Code Geass’s Very Own Shonen Adventure Renya of Darkness Review

Code Geass since its inception had led to many spinoff stories. Most are familiar or at least have heard of Akito the Exiled and Oz of the Reflection. I don’t see many people discussing today’s topic Renya of Darkness.

This Manga is Code Geass’s version of a typical Shonen action-adventure story. It takes place in the 1860s during the Edo period of Japan. For those that are curious here’s the original timeline:

1. Renya of Darkness
2. Lelouch of the Rebellion R1
3. Akito the Exiled/ Oz of the Reflection O1
4. Lelouch of the Rebellion R2/ Oz of the Reflection O2

If you are curious about more Code Geass content in the universe here’s the watch order and the read order

Code Geass is a unique anime in terms of its genre. It never appeared in Shonen Jump magazine so it’s not a Shonen at least if you go by that definition. Actually, it was originally an anime with no source material. Even the manga version that came out later appeared in a Shojo magazine, so is Code Geass a Shojo? The answer is not that obvious. Code Geass shares different aspects from many anime genres.

Lelouch of the Rebellion was political, drama, mech anime with Shonen elements. So, having a Shonen story is not unreasonable although it mostly did not work for me more on that later.

Since this story is a prequel to the event of Lelouch of the Rebellion discussing it has been a long time coming. While it’s not my favorite addition to the Code Geass universe I can’t deny what it contributes makes it a worthy read and has engaging characters.

This review will contain massive spoilers so read the mange first before reading my review unless you don’t care.

With this preamble out of the way let’s take a get a cursed arm, fight Lelouch’s brother from another mother, meet Gino’s and Kaguya’s grandparents and get more time with everyone’s favorite wifu C.C.

This is my Renya of Darkness Review.

I also recently uploaded a video version of this article if you’re interested.

The plot of Renya of Darkness

Since not everyone is familiar with the plot of Renya of Darkness let me summarize it for you. After the heir to the throne Basilio died, Britannia went into chaos with many factions fighting for control. You have the purist faction led by Richard, those loyal to the imperial family, and Lorenzo Soresi. I am pretty sure he’s not related to Kewell or Marika.

Lorenzo wants to rule Britannia and he plans to do so by finding a possible heir to the throne. Once he finds he will use his Geass to manipulate her. His Geass power can read into people’s minds and use illusions to manipulate them. To find the heir he works with Alto Weinberg, Dash, and C.C. Alto works with Lorenzo in exchange he will free his family and restore their honor. Dash joins him so he will make a world where KMs and people can live together in peace. Dash in secret helps him to retrieve the stone that the heir has.

I am not sure why C.C. was sent with Alto and Dash. Dash enlists the help of one of his fellow KMs Isshin and his mercenaries. He also sent Mesh a powerful wind KM to capture the heir once Alto finds her. After capturing her Mesh would rejoin Water Boy another KM and together they would travel back to Dash in a boat.

Isshin travels to the Forgotten Village where the heir is rumored to be. We later learn she was there because it was to escape the chaos that occurred after Basilio’s death. Now Renya and many others who were on the losing side of war also fled to this village. Renya was attending school as well as training to fight. During one of his training sessions, Isshin attacks the village.

His teacher uses Sakuradite stones to blow himself up and kill Isshin at the same time. Renya has knocked out afterwards and his friends surrender themselves to the mercenaries to protect him. Clara even gives Renya the same stone that Dash was seeking. Unfortunately, since Isshin is KM he survives the explosion and Renya observes this when he awakens.

Renya sees a woman in armor that we saw earlier and immediately throws a knife at her. Her helmet comes off revealing it to be the immortal witch C.C. She offers Renya a Geass contract and he accepts it despite being initially hesitant. Before she can seal the deal Dash’s trap activates and prevents Renya from getting a contract.

