The Breaker: New Waves

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I know the plot from this one better than the back of my hand. Five times. I've been stuck here, waiting, expecting for the new part to arrive someday. How does it fair after the last read I'll give it?

Masterpiece. No other words, or adjectives, to describe it. As the second part of the series, it chronicles a new beginning for every character. If the beginning was an intense ride or die situation, this one feels much more like the consequences. It couldn't be the same, not after our main character became the most infamous human being to grace this particular action world. So much ... effort, sacrifices, and tears were shed just to keep the status back to square one, and none of it mattered. Placing Shioon in an even worse situation than ever before, it feels like an urgent need to reach for the stars.

The first part identified itself more as a roller coaster. The actions taken had a natural, inevitable quality to them. Every moral compass clashed, and created this narrative for itself. However, “New Waves” is more of a self-imposed, multiple choice narrative. It's the moment it could've changed for good, one way or the other. The main character takes us to his story, not his teacher's. He messes up, comes up with solutions by himself, takes extreme risks to advance the plot, while still being the metaphorical Mcgufffin of the world. It's INCREDIBLE.

The story sends us in a path of no return for the forced maturity of Shioon. I wouldn't call it a coming of age story, or a one of adulthood for that matter. That happened in the previous one, and surprisingly, it takes more on the themes of love, family love. Love for those who motivate you, for those who took a risk for you. In a world filled with hatred, fights, or the constant of death at every confrontation, a wholesome guy destroys the conceptions of hatred by doing all he knows… his best. It's so powerful to see a monstrous, old, and routhless leader, corrupted by politics, revenge, and family quarrels, crumble in front of a kid who protects those he cares about with the utmost honesty. Again, he's the only, and most perfect protagonist for this story. His actions speak louder than his words, his loses scream as much as his victories, and his wins feel so rewarding because of his progress in a hostile world he doesn't originally belong to. It's all about his decisions, and how he uses everything around him to make everything a better place for those he cares about. Love, without being corny, without needless drama, but with actions that ripple throughout this world.

Characters are another piece of the perfect puzzle. So many of them, new, involved. The old ones develop even more, serving as human beings, rather than obstacles to overcome. The past is much more important in this series, since this isn't a beautiful, cute world. Tragedy will always follow those who're old. Tragedy is always at the doorstep of the young. Everybody suffers so much, in such an organic way, but again, Shioon steals the spotlight for unyielding will. Imagine, in a world of talent, prestige, sacred bloodlines, hierarchy. The rules are brutal, but this one, a kid, who searches for the best of those around him, changes EVERYTHING. I said it before, but I'll say it again. He's the domino piece that changes this world, and those he affects become such a big part of the story that you can't imagine the amount of connection you'll feel by the end.

I call this a perfect narrative, and an improvement in what I already described as a perfect story. Every action matters, there's not a single chapter, or page you can skip. Effective in storytelling, perfect in execution, with some of the best character writing in the medium, and the art is something that's only getting better. It stopped using those beautiful perspective-bending panels, which is a small shame, but the fights retain that brutality we love. The art takes a much more emotional approach, rather than a subjective view of what's happening. Scale increases, we get more environmental damage in every picture. Not the same, but just as great for what it achieves.

10/10. There's no doubt in my mind. This belongs in the golden road of martial arts media. Perfect in every way, even if the authors constantly doubt their craft (they comment a lot about messing up in omakes, humble mfs).

The Breaker will be considered the prequel and New Waves the sequel.

Martial arts has always been intriguing and looking at stories where characters who are weak, wanting to get stronger is a journey of self discovery. In some ways, media that projects this topic is relateable to viewers because most of us want to follow our bliss and find a path that truly fits us. For The Breaker, Shi-Woon is the young boy we follow to search for his path of self discovery. This review reflects the series as a whole rather than just this sequel.

