Welcome to Scias' Anime Guide - Scias' new funnel for his thoughts on the various anime he watches.
For my first review, I'll do an anime that comes up -a lot- when I'm talking about anime right now - Code Geass.
I'll kick off by saying that Code Geass is pretty much everything that's wrong with mainstream anime right now and I'm very much aware of this. Androgynous, skinny, whining emo-ratbags, fighting in mechas (Gundam SEED and 00 anyone?). Despite this, I didn't hate Code Geass - as I didn't hate Gundam SEED or 00 - but I did feel the need to mention it early on and get it out of the way.
The story of Code Geass (For anyone who hasn't watched it) is centred around a renounced Prince, Lelouch, and his masked terrorist alter-ego, Zero. The fictional empire of Britannia effectively rules the world, oppressing nations and renaming them as numbers (Japan becoming "Area 11" and the Japanese "Elevens").
Lelouch's father (Daddy issues \o/) is Emperor Charles Zi Britannia and, therefore, is effectively the ruler of the world (Yes, not all of the world is under Britannian control, I know, but I'm going to gloss over that because it's barely mentioned). Lelouch's mother, Marianne vi Britannia, was murdered at their home seemingly at Charles' request in Lelouch's eyes, leading to him renouncing the throne and fleeing to Japan to be hidden by The Ashford Family in Japan... for... reasons... Okay, so, it's never -really- explained why they take in Lelouch (And younger sister Nunnally who was blinded - from shock, apparently - after her mother was killed), but it has something to do with them being supporters of his mother and being stripped of their nobility after she was killed.
Like so many other things within Code Geass, this does not make sense but I'll let it slide because, after watching the first season of Code Geass, I realised that it's best not to question what the plot tells us. A lot of the time, bits of the plot are just glossed over and - as is so often the case - left open for potential spinoff manga and other juicy Japan-only things that we in the west will only be able to learn about via Wikipedia.
Anyway, so, time passes uneventfully until Lelouch becomes a skinny, androgynous, emo teenager who is apparently very good at Chess and assumed dead by Britannia (So we're told, at least), living under the name Lelouch Lamperouge. Now, I've got a problem with that pretty much instantly - Why did he only change his surname? I mean, really? No one in Britannia military intelligence said "Oh, hang on. There's this guy here called Lelouch... He looks a lot like the former Prince and he's hanging out with that family who supported his mother and he has a blind younger sister... Oh, their first names are the same too... Should we look into this, Sir?"
Fair enough if Lelouch and Nunnally were well hidden but that's really not the case. They go to a school with other Britannians living in Area 11 and Lelouch at least seems to have all the freedom he wants. I find this very hard to swallow, despite what we find out at the end of the season and through season two, it's a pretty stupid idea to expect us to believe it unquestioningly. It is later explained and made more believable I suppose but even if the Britannians weren't trying very hard to find him, he was still supposed to be trying his hardest to hide and yet, he really doesn't seem all that bothered based on his actions.
Anyway, that's enough on Code Geass for today. I'll continue tomorrow or some time later in the week.
