Code:Breaker – 03

“Excuse me sir, you’re speeding in a playground zone. Please pull over so I can burn you to death.”

Well, did Code:Breaker survive your three episode test? It did better than I thought it would with mine. …Though to tell you the truth, I would have kept blogging it even if it turned out absolutely terrible.

Not much really happened this episode, but I guess it did go a bit more into the thin line Rei walks between what we would consider ‘good’ and ‘evil’. The reasons he kills people is for good, but this episode showed yet another good side of him where he saved countless people from yakuza drug dealers and helped a girl want to live. …Putting it that way makes his actions seem so much more noble. So Rei does do good, it’s just his execution and the fact that he doesn’t really give a damn about anyone’s lives that make him a darker (and in my opinion), more interesting character. Code:Breaker would be way different if Rei was a bright eyed school boy who believed in the best of everyone like Sakura does. I don’t know if repeating his code of ‘evil for evil’ over and over again as her burned people was really necessary though. We get it already. I guess we kind of saw a different side of him during the school scenes as well since he’s not really threatening to kill everyone to shut Sakura up anymore. We’ll see more of what that becomes later in the series though.

This episode is what I meant about Sakura getting annoying occasionally. She really pushes her views that everyone has some good in them, no matter the circumstances or how ridiculous it seems. I guess her stubbornness/resolve is a good part of her, since it sets her apart from most other useless shounen heroines, but it can get annoying after a while. Though with that though, she’s not too stubborn to label Rei as pure evil, since she realized that him strangling the girl was his way of slapping her back to reality. Sakura has never really been a shounen heroine that I like, but I can tolerate her character since she is a pretty good balance of traits.

On to what this has to do with the episode’s plot… Yeah. It was just more showcasing on how the world is corrupt and even the police don’t really care about justice. We’ll be seeing lots of this in the next couple of episodes as well until they start the power user vs. power user fights.

“An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, and the Steel Hammer of Justice for Evil.”

So, a brief introduction for Nenene this episode as well as yet another Code:Breaker (and my favourite character next to Emperor), Toki. …Dear lord, Nenene’s eyes are huge. I like the seiyuu chosen for both of the characters thus far though. An interesting fact: Toki’s seiyuu, Suzumura Kenichi, sings the ED song. It would probably be more fitting for Rei’s seiyuu (or even Sakura’s) to sing it, since he’s the main character, but whatever. Suzumura is a great singer and kind of has a career in it, so why not. …I don’t even know if Okamoto can sing in the first place.

Anyways, back to the characters. Again, the effects they used for the powers looked great. Toki’s magnetism kind of looked like silver sand or something, but it still came across as magnetism well enough (and I have no idea how else they’d show it). I guess the research put into showing sound and magnetism really paid off. Speaking of, Yuuki kind of fell into irrelevance again this episode after his mini fight with Hitomi, but he should get a bigger part soon enough. …This is probably lost on most of you, but was Yukihina always partnered with Hitomi? I can’t seem to remember when he first appeared. Everyone in this series changes sides so often, I can’t remember who the original alliances are aside from the numbered Codes. OTL

As for the Sakura and Rei hug moment… Well, I can’t exactly say that my shoujo side even really reacted to that. At this point, Sakura and Rei are still at odds and it seemed more like Sakura still forcing her ideals on Rei as opposed to anything terribly romantic. That being said, I’d much prefer to hear your opinions on that scene. What did you think of all of that? Do you think they’re couple material?

It was pretty much more of the same this episode, but it wasn’t bad at all. I like the pace this is going at and I don’t think the story dragged as much as I thought it would. At this point I feel like I’m repeating the same things over and over again though in regards to the episodes. It’s going good, but nothing has really been accomplished since we’re still establishing characters, the moral grounds this story builds on, and the fact that there are teenagers running around killing people because the government says so. The next episode should be better for that since it looks like the story goes into the Toki and Rei rivalry a bit. …Which means character interaction that isn’t just Rei and Sakura! Yay! The plot gets more interesting as more characters are added into it and start interacting~.

 

Next episode should have a proper introduction for Toki and a battle(ish) between him and Rei. I don’t really remember them fighting at this point in time, but I’ll just trust in the director for now. Hopefully the actual animation looks less derpy than the preview.

About

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.
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11 Responses to “Code:Breaker – 03”

  1. BlackBriar says:

    Though to tell you the truth, I would have kept blogging it even if it turned out absolutely terrible.

    Heh, that’s because of dedication from reading the manga and that you personally liked it. I’m sure it would be the same scenario if Bloody Cross were to suddenly be animated, right?

    I think Rei borders more on evil. To me, he’s fully aware of point of view but he just doesn’t care and sticks to what he thinks should be done. He thinks he’s necessary evil. But I was in disbelief when he willingly carried the puppy of the dog he killed to Sakura and convinced the girl to keep on living, though by obscure means to do it. He must be making a statement by repeating his code like other heros/anti-hero have a sort of battle cry before doing anything and every time he says “evil” to the person he’s about to burn, it’s like he’s judge, jury and executioner.

    Nenene and that friend of Sakura’s with the two colored eyes must be related. That’s why Rei thought of Nenene and tried to burn her. And from the look on Rei’s face towards the end, Nenene is a real thorn in his side.

    Does every Code: Breaker have a different ending to their code like Nenene and that red headed guy at the start? “An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, and the Steel Hammer of Justice for Evil.” sounds corny to no end.

