[flv:CODE_GEASS_Boukoku_no_Akito_PV.mp4 550 310]

The spin-off to CODE GEASS, “Akito the Exiled” (literally, “Akito of the Ruined Country”), is finally gaining some steam on the production side of things with a 90-second promo video — three and a half years after the second season finished airing. Along with it came the starring cast announcment: Irino Miyu as Hyuuga Akito and Sakamoto Maaya as Reira Markale (official English spelling pending).

The side story takes place in 2017, around the time Lelouch took on the alter-ego “Zero” and built up his “Black Knights” rebellion army (i.e. season one). The setting is Europe, where the Euro Universe (E.U.) allied nations are being invaded by the overwhelming force of the Britannia Empire. On the verge of defeat, the E.U. army forms a special division known as “W-0”, which a young pilot named Hyuuga Akito is a member of. Coming to the E.U.’s aid is a former Britannia aristocrat named Reira Markale, who commands the “Wyvern” Knightmare corps comprised of Japanese teenagers. They recklessly plunge into a battlefied where the survival rate is extremely low to fight for their freedom and have a country they can return to that feels like “home”. Thus begins their fight against the adult world.

The premise has been more or less laid out (translated above), but it’s still relatively unclear on whether Boukoku no Akito will be a full TV series, an OVA, or a film. What we do know is that it will be screened in theaters this summer and that it will be directed by Akane Kazuki (Tenkuu no Escaflowne, Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e) and once again feature original character designs by CLAMP. Judging from the screening date, we’ll likely see this long-awaited spin-off in either summer or fall of this year.

Update: A movie project for the original “Hangyaku no Lelouch” story has also been announced.

138 Comments

  1. Alright, this looks interesting. Been hearing some hype about this for quite some time. So this is going to be a side story in Europe? While Lelouch is doin his thing in Japan we have the Europeans doin stuff too…sounds interesting. Hopefully they find a way to tie both stories together, though I don’t see that happening. Though do you have high expectations for this one Divine? I mean, knowing Code Geass and all, will you have high standards for this?

    Missingnomer
    1. My question to all this is Why?

      Code Geass already ended. Finit-o. I’d be dissapointed if all they wished for was to milk the franchise.

      I really don’t see a bunch of new characters add anything whatsoever to the story as a whole. The best thing it can do is, then, give us more info about existing characters, like how did Kallen and others learn to pilot (like someone here already said), but these things are trivial and usually given for plot convenience.

      I will watch it, though, and I hope to God I’m dead wrong on this one and that it blows my mind slepticisms…Somehow.

      Justinnnnnn
      1. Why? Because this isn’t Lelouch’s story this time. They’re trying to flesh out the Code Geass world, and I’m quite fine with that. Hey, as long as it’s good, right? I mean, I rarely see people whining when it comes to Universal Century spin-offs. This shouldn’t be any different.

        Aizen
      2. This should be something like GSAstray, right? A side story. That would mean that Lulu isn’t dead in this timeline, yet. Hence my earlier post.

        That said milking a cashcow series like Code Geass or Gundam Seed(heard of the remake next season?) can’t really be prevented. As long as there is money to make, executives with their fancy-shmancy suits and cars will milk the cow until it’s dead.

        Well as long as they give me a damn good time, I have no qualms.

        The Moondoggie
      3. I don’t really get questions like these. Why? Because Sunrise makes anime, that’s why. I don’t think I’m the only one that was captured by the universe as a whole in Code Geass, and not just Lelouch’s story. There is a LOT of potential in this world and it would be downright stupid to leave it alone. Sure, it PROABLY will never live up to Lelouch of the Rebellion, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still get a very enjoyable story in the same universe. Just view it as a truly stand alone story in a universe we already love. I have no problems whatsoever with that.

