It's about this school boy. He's good-looking and really smart and has a lot of big ideas.
One day he gains the power to manipulate the wills of others from a detached, otherwordly being.
He decides to use this power to right the wrongs of the world around him - so he creates a persona to gain the appeal of the public while hiding his true identity.
And the story is how he tries to connive his way to world peace while maintaining his secret lifestyle and discovering the workings of his power.
Lelouch copped Light Yagami's style because it's a good one. It's still a pretty fresh idea in mainstream anime - the sneaky bastard as both the hero and the villain, at odds with the entire world around him.
So what happens when you take a fresh idea and put it into a genre known for its staleness? The results are pleasantly confusing.
It seems like Code Geass makes a point to reinsert all of the cliches that were missing from Death Note. The otherwordly agent is a bright-eyed girl with flowing green hair and shapely derriere, rather than a creepy demon. The opponents are not a task force of office workers, but an empire with a fleet of giant robots (Knightmare Frames) with silly names German names. Code Geass also makes sure to put in all of the awkward and superfluous classroom scenes that Death Note was so foolish to neglect! I mean, how else are we going to get to see schoolgirls misunderstand each other and get embarrassed about things?
At first glance, the injection of cliches might seem like a step back for the genre. And, well, maybe it is. Code Geass is obviously seeking to fulfill a different need than Death Note. Code Geass is Death Note by way of a Saturday morning cartoon. There is no subtlety. Everything is much more colorful and distinct, and the pacing is swift and consistent. If there is ONE THING I have to praise Geass for, it's for keeping the pace with quick cuts and by constantly developing the action without reusing old frames of animation or relying on talking heads as a means of exposition.
It kind of reminds me of that Spider-Man cartoon that was on Fox Kids - an ACTUAL Saturday morning cartoon. They always managed to cram so much story into very little time. It was often as stupid as it was exciting as a result, and it may have been confusing, but it was rarely boring!
Hey, Lelouch is a lot like Spider-Man. He's got a lot of secrets to keep and people to protect and everyone's out to find out who he is and take him down.
However, cliches can only work for you in so many ways. When I first started watching Geass, I was excited, but wary. I knew that the show could not maintain it's momentum merely through scenes of military robot action. No. I knew, at some point, the action would have to come down and that I would be forced to endure scenes of schoolchildren acting like schoolchildren just like they do all of the time in all anime, with all the schoolgirls' voice actors living in their upper registers and no one sounding at all pleasant or natural. And I knew that I would be introduced to new characters who were stupid and cloying and who, once they were named, would officially become a part of the cast and would not go away.
That's one problem with stealing good ideas. If all of the characters are really dumb or uninteresting, it becomes that much more obvious that the one interesting character isn't even original. Besides that, what good is a super-intelligent manipulator if most of the people around him are total dopes?
The one time this sort of seen-it-before characterization works out is through Suzaku, Lelouch's childhood friend. He is much different from Light's partner/rival, L, in that he does not fight fire with fire. Rather than using his intellect in the struggle for peace, he relies on virtues typical of the anime hero: instinct, courage, honor and a big robot. In this way, he's actually a perfect foil, highlighting all of our anti-hero's strengths and vices. He's like the Laertes to Lelouch's Hamlet. Or the Ramza to his Delita.
The last anime I spent any great deal of time with was Stand Alone Complex, an incredibly thoughtful and mature if slow-paced series. After I watched it, I thought, "Yes, this is the future of animation."
And then Lelouch walks into my life - tall and skinny and pretty, with his tokusatsu mask in one hand and a stupidly obvious symbol for justified manipulation (a chess piece) - and flashes his Geass at me, and I'm under control. My sudden attraction to this nutty show is so confounding that it seems like something apart from me. At first glance, Geass seemed as though it was everything I stood against, a step BACKWARDS. Then my friends showed me the first episode. Now, after watching only six more episodes, I have been moved to write about it. It pains me to admit it, but that obviously means that it's worth something.
Cliches exist for a reason, right? There's always something bigger beneath them, like the tips of icebergs. Does Geass have what it takes to tap into the strengths of these cliches? Do I have what it takes to see this through?
Lelouch; I accept your contract.
Addendum: 5/23
Go here, and start watching.
www.codegeassepisode.com
Code Geass has successfully combined the heightened theatricality of anime with the sheer dramatic momentum of a primetime blockbuster.
I don't hate it.
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