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Code Geass is the cautionary tale of a Machiavellian prince of Brittania, Lelouch, who swears to avenge his mother’s death and bring peace to the world so his blind sister, Nunnaly, can live safely, by overthrowing the despotic emperor, his father. That he obtains a magical power, the Geass, that allows him to command anyone who looks into his eyes, is probably an added bonus, because this isn’t the angsty kind of anime that grapples with daddy issues. I’m not one to gush about anime, and I watch only the few that trickle down to me from the recommendation tree; but Code Geass certainly deserves its reputation for high octane entertainment and plenty of WTF moments.

Lelouch has big plans indeed. Despite being a high school student, he takes full advantage of the power bestowed upon him, and becomes a masked terrorist, leading the Japanese rebels against the Brittanian empire. Despite his affiliation with the rebels, Lelouch never thinks of them as anything but [expendable] pawns in his grand scheme against the emperor. As you can imagine, that would cause a lot of internal political rumbles.
Woven into the story are elements like giant mechas called Knightmares, which gave Brittania the military edge during the conquest of Japan, now known as Area 11. Suzaku, son of the former Japanese Prime Minister, and Lulu's childhood friend is also a major character, contrasting Lulu's anarchist tendencies against his own allegiance to legal action. Suzaku doesn't like being made to bow down to foreign invaders any more than the average Japanese, but his strong overriding motive is to implement change from within and thus joins the army. Being Japanese, he isn't allowed to pilot the Knightmares initially; however his talent precedes him and he is given the chance to pilot an experimental unit and in time becomes the bane of the rebel forces led by Zero, Lulu's terrorist alter-ego.

Like all great animes, what sets Code Geass apart is the greater story arc, involving the emperor's own twisted experiments with the Akashic records, which falls under the broad school of knowledge called Shamanism. The emperor's true intention was not to conquer and rule the world, but to gain control of relic sites around the world where he could access the gateways to the Akashic records, and in so doing, control the world of men from the subconscious dimension. So there is a whole other layer of storyline that just enhances the core package.

Code Geass R1 starts off relatively slow, with a pretty hefty storyline spanning 26 episodes. For better or worse, the majority of the twists come towards the end, with almost no time to get over the shock. However, there's no cause for alarm, the pacing is pretty ok if you ask me. The animation is by Sunrise, and character designs by CLAMP. Sunrise, is pretty well-known I presume, having belted out many hits in the past, like Escaflowne, Gundam and Cowboy Bebop. And except for the androgynous/confused/anorexic character designs, Sunrise doesn't disappoint. The animation is top-notch. Sound and voices are also impressive, with really emotive characters. It helps that the screenplay is particularly strong, with almost all characters well-fleshed out so their motivations are clear, unless intended otherwise. All in all, Code Geass R1 is entertaining as hell. Don't miss it.

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