NoScans Pride Month Special: Your problematic favourite, Code Geass

[leahandillyana]

The Witch from Mercury, first Gundam tv series with a female protagonist, is coming to an end – the final episode will be aired next Sunday (at the time of writing). The series met with international acclaim and is rightly compared to Revolutionary Girl Utena, a series whose literary adaptation was the debut work of the director and writer of Witch, Ichiro Okouchi. I highly recommend all versions of Utena, it’s among the finest pieces of popculture created in contemporary Japan, but this time I would like to talk about Mr. Okouchi’s earlier adventure into real robot genre, Code Geass. I’ll be talking about themes of the anime as well as what I loved and what I disliked about it, as well as intoducing various comics adaptations. It is the kind of a story where an in-depth look requires discussion of various events far into the storyline, as it has plenty of plot twists changing the meaning of several scenes and plotlines. So, spoilers!

 

The simplest way to describe Code Geass is to say it’s a Gundam story told from the perspective of a Char Enzable analogue by the way of Death Note with plentiful of Author’s Barely Disguised Fetishes. If you do not have background in anime, it can also be described as a massively complex shakespearean tragedy of revange set to the backdrop of an alternate history Japan conquered by a massively technologically advanced version of British Empire. The plot is very complex, and honestly needlessly complicated by the time we reach the middle of the story, so I do not recommend it as your first anime. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend it if you are used to PG rated shoujo and shounen either. Plenty of story elements and character archetypes in the series exist as conversation with earlier anime series, and the story loves deconstructing and rebuilding every trope it gets its hand on. You can find detailed setting and plot descriptions for example on Wikipedia. Now onto my subjective opinion and reading of the stories.

 

The Good:

 

Code Geass is a story that assumes its audience is smart (thought not necessarily mature). Like, seriously, it was my first R-rated anime and I was shocked and delighted how much is left for the viewer to deduce. The scheming/strategizing various characters engage in is portrayed realistically, and frequently even our resident geniuses encounter spanners in the work that derails their schemes. I deeply enjoyed it, as in contemporary Death Note characters often appear to have a godlike power to foresee events they logically couldn’t have.

 

Following the „not neccessarily mature” comment, Code Geass has a wide variety of waifus. Do you like action girls? There’s a major character for you! Do you prefer mysterious gwaifs? Congrats, you have another major character! Are you into sweet, good-natured girls? Double win for you! Do you prefer villainesses? Here’s your ticket to the villain lover’s paradise! Would you rather adopt a moe little girl? Have four for the price of one! I loved that the girls in the series have a wide range of characterisation and are allowed a lot of agency, even though major characters are mostly boys and men.

 

Finally, the main series (and some spin-offs) is very queer. There are six characters who are canonically gay or lesbian, but you can make good argument for queerness of almost any character with enough screentime to get a characterisation, ESPECIALLY the main male character with his childhood friend. There are even two official anthologies dedicated to ship tease between same sex characters – five volume long Knight series (featuring male characters) and also five volume long Queen series (featuring female characters), both by various authors. Both series are considered canonical unless otherwise stated in particular story. Furthermore, both the main series and various extra media feature a whole lot of crossdressing for both boys and girls, and it’s always portrayed positively, even if often humorously. However, a major downside is that out of six canonically queer characters four are villains and one is a serial molester (the series came out years before Me Too, so she is portrayed as annoying at worst). More on this later on.

 

The Bad

 

Let’s not kid ourselves, politically speaking the series is suspicious at best. It’s set in an alternate universe where the Japanese Empire never existed, which allows for the Japanese factions to be portrayed sympathetically in-show while also displaying sentiments associated with imperial apologists in our world. Seriously, every installment in the series is so patriotic it borders on nationalism, and some other reviewers believe the series firmly crosses into national chauvinism. Given the author’s track record with open-mindedness, I choose to believe that this side of the series’ writing is not a political statement, but I understand why it may put you off the series. Especially plot lines related to the Chinese Federation are, ugh, unpleasant in historical context.

 

Associating queerness with negative traits is a complaint I often see regarding the series, as mentioned above. That’s a fair criticism. I prefer to see it this way: in Code Geass, you can count on fingers of two hands characters who are NOT evil to some extend. There are several factions in the grand political game, each committing human rights violations if not mass murder, and by the end of the series every major character becomes at best a villain protagonist – yes, even the cutest girl you have ever met. There are simply too few non-evil characters in this series for the association not to appear.

 

And the Author’s Barely Disguished Fetishes, dear lord, where do I start? The cup size of every female character alone can be distracting in otherwise serious scenes, and I can bet my monthly salary that the writer has a hypno kink, but this barely open’s the Pandora’s box of kinks that is Code Geass. The series is not that sexual, mind you, but when several writing choices can easily be uncomfortable to readers who are not into particular kink – dubious consent and incest are particularly frequent offenders. I think it’s best to see at least the anime as Dead Dove the Animation.

 

The Ugly

 

Unfortunately, the anime series itself, and even with manga the art varies wildly. Set designs, mecha designs and especially character designs are very pretty, but the facial animation is atrocious even for the standard of the era. Every facial expression other than neutral or smiling looks ugly, and characters in Code Geass are extremelly expressive.

 

The Manga

 

There are several manga adaptations and spin offs of the anime:

 

-Lelouch of the Rebellion by Majiko is an 8 volume long shoujo manga that more or less faithfully adapts the first season of the anime… and then drastically cuts the second season’s plotlines while leading to the same conclusion. Depending on your opinion on said season, it might have been for the best.

