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| 99a | |
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2164#1552] |
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Broken Blade explores a young farmer named Rygalt Arrow who finds himself becoming entangled in a war between two kingdoms when he finds himself capable of piloting an ancient mecha named Delphine that others in the kingdom of Krisna are incapable of doing. Throughout the span of six movies, Broken Blade features Rygalt reuniting with the rulers of Krisna, Sigyn and Hodr, who were old friends of his from military school and adjusting to life as a soldier when he agrees to join the Krisna military. He comes to learn that another friend from military school, Zess, is fighting on the enemy's behalf. Broken Blade has a nice number of the common cliches of a mecha anime you can expect of the genre such as the unwilling hero, the powerful mecha being the last hope for the struggling side and some merciless and violent soldiers that both kingdoms put on the battlefield out of desperation to save their hides. Despite this though, the series proved to be an engaging one thanks to Rygalt's past connections to Sigyn, Zess and Hodr, on top of adjusting to being a soldier. Broken Blade offers a solid amount of fleshing out on the four exploring their past ties together and actually making the bond feel legitimate, with some hints dropped that Sigyn might have had an interest in Rygalt during their military school days. Rygalt also gets a reasonable amount of development for his character as he starts off unwilling to get involved in the war at first until seeing the realities of it lead him to become involved in Krisna's military. The movies also took some time to explore its world as it delved into what led to the start of the conflict between the two kingdoms, the corrupt activities brewing in Athens and the "magic" technology that is part of everyday convenience for those among both kingdoms. Visually, Broken Blade has a solid presentation with nicely detailed mecha and character designs, vast shots of scenery, vivid colors and nicely choreographed battle scenes. While there are occasional shortcuts with animation such as speed stripes and still shots, the series still did a solid job making action scenes engaging through clever use of cinematography to simulate movement and not make the movie seem like it was on a tight budget. For all the praises I have to give Broken Blade though, it does have its glaring flaws. The movie's most engaging and promising focus, the hostility among friends Zess and Rygalt, only occurs for the title's first half before it gets cast aside when Zess' role in the storyline gets reduced with Rygalt and Krisna forces dealing with General Borcuse. While Borcuse does make for a somewhat interesting antagonist for the second half with his formidable mecha abilities and battle knowledge, he doesn't get much in the way of depth and his storyline developments aren't as interesting compared to the more personal rivalry involving Rygalt and Zess. The movie series also lacks a proper conclusion as the war between Athens and Krisna goes on, Zess is about to return to battle and there is uncertainty over what Rygalt will do from here on out. Despite its flaws and conventional elements though, Broken Blade was still a solid watch for me with its solid characterization on Rygalt and his three close friends and the title having its engaging action sequences. This is certainly worth a look if you are a fan of mecha anime. Last updated Sunday, January 20 2013. Created Sunday, January 20 2013. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:2164#967] | ||||||
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Rygart Arrow is the only one in his world who lacks the inherent ability to power up quartz, the energy source that makes all of the machines run. Nevertheless, he's pretty well connected. The King and Queen of his country of Krisna happen to be old college friends. But so is Zess, the guy who is leading the army of a neighboring kingdom in an attack on Krisna. How did it comes to this? There's little time to ponder the implications as an army in giant, mechanized battle suits attacks. Arrow just feels like he's in the way - until he comes across a powerful, ancient mech that no one has yet to be able to figure out how to run. But his natural affinity for the suit's operating mechanism may just turn Arrow into the most important player of all. (summary from ANN news) 
Last updated Wednesday, September 30 2009. Created Wednesday, September 30 2009. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| ブレイク ブレイド (Japanese) | http://breakblade.jp/ |
