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If Britain owned the world… I think that would be a proper way of describing the fundamentals of Code Geass, and anime first aired back in October of 2006 with its second season starting up and well on its way.

In the near future the holy empire Britannia invades Japan, using their mechanized suits called knightmare frames, and they win. Japan is then stripped of its name and called area 11. The citizens were from then on referred to as “elevens” and forced to live in ghettos of their former homes. Eventually resistances began to rise up and struggle against Britannia for freedom of Japan.

Eventually a young exiled prince by the name of Lelouch Lamperouge comes to live in Area 11, under the care of a noble family who hides his existence. Seven years prior his mother was killed in a brutal attack within the Britannian Palace and his sister Nunnally was crippled. When His father the Britannian emperor took no action and showed no sympathy towards the event that had transpired, Lelouch left the empire and vowed to one day overthrow it and find the people responsible for his mothers death.

While Lelouch was living with his sister Nunnally in Area 11, an incident occurred and he met a young mysterious girl named C.C who gave him the power of a Geass. The Geass allowed Lelouch to give orders that people cannot refuse, and gave him the power to accelerate his plans to overtake the Britanian Empire. He then assumed the form of a masked man named Zero and formed a rebel army to act as his pawns.

As far as mecha anime is concerned I don’t think this is anything close to a standard formula. After growing up on the gundam series, this is quite a change of pace. The series places its focus more on the strategy and the mind of its main characters rather than on the machines. Sure the mechs are present, but they are more of an added spice to a plot that could easily take place without them.

Plot wise, this series is a wild roller coaster. Twists and turns keep the pace lively and the viewers attention glued and waiting for the next episode, and it takes place with very little filler and only a few lulls in pace. The only exception is that in the first season’s twenty-five episode run time, it felt like much more could have been expanded on with just a few more episodes. But otherwise it is brilliant.

The characters are quite well done as well; the main characters have obviously been worked on extensively, with only a few noticeable traits of common anime character formula’s present. The character Lelouch keeps up quite well with the race for new cleverer main characters, with his wit and strategic knowledge, and his ability to use his geass so tactically. Suzaku plays more of an opposite roll of a kind of hypocritical pacifist, and a controversial old friend to Lelouch. The situation between the two characters plays quite suspensfully. Many of the main side characters as well have a similar intense feeling to them, aside from a select few. There are a few characters that are almost cookie cutter anime regulars. And needless to say there are a few characters that the viewers are guaranteed to hate (Nina).

All plot and story aside, the animation is left. And it must be said that it fits in quite well with the high standards held with most anime’s produced in the past few years. Very clean and lively. The series, thankfully, has not used any recycled frames or any ugly attempt at budget cutting (aside from maybe the geass mind re-arranging clip, which is only around two seconds). In fact, there wasn’t even a “recap” episode. In my books, this automatically earns it a few points. The animation was superb, and colorful, with stunning visual effects, and it gets even better in the second season.

Overall, I would say that Code Geass was a win in many ways; from its intense characters and action sequences to its exciting plot twists. It grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Now that a localized version is on its release through adult-swim, the eventual US DVD releases are something to get excited about to be sure (for easy attainability of course). But all in all, Code Geass is definitely more than worth the watch.