Character ages in Code Geass

[ianiceboy.livejournal.com]

Does any character's age (e.g. Lelouch, C.C., Euphemia, Tianzi) have a bearing on your enjoyment of Code Geass? Positive or negative?

Comments

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess. Probably positive. I like stories about high school aged kids being involved in commanding positions during a war. I guess I like the superhero double life aspect of it...? IDK.

I mean, I guess CC's not actually a high school aged kid, but... yeah.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I like stories about high school aged kids being involved in commanding positions during a war.

I agree. If Lelouch was, like, thirty the show would not have been nearly as interesting for me. It could have the potential to be really interesting - after all, Bruce Wayne is generally in his thirties AFAIK - but there's a reason that a lot of mech pilots are teens.

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe I'm a sadist or something, but I just think it's so much more interesting to see what kind of effects the responsibility of being a war commander or pilot or whatever have on younger, immature and slightly naive-er characters than it is to see it on older, potentially more jaded characters. Not that Lelouch isn't jaded, because I guess he kind of was in some ways, but... it's different to see it on a seventeen year old than when you see it on a 40 year old, you know?

[lulu-holic.livejournal.com]

In R2 lloyd is either 28 or 30, Cecil is 25, schnizeil 28, cornelia 28, sayoko 25, Viletta 27,Kannon 28, Guilford 28, jeremiah 29 and etc...

Source: varies scans http://img844.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=45521718.jpg

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but those are all side characters. The main ones, the ones who were most important to the plot and had the most character development and emotional focus (Lelouch, Suzaku, CC, Kallen, Shirley, etc) were all teenagers.

Granted, CC is an old teenager, but she's still a teenager. Basically an eternal 16 year old!

[ianiceboy.livejournal.com]

C.C. is not an old teenager. She may eternally look sixteen, but her attitudes and actions are not teenage. Lelouch may be jaded, but C.C. is world-weary, manipulative, and consciously selfish.

Don't get me wrong; she's my favourite character, and she's my only favourite character from any anime who is not an adorable girl. She does look adorable, but she is not a girl. (Except for episodes 40-45.)

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

I would disagree with that. She has her moments where she actually does seem quite old, and even wise, but she never really grew up and became an adult - she's very immature and selfish, and though it could be argued that it's because she's so old and tired of life I think at least part of it is due to her being stuck in a teenager's body, with a teenager's hormones and lack of foresight and stuff.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Wait, Schneizel is 28? So when he says "I have never lost a game to my brother" and Lelouch left at 10...that means Schneizel was in his late teens (or 20 years old) and his opponent was a small child. Who he appears to have taken some pride in defeating.
Oh Lordy, Schneizel.

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

I agree with snowdevil_crow.

[madhatterpan.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the whole time issues.

But Lloyd was born in 1988! Which makes him only a year younger than me and therefore, totally makes it okay.

Umm...

[doctorcasey.livejournal.com]

Doesn't Code Geass actually take place in 1962-1963 since the Britannian calendar is different from ours by 55 years? That would make Lloyd born in 1933 or so.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

Ehh...technically it does, but the technology level makes no sense. And I don't think it was actually in the show - it was only in the side materials - so I consider it deuterocanon. Also, Lloyd WAS born in 1988, because they use the a.t.b. calendar. He was born in 1933 AD.

[aya-kari.livejournal.com]

Hm... I've always thought Euphy looks older than everyone xD both when she's 16 and when we see her interact with Lelouch and Nunnally as children. If it was necessary to bring her age close to Suzaku's, I would've made her be a year older than him rather than a year younger. Also for some reason I think it suits Suzaku better to fall for an older woman rather than a younger one (or maybe I just have a thing for couples where the man is the youngest of the two)

Sayoko's voice doesn't sound like she's only 25 either...

[madhatterpan.livejournal.com]

And Suzaku was with an older woman before! So...it...makes even more sense?

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Suzaku even said in a 'character interview' once that he likes older women... though that was probably just because at that point they were planning on pairing him with Cecile... or so I've heard, anyway.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, it makes the fact that much of the story events are driven by emotion rather than strict logic more internally consistent - when the main characters occasionally do dumb things, the fact that they are young, emotional and inexperienced and in need of therapy does a decent job of explaining why they do them.

[kiraya.livejournal.com]

This.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Occasionally I'll come across people bitching about how they hate whatever plot development because Lelouch (or Suzaku, or whoever) did something that "made no logical sense", and I'll sit there thinking to myself "No shit, it was a decision made by an teenager with enormous emotional issues."

Teenagers with issues aren't going to act like hardened soldiers, no matter what they've been through (...especially given what they've been through in this case).

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

exactly.

And the very few times that Lelouch especially did that, half fandom was like 'omg, get it together okuchi, that is not something lelouch would do.'

yeah kay.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

And the very few times that Lelouch especially did that, half fandom was like 'omg, get it together okuchi, that is not something lelouch would do.'

Conclusion: A bunch of people wanted/expected Lelouch to be a perfect, all-conquering, do-know-wrong Gary Stu. What they got in canon was a brilliant, but messed up kid.

...I don't know what the issue is, really. Lelouch's flaws and issues are what make him interesting.

[scribblestorm.livejournal.com]

I'll take the messed-up!Lulu over GaryStu!Lulu any day. Part of the reason this show sucked me in so much was the fact that none of the characters are really 'perfect' and that makes them so much easier to sympathize with. Granted, the Dammit Shirley, put the gun down! moments and No, Lulu, do not storm the Geass order when you're so clearly unstable moments may have been frustrating for the narrative, what with all the avoidable crap storms they led to, but I can't imagine the story being as engaging otherwise. Flawless characters who always get their way aren't fun to watch.