Dash created this trap when he encountered Renya as a child. So Renya instead receives a cursed arm and during his fight against Isshin, it’s revealed. Isshin cuts off Renya’s arm and the cursed arm replaces it. Renya uses the power of the arm to drain the life force of Isshin and heads to save his friends.

Renya’s friends meet Alto Weinberg who is disgusted by the unnecessary killing of the villagers. When one of his friends Misuzu demands that the killing stops Alto makes a deal with them. If one of them dies they can all leave. Clara decides to kill herself to save her friends but tries to trick Alto and stab him. Alto easily stops her and removes her wig revealing her to be Clair li Britannia the heir to Britannia.

Renya arrives at the same time this happens and wants to save Clara. Naturally, he opposes Alto and challenges him to a fight and during this fight the annoying mercenaries are killed in the process. The fight ends with Mesh interfering and capturing Clara.

With nowhere to go and the army approaching Renya and his friends decide to team up with C.C. and Alto to save Clair. During their journey, they run into Futaba Summeragi Kaguya’s great, great, great, grandmother. Futaba seeks revenge for brother in law Isshin she wants Renya dead. Futaba fails to kill Renya and makes a fool of herself and runs away.

She has an audience with Mesh to ask for his help to defeat Renya. Mesh rejects this offer and instead imprisons her along with Clair. Renya and Alto head to the same village and successful draw out Mesh to fight them. During the fight, Futaba escapes and saves Clair in the process. As the fight continues Mesh realizes that he’s at risk of losing so he flees from the battle.

The entire group reunites and to prevent Mesh from coming back to grab Clair Renya heads out to finish Mesh. Renya went with the intention to die and almost did if Alto had not shown up to save him.

Renya returns back from killing Mesh and decides to help Alto safely escort Clair back to Britannia. His friends naturally join him and C.C. stays to find out what Dash is up to.

The Major Conflicts

Here’s a quick list of the major parts of Renya of Darkness.

The forgotten village’s destruction

1. Renya gets the cursed arm
2. Renya’s first meeting with Futaba and her quest for revenge
3. Alto and Renya save Clair from Mesh the KM
4. Water boy the KM is introduced and captures the women in the group while they bath
5. Renya and the group help Estaban stop an evil dictator which leads to Renya meeting Dash for the first time
6. Renya fights Mascle G a KM who sacrifices his life to save Clair since he used to be the knight that served the royal family
7. The group runs into the Knights of the Round and Alto and Renya fight Victoria and Barbaros
8. We meet the knight of one. Pavlova a KM comes to help Renya to fight this monster. While Shiroi goes to Dash to get help after being critically wounded by the knight of one.
9. The Merlin knights save Renya from the knight of one. Eventually, the Knight of one joins Clair
10. The group splits off Renya, Alto and Clair go to Britannia and C.C. Anji, Karim take Shiori to dash
11. Dash’s flashback is shown
12. Lorenzo and Clair have a final confrontation
13. Dash joins Renya with C.C. and Shiori
14. Dash and Renya have one final conflicts
15. Dash dies after seeing Halita for the last time
16. Clair becomes emperor and the group parts ways

That’s the setup for the story let’s move on to the characters.

Who is Renya?

Renya just Renya gives up the rest of his identity, had a rough childhood. His father was a traitor and thanks to Dash he was not killed for the same crime. Dash gave him a power that manifested itself right before his Geass power could be awakened. This is the source of his cursed arm.

The arm is Renya’s primary source of power and trump card in his fights. He is the main protagonist of the story (duh it’s called Renya for a reason). He shares the usual traits including being bad at his studies but excellent in a fight, hot-headed, focused on helping his friends, and progresses through convenient power-ups.

I did not think much of Renya after finishing Renya of Darkness the first time. He seemed like a boring reactionary character with little to no substance. On subsequent re-reads, that opinion has been changed but not dramatically. I still find him to be too reactionary but his motivations go simply beyond wanting to save his friends and defeat people in battle.