        Hurvilo
      4. Wrong…

        Depiste the fact that CG ended, the idea is still alive. The title gave away its theme: Code Geass. Or simply Geass. They can create a new series, but show how the Geass is used and its origin. The original series never explain what Geass is or how it was started. The series will probably answer it and introduce new Geass contractor like CC and VV.

        chaos
      5. I can’t believe people are still pushing Lelouch being alive after even the DIRECTOR said he was dead.

        Did no one remember Lelouch’s line at the end of the first episode? “The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!” Meaning he was prepared to die (not publicly die, I mean DIE die) from the moment he killed those guards. It would be totally out of character for him to still want to survive after everything he’d done. He gave the world peace, if only for a little while. That was enough for him.

        Da5id
  2. interesting stuff… and is it just me or there are a lot of similar faces in that PV? (character that resembles LuLu, Suzaku, C.C without the green hair, and even some random guy in Black knight)

    What I am mostly interested is how geass fit into all of these… although the PV showed a bit more of the KMF battle side of things, which is also good to look for… though too bad there won’t be 9th generation KMF with kick ass energy wings… 🙁

    oh well, nonetheless I will look forward to see this one form or another… and as always, thanks for the information, Divine!

    jrj
    1. I’m worried about the lack of geass in this preview. It is called Code Geass so I’m expecting someone to use geass but I guess it is possible that no one will have it and that Code Geass is in its name only because it’s in the same timeline.

      Gent
      1. Not quit sure what to say. If those are the shows you recommend you clearly like lots and lots of penis. other shows that have less penis and are not about Prohibition are Dexter or Homeland.

        Seven
    1. Quit?! nagger please…

      Code Geass is not the best series ever. Death Note is one level above it. If my memory served me right, Dragonball (DBZ, GT, etc) series was the best ever made hand down.

      chaos
    1. Lelouch single-handedly defined Code Geass. If the sequel is to even match it, it needs a similar character if not better. The only character that I know of that beat Lelouch is Light from Death Note. (Maybe L, too)

      chaos
  3. Looks Interesting, but i doubt that will be good.
    With two seasons of Code Geass Clamp delivered us an Uber Anime, but many will be hard dissappointed by this. I cant or want believe it. I hope im wrong!

    Flobb3k
  4. Hope it’ll be good even if it doesn’t reach the level of the actual series. Also watching anime at high quality really spoils you. I cringed pretty hard at those visible pixel mechas. (even worse with full screen)

    HakumeiJin
  5. Maybe this is really a full 25 episode tv series? I remember reading the news last time and some guy from the code geass franchise said the “next season” of code geass, then refering to Boukoku no Akito will be in 2012…something like that. But then this news also tells us that it’s being shown in theatres? So maybe it is really a movie….since they wont show a 20minute episode of an anime right

    pooner
  6. I really wish they animated Nightmare of Nunnally instead.

    Nunnally was really amazing there, and that incarnation of Zero is insanely badass. He fights freaking Knightmare frames on foot, with HIS BARE HANDS!!!

    MasterDragonKnight
  7. I must say, that I was rather hoping for a sequel than a spin-off series. However it would be unfair to judge this new series just because of that so I’ll give it a try. It’s a bit confusing for me though, as I remember some episode in Code Geass (not sure if it was season 1 or 2) where you saw Suzuaku fighting the EU with some other knights totally owning them in combat. However I don’t recall the EU being defeated, so we might see the reason here.

    I don’t think the story will be as good as the one from the original Code Geass – I don’t expect that though. Plus it’s not clear if this will be a series or an OVA. Especially if it’s the latter I rather expect a nice side story and nothing more.

    1. No. The one you remember was Cornelia first appearance where is crushed the last of the EU resistance force in the desert.

      I think the idea is not to beat Code Geass, but to merely extend it.

      chaos
  8. Trying to suppress my expectations following the great success of the previous two seasons. I’m just hoping it doesn’t flop. At least I know at least one show I’ll be watching next summer/autumn…

    SirMuffin
    1. Actually, Season 1 was a busted. If you recalled, Lelouch build up the entire season to free Japan just to be back in square one by Nunnally. It was a wasted if you asked me. Season 2 was better when it extend out to Asia, but wasn’t complete until Lelouch finally took the throne.

