20 Years Ago, Fans Never Expected to See This Dark Sci-Fi Anime Hit

Mecha has always been a huge genre within the anime community, with classic series like Mobile Suit Gundam and Evangelion becoming global phenomenons with staying power that’s nearly unmatched. Much of the reason for this is that mecha anime are able to tap into conversations regarding the cost of militaristic conflict, political disagreements, and the human condition through the lens of over-the-top combat with flashy giant robots. Among series tackling these themes, none do so quite as well as Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, an original animation project from Goro Taniguchi and Studio Sunrise that released in 2006.

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Code Geass takes place in a dystopian world separated into three super-powered nations: the Holy Brittanian Empire, the Chinese Federation, and the Europa United. As the story begins, audiences are dropped into this strange, alternate take on the 2010s just as the Brittanian Empire seizes Japan using a strange new weapon called the Autonomous Armored Knight, or Knightmare Frame. The Empire strips Japan and its citizens of their rights, renaming the newly claimed nation to “Area 11” and referring to its citizens as the Elevens. While there are a few alternate timelines as Code Geass begins branching into a franchise, this is the original story that introduced the iconic antihero Lelouch.

Code Geass’s Characters Are Perfectly Imperfect

The original anime primarily follows a tight knit cast of characters who are in the throes of the ongoing geopolitical conflict sparked by the Empire’s takeover of Japan, centralized around Lelouch vi Britannia: an exiled prince of the Empire whose younger sister, Nunnally, was blinded after witnessing the murder of their mother, Marianne. Lelouch believes the tragedies endured by his mother and sister were inflicted upon them by his father, the Emperor Charles zi Britannia, and despite Lelouch and his sister Nunnally being used by the Imperial family as political pawns in Japan, makes a vow to dismantle the empire at any cost. This plot is set fully into motion when Lelouch begins attending Ashford Academy under the alias Lelouch Lamperouge, where he comes into contact with a mysterious young woman named C.C., who grants his a mysterious power called Geass, which gives Lelouch the power to dominate the mind of anyone he comes into contact with.

Code Geass is a complex narrative with a number of running plot threads surrounding its characters, and Lelouch’s descent into tyrannical madness at the behest of his newly acquired ability constantly puts the people he cares so deeply for when the series begins in danger. His quest for revenge against his father leads him to taking up a new alias, Zero, and commanding a resistance groups who dub themselves the Black Knights.

Despite his best efforts to become a hero capable of liberating Japan, he’s forced to navigate conflicts with his best friend, Suzaku, various half siblings and other members of the Imperial family who stand in his way, and even the Britannian Empire’s military force as a whole. Watching Lelouch try, fail, and succumb to his violent nature as he is consumed by his vow for revenge is truly haunting to watch, and has aided in Code Geass feeling like a unique viewer experience when compared to its contemporaries.

Studio Sunrise Treated Code Geass Like A Labor of Love

Being an original animation project and not something that was being adapted from a manga or novel, there were many different teams working together to make Code Geass what it is today — especially in the art department. The character designs for the series were done by none other than CLAMP, a group of four female manga creators consisting of Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi, a group of award-winning creatives behind massive series like Chobits, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magic Knight Rayearth.

While CLAMP’s works had been adapted to animation in the past, Code Geass was the group’s first time working on an original project designed for television. Takahiro Kimura, Studio Sunrise’s in-house character designer, spent multiple days studying CLAMP’s signature art style, notes, and concepts to nail down exactly how each character would look as they were coming to life. The love put into the series can be felt, with the anime becoming a massive hit, managing to find itself hitting with nearly every demographic of anime fan imaginable.

Whether it be anime fans looking for a character driven political drama, high-stakes, fast-paced action and plot beats, or even those who like to dive into shipping characters with one another — Code Geass truly had something for everyone. By mid-2008, a year after the original series came to an end, the anime had sold over 900,000 physical units in Japan, with the anime also becoming a hit overseas, and was subsequently named one of the most popular contemporary anime series that had been released in the United States that year.

The award-winning series has received a number of spin-offs, including audio drama, light novels, and official manga adaptation, and even video games exploring different timelines and potential events. The series is massive, even now, with the series set to return in 2027 with a brand-new anime series, and the love put into its production and story is a testament to its staying power.