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ANNCast - Code Geasscast

Incidentally, I don't think it should pass without mention that Lelouch the pragmatist who "got things done" had no problem at all sacrificing a lot of lives for his objectives in both seasons, including in the final arc. The show may not question that too much, but it's not clear to me the viewer should imitate that. Geass, I think, attempts to compensate for this somewhat with Lelouch's final plot being for this utopian supposedly war-free endgame he chases not for his sake, but for everyone else. But really, is that so easy to swallow?

Following my previous comments on the other podcast thread, which dealt with a very brief preview of this week's episode, I would argue Code Geass still had comparatively better main character writing than a bunch of recently popular shows, including most of Sunrise's recent output. This can be either good or bad, but for me it's good.

I think that's the key element which makes Code Geass still worth watching in 2015. For my money, the quality of Goro Taniguchi's direction made a big difference too, but in terms of contents the character of Lelouch was also vital to the success of the show and helps explain why so many people were willing to embrace it. Not too surprisingly, Taniguchi did say -back in the day- that was where he focused his efforts. The guy got it.

I would say the more important point is Lelouch was already fully aware that he needed to be punished for killing people. He knew that in episode one and the man, in one sense or another, was true to it at the end of the story. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let himself be killed. Lelouch, more than anyone else, knew that playing with human lives deserved punishment.

For the record, his endgame isn't an utopian war-free society though. It might feel that way, but the epilogue says otherwise. It's a better one with more progress towards peace, yet there are still issues and wars could break out. The world will just be better prepared to deal with them.

You can't say the same about Valvrave or Guilty Crown. They do have superficially similar "genius" characters who are technically capable of pulling off crazy moves too, but they're flat in terms of personality. They just don't work from a dramatic perspective and tend to lack any real flaws. Don't get me started about all the problems with Shu and Haruto, which also make me angry since Okouchi should have probably known better than to create those individuals into protagonists. I guess he needs Taniguchi (or someone even better) to keep him from wandering off into the wild.

I agree with Zac and Hope in that Suzaku's side of the argument is philosophically weaker than Lelouch's to the point it is not a real contest in practice, despite him making some sense at times (like with Euphemia's plan). That is an admitted limitation of the show. I do think Suzaku's character dynamics with Lelouch are interesting and entertaining. Outside of who is right and who is wrong, I like the contradictions and hypocrisy of Suzaku's character in contrast to Lelouch's own flaws. There are some good parallels and theatrical melodramatics involved too.

Apparently, there were a sh*t ton of issues behind the scenes of Code Geass. Director Goro Taniguchi had gained a reputation for being a perfectionist from his work on Planetes, and Sunrise didn't want to give him a second chance. If what the staff said was true, they didn't even have their own photocopier. Then of course, the show got too popular for its own good, switching its timeslot to a more mainstream one and forcing the writers to start over from scratch. It was a mess, and it shows in the second half.

Akane the Catgirl wrote:

Apparently, there were a sh*t ton of issues behind the scenes of Code Geass. Director Goro Taniguchi had gained a reputation for being a perfectionist from his work on Planetes, and Sunrise didn't want to give him a second chance. If what the staff said was true, they didn't even have their own photocopier. Then of course, the show got too popular for its own good, switching its timeslot to a more mainstream one and forcing the writers to start over from scratch. It was a mess, and it shows in the second half.

Someone else that knows the truth. Its so rare to see. I hope for the 10th anniversary next year, they let Taniguchi create his original plot of R2, and just call it an alternate route(like the many manga's of Code Geass), but I'm going to guess that the last OVA of Akito is the 10th anniversary present.

I'm just surprised that with given how popular the original Code Geass was, the spin-off Akito the Exiled seems barely heard of. I suppose it's a more solid series, but a lot less over-the-top entertaining than the original. Although Akito definitely does have much, much, much better fight scenes and choreography; as much as I enjoyed the original series the mecha battles tended to be pretty generic.

The show's ending isn't as cookie cutter as that especially when the "peace" is built upon yet another stack of lies in itself or that their reasons were entirely selfish according to Tanguichi and Okiuchi. You weren't suppose to feel glad that Lelouch died or that Suzaku must live on as a symbol for the rest of his life [...]

It kinda does, actually! Respect for people is built on respecting their right to life and free will, among other things. It's been a while since I've seen this but I'm fairly certain he uses his classmates as experiments on the effects of the geass without their knowledge; there's nothing about "respect for people" in there. Lelouch tries to convince himself that he's justified and all that but he makes it clear that he will trample anything necessary for his ambition.

It'd take me far too long to address the rest of your comment right now, but here's my response to this part.

I would say the more important point is Lelouch was already fully aware that he needed to be punished for killing people. He knew that in episode one and the man, in one sense or another, was true to it at the end of the story. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let himself be killed. Lelouch, more than anyone else, knew that playing with human lives deserved punishment.

For the record, his endgame isn't an utopian war-free society though. It might feel that way, but the epilogue says otherwise. It's a better one with more progress towards peace, yet there are still issues and wars could break out. The world will just be better prepared to deal with them.