they follow. Well either is pretty much the same thing. You won’t be able to call it Britannica if they don’t follow that motto kind of how like America isn’t America with all that bullshit about freedom. And no, it is possible for someone intelligent to do something out of mere hatred. This is where’s the character gets complex and hard to understand for people who just haven’t been there at one point in their life time. Lulu’s…basically a closet emo like Light in Death Note.
holy crap… such long comments… its almost as long as the entry! yea… definitely not going to read all of this but it seems uh… great?
ok…so i got the part where lelouch’s mother was of a low status, must’ve instinctively thought ‘11′ but i guess not..
Well, I suppose this means that to people like Cornelia, low status people aren’t all that different than those from the Areas?
i really don’t know anything about this anime but it really touches my heart so much! i wish that i could this anime here in the Philippines. keep on supporting this anime ;)
For what I’ve seen Lelouch is not completely the same as Raito Yagami, because in the gory incident with Euphemia, he finally was ready to work with her but his Geass ruined everything, he cried when he decided to kill Euphemia, Raito will NEVER have done that! and besides Lelouch has good motives to fight against Britannia, he only wants to avenge his mother and sister, unlike Raito who is always in his psycho mode “IM GOD! *-*” bleh I prefer Lulu much more!
@ Danny - Lelouch is completely Brittanian, Karren is half though, he just uses them as his militia.
Allright, he dosen’t give a damn about race, he see’s it as the rightious strong aiding the weak against the strong that oppresses the weak, ie EU /Britania and China.
Either way, I love the series, it is like Gundam SEED in a few ways but only to tease the fans methinks, then do a complete mindfuck and go the other way.
IE Euphies massacare, imagine Lacus getting peace then going on a killing spree against the naturals, awesome.