Renya focuses on the future and wants proof that he ever existed. It’s his primary reason for living. Growing up abandoned with no parents does that to you. C.C. was aware of this which is why she tried to give him a contact, to begin with. His personality is very typical of what you see in Shonen.

No matter the odds Renya will jump headfirst into battle to protect those he cares about even if it costs him his life. His beliefs are unshakable even Dash a very charismatic man could not convince Renya to join him. But Most of the time Renya is very relaxed and fun to be around. He’s no stranger to making jokes and having a good time. That’s when he is not focused on killing people with his arm.

How Renya’s cursed arm works

I briefly mentioned his cursed arm so let’s talk about that. The arm gives Renya the ability to drain the life force of people and all other living things including plant life. It has a robotic look which reminds me of a mix between steampunk and cyberpunk. According to C.C. Renya needs this arm to live since eating normal food will no longer keep him alive.

Originally Renya had no control of his arm and he makes that clear many times during many of his battles. The arm grows stronger throughout the series as does his control. First Renya needs to grab someone to steal their life force. It then is able to cover an area and finally, it then becomes so powerful he can fire some sort of a laser beam. I am not sure at that point if he still needed to absorb life force. It’s never explained.

The arm growth reminded me of Akira where Tetsuo’s body was mutating with the wires obviously not to the same degree.

The arm contributes to Renya’s excellent design. He has a cool scarf and wears knives that he throws in combat. He is quite strong and has an impressive physique. Renya can move fast and jump at amazing heights. Not the most attractive-looking protagonist especially for Code Geass standards but given the setting, it works for me.

Compared to Oldrin/ Orpheus, Akito, and of course Lelouch, Renya is the lowest-ranked when compared to this other fellow protagonist. Unlike everyone else mentioned I had no interest in seeing this character again in a continuation to this story. I am excited to see him in GenesisRe: code or any other place where they combine multiple protagonists from different stories.

Who is Dash?

The protagonist only exists because of the antagonist so let’s now discuss Lelouch’s brother from another mother Dash. No joke though people really compare the two and often see them as the same person. But after analyzing the characters besides some obvious similarities these characters could not be any more different.

But Let’s first focuses on how these characters are similar.

• Lelouch and Dash both received Geass’s power from an immoral being. For Dash, it was U.U. and Lelouch C.C. The power they received cost them something big. For Dash it was Haltia and Lelouch it was Euphy and Shirley.
• Lelouch becomes a failed one in Lelouch of the Re;surrection when after failing to take Charles’s code. This happened to Dash after he failed to inherit U.U.’s code.
• Lelouch is into theatrics and well-read. The same goes with Dash. And much like Lelouch Dash has no problem sacrificing people to achieve his goals. C.C. had a strong connection with both.
• Depending on who you ask Lelouch is more like an anti-hero than a villain which, is the same for Dash. Nunnally was Lelouch’s reason for living and Hatlia was Dash’s reason for living.
• Lelouch’s Geass and Dash’s power both caused damage to the brain.

Beyond that, they are many significant differences here are some examples.

• Lelouch lives for the future while Dash lives in the past. This was the key difference between Lelouch’s plans Dash’s. Reviving Haltia was the only priority since he felt guilty for betraying her family.
• Lelouch is motivated by revenge for what the royal family did to his sister and mother. Dash loves to run his mouth about changing the world and the meaning of it all. But in reality, his actions did not reflect his. Lelouch on the other hand was trying to create a gentler world.

• Lelouch showed sociopath behaviors but it was more of an act than the true essence of what he is. Dash on the other hand was a sociopath. He did not care about what happened to the KMs that he created. He only cared about Haltia but not to the extent that he would force Renya to give him the stone.

Let’s end the comparisons and move on to Dash’s Geass and backstory. So Dash unlike Lelouch was orphaned and grew up as a criminal. Even the family that rescued him were concerned about his dubious past but Haltia had faith and took care of him.