      All I remember from Code Geass was CC and Lelouch.

      chaos
  9. That was good jazz. The premise feels a lot like other things with single squads like the 08th MS team or Senjou no Valkyria 3, it’s just the premise though. I’m not really expecting anything either, I’ll just try to see when it’s out… There’s Sakamoto Maaya in it so I’ll most probably watch it. I actually think it’s stupid to just watch something only because of a seiyuu; she’s the sole exception for me.
    “a full TV series so an OVA”
    It should be “or” there right?

    Rockmanshii
  10. So it’s about a Japanese pilot and a former Britannian leading Japanese teenage pilots. Nice to see that we’re keeping with the trend of ‘teenagers outdoing adults’* and ‘Japanese and Amer- I mean Britannians do everything’.

    More seriously I’m not really expecting much since this apparently took a rather long time to be made, has a foregone conclusion and I’m fairly sure the people you could expect to actually do something (the Europeans supposed to be fighting this war) probably won’t, but it will be nice if they do make an effort.

    *Seriously, where the hell did Kallen learn how to pilot? Where did ANY of them learn how to pilot?

    Gyre
    1. Kallen was a “decent” pilot at best early on. Her power came from her knightmare not her own piloting abilities. Zero was a horrible pilot but when he get his special knightmare he was destroying entire cities. Kallen started becoming a better pilot as the series went on which makes sense. The more she piloted the better she became but she was no where near as good a pilot as say orange boy.

      Suzaku makes a little less sense. He was given the best suit possible true but he himself had no experience. But with no experience at all he scored amazing results on all of the training programs. His “natural” skill level was higher than most of the knights of the round.

      bijyu
      1. I can’t speak for Kallen’s Guren, but didn’t the Lancelot have a “syncrhonisation” value, and wasn’t that the reason why Lloyd was so adamant that Suzaku be the only one to pilot it? I’m guessing that since the Lancelot was so in sync with Suzaku, he was able to make it do what his body’s already trained to do; pull off epic flying spin-kicks (and other superhuman feats).

        I agree with your point in Kallen, which reinforces the final battle between her and Suzaku. She started out as a decent pilot, was given an epic Knightmare, and gained battle experience through it since she was always at the heart of Zero’s operations. IIRC, the Guren’s specs in that final fight outclassed the Lancelot (Lloyd upgraded the Guren for the lulz when Kallen was captured, then Rakshata upgraded it again since Lloyd defiled her baby when Kallen returned), so it was another case of Spinzaku’s skill versus Kallen’s tech.

        As for Lelouch being a crappy pilot yet started owning with the Shinkirou, if memory serves right, wasn’t the Shinkirou’s design all Lelouch’s idea? That is, tailor-made for what he knows he can do in battle (calculate the trajectory of his lasers)?

        anyways, I’m still undecided if I’ll watch this or not. Half the reason I followed Code Geass was because of Lelouch and his plots coupled with CC’s charm, while the other half was for the mecha fights and plot (the latter of which seemed thrown out the window in R2).

        This still has no ETA, right?

        Beedle
      2. In re. to bijyu

        In the very first two episodes we see Kallen match experienced soldiers in Knightmares. Remember that she is a schoolgirl pretending to be sickly so she can go undercover for Japanese terrorists. These are the same terrorists who will later mention that before Zero they could barely get a bike. When does she ever get a chance to learn how to make complicated war machines move? I suspect that the reason this is never addressed is because there is no satisfactory answer. They didn’t seem to get any support from the JLF or Kyoto and they didn’t have any military types initially.

        As for Suzaku…I still don’t buy synchronization. He simply can naturally pilot a machine? It makes even less sense considering that apparently no other Eleven soldier gets a chance to pilot these things. Why would he ever be tested?

