Code Geass: Akito the Exiled

[Chris]

And then there is Leila Malcal....... Truthfully I was nervous with her because I had no idea if she would be Kallen 2.0 or extremely annoying in some other fashion; not to mention she is voice by my favorite anime voice actress (and if any of you comment on that there is a giant getter tomahawk with your name on it).

Don't start up this nonsense again about Kallen and voice actresses. We already had that stuff before, and no one cares how butthurt you are about this.

[DuelGundam2099]

Don't start up this nonsense again about Kallen and voice actresses. We already had that stuff before, and no one cares how butthurt you are about this.

I don't get where you are coming from, I am not butthurt or anything.

[Chris]

Don't start up this nonsense again about Kallen and voice actresses. We already had that stuff before, and no one cares how butthurt you are about this.

I don't get where you are coming from, I am not butthurt or anything.

You wouldn't stop going on and on being butthurt in a past AGE thread just because Arisa was played by Ami Koshimizu and you have an intense dislike for Kallen.

[DuelGundam2099]

You wouldn't stop going on and on being butthurt in a past AGE thread just because Arisa was played by Ami Koshimizu and you have an intense dislike for Kallen.

I know I brought it up a couple times and had a bad feeling in my gut, but I wouldn't say "butthurt" since I never got angry or complained too much. I also don't know how that applies here.

[Chris]

You wouldn't stop going on and on being butthurt in a past AGE thread just because Arisa was played by Ami Koshimizu and you have an intense dislike for Kallen.

I know I brought it up a couple times and had a bad feeling in my gut, but I wouldn't say "butthurt" since I never got angry or complained too much. I also don't know how that applies here.

You practically derailed the thread for nearly a whole page with this bizarre notion that Arisa's characterization would somehow be affected by being voiced by a voice actress who played a character you didn't like. If that's not butthurt, I don't know what is. It applies here because now that we're in a Code Geass topic, I don't want you going on and on about Kallen comparisons in every damn episode of Akito.

[DuelGundam2099]

I barely even compared her here.

[Chris]

I barely even compared her here.

That you even made the comparison makes no sense because there's seemingly nothing for now that Kallen and Leila have in common, aside from being female characters in Code Geass. It sounds more like that's what you WANTED to see, hence your worry about her potentially being Kallen 2.0.

[Vent Noir]

Just want to say for the record that Kallen was my favourite character in Code Geass, and I would love to see more characters like her in anime.

[AmuroNT1]

Well, she IS Horo the Wise, after all.

[wielder]

Going back to the Akito talk, for a change...

You can definitely tell the creative staff might have had to reach some sort of compromise over going for something entirely new, which is what many spin-offs should ostensibly aim for, while still trying to at least resemble the existing seasons of Code Geass without the presence of Lelouch. He wasn't the only reason to watch the original show, in my opinion, but how to deal with that missing factor obviously had to be one of their worries or concerns from behind-the-scenes during this long planning and production phase.

That said, I think their risky bet is off to a decent start so far. I liked it. In particular, the 3D CGI looked like a questionable choice on paper that ultimately seems to have worked out for the best, even if it doesn't strictly adhere to pre-existing expectations about how KMFs should move or fight. They can still work on some of the minor details but I'm sure this wasn't a half-hearted effort.

Spoiler

Moving on, the story seems to be more about the W-0 unit as a group than about Akito himself. The initial narrative isn't centered exclusively on him but on bringing the team together. In fact, most of the screen time seems to be focusing on Leila, who is something of a typical shoujo heroine in some ways, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in my book. Strong and sensible on the surface, yet also a bit introspective and insecure about what her ultimate role in life is supposed to be. Not exactly too innovative in content, but it can work off as a good base for more development once things get going. And of course, she's been directly implied to have Geass after all.

Akito, on the other hand, might be described as a jaded young man of few words, like certain other mecha protagonists from years and decades past, but he's actually a bit more willing to talk than some of them and can still hold his own in a regular conversation...when he's not showing the more murderous side of his personality in battle, that is. Now, I've seen some people elsewhere describe him as "emo" or "angsty" but, at least for now, he comes across as rather calm and almost casual about the prospect of his own death than anything else, though he does honor the dead. In any event, we'll see what happens when his past is fully revealed (yes, Xin/Shin may well have used Geass on him, but what's the point?) and the fallout from that inevitably plays more of a role in the story.

