…That awkward moment when you remember how complicated Code Geass actually is.

Summary

The year is 2017. A team of Elevens belonging to the EU Army are sent out by the resistance government to rescue a unit surrounded by the Britannian Army, with an extremely low rate of success. The only soldier sent out who survives is Hyuuga Akito, who accompanies commander Leila Malcal to the celebration party full of aristocrats. The next day, a team of three terrorists led by Sayama Ryou ambushes the car carrying Leila and her general before being stopped by Akito, who nearly kills them until Leila invites them to join her unit. At the same time, somewhere in Britannia an Oriental named Hyuuga Shin kills his superior with the power of Geass.

Impression

Whew, it’s been a while hasn’t it? They say that all good things must come to an end, which is exactly what happened with Code Geass R2 – I missed it, but it ended where it should have and didn’t drag out past its expiry date, unlike certain other series. This doesn’t mean that Sunrise should abandon such a popular series though, and that resulted in both the Nunnally in Wonderland parody OVA, and this new Akito the Exiled series, going on at around the same time Lelouch was wrecking havoc back in Area 11. And after such a long time without R2, you get that awkward moment when you realize how much you have to actually pay attention to what’s going on, especially during that first fight scene when everything was muddled up in my mind.

Let’s talk about Akito. He didn’t really appeal to me as much as Lelouch did despite their similar looks, and that might be because Lelouch was amazingly intelligent and only started going insane later on, while Akito seems to be your typical dark guy with low social skills. He doesn’t seem to be able to pass his sanity test just yet, though he might just have an intense hatred for Britannians in line with his traumatic childhood or past situation. His Knightmare skills are amazing, though, and I think the Alexanders the EU uses are sub-par to the Sutherlands the Britannians have, so being able to beat loads of them plus a few custom ones is pretty sweet. I’m almost sure he used some form of Geass in battle, however there’s no telling what it is nor who his contractor was. Him mentioning he died before right at the end of the ep hints at immortality, however that’s supposed to be a trait of having the Code, which only ex-Geass holders can have. Actually, that pic looks more like Akito’s under the influence of Geass instead of using it, and I’ll point the blame towards his older brother (assumed, since they both have Hyuuga as a last name) for now, having a confirmed Geass similar to Lelouch’s. He seems to be trying out the Suzaku method of bringing down the empire from the inside, or just rebelling for whatever reason.

The resident hot female protagonist appears in the form of Leila Malcal, who I’m sad to say will never replace C.C. in terms of awesomeness though Leila is cool herself. Sakamoto Maaya was a decent seiyuu choice, and I remember her for her Ryougi Shiki performance in the Kara no Kyoukai movies as well as Shinobu in Nisemonogatari. Anyway, you can draw lots of parallels between Leila and Lelouch, most namely the sadness at seeing the Elevens treated as crap despite taking refuge in a country opposing the Britannian Empire. Leila herself is of Britannian birth, which obviously gave her some bad blood with the EU aristocrats as well as her own family, who seem to have taken her in for the lulz. I instantly hated her brother Johann by the way. He’s a nasty little shit just like Matou Shinji who acts all high and mighty until they’re cornered, and then start squealing for their life. Hopefully he meets his sorry fate before the end of the series.

Personally I also find it disgusting how refugees are probably treated worse in an asylum providing country rather than Area 11 itself. It’s true that back in Area 11 many Elevens are homeless, but there still is resistance, and a chance to conscript and rise up the ranks like Suzaku did, provided you have the skill. Here, the EU protecting Elevens seems nothing more than a facade, and in reality they’re segregated, conscripted and sent off to die in suicide missions which have a survival rate close to 0%. That army guy setting the Alexanders to self-destruct showed perfectly how little they cared, and to them, they all turn up to the after-party and leave the Elevens to sort out the dirty work. Normally, the public would have exploded in revolution by now, but because the public are all Europeans, I doubt they give a flying fuck either. Cue the terrorist group who blew up the Mafia.

They’re quite like the Black Knights, who got a cameo mention I was quite happy about. The lead guy, Sayama Ryou looks eerily similar to Tohdoh, though he’s nothing in terms of Knightmare prowess after being taken down by an unarmed Akito. At the moment I’m unsure of whether both these people and Akito can be called protagonists as such, as I have absolutely no idea about their agenda. I’ve seen the girl, Ayano in a military uniform though, so it’s safe to call them allies for now. With the entire W-0 unit dead apart from Akito, Leila can’t really be picky about who she wants to reform the unit with.

It’s a good setup, despite it taking some time to kick off. However I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I did the original Code Geass, with absolutely no hint of a school or a slice-of-life theme like last time. There’s just something really cool about an exiled Britannian prince rebelling against the world, which isn’t exactly what Boukoku no Akito is offering us. The support characters didn’t really tune in as much with me compared to Kallen, Nunnally or even Lloyd, nor were the Knightmare battles as slick as they were in the original. Well, it’s more Code Geass, so I really should stop complaining and wait for the next one – I’m sure the heart-stopping epicness will start once shit goes down. I definitely have high hopes, since Suzaku and C.C. will be turning up! OMG C.C. MY WAIFU It’s 2017 and Lelouch regained his memories in 2018 for the start of R2, so it wouldn’t be far off to say that this is what they was doing during that one year gap. It’d certainly be a nice tie-in, and I will RAGE if we get cockblocked.

