[Revolutionist]

I'm very picky when it comes to anime, and there are very few series that have managed to capture my attention like this one. The first season was absolutely amazing, the story captivated me and kept me wanting more and more. Season two moved onto the bigger stage but even then the staff managed to keep some of the things that made S1 so good, mainly the double life aspect of some of the characters. Voice acting I think was excellent, specially Lelouch who really made the separate identities stand out. The sweet brother and normal student, and the ruthless terrorist tactician really stood out because of the awesome work the voice actor did. The animation quality was good, but what really stood out were the fight sequences, which were all new and unique. There was no stock footage use, and that was a refreshing sight after a certain series left a bad taste in my mouth. The last arc was what kinda turned me off, as it seemed poorly executed. Some plot elements that had been core to the story because they motivated the character turned out to be underwhelming and were "resolved" in one episode...I don't know if this was rushed or if the writers just run out of good ideas, but something just didn't feel right about this last act. Basically my number 1 gripe with everything was that things just happened too fast in a show that had up until then taken its time to develop the story. The last few episodes felt extremely Gundam Seed Destiy-esque in an obviously bad way. Also, the way the ending was handled (ambiguity) left something ot be desired.

Over all it seems as if this series could've used a third season so that every element of the story could be developed without rushing things at the end. Flaws in the last arc is what keeps this from being a Perfect 10. The first 25 episodes were definitely worthy of a 10, but R2 brings that down to an 8.5-9/10.