Break Blade
Broken Blade

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War is a state of struggle, in which every person involved in it fights back with both his body, mind and psyche. It has no clean cut definition, on which everyone agrees upon, and nor does it needs - for every single person it has it's own meaning and it brings forth specific sorrow and grief.

As a manga, Break Blade tries to explore just that, using multiple characters, countries and conflicts, and it's runtime it manages to mold up and shape a personal and touching war story, filled with regret, anxiety and pain. As long as that, it manages to be ... a story about loss of innocence, almost discarding one's own rose-tinted glasses of naivete, and looking unflinchingly through the disillusion that once was there. But, amidst the themes of despair and violence, one can also find a glitter of hope, despite the cruelty surrounding them, the characters are trying to grip into something they love, believe in and hope for and enter the chaotic sandstorms with decisiveness.

Art wise, the manga provides, interesting, even if slightly confusing early on, battles and fights. The mechanical details on the mechs on every single country and faction had been kept consistent, proportionate and solid, the action scenes are varied and nicely presented, at a few moments the battlefields do lose it's details, but the strategic movements of the units is kept grand and in perspective, giving the reader very detailed and engaging viewpoints.

The characters cast is vast, expanding upon multiple factions and various social standings. While juggling with that large cast does means some of them could be undeveloped or straight up forgotten, for the most of this manga's run, this is kept to a minimum. It can be said that the ending does feels rapidly wrapped up, leaving some political and relationship threads hanging, as far as the main characters are considered, all of them are neatly concluded, with minor, or major, but in any case, some kind of conclusion.

As far as the art for the cast goes, it is neatly consistent, presenting us with satisfying detail in the character's emotions and feelings, their personal moments of turmoil, victory, greatness or downfall. As well as in the mech details, the various uniforms and clothing in the different kingdoms are well defined, and cleverly thought out, representing their lifestyle, habitual differences and cultural definitions.

The initial and gripping world building of the start does keeps it's momentum, even if it does staggers in a few moments. The various sieges and battlefields were thoroughly presented, with a lot of attention to the movements and the maneuvers that the mechs, as well as the supporting it infantry does in order to outmatch their opponents. For a fantasy setting, filled with mechs, the technologies and strategies does feel highly inspired from the medieval warfare - ladders for breach, as well as anti-ladder machinery for the defenders, usage of battering rams and heavy axes and hammers to break the main gates, the attention on the guard for holding these gates as well as to fortify their tower nests with sniper units - all these small, but intricate and nuanced small bits does show the mangaka's appreciation and understanding of the situation, in which the futuristic clashes with the medieval, and in which the sophisticated meets the primitive.

While most of the cast deserves it's own mention, I do believe the main character in this work to be very interesting, and consistently built upon, character wise. While he starts as a pilot by sheer luck, something very common writing for this genre of story, his development is quite engaging. While as the story progresses, he does shreds bit by bit his simpleminded and childish outlook on the life that surrounds him, as well as for his relationships with his friends and fellow soldiers. He slowly, but surely finds out how warped, narrow minded and cruel this war makes him, but even so he still has his kind and generous, humble and welcoming side of him, which makes his character much more complex and engaging. This is not a story about how life hardens you, but rather, a story about how conflicts and wars change people, usually evokes the worst of them, and brings nothing but misery and destruction in it's aftermath. There are no glorious heroes, or grand victors, just people, surviving this massive massacre, which scars them for life, and shows them how frail and precious life can be.

As the name suggests, this manga's name is reflective of this creation - it could be chipped down, and battered, but it manages to be this immersive and touching war story. It could feel both gritty, but also emotional, and touching as a story. As the name suggests, this is a story about one raw, and unshaped person, who never liked fighting, to embrace the destiny that had opened to him, but in the same time, it is a story about this person, being traumatized, broken down and plagued by his fears, regrets and grief while fighting for the things he sees meaning in.

As someone who decided to read the manga after watching the movies I just want to say that it's significantly better than the movies. It's pretty much two different stories. The characters actually get chapters dedicated to their backgrounds, the mecha fights somehow feel less static than in the animation, the main character is way more OP than portrayed in the movies and the trauma he carries is way more fleshed out, the romance feels better, and we get a proper conclusion to the story of our MC, but not to the story of the continent.