[snowdevil-crow.livejournal.com]

YESSSS exactly.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

IAWTC so hard. Especially if you look at how teenagers' brains cannot process things like long term consequences in the way that adults' brains can, and how teenagers perform risk assessment vs. adults.

[ianiceboy.livejournal.com]

I keep having to tell myself that Lelouch was special, even before Geass. In part, he was forged from a tragedy like none that I have ever experienced. I'm twenty-seven, and there are real kids in their late teens that are more mature than I am. I don't consider myself immature, but I am a childless bachelor, and I've had no crucible to push me further. So maybe the Code Geass characters that lost parents and brothers are made of different stuff than I am.

Also, I used up all of my annoyance regarding youngness on Final Fantasy X, my favourite video game. I like all of the characters in that game, but their listed ages are too young for their selflessness.

Re: Character ages in Code Geass

[scribblestorm.livejournal.com]

And face it! The Japanese are genius when it comes to marketing! They know their demographic, and made sure there was something for everyone in CG.

This. So much this.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I wish CG wasn't so full of lolis. I mean, I like Nunnally a lot and Kaguya is okay, but I would've preferred for Anya - and to a lesser extent, the Tianzi - to be older. Mainly because Anya's piloting uniform is kind of sexualized. As for the Tianzi, I think the arranged marriage would not have seemed as creepy if she was an older teenager so I can see why the "child bride" aspect was important for the storyline, but now I can't bring myself to ship her with Xing Ke (unless she gets old enough and he hasn't died).
The other thing about Anya - and this extends to Gino too - is that it's kind of weird that high-school-aged kids have SUCH high official military rank. For Lelouch and his Black Knights it makes sense that there are young members because they're not an official military for most of the show. But in a real military there are generally age limits, and usually it takes a long time to work your way up from the bottom to a high rank. Children are generally not trusted with big, expensive machinery, even in militaries where they are allowed. We know how and why Suzaku managed it at such a young age; he basically got promotion after promotion for his involvement with the Zero rebellion and with Euphemia. But how would a young teenager like Anya even realistically get a chance to prove her skills to the army? And this is assuming that she got her skills from Marianne and therefore was a brilliant pilot from the first moment she ever stepped into a Knightmare; if not, what, did she start Knightmare training at eight years old?

[minutemaid511.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I think upon this every time I see them. I've tried to sift through and apply logic to it, but it just doesn't work. So I've come to the conclusive rule that Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, and every other mecha anime has taught me:

The younger you are, the more superheroic you get to be.

So, yeah. Anya Alstreim, Knight of Six.

If you're still looking for logic somewhere, the only thing I can offer is that Gino and Anya are both from (or adopted into) noble families who were able to, through family recognition or a lot of money, get them in the ranks as it were.

I'll be honest though, Code Geass would lose at least twenty points for me if Anya wasn't, well, Anya. Piloting uniform notwithstanding.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I'll be honest though, Code Geass would lose at least twenty points for me if Anya wasn't, well, Anya.

If I could change CG I wouldn't alter Anya at all except to make her three or four years older. Otherwise she's fine the way she is.

If you're still looking for logic somewhere, the only thing I can offer is that Gino and Anya are both from (or adopted into) noble families who were able to, through family recognition or a lot of money, get them in the ranks as it were.

Yeah, I think Gino mentioned that his family nobility and piloting ability were the two main factors in him becoming Knight of Three. I think what kind of surprises me is that Charles was somehow so impressed by them; I know exactly what he sees in Suzaku and what he sees in Bismarck and why he appointed them, but only those two. Oh, and maybe Nonette, because Cornelia takes her super-seriously.
Maybe Charles knew Anya was Marianne? That would explain it pretty easily. And he did make her Knight of Six, Marianne's old rank.

[lanacavelle.livejournal.com]

I think Charles did know Anya was Marianne, since I'm pretty sure that was a reason (or -the- reason) as to why Charles erased her memories.

As for Gino, I don't recall he, himself, saying that nobility had a hand in getting him his position but Luciano did accuse him of it. Gino only asked if Luciano was implying that you could get the rank by family name alone. Having the Weinberg name might have had a smidge of influence, but I think Gino's rank mostly came from his exceptional piloting skills.

'course, that still doesn't explain why they let him in a Knightmare in the first place - given that he joined the military when he was 16 - but it may at least explain his rank.

[scribblestorm.livejournal.com]

A friend once mentioned to me that Geass characters are 'volatile' - most of the main players are in their teens or early-20's, which is, admittedly, easy to lose track of. (I would consider all the things just Lelouch and Suzaku, for example, have accomplished...and then I would remember, in afterthought, just how young they are.)

I think the reason this works is that, aside from the marketing/demographic perspective, at this age people are more likely to 'dream big,' so to speak, which is what a lot of the roles in this show required. Lelouch knows what he wants and isn't willing to settle for anything less; C.C.'s contract, really, just sped things up some more. Suzaku is so convinced he can change the Empire (or, darker interpretation: so convinced he has to 'justify' Genbu's death) that when his big break comes he takes it and doesn't look back. Even when everything goes to hell they're still at it in the end, joining forces for one last shot.

I guess I just imagine it would be easier for them to look at their failures if they were already in their 30's and say, "Ah, you know what? Screw it," as opposed to picking themselves up and trying again. Some of their dialogue in late-R2 does begin to show some jaded bitterness, but their actions indicate that despite all this, they're not quite ready to roll over. The older you get, the more logical it is to just find a system that 'works' for you and settle with it, and the easier it is for all this war!weariness to take its toll.

Can't think of a neat way to end this comment, so I'll just stop typing