        In re. to Beedle

        My real point is that there is no reason for her to be a decent pilot. We never get any indication that any of the terrorists (let’s face it, before Zero that’s what they were) received Knightmare training. Heck it makes even less sense for Kallen than the rest. How did she sneak away long enough for training with a complex war machine? Like I said above, I don’t think there is a satisfactory answer so it’s simply ignored and the audience has to ignore it as well. The RL reason is that they wanted mecha fights, so anyone fighting and winning had to be in a mecha.

        In general Lelouch seemed to be a decent pilot, about average maybe but I still don’t understand when he had a chance to learn to use one (incidentally the Shinkirou appeared in R2). Even if he skipped school when did he have a chance to get into a Knightmare? I don’t want to go with the weak way out by claiming ‘he hacked the specs and taught himself purely through studying them’ because that’s a bit much even for Lelouch.

        Gyre
    2. It is Japanese and American-Britainia…

      If you recall the history, the story was that America lost the American Revolution, but Great Britain lost WWII. Thus, Brittainia new home was in America.

      Lelouch was half Japanese because of his mother. That is why he was exiled to Japan, his mother’s homeland.

      chaos
      1. I’m aware of the backstory. I’m also aware that a nation located in northern America with a conspicuous number of blonds invaded and took over Japan. They’re also the side that first uses the totally-not-a-nuke-even-though-an-Einstein-invented-it. Not a stand-in for the United States of America? Nope, not buying it. It’s about as blatant as the Gundam Seed’s Atlantic Federation.

        Gyre
  11. It’s has a “Code Geass meets Valkyria Chronicles”-type of feel to me. Haha. Layla Markale (by looking at one of her Lelouch-esque poses in the video) feels like she’s the character who possesses a Geass.

    The_Magus_Killer
  12. i was really hoping it would have been a follow up and we could finally close the whole “is lelouch still alive?” thing.But then again i guess that would ruin the imagination running wild about it… shame either way :\

    zakalia
  13. I am not a big fan of CG, but let’s be realistic about what we choose to get hyped up about (no LL). It is a spin-off though, which means I’ll probably like it a lot more than the cascading chain of causality-bending bullshit that Lelouche was so good at invoking.

    Jif
  14. “The side story takes place in 2017, around the time Lelouch took on the alter-ego “Zero” and built up his “Black Knights” rebellion army “…………….SIDE STORY’S..PREQUELS….HIDDEN CHAPTERS…. why are these producers/directors/whatevers SO FUCKING SCARED OF putting out continuations till the END!?!?!!?!?! I’ll tell you why..$$$$$$$$$$$, you Fooking Fayg’s!!! most people dont wanna hear about prequels or side storys ITS BULLSH!T!!! IT’S A COP OUT! plain and simple “the majority of the time” you lazy hacks! i hope u received enough coin to sleep comfortably at night. but realistically yall probably dont give a sh!t…..sad, but the way of the world

    BROOKLYN otaku
    1. I’m with you here. I feel that Executive Meddling has been the major cause of decline of quality for anime in the past years. It’s this disgusting capitalism that ruins art forms of every medium.

      The Moondoggie
  15. To be honest, I really don’t want to get too hyped up for this, seeing how great the original CG was, it would only break my heart if this season turns out to be a letdown. The art style of this season seems to have shifted a little too; it seems much darker and detailed than the previous season, which in my opinion, suits the setting of the anime much more. As for the mecha battles, it would seem that Bandai has decided to use 3-D, not that I’m against it, but since the original had such amazing mecha scenes, where it was all 2-D drawn,I was hoping Sunrise would stick to it because it brings out so much more feeling when it’s drawn in 2-D. Hopefully this would turn out to be just as good as the first season =D

    Just A Random Guy
    1. The original series wasn’t that great. Lets be honest here. It was just better than all the rest during the time. Gundam 00 was its rival and almost lost to it.

