Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Complete Season 1
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 15
Running Time: 625 mins
Release Date: 10/2/2020
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
Cool Clamp design? Check. Even cooler and catchy opening song? Check. Unlikely antagonist Lelouch Lamprouge? Check. Get ready for 8 discs of roller-coaster battles, battles of wits and some good humour when it's needed.
If you haven't read the manga (one of many by all-girl team Clamp) then you, like I did might have expected Lelouch to be a fighter for justice. The sort of man you would want to throw your lot in with, but what does happen is like with any megalomaniac, Lelouch is offered power from the start and does what he can to crush those who would dare oppose him (look at what he does to his sister as one example).
The reason Lelouch is not looked at as a serious terrorist is he does not fight for justice with his heart in the right place at first; as the heir to an empire, his mother murdered, he wants to kill the ones who killed his mother and make them pay. As Lelouch has been sent to a private school with his classmates no idea he is actual royalty, he can plot in secret assuming the role of Zero acting as an anti-establishment figure working alongside the Elevens. Brittania has overthrown Japan, and rules most of Europe, reducing the Japanese people who defy them to mere Elevens and even worse their homes are in a run-down place called Area-Eleven.
The Elevens are subjugated people forced to work as slaves for their new European masters, so when Lelouch comes to their aid as mystery masked figure, Zero, he realises he now leads a double life and has to keep up the facade that he is only a young high schooler, happy and pretends to be a fun kid to know. What no one knows is that Lelouch has a hidden agenda and strives to kill anyone who might expose him, even his best friend. This coupled with the already nail-biting episodes only speeds up the tension we fell watching how Lelouch handles each situation around him; his manipulated, blind sister and his closest friend, a fellow Britannian who has no idea Lelouch has another identity dotes on him and this only makes his betrayal harder to take when it happens.
For Lelouch, as he is lying in secret as a high school student, it is the perfect place for him to hatch a plan to take down the royal family he feels no connection to and sort out his mother's killer. The main reason for watching will no doubt be the fact it's a Clamp anime as the characters have that distinguished tallness associated with their work, but this like many others is a very shonen one with lots of explosions, battles and cruel acts Lelouch does to his enemies. All the while, Lelouch pretends to be the perfect student, caring, nice and has a good rapport with his friends, while his alter-ego Zero plots and schemes and kills all for his own ends. In this respect, Lelouch is more like Aizen from Bleach as everyone else trusts him and thinks he is a good person right up until he betrays them.
One of the most intriguing parts of the story is how long Lelouch can keep his other identity a secret, as like Bruce Wayne, he has to juggle two identities as a form of a schizophrenic character who at any moment could go insane. As a mecha type anime series, this has more going for it than I first thought as it is more than huge mecha battles with high-fiving guys.
Bonus Material: Special Features include: Picture drama episodes, Audio commentaries andTextless songs
Summary: Code Geass isn't your usual mecha series, there is intrigue, battles aplenty and some amazing drama between some of the key characters!
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