Code Geass R2 promotional artwork showing Lelouch and the main cast of the anime.

Code Geass

2006anime seriesclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Code Geass is a 2006 Japanese mecha anime by studio Sunrise about exiled prince Lelouch Lamperouge, who uses a mind-control power called Geass to wage rebellion against the Britannian Empire. The show built a heavy online anime following in the late 2000s, spawning fanart, fanfiction, and reaction images across Pixiv, Tumblr, and 4chan's /a/ board.

anime manga late 2000s memes otaku culture memes fandom shipping memes fan art memes

Overview

Code Geass, full title Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, is a mecha anime produced by studio Sunrise that first aired in Japan in October 20061. The plot is set in an alternate timeline where the world is split between the Holy Britannian Empire, the Chinese Federation, and the European Union, with a conquered Japan renamed Area 113. Lelouch Lamperouge, the exiled Britannian prince at the center of the story, gets the ability to command absolute obedience through eye contact after meeting a green-haired girl named C.C., then uses that power to lead a resistance group called the Black Knights under the masked identity Zero3.

Online, fans treat Code Geass as a touchstone of late-2000s anime, with MyAnimeList entries and long-running community threads2. Viewers often place it in the same conversation as Death Note thanks to its morally grey lead and chess-like plotting5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Japanese TV (Sunrise) / online fandom (viral spread)
Key People
Sunrise; directed by Goro Taniguchi, written by Ichiro Okouchi
Date
2006

The first 25-episode season aired on Japanese TV from October 5, 2006 to July 28, 2007, produced by Sunrise, the studio best known for the Gundam franchise3. A second season, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2, ran from April 6 to September 28, 20083. Adult Swim brought the original series to North American cable on April 27, 2008, with R2 following on the block starting November 2 that same year3.

How It Spread

By August 2008 the franchise had sold roughly 900,000 discs in Japan, and R2 ranked as the fourth best-selling anime DVD and Blu-ray of the year on Amazon Japan1. The show also took the best TV anime prize at the 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair and the top spot at Animage's 29th Annual Anime Grand Prix1. Anime News Network reviewer Carl Kimlinger wrote that it had "the skill and energy to carry viewers over the top with it"1.

The fandom grew fastest on Japanese art boards. Pixiv holds over 8,000 illustrations tagged with "ルルーシュ" (Lelouch, translated from Japanese)4. Nico Nico Douga hosts more than 4,000 fan videos tied to the series3. Western communities followed on Tumblr, Reddit, and 4chan's /a/ board, and DeviantART built up over 80,000 pieces of Code Geass fanart alongside more than 6,000 stories on Fanfiction.net3.

The reaction-image side of the fandom leaned hard on Lelouch himself. Screencaps of his theatrical Zero speeches, the "All hail Britannia" salute, and shots of him laughing maniacally turned into recurring reaction templates on anime Twitter and subreddits through the 2010s3.

How to Use This Meme

Code Geass image macros typically use screencaps of Lelouch mid-monologue, C.C.'s deadpan pizza-eating shots, or the Zero mask reveal, with captions swapping in mundane real-life stakes for the show's imperial politics3. The "All hail Britannia" salute is a common convention for ironic loyalty jokes3.

Frequently Asked Questions