i love code geass. in fact, i love it A LOT ! so it's no surprise when i found out that sunrise had partnered with bandai namco to make a visual novel i was already completely on board with playing it as someone that loves visual novels in general. now after having completed every ending and playing both versions, i'm glad to say it's pretty solid even as a standalone visual novel ! lost colors boasts a total of four different routes with a bonus route exclusive to the console it released on with the ps2 exclusive route being the blue moon route and the psp having a route for the japanese liberation front. due to the immense popularity of the show at the time of lost colors' release, the game's backing by sunrise certainly shows within its opening hours with full voice acting for pretty much everyone other than rai ( the main character ) and it helps that each of the performances throughout are on par with show as well, greatly bringing the events of lost colors to life all wrapped up in a nice and flashy presentation with some great visuals. however, i suspect that despite all the flashy cgs and nice animations, i can't help but feel like the full voice acting definitely took a toll on the overall budget as the actual sprites for themselves are most often static with very few emotions or poses that change but it's a small nitpick considering how well the rest of vn holds up. despite being pretty limited in its presentation in terms of sprite variety i can't help but love lost colors because of its strongest aspect, the writing.

now despite loving code geass, i wasn't expecting much from the story due to it being largely an anime tie in which have a trend of being pretty limited in what they have to offer and more often serve as fanservice-oriented cash grabs. however, i'm pretty happy to note that this isn't the case for lost colors. the character interactions while fanservicey at times ( cc my beloved ... ) are pretty well written and generally really in character for the cast. throughout most of my time playing this vn i laughed pretty often and i felt like the writers got most of the character dynamics between the characters really well and seeing lelouch and cc from a secondhand perspective was not only entertaining but makes for some really iconic moments within the entirety of lost colors. character interactions aside, the bulk of the actual narrative here is surprisingly good and ties in very neatly with the actual canon of the show. one thing i'd like to note here is that while it is non-canon, for non-spoiler reasons let's just say one route's ending ties in really well with the rest of the show to the point it could practically be considered canon and it wouldn't affect the show at all ! anyways, suffice it to say it's exceptionally well thought out ! ( i'd also like to mention that this show also introduces nonette and rolo from r2 show up here despite the original release of the visual novel being before r2 which makes for some really interesting interactions that offer nice glimpses into their character before r2 did.) the routes themselves all have a really nice variety between all of them and it keeps in tone with the series' tradition of exploring the perspectives on every side of the conflict. between the ps2 and psp exclusive routes i personally enjoyed the more romance-oriented blue moon route but i feel fans of the members of the japanese liberation front will definitely love the psp routes ! simply put, i'd say that lost colors largely feels like one of the ashford academy focused episodes but that's not a bad thing ! a lot of the nuance in the humor is really well represented here and when the story takes a more serious turn at times it handles the tone really well with easing you into the climax of each respective route. while lost colors doesn't reach nearly the same highs that the original show did it's a commendable effort for what is overall a pretty ambitious anime tie-in. i'd also like to yet again reiterate that the fanservice here is insane with how good it is. pretty much almost every single major or supporting character here has a specific ending that makes the whole experience pretty rewarding ( this game has a cornelia AND shirley ending !!!!!!!!!!!!! ) and overall a pretty respectful treatment of the characters themselves !

as for the extraneous details, i'll just say that visual presentation aside, the ost is pretty standard fare for an anime tie-in with a large amount of the tracks sadly being unmemorable and often serve as background mood indicators as opposed to being catchy tunes. it's a shame but considering the budget was probably spread thin due to the cost of hiring a-listers i'm not all too surprised and the tradeoff isn't bad considering the few tracks that do stand out are pretty neat and a joy to listen to !

so yeah i kinda love lost colors . while it doesn't reach the highs of the show at all it's a pretty awesome experience as a fan of code geass and a welcome revisit into the world of area 11 and beyond. despite the limited visual presentation in its lack of sprite variety and largely unmemorable ost, everything feels so tailor-made to appeal to geass fans that i can't help but appreciate what it has to offer in its roughly 20 - 30 hour-long package. the story is exceptionally solid for an anime tie-in of all things and it's a great examination of what makes geass so great to begin with. i don't think it's anything comparable to how fukkatsu no lelouch balanced character moments and fanservice overall but it's still a great attempt at the end of the day and i think most who are willing to give this a shot will find themselves pretty satisfied with the overall thing. it's an ambitious visual novel and lost colors doesn't stick the landing all the time but i had a lot of fun reading every route and ending overall. at the end of it all, lost colors is a game with a great story and a strong cast given the strength of their roots in the original show. lost colors has heart to it and and the end of the day that's what really matters. JIBUN WO / 10 !

NOTE: this is my 1000th game logged on backloggd which is pretty cool ! at the time of writing this, there is currently no english patch available for the game sadly. however, there is a full let's play of the entire game which i will link below for those interested. cc my beloved !!!!!!!!!!!!