Break Blade 1: Kakusei no Koku

Well I was pretty surprised to know that Break Blade got a movie! Talk about being out of date. I've read the manga and quite liked it, though in the manga, mecha battle scenes aren't drawn very well, it gets kinda confusing. So I was pretty excited to watch the movie, to see what the mecha battles will be. And this movie really doesn't disappoint me in anyway.

Story: 7
Kinda typical story, a boy who can't use any magic in world where everyone can use magic, but somehow can activated a Golem that no other person managed to activate. Even if it's typical, I think it's played quite well. This is only the first movie so I can't say much about the plot, but I've read the manga so basically I know the story further than what this movie has shown, and I'll say that if the next movies continue to follow the manga, it will turn out to be good.

Art: 9
This is where I was struck the most. The animation is pretty good, the mecha battles are done pretty well. Though the mechas movements aren't nearly as fluid as Gundams, but I think it's done on purpose, since the Golem technology in this show isn't very advanced as how it is in other mecha shows. (This was not said in the movie, but it was said in the manga.) Designs for the mechas are interesting. They're not as flashy as other mecha shows, yet they're designed pretty well. As a mecha maniac I liked the designs of the mechas here. Character designs are average, though I quite liked it. At least there's no excess of moe/bishoujo/bishounen (they do exist, though at an acceptable dose.) Overall a good art, both in animation and design department.

Sounds: 8
For me, sound is divided into 3 parts: Musics, SFX, and Voice Acting. Music is nice, this movie has good opening and ending songs, and good musics throughout the movie. SFX are nice as well, they are made to be quite 'real'. Like, the sound of impact of a pressure gun is not as strong as the sound of impact in other mecha shows, since pressure guns are generally weak after all. I'm no pro at voice acting, but at least there's no annoying voice acting like those overly moe/shy character voice which is quite prevalent nowadays.

Character: 7
Sadly, there's only 50 minutes to this movie. Which means that there's not much character developments. Some cliched yet interesting characters are used, it's not really a problem for me since a cliche can be interesting when played well. Though not much character development, this first movie gives a good base to expand in the next movies. Let's just hope they do expand it well.

Enjoyment: 9
Pretty enjoyable for me. Cliche story that is played quite well to make it still interesting for me. Good animation, interesting mecha designs, and a fair character designs. Nice music, SFX, and VA. Characters that even though haven't developed much, already has good base to expand. Other than those, I liked the setting of the world in this movie. The world is full of magic users, so magic is generally used in everyday life. Even so, magic here isn't really that almighty like in many magic based story. There's no ultra powerful destruction magic or time controlling magic. Here, most of the things that magic can do are common things that can be done in real life. Moving vehicle, shooting pressure guns etc. This is what makes the setting interesting for me. Also, there's not really any awesome weapons here. The only weapons are the weak pressure guns, or the standard melee weapons. Though some may think this is a minus point, I liked it. I got kinda tired from all those high-tech, high destructive capability weapons in many mecha shows nowadays. This makes the world in which technologies are not very advanced and weapons are generally weak much more interesting.

Overall: 8
I want to give 8.5, since this is better than 8, but doesn't really achieve 9. But there's no 8.5 score here so I'll just give 8.
A pretty good show for me. Though I think this is kinda underrated, since not many people seems to give much attention this show. This show is pretty interesting in many ways that even surprised me. Before watching I thought I'm gonna give this a 6 or 7, but after watching, I changed my mind and give better score. Though, I still need to wait whether the next movies will also be good or not. Let's just wait and see then.

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Just finished watching it and I liked it.

Story-7,it's not uncommon,still in the Gundam form- a guy that appears incapable of doing something or common suddenly manages to fight a robot different from the others in order to protect his friends.-Despite that,the story is structurated well,though i still believe 50 minutes isn't enough,especially for the first part,in order to introduce us well to the characters.But for now we do have a presentation to the main character,Rygart Arrow,and a small idea about the other characters.

Art-10,because it is Production I.G. and XEBEC we are talking about,and it looks well for me,as a mecha-fighting anime.The surroundings,canyon and desert really seem to bring out that feeling of isolation and arid grounds.

Sound-10- because it is Kokia that does the opening,with another amazing and beautiful song,and Faylan's ending is also nice and more action-like.

