I'm back. I died a while back, but I was told not to go yet. I guess you could say the plot thickens. I still hate the same people I have always hated, and the list seems to grow exponentially. Frankly for me, that's a regular part of life. Let the hate reign!
But first, I've always wanted to do one of those review blogs. Thing is, blogging it one episode by one episode is tiring and I generally watch TV series from the DVD box, start to finish. I'm a marathon man, indeed. So each review is essentially a whole-series review rather than a step by step review. It does pay to live in South East Asia ,heheh
I don't give ratings for each category and the overall rating I give is based on how the series affected me, impressed me and made me think. I'm not a starry eyed fangirl shipper or A X B kind of person- I'm more of a Western literary minded person who is more Tolkien than Tezuka, so the perspective is mostly from a non-otaku point of view.
So mind the flames.
First up is the last anime series I watched. It's name is Code Geass : Lelouch Of The Rebellion.
Written by the ladies at CLAMP, whose work I normally enjoy (Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicles) or get frustrated with to the max (Chobits, X, X/1999) I was intrigued by this foray into the world of giant mecha and colourful male leads.
Oh , we have our CLAMP favourites- a school where people wear black uniforms, kitty costumes with a real cat somewhere in the mix and of course the prerequisite little girls and the fact that almost everyone has long hair. And of course your talented ,sexually ambigious women who keep commenting on people of their own gender (Millie = Tomoyo with big Ds).
None of that is the main element, however. The main element is that young man in the middle of the photo, a certain Lelouch Vi Britannia @ Lamprouge who is a talented but arrogant 17 year old at the Ashford Academy. After a chance encounter with both a strange green haired girl and his childhood friend Suzuaku Kururugi in a Shinjuku subway he gains the 'Geass' ability that lets him command anyone to do anything, basically. It only works once per person and not on the green haired girl or another Geass user.
The twist is, Lelouch is not a good person. In anyone else's story he would be the villain, controlling and pulling people on his chessboard. He is set up to be the protagonist, particularly as his intention is to 'make a better world' for his blinded sister to experience when she can see.
The story takes us through various parts of Japan, including a half-metal Mount Fuji and a perpetually dark Hokkaido. There are several interesting characters here among the wide cast' however, neither Lelouch or Suzaku (the main characters) are among them. When this happens in anime I pray that Yoshiyuki Tomino comes in and simply kills them. Or like the architects of Gundam SEED Destiny, hastily change protagonists until the original one becomes a villain.
Both boys are ridiculously one dimensional and deluded to the maximum, plus the luck they have defeats all the four leaf clovers in the universe. In one episode Zero (Lelouch's deep voiced masked alter ego) is owned in a mecha fight and ejects, lying upside down. Yet no one among his enemies ,including one that discovers him tries to simply shoot him in the head. Oh no, she is shot instead by a confused redhead. He escapes too often and gives in to mega-sacrifice too much. For all his power the boy ends up committing mass murder in one episode, with very little sign of conflict or regret afterwards. The tears shed are crocodile tears- I felt nothing for him as he'll just continue being the selfish, unworthy lead to the series.
I do like a lot of the secondary characters, unfortunately they are needlessly demonized or emasculated rather easily in favour of the pretty boys in charge. If she hadn't shot the poor citizens of Area 11 or surrendered enemy troops, I would fall in love with Princess Cornelia in an instant. Colonel Todou is (to me) a mature , outstanding leader who unfortunately has to play second fiddle to a deep voiced, high-luck brat. I'd take the Four Divine Swords' skill over the Gawain's plot contrivance any day. The subplot with Ohgi and Ville should be followed up in the second season, I've always liked sub-commander types, and especially cross-forces romance. That's another thing I missed here- by the end, no one is actually in a proper relationship with anyone else. Not what I expect with a different girl falling over Suzaku or Lelouch every other episode.
I can't say much about the male character designs- other than the aforementioned Todou and Ohgi, every male here seems to be a lanky creature from bishonen-ville . I can't take the looks seriously enough. I can't help it, I'm just not a fan of artists who draw women very well but make men look like boys trying their hardest to look feminine. The women are beautiful of course, and together with the mecha concepts are the best thing going for this anime. I really like all of the weapons and tools used (yes, wheels!!), although I think the Lancelot unit is a bit too durable for my liking, although in its favour it's incredibly agile. The 'mecha that can blast everything' bit of the Gawain is horrible, though. This series does a good job of close and medium-range combat situations, I'd remove the Hedron beams from the Knigtmares in a heart beat.
The setting is also horrible- Ashford Academy seems to exist outside of the entire geopolitical sphere of the series, like some sort of wierd CLAMP nexus for all school based series.
Overall Grade : 5.5 /10
I'll be following other review blogs when the second season comes out. I won't buy the DVDs or try to download any of it, I don't feel like it's worth the hassle. Unless there comes some plot twist that brings this series forwards to a level of likeability and sense, I am not going to watch the second season.
up next: Glass no Kantai (Legend of the Glass Fleet)
