SPOILERS...duh

Is Lelouch the best protagonist of all time? Unfortunately, the answer is probably not, but it's fun to pretend he is. Code: Geass is a show that simultaneously takes itself incredibly seriously and as a complete joke. However, hidden within all of the madness are some of the best written characters in all of anime.

This review will be of both R1 and R2.

Take for example the main dynamic of the show, Lelouch vs. Suzaku. they start off as best friends, and by the end they are sworn enemies. This dynamic, although simple at a surface level, is objectively one of the best parts of the entire show. Their dynamic is so good that sometimes the audience doesn't even know who they should be rooting for. To highlight this, I'll link one of the scenes that still gives me goosebumps whenever I rewatch it.

▶ (Yes, I know it's the dub. I couldn't find the sub on youtube. The timestamp in the show is episode 23 of the first season, 20 minutes in. However, I will say that the dub voice actor's laugh may actually be better than the Japanese va's laugh. )

This scene is absolutely genuis becuase it shows that Suzaku is still trying to hang on to their friendship, even though by this point he suspects that Lelouch is Zero. It also shows that at this point, Lelouch has gone completely insane, as he has shown little remorse after the death of Euphemia.
The death of Euphemia was the breaking point for Lelouch, because he realized that he had to choose between his friendships and his goal, so he accepted the fact that he would have to make serious sacrifices to accomplish his ultimate goal of providing for Nunnally. Long story short, this is a turning point for both characters because they are both compromising their morals that they lived by. Suzaku claiming he will commit murder then punching Lloyd is a moment that nobody who has watched this show can forget.

If this scene is so genius, then why does the show as a whole feel so....mid?

Let me start off by saying I personally don't think this show is mid, but if someone has that opinion I can't really do much to argue with them. There is so much fanservice and borderline filler that it sometimes makes this show hard to take seriously. It will underdeliver for 5 episodes, then completely overdeliver with such a good 6th episode that it almost makes you forget about the other 5......almost.

The inherent problem with this show, and why it will never be a classic in the way that something like Hunter x Hunter, or even Attack on Titan is, is that the pacing is just kind of bad. Most amazing shows stick to a theme and a pace, and it's the same the whole way through. Code: Geass is completely all over the place to the point where it's actually a miracle that it turned out as good as it did. Luckily, even the filler stuff is pretty entertaining most of the time, so at no point is it ever a complete slog (besides the Chinese federation arc.)

I actually think the season one pacing was pretty good. They started off with introducing the power and the characters, then moved on to the Shirley memory arc and the Mao arc before building up to the infamous Euphemia scene, where after that the rest of the season was a 10/10 because it was the attack on Tokyo.

Season 2 on the other hand.....ouch. Don't get me wrong, there were some great moments, but unfortunately the novelty of the first season wears off a bit. Now that Lelouch obviously knows that Suzaku is the Lancelot pilot, and Suzaku knows about Lelouch and his Geass power, it takes away from the magic of Zero. I think one of the biggest mistakes of this show was having everybody know about Geass, and introducing more and more random characters who also had Geass power. The effect of Lelouch's power becomes watered down when it is more common. Think of it like death note. If every main character in that show also had a variation of the death note, Kira wouldn't be nearly as special anymore. I get that Zero's power comes from not only the Geass, but from his battle strategy, but come on, the underground society raid where they killed a 5 year old who was actually like 100 was a bit much.

Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed the whole show, I just can't help but feel a bit disappointed because I see how much more potential it actually had.

How could this show have been better?