Dash’s Powers Explained

Dash’s main motivation is to save Haltia from her coma with the stone. Haltia saved his life when they were younger. It was a risk for her father to take him in because he was a well-known criminal. His name Forest comes from the fact they found him in the forest. He was tricked by a criminal from his past and kills Haltia’s face and friends.

They flee from the village and meet up with U.U. an immortal who gives Forest a Geass contract. He loses control of his power and puts Haltia in a coma. His original power is the same as Renya’s arm allowing him to absorb the life force of others. I am not sure how the Geass does this. If I had to guess it works the same way as Rolo’s and covers an area. And after failing to take U.U.’s code he became Dash a failed one.

Dash’s power evolves when he failed to inherit U.U.’s code which made him a failed one. Instead of giving out contracts, he turns people into KMs. I will get more into KM laters but they play a large role in the story.

I love when this character joins Renya and his group towards the end of the Manga. In the end, he became an anti-hero and died a tragic death after learning at the end that Haltia knew of the betrayal but was no upset by it. That feeling of relief allowed Dash to die in peace.

The last thing I wanted to discuss with Dash was what he said to Renya at the end. Dash discussed being lonely and Renya has no idea what’s that like. Renya might have grown up without parents but he still has people to care about him. Dash was never in that situation. This was a similar thing to Naruto and Sasuke’s conflict in Naruto.

Who is Alto Weinberg

This is my favorite character in the story. Alto is Gino’s grandfather and you can immediately learn where Gino gets his fighting ability and sense of humor from. Alto appears as a simple lap dog just following orders to retrieve Clair. The truth couldn’t be any different, Alto is funny and easy-going and deep down is trying to restore his family’s honor.

The Weinberg name was disgraced and many family members were killed. They imprisoned the rest so by bringing Clair back to Britannia they will restore honor to his family

He’s an excellent fighter and could take on a member of the Knights of the Round. But for me what I like the most was his charm, jokes, and attitude. Renya of Darkness can get boring at times. So his presence helped move the story along. His great chemistry with Renya was a huge plus as well. And keep him away from a dictionary or he might make you a slave as well.

Who is Futaba Summeragi?

Futaba is the grandmother of Kaguya and they only look alike as they are very different people. Futaba is dumb when it comes to tactics and her only skill is in the hand to hand combat. Kaguya is a brilliant strategist and leader for her age but has no skills in the fighting of any kind. At least we never see any.

I am neutral on the character. She does annoy me early on with the fan service and winy attitude. But her future actions help Renya more than makeup for it. Now her main goal is to kill Renya for revenge for her half-brother Isshin. That was the first guy that Renya used his cursed arm on.

She is obviously very pampered and used to getting what she wants. Despite expressing out loud that she wishes to kill Renya under Lorenzo’s Geass we get a different story. His Geass makes people’s inner desires become reality. When used on Futaba she expressed that she liked Renya and her brother annoyed her.

Unfortunately, this “romance” never goes anywhere in the story nor is it a big plot point. Futaba is significant enough in the story to be a playable character in Code Geass GenesisRe Code. She was not my favorite but the fanservice was most likely the reason for that.

Who is Lorenzo il Soresi

I don’t have much to say about Lorenzo which is sad since he is the other villain in the story. They focused more time on his minions than on him. I wished they had just made Dash the only obstacle in the story or developed Lorenzo more.

His design reminds me of Schneizel specifically his outfit and his attitude/worldview comes from Charles. Lorenzo believes in survival of the fittest that inequality is natural. I can’t confirm this but C.C. was most likely the one that gave him his Geass power which allows him to make people’s inner desires become reality. The person affected will see illusions that fulfill their wish.

Lorenzo is a pureblood that was against the royal family or the purebloods taking over. Like more power-hungry individuals he felt that it must be him. What’s interesting is that he shares the same last name as Marika and Kewell. He might be related but it’s never confirmed.

There was a lot of wasted potential with this character. He clearly had a past with both C.C. and Dash and I wish they showed more of that in Renya of Darkness.

