Code Geass

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"What do you do when there is an evil you cannot defeat by justice? Do you stain your hands with evil so as to destroy evil? Or do you uphold your justice even if you must surrender to evil? In my case, I commit evil in order to destroy the greater evil!"


Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is an anime that aired from 2006-2008. Set in an Alternate History where Britain won the American Revolution only for Napoleon to conquer the British Isles, causing the royalty to flee to the American continent and establish the Holy Britannian Empire, the world's only superpower and the proverbial quarter-ton gorilla, which is ruled by a Social Darwinist Emperor (who happens to be a slightly-less-than-proverbial quarter-ton gorilla himself). In 2010 of the Imperial Calendar, Britannia invades Japan in order to secure an important mineral resource. Thanks to their Humongous Mecha, the invasion is over in less than a month, and Japan is stripped of everything -- including its name, leaving them with the new designation "Area 11". Seven years later, the story begins, centering on two friends who first met shortly before the war.

Our protagonist is Lelouch Lamperouge, a Britannian student who encounters the Mysterious Waif C.C. -- pronounced as "C Two" (or, in the Japanese, "Shi-Tsu"). They make a deal which results in him gaining an Evil Eye which allows him to issue orders that cannot be disobeyed. With this power and his incredible intelligence, Lelouch jumps at the call and takes on the identity of the masked man Zero and leads Japan's resistance groups in a war to destroy Britannia in the name of justice.

Meanwhile his friend Suzaku Kururugi, the son of Japan's last Prime Minister, has joined up with Britannia with the intent of reforming the corrupt nation from within. Unfortunately, as an "Eleven", he's little more than a mask-wearing Mook... until he accidentally becomes the pilot of the Super Prototype Lancelot, which in turn allows him to meet a fellow Wide Eyed Idealist, the Rebellious Princess Euphemia, who shares many of his beliefs.

The major conflict in the series comes not simply from the war between Britannia and Japan, but also from the clash of ideals between the two friends. Lelouch and Suzaku's war isn't just a traditional war, but a conflict of opposites: brains versus brawn, cynicism versus idealism, and Lawful Evil vs. Chaotic Good. Geass plays with several character archetypes and tropes; for example, the show turns the traditional Real Robot protagonist archetype into The Rival, while making its hero a Well Intentioned Extremist in the vein of Char Aznable.

Code Geass began airing in October 2006 and immediately became a runaway success, spawning a merchandising juggernaut and winning many industry awards. The brainchild of Planetes creators Goro Taniguchi and Ichiro Okouchi, Geass brings their usual style and flair for the dramatic to the Real Robot genre. The series also received a good bit of early word-of-mouth thanks to the decision to hire CLAMP as character designers.

The series is also noteworthy for producing an incredible amount of All There in the Manual, including Radio Drama-like Sound Episodes, Picture Dramas, and DVD-exclusive short stories that help flesh out the show's universe and expand on its characters. Also included are four Alternate Continuity manga:

  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is the most faithful to the anime, but removes the Humongous Mecha and most of the military action in favor of more comedy and Shojou elements.
  • Suzaku of the Counterattack skews more Shonen, focusing on Suzaku rather than Lelouch and turning the Lancelot into a powersuit so he can act like a Kamen Rider.
  • Nightmare of Nunnally, a vast departure from the normal Code Geass, focuses on Lelouch's Ill Girl sister Nunnally, who becomes a Little Miss Badass in an Evangelionesque mecha and battles similarly-powered girls. Oh, and Lelouch returns later on, channeling Master Asia.
  • Strange Tales of the Bakamatsu is a Universal Adaptor Cast story, placing the characters in the Bakamatsu era of Japanese history, making Lelouch the head of The Shinsengumi while secretly opposing the Meiji reforms brought on by Britannia (here standing in for Admiral Perry). It is more light-hearted than the other adaptations/spin-offs, with a semi-chibified art style and less melodramatic story elements (Zero and Black Knights, here renamed the Black Restoration Order, are for example transformed from their Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters in the original canon to something more closely resembling a 'Robin Hood and his Merry Men' idea). It also plays faster and looser with realism, for instance including a pizza delivery service despite the setting being before pizza was popularized in America, let alone the rest of the world (Italy excepted, naturally).

Code Geass has also produced three video games to date: a self-titled RPG for the Nintendo DS that mostly follows the first season, a Visual Novel called Lost Colors, and a board/party game, also for the DS, focusing on the second season.

The sequel series, Code Geass R2, aired on Japanese television from April to September 2008; all that can be said from a neutral standpoint is that it generated possibly the biggest Broken Base in recent history, even competing with Super Smash Bros. Brawl.) Both series and the first three manga are licensed in America by Bandai Entertainment, with both series running more or less concurrently on Adult Swim. In late December 2008, the Sunrise anime studio indicated its intention of continuing the franchise in the future but no specifics were described.

In December of 2009, it was announced that there would be a new manga titled Code Geass: Renya of the Dark (script by Goro Taniguchi, art by Tomomasa Takuma), wherein the eponymous protagonist encounters C.C. and a man bearing an incredible resemblance to Lelouch in Edo-period (or at least its equivalent) Japan. In addition, producer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi has stated that other new products are also in the works. In January 2010, Kawaguchi added that he wants to announce a new animated production "soon" but didn't specify its format. In April 2010, the production was revealed as Code Geass Gaiden: Akito of the Ruined Land, a sidestory set in the same timeframe as the first season and focusing on a group of Japanese pilots fighting on the European front; the format, however (TV series, OVA, movie) is still unknown.

A Character Sheet is here.

You can watch the first season here.


Code Geass provides examples of:

