History YMMV / CodeGeass

** Two Words: [[TotallyRadical Badass mother]].

* InferredHolocaust: The Zero Requiem requires a staggering amount of bloodshed caused by Lelouch in order to work. We don't see it all happen, but the implication that he went on a worldwide mass murder spree is there, with people saying that anyone who opposed him were killed along with their entire families.

* DesignatedVillain[=/=]InformedWrongness: Lelouch bizarrely overlaps near the end. [[spoiler:He's treated as a traitor to everyone which leads to the Schneizel incident. At mid-R2 when he was still Zero he was largely having to act within the bounds of a series of [[DiabolusExMachina bad luck]] that he had no way of predicting. The Zero Requiem while leading to Lelouch committing serious atrocities, that were likely way worse than anything he did as Zero. He also makes himself the most hated person disgracing his name for all time so he can be killed to suffer consequences for his actions and dies to ensure peace for all of humanity, including his comrades who betrayed him. By comparison, he's considered a worse person during and right after the betrayal by [[TookALevelInDumbass his former comrades]] than less altruistic people like Villetta and actual war criminals like Cornelia and Schneizel who, with the exception of the latter, are treated more leniently in spite of their actual complicity by both the Knights and the narrative. Even though, by actual human rights conventions, the oppressed and those who represent them have the right to fight against their oppressors.]]

* DesignatedVillain[=/=]InformedWrongness: Lelouch bizarrely overlaps near the end. [[spoiler:He's treated as a traitor to everyone which leads to the Schneizel incident. At mid-R2 when he was still Zero he was largely having to act within the bounds of a series of [[DiabolusExMachina bad luck]] that he had no way of predicting. The Zero Requiem while leading to Lelouch actually committing serious atrocities, including mass-brainwashing and having numerous innocent civilians murdered, that are way worse than anything he did as Zero. He also makes himself the most hated person disgracing his name for all time and makes himself be killed to suffer consequences for his actions and dies to ensure peace for all of humanity, including his comrades who betrayed him. By comparison, He's considered a worse person during and right after the betrayal by [[TookALevelInDumbass his former comrades]] than less altruistic people like Villetta and actual war criminals like Cornelia and Schneizel who, with the exception of the latter, are treated more leniently in spite of their actual complicity by both the Knights and the narrative even though, by actual human rights conventions, the oppressed and those who represent them have the right to fight against their oppressors.]]

** The Black Knights [[spoiler:after their betrayal]] often receive this criticism from a number of fans, due to how the setup is handled. It involved an under the table deal for Japan without the knowledge of the UFN, whose nations ceded their military to as part of their representation. [[spoiler: While they may have reason not to trust Lelouch, they still betrayed the person who helped them get as far as they were. They never try to talk things out with him and instead trust Schneizel, whose helped enslave them. While threatening to shoot Kallen for daring to try to give Lelouch a chance to explain himself. ]] They never get called out for their mutiny by any other allies within their group, and only a couple of members show even small signs of regret or remorse for it, which made the rest of them come across as highly unsympathetic. The fact that almost all of the Black Knights are treated as the underdog heroes fighting against [[spoiler: Lelouch, until the very late reveal of the Zero Requiem]], makes it feel like the writers went too far into trying to make them look sympathetic, causing it to backfire.

** The Black Knights [[spoiler:after their betrayal]] often receive this criticism from a number of fans, due to how the setup is handled. It involved an under the table deal for Japan without the knowledge of the UFN, whose nations ceded their military to as part of their representation. [[spoiler: While they may have reason not to trust Lelouch, they still betrayed the person who helped them get as far as they were. They never try to talk things out with him and instead trust Schneizel, whose helped enslave them. While threatening to shoot Kallen for daring to trying to give Lelouch a chance to explain himself. ]] They never get called out for their mutiny by any other allies within their group, and only a couple of members show even small signs of regret or remorse for it, which made the rest of them come across as highly unsympathetic. The fact that almost all of the Black Knights are treated as the underdog heroes fighting against [[spoiler: Lelouch, until the very late reveal of the Zero Requiem]], makes it feel like the writers went too far into trying to make them look sympathetic, causing it to backfire.

