Code:Breaker – 05

…At least these two didn’t try rhyming their lines with one another.

So Heike didn’t show up this episode (…not that I thought he would), so this wasn’t as fabulous as episode 4 was, even though Rei did his usual party gimmick of burning people alive and there were some good action scenes. Not even the presence of children in containers could brighten the episode for me. …Though Toki worked well enough as a distraction.

Like I said last episode, I have no idea why what used to be an illegal organ selling operation in the manga suddenly turned into a power-user experimentation facility. I suppose it did connect with the plot more though. It also made for a more interesting battle sequence as well, instead of having Rei walk in there, burn people, and then walk out. I have less problems with this change than I thought I would.

…On the other hand though, some things really didn’t add up. Take the children’s involvement for example. Instead of shoving them into high tech backpacks carried by creepy men, why not just have children fighting instead? It’s still as morally ambiguous (Sakura would still jump in there, hell, it would have given her a better reason to get in there) and they could have explained away why the children were fighting by having them lied to or manipulated or something. On that topic as well, they only really ever mentioned that the organ selling was outside the government’s plans. …So am I to take it that the government was okay with the rest of the operation? Did they really spend time and money on child-sized containers that give adults powers? How do those things even work, anyways? They were also filled with some kind of liquid. What would they do if the child drowned? The guys using them weren’t exactly gentle. One kid knocked unconscious is all it would take to ruin their whole plan. The entire idea of those things is ridiculous. So ridiculous that I found myself amused by the fact that someone had invented that device in the first place instead of being upset that they were abusing children like that. Theres kicking puppies and then theres blasting them and everything around them for a one mile radius with a Kamehameha while someone shouts “It’s over 9000!” in the background. Cruelty is fine and all, but overdoing it sometimes leads to unintentional comedy. …Or maybe I just have a sick sense of humour.

Funny how she lived there and obviously knew her way around, yet never once found the torture room or the room full of unconscious children. (Though that irony was in the original too)

Anyways, back to Code:Breaker’s usual message: is killing acceptable? This episode was actually an odd mix of both yes and no (though more towards the no). Despite being an ass to all of the power-user children, the ‘evil’ this episode was actually somewhat justified and probably didn’t deserve to die right in front of his daughter. On the other hand, the siblings of the dead children were more than happy to see their tormentors go (though those two probably deserved it; they had no redeeming qualities that we were shown). ….On the other, other hand, they wouldn’t have wanted anyone to die if their siblings hadn’t been killed by the experiment in the first place. In any case, it’s less of a clear answer this episode as opposed to say, the yakuza Rei killed.

So for once, a new character wasn’t introduced. Yes, there was the girl in the wheelchair, but I don’t think she’s appeared in the manga since the chapter this was based on, so I assume they won’t bring her back (…unless Code:Breaker runs long enough to wander into filler territory). As a result, we got to see… absolutely nothing really new about the old characters. Though we did see some of the good in Rei’s evil for evil in the children since they had their revenge wishes filled. We also had the chance to see the man behind all of the Code:Breakers, the prime minister. Yes, he was having a casual conversation with Yukihina, someone who was clearly aligned with the villain of this arc, Hitomi, but we’ll see the effects of that later. …Maybe. I definitely don’t remember Yukihina and the prime minister ever being in the same chapter ever let alone actually interacting, so we’ll see where this goes.

Another interesting fact dropped this episode: the villain all of the other Code:Breakers are after is actually Code 01, meaning that Hitomi is the strongest out of them all. Why did he defect from Eden (aka the organization Rei works for)? You’ll see.

In other ramblings, what is with this season and people shooting themselves in the head? Persona isn’t even airing anymore. 

So this was just another episode where I felt like nothing was really accomplished. Sure, they dropped vague hints about Hitomi’s intentions, but an actual conversation/battle with the guy could have done the same thing. This chapter in the manga worked by showing how the Codes worked with each other and kind of served as an introduction to Toki, but seeing how they already had an entire episode to him, this just felt like it dragged. There wasn’t really any new character developments, the evil they were taking care of wasn’t that deeply related to the plot (though that might change depending on how involved they make Hitomi with this whole human experimentation thing). I’m still not entirely sure how long they intend to run this anime, so if it really is only 13 or so episodes, than this episode was an even greater waste of time. Not to say that it wasn’t entertaining enough to watch, but I just can’t form anything good to say about it since there are parts of Code:Breaker that are just so much better than this. On the plus side though, Yuuki should show up soon again and then things should get better.

The next episode? Blue Flames, evil for evil, you get the idea by now.

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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3 Responses to “Code:Breaker – 05”

  1. BlackBriar says:

    Like I said last episode, I have no idea why what used to be an illegal organ selling operation in the manga suddenly turned into a power-user experimentation facility.

    I think things like that are to be expected. It’s rare that an anime would follow the manga page for page. I even heard that the Ao no Exorcist anime had big differences from the manga but the studio still managed to make it likable.

    This episode was emotional and it made quite a paradox. Both sides were neither totally right or totally wrong. The only ones I didn’t like at all were those two bastards using those kids as energy sources for their powers. Their deaths were well appreciated.

    I was ready to completely hate Tabata with a passion for what he did until I found out it was all for his daughter’s sake but it doesn’t justify the unnecessary deaths of all those children in the experiments. It raises the question “Do the ends really justify the means?”. Tabata however earned a little redemption for sacrificing himself to atone for what he did but it’s too bad it only served to instill hate in his sick daughter’s heart.

    Sakura may be desperately trying to hold on to her ideals but I’m sure something inside snapped. That was too gruesome of a sight. Everyone is human after all and they all have limits to how much they can bear.

    “It’s over 9000!”

    It’s funny how after all these years, people still remembers Vegeta’s particular quote from DBZ when he crushed his scouter. We really are die hard fans of that anime, aren’t we?

    • AllenAndArth says:

      true normally they change a lot from manga-anime transition…
      This epside is here like to show that everything depents on the POV *thank you jack sparrow, your pears of wisdom shall be passed* the world in general is grey

      i also wanted to kill Tabata for that, but, it’s like they say: the road to hell is filled with good intentions.

      Of course people remember Vegeta’s quote…it’s a classic!
      yeah…i think we are BlackBriar-san.

  2. Joojoobees says:

    I’m not as down on this episode as you seem to be. Setting aside inconsistencies and illogical technology, this episode kept developing the ambiguous ethics that seem to be this show’s strength. In many shows they will open with some complex questionable ethics, only to sweep that away in the next few episodes. Typically a character starts out morally ambiguous only to be completely converted to a good guy, because the producers are afraid of alienating the audience.

    Instead Code-Breaker is doing a good job of maintaining and even developing the ethical questions. Instead of just asking whether Ogami is evil or a hero (which is still an actively open question), now Sakura’s ethical bearings have been brought into question. I think the show is doing a good job of asking some interesting questions, even if there are parts of the show that seem silly.

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