  • 0% Approval Rating: Britannia to anyone who isn't Britannian. Toward the end of the series, Lelouch gets even the Britannians to disapprove, resulting in world unity when he's assassinated.
  • Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Milly twice mobilizes the entire student body to a specific task with nothing but a PA announcement.
  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: So spacious that Mao manages to use it to hide, not just himself, but Nunnally and a bomb... which is suspended about 30 feet above Nunnally from a long rope.
  • Adaptation Distillation: The Lelouch Of The Rebellion manga covers the first half of R2 in the course of about a single volume, and several less-than-well accepted points of the story have been changed.
  • Aerith and Bob: In this anime, characters with names like Jeremiah and Shirley play alongside characters with names like Lelouch and Villetta. Counts doubly for Schneizel, which is not only not a name but manages to sound like a German foodstuff.
  • Aggressive Negotiations: Suzaku and Lelouch to the UFN.
  • Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The Avalon, the Emperor's Great Britannia, the Ikaruga (which is submersible as well), and several other flying airships which are either passenger transports or cargo ships.
  • Airstrip One: All the conquered territories of the Holy Britannian Empire. Japan is now "Area 11".
  • Alas, Poor Scrappy: Until R2 Episode 13, Shirley was generally disliked for her naivete and canon love for Lelouch getting in the way of him hooking up with other love interests. The sheer outrage towards her death (and corresponding hatred towards her murderer) was truly incredible to behold.
    • Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: Many of the people who found her annoying seemingly came around to how sympathetic she was after she died. Guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone sometimes.
  • Alas Poor Villain: Mao's death scene is pretty sweet and touching, and some consider it a bona fide Tear Jerker. Lelouch's death is an even bigger example, though that at least partially depends on whether or not you consider him a "villain."
  • All Nations Are Superpowers: The world of Code Geass is divided between the Holy Britannian Empire, the Euro Universe and the Chinese Federation. Neutral nations like Japan tends to be conquered by the Britannians.
    • Australia seems to be this world's version of Switzerland.
  • Alternate History: And it can get pretty out there. For example, the American Revolution failed because Ben Franklin sided with Great Britain. Then Napoleon conquered Europe, including England, so Britannia rebuilt its empire on the other side of the Atlantic.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Lelouch. Is he an Anti-Hero or is he a Villain Protagonist?
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: "Geass" isn't some crazy word a Japanese person made up: In Irish mythology and folklore, a "geis" (plural "geasa") is a magical obligation or prohibition caused by a vow or spell.] Sound familiar?
  • Ambiguously Autistic: Lloyd
  • Ambiguously Gay: Kanon makes a joke about being Schneizel's assistant "Public and Private".
  • Amnesiac Lover
  • And I Must Scream: Not in the way you would think. While in a particularly bad mood Lelouch Geasses one man to bark like a dog and another to dance like an idiot. It sounds funny but then you realize they'll be doing exactly that until they "expire."
  • Angst Aversion/Hype Aversion: Tell someone this show is one of the saddest and most depressing they'll ever see and they'll definitely think twice about watching it. Tell them it spawned one of the most horrifying Broken Bases in the history of Anime and they'll start running very fast in the other direction.
  • Anime First
  • Anime Hair: Not every last character, but a fair few. Sometimes taken to such an extreme it even gets Lampshaded in the DVD Commentary.
  • Anti-Hero: The Black Knights, Jeremiah, C.C, Suzaku, Rolo, Diethard, and Lelouch... unless you believe Lelouch is the villain.
  • Anvilicious: Racism, racism, racism, racism, racism. It's bad. The producers want you to be clear on this point.
  • Anyone Can Die: Perhaps less so than in other series, but several important characters still experience this throughout both seasons.
  • Arc Words: Subverted; Zero says something about "orange" during the Suzaku rescue, the implication being that it's a collaboration between himself and Jeremiah. When C.C. asks Lelouch what "orange" means later, he admits there is no deeper meaning; he simply chose an arbitrary word and allowed everyone's innate curiosity to assign meaning to it.
  • Artificial Limbs: We say Edo-period Japan, but that Renya kid has some sort of robot arm. Then again, this is all Alternate History.
  • Artistic License: Chess Does Not Work That Way. On several occasions. To take an example in the first episode: once you're truly losing a game, it doesn't much matter how great a player you are. The only way to win at that point is for your opponent to make at least one horrible blunder. (And, if he or she does make blunder, you don't necessarily need to be all that good a player to take advantage.) Furthermore, even if you're already winning, against a decent opponent, if you move your king just to show how "brave" you are, that's likely going to be a terrible move that could — and, frankly, should — cost you the game. However, while not a strictly accurate depiction of chess, it serves as a useful metaphor for Lelouch's character and leadership style.
  • Assimilation Plot: What the Ragnarok Connection, the Emperor's and Marianne's ultimate plan, aimed to achieve. It's pretty similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion's Instrumentality, but with a different set of symbols.
  • Author Appeal: Given how many times imprisoned characters were dressed in various types of bondage wear, someone on the production staff had a severe jones for it.
  • Awesome But Impractical: Slash harkens -- the rocket-propelled, tethered projectiles used by almost every Knightmare Frame -- were devised by the show's mechanical designers because they figured the machines should have a weapon without ammunition limits. At first glance they seem to be a practical alternative but, as anyone who's done winch recovery with four wheel drive's can tell you, there are several dangers involved with trying to wind up a metal cable under tension, especially at high speed, namely the cable breaking (which is very very bad as said broken cable will whip back and slice through ANYTHING in its path) or getting tangled on the spool, rendering the entire winch unit useless. The show had this happen all of once, to Kallen in the first episode, and it was implied to be crappy parts more than bad design. Knightmares themselves could be argued as such, but the the MST3K Mantra fully applies in this case.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Several. Relates to Aerith and Bob.
  • Badass: Several characters. Lelouch, C.C., Kallen, Toudou, Jeremiah, Suzaku, and Cornelia being foremost examples.
  • Badass Family: Played straight and subverted by the royal family of Britania.
  • Badass Longcoat: Subverted with Ohgi in his Deputy Commander uniform, since throughout the series he's for the most part uninspiring. Played straight with Tohdoh and possibly Lelouch and Suzaku in their civilian disguises.
  • Bad Guys Play Pool: Played with. Gino, Lloyd and Cecile play pool shortly after Suzaku nukes Tokyo. They are the bad guys, but Cecile and Lloyd clearly disapprove of Suzaku's behavior at this point and let it show. Gino is more apathetic, but he didn't approve, either.
  • Bait and Switch Credits
  • Banned in China: China specifically for: a)) Portraying the Chinese as manipulative eunuchs, b)) exemplifying the dignity of conquered peoples going hand-in-hand with striking back against the government, and c)) having Tibet as an independent nation (reference is made to the Tibet Convention).
  • Base Breaker
  • Batman Gambit: Most of Lelouch's moves are this more than anything, and he screws up just as often as succeeding.
  • Battle of Wits
  • The Beautiful People: Nearly the entire cast. (What do you expect with designs from CLAMP?)
  • Beauty is Never Tarnished
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Nina about Euphemia. She takes this to an Absurd Length. Also Rolo about Lelouch.
  • Beehive Barrier: The Blaze Luminous shield system.
  • Berserk Button: If you want to live another day, do not mention Orange in front of Jeremiah Gottwald.
