AllMovie

Although at first glance the half-hour Code Lyoko would seem to be a Japanese anime series, in point of fact the project was produced in France, where it first aired over FR3 on September 3, 2003. It all began when a group of typical human kids, exploring an abandoned laboratory, stumbled upon the portal to a parallel universe called Lyoko. Here the kids were bestowed with super powers and new identities, the better to thwart the destructive machinations of XANA, an omnipotent computer which had been corrupted by an evil virus. They were assisted by the only "real" resident of Lyoko, the beauteous Aelita, who appeared to the kids in virtual-reality humanoid form. The main characters included science whitz Jeremie Belpois, who monitored his friends while they were gamboling in Lyoko; Odd Della Robia, a tough rule-bender with spiked hair who in Lyoko became a clairvoyant; tight-lipped Ulrich Stern, whose alter ego was that of a samurai; and the lovely Yumi, whose Lyoko persona was a geisha warrior with metallic fans. Among the robotic villains were such XANA allies as the Roachsters, the Blocks, the Hornets, the Mega Tanks and the Crabs. In America, Code Lyoko was added to Cartoon Network's "Toonami" schedule on April 19, 2004.