Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ R2) is the continuation of the Code Geass original mecha anime by Sunrise.  R2 aired during the Spring and Fall of 2008.

WARNING!! If you have not watched all of the original series this review could provide some spoilers.  The review of the original series can be found here.

 

 The story begins a year after the ens of the original series. The Black Knights have been squashed and many of them await execution in prison. Lelouch himself had been captured and the empire claims that Zero has been executed. The plight of the 11’s is that of continued subjugation. Yet the remaining Black Knights have not given up hope.  With the leadership of the many brilliant minds Lelouch gathered, they are continuing their quest for independence and recognition. C.C. is with them and is working feverishly to connect with Lelouch again so he can continue his end of their bargain. Lelouch is residing back at his school, his memories having been rewritten, living as a normal high school student. His sister has been taken and in her place the Emperor has left a spy who, acting as Lelouch’s brother. The spy, along with a number of other people, are trying to see if the effects of the false memories will wear off and if Lelouch will remember the truth and continue his rebellion. C.C. does regain contact with him and all of his memories come flooding back.

 He must now wear four masks, that of Lelouch, the lost prince, that of Zero, the savior of Japan, that of a normal high school student and that of the exiled prisoner who must pretend that his memories have been rewritten. Suzaku has been knighted and is a member of the most elite soldiers in the empire, the Knights of Round.  Being the first non-Britannian to reach such a level; he must continue his unflinching allegiance to the Emperor. He received such an honor by bringing Lelouch to the Emperor and once he returns to school he does everything in his power to verify that Lelouch was truly Zero. Lelouch, knowing he must keep his returned memories a secret from anyone must play a deadly game of hide and seek with every single person outside of the Black Knights, especially when Zero rises from the dead for a flashy rescue operation to save the members of the Black Knights who are about to be executed. This event brings him into the graces of the Chinese empire and he is now forced to include international politics into his plans. Lelouch is incredibly intelligent and adept at strategy; he soon invokes a large scale diplomatic war between Britannia and the rest of the world, while trying to provide a land for the Japanese. He also begins to discover the secrets behind the Geass, C.C. and his father. Along the way, though, he must betray many of his comrades and he begins to find him self with more enemies than he originally intended.

 

      In a lot of ways I enjoyed this second season more than the first, in other ways it went a little over board, in the end it reeled back into a place of semi-reality. The first episode of the series plays out very much like the first episode of the original series, leaving me to wonder if they were just rehashing the original plots to flesh out the story. Those fears were quickly squashed as the scope of what Lelouch was trying to accomplish grew exponentially. It was nice to see the old crew return but at the same time there were some characters I didn’t remember that began to play semi-important roles, like the princess whom Lelouch had married while courting the various Japanese rebel factions. The one constant in this series is the shifting alliances. One episodes enemies may well become the next episodes allies, it may also happen in a matter of minutes as well. This lead to some confusion at times, like who was really on what side and what were their intentions, but in the end it all panned out to be understandable. 

 

    Some of the events and tactics were a bit out of the realm of realism, like they were written just to come up with something, where a lot of the events that played into Lelouch’s favor in the first season were believable. Some stuff was just so out of bounds that Lelouch would smirk and say it was going as he planned, but you wonder if that was true or if they just glossed over that kind of reality to continue his luck. You always know that Lelouch admits to everything he does so the writers changing his character to admit to things he didn’t actually have the ability to claim was unusual. I know it’s all fiction but continuity is greatly appreciated and some of the stuff just seemed like a pretty big stretch. Regardless, the series is still good. The mechs and art have not changed, but they did include a bit more mech combat and some shonen adventure type power ups that kept coming in the fights. Ultimately R2 does end very nicely, tidily and I was quite impressed with how it did end. It is few and far between for series' that end and you think, ok, that was a good ending and my needs have been satisfied, well done. 

 

    Like the original series, R2 is readily available in North America.  More of the story has been released over time as OAV, movies and manga adaptations and spin-offs.  I will have to revisit the entire series before jumping into the later content...some day.