> "It wasn't me who was wrong, it was the world." -Lelouch vi Britannia #--SPOILER FREE--
Code Geass R2 is probably one of the best sequels I've ever seen, whether in anime, or in just any work of fiction in general. It's a direct continuation of the first season, just with a little 1-year timeskip, but it's even better than the prequel.
Story Overall, the story is mostly a mecha political drama, although there are a bunch of other elements which allows the story to become more complex and interesting. One moment you could have a psychological battle with an entire empire, and another you could be trying to make a world record giant pizza. Yes, it's random, but when Code Geass is on its A-game it's incredible. Everything was perfectly calculated and planned from the start, right up to the end, where the pieces finally click together.
Of course, you can't forget the ending, which is probably the sole reason why people like it so much, but I can't go into it too much if you haven't seen it yet. The element of surprise is what makes the anime so thrilling, so it's best to go in blindly. There are some minor problems to the plot, but the mind-blowing parts greatly overshadow them and makes up for the messiness. The topics that are explored, such as peace, war, happiness, purpose, etc, are presented in a sincere way, and the psychology is blunt but subtle at the same time.
Characters The characters are probably the strongest point of this anime. All of them are unique, and each and every one of them have their flaws and talents. They're all... human. They all have their own 'masks' to put on in order to try to change the world to their liking, especially the main character, Lelouch, who is probably one of the most well-written characters of all time. While I do admit that some of the characters can be inconsistent and do things that are 'out of character', I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, as it helps show that they're still developing and learning about themselves. There's also no clear antagonist. We get a different perspective from everyone, which means we can all understand their feelings and see how they all feel about one another. It makes every single character both likable and unlikable and makes them even more human.
Visuals The artstyle of this anime can be a bit strange at first, for instance a lot of the characters are overly skinny and everything looks shiny. The robot designs are undeniably gorgeous though, and the fight scenes are very clean and easy to make out. Considering that this anime was produced in the early 2000's, animation is pretty solid and of good quality. It isn't the best, but it's decent. Oh, and there's fanservice, too.
Sound The openings and endings are pretty catchy, especially the first opening and the last ending. The soundtrack also fits the dynamic of the story, and the voice acting was done really well, especially Lelouch's VA.
Overall I love it. Is it perfect? No, not quite. But did I enjoy it? Hell yeah.