      I remember tons of flaws in that series like killing off vital characters, then bring them back, created memory then erase them just to bring it back again, Eupie shouldn’t have died, Suzuka was a douche that never learned til the very end, tons of characters had a change of heart, they stole the mecha which later become just like Gundam, etc.

      Stop crying over if this series will be bad or not. Lelouch’s final sacrifice sealed the deal FOREVER. Nothing can ever tainted what he did. The dude was basically Jesus. Can anybody beat Jesus? I think not. Just be happy you even get to see a continuation of it.

      chaos
  16. Just wondering why they have a character with a Japanese name all the way in Europe. They were fine with naming almost all the characters in the original series with at least Germanic names.

    Suppa Tenko
  17. while I will enjoy this, I wish clamp would go back to the character designing days of X/1999, Legal drug, Tokyo babalon, Magical knight rayearth, Clover, Cardcaptor sakura, clamp school detectives, and Miyuki in wonderland. I bear no hard feelings againist them for what they did with blood-c unlike some other people who have turned a blind eye to them all because they made one bad show which is dumb because ALL of their previous works(mentioned above) cancel out one bad show.

  18. Never rated Geass as highly as most people. Characters and pacing were decent (Season 1 at least) but plot was full of holes and it overall just treated human life way to cheaply (whether that was its intention or not, I do not care). Also, the Lulu character moved his hands way too much. Everyone could tell he was clearly Italian, not British.

    Still, it did keep me watching throughout the first season, so I guess some credit is due. Second season I started skimming and “fast-forwarding” a lot, since it was kinda crappy.

    No opinion or expectations for this new one yet. With the quality of anime lately, I’m not really expecting much. The good times are long gone, in my not-so-humble opinion. Too many studios catering to the lowest common denominator.

    Litho
  19. My only question is: Who built wind turbines at best a kilometer from a towered city?

    Geass… after that second season, which was dutifully quite entertaining but atrociously written, I have every confidence in the producers to once again entertain me with an idiotic plot of contrived coincidences, cliffhangers, and idiot balls, all while taking itself seriously to a hilarious degree. I have high expectations of you, Code Geass: Spin-Off of the Rebellion. Either you’ll forever bury the franchise (which I’m surprised the piss poor manga hasn’t accomplished) or you’ll reinvigorate it into releasing more comical wartime dramas. (Please include some spinzakus!)

    Vena
    1. Who built it? Anime did…

      Along with pink, blue, and silver hair. Next to big boobs and panty shots. The real question is: Why are you trying to make sense of something that is made up to begin with?!

      chaos
  20. coool, but i think this would have done better if it was aired closer to the end of the geass r2. too much time has passed for people to be enthusiastic of an expansion of the geass universe. still interesting but i feel just not as much hype.

    fishies
    1. Spike was awesome…

      Never saw a laid-back, slicker like him before Cowboy Bebop. Too bad he died in the end. Faye was head over heel for him. Even ask that he let it go and run away with her. Sad, sad ending. One of the best and most profanity ending where the hero dies in the end fighting for what he believe in.

      chaos
  21. The Old school sax music in the background was interesting and a bit strange considering this is set in the future and all…who cares i LOVED code geass and i can’t wait for more although I’m going to miss the main characters (especially lulu)I really hope this turns out good because that PV wasn’t much to go on

    SlushiZ
      1. Yea Code Geass’ universe is one of the most hilarious for all the random historical changes like Julius Caesar getting pwned when he tried to conquer what would eventually become Britannia, Benjamin Franklin betraying the American colonists and siding with Britannia, and then after getting chased out of Europe by Napoleon Britannia builds it capital somewhere in the Southwest, and they somehow reached their advanced level of technology w/o coal, petroleum, or gunpowder.

        Der Fur Shur
      2. They made up an element and/or thing called Sakuradite that is effectively pink, non-radioactive uranium. Now, how humans managed not to discover gunpowder when almost all of human history is about/fostered by/including fire is beyond me.

