Sometimes people say it's a leftist anime but I think it's way too stupid all of the time to have any real ideology to it and it's better not to seriously think about the politics of it because it will rot your brain quickly. However, it was very fun and I liked it. Suzaku is a cop.
It's definitely not strictly a leftist anime, but it speaks to the same people on the left who think Death Note is a good anime. Death Note is about a sociopathic murderer and in no universe should anyone think Light is a good guy. Code Geass though is a much more realistic interpretation of the same story. A guy with basically godlike powers who is trying to use them to genuinely better the world....and all of the problems that causes. Rather than just murder murderers like Light does, Lelouch actually uses his powers to take down an imperalist monarchy and free the oppressed. Or, well, he tries to. Often to horrible results. Which... to me at least is more true to life, and it makes it a compelling story. It's a much more left-aligned goal, and since the two anime are often compared, I totally understand why people think Code Geass is a leftist anime.
I personally love Code Geass, flaws and all. It's a great anti imperialist story and watching giant robots and mind control tear down imperialism is just fun. Is it a leftist anime? Not really. Is it a fun anime for leftists who hate imperialism? I think so.
Death Note is about a sociopathic murderer and in no universe should anyone think Light is a good guy
I think Light has a lot of parallels to Walter White or Patrick Bateman or Eren Jaeger in that regard. No matter how pathetic you try to make your villain protagonist in the end, some dipshits on the internet are gonna unironically call them a le epic based ligma male
Light and Walter White aren't good guys, but they are fun characters that you can want to see get away with it.
For sure. Well, the fun part at least. I didn't want to see Light get away with it in the end. I also think both series do a good job of making you root for their opposition, too. L and Hank are also fun characters.
Code Geass ranges from being ridiculous and terrible to having gripping exciting fights and revelations. Some of the characters are enjoyable, others are insufferable, the amount of perverted shots of teenagers is insane, the animation is pretty cool and the ending was genuinely really really good. It's one of the messiest shows I've ever loved. I first watched it when I was 15 and I think that's the ideal age to watch it at
Yeah pretty much.
For the longest time I've written off Okouchi as a hack writer who got lucky with his first big break but after Witch from Mercury made me reevaluate his work it seems clear to me that he was someone who really wanted to talk about politics without knowing how to. Code Geass is a mess, and the less we say about Guilty Crown and Valverave the better.
It seems like he only figured how to tie all his disparate narrative threads and themes together in Princess Principal, and we're seeing his work pay off in Gundam, but even then maybe his progressivism is of the liberal variety rather than actually leftist.
I started watching G.Witch right after actually. Only one episode in but the one episode is basically the exact plot of Utena and also Charles zi Britannia is the dad. Pretty good will keep watching.
Yeah I should have thrown out the caveat that I don't think CG is bad (at least in comparison to some of his other shows), just messy. It still manages to be entertaining the whole way thru, largely because Lelouch is a pretty charismatic anti-hero.
It's anti-imperialist, but also nationalist.
It's the kind of chud media that's written well enough to appeal to all kinds of people.
It's the epitome of "anime politics", with all the political literacy of a saturday morning cartoon show. The bad guys are bad because they're bad, the good guys are good because they're good (but they also struggle with their internal demons to be edgy and cool!). The first season is way better. Suzaku is the dumbest man alive. Justice for Kallen, she didn't deserve all the leering shots.
well it's not really good but instead of a "this sucks" it's an "lol this sucks" which is a big distinction. suzaku spin-kicking a turret is your cue to never take anything seriously again.
I agree with a lot of stuff in this thread but one of the things that always through me for a.loop with cg as a wee las when i watched it was all the shot with the insane guy and the green hair mc girl. To be clear, I watched cg so long ago I dont remember many parts and most names, but I distinctly remember beong really really confused at that section.
I was a kid watching my older brothers 'cool' anime, and I got some stuff while most of it went over my head at the time. But to this day, I still dont understand wtf that part was there for.
I watched season 1, some of the
ideology is incredible to look at.Also the first OP rocks so hard
I reeatched Season 1 a few years ago with a friend, we need to see Season 2 again now!
Its not fash. Its not lefty. Its lib. Maybe a little reactionary but in the way libs are reactionary. Like most japanise entretaiment.
The best part is the first few episodes were he actually relies on his abilty. Later it becomes about who has the bigest robot or who is the best pilot.
s1 was kinda boring, i didn't get really into it until about a third into season 2.
