About Code Geass
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, usually just called Code Geass, is an original anime from the studio Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with original character designs by the manga group Clamp — the first time Clamp had been asked to design the characters of an anime. The first season ran on MBS in Japan from October 2006 to July 2007, and the sequel, Lelouch of the Rebellion R2, from April to September 2008: 25 episodes each, 50 in all. The music is by Kōtarō Nakagawa and Hitomi Kuroishi. The story has since been retold in manga, light novels and a three-part recap film series (2017–18), and continued in the films Lelouch of the Re;surrection (2019) and Rozé of the Recapture (2024).
It is set in an alternate history in which the world is divided between three superpowers, and the Holy Britannian Empire, which rules the Americas, has conquered Japan with a new weapon, the humanoid Knightmare Frame. Japan is renamed Area 11 and its people are called Elevens. Seven years later, Lelouch Lamperouge is a bright, bored student at Ashford Academy who plays chess against nobles for money. He is secretly Lelouch vi Britannia, an exiled prince who blames his father, the Emperor, for failing his mother, who was killed, and his sister Nunnally, who was left unable to walk or see. Caught up in a clash between the army and Japanese resistance fighters, he meets a mysterious green-haired girl, C.C., who gives him Geass, the power to make people obey him. He becomes the masked Zero and builds a rebel army, the Black Knights, while his childhood friend Suzaku Kururugi fights for Britannia in the experimental Knightmare Lancelot.
What sets Code Geass apart is its lead. Lelouch is a schoolboy by day and a revolutionary by night, and he is prepared to lie to his own followers and accept civilian deaths to win. The series keeps asking whether his ends justify his means, and pits him against Suzaku, who believes that results won the wrong way are worthless. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction counts it among the major science-fiction anime of the 2000s for bringing imperialism, collaborative guilt and the ethics of political violence into an unusually intricate, psychological story. It was a commercial hit too: more than a million DVD and Blu-ray discs had shipped by November 2008, it won best TV series at the Tokyo Anime Awards in 2007, and Animage readers voted it the most popular series of the year, with Lelouch the most popular male character.
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What the Code Geass Quiz Tests
Our Code Geass quiz covers the 50 episodes of the TV anime, Lelouch of the Rebellion and R2. It does not ask about the recap films, Lelouch of the Re;surrection, Akito the Exiled, or the manga and novel spin-offs. Easy levels cover the basics: who made the series, Area 11 and the Knightmare Frames, what Lelouch's Geass does, Zero and the Black Knights, Ashford Academy and the main cast. The middle levels follow the story in order, from Clovis and the 'Orange' incident through the Battle of Narita, Mao, Euphemia's knight and the Special Administrative Zone, then into R2 with Lelouch's fake brother, the One Million Miracles, the Chinese Federation wedding, the Geass Canceller and the United Federation of Nations. The hard levels are for people who watched closely: what C.C. lets slip at Narita, Kallen's code name, the one person Lelouch could never beat at chess, Lloyd's nickname, the Knight of One's Geass, a line from the final battle, and how the story ends.
Key Characters
Lelouch is the engine of the series: brilliant, theatrical and arrogant, a chess player who treats a war as a game he means to win, yet completely devoted to his sister Nunnally, for whose sake the whole rebellion begins. Suzaku Kururugi is his mirror image — his oldest friend, an Honorary Britannian soldier who wants to change the empire from inside and believes that results won the wrong way mean nothing, which puts him on the opposite side of nearly every battle. Between them stand C.C., the immortal, pizza-loving witch who gave Lelouch his power in return for a wish she keeps to herself, and Kallen Kozuki, a half-Japanese, half-Britannian girl who plays a sickly student at school and is the Black Knights' best pilot in battle. On the other side of the war is Lelouch's own family: his father, Emperor Charles zi Britannia; his half-sisters Cornelia, a hard-edged general, and Euphemia, a gentle idealist who makes Suzaku her knight; and his half-brother Schneizel, the one opponent Lelouch could never beat at chess. R2 adds Rolo, a young assassin planted in Lelouch's life as his brother.
Available Quizzes
Code Geass Trivia
50 hand-crafted questions across 5 categories. 10 levels of increasing difficulty.
Which Code Geass Character Are You?
Answer 10 questions to discover which Code Geass character matches your personality!
Random Mix
Questions from all 51 anime including Code Geass. The ultimate challenge.
Characters
Lelouch Lamperouge
Suzaku Kururugi
C.C.
Kallen Kozuki
Nunnally Lamperouge
Code Geass Fun Facts
- Clamp first imagined Lelouch with white hair. Code Geass was the first time the group had been asked to design the characters for an anime, and its art was adapted for animation by Sunrise's character designer Takahiro Kimura.
- Zero's mask exists because writer Ichirō Ōkouchi felt a mask was a must for a Sunrise show. Clamp wanted a design never seen in a Sunrise series before, and the result was nicknamed the 'tulip'.
- Director Gorō Taniguchi has said his main model for Lelouch was not Gundam's masked Char Aznable but Kamen Rider, in which the boss of an evil organisation finds that his childhood friend has become the hero sent to stop him.
- C.C.'s endless pizza is product placement: Pizza Hut sponsored Code Geass in Japan.
- The first season went off the air after episode 23 at the end of March 2007. Its last two episodes were not shown until four months later, back to back in a one-hour slot at the end of July.
- A few days before R2's third episode was due to air, its last six minutes appeared online by accident — the result of a mistake by Bandai Channel while it was testing a system meant to stop illegal uploads.
Code Geass Quiz — Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of Code Geass are there?
Fifty, in two seasons of 25. Lelouch of the Rebellion aired from 6 October 2006 to 29 July 2007, with a break of four months before its final two episodes, and Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 aired from 6 April to 28 September 2008. Two recap episodes shown during the first season, numbered 8.5 and 17.5, are not part of the count.
Is Code Geass finished?
Yes. The TV story ends with R2's final episode, "Re;", which aired in September 2008. The franchise has carried on since: a three-film retelling of both seasons (2017–18) was followed by the film Lelouch of the Re;surrection (2019), which continues the films' version of events, and the four-part Rozé of the Recapture (2024). A new TV series, Code Geass: Star Chaser Aspal, was announced in December 2025 and is due in 2027.
What order should I watch Code Geass in?
Watch Lelouch of the Rebellion (season 1) and then R2 (season 2); together they are the whole story of the TV anime. Akito the Exiled, a five-episode OVA series released between 2012 and 2016, is a side story set in Europe between the two seasons and is best watched after R2. If you want Lelouch of the Re;surrection, watch the three recap films first — Initiation, Transgression and Glorification — because it is a sequel to their slightly altered version of events rather than to the TV series.
Where can I watch Code Geass?
Both seasons are licensed by Crunchyroll in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia, through the businesses formerly known as Funimation, Manga Entertainment and Madman Anime. In the United States the English dub first aired on Adult Swim in 2008 and 2009. Availability differs by country and changes over time, so check your local services.
What is Code Geass about?
Lelouch, an exiled Britannian prince, lives under a false name at a school in Japan, which his father's empire has conquered and renamed Area 11. When a mysterious girl called C.C. gives him Geass, the power to make people obey his orders, he becomes the masked rebel Zero and leads the Black Knights against Britannia, with his childhood friend Suzaku fighting on the other side. It mixes giant-robot battles, school comedy and political drama, and keeps asking how far a person should go to build a better world.