Characters-8.It is hard to grasp the characters for now.But i do have a general idea concerning Arrow,Sigyn and Hodr.I like that Arrow is the more realistic,peaceful type.He has accepted his image in the world as a '' un-magic user'' and tries to maintain peace.I am curious about how he will face the problem of ''fighting'' his old friend.He seems rather innocent somehow [which makes him cute*giggles*].It is more than obvious that ,although Sigyn is married,there is something between them [ and not only friendship...i dare to say xD]

Enjoyment-10- it was very dinamic for a first part episode/ova/movie..and things didn't seem to progress too slow...but not too fast either,although it is because of this,that i wanted more than 50 minutes of it.

Overall-10, for a first.I really enjoyed it,as a mecha-action,it didn't let me down at all.But,you will have to watch it to see for yourself.

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‘Break Blade’ is essentially a 50-minute teaser.

It starts with a rather chaotic scene featuring giant robots shooting at each other, only to shift focus to a young man fainting in the desert a couple of minutes later. It’s eventually made clear that conflict has broken out between 2 nations and that one of them has discovered a special weapon that could turn the tide in their favor if only they know how to use it. Enter our fainting young man in the desert who actually knows the ruler of said nation and, surprise, can use the weapon!

That’s the bare essentials of the main story. There are plenty more characters but none of them really develop in any way. Every character introduced gets a scene or 2 to establish his/her personality and maybe a few hints about their background and past relationships. All of them fall into familiar archetypes: there’s a clueless hero, a plucky comic-relief character, a stern but well-meaning enemy commander and so forth. All the characters are potentially interesting but the short length of the movie makes the potential stay just that, potential. We’ll have to wait and see how the characters are developed in future installments.

The art and animation are good, as could be expected from Production I.G.. Though the designs of the characters and (especially) mechs are rather uninspired to say the least. There’s also the occasional still-frame here and there but these are few, far between and very short. One last complaint I have is that the bullets fired by the mechs didn’t really have much impact for me. There wasn’t much ‘oomph’ when a mech got shot down.

The audio is sufficient. The music is completely forgettable (so it’s not terrible at least), the sound-effects do their job and there’s plenty of now-popular seiyu (eg. Hiroshi Kamiya, Yuuichi Nakamura, Kana Hanazawa) to please the fans.

There were a few cool twists on certain clichés such as how every person in the movie’s world can use magic and being unable to do so is considered strange or how the main character who falls into a mech’s cockpit for the first time doesn’t immediately start kicking ass. This gave some novelty to an otherwise derivative final product.

I was entertained enough to with this movie to at least check out the next one (though it helps that it ends on a huge tease). There are some elements in here that could make for a fun experience if executed well; but whether or not the creators will manage it is still up in the air.

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Coming from common knowledge of mecha animes, Break Blade 1 doesn't go that far from reintroducing different viewers to what is really appreciated as a great genre of anime.

To start things off, I could say that BB1 is something very typical of an action/military that contains a hero. It's cliche, as some of the reviews had already said. However, I admired how it was implemented well. There's great character development which helps the movement of the story. Rygart, who I can describe as an unconventional hero since he lacks the ability that all of the people around him possess, shines out. His lack of power is what makes him that distinct from the other pilots, as well as his own Golem that only he can control. Given this foundation for the story, BB1 leaves us hanging for what Rygart can do as an unconventional pilot in a city that seems like on the brink of losing the ongoing war.

The art in BB1 is very detailed and stunning. The sound and animation are also top-on since they make the mecha battles and normal scenes very engaging and exciting. The caliber of the art and sound all contribute to the enjoyment of the movie as one. Some scenes which seem ordinary and normal are all elevated to somewhat a grander level because of the voice acting alongside the art.

I didn't expect for the protagonist to have close connections with royalty since we are used to stories having heroes serving the king out of duty and responsibility. In BB1, we see Rygart serving in the army not only because of his duty, but because of the idea of friendship behind the war. This must be the first time I experienced this type of story which is very refreshing to watch and experience.

I am quite excited to watch the remaining five movies after BB1. It serves as a great teaser or introduction which is very effective in making the viewers crave for some more mecha action and perhaps a romance story out of the blue.

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