Code Geass: Akito the Exiled

Code Geass: Akito The Exiled (コードギアス 亡国のアキト) Code Geass Gaiden: Bōukoku no Akito (The Ruined Land of Akito) is an upcoming OVA. It was officially announced in the bonus materials of Code Geass: The Miraculous Birthday.

Overview
The side story takes place in 2017, around the time Lelouch took on the alter-ego “Zero” and built up his “Black Knights” rebellion army (season one). The setting is in Europe, where the Euro Universe (E.U.) allied nations are being invaded by the overwhelming forces of the Britannia Empire. On the verge of defeat, the E.U. army forms a special division known as “W-0″, which a young pilot named Hyuuga Akito is a member of. Reira Markale, a former Britannian Aristocrat comes to the E.U.'s aid, who commands the “Wyvern” Knightmare corps comprised of Japanese teenagers. They recklessly plunge into a battlefied, where the survival rate is extremely low. They fight for their freedom, so that they can have a country that they can return to that feels like “home”. Thus begins their fight against the adult world. The premise has been more or less laid out (translated above), but it’s still relatively unclear on whether Boukoku no Akito will be a full TV series or an OVA. It will be screened in theaters this summer and that it will be directed by Akane Kazuki (Tenkuu no Escaflowne, Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e) and once again feature original character designs by CLAMP.

Characters
Akito Hyuga has long blue hair, which is tied in a braid, and blue eyes, and is shown in promotional art wielding a katana with a white hilt and square guard. The only other known character thus far is a girl named Layla Malkal, who has very long, blonde hair and blue eyes. Below are other characters believed to be part of the main cast.

Knightmare Frame
The only other information concerning this series is concept art of an unusual-looking Knightmare Frame, whose appearance suggests Sixth-Generation or later. These Knightmare Frames are special operation units that were originally deveolped in the EU. Akira Yasuda is also returning to design the mechanical Knightmare units. The knightmare frame's name has been confirmed to be "Alexander".

Script
Kazuki Akane, the same director of escaflowne, is directing off scripts by Shigeru Morita. As in the previous two television series, Takahiro Kimura is adapting CLAMP's original character designs for animation. The anime studio Sunrise, the previous Code Geass director Goro Taniguchi, and the previous series script supervisor Ichiro Okouchi are credited with the original story.

Release Date
The release date of Code Geass Gaiden: Akito the Exiled was officially announced on January 12th 2012. The show has been officially postponed to the fall of this year, and its first episode shall make its debut on the 15th of August 2012.

Trailer
thumb|300px|left|Code Geass: Akito the Exiled Trailer