I'll do my best without spoilers for the prequel ... or this, but the story seems to follow a linear path for the predecessor, where as prequel opens the world up to other factions within the Martial Arts community(Murim). The Breaker does a great job fleshing out it's story with giving us the perspective of other factions, but the same cannot be said about New Waves. The premise is run of the mill and seen elsewhere, but the series has an edge with the awesomeness of Chun Woo. The dude is a beast and is the most feared existence within the story and his effect on the plot and characters are executed well. While it is a broken record by the end of the series, his existence brings meaning to each character. At the end though, the series leaves a lot to be desired mainly because of inconclusive ending and some plot holes(eggs).

Characters are a mixed bag, most development comes from Chun Woo and Shi Woon. Nothing is wrong with that though since they are probably the only interesting characters within the series and the oldhead in New Waves. The first season handles Chun Woo and Shi Woon with care and we see both of them blossom, whether it is a good or bad thing. However, I did feel like the flash back memories that we see are out of place and always come up in convenient times. Not only for these two, but for other characters as well. It is not the best way to go about justifying the character's actions and beliefs and seems a bit forced. Also, New Waves becomes awfully stagnant in character development. There is a limit to how naive some can be and to push that limit creates a repetitive vibe.
The side characters are very forgettable, I mean all they do is contribute to the plot. It's what their there for but at least give them some characterization instead of sexualizing the females and showing us how emo some of the male characters are. Some female characters I have in mind are definitely useless to the series as a whole. A LOT of plot convenience and flash backs drive some of these characters and I wasn't fond of that while reading The Breaker and New Waves.

Art is pretty cool, really brings out the characters emotions and action scenes are well defined. Picturing the scene in my mind with the SFX already seems really intense. Wasn't expecting in this series, but fan service was existent and probably was the only form of comedic relief which was eh.

Overall, The Breaker has more ups than downs. Obviously all reviews are subjective and people are titled to their own beliefs and enjoyment, but the inconsistent flow of The Breaker can turn off people. It is an enjoyable, action shounen read. Looking for a good cast of characters, you may or may not find it with this one but there are certainly some interesting characters in this series. The story was OKAY; it deviated from what I thought was gonna be and went into bumblefuck direction honestly. Give it a read if you like a protagonist in search of self-discovery.

I really wanted to like this one...

The Breaker: New Waves is the sequel to The Breaker launched in 2010, the same year the latter ended. I'll be blunt: it under-delivers. It's bad. There isn't much I feel for it next to apathy. Majority of its ups stem from my appreciation for the first breaker; the very same appreciation I got robbed of when finishing New Waves.

It does deserve a few compliments. Thou slow, the beginning and its premise are good. Once you step into Murim you are part of Murim, simple as that. It's also a throwback to one seemingly insignificant, but in hindsight very ... consequential moment in the first part, which is great. Next to that we have the entire cast of the first, alongside many new faces. The art is still really good. There are some interesting arcs and hard-hitting moments...

That's probably as far as my praise goes.

First off, why are we introducing so many new characters? You have already formed this huge repertoire by the end of the first part which it could barely handle. New Waves is twice as long as the first; shouldn't we focus on fleshing out the already existing ones? The answer is: no. In fact, it's worse: all of the already established cast you've grown accustomed to will get side-lined in favour of the new one.

Of course, the new cast is not horrible; there is Ji-Nie, Elder Kwon, Ji-Gun, Sera, Cool guy, Ghost Hands Divine Healer... So, the manhwa focuses on them? It does... As long as they are in the spotlight. Things happen only around Shi-Woon; the moment they move away from him (which they inevitably will) they turn into immobile chess pieces so that others can get into rotation. Having so many characters alongside this abysmal treatment of their makes the pacing devolve into some weird flavour-of-the-month structure which makes me numb to any enjoyment I could foster.

But let's forgive that too. So, you put them to the side? Fine. That leaves most of the resources dedicated to the cast under the spotlight. I have to ask then: why aren't they doing anything? The villains stand there as bedrock waiting to be penetrated, continuously reminding you why they are standing there in the first place. Allies are no better: they appear when necessary and obey what they have been told. Although, they do one thing consistently: talk. Oh, and do they talk a lot. It makes reading New Waves a chore. By the end, barely will any character get enough time, let alone will that time be used well.