How C.C. plays into the story?

And the last character I want to talk about is none other than C.C. On some level, this story is really about her and the people she ran into her past. One of the critiques that I have about Renya of Darkness is that the original series never referenced anything from this story. When creating a prequel it’s a good idea to at least create some part in your story that could later be mentioned in a prequel.

There is even a retcon in the story from the Manga. When C.C. talks to Lelouch in turn 24 she says I have never met someone like you. But that’s not true because Dash was also quite an important person in her life. She does cry over her death.

The only time this story is reference and value at that is when C.C. says that everyone she ever knows died with the passing of time.

The story even ends just like Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 with C.C. monologuing. For all the faults of Renya of Darkness C.C. is the best part of the story. I enjoyed Lelouch of the Rebellion but the issue for me was that C.C.’s knowledge and the experience were never fully utilized. She takes a back seat to Lelouch offering him advice but not being the lead.

Now she is not in charge of Renya’s group but everyone looks to her for advice on what to do. I liked seeing C.C. get her own Manga or close enough. But her appearance in this story does bring up something I have wondered about for a while now.

Can we have a Code Geass story without any of the main characters from the original series or anyone with any resemblance? C.C. is from the original series and Dash looks like Lelouch. This is the reason for my mixed feelings on C.C. in the story at all. It shows that no one would be interested in a Code Geass story without characters we can recognize.

I hope that in future stories we can look past this and finally make a story with only new characters. Z of the Recapture looks to be that story.

But let’s get back to C.C. because they did a good job keeping her character consistent from Lelouch of the Rebellion. C.C. is a wanderer with no home and zero attachments. She starts acting quite distant from everyone in Renya’s group. C.C. remains neutral and only wants to stop Dash. But as the story progresses C.C. removes the barrier and starts becoming closer to this group.

This is exactly how she was with Lelouch. Losing those close to you over would make you hesitant to become close with others. No matter what C.C. always becomes close to people anyways since we know deep down that’s what she wants.

C.C. in the openings of each episode of Lelouch of the Rebellion discussed very deep ideas. In the manga, she does the same only during the action Manga. It was another example of keeping true to C.C.’s character as someone who has lived for so long and can pass down her wisdom.

New Geass developments from C.C.

Through C.C. in Renya of Darkness, we learned new things about Geass.

1. C.C. and I assume other immortals as well have a limit on how many contracts they can give out. This is quite interesting and also confusing here are some questions that this brings up.
   1. If this is the case what happens if C.C. opens up too many contracts that are never fulfilled?
   2. Does she have to track them down? In the world of R1 that could work with modern technology. But how does one accomplish this 200 years prior?
   3. And something that the Manga forgets is that C.C. said that she allowed Lelouch to keep his Geass. So that implies she can take it away. Why can’t she just take away Lorenzo’s Geass and then give a contract to Shiori?
2. I talked about this in my C.C. wish article/ video but how does the fulfilling of contract work?
   1. Besides Lelouch’s how does someone know when it’s been completed?
   2. And the follow for that is how does someone know if they have too many contracts given out?
3. She never gave Renya a contract so why would not be able to give Shiori one in place of that future contract?

The point behind this is that you can’t bring up something this complex and not go into further details. Sure the characters do not have the knowledge of the future in Lelouch of the Rebellion but we the audience do so you have to explain this and well.

Apparently accepting a Geass contract can heal someone. There is no proof of this but they imply this because if C.C. had given Shiroi a contract that would have saved her life. We never see a situation in the original anime or other spinoff stories where a contract healed someone’s injuries. So, I am not sure why this was introduced. Now, something I did like was they showed C.C. healing from her injury wolverine style. Why we never see this in the original anime baffles me.

A couple of other observations on C.C. When water boy imprisoned her in a similar that Clovis di. How does Water Boy know that would imprison her? I have no idea. C.C. is used way more in the Manga for fanservice since Kallen nor Milly is the story. Not too distracting but completely unnecessary. And I know she was used for fanservice in the original but not like this.

