Code Geass

Code Geass

コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ
2006 -2008 Sunrise MBS / TBS 50 episodes Completed
Action Mecha Sci-Fi Political Drama
Details & Synopsis
Lelouch vi Britannia is seventeenth in line to the throne of the Holy Britannian Empire, exiled to Japan, now called Area 11, a conquered territory with no rights and no name, following his mother's assassination and his sister's crippling. He attends school, plays chess for money, and waits.

Then a mysterious girl named C.C. gives him the Geass: the absolute power to command anyone to do anything, once, through direct eye contact. He puts on a mask. He calls himself Zero. He tells himself he is doing it to destroy Britannia.

He might even be right.

Produced by Sunrise and directed by Goro Taniguchi, who made s-CRY-ed five years earlier and clearly spent the intervening time thinking about political violence and what it costs, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion aired on MBS from 2006 to 2008. Fifty episodes across two seasons built around a chess match played in real time between a revolutionary who cannot stop lying and a childhood friend who joined the empire to reform it. The show understands that both positions are correct and neither of them will survive being correct.

The plot moves. This is the understatement of the decade. Code Geass was downloaded faster than most fansub groups could release it because no one watching it was willing to wait a week between episodes. The cliffhangers are not cheap, they are the load-bearing structure of a narrative that never stops accelerating. The Knightmare Frame battles are spectacular. The political maneuvering is genuinely intricate. The character work earns what it asks of you.

The ending of R2 is one of the most argued finales in anime history. It is also the correct ending. This is not up for debate.

Fifty episodes. Clear your schedule.
Alt Title コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ
Studio Sunrise
Network MBS / TBS
Aired 2006 - 2008
Episodes 50
Genre Action, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Political Drama
Status Completed
← All lore

C's World & the Ragnarok Connection

The Hidden War Behind the Political War

V.V., C.C. and the Geass Order

Contracts · Code Bearers · Thought Elevator

The Geass Order reveals that Lelouch's power belongs to a system older than his rebellion. V.V. and C.C. are Code bearers, children are studied as potential Geass users, and Charles has spent years pursuing access to C's World. What looked like Lelouch's private supernatural advantage is actually one branch of a project tied directly to the Emperor and Marianne.
C.C.

Charles and Marianne's Answer

Charles and Marianne Want a World Without Lies

SPOILER!

Ragnarok Connection

Charles and Marianne's endgame is not ordinary imperial conquest. They intend to use the collective unconscious in C's World to erase the separation that allows people to lie to one another, collapsing individual distance in the name of perfect understanding. Lelouch rejects the plan because a world without deception also removes the private choices, changes, and futures that make people separate human beings.
Lelouch vi Britannia

Lelouch Chooses Tomorrow Over the World His Parents Wanted

SPOILER!

Turn 21 · The Collective Unconscious

Lelouch defeats Charles and Marianne by appealing to the collective will itself, demanding that time continue rather than be frozen in their idealized past. It is the philosophical pivot of the finale. Lelouch began the series obsessed with avenging his mother; when he finally gets her back, he rejects both parents because their answer would steal the future from everyone else.
Lelouch vi Britannia