  • Better on DVD: Not surprising, given the complexities of the plot and the Loads and Loads of Characters. Also, the animation from some of the TV episodes could get sloppy at times. Facial expressions didn't look the way they were supposed to or characters were off-model. In particular, episode 20 of R2 was one of the worse offenders. The DVD release cleaned up most of it.
  • Beyond the Impossible: The universe exists purely to screw over Lelouch in increasingly unlikely circumstances, which makes it all the more incredible when he manages to succeed despite this, which he does the majority of the time.
  • Big Bad: Charles
  • Big Damn Heroes: When Lelouch finally reaches the end of his rope, runs out of cards, put into checkmate, is completely, totally, and utterly screwed... this happens.
  • Big No: Several times. In a show full of Large Hams, it's to be expected.
  • Big Screwed Up Family: Look no further than the Britannian Royalty.
  • Bittersweet Ending: In the end, Lelouch achieves his ultimate goal, making the world a better place for all his friends and loved ones, at the cost of his own life. Or maybe that's just what he wants you to think.]]
  • Black and Gray Morality: On the one hand, we have a violent Social Darwinist empire which horrifically oppresses its people and, in the opening episode, massacres an entire ghetto. On the heroes' side, we've got a Byronic Hero with many, many personality flaws and who will Shoot the Dog if necessary.
  • Black Knight: What the group calls themselves.
  • Black Screen of Death: The sadistic Cliffhanger end of Season One.
  • Blatant Lies: The Tokyo Tower museum dedicated to furthering Brittanian/Eleven cooperation.
  • Blessed With Suck: All Geass users, but especially Mao.
  • Bodyguard Crush: Reciprocated, blossoming into a real relationship, between Princess Euphemia and her knight Suzaku. Later, another between Kallen and Zero.
  • Book Ends: "One should not kill unless they are ready to be killed themselves!"
    • Also the first episode of R2 shares many parallels with that of the first season. Lelouch goes through his daily life and beats a Britannian in chess before getting involved in a terrorist act. He then meets C2 and, right before he's about to be gunned down, he gains the power of the Geass and orders the firing squad to kill themselves.
  • Bound and Gagged: Happens regularly in R2, though more the former than the latter.
  • Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Played with, in that stereotypical heroic character with Charles Atlas Superpower Suzaku is actually an Anti Villain working for the Big Bad, while Squishy Wizard Lelouch who behaves like a stereotypical villain is actually the show's Well Intentioned Extremist Byronic Hero.
  • Breather Episode: Episodes 5 and 12 of R2, filled with pure fanservice and almost no main plot advancement whatsoever, except for the mandatory cliffhangers at the end.
  • Break the Cutie: Played horrifyingly straight with a good portion of the cast.
  • Brick Joke: Lelouch tests his Geass by telling a girl to make a mark on every brick of the building. Several times in the series, you see her walking in and marking the building, and during episode 5 of R2, you see the marks on the wall.
  • Broken Aesop: Although Villetta, Ohgi, and Cornelia were already ready to be killed, it wasn't because they were killing people; in fact, if anything, they had even less problem killing people than Lelouch (at least initially) did, and all 3 are still Karma Houdinis after what they did. For more information, see the Disney Death, Ass Pull, and I Got Better trope pages.
  • Broken Base: Any theme or character in this series will have at least one huge group loving it and another totally loathing it! By the end of the series, the pro-Lelouch vs. anti-Lelouch halves of the fandom were so divided that, in spite of the end revealing that everything Lelouch did was to bring about a genuine peace people chose for themselves, as well as democracy, freedom, and happiness for all his friends at the cost of the world hating his memory forever, one side was still acting like he was worse than forty Hitlers. In particular, [[Category:Internet Backdraft|do not mention Episode 25 of R2 to any fans of this series.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: In Code Geass, Lelouch admits that his half-sister Euphemia was the closest thing he had to a first love and his relationship with full-sister Nunnally is considered suspicious both by people in the actual show and by fans of the series.
  • Call to Agriculture: Lord Jeremiah ends the series in, of all things, an orange grove. Possibly also a reference to when he had to face demotion or a dishonorable discharge. The Euphemism they used for the discharge was "start an orange farm." It shows not only that he wanted new growth after the war, but also reminded him daily of his choice to join Lelouch.
  • Canon Foreigner: Castor and Pollux from the DS game; Rai from Lost Colors; Elle and her father from Suzaku of the Counterattack.
  • Canon Sue: Lelouch himself is the largest example of this in the series, but there are others.
  • Caped Mecha: Cornelia and her honor guard.
  • Captain Ersatz: A decent number of characters are expies of or inspired by characters from different works, some of which are owned by Sunrise. In many cases, these tend to overlap with each other, especially when it comes to Lelouch, who's got to be inspired by a small army of other characters from different works.
  • Catch Phrase
    • "Yes, my Lord / your Highness / your Majesty." (spoken in English by the Japanese cast)
    • "Lelouch vi Britannia commands you ..."
    • "With all your strength!"
    • "All tasks at hand have been cleared."
    • "Congratulations!" or "Too bad, but ..."
    • "LOYALTY!"
  • Chainsaw Good: Mao comes up with a hilariously disturbing solution on how to "ship C.C. to Australia". ("I'll make you compact!") Also, the Four Holy Swords' Knightmares have chainsaw katanas.
  • Char Clone: Lelouch. In fact, if you take this perspective, Code Geass literally becomes Mobile Suit Gundam with the perspectives skewed, instead of following Amuro (Suzaku), you're following Char.
  • Characterization Marches On: Nearly all of the Britannian Empire were purely evil, racist, and ruthless in the first season, but the second season gave it more shades of gray, with the main ones in charge (Emperor Charles, V.V, etc.) being the only truly evil ones, and even they have understandable motivations. In the end, Luciano Bradley is the only Britannian left with absolutely no redeeming qualities.
  • Chess Motifs: Let's start with Zero's uniform -- which could almost literally be a human-sized classic Staunton chess set king stuffed into a superhero cape -- but the list goes on and on and on.
  • Childhood Friends: Suzaku and Lelouch. It's one of the major early driving factors for the show since Lelouch is so reluctant to see him as an enemy or use his geass on him..
  • A Child Shall Lead Them: Jiang Luhua, the Tianzi, is only thirteen years old.
    • Kaguya Sumeragi -- head of the influential Sumeragi House; High Chairman of the UFN; Japan's representative on said council -- is only about fourteen by the events of R2.
    • Nunnally begins her rule of Britannia, the world's last remaining superpower, when she has just turned fifteen.
  • CLAMP: Did the character designs. Yes, it shows. This is why you cannot tell which character is male and which character is female without it being expressly pointed out, or until the character opens their mouth. And even then...
  • Cliffhanger: Almost every episode, albeit with widely varying levels of intensity. The first season finale ends with a cliffhanger that makes you want to kill something with a hammer. If anything, the second season still further uppsed the ante, concluding with an Or Is It in the series finale's epilogue.
  • Coincidental Broadcast: In episode eight of the first season, the Black Knights catching the hotel-jacking incident on the news.
  • Complete Monster: Luciano Bradley. Some people view Emperor Charles and V.V. as this as well. Mao comes across as this at first given his actions. However, once his backstory is revealed he's seen more as a Jerkass Woobie or a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds but still absolutely batshit.
  • Conspicuous CG: No, not the mecha -- those are hand-drawn. However, during Kallen and Suzaku's final battle, there's a 30 second clip in which the surrounding scenery seems to be made up of cel-shaded 3D graphics. Also, flags in the wind and trains.
    • Nunally's garden during Operation Pacific Ambush