    • Karakuri says:

      Damn straight, I would blog Bloody Cross to the end, no matter how terrible. …Though they would have to work pretty hard to make any adaption of that terrible.

      He thinks he’s necessary evil.

      That’s a good way of putting it. I guess he did do some seemingly out of character things this episode, but in the end, ‘he’s there to take out the trash’, as he puts it. I was thinking he repeats it as a kind of personal mantra or something to give him resolve, but I don’t think he needs anything like that to convince him to do his job.

      Er, you’re right, but it’s not quite as simple as that. As for why he almost killed Nenene, he has nothing against her, but he’s not overly fond of Toki. Toki is the (kind of) thorn in his side.

      Yeah, every Code:Breaker has their own code and all of them are different. Yuuki’s and Toki’s kind of have to do with their power, but yeah. Toki’s is probably one of the corniest.

      • BlackBriar says:

        Hahaha, and I would be there commenting on every post of it. The girls get the bishies, the guys get the hot half blood Tsukimiya and her Branch of Sin powers. A Deadman Wonderland reference to her manipulating her blood as a weapon. LOL.

        In another way, Rei’s actions would be compared to that of a terrorist. The ends justify the means and so he lashes out like animal. Every time he’s on school grounds and someone confronts him, I’m thinking “Whoa, now! Back up! This guy is a sociopath with a short fuse”. Like the guy with the kendo sword. I thought he would have been killed if Sakura hadn’t gotten in the way.

        Oh, I got the names mixed up. My bad. It’s still taking some time to know the characters and they just continue to pile up. So Nenene simply reminded him of an unpleasant memory and almost got burned for it.

        Hopefully we won’t hear Toki reciting it every time. Even the “Angry Requiem” part topped it.

        • Karakuri says:

          It works out perfectly! Why hasn’t it happened yet? …I sometimes forget that Deadman even exists, after that terrible anime. People just kind of stopped talking about it.

          Rei is an odd character that way. He’s patient enough not to massacre an entire school because he’s in a bad mood, but against evil, it’s no mercy. It’s like he has two wavelengths (…I don’t know how else to put it) or something going on. Anyways, there was no real danger since Rei still wants to remain in the school to watch Sakura. Obviously, burning people alive would be a cause for him to leave.

          Ohhh, okay. That makes sense, I thought you meant Nenene herself. Uh, yeah. Toki and Rei aren’t exactly fond of each other. …Though to tell you the truth, I didn’t even realize that they were supposed to be rivals until at least 50 chapters later.

          After seeing Rei recite his ‘evil for evil’ so many times… I don’t know. Though the last two Codes don’t really ever recite theirs, so maybe Rei repeating his catch phrase is just there to reinforce and get people to remember the plot set up.

      • Highway says:

        Kara did blog (mostly) all the awful minutes of Arcana Famiglia…

        It occurs to me that we are all getting quite the repertoire of series to taunt others with. 😉

  2. belatkuro says:

    I forgot how Rei keeps repeating that tagline every time. It’s getting a bit tiring to hear every second, even if it’s Okamoto Nobuhiko’s cool voice. Speaking of Okamoto, I know that he sung in the Acchi Kocchi opening song but that’s all I know about him singing. Dunno if you saw that show.

    Iron sand for Toki’s powers. Good enough I guess to represent magnetism instead of just showing lines of force like how it’s illustrated in physics class. I don’t like how it changed color in the preview but oh well.
    Nenene looks awesome though. And voiced by Yukana. nice.
    And I keep forgetting that Sakura is pretty well-endowed. Hii-tan and Mii-tan!

    And yeah, morality stuff, power users and Sakura being annoying. It’s a slow pace but it’s building things up, which is something I really liked in this manga/show. With Yukihina appearing(pretty sure he’s on Hitomi’s side in the beginning), this will pretty much proceed to the grand story later on.
    I want Heike and Prince already.

    • Karakuri says:

      Oh, he did? …Yeah, I never did get around to watching the rest of that. Maybe I’ll check it out now. In any case though, Suzumura is the seasoned pro in that area out of the two of them anyways.

      I seriously can’t think of any other way to show magnetism effectively AND make it seem just as visually powerful as Rei’s flames, so I’ll give them that. It did look a bit different in the preview, but maybe that’s just for the one scene… we haven’t really seen any powers in detail aside from Rei’s and he’s pretty much a one trick guy at this point…

      I can’t wait to see Nenene’s non-lost form (if they bother to animate that far). …And yeah, I keep forgetting that as well. The only other memorable female characters that have a lot of screentime are Rui and Aoba, and those two are on either end of the endowment spectrum.

      …Was he really? I don’t remember him showing up at least until the time that the characters enter the boarding house. …I don’t know. I’ll take your word for it. I like the buildup as well, but this show updating weekly is wearing on my patience. OTL I want all of them there now.

  3. PrimeHector says:

    The best charcters will be coming up next week hooray.

  4. Zaphan says:

    I haven’t read the manga in a while so i have forgotten this but was the chick they found in the closet gang raped by the G-Falcon Gang?

    • Karakuri says:

      Uh, I just took a quick look and I don’t think so… Though she WAS found in the closet with her uniform in a disarray and saying that she can’t live without the drug, so theres a possibility there was some prostitution going on. They never said rape specifically.

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