 

-Suzaku of the Counterattack by Atsuro Yomino is a 2 volumes long shoujo manga that starts with the premise of following the side of the local Hero-Antagonist… and then goes its own way in the second volume. Notably, mechs are absent from the series and Suzaku is instead a superhero in a power suit, kinda like Iron Man.

 

-Nightmare of Nunnally by Tomomasa Takuma is 5 volumes long seinen manga set in another alternate continuity where the protagonist’s disabled little sister gets to fight in a cool magical mecha and obtains a girlfriend-slash-enemy of her own. Good action manga, but not as complex as the anime or its main adaptation.

 

-Renya of Darkness by Ichiro Okouchi and Tomomasa Takuma is a 7 volume long shounen manga set in Edo period Japan, featuring a C.C. at an earlier stage of her life, a protagonist strangely resembling Lelouch, and a British civil war threatening peace of the whole world. Also a very good one, it helps establish more of the setting, but given what happens to the world a century later (did I mention that Code Geass is canonically set in 1960s, by the way? Yeah, they went all the way into alternative history), any victory achieved there sounds very bitter.

 

-Oz of Reflection by Morita Shigeru and Tojo Chika, with its ten volumes, is the longest Code Geass adaptation. This shounen manga follows Oldrin Zevon, member of British Anti-Terrorist Task Force „Glynda Knights” and a pilot of mass produced Lancelot mecha. The series is initially set between first and second season of the anime and then follows the events of the second season from the perspective of British Empire and takes place mostly in Europe. Best art in any Code Geass manga. Furthermore, this entry is very queer even by Code Geass standards, holy cow.

 

-Various humorous one volume stories, anthologies, art books, and That One Story I Am Not Talking About.

 

 

Despite its flaws, Code Geass remains one of my favourite animanga franchises. If you feel like this might be something for you, please read or watch, but be mindful of the flaws I described above.

 

Bonus – my favourite Code Geass fan works

 

My Mirror, Sword and Shield – crossover with Back to the Future (sort of), set in an alternate version of the main story where Lelouch and Nunnally remained with the British Royal Family… only for Lelouch to murder his father and most of family to rule as the most evil teenage monarch in history of mankind. Instead of a childhood friend, here Suzaku is a boy from the future who travelled to the Demon Emperor’s age in a time machine built by his adoptive father (long story, makes sense only if you are familiar with Code Geass, assumes you watched the whole series before reading). Main pairing Lelouch/Suzaku.

 

Galton's Children - crossover with my other nostalgic favourite, Elfen Lied. In this story, a much more cynical and ruthless Lelouch shares Kota’s childhood relationship with Lucy and accidentally meets the girl alongside C.C. Very, very brutal, of the “everybody you know gets brutally dismembered – and their pets and kids too!” kind, with intelliugent dark humour. Main pairing is, despite what the premise may sound like, Lelouch/Karen.

 

One and Only Son – crossover with Gundam 00, focusing on Gundam characters reimagined in Code Geass verse. Follows canonical romantic plotlines, but overall has very little romance. Note: very dark ending.

 

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron – crossover with Voltron: Legendary Defender, interesting mostly because it brings the somewhat cynical world view of Code Geass into the world of the idealistic super robot show. Main pairings: Lelouch/Karen and Suzaku/Euphemia.

Comments

[blueprintstyles]

I used to love this series but i never actually finished it, this may have inspired me to do a rewatch.

[mastermahan]

I really enjoyed the original Code Geass when it started. Lelouch was a clever and theatrical young man trying to use his new handy but limited superpower to institute social change. He was a non-action guy in an action series about roller-skating mecha. A protagonist who gets powers and immediately puts on an opera cape and fancy helmet? I'm down for that.

Unfortunately, it's hard to tell stories about supergeniuses and the writing took a real downturn near the end of the first season. The best example of this, personally, was the recording trick. Twice in the series Lelouch distracts an opponent with what looks like a video call, but that he in fact pre-recorded. In the first season, it works because it's entirely reasonable. Recorded Lelouch doesn't respond to anything specific the other guy says and he interrupts because he doesn't actually know when the other guy is going to stop talking. Lelouch was smart enough to predict his opponent's general responses, not the entire conversation.

Then he does it again next season and he's somehow predicting the entire conversation.

Anyway, that's a great analysis of what makes Code Geass fun and what makes it painful.

[zachbeacon]

For me it exists in this weird place where it wants to be taken seriously but then they do things like give a mech to the student council.

Or have the protagonist accidentally turn his innocent sister into a genocidal maniac.

[arilou_skiff]

Code Geass is one of those things that can't really be taken seriously, but when it plays it right you can sorta take it seriously *enoguh* to get invested anyway... right up until they fumble it. (when that happens depends on who you ask)

I personally enjoy it. But then I have a soft spot for trashy mecha with sloppily done metaphors.

[super_fly]

This is the extent of my knowledge regarding Code Geese

https://youtu.be/FAUnDDTz30k

[zachbeacon]

That meme is a pretty accurate depiction of Suzaku Kururugi's poor decision-making.

[onsokumaru]

Cade Geass remains one of my favorite mecha anime.
I love the character design so much. You can tell it's Clamp, but at the same time, they made it into something unique.
Also I'm a sucker for anime that have a reasonable amount of involuntary humour.