Since 1979 Sunrise has dominated and popularized the genre of Mecha. This is primarily due to the success of Mobile Suit Gundam, which introduced humans piloting humanistic robots. Sunrise and several other studios have expanded upon this idea to create the most realistic Mecha anime out there in both appearance and technology. With over 30 years of creating animes in the Mecha genre Sunrise began developing the idea for Code Geass in 2004. Rather than keeping the project in house, Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, the producer of the show, reached out to the manga artist group Clamp to help develop the idea. With Clamp on board, Kawaguchi alongside writer Ichiro Okouchi and director Goro Taniguchi began to develop the characters, story, plot and setting that would eventually become the first season of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.
The Story:
In 2010 the Holy Britannian Empire began their conquest of Japan, which was quickly won due to having a superior technology, Mecha units called Knightmare Frames. With their victory, they took away the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Japan while renaming the country to Area 11. Before the invasion occurred Lelouch vi Britannia, the 17th in line for the throne, witnesses his mother’s death, which left his sister blind and paralyzed. Due to this he and his sister are exiled to Japan to act as a bargaining tool for Britannia. Once there he befriends Suzaku Kururugi, whose father is the prime minister, who takes him and his sister in. After being in Japan for a few months Britannia invades Japan, forcing Lelouch with his sister to flee. Eventually, Japan surrenders, and while walking through the ruins of Japan Lelouch turns to Suzaku and states that he will one day obliterate Britannia.
Seven years later Lelouch, now going by Lelouch Lamperouge, is attending Ashford Academy. In between classes he chooses to gamble on chess games that he plays. One day when he is on his way back he becomes involved in a terrorist attack committed by what would eventually become the Black Knights. With the initial terrorist’s dead Lelouch is saved by his old friend and now Britannian soldier Suzaku, who is shot for saving him. As he is shot a mysterious girl named C.C. emerges from an odd shaped capsule allowing for Lelouch to escape. The Britannian Royal Guard catches up to him, but he is saved by C.C. as she jumps in front of a bullet meant for him. Right before she loses consciousness she makes a contract with Lelouch to grant him the power of Geass. This allows him to issue any command as long as he makes eye contact with them and they have to obey, but he can only use it once on a person. With this new-found power, he begins to plot how he will oppose and defeat Britannia. The first course of action that Lelouch takes is to infiltrate and get within killing range of his half-brother and viceroy of Area 11. Once within this range he asks his brother about his mother’s death and then kills him. As a result of killing him, Suzaku, who he thought was dead is accused for the murder, which forces Lelouch to rescue him and bring out his alter ego Zero. During the rescue Lelouch/Zero continues to use the Geass, which only leads to making Zero a symbol for freedom as he is opposing Britannia. With Lelouch/Zero as a symbol of freedom he once again uses his Geass to gather supplies and announce his resistance group the Black Knight, which is a group aimed at fight for justice. Due to this the Black Knights begin to gain support from the people of Area 11 (Japanese) and outside groups who are opposing Britannia. This support comes in the form of Knightmare frames, in particular the Guren MK II, which becomes a central component to the Black Knights as they carry out their missions. With each mission, they are inching closer to forming an independence state of Japan. This eventually leads to the sub-viceroy Princess Euphemia to announce that she will be creating a special zone where the people of Area 11 can return to being Japanese. Upon hearing this Lelouch/Zero meets with her to realize that his goal can come true of an independent Japan, but before it can be achieved he loses control of his Geass and orders her to kill all the Elevens (Japanese). Due to this he chooses to shoot and kill Euphemia as his mistake will further his cause even though it is painful. As Lelouch is gaining his power his friend Suzaku is going down a different path to achieve his goals of liberating Japan. For Suzaku this begins with him being deployed late in several missions only for him to be responsible for forcing a retreat by Zero. On several missions, he saves the Viceroy of Japan and Euphemia from being killed. He begins to gain respect and acknowledgement from Britannian leaders. This eventually leads to influencing Euphemia to want to develop an area where Britannians and Elevens can live without any status attached to them. With this being proposed Suzaku is realizing his dreams of restoring Japan without resorting to violence. Unfortunately, due to Zero/ Lelouch’s Geass, Euphemia orders for all the Elevens to be killed, which ends his dream. With his dream ended and Euphemia dead, Suzaku realizes that the only way to achieve your dream is through the use of force and violence, which he uses to capture Lelouch to stop his rebellion.
Significance:
Code Geass is one of the first Mecha animes to explore the concepts of terrorism, rebellion, nationalism, and friendship. Right from the start the anime blurs the lines between terrorism and rebellion with the actions that Zero and The Black Knights have taken. Primarily because some of their tactics used fear to gain political power, while others are to resist Britannia rule. With them using both of these tactics the lines are blurred on what is terrorism and what is rebellion, thus creating a gray area between the two. Code Geass in doing this is one of the first animes to present both sides equally of The Black Knights actions, which allows for a conversation to begin on what these concepts mean in modern times. Due to the success of Code Geass other animes have also begun to explore the concept of terrorism and rebellion and how they relate to one another in the area of war. Code Geass also addresses the concept of nationalism and how a person identifies with a particular country. This is done through the main character Lelouch who despite being from Britannia, chose to oppose his home country and side with the Japanese. This captures the idea that a person can develop pride and the willingness to fight for a country despite not being born there, as they become accustomed to the culture and customs. Finally, Code Geass focuses on how far a friendship can go before it breaks. In particular with Lelouch and Suzaku who both are enacting plans to change how the Japanese citizens (Elevens) are treated by Britannia. With each of them on opposing sides thwarting the others plan we begin to see how the 2 start to become enemies, resulting in the loss of their friendship. With all of this occurring Code Geass takes what is supposed to be a basic Mecha anime and transforms it into a sophisticated show that questions how we view terrorism, rebellion, nationalism, and friendship as a war is occurring.
Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion can be purchased here.
Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 can be purchased here.
