Disability and Agency in Anime: The Character Arc of Nunnally vi Britannia in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
By Olivia McAdams
Manga and anime, two media genres originating from Japan, are significant because in Japan manga and anime are the biggest industries and the main media consumption besides games. There isn’t a culture of shame or disinterest because of how Japanese society consumes the genre, unlike in the United States. Manga and anime are not only made for children, but all audiences. Adults of all ages read manga, and that is because of the various genres that go into deeper and mature corners, like war, survival, discrimination, violence, and larger pieces of philosophy, justice, and making the reader question the major influences in the manga/anime.
Most disabled characters in anime and manga are background characters aimed at the audience to create sympathy and are not developed on. The emphasis on curing a person is not as prevalent in anime and manga versus more Western media. An example of a character that gains agency and independence was Nunnally vi Britannia, seen in a 2007 anime called Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. Nunnally vi Britannia acquired paraplegia and blindness from childhood physical and mental trauma before the beginning of the series, resulting in her using a wheelchair. The series has an interesting take on disability and agency. In an unusual move, the character gains more independence and the ability to make her own choices.
Code Geass is an anime and manga series set in an alternate world where the Britannian Empire (our world’s present-day Britain) controls the majority of the world through colonization and imperialism. In the summer of 2010, Japan is invaded and devastated by war from the Britannain Empire. Lelouch and his sister Nunnally, who were exiled there by their father, the Britannian Emperor, were sent to Japan. War broke out between Japan and Lelouch’s homeland, with Japan quickly defeated. Lelouch, Nunnally, and their friend Suzaku Kururugi watch in horror as their home is destroyed by bombs and violence. As Lelouch stands above the rubble of his adopted home, he vows revenge on the Britannian Empire. Ten years later at 17, Lelouch is caught in the crossfire between the Britannian military and Japanese rebels. As Lelouch is about to die, he is saved by a mysterious woman who gives him a strange power before she dies if he completes her wish. Lelouch then declares that he will use the power to make Nunnally’s wish for a kinder world come true.
The series was very popular due to the complex storytelling and characters with a charismatic main lead, Lelouch vi Britannia/Lelouch Lamperouge. Lelouch views his sister as a main reason for his actions. To Lelouch, Nunnally is his entire world. At a young age, Lelouch became his sister’s caretaker and parent. Nunnally’s wish for peace is focused in the series based on Lelouch’s point of view, but he and the other characters see her as someone to protect from the ugliness of their world. She is a fifteen-year-old girl who has agency and gains a larger role as the series progresses. In fact, Nunnally is a major character in the second half of the series. As opposed to Nunnally’s role becoming smaller and a focus of pity, Nunnally gains her own independence and tells the main characters to stop infantilizing her as she understands the world and is not being manipulated. This demonstrates representation of people with disabilities not being underestimated and defined by what people think they cannot do.
During Lelouch’s flashback, we are taken to a scene where Lelouch demands why their father hasn’t visited Nunnally. His father coldly replied that Nunnally was dead to him because she was weak. In his world, the weak are discarded and dead. The weakness is defined by the opinion of power and usefulness to an organization, such as the Britannian Empire, as anyone without power is fighting against oppression, or killed. Lelouch declares that if his father sees Nunnally that way, then Lelouch is no longer his father’s heir. While the director of the anime series has a complex interpretation of disability which is linked to weakness and being helpless, the growing agency of Nunnally and her role in part two of the series suggests that people with disabilities grow and become independent. Disability therefore is not a death sentence to Nunnally, who survives at the end of the series and signifies that disability is part of a person and is not defined by weakness. Disability is part of people’s identity.
Geass is a supernatural power given to those who declare to complete a wish. The Geass typically manipulates someone’s mind or actions. Lelouch’s Geass forces the people he makes eye contact with into absolute obedience. His father’s Geass can manipulate memory and create entire identities if he manages to make eye contact with a person. Toward the end of the series, it is revealed that Nunnally’s blindness was a result of removing her memory by her father to prevent her from knowing the truth about the day their mother was assassinated. Nunnally breaks her father’s Geass, and is able to see her brother at the opposite end of the war and is immediately controlled by her brother’s Geass. Geass is typically dispelled by another character’s Geass, but rarely a person can break the Geass’ control by enough willpower. Nunnally was able to break her father’s Geass, which no one else had been able to do, but then is put under her brother’s Geass. Although this can be seen as an inspirational trope that makes it seem that disabled characters can overcome anything if they try, there is another question the anime director is stating to the audience of whether it is actually good to fix someone with a disability as opposed to not fixing or curing them.
At the end of Code Geass, Nunnally becomes one of the strongest leaders of her world after her brother’s death and despite suffering a heavy amount of trauma. Nunnally is an example of what a well-rounded character with a disability could be in anime as opposed to the familiar character used as a plot device for inspiration or trauma. Code Geass has a spin-off starring Nunnally who gains Geass and becomes an adaptational badass who wields a Knightmare (an iconic weaponry in the main and spin-off series)!
Multiple characters with disabilities in manga and anime are seen as weak, inspirational, or fade deeper into the background as the plot progresses. The opposite results in Nunnally gaining more agency in the second part of the series and is a major character in both part one and in Code Geass. Therefore, the character is an interesting interpretation of disability not as a liability but a part of a person instead of the character’s arc saturated with pity and inspiration.
I recommended the series due to the growing role of a character with a disability. The complete series is available on Blu-ray and on Amazon Prime. The manga version of the series is in print and digital, selling on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Olivia McAdams (she/her) is a neurodivergent advocate and a cat lover. She studies international relations with emphasis on the impact of the Japanese disability rights movement on the societal progressiveness and access to rights for people with disabilities in Japan. Olivia is an avid reader and anime watcher, fan-fiction writer, and enjoys alternative rock music. She currently resides in Chicago.
