Excellent post. Keep it up!…

What gives Code Geass a realistic feel, IMO, are the characters. As was pointed out early by a handful of others, all of them are flawed in one way or another, and this makes them realisitc in a very human sense. If you can go beyond atempting to pinpoint every little thing that’s wrong with the show and actually try and get into the minds of the characters, than you may find it easier to enjoy.

But really, to each his own. If you like watching Code Geass to scoff an the inacuracies and coutdown the days to ever looming “trainwreck,” then whatever floats your boat.

IMHO one of the points in CG’s favor is that it doesn’t bill itself as a smart, cerebral show, nor does it bill itself as semi-serious fanservice. (If you really want to see the comparison, see also Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora) It’s both. Rebellions are hardly composed of quiet moments, so it can’t simply be thoughtful character drama. You do need a kind of quirky charisma, which canonically is supplied by Zero and for us doing meta, it’s why we’re watching the show. And frankly, I’m sick and tired of the “War Drama. This is Serious Business. You do not get real crack except bland padding fluff” model and am glad the series at least tries to inject liveliness into the plot. There are a number of scenes that stretch the believable threshold a bit, but like Hao said, genre limitations. (I’m preeetty sure bending the laws of physics AND biology is going kinda far, though)

For the characters, the ambiguity goes deeper than good and evil, IMO, which is part of why it’s fascinating to me. Suzaku and Lelouch are perfect dualities for each other, and I don’t mean the yaoi way. There’s the ends and means debacle, which isn’t all that clear whether working for the guy who commit massacres because you want a changed world at the end is ‘means’, or if inspiring hope in the population is a sin or a blessing. There’s the price of pretending to be who you aren’t, which is totally a theme, dangit. Kallen’s obvious, Lelouch believes and plays the machiavellian game, but he’s still a big great softie at the core. Suzaku’s actually not all that calm or patient. C.C. is not as heartless as she wants to be. It’s convenient for angst, but IMHO it’s also pretty interesting.

Also, an anime that portrays the morally correct person as a REALISTIC overly self-righteous soul they sometimes are gets points from me. 98% of them are either actually right (in which case the ‘ambiguous person’ is punished by the story) or just pretty words (in which case the ugly noir world pwns him. lol clovis). Rare to see some gray area thrown into it.

(And this is OT, but I noticed a manga tag for Goth. I’ve only read the novel and must get the manga ASAP so thus must thank for this heads-up. I’d rave more about the awesome that is Otsu Ichi, the story author (he also wrote Hajime, which was manga-ized by the mangaka of DN fame whose name slips me for the moment) but OT should not be long. Might want to read Zoo, collection of equally or more morbid short stories by same author, if you can read Japanese)

THERE IS NO INTELLIGENCE THIS SEASON. THERE IS LOLI.

Other than Nodame and Tokyo Majin (and maybe Raideen … ) there aren’t any good shows. At all.

I think the show wants to say it’s talking about a serious matter, but it doesn’t take itself so seriously. The Gakuen Comedy part is meant to show us that. And that’s not a crime. How many of us didn’t enjoy the pizza-selling, and since when does that automatically equate ’stupid’? It simplifies a lot, but there’s definitely thoughtful material there.

(I would rant more, but that would come off as a tirade and that would be bad for credibility, wouldn’t it?)