While not a romance anime as such, Code Geass is full of ships for the main character, Lelouch Lamperouge. So, who does Lelouch end up with in Code Geass?
Spoiler Alert: There are major spoilers below!
RELATED: Who Does Suzaku End Up With?
Code Geass and Romance
It's been more than a decade since Code Geass (the main series at least) finished airing, but Lelouch vi Brittania steadily remains the #1 most beloved anime character, favorite to over 140,000 MyAnimeList users.
As such, his complex mind games and resolution to crash the empire that birthed him are still discussed by fans -- so are his romantic relationships, with C.C. and others.
Code Geass is one of those anime titles that offer fertile ground for ships.
The Sunrise show features a huge cast of three-dimensional characters, and their romantic lives aren't always conclusive, so fans are free to decide who they would like best as a partner for their favorite character.
You absolutely don't have to like romance and shipping to watch the anime, but if you do, there will be some extra fun in trying to figure out whether Lelouch will end up with his partner in crime, C.C., or with another character.
Do Lelouch and C.C. End Up Together?
Lelouch and C.C.'s relationship doesn't end in conclusive romance, but she's the one who stays by his side until the end, and the only character who could possibly have a future with him.
Lelouch meets C.C. at what he considers his lowest point; when he hated the injustice and violence of the world he lived in and yet felt powerless to advocate change, being an exiled prince of the very empire he despised.
Of course, selfish desires, such as revenge for his mother's death and sister's trauma, and his wish to make the latter happy were just as strong in him, if not stronger.
Either way, the fact remains that he had no tools to achieve his goals. C.C. changed that.
In Episode 1 of Code Geass, Lelouch gets caught in a terrorist attack and is about to be shot. C.C. apparently takes the bullet for him.
In the process, she gifts him with the "Power of Kings", the titular Geass, which gives him the ability to make any person obey one command of his.
Being a genius mastermind, that's all Lelouch needs to change the world.
Much to his surprise, he finds C.C. alive and well, and perfectly comfortable in his house not too long after.
Throughout the anime, she becomes Lelouch's second in command and the only person to know he's been behind Zero's mask since day 1.
As such, C.C. becomes his main confidant and the only one to know his true self.
At first, the immortal C.C. wanted Lelouch to kill her, but in the end, being around him helps her rediscover the will to live.
Of course, Lelouch and C.C.'s relationship amounts to the possibility of a romantic connection, rather than the existence of one.
The two are great together and their chemistry is really something. They even share two kisses, but given that one is for Lelouch to regain his memories, you can't really count on them to decide.
This isn't to say that Lelouch doesn't care about C.C. When she's kidnapped, he goes out of his way to save her even though he doesn't have anything to gain, and he tries to be kinder to her when she loses her memories.
At the end of the day, Lelouch and C.C. are two overpowered individuals who are seriously messed up for different reasons.
Probably not the recipe for success in real life, but for an anime, they're fun to watch together.
There's something Lelouch tells her early on, that we think sums up their partnership really well: "I was dead until the moment I met you. I was a powerless corpse pretending to be alive."
Obviously, Lelouch is talking more about the Geass power she gave him and less about her influence in his life as a person.
Still, I do believe she's important to him (at least, as important as someone can be to a person so single-mindedly set on one goal).
Whether or not you choose to interpret their relationship romantically, they're deeply connected and an iconic duo.
Plus, given the anime's ambiguous ending, C.C. is the only one who could possibly be with Lelouch, depending on your interpretation.
The very last scene features C.C. lounging in a carriage, talking to him.
This could be nothing more than a coping mechanism, of course, but so had we thought when C.C. was talking to Lelouch's supposedly dead mother, and we saw how that went.
According to some theories, Lelouch might have become an immortal Geass user, so he and C.C. could theoretically be together.
But that's just speculation if you only take the two main seasons as canon.
Do Lelouch and Kallen End Up Together?
Lelouch doesn't end up with Kallen, but once again, there's quite a lot of tension between them.
Kallen is one of Lelouch's classmates, who, like him, leads a double life.
Being half-Japanese and half-Britannian, she has very complex feelings about her identity and hates her Japanese mother's acceptance of a subordinate role.