** The Black Knights [[spoiler:after their betrayal]] often receive this criticism from a number of fans, due to how the setup is handled. It involved an under the table deal for Japan without the knowledge of the UFN, whose nations ceded their military to as part of their representation. They never get called out for their mutiny by any other allies within their group, and only a couple of members show any sign of regret or remorse for it, which made the rest of them come across as highly unsympathetic. The fact that almost all of the Black Knights are treated as the underdog heroes fighting against [[spoiler: Lelouch, until the very late reveal of the Zero Requiem]], makes it feel like the writers went too far into trying to make them look sympathetic, causing it to backfire.

* DesignatedVillain[=/=]InformedWrongness: Lelouch bizarrely overlaps near the end. [[spoiler:He's treated as a traitor to everyone which leads to the Schneizel incident. At mid-R2 when he was still Zero he was largely having to act within the bounds of a series of [[DiabolusExMachina bad luck]] that he had no way of predicting. The Zero Requiem while leading to Lelouch actually committing serious atrocities, including mass-brainwashing and having numerous innocent civilians murdered, that are way worse than anything he did as Zero. He also makes himself the most hated person disgracing his name for all time and dies for the sake of all of humanity including his comrades who betrayed him. By comparison, He's considered a worse person during and right after the betrayal by [[TookALevelInDumbass his former comrades]] than atavistic people like Villetta and actual war criminals like Cornelia and Schneizel who, with the exception of the latter, are treated more leniently in spite of their actual complicity by both the Knights and the narrative even though, by actual human rights conventions, the oppressed and those who represent them have the right to fight against their oppressors.]]

* DesignatedVillain[=/=]InformedWrongness: Lelouch bizarrely overlaps near the end. [[spoiler:He's treated as a traitor to everyone after the Schneizel incident, and the Zero Requiem is inferred as some RedemptionEqualsDeath move, even though it falls on its face for many, many reasons, the least of which being that Lelouch actually commits serious atrocities, including mass-brainwashing and having numerous innocent civilians murdered, that are way worse than anything he did as Zero. By comparison, at mid-R2 when he was still Zero he was largely having to act within the bounds of a series of [[DiabolusExMachina bad luck]] that he had no way of predicting. He's considered a worse person during and right after the betrayal by [[TookALevelInDumbass his former comrades]] than atavistic people like Villetta and actual war criminals like Cornelia and Schneizel who, with the exception of the latter, are treated more leniently in spite of their actual complicity by both the Knights and the narrative even though, by actual human rights conventions, the oppressed and those who represent them have the right to fight against their oppressors.]]

** [[spoiler:Lelouch, Suzaku and C.C. during the final five episodes. The Zero Requiem is framed as an atonement for the various unsavory deeds the former two committed earlier in the series, but the fact that it involved them committing atrocities that were far worse than anything they had done previously both implicitly (its referenced to that Lelouch had millions of people executed to sell himself as the world's worst tyrant) and explicitly (the MassHypnosis Lelouch inflicts on hundreds of thousands of soldiers to turn them into his blindly obedient slaves) make it hard to view as an actual redemption, and more like a SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum. Add onto that the fact that Lelouch didn't even ''need'' to pull a ZeroApprovalGambit to bring about world peace, the reforms he implemented early into his reign (such as abolishing the noble system) are stated to have already made him widely popular in both Britannia and the UFN, so he could have simply granted all the Areas their independence and stepped down as emperor, achieving world peace without the need for senseless bloodshed and leaving the world in a much less precarious position in the process.]]