[Kavik Ryx]

Maybe it's because the thing that made the original Code Geass work was its characters (Lelouch in particular) and utter insanity, but I left this OVA kind of lukewarm. I think the technical aspects go without saying here. The CG composting isn't perfect, but I think that is going to be an issue for anime regardless. But it is probably some of the best I have seen, and independent of the background, it is fantastic. Actually, what I noticed was that the things I loved about CG, the aforementioned characters and craziness, are absent while the things that I was not so hot on, the mecha action and the politics, were actually good. Strangely, this was also the juxtaposition between Code Geass and Gundam 00. It certainly has CG's style, but it feels a little removed from what it was. I could have honestly seen the OVA under a different name and a modified premise and I don't know whether it would have made a difference. Hell, this could have been a Gundam 00 OVA, and it may have seemed more apt.

I'll stick around for the action. But I do hope for a story and cast that makes me feel less wanting.

[HellCat]

I haven't watched it yet but I welcome dialing back the wacky. R2 felt more driven by 2Chan memes and the like then it did a consistent story. When it's paying attention Geass can be really good. However it too often gets distracted in a way that feels so very teenager. Angsty, finding my place soul searching....BOOBS!....angsty....BOOBS!

[AmuroNT1]

If R2 seemed driven by memes, it's entirely because people latched onto practically every aspect of the show and turned them into memes.

[HellCat]

If R2 seemed driven by memes, it's entirely because people latched onto practically every aspect of the show and turned them into memes.

Maybe but I remember seeing an interview where they said things like 'ninja maid' came from jokes fans were making online. I don't think Geass should be played super serious but R2 in particular just seemed to get distracted too often.

[DuelGundam2099]

Both halves of Code Geass tried too hard with school life distractions, kind of why I like the compilation movies more.

[Kavik Ryx]

Though the two seasons of Code Geass did have one thing that made every episode worth watching, Lelouch. When it comes to shows like Gundam and Macross, the stars are Mobile Suits and the music respectively. CG on the other hand, had one man carrying 90% of it, which made it easier to tolerate all of the bull. Akito doesn't look like it will have as much bull in it, but I am still left wondering why I should care. The one thing I know that will bring me back for OVA after OVA though is the prospect that Johan will at some point receive his justice. It will be like how watching Yuna getting decked in the face and then crushed by a Mobile Suit in GSD made the aggravation worth it, to an extent.

[HellCat]

Lelouch was almost certainly the best thing in the show which is why I dislike the ending so much. Totally get what they were going for but as is it's like the one likeable character suffered to bring peace to a bunch of self serving worms (I'm looking at you, Ougi and Viletta).

I really need to go watch this. All the favourable reviews have me very interested.

[AmuroNT1]

Actually, as I recall, "Sayoko the Ninja Maid" was a joke by the staff, but the fans loved it so much they decided to make it canon.

[Vent Noir]

I like Lelouch too, but I don't regard him as the be-all and end-all of Code Geass. I don't have a problem with him not being in a spinoff.

[Antares]

There can't be a mecha-show without a good half of the pilots being basket cases.

On the order of battle, it felt a bit like taking (the wrong) cues from Michael Bay, meaning that a lot happens in a flurry, and you're left with the option of thinking it's either confusing or cool.

I see the fabulous character art is still there. That, at least, is consistent with CG.

The people who like it really like it, and the people who hate it nitpicked every flaw and gleefully shouted "TRAINWRECK!" whenever a plot twist they hated came along.

Yeah guilty as charged. In my defense, the show got better on second viewing.

DuelGundam2099 wrote:

B) Why is the EU, or at least France, racist? Britannia being racist makes sense for subduing the enemy/making them inferior, but why France? It just comes off as forced, they could have at least said the citizens were xenophobic or something.

Weeeell you talk to the real ethnic minorities in real-world France, especially in the concrete blocks around Paris, and you might get a whiff of French racism. It's there. Although it seems silly to us to think they'd look down on the Japanese in the same way, but one of the problems of digesting Akito for me was to accept and understand that history has taken a very different path there, and the tensions between nations/ethnicities may be different.

However, some references, Hannibal's and Napoleon to me seemed like arbitrary name dropping to "buy" some credence of having some historical context to the scripting. Most likely that's the extent of it, but to be fair western movies about Japan do the exact same thing (heck, even American movies about Europe do that, and vice versa!). So yeah there are references, but I wouldn't read too much into them at the moment. If they do more with them, I will humbly retract my earlier statement.