Like Lelouch, she wants to help free Japan, and when she's presented with the opportunity of joining the Black Knights, she never looks back.
Of course, it's only much later that she finds out Lelouch and Zero are one and the same.
For the longest time, her relationship with Lelouch and her relationship with his alias are two completely separate things.
Kallen initially dislikes Lelouch, seeing him as nothing more than a privileged Britannian who is complicit in Japan's suffering.
On the other hand, she admires Zero and feels that he represents the just future she aspires to.
I'll admit that her relationship with Lelouch as Lelouch, when they're at school together, is my least favorite due to the unnecessary fanservice.
At the same time, when Lelouch is terrified of her finding out the truth about him, you can't help feeling tense alongside him, and the running gag that is their almost-kisses takes a tragic turn later on.
When Kallen finds out about Zero's true identity and his Geass, she begins to question her loyalty to him, fearing he somehow enforced these feelings on her, but eventually, she stays on as a Black Knight to figure out for herself.
When Lelouch despairs at the thought of fighting against Nunally, he asks Kallen to comfort him, confirming his attraction to her.
While obviously attracted as well, Kallen refuses to kiss him when he's in such a state of despair and instead snaps at him to act as Zero, eventually motivating him.
By the time Lelouch takes over as emperor and starts planning the Zero Requiem, Kallen feels he has deceived her.
Not satisfied with his explanation, she gives him the only kiss they ever shared and lets go of him.
When she realizes that Lelouch had been planning to save the world by sacrificing himself, her feelings change.
Kallen believes once and for all that she was right to trust Lelouch/Zero, and, while we don't know whether any romantic feelings lingered, she manages to live a happy life, without Lelouch but remembering him fondly.
Do Lelouch and Shirley End Up Together?
Despite Shirley's deep feelings, she and Lelouch do not end up together and her association with him ends tragically.
Shirley is Lelouch's friend and classmate and has had a crush on him for a very long time.
While Lelouch cares about her as a person, he's often aloof when they're together.
His feelings are once again complicated and can be interpreted in multiple ways.
Shirley is a kind person, but she's still a Britannian who can't fully share Lelouch's aspirations.
In any other anime, this wouldn't be much of an issue, and perhaps Shirley would remain a stereotypical high-school character who is obsessed with her crush.
But Code Geass isn't a safe place for such a naive character, so her love for Lelouch takes tragic dimensions when his tactics get Shirley's father killed.
This, along with Shirley's manipulation by other characters, causes her to consider killing Lelouch.
Her love, however, is so strong that merely seeing their photos together makes her change her mind.
After that incident, Lelouch uses his Geass to erase her memories of him so that she doesn't have to feel pain any longer.
Even more tragically, Shirley gets to know him all over again and falls for him once more.
When he erases her memories, Lelouch thinks he might love her and, following a misunderstanding, they briefly became a couple.
Sadly, it turns out that Lelouch was correct in thinking that her being close to him was dangerous; Shirley is eventually murdered by Rolo and Lelouch is unable to save her.
Their time together was very brief, and following her demise, Lelouch is afraid of becoming attached to anyone and extremely protective of other important people close to him.
Lelouch's Complex Character and Romantic Life
Code Geass remains one of the most enduring anime of all time. It might be filled with cheesy, over-the-top moments, but that's part of its charm.
The show presents a completely unique combination of adventure, mecha, dystopia, comedy, romance, and school moments; hence the many different ships.
At the end of the day, Lelouch is very much not the perfect boyfriend that Shirley thought at the time, but he's one of the most complex anime characters ever written, which is reflected in his relationship with others.
Each character he comes close to reflects a different side of him.
In another work, that would potentially be problematic, but thankfully, for all its other faults, Code Geass features a society that is at least egalitarian in terms of gender politics.
Since the romance is so subtle, no character is defined solely by her relationship with Lelouch.
All have different personalities and goals, which sometimes collide with Lelouch's own and sometimes do not – as is usually the case with good storytelling.
Discover more of our insights and the latest anime news by following us on Twitter @epicstreamanime.
READ NEXT: Code Geass Watch Order: Where to Start With Anime Series and Movie
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!