Science fiction anime like Code Geass first Season, which is established as a subgenre of “Mechanical”, such anime that focuses on robots or machines controlled or piloted by people, is known as mecha anime. There are some different kinds of mecha anime also.
These robots or machines can come in very shapes and sizes. Be it of humanoid figure or big and heavily mechanical in appearance.
Mostly explored themes in such animes are warfare, AI, and human and machine relationships.
Some examples are “Mobile Suit Gundom”, ” Armoured Trooper Votoms”, “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, and “Ghost in The Shell”. ” Code Geass First Season” Is also such an Anime.
Here we will discuss one such anime which even after being of mecha subgenre is subtly a bit different from the available ones now.
Synopsis
The story of Code Geass first Season represents an alternate world, where in 2010, the Holy Empire of “Britannia” conquered Japan and was renamed as ” Area 11″.
Lelouch Lamperouge is a student from the holy empire of Britannia who is secretly an exiled prince, inhabiting Japan, also known as “Area 11”.
The situation around them is as harsh as ever and turmoil continues, as indigenous people of ” Area 11″ (Japan) try to regain their rights and freedom but harsh rule persists.
Lelouch also gets involved in such a mess, the battle between the Empire army and “Defenders” (Japanese rebel group), and by unique turn of events he meets a mysterious girl C.C., who grants him the “Power of Kings”.
His newfound ability to command others to bend to his will inspired him to create a persona named “Zero” and launch a counterattack on “Britannia” Seeking vengeance for the subjugation of Japan, as his only Japanese friend Suzaku Kururugi lost his father to them, during their invasion.
Director
Gorō Taniguchi (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion season 1)
Leading Character
Lelouch Lamperouge
As described in Code Geass first Season, Lelouch is an exiled prince from the superpower Britannia, whose original name is Lelouch vi Britannia.
Charles zi Britannia
As described in Code Geass first Season, Charles is the king of the holy empire of Britannia, who doesn’t believe in the equality of humans.
He believes only by snatching chances and stepping on others can human beings truly evolve.
He shows no mercy towards the weak. When Lelouch and Nunnally’s mother Marianne was murdered he simply said she was weak.
C.C.
According to the story of Code Geass first Season, C.C. is s witch staying in the monetary since the Middle Ages. She owns some unique powers and also granted the “Power of Kings” (Power of Geass) to Lelouch Lamperouge.
V.V.
V.V. is a mysterious character in Code Geass first Season, who knows about Lelouch’s secret.
Suzaku Kururugi
Suzaku Kururugi is shown as a childhood friend of Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass first Season. He later joined the Britannia army in order to change the corruption within the system.
Kallen Kouzuki
According to the story of the Code Geass first Season, Kallen Kouzuki is the best pilot of the rebel army and most loyal to “Zero”. Being a paradoxical existence as half Japanese half Britannia she wishes nothing more than freedom for Japan.
Shirley Fenette
Shirley in Code Geass first Season, was in the same grade as Lelouch. She was the only girl to whom Lelouch had a mutual romantic interest.
Lloyd Asplund
Lloyd is a true eccentric mad scientist material in Code Geass first Season.
He loves building powerful battling nightmare frames and just doesn’t care about any kind of ongoing wars. He only cares about Suzaku Kururugi and his own partners.
Euphemia Li Britannia
Euphemia li Britannia is the half-sister of Lelouch in Code Geass first Season.
She presumed the role of sub-viceroy of Japan Or “Area 11”, which she respectfully took over and started her effort in the imperial ruling of Japan.
Cornelia li Britannia
Cornelia, being the chief general of the imperial army of Britannia, went to Area 11(Previously Japan) to apprehend Clovis’s murderer in Code Geass first Season.
Clovis la Britannia
Clovis was the original viceroy of Area 11, was somehow snobbish, and had a superiority complex against everyone under him, especially against numbers.
He was the third prince of holy Britannia in the story of Code Geass first Season.
Nunnally vi Britannia
Nunnally is Lelouch’s kindhearted younger sister according to the story setting of Code Geass first Season.
Despite being half crippled at a young age she remains true to her ideals of a kinder world.
Jeremiah Gottwald
Jeremiah is a patriotic fellow for Britannia.