Unfortunately, I don't really know if it had the potential to be much better. The question I've struggled a lot with is "How can the writing team who wrote some of the best monologues of all time have come up with this ridiculously mid plot-line of season two that desperately tries to reach the ending?" Pretend it's 2006 and you are in the writing room of this show. They have all of the main points figured out (Lelouch vs. Suzaku, Shirley memory, Narita, Nippon SAZ). Then, they realize that they need a season 2. Well, hold on, they have already used most of the characters and plot-lines from season 1, so they need something to fill up around 20 episodes before they can unleash their insane ending. They were stumped because they literally set the restriction themselves. It's ridiculous when you think about it. Lelouch's power is awful for a long-running TV show. He can only use it once on each person, and his identity can never be known or it ruins the entire dynamic he has with his friends, and Suzaku. So what did they do? They chose to sacrifice Suzaku finding out in the last episode of the first season, then hit Lelouch and all of his friends with a memory wipe so they could do it all again next season. It was a desparate attempt to keep some of the magic of the first season, which ultimately backfired because lelouch still used his Geass on all of his friends anyways, so they were still off-limits for season 2. Season 2, although the rating was inflated because of the perfect ending, unfortunately doesn't stack up to the first season. That's not to say it isn't still amazing, it's just not as good at the first.

Why is Lelouch an amazing character?

Lelouch is an amazing character because he still has a shred of humanity in him. Lelouch is not completely compromised like Light from Death Note, he understands that his actions have consequences. However, he also understands that he is biased. He will sacrifice many lives of people that he doesn't know to save a few people that he does know. Essentially, he plays the judge, jury, and executioner all by himself. Lelouch became a more broken person after the Euphemia massacre, and he decided at that moment that he would kill everyone in his way, but bear all of the sins of the people he has killed. a detail that is commonly overlooked is that when Lelouch killed Euphemia, he said to himself "is this also my sin to bear." He knew that the ultimate goal was to kill himself, and to have all of the evil in the world die with him, that's how he justified everything he was doing. One of the best parts of the show was Lelouch's struggle to internally justify everything he had done, because unlike Light, he felt the need to justify himself. A lot of people forget about how throughout the second season he was in and out of depression. After Nunnally, became the viceroy, and again after Rolo died, and again after his identity was found out. He was much more volitile in the second season. The highs were higher, and the lows were lower.

We don't need to talk about the ending, do we?

It's an undisputed fact that the ending is amazing, so why bother talking about it. blah blah blah Lelouch, who wanted to live, had to die bearing the weight of humanity's evil while Suzaku, a character who has wanted to die since the first episode, was cursed with living on as the man who killed Euphemia. The writers did it again, they created an ending so perfect it's almost funny.

Additional info.

All of the school characters were great, and they were all pretty well developed. Some problems arose in the second season because there were so many more random characters, but it was still good enough. Also, I didn't touch on a lot of the other issues with this show like Lelouch's mom being alive, and the weapon to destroy God because it was really weird and easily the weakest part of the show. I also didn't go into depth about ALL of Lelouch's cool moments, because that's just implied. Like, I know. I wouldn't be taking the time to write this review if I didn't think he was one of the coolest characters ever. Soundtrack is a 10/10, I honestly don't even know how they pulled it off. I also didn't talk a lot about Suzaku's loss of innocence, and how by the end he was actually a lot like Lelouch. At one point Lelouch actually called him "the biggest hypocrite i've ever seen".

Conclusion:

Yes, Code: Geass is a complete mess, but it's a beautiful mess. It's entertaining, and they bring up some pretty interesting questions of morality from time to time. I wish they took it a little more seriously, because I think some of the filler, although funny, takes away from the credibility of the show. Something I've realized watching this show a few times, is that you can't worry about little plot details. When you start thinking about the logistics of "oh how did this person get here" or "how is that physically possible" is just ruins the show. You have to enjoy the show for its characters, because they are easily the best part of the entire thing.

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Afterthought: I want to leave this video here at the bottom to show the result of overanalyzing Code Geass for the wrong reason. This guy made a 45 minute video about just part 1 (He has another hour-long vid for part 2). Basically, he hates Code Geass because it is unrealistic and the writing is "bad". I'll spare you the whole video, but he talks about how the chess analogies are wrong for like 10 minutes, it's honestly sad. That is literally the worst kind of watcher you can be. If you go in with a completely open mind, it's amazing