Code Geass is a mecha series where the mechs are largely beside the point. It's a political thriller about an exiled prince who gains the power to give any person one absolute command, and uses it to wage a proxy war against his own father's empire.

Lelouch is the appeal and the problem. He is brilliant, theatrical, and increasingly willing to spend other people's lives on his plans, and the series is structured so you're complicit in admiring him. Every victory is a chess metaphor and every chess metaphor costs somebody.

The Geass itself is constrained cleverly - one command per person, and it only works if you make eye contact - so the drama comes from arranging situations where the order can be given.

Suzaku's opposing philosophy, that the system should be reformed from within, gives the series a genuine argument rather than a hero and a villain.

This collection covers Lelouch, Zero and C.C.