The Breaker: New Waves

After Yi "Shioon" Shi-Woon's master, Goomoonryong, breaks his ki-center, leaving him unable to use his martial arts, he decides to leave the world of Murim and continue on with his normal life: going to school and coming home to his mother every day. However, Murim has other ideas.

Discovered as the only true disciple of Goomoonryong and entrusted with the Phoenix Medallion of the Sunwoo Clan by Lady Sosul—making him the interim leader of the Sunwoo Clan—the world of Murim is not so eager to let Shioon leave. With his new status, enemies Shioon has never encountered before keep appearing before him, such as the organization known as Soldiers Under Command. They are intent on getting rid of him for the sake of their own prosperity, but how will Shioon defend himself without his ki-center intact?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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The Breaker: New Waves has been published in Polish by Yumegari since February 2016.

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Prequel:	The Breaker
Sequel:	The Breaker: Eternal Force

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Characters

Yi, Shi-Woon

Main

Kwon, Jin-le

Main

Kang, Sera

Main

Han, Chun Woo

Supporting

Kwon, Jae-kyu

Supporting

Lee, Shiho

Supporting

Jang-Il, Jeon

Supporting

Hyuk, So Chun

Supporting

Kangsung

Supporting

Sae-hie

Supporting

Reviews

Oct 7, 2023

bergars

Recommended

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).

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Dec 15, 2015

TzKal-Zuk

Mixed Feelings

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.

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Dec 31, 2022

Tolstoevsky

Not Recommended

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 ...

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