Code Geass

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ) is an original 25 episode military anime created by Sunrise.  The series originally aired In the Fall of 2006 and Spring of 2007.  

 

    The story takes place a bit in the future, 11 years after Japan has been conquered by the Britannian Empire and renamed as Area 11. The Japanese people, now 11's, are assimilated into the culture of their new masters and are branded as 2nd class citizens. Most of the populace bow their heads to their new rulers and shuffle about going on with life the best they can, hmm sounds normal. Yet there are small pockets of underground resistance that rely on their samurai heritage to try and regain their rights as Japanese and not 11's. The Britannian Empire is far superior in man power and technology, (what, the English/Americans have better tech then the Japanese weird). Using a powerful mech the Britannian's (again England developing a mech before the Japanese) wield unrelenting power and dominance.
   

    Skipping school to hustle chess against an aristocrat, a young Britannian named Lelouch, gets caught up in a military campaign against Japanese national terrorists. The terrorists have stolen a canister of deadly gas and the military is trying to stop them from using it. Lelouch, who ends up following the stolen vehicle, finds not gas inside but a weird comatose woman. Intrigued, he helps the woman escape from the sewers. They end up exiting into a warehouse in which a group of Britannian soldiers have just executed Japanese citizens in the guise of them being terrorists. Lelouch and the woman are caught. The head of the soldier's fires on Lelouch but the woman takes the bullet in the head for him. As she dies Lelouch holds her hand, with this a strange power is transferred to him, the Geass. She asks him to fulfill his destiny as the price for this gift. His destiny is taking down the empire. Lelouch stands up, confident and cocky; he begins commanding the soldiers, ordering them to kill themselves. This is when his power takes control, by making eye contact with them while giving the order they are forced to comply, happily. They all smile, agree to the order and shoot themselves in the head. Lelouch, with the geass, now has the power to exact his revenge upon the empire.

 

    Lelouch is a lost Britannian prince. 11 years prior, his mother was killed and his sister gravely wounded in an assassination attempt. He knew his father, the emperor, was behind it. Now, with this amazing power, he can exact said revenge and topple the Britannian Empire, by cutting off its head. His first target, under the guise of a Japanese rebellion, is his brother Clovis. Upon successfully controlling the rebel faction and assassinating his brother, he throws the entire empire into chaos. Lelouch seizes this opportunity to take command of the rebel forces, called the Black Knights, as a masked, unknown leader calling himself Zero. Zero works to gather all of the renegade forces under his banner.  Using his incredible intelligence and tactical abilities he wages a real life chess game against his siblings and father, under the guise of freeing the 11's from domination. Using his soldiers and his geass he brings the rebel factions into the spotlight of the nation and garners open support from the populace along with a bounty from the Britannian royal family. Lelouch must now live three lives; a normal Britannian high school student, the leader of the Japanese rebellion and a royal prince in hiding. The only catch with the geass is that it only works once on a person, after that they are immune to it, but they most obey his one command absolutely. As the rebellion picks up speed he finds that his secret is a very delicate thing to hide from everyone around him. Will he be able to accomplish his goal of revenge for his mothers death and sister crippling? How far will the rebel factions trust in him? How long until he loses this grand game of chess and falls victim to his own emotions?

 

Code Geass is dark and twisted tale of suffering and false hope. The mech designs are pretty slick, they reminded me a little of the mechs from Escaflowne. Lelouch is a great anti-hero and I have only found myself rooting for him to win, even as he systematically kills off his own rebel soldiers. All that I'm waiting for now is the story to be resolved; however they chose to do that…only time will tell. So check out this great anime when you can, if you like great mech action and military intrigue.