* DesignatedVillain[=/=]InformedWrongness: Lelouch bizarrely overlaps near the end. He's treated as a traitor to everyone after the Schneizel incident, and the Zero Requiem is inferred as some RedemptionEquals death move, even though it falls on its face on many, many reasons, the least of which Lelouch actually commits serious atrocities as some sort of ThenLetMeBeEvil stunt, whereas mid-R2 by comparison, when he was still Zero, was putting up with a series of DiabolusExMachina that screwed up both his plans and his character, with him becoming isolated, and not always by his own design. He's considered a worse person during and right after the betrayal by [[TookALevelInDumbass his former comrades]] than atavistic people like Villetta and actual war criminals like Cornelia and Schneizel. Who, with the exception of the latter, are treated more leniently in spite of their actual complicitness by both the Knights and the narrative. Even though, by actual human rights conventions, the oppressed and those who represent them have the right to fight against their oppressors for a huge dose of InformedWrongness. In other words, the final arc was sort of a Creator Designated CreateYourOwnVillain moment, where he can be either seen as [[TheExtremistWasRight in the right for going full tyrant]], or a full-on WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who also beat Suzaku at his own game of being a DeathSeeker.
%%* DesignatedMonkey: Lelouch, courtesy of the DiabolusExMachina and DeusExMachina.

* EsotericHappyEnding: Aside from the questionable events leading up to it, the Zero Requiem can come off as this. The damage to Japan and the world at large paints a rather pessimistic picture of the immediate future when all is said and done. There's also a clear contrast between the tragedy of [[spoiler:Lelouch's death]] and the happiness that follows it, which may be hard to swallow. The ''Resurrection'' movie confirms the idea, as it shows there are countries who are still recovering from the Zero Requiem and other nations such the Kingdom of Zilkistan who remain antagonistic towards Britannia.

* IronWoobie:
** Guilford got separated from Cornelia, geassed by Zero into defecting to the Black Knights, and almost got himself killed. He only gets to cry after he is reunited with his princess.
** Lelouch himself, considering how much he puts up with, [[spoiler:even if he does give in]].

** Cornelia is treated as a sympathetic character due to her desire to avenge [[spoiler:Euphemia's death]] [[KarmaHoudini and gets a relatively happy ending]] despite having been shown to be especially racist towards the Japanese and committing several war crimes, such as staging a massacre early on just to lure out Zero. Her racism is also implied to have been prompted by Lelouch and Nunnally's disappearance in Japan (and the belief they were lynched by the Japanese at some point during Britannia's invasion), but even if that were true, it would still be wrong to generalize the entire population of Japan based on that, much less murder and oppress countless men, women, and children for it. She's also a massive hypocrite for calling Lelouch a murderer, extending him [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]] towards what might have driven down his path]], which included, namely, murderous Britannian racists like her. Which given real life human rights standards alone gave Cornelia a massive morality lower ground. All of that is bad enough. But of course, since Lelouch was responsible for Euphemia's death, even if by accident, he's the one not to be trusted. It truly speaks to Lelouch's comparative guilt and self-responsibility that he doesn't call [[RetiredMonster her]] out for her own crap. Cornelia's hypocrisy is comparable to Abby of VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII, a decidedly similar if even more controversial case of MoralMyopia taken to dizzying heights.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: In R1, Cornelia was for the most part well liked by fans for being an antagonist who [[ANaziByAnyOtherName embodied some of the worst aspects of Britannia]]'s brutality, but was also intelligent, competent, [[EvilIsSexy beautiful]] and made for an imposing foe for Lelouch. Come R2 however, where [[spoiler:she's presented sympathetically and gets off scot free for her war crimes even though she never even shows an ounce of remorse for the horrific massacres she committed, she's now one of the most controversial {{Karma Houdini}}s in the show and is reviled by a significant portion of the fanbase.]]

* EvilIsSexy: Lelouch, C.C, Mao, Cornelia, Schneizel, Clovis, Jeremiah, and The Knights of the Round.

** The worst is (possibly) the subplot involving [[spoiler:Marianne's death. She's revealed to be inside Anya and is killed in the very next episode, even though her murder had been one of Lelouch's main motivations since the very beginning of the first season. What's more, Empress Marianne herself was part of [[EvilPlan an arguably "evil" plan]] and [[KnightTemplarParent abandoned her children to build a new world for them]], which flies in the face of how other characters previously viewed her as admirable and near-perfect]]. This really should have been better explained in order to properly reconcile both sides of her portrayal.