    • During the big showdown with Emperor Wakamoto there is a massive tower of shimmering CGI. Of course, this makes sense when you think about the circumstances and who's involved.
  • Contemplate Our Navels: In the very last episode, everyone goes through the "Why we fight" speech. And I mean everyone. And they all do it at the same time.
  • Cool Bike: Rivalz' bike is actually cooler than its rider.
  • Crapsack World: The Britannian Emperor invades nations because of his "survival of the fittest" philosophy. If he wins, you and others like you will be relegated to ghettos where you will live in poverty. The ghetto is subject to army raids. If you want a better life, swallow your pride and head to the government building where you can sign a document that says you are now an honorary Britannian. You are now eligible for education and employment (in a really demeaning job). Life in the settlement is marked by racism. Britannians can beat you up in the street and no one, not even police, will help you. Being a Britannian in Area 11 is especially dangerous because of clashes between the army and the Black Knights. The Chinese Federation is no improvement. The only bastion of freedom and democracy in the world is the European Universe, and they're losing their war to Brittania.
  • Crash Into Hello: How Princess Euphemia first meets Suzaku. Except it's a vertical crash: Euphie falls/jumps onto Suzaku from a window.
  • Crazy Awesome: Some of Lelouch's plans as Zero are as insane as they spectacularly awesome. Collapsing the Tokyo Settlement's construction base to destroy Cornelia's forces along with a chunk of the city and erupting Mount Fuji to take down a flagship and an army]] are just two examples.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Nightmare, and Madder Sky.
  • The Danza: Kento Sugiyama is voiced by Noriaki Sugiyama, Inoue is voiced by Kikuko Inoue and Nagisa Chiba is voiced by Saeko Chiba.
  • Date Crepe: Euphie and Suzaku after their Meet Cute.
  • Death is Dramatic: At least with sufficiently major characters. Minor characters, especially those with no real ties to the main characters, tend to suffer fates offscreen with little to-do.
  • Death of the Author: Despite Word of God by the writer on the Really Dead Montage and C.C.'s new monologue in the Special Edition Zero Requiem DVD, a vocal segment of the fandom still fiercely believes that Lelouch is just hiding. At the same time, what has been interpreted as a bit of Word of Dante by the director preferring Shrug of God adds fuel to the fire, further worsening things for an already badly Broken Base.
  • Deconstruction Fic: The fandom is quite fond of tearing down the epilogue of R2 by showing the realistic political consequences of the power vacuum Lelouch left in his wake.
  • Decoy Getaway: C.C. sometimes dresses as Zero to aid Lelouch in his plans and/or to lend him plausible deniability. In the second season, Sayoko does the opposite (of sorts) by disguising herself as Lelouch (the Rich Idiot With No Day Job version). As if to top them both, at the end of R2, Suzaku kills Lelouch at Lelouch's own request and takes up the Zero identity.
  • Deflector Shields: First introduced on the Lancelot's arm gauntlets. Later shown on a large scale with the Avalon.
  • Delayed Explosion: FLEIJA.
  • Den of Iniquity: Babel Tower
  • Despair Event Horizon: A couple of the characters have been warped by their misfortunes.
  • Die For Our Ship: A good part of the fandom hate Rolo got came specifically from people who thought he killed Shirley only out of romantic jealousy, believing Rolo to be a Depraved Homosexual. Fandom homophobia ahoy!
    • Rolo kind of has this attitude himself toward Nunnally, and in fact that was the reason he killed Shirley, to prevent her from interfering with his intention to kill Nunnally. It didn't have much to do with Shirley personally.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Lelouch plots revenge against most of his family members for the Britannian invasion of Japan. It doesn't stop there. His response to Rolo murdering Shirley is to wipe out the entire Geass Order. While there were undoubtedly some monsters in that number, he still has his minions slaughter kids. Tykebombs, yes, but kids. Rolo had killed an SIA man for touching the locket Lelouch gave him.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything: The Black Knights attack Babel Tower. Terrorists attacking a skyscraper? Hmmm...
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set: Zero is fond of this. Charles pulls this off once as well.
  • Don't Tell Mama: Variation: Lelouch tries to keep his alter ego secret from his sister.
  • Downer Ending: Pretty much everything goes to hell for everyone at the end of Season One. A lot of individual episodes in R2 do this as well, especially when the series reminds you that Anyone Can Die. The final episode can be considered this Your Mileage May Vary depending on one's perspective.
  • DVD Commentary: With the Japanese producers and cast. (Includes subtitles.)
  • Dysfunction Junction: You better believe it!
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: To specify, the cost is the main character's life as part of his Thanatos Gambit. (Oh, and the lives of a few others.) But at least everyone who hasn't already died a tragic death lives happily ever after!
  • The Empire: Britannia.
  • The Ending Changes Everything: Not as much of an example as most others, as it doesn't cover the whole series, but The Reveal of what the Zero Requiem is entirely changes the context of the final arc and several key conversations.
  • Engineered Public Confession: The Chinese Eunuchs should really have considered the possibility that their conversation with Zero could be recorded before they gleefully mouthed off about how "the people are ants" and that the much-beloved child empress is "just a puppet who can easily be replaced." Hilarity Ensues as the entire Chinese Federation simultaneously revolts in anger.]]
  • Enthusiasm vs. Stoicism
  • Episode Title Card
  • Esoteric Happy Ending: Depending on how cynical the audience wants to be, the damage to Japan and the world at large paints a rather pessimistic picture of the future when all is said and done. There's also a clear contrast between the tragedy of Lelouch's death and the happiness that follows it, which may be hard to swallow. Not to mention the necessity of certain events and actions taken to get there.
  • Ethnically Ambiguous Appearance: The only real difference between Asians and Caucasians in this series is whether your hair color is black/white or preposterous; however, with racism as one of the main themes, some have noted that this may be part of the point. Lelouch and Suzaku in particular are, to the viewer anyway, able to easily pass off as the other's race.
  • Eunuchs Are Evil: The High Eunuchs.
  • Everything's Better With Spinning: Spinzaku]] and the Lulucopter. Not to mention half the rest of the cast as well, plus it seems to be fairly common for knightmare frames to spin and twirl as they fight.
  • Evil Britannian: Aside from a few sympathetic named characters, most Britannians are portrayed as evil or at least uncaring. Note that Britannia is an alternate-history country where the American Revolution failed and Napoleon conquered the British Isles. Britain and the United States have no equivalent country in this series.
  • Executive Meddling: The original plans for R2 were changed when it was announced that the series would be moved to an earlier, prime-time slot. Fans believe that this mainly affected the first half of R2, for the purposes of re-introducing the show to a new audience instead of picking up right after the first season's cliffhanger like the staff had intended. As a general rule, how much a fan thinks was changed is inversely proportionate to said fan's opinion of R2's quality. Those who see R2 as "Code Trainwreck" tend to think everything from the original plans got scrapped.
    • It's known that the Time Skip itself was a result of Executive Meddling. Other elements that are commonly suspected or assumed to fall under this include introducing the character of Rolo and removing aspects of C.C.'s and Suzaku's backgrounds without a full explanation.
    • The series using mecha at all is a case of Executive Meddling, but the show's staff was obviously able to run with it well enough.
  • Face Death With Dignity
  • Fake Memories: The Emperor gives these to Lelouch with his geass, during the Time Skip. He did it to Nunnally as well, which caused her blindness.
