Break Blade

Rygart Arrow is an 'unsorcerer,' one of the few (one in a million) people completely lacking the ability to use the quartz stones used as an energy source for everything in this world.

This status has made him an outcast and an object of scorn, leaving him unable to work machinery, fire a gun, or even light a lamp without aid. His father had desperate hopes that sending him to a military academy might awaken some power in him after all, but no such miracle occured. Rygart has since since become a farmer on the isolated outskirts of the Country of Krisna—but the friends he made while he was there, and the loyalty he has towards them, is about to change everything.

Two of them now sit on the country's throne, and when they summon him to the capital he discovers just how sheltered his life has been—Krisna is in danger, war is about to break out, and the conditions for surrender put forward by their enemies are impossible to meet. An elite unit of enemy troops is already launching attacks on the capital—an elite unit led by their old friend Zess.

What is Rygart supposed to do when his inability to use quartz leaves him utterly useless in the face of the battle that looms ahead? When he stumbles into a powerful and ancient mecha that the quartz-wielding people of Krisna have been unable to use, he may just have found a way to stand amongst them... but when his friends are on opposite sides, where does that truly leave him?

(Source: Ephidel)

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Background

Break Blade had three volumes published in English as Broken Blade by CMX Manga from July 7, 2009 to May 11, 2010 before the publisher went defunct.

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Adaptation:

Break Blade, Break Blade Movie 1: Kakusei no Toki, Break Blade Movie 2: Ketsubetsu no Michi, Break Blade Movie 3: Kyoujin no Ato, Break Blade Movie 4: Sanka no Chi, Break Blade Movie 5: Shisen no Hate, Break Blade Movie 6: Doukoku no Toride

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Characters

Arrow, Rygart

Main

Erster, Sigyn

Main

Zess

Main

Hodr

Main

Girge

Supporting

Zaubraff, Cleo

Supporting

Stryze, Narvi

Supporting

Borcuse

Supporting

True

Supporting

Baldr

Supporting

Reviews

May 6, 2023

Tyrraell

Recommended

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.

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Jun 18, 2014

Hexeris

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/106 eps)

Alright so here is my first review on here, so bear with me if I cover obvious points. Break Blade could be easily described as a it's name suggests, a broken blade that is not yet whole. It can be surmised as an awesome new look into Mech design with incredible fight scenes, beset on its plot,fan service and character issues. So first I'll start out with the negatives. The story and its arcing is biggest issue to address, somewhat of a jumbled tossed around mess of; "wait so what is going on now?" I believe the Author catches on later in the series after ... pacing it worse than AoT and gives some helpful info in a .5 chapter. This to me, gives the impression that this is one of the authors first mangas, hes understands how to execute certain things well, and others not so much, which will bring me to my next point; the art. The styling is original enough and well executed but it does contain its flaws. The most prominent is the character design, yes all the characters look nice and are sexy, but its a real issue to develop an attachment to a character when they all look the same. This not as prominent with the males, but its definitely an issue with the female characters. Next comes character development, which is done to some extent but in odd ways and characters will often just do 360s in the way they act. And to top it off in the Cons category, the relationships between most characters are just plain weak.

Now after ripping on what doesn't really matter in a Mecha, we can go ahead and get into what does, the mechs or Golems as they called. So to begin with there is the mech design, which is top notch and instantly grabs the eye. The author does an excellent job at representing these hulking fighting platforms that are literally made from a rock. Their movement nothing like that of Eva, which is lanky, unorthodox and graceful, nor that of Gundam which is forceful, precise and robotic; the author managed to create a very special type of mech. These Golems are constructed from quarts, which is a brittle rock represented as a high value material that is necessary to power the Golems. In effect these massive constructs of war are bulky, fragile, crude and slow. This doesn't mean they aren't powerful weapons war though, capable of wielding massive swords and shields and shooting large bolts capable of piercing multiple men is nothing to be ignored in war. Every nation has them and they are essential to war in this setting.

The next thing the author executed effectively was the fight scenes, not incredible artwork done here, but its still far above average, but there is a serious issue the author needs to sort with the mechs; that is distinguishing whos who in a fight. I understand that all the Golems are very similar, but there needs to be a better way to tell them apart. But besides that detail, the fight scenes always leave the reader wanting more. The authors ability to have you on the edge of your seat at all times when a fight has erupted never ceases to amaze me either, you're always unsure as to who will have the upper hand, unless its Girge who is downright the scariest motherfucker I've encountered in this series.

This review is from me reading up to chapter 71, I look forward to the completion of this series, but based upon how it's been paced so far I don't see it being completed anytime soon. Good read for those just looking for an original manga, a terrific must-read for those who are fans of the mecha genre.

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Mar 23, 2023

AgelessPharaoh

Not Recommended

Spoiler

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.

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Did this end unfinished? Neostorm-X - May 7	5 replies	by Rowd »» May 20, 12:03 AM
So many unexplained things. Neostorm-X - May 9	1 replies	by FeeFeez »» May 12, 11:20 PM
Poll: Break Blade Chapter 68 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 3, 2014	10 replies	by Neostorm-X »» May 9, 5:19 PM
Poll: Break Blade Chapter 61 Discussion IAtePringles - Feb 28, 2013	11 replies	by Neostorm-X »» May 9, 4:34 PM
This based on ukraine russo war? Neostorm-X - May 8	0 replies	by Neostorm-X »» May 8, 10:41 AM

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