The only problem with this manga is that the ending ... is too abrupt. There was content for many more arcs and the final arc felt awkward in general, but in the grand scale of things it did fit the personality of the protagonist to retire the way he did. So it's not that the ending was bad per se, but there were definitely lots of loose ends left and it couldn't have felt more rushed if you tried.

All in all though, this is a really good mecha story and the author doesn't hesitate when it comes to killing characters which keeps the suspense and tension up throughout the story. I think the best way to describe this manga is that it gives a very adult-like feeling, but without feeling too heavy.

I will start this review with the following sentence.
I can't possibly recommend this manga, because it is an unfinished product.
From its early stages I've read this story, loved it, maybe even cherished it to some degree, but honestly speaking after the latest chapters and maybe the years that have passed since I've started this manga those emotions vanished into thin air.
Until recently I've had this manga scored at a 9 out of 10, but after chapter 60 or something close to that, the story went crazy, it kept bringing new people in forgetting the existing ones, some interesting characters were killed just ... so it can bring out some emotions. The pace was far to fast and because of that I felt like I was reading something just so time could pass, not something that I enjoyed a lot in the beginning.
A few examples of some characters and the plot line that they were connected to were simply erased from the existence.
The first one was the rival of the MC (Rygart) named Zess, after his defeat in the first few chapters he retreated to his country to recuperate from his injuries thinking that maybe life in the military isn't for him, but because it couldn't end that way he was elected as a high commander of his country's military. After a new skirmish with the Rygart and a new defeat he swears that he will be back and that next time will kill him for sure, but guess what, he didn't even make another appearance in the manga after that. Quick trivia about him, he was called a genius, but every time he was trashed by the MC.
The second one is Hodr, the king of the empire that Rygart is part of, on paper he is regarded as an excellent leader that put his country back on the map or so to say, a great tactician and so on and so forth, but what did he achieve all this time? Nothing, absolutely nothing, he is the running joke of this story, at least in my opinion, his wife doesn't love him, doesn't even share the same bedroom with him, he has fantasies that she will revoke her divorce with him and will be with him in the end, but guess what? No, that doesn't happen and in his frustration he gets together with his cook, or at least that's what she seems to be.
The third one is the Sigyn, the kings wife, at first she was important because she is the brain of the whole robo tech in the country, but after a few chapters you can see that she is eye candy and a damsel in distress and nothing more, she is an indecisive women who for the love of God even now I can't understand why she married the king and why is she in the story at all.
So, let's connect the dots now, Rygart, Zess, Hodr and Sigyn are friends and classmates of the military school situated in Asslum ( if I remember correctly ), the 3 boys are best friends that in normal situation would've never had any connection to each other, but under some circumstance's they've bonded, as for Sigyn it was never explained as to why was she with them, maybe I forgot.
Rygart is an un-sorcerer, or someone who can't use the power of quartz to move things around and control the the golems ( meaning the mecha of this world ), I should've said this earlier, but it's never to late, he loves Sigyn and she loves him back, but because of his condition he can't be with her, here you can facepalm if you want, so he decides that is better if she goes and be with his friend Hodr, because he can take better care of her, you can facepalm again, I know I did when I've read such a stupid reason.
Rygart can control a single golem and it's one used by the first people, it was said the they lived at least a thousand years ago and that's about all the information about them, some tiny details I will leave them to the ones who want to read this, this golem has a high learning curve and since our MC is a peasant that didn't learn how to use such things stumbles quite a few times before he finally learn to control it entirely. Probably if you've read up until now you are wondering how did he defeat his genius friend, don't worry I am asking the same question myself.
I will stop here with the characters and the plot holes, I could go on for a few more pages.
The last remaining thing to say on my list is related to the art of this manga and I will be blunt, more than a few times it was bad and unfocused, just like it was made by someone who is doing this as a hobby not by a pro, but since I am not judging manga and anime by art, but by story, most of the time, this part won't value to much in the final score.
Finishing this the score will be split in two, first part of this till chapter 58, because from here the story goes to into high gear and from there to a train wreak, will be a 9, but from chapter 59 till the end with a heavy heart it will get a 1, so it shows how bad it is from there.
Thanx for reading until this point, as I've said earlier I can't recommend this, but for the first part and some battles in the 2nd part you can try it.