  • Faking Amnesia: In the second season of Code Geass, Lelouch adds this to part of his masquerade early on in order to throw off suspicion that he has regained his memories.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Despite Word of God saying their relationship was merely one of mutual respect or perhaps surrogate mother and son, Lelouch and C.C. still get an incredible amount of shipping. It probably doesn't help matters that they were shown being awfully close in the series and official art.
    • Here's a fun fact for you: Over on Live Journal, the Suzaku/Lelouch community has almost twice as many members as the Lelouch/C.C., Lelouch/Kallen and Lelouch/Shirley communities combined.
  • Fan Service: Every female character is subjected to this. Especially Kallen.
    • Several of the male characters have their moments too: Suzaku's and Gino's Knightmare Frame-pilot outfits are really tight. Lelouch has at least one shower and shirtless scene (which was probably inserted to assure viewers that, yes, he is supposedly male).
  • Fantastic Drug: Refrain
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Quite a few. One example is Schneizel falling under Lelouch's geass, forcing him to obey "Zero" for the rest of his life.
  • The Federation: The United Federation of Nations, created to rival Britannia.
  • Fight Off the Kryptonite
  • The First Law of Metafictional Thermodynamics: The show attempts to defy this; many characters are added without the plot slowing down. As a result, the emotional gravity is lost when they turn out to be Chekhov's Gunman or Sacrificial Lions.
  • Form Fitting Wardrobe: Skirts cling more closely to contours than should be possible, particularly at the rear. Displayed by too many characters to count.
  • For Your Own Good: Charles and Marianne justify their actions throughout the series as being this, but Lelouch (correctly) doesn't buy it for a second.
  • Fun With Acronyms: F.L.E.I.J.A. The "J" doesn't appear to stand for anything, and is just there to make the pronunciation approximate the mythological name "Freya". The other possibility is that the "J" is there to make it sound like "flayer". It does rather effectively to the outer skin of Knightmares that are destroyed when Schneizel is trying to get to the heart of the opposing force. That, of course, is Lelouch.
  • Gainaxing: Less than what you'd usually expect, for a series with plenty of fanservice, but it still happens a couple of times in both seasons.
  • Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: Suzaku catching a falling woman in his Knightmare Frame. Kallen catching Zero. Rolo holding Lelouch.
  • Gilligan Cut: "No matter what happens, it's a-" *book slams shut*
  • Generican Empire: The United Federation of Nations.
  • Gratuitous English: "Yes, my lord", "homeland", "fottage", "perpetraeor", and don't forget "ALL HEIL HAIL BRITANNIA!!".
  • Green Rocks: Sakuradite, a power source which makes much of the technology work, and prompted Britannia's invasion of Japan.
  • Gretzky Has the Ball: Chess does not work that way.
  • Harmful to Minors: Lelouch and Nunnally witnessed their mother's murder at ages nine and six, respectively.
  • Heroic RROD: Rolo Lamperouge. It ends up causing his death.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Rolo "I am not a tool" Lamperouge manages this as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Hidden Depths: No one in this series is quite who they seem to be at first, with the possible exception of Rivalz, but then, considering he was Lelouch's 'best friend' before starting with the Black Knights, he has all the characterization of a flea.
  • Highly Conspicuous Uniform: Higher ranking Britannian soldiers wear bright colors decorated by Creepy Cool Crosses.
  • Hollywood Tactics: The larger the battles in Code Geass, the more this trope rears its head. The smaller and earlier battles (such as the massacre of Shinjuku Ghetto) appear sensible for both Lelouch and the Britannian forces (at least when Clovis isn't giving orders), but by the time of Code Geass R2, everyone's armies end up using Napoleonic massed-infantry tactics (or "line of battle" tactics from the Age of Sail in the case of naval/air-naval forces). Vehicles that would be better suited to a support fire role are lumped into tight formations with the rest of the Cannon Fodder.
  • Hufflepuff House: The EU, as well as most members of the UFN, much to the annoyance of some fans.
  • Humongous Mecha: Worth mentioning again because of how barely this trope applies. At four meters tall, the Knightmare Frames are some of the smallest mecha in fiction, tying Armored Trooper VOTOM's machines. Even though the mecha is only incidental to the plot, with just a few adjustments, Code Geass could become something like this.
  • I Am Spartacus: Episode 8 of R2 has a Batman Gambit that involves a crowd of one million people dressing like Zero.
  • Icon of Rebellion: The corrupt Geass Symbol of the Black Knights.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The majority of the series are titled Code Geass: [Protagonist] of the [...something].
  • I Got Better: Guilford and Nunnally who survived the FLEIJA. Also Cornelia.
  • Idiot Ball: Lelouch joking to Euphemia about being able to make her murder all the Japanese. Given the way the sequence is Dude, Not Funny, awkwardly drawn out, and begging the question "why are you saying all this?", it was rather obviously just a setup for an incoming plot twist.
  • Impossibly Cool Clothes: So very, very much. Just look at the gravity-defying Zero outfit.
  • Improbable Age: Almost, but not quite, to the point of Competence Zone/Adults Are Useless.
  • Incoming Ham: Jeremiah Gottwald devours the scenery when he shows up in the first season's finale.
  • Informed Ability: Lelouch's skill at playing chess -- the game, as opposed to his Chessmaster status.
  • Insistent Terminology: Done both ways. When called Elevens, characters of Japanese origin will angrily say "We're not Elevens, we're Japanese!" and during the scene that Nina makes at a ball in the Chinese Federation, Kallen tells her that she isn't Britannian, she's Japanese. Nina then rather hysterically says "No you're not! You're an Eleven!"
  • In Spite of a Nail: Despite the fact that Word of God has an extensive explanation for how the the universe of the series diverged from our own, this isn't too apparent when watching it, as so many features (like shopping malls, news stations, etc.) match the real world, not to mention the fact that the Japanese resistance group uses the "red sun" flag, giving the obvious impression that it is a remnant of this world's Japan. And of course, outside of Britannia, pretty much every country has its usual name. Although it's hinted that the "official" history of Britannia is mostly or entirely made up.
  • Instant Death Bullet: Common with Mooks; usually averted with major characters. But not always....
  • Instant Win Condition: The Final Battle of R2 -- Lelouch's forces get obliterated, Suzaku gets beaten by Kallen, but once Lelouch seizes control of Damocles, his enemies have no choice but to surrender.
  • Inverted Trope: It's a predictably Troperiffic Humongous Mecha Anime -- except that the protagonist is The Chessmaster with the Evil Magic Powers and his opposite is the Hot Blooded Honor Before Reason Ace Pilot.
  • Invisible Advertising: On Adult Swim, the show began with very little promotion. Being so continuity driven, it was hard to pick up new viewers.
  • Ironic Echo: Not an exact echo of a quote, but it was certainly ironic that the long-blind but now sighted Nunnally should end up begging Lelouch to open his eyes.
  • It Gets Easier: Lelouch and Suzaku
  • It Got Worse: Code Geass operates on a continuum in which everything is slightly worse than what came before it. One might argue that this is "It Got Worse: The Series Season 1 and 2" judging by just how much they like playing with this.
  • Jossed: Word of God has confirmed that Lelouch is dead.
  • Kangaroo Court: For Suzaku after he's scapegoated for Clovis' murder. The Black Knights' mutiny against Lelouch could also count.
  • Lampshade Hanging: For example, on the Mood Whiplash.
  • Large Ham: Lelouch. It's even Lampshaded: one of the soon to be Black Knights says, "I didn't know the genius strategist was such a ham."
  • Laughing Mad: When Lelouch found out Suzaku is the pilot of Lancelot.
  • Lensman Arms Race: The main Humongous Mecha of the series are steadily shifting from Real Robots to Supers in terms of their weaponry or equipment upgrades, as new technologies have been introduced and distributed among the warring factions, a single year after the end of the first season.
