That\'s an interesting point; the series TRIES to hold itself up as a bastion of gray morality, but it still takes every opportunity to show how bad Britannia is, that there\'s no real complexity to the matter.
For me, the big sticking point in the discussions about morality in the show is Suzaku. Back when the show was new, while most people rooted for Lelouch, there were plenty of people who also described Suzaku as being morally superior (or at least comparable). Looking back, it's hard to understand why. This review points out how the regime Suzaku serves is ridiculously evil and how his hopes of reforming it from within seem delusional. There's him criticizing the "ends justify the means" approach of Zero/Lelouch, when his entire plan is using unjust means (serve Britannia) for a just end (liberate people from Britannia). There's how (in the very first episodes of the show) there was nearly in a massacre of the Shinjuku ghetto because Suzaku defeated the rebels opposing Britannia, meaning that even if Suzaku wasn't going to kill any innocent civilians himself, they were going to die as a direct result of him serving a blatantly evil regime. (The pages for Moral Myopia and Hypocrite and his character page cover this more.) Even before you get to the real reasons why Suzaku does what he does, the guy qualifies as an outright villain in my view. Thus, as the review states, the show's attempts to morally equivocate what Suzaku and Lelouch do fall flat.
Leave a Comment:
An Entertaining but Immensely Flawed Anime
This review will mostly focus on the flaws, but keep in mind the series is still entertaining—also, spoilers.
Code Geass is an above-average anime, but some massive flaws tarnish the compelling arguments it tries to present. Most of them stem from Britannia being a social Darwinist absolute monarchy promoting racism in the year 2017. Yet the show attempts to use Gray-and-Gray Morality causes immense frustration as it feels a lot more like Black-and-Gray Morality.
I don't think anyone who kills or causes harm is automatically evil, especially when they're fighting a nation of Asshole Victims. This is the case for Lelouch, but the writers want you to think he's undeniably a villain. It doesn't help there's so much Deus Angst Machina used on him.
Suzaku is Japanese and a lowly discriminated soldier piloting a Prototype Mech for Britannia. He's an internal reformist...apparently nobody told him only the royal family has power in an absolute monarchy, and he's the farthest thing from Britannian royalty.
The show's deconstruction attempts also are relatively weak and forced, like that one massacre. Also, Suzaku is meant to be one of Amuro Ray fighting for the Federation. However, whereas Britannia is a racist social Darwinist society with an absolute monarchy, the Federation is simply a corrupt government trying to maintain its grasp on the space colonies. Besides, Amuro's opponent wanted to drop asteroids onto Earth to cause a nuclear winter to lead to human evolution. Whereas Suzaku fights someone who uses terrorism on an oppressive regime to create a better world for his little sister and everyone else. Also, most Britannian civilians are assholes, causing me to be unintentionally unsympathetic. Most of Lelouch's worst crimes are by accident and tremendously forced by the writers, making the thought that Lelouch is evil to feel hollow.
C.C. is simply waifu bait with a past that feels irrelevant and to simply make her a woobie.
While the fights are extremely tense and fun to watch, it's ruined by the existence of escape pods or rather the nonexistence of anything to combat escape pods. It merely drags the story out by allowing a villain or even a mook to escape death.
Overall, CG is an anime with very annoying and frustrating characters other than Lelouch but contains an exhilarating story that you'll be invested in. It's a shame that its portrayal of its cast cannot be taken seriously.