Not knowing Lelouch’s whereabouts after his exile he had a misconception that the Japanese killed him.
Since then he had become one one-man army against the Japanese rebel army for vengeance.
His presence is paramount in Code Geass first Season.
Kyoshiro Tohdoh
Kyoshiro Todoh, also known as “Kiseki no Todoh” (Todoh of Miracle) is the only person who ever won a battle against the Britannia empire without any help from the nightmare frame.
He is an important member of the “Japanese Liberation Front”.
Mao
Mao was the contractee of C.C. prior to Lelouch, from when he was a 6-year-old orphan.
His power is to read minds of anyone within 500 meters, but can’t turn his power off, as he has been consumed by his power.
As he couldn’t fulfill the contract C.C. abandoned him.
Since then he has been finding her.
What’s in the story
This story of Code Geass first Season, depicts different aspects of a country that is ruled by another country as its colony.
Be it social structure, the livelihood of indigenous people, or discrimination, everything needs to be further analyzed.
Social struggle
In the story of Code Geass first Season, following Charles zi Britannia, king of the holy empire of Britannia, who believed strong prey on weak, Japan as a country has been under the strict rules of Britannia, as it lost its independence as a free country. Even losing the name “Japan” And being branded as “Area 11” For 7 years had never been an easy change for any Japanese.
As it hadn’t been enough, there also has been clear discrimination against the “Elevens”(indigenous people of “Area 11”). Low-quality living environments, like living in dirty, rundown ghettos, with less chance for proper education, fewer rations, and frequent oppression, were common occurrences.
The alternative name for the Japanese being “11” had been a sign of great shame for them, as it signifies their extremely low social standing to Britannia and to themselves also.
All this shame was enough to light the fire of defiance inside some Japanese to take arms against Britannia to fight for their right.
Such a different form of social structure and its mutation is rarely available in other mainstream mecha anime.
Protagonist’s hidden identity in Code Geass first Season
Lelouch Lamperouge, originally named Lelouch Vi Britannia, as shown in the story of Code Geass first Season.
He was the 11th successor to the throne of Britannia and the son of now-dead Queen Marianne.
Lelouch was used as a diplomatic pawn, to maintain the relationship with Japan, after his mother’s murder and his exile, prior to Britannia’s invasion of Japan.
In Japan, he became close friends with Suzaku Kururugi, the son of the Prime Minister.
But during the Britannian invasion, his friend lost his own family.
Since then, Lelouch took an oath to destroy Britannia’s authority.
Somehow he and the rebel army of Japan shared the same emotion, and due to some incident they had to come together, so he used this opportunity to prepare to launch a war against Britannian authority, masking his Identity as mysterious “Zero”.
This anti-hero tendency of the protagonist is rarely available in other mecha anime, hence it’s different in that way.
Encounter that changed everything
On his way to school with his friend, Lelouch comes in contact with a heavily loaded truck, which crashed into an under-construction zone trying to turn left in a hurry.
As Britannian onlookers irritated him, he went to check for survivors by himself and by accident fell inside the truck.
The rebel army was driving the truck, while Britannian army was chasing them.
Soon after, they fled the scene.
Lelouch found a large-sized capsule inside the truck. One of the rebel soldiers left the truck in a looted nightmare frame, model name Glasgow to divert the enemy.
The truck encountered another enemy and crashed and found itself surrounded by the enemy squad. Lelouch encountered a Britannian soldier, whose identity was his childhood friend Suzaku Kururugi.
They accidentally opened the capsule which was said to be filled with poison gas, but in reality, a girl was inside it. This encounter changed the helpless life of Lelouch Lamperouge entirely.
The incoming squad captain, upon witnessing such a scene ordered Suzaku to shoot Lelouch, as he denied the order, the squad captain shot him instead. He also shot the girl mistakenly as she was trying to protect Lelouch.
She imparted the “Power of Kings”(Geass) to Lelouch in her dying breath.
That power awakened the hidden desire, which he had since childhood, to destroy the Britannian authority and he started to implement his plans almost immediately, changing the impending fate of himself and many others.
Difference in Ideology
In the story of Code Geass first Season, different people with different perspectives are in conflict or in unison with each other.