  • Let Them Die Happy: Before she died, Euphemia asked Suzaku if the people were happy with her creation of the SAZ. Needless to say, he didn't tell her that she killed them all while under the Geass's control.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The signature role of (almost) every Knightmare Frame depicted in Code Geass; even the early model Glasgows tore through slower and more conventional armored vehicles during the invasion of Japan (as is seen in many early Cold Openings of the first season). New models -- especially the Lancelot and Gurren in all their forms -- trump older Knightmares by being even more of a Lightning Bruiser than they were.
  • Living With the Villain: In Season One, Suzaku goes to school with Lelouch and Kallen. In Season Two, Lelouch is under watch by Villetta and Rolo, who are posing as a teacher and his younger brother, respectively.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: There's an opening sequence which mostly consists of a bunch of characters flying at the viewer. It goes on for a long time.
  • Love-Struck Psycho: Mao to C.C., Nina to Euphemia, Rolo to Lelouch.
  • Magnificent Bastard/Manipulative Bastard: Lelouch himself.
  • Manly Tears: Suzaku during the Grand Finale. Jeremiah does it, too.
  • Marry Them All: Kaguya tries to initiate it with Kallen and CC.
  • Mary Tzu: An unfortunate side effect of the encroaching Hollywood Tactics as the series progresses is that the brilliant strategists of the series become this. Somehow, various characters are able to correctly predict the plans of their enemies no matter how convoluted they are, or how little information they have on those plans--Lelouch and Li Xinkge, especially, have a blatant exchange in the second season. Face it, any supposedly military geniuses in the series are this.
  • The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Appears in Another Century's Episode: R. A strange case in that it came to ACE first rather than initially being in a Super Robot Wars game.
  • May-December Romance: Directly implied between Tianzi and Xingke. Arguably Anya and Jeremiah, depending on what you want to read into the Where Are They Now Epilogue, but Your Mileage May Vary.
  • Mayfly-December Romance: C.C. the ageless, deathless witch is romanced by seventeen/eighteen-year-old boys.
  • Meaningful Name: Almost every Britannian Knightmare Frame has a name that references Arthurian legend (though Arthur himself is ... a stray cat that Suzaku adopted).
  • Meet Cute: A bunch, but perhaps the most obvious is the Crash Into Hello/Rescue Romance when Princess Euphemia falls from her window onto Suzaku.
  • Melodrama
  • Memetic Mutation: "Pizza Hut supports the rebellion!".
  • Memory Gambit: Lelouch, in Episode 16.
  • Mercy Kill: C.C. to Mao.
  • Midair Repair: Plus upgrade. Using missiles.
  • Misaimed Fandom: "Lelouch brainwashing and killing innocent people is awesome!" Wait...
  • Moe: Some of the female cast tend to be these, in particular Nunnally, Kaguya, Shirley, Euphemia, Tanzi and spoiler:slave girl C.C..
  • Mildly Military
  • Million to One Chance: In R2 episode 24, Nina creates an anti-FLEIJA device that has an extremely slim margin of success, requiring key data to be input 19 seconds before detonation and only having a 0.04-second window of opportunity even if everything goes right. Lelouch and Suzaku manage to pull it off - mostly through strategy. Lelouch is a genius and so can input within 19 seconds, and Suzaku uses his "live" Geass, which forces him to fire the FLEIJA Eliminator with perfect timing.
  • Mind Rape: Mao's treatment of Shirley and C.C.'s distraction of Suzaku. The first was unforgivable, the second accidental: C.C. didn't control what he saw. Then there's the Emperor implanting Lelouch's fake memories, which bears a very uncomfortable resemblance to an actual rape scene, since Lelouch is literally being held to the floor by Suzaku while he screams, thrashes, and begs his father to stop. By episode 21 of R2, it is revealed that Charles had also done the same by using his Geass on Nunnally to cover-up Marianne's murder.
  • Mood Whiplash: To such a bizarre extreme that sometimes it seems almost as if the producers, writers, and characters have forgotten what horrors transpired in the previous episode. Occasionally gets a Lampshade Hanging.
  • Mooks: Almost a given in an action series.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Have hours of fun with your friends debating at which of the many possible points did Lelouch cross it (if he even did at all).
  • More Than Mind Control: Schneizel to Nina. Schneizel to Nunnally. Pretty much Schneizel to everyone. Lelouch manages some moments of his own, too.
  • The Morality Mortality Equation: Causes bad things to happen whenever Lelouch lowers his morals.
  • Most Common Superpower: Almost every female character.
  • Mundane Utility: The Absurdly Powerful Student Council in Ashford pulls out an old Humongous Mecha to... make a giant pizza. Though on second thought, that could very well have been an intended feature in the original design.
  • The Mutiny: R2, Episode 19. The Black Knights mutiny against Zero/Lelouch.
  • My Revenge is Mercy
  • Myth Arc
  • Night of the Living Mooks: Charles uses his Geass power "The Dead" to turn skilled soldiers into the nearly unkillable undead Knights of the Round in Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally.
  • Ninja Maid: Sayoko
  • Noodle Incident: Whatever happened at Aomori with Kallen and C.C. Slightly un-noodled by a postcard in the Zero Requiem DVD.
  • Noodle People: Most of the characters, due to the CLAMP character designs.
  • Nostalgia Filter: A rare in-universe example. The drug "Refrain" causes hallucinogenic flashbacks to pleasant past experiences.
  • Nothing is the Same Anymore: The last four episodes.
  • Not Quite Dead: Used only a bit (once in the first season, two or three times in the latter half of the second season). But nonetheless it has become somewhat of a meme.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Shirley keeps catching Lelouch in what look like romantic encounters with Kallen; Kallen keeps finding Zero (who of course is also Lelouch) with C.C.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Sakuradite is explosive enough that for most of the series it stands in for any kind of uranium or plutonium-based weapons. However, it's shown as early as Season 1 that Nina is researching nuclear fission. And the research pays off--a prototype nuke is finished (but ends up failing) in the season 1 finale, and R2 episode 18 finally depicts it being used, killing millions of innocent people.
  • Oddly Named Sequel: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2. Word of God says it stands for "Reconstruction" and "Revolution", the two major phases in the show.
  • Oh Crap: Loads and loads. A prime example is when when Lelouch and Suzaku took over Britannia. It's a global Oh Crap moment.
  • One Degree of Separation: Just how many main characters had connections to each other before the story started?
  • One Hundred and Eight: The number of Emperor's wives and the number of dates with school girls Sayoko sets up for Lelouch.
  • One Person, One Power: The Geass-bearers all have one power each. Some, like Lelouch, are more versatile than others.
  • Or Is It: In the final episode, it's revealed that Lelouch's "Zero Requiem" Xanatos Gambit revolves around his own Heroic Sacrifice, playing the part of the evil Emperor, taking over the world, and dying at the hands of Suzaku (who assumes his Zero identity). But then in the very last scene, it's hinted that maybe Lelouch isn't dead after all, despite being impaled with a sword in full view of thousands of witnesses while the whole thing was being broadcast live on international television. Then again, C.C. did survive a bullet to the head in the first episode.
  • On the Next
  • Our Hero is Dead: Ends with Lelouch dying in order to bring about a world without war. The show's creator later confirms that he did die, his death being the price he paid for making a better world.
  • Outer Limits Twist: Arguably, the death of Euphemia and the events leading up to it, since the whole tragedy happens due to a series of Million to One Chance plot contrivances caused by several characters saying/doing the worst possible thing at the worst possible time.
  • Outside Man, Inside Man: Poor Suzaku and Lelouch.
  • Panty Shot: C.C.'s panties are (very) briefly shown in a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" moment. Here's the video, pause around 7 seconds in. They're light pink, in case you're curious.
  • Picture Drama
  • Pimped-Out Dress
