Ranked #1274

Code:Breaker (Manga)

While browsing through different possible mangas to read, I noticed this one called Code Breaker. The thing that interested me was the fact that it had so many chapters like a mainstream manga would, the only difference was that I had never heard of this one! Why is that? I have no idea. Because honestly, this one, in my opinion, is much better than some of those extremely popular mangas out there!


Story: 9
To be brief, this manga is about a guy named Oogami Rei and he kills evil people, and to his inconvenience, he meets a girl named Sakurakouji Sakura who is extremely "anti-violence" "anti-killing" etc, and she does everything she can to keep him from killing others, even if they have done horrible things in the past.

I'll be honest, the first couple chapters caught my attention, but none of them were eye-popping or insanely awesome, so I gave it a 7 in the beginning, and I was being very generous too. But since it did keep me interested, I kept reading, and throughout the story, my score for it was continuously increasing! To the point that now, my 'score' for it is a 10! The plot gets much better and more intense as the series continues!

The only reason I give this a 9 is because it started out a bit too unoriginal and just seemed to copy the mainstream manga ideas. But as I said, the story as of now is incredible and I am always excited for the next chapter to be released!


Art: 7
The art in this manga isn't bad at all, in fact it is very good! BUT, nothing about it stands out above others. My favorite kind of 'art' in a manga is one that makes me go 'wow!' or 'that's interesting' because it is unique. Code Breaker has very basic looking characters, but they do, on occasion, have their intense moments that make me want to stare at the page for a few extra minutes. For example, if a very exciting scene happens and we get a full page of that one scene, or when someone 'upgrades' / gets a new power; it makes the reader excited to see what they will do with this new epic ability!

The backgrounds have good detail, which is better than some mangas where we only see white backgrounds and just have to use our imagination for where they could possibly be standing. In Code Breaker, you know right away whether they are in a house, in the yard, in the woods, etc. It makes it more interesting when you see the damages to the background during a fight, such as the wood being broken or the glass shattering! It gives the whole fight a more 'anime' sort of style, which I personally love!


Character: 10
As I say many times in my reviews, I love it when I can read the most recent chapter and compare it to the first chapter and think to myself "wow! they have changed SO much!" I don't like having a sudden, random change in character, but I love seeing a gradual progression with each of them! This manga is EXACTLY what I look for with characters!

Oogami Rei - He changes the most in the story! I am going to keep this fairly brief because I don't want to give anything important away, but I advise you to compare his first-chapter self with the recent-chapter self. Just because of this, Oogami has become one of my favorites!
We get to see periodically throughout the story bits and pieces of his past that explain how he came to be a killing machine that he is. And rather than the 'mainstream-manga' excuse of "I was born / created to kill and I work for the most powerful man in the word" speech that we've heard too many times, Oogami has a very difficult and troubling story that makes you feel sorry for a murderer like him.

Sakurakouji Sakura - I hated her in the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised if other people felt the same way. She was just annoying and seemed to get in the way. But just like Oogami, she does change overtime and now I definitely like her! She doesn't exactly have the same impact that Oogami does, but she is still interesting to read about.

Tenpouin Yuuki, Hachiouji Rui, and Fujiwara Toki are labeled as 'main characters' but I feel like the main focus is of course on Oogami Rei and Sakurakouji.
Tenpouin Yuuki is one of those funny and weird characters that you can't help but love because they make you laugh. But even though he is probably the youngest of them, he is extremely strong and helpful when fighting enemies.
Hachiouji Rui isn't what I would call a pointless character, but she doesn't have a huge part in the manga. She has her few 'shining moments' but other than that, she mostly just takes up manga space.
And finally Fujiwara Toki! Out of these three not-main characters, I would put him as the most important of them. He is the sort of guy that you can never figure out. He, like Oogami, kills everyone that he considers to be evil. And that immediately makes you think he's an evil guy as well, but is it really his choice to be like that? He always gives subtle hints of his intentions, but even then, he is a complex and strange character that everyone has their own opinion of.


Enjoyment: 10
I am a huge fan of "Shounen" mangas with fighting and action. Code Breaker has a variety of fighting styles, from guns to swords to super-sonic waves, and of course fire! Oogami's ability of using fire is best worded as "bad-ass"! And it only gets better as the series goes on! But what I also like to see is some comedy, drama and even a bit of romance. Code Breaker gives you all of those. There are many hilarious parts in this story that crack me up and keep the story uplifting and entertaining! There are also, as I said, some romance parts. Don't let that turn you away from the story though, this isn't at all a "shoujo" sort of story where it's a constant love-battle and random hand-holding scenes. However, there are occasionally some hints of 'love interest' between characters that give the story a bit more of a plot.

Mostly though, my "enjoyment" is based on 'Story' and 'Character', and since both of those are things that I love in this manga, my enjoyment is of course given a high score!
If you enjoy some of those mainstream mangas like Bleach, Naruto, D.Gray-Man, Fairy Tail or Katekyo Hitman Reborn, then I can almost guarantee that you will like Code Breaker! It is sad that Code Breaker isn't among the most popular mangas, because I think it deserves to be up there.


Overall: 10
The only reason I can think of that this manga has an overall low score is because people scored it based on the beginning of the story and then just sort of gave up reading it. If you are one of those people that dislikes mangas because of the first chapter, I think you should know that Code Breaker gets much better before too long!
I'm really glad that I started reading this manga, and I hope it continues for a long time because it is incredible! I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Shonen mangas or someone who just likes some good action and excitement! read more

Story: There have always been people and there always will be people that will evade laws and slip past justice after committing a crime. For people that have committed serious crimes and escaped unscathed, there is an organization of code breakers to dispose of them. The manga brings up many philosophical ideas of crime and punishment especially of the death penalty and the "can people really change?" debate. Although a very interesting plot at first, I can only give the story an 8 because it is very repetitive and does not present any big plot twists or enough suspenseful moments. I must have heard the saying "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" at least once every chapter.

Art: Nothing special. Could see what was going on in the battles and the characters are pretty well drawn. (9)

Character: The development of the characters is very drawn out in the series. It teaches you little by little about each code breaker and their reasons for fighting. The main character of the story doesn't seem to have much of a personality except for a save everyone even if he is evil attitude. However, the main code breaker makes up for this with his mysterious often contradicting ideology that I still can't figure.

Enjoyment: I loved the action scenes. Each code breaker's power makes sense (which is a plus! well... sometimes its a stretch, but almost!) and is just plain badass. When compared to other strictly action shounen mangas, this definitely comes on top. (10)

Overall: You can probably compare this manga to D.Gray Man, Naruto, and Bleach in its ability to bring you into action filled battle mangas. I give this an overall 9. read more