** Cornelia is treated as a sympathetic character due to her desire to avenge [[spoiler:Euphemia's death]] [[KarmaHoudini and gets a relatively happy ending]] despite having been shown to be especially racist towards the Japanese and committing several war crimes, such as staging a massacre early on just to lure out Zero. Her racism is also implied to have been prompted by Lelouch and Nunnally's disappearance in Japan (and the belief they were lynched by the Japanese at some point during Britannia's invasion), but even if that were true, it would still be wrong to generalize the entire population of Japan based on that, much less murder and oppress countless men, women, and children for it. She's also a massive hypocrite for calling Lelouch a murderer, extending him [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]] towards what might have driven down his path]], which included, namely, murderous Britannian racists like her. Which given real life human rights standards alone gave Cornelia a massive morality lower ground. All of that is bad enough. But of course, since Lelouch was responsible for Euphemia's death, even if by accident, he's the one not to be trusted. It truly speaks to Lelouch's comparative guilt and self-responsibility that he doesn't call [[RetiredMonster her]] out for her own crap. Cornelia's hypocrisy is comparable to Abby of VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII, a decidedly similar if [[FanBacklash even more controversial]] case of MoralMyopia taken to dizzying heights.

* DesignatedVillain: Lelouch bizarrely overlaps near the end. He's treated as a traitor to everyone after the Schneizel incident, and the Zero Requiem is inferred as some RedemptionEquals death move, even though it falls on its face on many, many reasons, the least of which Lelouch actually commits serious atrocities as some sort of ThenLetMeBeEvil stunt, whereas mid-R2 by comparison, when he was still Zero, was putting up with a series of DiabolusExMachina that screwed up both his plans and his character, with him becoming isolated, and not always by his own design. He's considered a worse person during and right after the betrayal by [[TookALevelInDumbass his former comrades]] than atavistic people like Villetta and actual war criminals like Cornelia and Schneizel. In other words, the final arc was sort of a Creator Designated CreateYourOwnVillain moment, where he can be either seen as [[TheExtremistWasRight in the right for going full tyrant]], or a full-on WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who also beat Suzaku at his own game of being a DeathSeeker.

*** Kaguya Sumeragi, while not an official member, still remained popular in part to her [[spoiler:not believing the idea Zero died]], her quirky personality, and only [[spoiler:siding against Lelouch when he became the Demon Emperor.]]

** Cornelia is treated as a sympathetic character due to her desire to avenge [[spoiler:Euphemia's death]] [[KarmaHoudini and gets a happy ending]] despite having been shown to be especially racist towards the Japanese and committing several war crimes, such as staging a massacre early on just to lure out Zero. Her racism is also implied to have been prompted by Lelouch and Nunnally's disappearance in Japan (and the belief they were lynched by the Japanese at some point during Britannia's invasion), but even if that were true, it would still be wrong to generalize the entire population of Japan based on that, much less murder and oppress countless men, women, and children for it. She's also a massive hypocrite for calling Lelouch a murderer, extending him [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]] towards what might have driven down his path]], which included, namely, murderous Britannian racists like her. But of course, since he was responsible for Euphemia's death, even if by accident, he's a monster. Her hypocrisy is comparable to Abby of VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII, a decidedly similar case of MoralMyopia.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Schneizel's argument that AmbitionIsEvil and that our desire for happiness ultimately leads to greed and conflict is actually well-thought out and makes a lot of sense from a cynical worldview. It's not too hard to imagine someone siding with him. Lelouch's counter-argument is more idealistic, based on RousseauWasRight or, in other words, the concept that "People Are Good" and will always struggle to overcome sadness. At the same time, he had already jumped the DespairEventHorizon and [[TheUnfettered given up most of his remaining scruples]] to contemplate any alternatives, though. [[spoiler: He's also likely just saying this to keep Schneizel talking so he can pull off his plan.]]

** Cornelia is treated as a sympathetic character due to her desire to avenge [[spoiler: Euphemia's death]] [[KarmaHoudini and gets a happy ending]] despite having been shown to be especially racist towards the Japanese and committing several war crimes, such as staging a massacre early on just to lure out Zero. Her racism is also implied to have been prompted by Lelouch and Nunnally's disappearance in Japan (and the belief they were lynched by the Japanese at some point during Britannia's invasion), but even if that were true, it would still be wrong to generalize the entire population of Japan based on that, much less murder and oppress countless men, women, and children for it.