  • Playing Against Type: Johnny Yong Bosch is more often known for straight-up action heroes, not chessmasters like Lelouch. Jamieson Price on the other hand, often does Badass or The Chessmaster, but Diethard's more of a Smug Snake.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Rivalz Cardemonde and Shinichiro Tamaki
  • Polar Opposite Friends: Suzaku and Lelouch. Kallen and C.C.
    • Geass users are red while Jeremiah the Geass canceller is blue.
  • Power at a Price: The whole series can be interpreted as a moral about the terrible ramifications of one man being given power above others. Almost invariably, Geass users end up having lost more than they have gained with their ability.
  • Power Incontinence: Played straight down to having Applied Phlebotinum to allieviate it, or try to. Mao's headphones seem to only help a little bit, perhaps more as a placebo than anything else. Lelouch's contact lens works perfectly, but he acquires it... too late.
  • The Power of Love: Episode Eleven of R2. Lelouch, after consulting Shirley, delivers an epic, over the top declaration that the power of people's love will change the world. The English title is even called "Power of Passion".
  • Power Perversion Potential: Considering his gigantic unwanted harem and his mind control eye, Lelouch could get a lot of use out of this.
  • Pretty Girl/Pretty Boy: It's CLAMP; what do you expect? according to them, Lelouch himself was originally planned to be a White Haired Pretty Boy. Who knows why they ditched that plan.
  • Pretty Little Headshots: When C.C. kills Mao, she shoots him in the head at point blank range, but all you see is him falling to the ground, and it's clear that there's no exit wounds.
  • Prince Charmless
  • Product Placement: Pizza Hut logo's can be seen everywhere.
  • Prop Recycling: In R2, Zero often seems to use the same detonator/trigger prop when he wants to make something cool happen.
  • Psychic Static: Attempted but failed.
  • Psycho Lesbian: Nina
  • Quit Your Whining: Kallen does this to Lelouch during his Heroic BSOD brought about by the reopening of the SAZ. Played with in that she is exactly as unsure as he is.
    • Suzaku does this to Lelouch, with a mixture of Get Ahold of Yourself Man, when Lelouch finds out that Nunally is alive, and begins to despair. Suzaku tells him to suck it up and remember Zero Requiem.
  • Quote Mine: When Schneizel secretly records the private conversation between Lelouch and Suzaku and uses Lelouch's Sarcastic Confession to deliberately giving Euphemia the order to kill the Japanese, sans of course Suzaku catching Lelouch in the lie, to turn the Black Knights to his side.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: The ultimate aim of the Emperor and V.V. is to kill the gods, calling them a threat to humanity. That's what the Sword of Akasha is for. The "gods" essentially being free will. Talk about taking a metaphor too far.
  • Rescue Romance: Princess Euphemia manages a real one with her vertical Crash Into Hello Meet Cute with Suzaku, but then tries to follow it up with a fake one in which she is being chased by enemies. He soon catches her in the lie, but it deepens their romance anyway. Turns into a reciprocated Bodyguard Crush when Euphie makes Suzaku her official knight.
  • Red Herring: Lelouch sends Rolo, a psychopathic assassin who is extremely possessive of him, on a rescue mission to save Nunally. As might be guessed, Rolo has every intention of killing her, even thinking about it, but he never manages to reach her.
  • Recycled In Space: The show's premise is frequently described as "Death Note -- WITH GIANT ROBOTS!"
  • Redemption Equals Death: Lelouch's self-engineered death.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Lelouch's plans, reputation, and leadership of the Black Knights all seem to thrive on this ... which is why he is a Magnificent Bastard.
  • Reincarnation Romance: Invoked by Shirley in her Last Words.
  • The Remnant: How the last prime minister of Japan is treated.
  • La Resistance: The Black Knights.
  • Rhetorical Request Blunder: Lelouch says that with his powers, he could tell Euphemia something like "Kill all the Japanese." Bit of bad timing on that one, as Lelouch's mind control powers went into ModeLock at that exact moment.
  • Rival Science Teams: Lloyd & Cecile vs. Rakshata.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: At first. Lelouch's motivations change radically throughout the series and Brittania is still standing tall at the end of the show.
  • Rollerblade Good: All Knightmares.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Barely anyone in this series are moral people but many at least have good or reasonable intentions that fans who hate them will often overlook.
  • Royally Screwed Up: Britannia's Royal Family and, by extension, just about the entire plot.
  • Rule of Cool: This applies whenever Lelouch uses geass to make miracles. Suzaku is often the embodiment of this.
  • Rule of Funny: A lot of the antics of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council don't make much sense except for this trope combined with generous helpings of Fanservice.
  • [[Category:Rule of Glamorous|Rule of Glamorous]: The character designs.
  • Rule of Sexy: For example, the position the Guren forces its pilot to assume would be absolutely terrible for the lumbar. But are you really going to complain when it gives us shots like this?
  • Rule of Symbolism: Where to begin? The show is packed with symbolism, much of it religious, political, or both. For example, the yellow cloth star that resistence fighter Kaname Ohgi wears on his chest bears a resemblence to the Star of David "yellow badges" that Jews were forced to wear under Nazi law. Quite appropriate for someone who believes he's fighting A Nazi by Any Other Name.
  • Rule 63
  • Sanctuary of Solitude
  • Sarcastic Confession: Lelouch to Suzaku in R2 17 at Kururugi Shrine. Backfires in more ways than one.
  • Say My Name: The whole show lives off this trope, but the most iconic ones are are of Lelouch and Suzaku screaming each others name at each other through the series.
  • School Festival: All of Episode 21 is dedicated to the annual school festival; about half of R2 episode 5 is as well.
  • School Uniforms Are the New Black: Lelouch wears either his school uniform or his "superheroic" Zero outfit. In R2 he dumps both after becoming the Emperor.]]
  • The Scrappy: Too many to count and it changes almost on a per-episode basis. In particular, Nina, Suzaku, Rolo, and Ohgi.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Lelouch becomes one when he Geasses the collective conciousness of mankind into using its power of pantheistic godhood to remove his parents from existence.
  • Serious Business: There are luxurious underground gambling clubs for chess, frequented by millionaires, Mafia bosses and the like. Bring your own extremely expensive chess board and bet a fortune.
  • She Is Not My Fiancee: Lelouch, regarding C.C. In Season One, episode five, when C.C. pops up unexpectedly at Lelouch's place, chatting away with Nunnally, she makes some cryptic remarks about a bond between her and Lelouch and a promise he made about their future together. Nunnally, not having any way of knowing about the Geass, makes the not altogether unreasonable assumption that C.C. is referring to secret wedding plans. When Lelouch tells Nunnally that C.C. is just joking, C.C. claims she never jokes.
  • Ship Sinking: Occasionally. Can't possibly keep up with the Ship Tease.
  • Ship Tease: Constantly. Nearly every conceivable pairing.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat.
  • Shout Out: In R2 Episode 5, C.C. cosplays as Chachamaru and Shirley as Mikuru.
  • Shower of Angst
  • Shut Up, Hannibal: In R1, Suzaku does this to Lelouch. In R2, Lelouch does this to Emperor Charles and even more Marianne.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Actually a pretty idealistic story overall, despite how utterly depressing it can be, especially if compared to the likes of Death Note.
  • Slow Clap: At Suzaku's knighting. Started by Lloyd, then the rest of the Britannian audience picks it up.
  • Snark Bait: The numerous over-the-top moments make it a very entertaining MST3K target, at least for some. This is something of a sensitive subject.
  • Spell My Name With an S: Ohgi/Ougi. Variations on Tohdoh. Euphie/Euphy.
  • Spanner om the Works: Lelouch's love for Nunnally has crumbled his plan thrice. First during the Black Rebellion, second during Pacific Aerial Assault, third when she's apparently killed in the Second Battle of Tokyo.
  • Sphere of Destruction: What happens when you set off F.L.E.I.J.A.
  • Spoiler Opening
