Reviews

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.