Code:Breaker – 02

“Talk to the hand, woman.”

And with today, midterms are over for me! …Not that I had very many. Anyways, I’m rather happy with how Code:Breaker is progressing. It’s hitting the right emotions and the story is going places. Though I think most of my enjoyment here is that I’m actually seeing an adaption going well as opposed to what happened with one of my favourite games last season…

I was expecting a boring episode of Sakura fearing Rei and making a spectacle of herself because of that, but it turned out better than just that. They played the tension just right and they had me hooked. Even Sakura’s character, which annoyed me in the manga for the first couple of chapters, seemed more justified. They’ve made Rei seem like more like someone evil, so of course Sakura’s actions in trying to stop him make sense. In the manga, I always took Rei as someone who thought of himself as evil, but in the end, all of his actions were justified and it was just Sakura misunderstanding. Here, Oogami Rei seems to be a devious bastard. I like it. Maybe I just misinterpreted the manga (or have gotten confused from the events of the recent chapters), but for now, Rei seems to fit the evil for evil perfectly.

Speaking of evil for evil, I really, really like the concept. Society can get pretty corrupt and there are just some people that the law can’t or won’t judge. So what is humanity to do? Rei is the answer the government came up with. It’s not often that anime presents us with a villainous hero and even if we don’t get into his mind like we do Sakura’s, I think he’s a rather unique character. Rei kind of represents the pessimistic look on society where the belief is that humanity is corrupt and only completely getting rid of that corruption can solve anything. It’s like stopping violence with more violence. On the other hand, Sakura has the more positive outlook on humanity where all life has value and people can be reformed no matter their level of corruption. I told you they were excellent character foils.

Moonbucks was never quite the same after ‘the incident’. Sunbucks across the street was fine though.

So it’s not that Rei didn’t try to burn Sakura the last episode, it was that he couldn’t. I don’t know if it was expressed clearly this episode, but she’s pretty much the only person immune to his flames. Sure there are TONS of other ways to kill people other than burning them to death, but it’s because she’s immune that he decided not to. …Seeing how he’s not above taking out witnesses, I look back at this chapter in the manga and really wonder why he never just outright killed Sakura instead of bringing her home (…though in the manga, he did just kind of leave her there in the park alone and unconscious). In the end, I’m just going to assume that her level of ‘pureness’/ the fact that she has absolutely no evil in her to speak of prevented him on some psychological level. …Yeah, I don’t know.

So I’m not entirely sure what Yuuki is doing in there since he first appears around volume 3, and the plot is still in volume 1, but at least his appearance made it look like plot actually happened this episode. It would have been rather boring (like the manga was) if it was just an entire episode dedicated to Sakura being suspicious of Rei. Sure, it was just a lengthy character introduction about a guy with an obsession with a fictional cat, but it was a change of pace and a great introduction to another Code:Breaker. …Even if he was introduced before they even explained what a Code:Breaker actually was. Sure, it might have decreased the tension levels a bit and seemed random, but I honestly think the original needed something like this. Without it, the plot of the main arc wouldn’t have started for a loooong time. …Now if only Toki would make his official appearance.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and the requiem of fury for evil.

I’m more satisfied with Yuuki’s seiyuu than Sakura’s and Rei’s. Toyonaga Toshiyuki’s voice seems to fit Yuuki really well and it’s a world of difference from his other role this season as Zetsuen’s Mahiro. Though that being said, Hikasa’s deep voice seemed more appropriate for Sakura this episode and Okamoto isn’t using his Rin voice, which helps distinguish between his two roles (or at least I’m not connecting between the voices; though it been a while since Ao for me). I guess I’m just getting used to the voices as this series progresses. Sakura’s mother and father turned out pretty damn awesome as well for the little screentime they had. As for the rest of the production, Rei’s glass breaking scene was great. The slow motion and the sound effects were perfect for that part. I quite liked how they showed Yuuki’s power as well. I’m not going to spoil what it is yet if you haven’t already guessed, but I figured it would be hard to animate. They did really well with it though. Again, I’m looking forward to seeing the shadow user later in the series.

End Thoughts:

I’m impressed. They took a chapter that I thought was going to be really boring, messed around with the chronological order of things and somehow, it actually worked. Now, I almost always believe that the original material is better than the adaption with any manga/game/whatever to anime. With Code:Breaker though, I’m almost thinking that this anime is turning out better than the beginning of the manga did. …Though of course, I’d have to see more of the series before claiming that. It’s so far so good though. I was so impressed, that I looked up the director and HOLY CRAP, it’s Yasuhiro Irie, the guy who did FMA Brotherhood. Even without that name behind it though, this is turning out better than expected in the music and animation departments. I really do hope that this lasts past 13 episodes now, just to see what else they can do.

Preview:

More arson? More fun!

About Karakuri

University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.