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Eva

    LOLOLOL! There’s no way Akito the Exile is ever going to top the orignal series! CG R1 & R2 will always have that special place in our hearts.

    I was deeply sadden (ever since I’ve seen the previews) that they’ve adapted CG to the knightmares and such, though I do have to give a round of applause for the CG animation scene when Akito was fighting in the woods. That was marvellously done. I think the dark contrast of the lightning and constant explosions and fire helped make the CG fit in more naturally.

    Without a doubt, Akito and Lelouch would probably be total BFFs. Ah man, it makes me a bit frustrated that we won’t see them tag team, can you imagine the amount badass chaos they would unleash?

    I like Akito’s character, like I’ve told you while I was watching it- the guy is super smooth when it comes down to his actions. I mean he’s totally cool under fire, slick maybe might be the word I’m looking for to describe him best.
    Leila is awesome herself, so I’m really looking forward to learning more about her and Akito.

    I already ship those two so much =w=/// Can’t help it, my shipping fangirl got the hold of me.

    As for her nasty freak Johann, (I v I)/ Lets hope he gets what coming to him within the next episode or ep 3.

    AND…. CUE TO FREAKING OUT ABOUT EP 2 PREVIEW: OMFG- OMFG, HOW THE FUCK, OMFG IT’S ALKJSDLKASJDLASKJDLKASJD /x9000 keyboard smashes C.C!!!!!!!!

    1. Vantage

      The dark lighting, explosions and CG were a bitch to take screenshots of, though xD And I can already imagine it: Lelouch in his badass Knightmare working strategies while C.C. pilots, giving orders to Akito who smashes in and destroys EVERYTHING.

      I REALLY hope it’s not just a tease – say, they just turn up for a few frames to observe the situation or something. THEY MUST INTERACT! Also Spinzaku spinning would be nice.

      1. Eva

        Spinzaku spinning is a mandatory mission.

  2. Linzz

    When I saw C.C. and Suzaku. MY HEART LITERALLY JUMP FOR JOY. OMG I AM CRYING HAHAHA Of course, with new characters taking the lead (like Gundam Seed Destiny had), it would still have time for this series to be close to my heart… So they should keep it up and somehow, Akito is so sexeh during battle. HAHAHAHAHAHA

    1. Vantage

      I thought they were trolling us or showing an advert for something before I realized it was the preview, so I was SO HAPPY people I knew would be showing up! Also I find Leila sexier, but you know, personal preferences xDD

  3. vergiltfs

    Wow, more Code Geass!!! YAY! I really love the “new” girl Yukia, looks more “wild” than Kallen but not as cute. The fight was cool and the CG’s were pretty good, in this fisrt episode they dont show some amazing tactics like lellouch would do, it was more skills from Akito but it was cool. Xin looks kind of “meh” for me but I love his look (like the fake assassin from fate). If would be a shame if sunrise do something like they do in gundam seed Destiny, when after a few caps the new protagonist were just ones from the crowd and not really factors in the story.

    Once again, it’s nice to have your reviews.

    1. Vantage

      I think the terrorist girl is Ayano actually, while Yukia is the one with the bombs that threatened to blow himself up. But yeah, I never made the connection that she’s a parallel to Kallen xD Let’s hope Xin doesn’t meet an end like the fake Assassin did. Though he wasn’t as unlucky as Lancer TROLOLOL

      Thanks for reading them!

      1. vergiltfs

        Ah, yeah. My bad.

  4. vergiltfs

    Oh, from Anime suki.

    “http://www.gpara.com/article/cms_sho…28775&c_num=14

    Quote:
    本作は2012年初夏に、約10館で上映が予定されている劇場上映作品である。発表会終了後のインタビュー では、河口氏の口から、「全部で数本が制作される予定であり、大分ボリュームがある内容になっています。初 夏に公開されるのは第1話となる予定です」と説明が行われている。
    Here, Gpara states that the initial release format is that Akito the Exiled will be screened at theatrical events at 10 cinemas in early Summer 2012. But after the press conference ended, there was an interview session with the Sunrise producer. The producer is quoted as saying that “We have have multiple parts planned for the complete production, and it compromises of a pretty substantial amount of content. For early Summer what we will be screening is only meant to be the first episode.”

    This basically confirms that Akito the Exiled is a multi-part series, and not a one-off theatrical movie. The wording in the announcement of Akito the Exiled in the conference (I watched the stream of the press conference) is that it is not a movie, only a new anime work. The screening in 10 cinemas is stated to be a theatrical event. The word event is important, because we have to realize that in Japan, this is a very popular way of premiering both TV shows and OVAs before they start. If they don’t say that it is a movie, it is unlikely to actually be one. Gundam Unicorn also followed the same announcement pattern.

    As for why it cannot be a TV series, this can be explained by examining the copyright of the show. When productions are made to be TV shows, especially popular franchise ones, the TV sponsor is always on board as one of the production companies. Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion is a shared copyright between Sunrise, Project Geass, and MBS. Code Geass Akito of the Exiled is merely a shared copyright between Sunrise and Project Geass.

    I think that based on the way it was announced and the information we have so far, it being a limited theatrical release + OVA format is basically the only possibly. If anyone has more information, or if I made an error in looking through the details, I’ll appreciate being corrected. Thanks.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GundamFan0083
    The trailer was taken down “due to copyright violations”

    Here is another one for anybody that didn’t see it:
    Thanks, I’ve edited it back into the first post. Too bad it’s flipped though.!”

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