  • Statuesque Stunner: Viletta Nu, Cornelia Li Britannia, and Milly Ashford.
  • Stolen Good, Returned Better: After Kallen and her Guren are captured by Britannia, they strap a crapload of high-tech upgrades onto it only for her to break out and steal it right back.
  • Strawman Has a Point: Schneizel's argument that Ambition is Evil and that our desire for hapiness ultimately leads to greed and conflict is actually well-thought out and makes a lot of sense. It's not too hard to imagine someone siding with him, especially when Lelouch doesn't really offer a counter argument other than "People Are Good"
  • Suggestive Collision: Kallen falls over Lelouch in a suggestive position, lampshading their uncertain relationship.
  • Super-Empowering
  • Super Fun Happy Thing of Doom: F.L.E.I.J.A. -- a nuclear bomb, named for the Norse goddess of love and beauty.
  • Supernatural Aid
  • Superpower Lottery: The Geass powers obtained by a contract vary in their usefulness. In Nightmare of Nunnally, Marianne happens to get just the right power while on the brink of death, transferring her soul into Anya's body.
  • Super-Prototype: Justified with the Lancelot. Cecile mentions that Lloyd spent their entire budget on the Knightmare, which is why the special unit seems to consist solely of the head scientist, his aide, and the pilot. They had to borrow the truck they haul the Lancelot around in.
  • Super-Reflexes: Kallen, being a combat mech pilot, has incredible reflexes, which tend to act up even when she is playing an Ill Girl in school. In one episode, when Rivalz accidentally sends a champagne bottle cork right into her face, she notices it even before he does and deflects it with her hand.
  • Surprisingly Good English: The textbooks, news articles, magazines, etc. Makes sense since it takes place in a Japan under British rule.
  • Sword of Damocles: ...The Damocles.
  • Take a Third Option: There's Lelouch's viewpoint, Suzaku's viewpoint, and both of them agreeing on Zero Requiem. A more favorable third option might have been agreed on had they not both went past the DespairEventHorizon at that point.
  • Tears of Remorse
  • Technicolor Eyes: Violet or purple eyes seem to be a somewhat common Britannian trait as Lelouch, Rolo, Euphemia, Cornelia, and Nunnally all have one or the other; C.C. and Viletta both have Eyes of Gold, and Anti-Villain Suzaku has green eyes (which are very unusual but not impossible for a Japanese person).
  • Tempting Fate: "Don't worry Nina, there are a lot of Brittanians at the convention center. It's not dangerous like the ghetto."
  • Thanatos Gambit: Lelouch dies for world peace -- and thus wins the gambit.
  • The Fog of Ages: CC complains of this, until Lelouch has a journey to the center of her mind and then Marianne returns all her memories.
  • Theme Naming: The Humongous Mecha used by the Knights of the Round: Lancelot, Gawain, Tristan, Mordred...
  • They Still Belong to Us Lecture: Schneizel uses this trope against Lelouch.
  • The Thing That Goes Doink
  • Third Act Misunderstanding
  • Thirty Gambit Pileup: Episode 20 of R2, what with the Emperor activating the Sword of Akasha, Schneizel starting his bid for the throne, and Lelouch gunning to take down the Emperor. It actually gets simpler after that.
  • The Three Faces of Eve: C.C., Kaguya and Kallen are a rather curious example.
  • Time Skip: The first seasons and second season are separated by a gap of one year. Then it happens two more times in one-month and two-month periods.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Diethard
  • Totally Radical: "You fellas know full well what this badass mother can do!"
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Pizza for CC; to a lesser extent, perhaps also pudding for Lloyd.
  • Transforming Mecha: R2 introduces the Tristan (robot-to-fighter jet) and the Shinkiro (robot-to-submersible fighter jet).
  • Trauma Conga-Line: The universe of Code Geass loves to kick you when you are already down and crying.
  • Try Not to Die: Among other times, Lelouch to C.C. in the first season finale, after she kisses him. Her response is "Hey, remember who you're talking to."
  • Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Between Lelouch and Suzaku, in Season One, Episode 5. A bit of a Ho Yay/Foe Yay as they each pontificate and allow the audience to the commonality and common purpose that, ironically, will divide them.
  • UnPaused: Used extensively, as Rolo's Geass stops time (or close enough). Once unpaused, characters continue to fight in their mechas, monologue, or beg intermittently for Rolo to stop using his Geass.
  • Unwanted Harem: Lelouch is insanely popular with the girls at Ashford Academy; it gets even worse in R2, when Sayoko, in the process of running around disguised as Lelouch, manages to set him up with OneHundredAndEight dates within the span of 24 hours. No, really.
  • Unwilling Suspension
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: Lelouch, Schneizel, Charles and Marianne all try to create their various ideas of a perfect world.
  • Villainous Rescue: Schneizel's Avalon blocks a barrage of missiles heading toward Lelouch and Suzaku. Nearly an unintentional Big Damn Villains, since his follow-up to fire the Gawain at our characters buys Lelouch enough time to figure a way out of the situation.
  • Visual Innuendo: A ridiculous one with Mao and his chainsaw.
  • Wave Motion Gun: Hadron Cannons and the upgraded radiation wave in R2.
  • We All Live in America: Despite the fact that Japan is under Britannian rule it still seems very Japanese in customs. Even the schools.
  • We Could Have Avoided All This: Poor Communication Kills taken Up to 11.
  • Wham Episode: Episode 22 takes the Nice Job Breaking It, Hero trope and elevates it to a whole new level when Lelouch accidentally Geasses his sister into killing all the Japanese.
  • Wham Line: Mao to Suzaku ("Get your hands off of me, father-killer!")
  • What the Hell, Hero: Lelouch delivers one to C.C. when she tells him about Mao; he's mad that she would burden a young child with Geass and then abandon him to his fate rather than trying to help him, or failing all else, putting him out of his misery.
  • When It All Began: The invasion of Japan, and the attack on Lelouch's family.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever: C.C.'s "one wish" that Lelouch was originally obliged to grant her by their contract was to finally die, which would make Lelouch bear the curse of immortality in her place. Implied that Mao already refused to do so because he was too attached to her, leading her to seek out another to do so..
  • Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Happens most every time characters get excited or scared.
  • Word of Dante: Many fans believe that Lamperouge was Marianne's maiden name, despite the fact that she's only ever referred to as "Marianne vi Britannia", even in media depicting her pre-marriage (such as the novel where a teenage Marianne helps prevent one of Charles' uncles from taking over the throne).
  • World of Ham: How CAN one not be a Large Ham in a world where even the scenery is Chewing the Scenery?. And the music. And the Humongous Mecha. And the laws of physics: the only law is the Law of Murphy. It is mandatory to be hammy in such circumstances! Anything more subtle, given the circumtances, would be a Dull Surprise!
  • World of Silence: The "World Without Lies" that Charles, V.V. and Marianne planned to create.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Lelouch and Schneizel are experts at it.
  • Xanatos Roulette: Guessing the exact replies of an upcoming conversation, and recording your half of it in advance is quite insane.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Characters with Britannian blood have a wide spectrum of hair colors, but, as far as we can tell, most Japanese and Chinese characters have brown or black hair.
  • You Fail Geology Forever: When the F.L.E.I.J.A. bomb is deployed in Tokyo and later Pendragon, leaving at least a 1300 meter-deep crater, the now exposed terrain is completely uniform. No geological layers at all.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: How the various immortals are created.
  • Young Conqueror: Lelouch vi Britannia, though it seems it is common in the Brittanian royal dynasty: while Nunnaly's reign is more A Child Shall Lead Them, Euphie is revealed to be a very gentle but determined version of this trope, Schneizel, while slightly old, is still quite young, and Charles and VV are heavily implied to have been this in their youth.
  • Zero Approval Gambit: Zero Requiem


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