        Vena
      3. No it doesn’t. The time line was 2010 AD. Get pass all the AD, BC, BCE, and ATB bullshit. I find very insulting to plot human timeline from just one man. We exist for 4 billion years long before the made-up story some jew. So what? We were shit up until then?! I can wipe my own ass thank you. I commit those sins and I only will pay for them. Thanks but no thanks.

        How far will this bullshit last until we finally agreed that is no Jesus?!

        chaos
  22. I fall in love with Reira already. She reminds me so much of CC, and I hope at least she will be as awesome as her 😀
    Hyped of not, I am excited for this! But really, 3 and a half year goes really fast!
    and a movie project for the original “Hangyaku no Lelouch” story!? COUNT ME IN!!

    KGFJ
  23. I’m looking forward to this. And since it takes place at the same time as the original series, it will have cameos at most (with no significance to leave the original story intact), which is a win in my book.

    And no granny!

    RyougaZell
  24. Those blue uniforms look like they’ve been pulled right out of Valkyria Chronicles 2. Well, for Code Geass I came for the mecha and stayed for the story. A greater focus on the mecha here can’t possibly be bad in my book.

    That said, I really could care much less about the Geass itself. The Geass (and by extension, the Code) is the McGuffin of the franchise, it serves to drive the plot but is ultimately not what makes it great. What I want out of this is another geopolitical conflict story. It was mainly that kind of story that clinched my interest in Code Geass until the end, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. What can I say, I love war stories.

    DCLXVI
  25. What, no Lelouch?!

    🙁

    The main character is a girl. I guess no every Code Geass will be a big hit. Shame. I was hoping for the prequel about a similar Lelouch in fredual Japan or a distance son of Lelouch in 100 years after.

    If there was ever a sequel, Imagine the son of Lelouch forward 100 years into the future where the Brittainia was beaten down to a small country on the verge of defeat and he come in to save the world from the evil Order of the Black Knight and the raise of the Imperial Empire of Japan. That is a good sequel.

    chaos
  26. If anyone is willing to explain how Lelouch could possibly be alive when he said very clearly that “those who kill should be prepared to be killed”, then by all means, explain.

    Da5id
    1. Watch Code Geass R2 Picture Drama – ep 22.05, maybe that ep will be some hints that Lelouch is still alive. Sorry I can’t explain my thoughts very well in English regarding that episode.

      Kusabi
      1. Just watched it subbed. Man, Sunrise sure knows how to draw boo-ER PEOPLE. THEY SURE KNOW HOW TO DRAW PEOPLE WELL.

        Also, Cecile loved Suzaku?! I…guess it makes sense in retrospect, but…I dunno.

        Other than that, it didn’t seem to imply anything about Lelouch living. On the contrary, it seemed like both C.C. and Cecile were at peace with them doing whatever they wanted, even dying.

        Da5id
      1. I keep hearing that as the popular theory, but from the examples we’ve seen, it looks like Codes need to be given voluntarily, otherwise the current Code holder can’t die. But Lelouch did end up killing his father, so maybe that destroyed the Code along with him.

        Da5id
      2. I mean, I THINK that’s what happened. V.V. looked pretty content with it, so it’s likely he just handed it over when it looked like he couldn’t fight anymore.

        Then there’s that flashback of C.C. getting the Code from the nun. I figured the nun GAVE the code to C.C. , then killed herself in order to finally die after so many years…but both of those scenes were pretty unclear, so I dunno if they’re good examples. I just don’t see Lelouch wanting immortality and saving his own skin unless he still needed to do something crucial to his plan, which seemed complete after Suzaku kabob’d him.

        Da5id
      3. Maybe VV did. But I guess in the long run it does matter because they wanted it to be vague. The writes where going for the “make up your own ending” thing. Which I think is dumb

        Seven

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