*** Bismarck and Monica in particular suffer from this, as both of them are the {{token good|Teammate}} members of the Group. Bismarck being a NobleDemon, having history with Lelouch's mother Marianne, and even a Geass of his own, and Monica holding no racism towards Numbers, and a similar belief set to Suzaku. While Monica gets ADayInTheLimelight in the Oz Manga, both ultimately don't get much to show off in the series before their deaths, wasting any opportunity for them to influence Lelouch and Suzaku's stories. [[spoiler:Monica's becomes an even bigger waste when the game ''Lost Stories'' would reveal she's actually Charles' illegitimate ''daughter'', making her Lelouch's half-sister, and could have acted as the new TokenGoodTeammate of the Britannian Royal Family after Euphemia's death had this detail been revealed InUniverse.]]

* RootingForTheEmpire: There are those who disapprove of Lelouch's actions and who agree with the likes of Schneizel.

*** Bismarck and Monica in particular suffer from this, as both of them are the {{token good|Teammate}} members of the Group. Bismarck being a NobleDemon, having history with Lelouch's mother Marianne, and even a Geass of his own, and Monica holding no racism towards Numbers, and a similar belief set to Suzaku. While Monica gets ADayInTheLimelight in the Oz Manga, both ultimately don't get much to show off in the series before their deaths, wasting any opportunity for them to influence Lelouch and Suzaku's stories.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Many viewers mistakenly believe V.V. to be female at first, as his appearance is rather feminine, he has long, flowing hair, and he's voiced by a woman in the compilation movies.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Many viewers mistakenly believe V.V. to be female at first, as his appearance is rather feminine, he has long, flowing hair, and he's voiced by a woman.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** In 2009, the show staff changed the epilogue for the ZR DVD, dropping the sometimes misunderstood cart scene and instead having C.C. address the audience directly and explicitly confirming that [[spoiler: Lelouch is truly dead and that she mourns his death. [[https://streamable.com/d8dji As can be seen here]]]]
** For those who were still uncertain about the ending of season 2, [[spoiler:Lelouch being dead and not immortal as officially confirmed by repeated WordOfGod ([[https://www.reddit.com/user/GeassedbyLelouch/comments/8hklfr/evaluating_code_theory_main_body_index/ database with official statements]]). The sequel movie, ''Lelouch of the Re;surrection'', which follows the movie AlternateContinuity where Lelouch's death and Zero Requiem still happens in the exact same way, dispels the erroneous fan theory about the ending by explaining to the audience that Lelouch was a corpse who was returned thanks to C.C. resurrecting him against his wishes and world of C shenanigans. This acts as the killing blow to the already debunked notion that Lelouch was immortal.]]
** Jeremiah was originally nowhere to be seen in the flashback of Marianne being killed, despite one of the R1 audio dramas and [[spoiler:his HeelFaceTurn]] in R2 being brought about because of his supposed presence there, causing the latter scene to come off as more of an AssPull if you hadn't known about the audio drama beforehand. This is interestingly amended in the first compilation movie, which has him make a cameo as one of the attending guards as Lelouch and Nunnally depart for Japan at the beginning of the movie, which at least affirms that he was present at the royal palace around the time.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' and the compilation movies have Shirley [[spoiler:survive]], with the latter hinting at [[spoiler: giving her a potential role in the ''Resurrection'' film]].
** The third CompilationMovie also depicts the Black Knights as [[spoiler: being more reluctant with TheMutiny, and had planned to ask Lelouch some questions first, but Schneizel and his group were apparently the ones that tried to gun him down before he could actually explain.]] Ohgi even seems to get some CharacterRerailment as the OnlySaneMan he was in the first season when [[spoiler: he doesn't believe Lelouch's claims about using them as pawns, insisting he tells the truth, and objects to Schneizel's men trying to shoot him on sight.]]