Characters
(I’ll break my rule about discussing a max of 5 characters in order to capture the dimensions of the main cast)
Jeremy- The Brains and The Navigator of the group, Jeremy is usually the voice of reason and gives commands to the group often based on utilitarian values. Even though he is never seen to have any fighting prowess, he is often responsible for the actions, developments, or discoveries that have the greatest impact on the world. He is portrayed as a stereotypical nerd and is often treated that way by other characters, but his character far exceeds that by virtue of his actions throughout the series and by way of the impact that events have on him.
Ulrich- Resident cool guy and my favorite character. Ulrich is your “strong, silent-type” character and although there are multiple “fighter” characters in the series, Ulrich stands out based on how much respect he garners from others. Even so, Ulrich has a lot of flaws; he can be petty and stubborn after his stoic veneer is broken. He also gets jealous when his relationship with Yumi gets challenged and tends to impulsively.
His Lyoko form has him in a Ronin/Samurai outfit and he fights with a katana even though the dub calls it a “saber” (it turns into two later); he also has some really cool super-powers that compliment his close-quarters fighting style. In the real world he also practices Pencak Silat, and I think there was a bit of east Asian influence in this character overall that rounded out his features.
Yumi- I believe Yumi is actually the oldest of the Lyoko Warriors. While Jeremy is the smartest, Yumi may be considered the second-smartest or maybe the most mature. Aside from that her character development evolves parallel to Ulrich’s since they go through a relationship arc throughout the series.
What I find interesting about Yumi in terms of character relationship is that in the series she is a Japanese emigrant; she is the only one of the students whose family you see often, and in certain scenes Yumi’s heritage is brought up as an important feature. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that there’s a race issue, but it is something I find interesting. As a foreign student, Yumi’s social standing actually complements the Lyoko plot since it’s supposed to be an unlikely group of people who would have otherwise never interacted with each-other that turn out to be the best of friends. Since Yumi may have likely had a tougher time making friends, not only because she wears all black and comes off as kinda emo but also since she’s a foreigner and may not have felt like they fit in (I can sort of relate), it makes it more believable that Yumi would have teamed up with the others due to fantastical circumstances.
In her Lyoko form, Yumi is dressed sort of like a geisha. Her avatar has pale white make-up with blush and wears a Japanese-style outfight and uses bladed fans as weapons. Later in the series she develops telekinesis and uses it to turn the terrain or monsters as projectiles. I personally like her second outfit better, but in terms of action, I believe Yumi might actually have the most monster kills in the entire series. Other than Ulrich, I like Yumi’s Lyoko persona to be the most well-designed and well-used throughout the series.
Odd- Unlike how his name implies, Odd is an extraverted and garrulous goofball. While he is very athletic, he tends to be ignorant or reckless, which leads him into a lot of trouble. He’s personally my second-favorite character due to how well he plays off of other characters like Ulrich, (his roommate) as he brings a certain degree of optimism and cartoonish antics that remind you you’re watching a sci-fi/action cartoon. Not only does it prevent the characters suffering from the problem of having similar personalities, but it opens up the atmosphere a bit.
In his Lyoko form, Odd assumes slightly feline characteristics even though the emblem on his garb depicts his dog, Kiwi. Namely he has a tail, cat ears, and large paws from which he can fire his signature Laser Arrows. Side-note: I am almost 100% sure that at some point during the series (in the early episodes) they call them Flashing Arrows before settling that the weapon is called Laser Arrows. In the early Lyoko episodes it’s kind of weird seeing a CGI arrowhead come out of a muzzle flash from a dude’s cat paws, but far later in the series it looks cooler since it looks as if Odd is shooting bolts of lightning out of his hands. I also like how Jeremy has to manually reload his arrows from the Supercomputer. I feel as if it adds a degree of uniqueness to each character’s battle mechanics, delving deeper into the sci-fi theme that the show basks in.
Aelita- Aelita is a very special case. In the beginning, Aelita is purely an entity that lives within Lyoko and usually only communicates to Jeremy through computers. In that form she acts as if she’s a computer that is totally devoid of human characteristics, when that’s not necessarily true. It's actually inconsistent sometimes since Aelita sometimes has to be reminded that things like a sense of smell or touch or taste exist, but in other cases she is able to articulate complex ideas like emotion and even play off of the emotions of others. The first season ends with Jeremy successfully bringing Aelita to Earth and throughout the rest of the story we slowly get introduced to elements of Aelita’s past.
SPOILER ALERTS!
Aelita is the daughter of Franz Hopper, the computer scientist who was both a former teacher at Kadic and also the person responsible for creating the Supercomputer and XANA. XANA was initially created as a military cyber program, but eventually it gained a degree of autonomy and decided that humanity should be the subject of its wrath . When the project went haywire, men in black suits (likely agents of the government) attempted to capture him and the young Aelita, whose mother was already gone at the time. Aelita and Franz escaped into Lyoko, but XANA had a greater hold on the virtual world with his monsters and continued to attack Franz and Aelita with the goal of extracting Aelita’s memory to complete its power. Throughout the series we are slowly given this info through flashbacks as Aelita’s amnesia becomes a key point of the plot since it is the primary means of finding her father and sealing away XANA.
In her Lyoko form, Aelita dons an elf-like appearance and in the beginning she doesn’t have a primary method of self-defense. On few occasions, she can alter the environment of Lyoko to trap the monsters, but she later gains the ability to fire projectiles from her hands and even fly. In the beginning, it was established that if Aelita were to be De-Virtualized (defeated by monsters) in Lyoko it would be game-over. But when she regains her human form, it is a rule that gets reversed.
William- This is a special case and a massive SPOILER. William is a straggler who ends up following the Lyoko Warriors around and discovering their secret. He starts off as the vertex of a love triangle between himself, Yumi, and Ulrich, but after his initial dive into Lyoko with the main gang, he ends up getting taken over by XANA. From then on he spends the majority of the series as a Final Boss entity meant to represent XANA in Lyoko rather than the monsters while Jeremy makes a clone to replace him in the real world.
Eventually, they do find a way to break XANA’s hold over William and return him to the real world without having their cover blown. In his Lyoko form, William dons a black and red sci-fi armor get-up and carries a sword so large you’d think you were watching “Bleach” instead of “Code Lyoko.” Aside from the sword, his abilities include using Darkness and Smoke to phase through attacks as well as immobilize his prey.
I have to give William special attention since he is one of the few characters I’ve ever witnessed go from a second-rate side-character to becoming the main villain before being saved/redeemed. In comparison to other cartoons of the time, I cannot recall many that have taken such risks or liberties with constructing a narrative like this, and it should be acknowledged.
