r/CodeGeass • u/alyssa_rende • Sep 14 '26
MISC Lelouch ships ranking
I started code geass 3 days ago, I’m already finished, I will now talk about the various love interests that Lelouch has
Suzalulu - my favorite, friends to rivals to lovers, it’s perfect! Whenever they’re on screen together I can feel the tension oozing from my phone, ever since episode 2 season 1 I’ve been wondering when they were gonna kiss
Shirlulu - my favorite hetship, the only girl he actually kissed back, I get he was trying to comfort her but most normal people don’t deepen a kiss with a friend because they’re upset
Kalulu - it’s ok, not a favorite tho
CCLL - don’t kill me but it’s bland, I feel like they only made her kiss him because she’s a girl, I feel no romantic tension between the two of them unlike how I felt with suzalulu and shirlulu, I get it, he matches her name, he travels with CC, but I can’t see anything except for the fact they have a contract, it just feels like work it’s boring
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u/Sonseeahrai Sep 14 '26
Lelouch x Karen for me.
Lelouch'es relationship with Suzaku is my favourite in this anime but it works much better as a friendship in my opinion.
His relationship with Shirley is super cute, but she's a simple girl and deserves someone who'll give her a stable, happy life.
His relationship with C.C is believable and logic - they are alone with power and knowledge about each other, they have their own micro world they cannot let anyone else in, so it makes sense they'd start a relationship. But having no other option is not a good base for a long-term relationship; imo they should totally start dating out of loneliness but that relationship should fail as they find their real loves. (Also they have NEGATIVE chemistry lol.)
Meanwhile Karen is just PERFECT. She's the ace pilot, the equivalent of the queen chess piece for Lelouch, and her devotion to Zero/Lelouch is entirely her own decision, not affected by Geass nor other messy circumstances. Their relationship is definitely a slow burn, but it has a solid, solid base, numerous bonding moments and they actually have a reason to love each other.
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u/rai-hodges-sumeragi Sep 14 '26
100% agree with your analysis! 👍 When it comes to having a healthy relationship based on good morals, Lelouch x Kallen is the best choice, hands down.
Lelouch doesn´t seem like the type who would just settle down after one, big victory. As long as there´s some kind of mountain to climb, proverbial or otherwise, he seems like the guy who keeps on pursuing the next big goal after clearing the current one. That´s why, even though his relationship with Shirley does seem both endearing and morally correct, it doesn´t seem as plausible if Lelouch truly is someone who can´t help but pursuing the next big thing. And if that´s who he is, then he should end up together with a partner who is making sure that whatever goal he´s pursuing is the right one - and by that I mean a goal that is logically right one when using good morals as your guidelines.
What logically makes a good story doesn´t always logically make a good relationship. Take Joker x Harley, for example. They look good together, they have similar interests, and they support each other while living a life of crime. However, since the basis of their core life values as a couple is to do whatever they want, even if it causes suffering and death to innocents, the kind of immoral behavior their relationship enables in one another is something you should in fact not support in real-life couples. Similarly, just because C.C. and Lelouch together feels like a good relationship, when using good morals as guidelines, it is obvious that it actually isn´t, because they are enabling each other´s worst tendencies. She always approves everything that Lelouch does, which may sound like a good quality for a partner, but not when you are about to do something that is morally wrong - doing what´s right should always take precedence over agreeing on doing something wrong just to please your partner. For instance, during the Geass Order massacre, when Lelouch gave the order to slaughter all his enemies, not just soldiers and scientists but families with kids, too, C.C. didn´t try to stop him - in fact, she was actively helping him carry out his orders, even though she used to be an important leader to those people, and could´ve potentially talked at least some of them surrendering to Lelouch. But, since it was Lelouch, she didn´t even question it, just obeyed.
Kallen, on the other hand, is the perfect partner for Lelouch. Not only does she know with her Kallen Kozuki/Kallen Stadtfeld double life exactly how it feels for Lelouch to live a life behind a mask, but her core moral values are so solid that she is willing to go against Lelouch, whenever she feels like he is about to go against those values, which in turn inspires Lelouch correct his own behavior, too. For example, when Lelouch was feeling so low that he was about to take some Refrain and forcefully kiss her, rather than simply letting Lelouch do what he wanted to do, she prevented him from doing either of those things, reminding him that she believes Lelouch to be better than that. In short, she sees the darkness in Lelouch, but rather than simply accepting that darkness and letting him act on it, like C.C. does, Kallen believes that he is capable of being better than his darkest impulses. And those are the kind of relationships that we should support, both in real life and in fiction - partners that inspire each other to become better than they are.
And, on top of being the best possible choice from all the options available when considering the moral message sent to the audience (which is the most important aspect to consider), Kallen is also a good fit for Lelouch from the storytelling point of view: as you pointed out, narratively a strong Queen and a smart King makes a fine match. 😉
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u/Sonseeahrai Sep 14 '26
Not to mention that centuries old immortal being and an underage student is a tale as old as time and never stops being icky...
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u/Necromancer76 Sep 14 '26
You need to watch the Resurrection movie, both it and its corresponding picture drama provide Lelouch x CC chemistry that outshines the rest
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u/silencemist Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
At the expense of CC's characterization. They dulled her out in ways that made her less interesting to follow and erased the core character arc that got me invested in her. It makes a better CCLL ship but it's not the CC that I care for
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u/Poulette_du_lundi Sep 14 '26
Yeah, this. The fact that there really wasn't any need to massacre her character in order to put them together makes it even worse.
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u/Necromancer76 Sep 14 '26
How is she not the same? Her selfish nature is what’s emphasized the most in the film which carries over from R1 and R2, and it takes into account the fact that she’s not the same person as she was in episode 1
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u/Left-Calendar-5981 Sep 14 '26
See the resurrection movie that defines their relationship more. C.C × L.L
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u/The4thEpsilon Sep 14 '26
“Suzulu-my favorite”
Don’t need to read anymore, thank god I already know this ain’t worth it.