Code Geass: Akito the Exiled Episode 1

Hello everybody!! Welcome to the first part of the five part episode summaries for Code Geass: Akito the Exiled (or Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito). I do not play on these being super long or anything, just a little summary of the episode and then some little extra stuff from me. These are going to come out every Sunday for the entire month of July to help celebrate the blog’s 2nd Anniversary, so if you enjoy this I hope that you stay tooned for the next four that are to come.

So here is the episode recap for Akito the Exiled Episode 1: The Wyvern Arrives!!

*SPOILERS*

Once the episode starts, it is made clear to us that the focus of the story shifts from the Japan to the European front. The story takes place between the first and second seasons of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, during the year or so that was skipped. It is a point in time that we never got to know about during Lelouch of the Rebellion’s story, in place that was hardly ever mentioned. However, we quickly learn that some things in Akito’s story are not so different from Lelouch’s. We get to know this W-0 Unit of the European Union’s Military, a group made of entirely young Japanese mean fighting to get their families citizenship in the E.U.

We are put straight into a battle between the W-0 and the Britannians, the W-0 Unit trying to help a different unit that is trying to flee a city near St. Petersburg. The W-0 is successful but nearly every member is wiped out except for Lieutenant Akito Hyuuga, or “Hannibal’s Ghost” as the Britannian soldiers dub him. Then he and the W-0’s new commanding officer, Leila Malkal, travel to Paris for Leila’s promotion and a party to celebrate their victory. A party that, as Leila points out, is attended by mostly aristocrats with her and Akito being the only soldiers there.

Then after quite an eventful seen between Leila’s adopted brother/fiancee and Akito, we are shown a group of three Japanese refugees who are planning to create “world peace” and end up blowing up a whole bunch of people from the mafia. They look innocent but reappear just a short while later when they attack a motorcade carrying Leila, Akito, and General Gene Smilas (Leila’s superior officer). The group then tells Leila and Akito, after they blow up a bridge and attack Gene, that they are actually in search for a place that they can belong. Leila tells them that they can join the W-0 Unit. The episode ends with a brief scene of our main antagonist, Akito’s older brother Shin Hyuuga Shaing, kill his commanding officer to take over the Euro-Britannian group, the Knights of St. Michael.

And of course there is the preview for the second episode that shows us the first familiar face we have seen, Sir Suzaku Kururugi!!

The favorite character has appeared!!

As I mentioned before, despite the differences, there are still a few things that are similar between Lelouch of the Rebellion and Akito the Exiled. Not necessarily people or places but general themes. The Japanese are forced to live in ghettos, like they did in Area 11, and are still looked down upon. Despite fleeing their home country in an effort to stay respected as people, they are still looked down upon in a country that was not even involved with the take over. You could kind of see a bit of a similarity between the Japanese refugees being looked down upon and situations going on in our world today.

The E.U.’s military see these Japanese refugees as a means to fight against the Britannian invasion without risking the lives of their own citizens. Because, you know, why kill your own people when you have this whole group of people that just want to become citizens of the E.U. free for the taking. It’s awful idea and one that you can tell some people do not exactly agree with, Leila mostly. The Japanese people just want to live normal lives without the fear of being terrorized or treated like animals instead of people. Which is completely understandable. It is one thing that this show shares with original, the Japanese just wanted to go back to being normal people.

You do not need to necessarily know anything about Lelouch of the Rebellion to watch Akito the Exiled. There is a brief explanation of the world situation at the beginning, and 99% of the characters were never introduced before. The idea of Geass is only briefly shown once, maybe twice, in this episode at least and it is not an idea at all hard to comprehend. Shin uses it and his superior does whatever he tells him because of this power in his eye. However, Lelouch of the Rebellion is an amazing anime (it is one of my favorites) and I do recommend you watch it. It would also help give you a hint that Akito himself might be under the influence of Geass because of the brief glimpse of red rings around his eyes.

But I will stop here because that is all that Episode 1 has to offer. It is an episode that is used to introduce us this the world and the point of time that we are thrown into. It is the “World Building Episode” and it does it’s job. The preview shows that things are about to heat up a little more in Episode 2, and thankfully since all episode have been released we do not have to wait for the second episode.

That is all that I have for this time!! Any thoughts on the episode? Leave it or anything else down in the comments below!! And stayed tooned for post for Episode 2: The Wyvern Divided coming out next Sunday!

See you next time!!

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After note: Due to some issues, this post came out on the 5th rather than the 3rd. They were supposed to be published every Sunday and the rest will continue to follow that schedule as long as no more issues come up. Just wanted to mention that.