This review contains spoilers for Lelouch of the Resurrection

Part of being a reviewer is knowing yourself and knowing your preferences as a viewer/gamer/reader/whatever. This will help inform you of your possible opinion of a work going in. I once said to a friend, “I think I’m just going to have to accept the fact that I pretty much like everything.” My experience with Lelouch of the Resurrection (Oh, my apologies Lelouch of the Re;surrection) is proof of this. There were parts of this movie that were confusing, there were parts that were kind of dumb, and I’m still a bit iffy on the entire premise. Yet I still enjoyed this movie.

Before I go into the review itself, I’d just like to point out that I find it very, very odd that no one has talked about this movie. I watched a video about someone talking about this movie prior to its release but nothing after it. It’s weird because I’d expect people to have strong opinions on the continuation of such a popular franchise, but there hasn’t been an errant Youtube video nor a Reddit post, nothing. It’s possible that I’ve heard nothing because I was off the grid for a couple of months after the movie was released, but that doesn’t explain all the succeeding months. I assumed it was because it didn’t leave an impact. But no, the movie certainly has things to say and was engaging, love it or hate it. So I remain confused.

I eagerly awaited the release of this movie, for Code Geass means a lot to me as an anime fan. This show codified my love of anime way back in middle school. At our anime club, watched the first episode of it in our school’s anime club and I was taken aback by its action and brutal violence. It doesn’t help that it ended on a cliffhanger (thus probably explaining my love of shows with cliffhangers), thus making me desire to watch more. We watched the first episode the day before a week long break. I binged the rest of the show in two days. I was completely enthralled by the mecha, the political intrigue, the supernatural Geass, and of course, the infamous ending. It was stark, it felt real. I got its message crystal clear; one of sacrifice and the brutality and ethics of armed conflict: one who kills must be prepared to be killed. Still, part of me held on to the hope that the Prince made it out.

Still, I respected the ambiguity and integrity of the ending. I was iffy on a sequel, especially one with the title as blunt as “Lelouch of the Rebellion.” It threatened to undo what made Code Geass ending so compelling to me all those years ago. Some series benefit from a sequel, others practically beg for it. Code Geass didn’t seem to me one of those works. Gigguk, with more grace and humor that I can ever hope to have, makes it clear that, to many, Code Geass has a perfect ending. Lelouch of the Resurrection has its work cut out for it. Still, I was cautiously optimistic.

I gave it a watch and I’m happy to say that Lelouch of the Resurrection handles the show and its ending with care.

It is a year after the climactic Zero Requiem plan, the “tyrannical emperor,” Lelouch Vi Britannia, is dead. Or so it seems. A terrorist group from the Kingdom of Zilkhistan has attacked and abducted Zero (Suzaku) and Nunnally vi Britannia. It’s up to the Black Knights and their allies to retrieve their leaders before Zilkhistan’s nefarious plans can come to fruition. On their way, they bump into C.C., who seems to be harboring a secret.

And that secret is a surprise to no one for long. Five minutes in, we are treated Lelouch Lampherouge, reduced to an infantile state. With a title like that, I’m not sure why I was surprised that the movie was so brazen. It knows why we’re here and it won’t tease us. At first, I was worried the movie would treat us to a fake out that Lelouch wouldn’t end up being resurrected after all. I never expected my fears would be assuaged so soon.

As a Sunrise movie, the animation and art is topnotch. It’s almost memetic how bad Code Geass can look at times, so I was pleased to see what it looks like with a movie budget thrown at it. No off-model characters here and the proportions don’t look too weird either. Some may raise objections at the CGI used for some of the mechs, but they seemed to blend in well enough and they were animated well. It helps that, as high-tech machines, it would make sense for them to look quite different from other aspects of the setting. It also helps that they were an absolute treat to see in action. These things are super powerful and seeing them both trash a bunch of mooks and butt heads with one other is really a treat.

As a movie, there’s not much room for expansion and/or explanation. So it’s good that we’re following characters we’ve seen in the show, though it’s bad that the antagonists are completely new. They’re serviceable enough, though, obviously, we don’t get much time with them. I do appreciate the fact that their villainousness is shown in part because in some ways, they’re a villainous mirror of Lelouch’s relationship and Nunnally.

I was worried that, not having seen the show in years, I wouldn’t be able to follow the plot. The movie doesn’t hold viewers’ hands in acclimating them back into the world of Code Geass, but luckily, it didn’t prove that hard to me, since the movie doesn’t often refer back to events except for major ones, which I do recall.

The ending felt a bit rushed. I wasn’t sure exactly how C.C. and Lelouch managed to figure out how the Queen’s geass worked (seeing as her Geass makes it so they wouldn’t remember her using her Geass (though it was shown that Lelouch knew she had a geass and, thus, subsequent uses made him more aware of how it worked...somehow)). I thought people got over Lelouch returning a bit quickly. I wished we got a bit more character interaction. I’m a bit confused on how Lelouch returned. The intricacies of “C’s World” and whatever the fuck was up with Charles went over my head years ago, and having been so long since I watched the show, I just threw my hands up and turned my brain off, though I can acknowledge my annoyance when doing so. It’s nitpicking, but the insert song montage at the beginning felt kind of narmy.

Still...when Lelouch finally returned to the way he was, I won’t pretend it didn’t make me happy to feel like I was transported seven years back into the past. I loved seeing him use his geass again. I loved the violence, once stark to me, now over-the-top. I loved the mecha action, especially now that I can compare it to other mecha shows. I loved the absolute insanity that is the Queen’s pseudo-time-travel geass and seeing the characters have to deal with it. If nothing else, this was fun, and fun goes a long way. It reminded me of getting into anime all those years ago.

And at the same time, it respected the show, it didn’t just try to entice me with fun while disrespecting what made the fun possible. Lelouch once again cited his philosophy that “those who kill must be prepared to be killed.” Given that the guy just popped back from the dead and is immortal now, that can sound hypocritical. However, the movie makes it clear that he’s only back in the fray because the situation is so dire (namely, he really loves his sister) and he doesn’t announce to the world that he’s back, for his belief is important enough that he feels the populace should believe in it. Once his job is done, he doesn’t take up the mantle of Zero again. To further drive the point home, he discards both the name Lelouch Lampherouge and Lelouch Vi Britania at the end of the film. They are still dead. He is L.L. and he shall travel the world with C.C. (so cute!) So I appreciate that the movie took strides in making sure it didn’t seem just like a cash grab. The creators clearly care about the world and story of Code Geass, and as a fan, I’m grateful for it.

There might be a bit of confusion since this takes place in the continuity of the movie trilogy and not the television series. The only thing that I found confusing was the survival of Shirley. Some might state that the series made it explicit that Lelouch was dead, but as I hinted at earlier, there was always the possibility that he was alive due to the scene of C.C. talking to someone on the wagon. Of course, if this wasn’t an alternate continuity, this would make the ending less ambiguous. If you don’t like the ending tampered with, rest assured that this is, technically, not canon. If you like this ending and enjoy the television series, you can rest assured that these continuities fit pretty nicely together.

This movie would work well as a grand finale, not doing much but to show that Lelouch is back. But apparently Sunrise plans to continue the series, and this movie leaves me confident for the future. I certainly wasn’t blown away, but the movie was a lot of fun while still staying faithful to the show that preceded. If you’re a fan of Code Geass, then I recommend giving Lelouch of the Resurrection a watch.

8.2/10

B-