It’s the epitome of “anime politics”, with all the political literacy of a saturday morning cartoon show. The bad guys are bad because they’re bad, the good guys are good because they’re good (but they also struggle with their internal demons to be edgy and cool!). The first season is way better. Suzaku is the dumbest man alive. Justice for Kallen, she didn’t deserve all the leering shots.

Yeah pretty much.

For the longest time I’ve written off Okouchi as a hack writer who got lucky with his first big break but after Witch from Mercury made me reevaluate his work it seems clear to me that he was someone who really wanted to talk about politics without knowing how to. Code Geass is a mess, and the less we say about Guilty Crown and Valverave the better.

It seems like he only figured how to tie all his disparate narrative threads and themes together in Princess Principal, and we’re seeing his work pay off in Gundam, but even then maybe his progressivism is of the liberal variety rather than actually leftist.

Its not fash. Its not lefty. Its lib. Maybe a little reactionary but in the way libs are reactionary. Like most japanise entretaiment.

The best part is the first few episodes were he actually relies on his abilty. Later it becomes about who has the bigest robot or who is the best pilot.

It’s definitely not strictly a leftist anime, but it speaks to the same people on the left who think Death Note is a good anime. Death Note is about a sociopathic murderer and in no universe should anyone think Light is a good guy. Code Geass though is a much more realistic interpretation of the same story. A guy with basically godlike powers who is trying to use them to genuinely better the world…and all of the problems that causes. Rather than just murder murderers like Light does, Lelouch actually uses his powers to take down an imperalist monarchy and free the oppressed. Or, well, he tries to. Often to horrible results. Which… to me at least is more true to life, and it makes it a compelling story. It’s a much more left-aligned goal, and since the two anime are often compared, I totally understand why people think Code Geass is a leftist anime.

I personally love Code Geass, flaws and all. It’s a great anti imperialist story and watching giant robots and mind control tear down imperialism is just fun. Is it a leftist anime? Not really. Is it a fun anime for leftists who hate imperialism? I think so.