One of the main conflict is between Zero and Suzaku Kururugi.
Not knowing Zero’s original identity as Lelouch Lamperouge, his childhood friend, he shows animosity towards him.
Zero’s main aim is to destroy Britannia’s authority completely, and forcefully, while Suzaku’s is to change the system from within. So, in many ways, Suzaku can’t condone Zero’s actions.
There are other instances of such difference. The Japanese rebel army, they were only thinking of revenge against Britannian soldiers, and to retake their rights, whereas Zero had a larger goal in mind. Despite that, they teamed up against Britannian authority.
Such different ideologies added more variables to the story and added many twists and turns, which made the intensity of the story different from other mecha anime.
Conviction
Each character in this series is driven by their own convictions, which propel them further on their path toward their goal.
The protagonist of the story of Code Geass first Season, Lelouch Lamperouge’s conviction is, that to get proper human rights for Japanese, one has to destroy Britannian authority, whereas his friend Suzaku Kururugi’s conviction is, that for Japanese to receive equal rights as Britannians the system needs to be changed.
Kallen Kouzuki believed every Britannian was responsible for the predicament of Japanese citizens.
Nunnally’s conviction was, that only a kinder world can bring about happiness for everyone.
Suzaku believes, that only by putting in the effort to peacefully change Britannia’s system, it is possible to peacefully coexist with Britannians for Japanese.
Britannian king, Charles zi Britannia has the most unique conviction among all characters, that is, none of the humans are born equal, and every human continues to evolve by, plundering, oppressing, stepping on, and competing with others.
Such a variety of convictions of different characters added many twists and turns and many suspenseful moments in the story.
Sacrifice for the greater good
Zero, being the dark Knight of the story, sacrificed a greater deal for his cause.
At first, he sacrificed his own brother Clovis by killing him, to get a brief stopgap from the ruling of Britannia.
He also mistakenly killed his friend Shirley’s father at Narita, while he was trying to fight off his half-sister, viceroy Cornelia, and her army by using a manmade landslide.
After Zero accidentally used geass on his beloved Euphemia, ordering her to kill all the Japanese, he used her action to solidify his standing against the Britannian authority by sacrificing her life.
A Deville to fight the darkness
There is one more thing that makes Code Geass first Season different from other mecha anime, that is, the protagonist is an anti-hero. He had to turn into the devil incarnate to face the Britannia.
To fight them off, he had to make many different and difficult choices, be it sacrificing his own teammates during the fight against Cornelia or during the battle at Narita causing Avalanche to win against Britannian soldiers but also involving normal Britannian citizens in the process, as a result indirectly killing Shirley’s father.
All those choices made Lelouch into “Zero”, which was an unavoidable outcome, necessary to win battles against Britannian soldiers.
Yesterday’s friend today’s foe
Suzaku Kururugi and Lelouch Lamperouge were best of friends for a long time. Even after meeting a long time later, they become even closer.
After Suzaku enrolled at Lelouch’s school, Lelouch at first, couldn’t communicate with Suzaku due to his hidden identity.
As Suzaku was facing discrimination as a “11”, Lelouch found a way by inviting him into the student council association.
They even saved Nunnally from Mao’s kidnapping together by ingenious teamwork.
But, everything changes after V.V. informs Suzaku, about the true identity of Zero being Lelouch.
Also knowing, that Lelouche used the power of Geass to manipulate Euphemia to kill Japanese citizens he turned hostile towards Lelouch.
Conclusion
As far as the story of Code Geass first Season goes up till now, there is so much more except simple mecha battles in there.
There is a strategic fight against the superpower of authority, conflict of morality, and convictions to follow through at any cost. Even there is friendship and it’s destruction.
All over in the story, there is so much more than simple mecha. Yes, mecha are the important spice to cook up the story, but that’s not all. What makes this series different from other mecha anime, is these mecha anime delve deep into a compilation of dystopian and utopian societies and the discrimination that exists within, as well as the main interest of the story being its character development more than some cool mecha and their specs also some strategic battle rather than some full-blown warfare of which no proper framework are shown.
With all these present factors, this series can be easily granted the title of “a bit different Mecha anime from the available ones now”.
For more of this story, read the Blog Post on 2nd season of Code Geass.
