Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito - 01

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When people hear about more Code Geass, I assume there are 4 types of reactions:

1. Excitement because you've missed Code Geass AKA Fanboyism.
2. Hatred because you think it'll never come close to the original AKA Die Hard Fanboyism.
3. Indifference AKA one of the few people who don't worship the series.
4. What's Code Geass AKA You've been living under a rock for all these years.

I fall somewhere between numbers 1 and 2. You see I'm not diehard enough to reject any addition to a franchise I love, and sometimes I do get excited but that excitement always has a hint of cynicism. It can be good or it can be bad. It can be amazing or a complete disaster. This Code Geass OVA is closer to good.

After a bit of a shaky start, the OVA got good quickly and maintained a high quality worthy of attention. The shaky start didn't come right at the beginning with action sequences but instead when the explanation of the current state of affairs in the world of Code Geass came to light.

It would have helped for me to know about the setting from the start which wasn't explained all that well. For at least the first 5-10 minutes I didn't know the situation between Europe, Britannia or Japan so it made discerning the time in which the story takes place that little bit harder. Still considering that point, I can understand the desire to show off a new Code Geass with amazing animation but a better narrative voice-over at the beginning could have cleared things before we were shown it.

Now let's move onto what was good i.e. pretty much everything.

I've already mentioned the great animation, so I won't bother and I'll just say that the background music was a nice upbeat Jazz that complimented the action scenes nicely. So now you know the quality of production is top-notch, let's move onto the characters and the rest of the story covered in the OVA.

As the main character, Akito is an evil little miscreant who might not have a hidden agenda now but as Code Geass has taught us, a meeting can change everything. Just because he's not a goody two-shoes character, I'm instantly happy that Code Geass is continuing in the use of an anti-hero rather than your run-of-the-mill vanilla protagonist. Some may see this as an attempt to bring back a Lelouch-esque character, but I'd have to say otherwise, seeing as how I don't see any Lelouch in Akito or vice-versa.

An anti-hero carries the title because he plays skip-rope with the line that is moral ambiguity, Akito however leans more towards the the path of darkness. He does have a moment of humanity when he lays down his fallen comrades' tombstones, but that particular moment is hard to remember instantly when you in fact see him slaughtering Knightmare pilots one after another or manhandling nobility. As a rare addition to unexpected character traits, Akito doesn't seem at all ambitious or smart but instead savage and ruthless.

Overall, Akito was a good main character for this episode and he was complimented quite well with Leila, the most obvious choice for the heroine. At times Akito didn't actually stand out since he wasn't the centre of attention all the time, and that didn't worry me until the ending - I even enjoyed getting to know about Leila, Right at the end we saw the signature Geass eye on someone other than him and that character grabbed my interest. In no way is Akito forgettable but he wasn't made to receive all the focus.

All went well with the episode but at the end I was confused. Not confused because of what happened but why it happened: why were Kururugi Suzaku and C.C featured in the preview for the next instalment of the Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito OVA series Oh well.

Pretty good start to the OVA series. It can still go bad, but the first episode left me happy to carry on with this new OVA.