And finally the armor she wears, in the beginning, was so badass. It seems like no matter what time period C.C. always looks good in whatever she wears. Regardless of the reason behind it, C.C. was the perfect OG Code Geass character for this prequel (and the only one who could have been here). I never complain when we get more time with her.

What are the Knightmares?

I want to move on to the KMs in this Story. Instead of gaining the powers of a typical immortal, Dash gained the power to grant people the ability to become KMs. Instead of the mechas from the original series, KMs are humans with enhanced abilities.

Here’s what we learn about the KMs

The Manga describes KMs as people with emphasized ability that a normal person would have. Water boy controls water, Mesh controls Air, Mascle G can harden his skin and create mirages of himself to confuse others, Pavloca controls lighting, Talia moves very fast, and the knight of one is a giant hulking monster.

Besides the knight of one, the other KMs are humans with emphasized attributes that were emphasized. Dash also says that he awakens the possibility in people and only qualified ones can control the power. Talia was an example of someone who couldn’t which is why Dash referred to her as failed one in a very tone-deaf way.

Dash controls the KMs but he can transfer the controls to others. The KMs cannot hurt dash either and have a shortened life span.

What is the issue with the KMFs?

What’s a shame about all of this is that in a vacuum there is nothing wrong with introducing the ideas of enhanced human beings. The problem is this the Code Geass Universe. So, it does not fit here. We never learned in the original series even the idea that Geass could do any of this. Beyond the Geass power itself, the story is mostly grounded in reality.

You could argue that Jeremiah does bring up the possibility but’s that a completely different situation. And it had nothing to do with Geass.

So, people can’t shoot lighting out of their hands and people can’t grow to abnormally large sizes. I have a hard time believing that there would be no record of a giant monster that was once the knight of one. The KMs in this story was a missed opportunity. They chose the safe Shonen approach and created superhumans even though it has nothing to do with Code Geass.

The better option would have been to copy Escaflowne or Magical Knight Rayearth and create primitive KMs. Since Renya’s arm is already something out of steampunk/ medieval punk why not double down on that have old-style mechs. I was even thinking maybe the stone that Dash wanted or maybe his Geass power was making this mech come to life.

And when he died they stopped working and Britannia was learning from these mechs to create the modern KMs that we see in the Lelouch of the Rebellion. Basically, they should have tied it back to the original not create even more concepts that have never been explored in Code Geass before. Even in Knightmare of Nunnally, they have enhanced humans but they can become a KM. But here they don’t even do that.

On a positive note, I liked the KMs in the story. I argued that none of them were evil just individuals who needed power for one reason or another. Again great characters wrong story. You don’t even need KMs in a Code Geass story (original manga). But if you are going to have KM they should be related to mechs, not enhanced human beings.

Who are the Knights of the Round?

The story has members of the Knights of Round. I have already discussed the knight of the one sir Nicholas who is a gigantic monster with regenerative abilities. We meet the other two Barbaros knights of 13 and Victoria Knight of eight. This where things start to go downhill for me. I enjoy these characters but their existence brings up a flaw in the story, the lack of proper world-building.

Up until now, I have only discussed that Renya is a shonen. What I forgot to mention is that it’s a horribly constructed one. A good shonen has good world-building explaining how powers/ abilities work.

We don’t get that here and the Knights of the Round really bring this point home. Both Victoria and Barbaros have enhanced armor and weapons that defy normal laws of physics. Is any of this explained? no. I didn’t mention this with Alto but his weapon also is never explained. It can apparently shoot wind but it has bullets I don’t understand.

At least with the KMs they gave an explanation albeit a pretty basic and vague explanation. Victoria is a human so why can see a move like a KM and attack with a force that is stronger than one. How can an armor-like Barbaros even exist in this time period? The questions don’t stop.