Oh, and every relevant female character will devolve into the "I secretly find the protagonist cute" type who's only job is to commentate on the situation and praise the protagonist's "might and resolve", while being castrated of any characteristics that made them interesting, let alone value to the overarching story (by the end it feels like the only purpose they serve is to be on the cover). Of course, Shi-Woon doesn't feel anything towards them; he doesn't even notice it, so we can't even call those characters love-interests. Which brings us to Shi-Woon.

Shi-Woon is as bland as it gets. He doesn't change. You may argue he does, but you know you'd be lying. He only gets accustomed to the circumstances and pushes on in his ways; his beliefs and philosophy stay the same. He always fights for the same reasons, he does everything he generally does, his aims and motivations are never challenged... He is constantly rewarded for being himself and nothing pushes him in any new direction. In the review of the first Breaker, I listed it as his charm, so where is the issue? The issue is that there is nothing to be put against him as contrast in this supposedly vicious world, that now all of a sudden seems to value this vanilla good boy. It genuinely grinds my nerves.

That is not restricted only to his character. In the first part he is a talented novice with a few good moves but is ultimately reckless and will get beaten by anyone capable of dodging or countering. By the end of New Waves, he... He is the same, but now he is winning. He learns a whole of two new moves which, although cool, are barely used. Rest of his development is the work of lazy Deus Ex Machina. His fighting style is bound to mindless fist-flailing until he magically sees an opening and lands a blow. Even thou there are multiple "breakthroughs" in his training, there is legitimately no change. Some of the weakest character progression I've ever been a witness to, if I can even call it a progression.

Power scaling in this world is already very loose and context based, so you can imagine how having someone like Shi-Woon always winning completely annihilates any concept of strength hierarchy. I have no idea if there is any plausible explanation for him not ending up in a body bag when he, with a broken ki centre, decides to take on those stronger than he ever was in his prime. That happens multiple times, by the way. There are no stakes and risks. Consequences don't matter, being in actual danger is a myth. Some characters get the short end of the stick, but even then, it's because they wanted to sacrifice themselves. The entire motive of Shi-Woon persisting through his sheer will and lack of any fear to hold him back now feels like some of the shittiest protagonist privilege one could come across.

The entire story is simply a mess. There is no sense of direction. The twists are cheap. Bizarre moments which gave the first Breaker charm now don't land. Characters are done both dirty and poorly. And, of course, all of the previously mentioned has copious amounts of empty talk to go along with. It's a bad movie that tries to pull the audience's attention with basic shock value.

However, my main gripe with New Waves is its length. This is a 20-volume read. That's 200 chapters. Now, I agree; manga knows to be numerous times longer. But there are so many works you could have read instead of this which are not only shorter but offer more entertainment and sentimental value than this. Length should be justified, and New Waves does not have any reason to be this long considering its contents.

And here I am, having written over 1000 words of critique concerning this title. Do you think I am glad about that? Know I am not. I will always enjoy a good read, and I wanted to like this work as much as the first, if not more. I remember how eager I was to hop onto reading it. There are foundations of something that could be great, there are occasional strong moments, there are lovable characters, there is potential... And yet I can't help but view this read as a waste of time.

As I've noted in the previous review, the first Breaker has the same issues as the second, but the second has way more time for those issues to grow noxious and without that novelty and dynamic of the first to prevent it. I can't even look back on the original without seeing those glaring flaws.

Who knows, maybe you will enjoy New Waves. I know I didn't. I doubt I will read The Breaker: Eternal Force, which at the time of writing this review is very much young. Maybe in the future if I ever stumble upon it being finished. Even then, I will think heavily whether I am willing to put up with estimated 400 chapters of mediocrity when these 200 have already proven difficult.

Thank you for reading up to this point. I wish you all the very best. Kind regards.