Without knowing anything it’s hard for me to even know if Renya or Gino should beat these characters in a fight. I don’t hate the members themselves rather the whole setup for them.

The Problem with the Shonen elements

I have already discussed this topic throughout but I wanted to devote a section to it. Renya is an unapologetic Shonen story with the typical tropes. If you have read/watch any Shonen story you will likely not find anything new here. The problem with the Shonen stuff is twofold.

1. It does not fit well in the Geass universe

2. There is no explanation for the power system

Let’s start with the first one. While Code Geass had certain Shonen elements it was never a fully-fledged Shonen anime. And even when they did have Shonen stuff particularly in R2 it was cringe-worthy and out of place. Well, Renya is 10x that and more.

There is nothing wrong with characters getting power-ups, having epics fights, declaring their attacks, stating their names to their opponents, or striving to achieve an insurmountable goal. The problem is the Shonen elements remove the intellectual parts from the story. What made Code Geass great was the intellectual elements. Lelouch is a strategist, not a fighter, and is striving to achieve a goal but it’s accomplished in a nontypical formulaic way.

Renya of Darkness is even aware of its Shonen genre and breaks the fourth wall many times.

I think Renya of Darkness was supposed to be a different story but they slapped Code Geass content into it because that would improve its sales. It also might explain why the Geass parts seemed rush and out of place.

Diving deeper into this issue

If you are still not following me here is a great example of the Shonen feeling out of place. Sir Nicholas is a giant monster that the main characters fight together. When have ever had anything like this in the original anime. Sure characters team up to fight certain KM but it wasn’t like that. That was the biggest immersion destroyed in the Manga.

But even worse than the elements not fitting there is no explanation for any of it. The best Shonen stories explain their universe. We are talking about things like how the power works, the rules, etc. Renya does non of that in the story. This is a big deal because we have characters in 1860 creating wind with their weapons, wearing special armor that did not exist, and enhanced humans with supernatural abilities.

Renya’s arm for example has wires that would see in something 100 years later same with the weapon used by Estaban adopted brother.

The whole time watching this I am wondering how does any of this works? They never talk about it. They don’t even give the classic speech when an MC says my attack combines the elements of so and so which is how it’s able to fire what’s its face. Instead, they just do things. This ruins the series. Because if you don’t know the rules, how the power works and how can you figure out or follow a fight?

How do you know who should win? You don’t instead you have to read in confusion. Now sometimes they will say stuff but it’s not consistent nor helpful. For example, victoria says her wind powers are stronger than mesh the KM. I mean that’s great but I more interested in how the power works, to begin with.

I mean they don’t even use the implausible explanations that Rounin Kenshin used for their power. And I still wonder why they didn’t. I don’t need an explanation for how characters can jump higher than normal or move lighting fast Suzaku and Sayako from the original series proved it’s possible. But I need to know how these weapons work? Is there a precedent for giant monsters? How can Dash give people those supernatural abilities that go beyond Geass?

Overall the Shonen elements were rushed, and don’t feel right in a Code Geass story. The fan service was annoying but if you are consuming content from Code Geass it’s par for the course that you will get it.

How Renya of Darkness ends?

So there are so many elements to talk about but I want now to focus on the ending of the story. Specifically from the confrontation between Lorenzo and Clair to Dash’s death. This is the biggest example of pacing issues and issues with the story set up.

Lorenzo explains to Clair that we need to have inequality for the nation to survive the problem is he never explains why. And since Clair showed the other solution was possible you can’t have an interesting villain propose the opposite idea just to be evil.

What made Schneizel el Britannia interesting was that his ideas were rooting in reality so his actions made sense if you follow that point of view. This is what made Schneizel an interesting character the same goes with Charles. The problem with Lorenzo he is not that interesting or intelligent. To me, he was just another loud-mouth individual who convinced people who could run with just words alone.

I think the overall encounter was fine but Lorenzo fails to wow me as the reason for why everything happened. Power-hungry is not a bad motivation but I would have liked more.

Dash joins in to help out since Lorenzo was using his Geass to gain an advantage since the negotiations were not going well. Shiroi with a Geass of her own changes the priority of Lorenzo to follow the royal family and this ends the war. Renya then agrees to give Dash the stone because of his help.

I understand that you feel indebted to him but Dash is still insane and hurt others. He was willing to kill for that stone and you just give it to him. But this is what leads to what Dash had been planning the whole time. He created a device that will wake up Haltia using the stones as a power source.

Dash also explained earlier that he saved Renya’s life from being killed by his father and the other traitors.

Dash and Renya have a long fight that also contains a dialogue if you have seen other Shonen anime you know how this goes down. Dash’s argument seems strong as he overpowers Renya. Then after saying something that Dash did not think about he gets a power boost and defeats Dash. Dash sees Haltia awakened and they both die in the machines’ destruction.

Clair becomes emperor Renya and Gino becomes knights, Shiroi became V.V. and C.C. monologues about Dash the same she used about Lelouch where the power of the king did not lead a life of solitude.

Questions I have on the Ending of Renya of Darkness

So let’s discuss first Shiroi because this part confused the heck out of me. I have some questions

1. Did Dash give her Geass powers?

   1. If so how I thought he was a failed one?

   2. Why did she get an extremely specific Geass power?

      1. I thought Geass develops based on your nature.

      2. When did Shiori’s ever discuss people’s priorities

2. So did Shiori become an immortal at the end when C.C. said V.V?

   1. If so who’s code did she get?

      1. I didn’t think Dash had a code.

      2. Doesn’t see need to develop it first before taking an immortal’s code?

   2. C.C. said that U.U. stopped Dash’s code

      1. How does that work I thought once an immortal passes their code their powers go away?

   3. Did Dash have U.U.’s code and then gave it to Shiori?

The reason why I am very picky about this because this either explains or doesn’t the origins of V.V. And like everything else they don’t properly explain this either. We had plenty of time in the story but we get nothing.

With Dash’s plan, there was no foreshadowing of this machine or the need to wake up Haltia. Dash discussed changing the world not rescuing some he cared for. It was horribly planned. I did like C.C.’s monologued and the overall happening ending.

Conclusion

Renya of Darkness is a story that at times felt like it was supposed to a different story but added Code Geass to it so it would sell. If that was the case it backfired. Most haven’t read it and the ones that did absolutely despised it. And who could blame them it’s a rushed story that does too much with little to no explanation.

I thought Akito rushed the Geass stuff it at least had some setup here there’s nothing. Dash is an excellent character as are C.C., Renya, and Alto. The rest is okay. There was a lot of nostalgia bait in this one. And making someone look like Schnezeil does not mean they are Schenziel or Bismark he looked like him as well.

I am glad that between Akito and Renya they chose to animated Akito because this Manga was worse by comparison. To push the pendulum the other way. If you forget that this a story in the Geass universe it’s not the worse.

You have interesting characters, a sympathetic anti-hero and soldier the KMs, great fights, and a decent story once you get it. It did take me five read-throughs to fully understand everything. But that’s the problem you have to judge this story in how it fits in the Geass universe.

And doing this Renya failed as a good story. I don’t regret reading it but it’s the weakest story so far of the stories that take place in the same universe as Lelouch of the Rebellion. If you want more C.C. read this Manga. If you want more Geass lore read this Manga otherwise it’s not worth it. I wouldn’t mind an OVA for this story and I look forward to playing as Renya in Genesis RE: code. I now want to hear from you what do you guys think did you like Renya or not.

If you got to the end thank you so much for reading the article. I want to hear from you did you enjoy Renya of Darkness? Are you interested in reading this Manga after going through the article why or why not?

I have many additional Code Geass articles listed below if you want more.

If you have topics that you want me to cover let me know.