Code:Breaker – 12-13 [END]
Farewell Hitomi, you won’t be forgotten. …Or at least until the winter season starts.
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…After spending 2 weeks with that Tempest post, I feel like I’m a lot later with Code:Breaker then I actually am. Oh well, school starts again next week and then my schedule (ironically) will become less hectic. Yay! I didn’t bother separating my thoughts on 12 and 13, so below is both episodes mashed together. |
So they characterize Hitomi to be this great guy and set up an intriguing battle and then it seemed in episode 11, suddenly the plot goes ‘lolnope Hitomi is actually evil’ and leaves it at that. I still don’t buy the whole ‘they’re ignorant so who cares if they die’ argument coming from Hitomi, but I’ll be nice and give the writers the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe it’s supposed to feel like a huge personality gap between past and present for Hitomi because that’s how the other characters feel in this situation. Yeah, let’s go with that. The last episode attempted to clear that up though giving back Hitomi his leader like qualities and that ending with him did feel kind of sad. The great thing about all of the team appearing here as opposed to the manga’s version is that we had that touching reunion scene with Hitomi and the rest of the Code:Breakers right before he died. Also, that last part with Hitomi thinking ‘what if’ was pretty touching too (but those scenes of regret always get me). Though even with his dramatic final moments, the Code:Breakers seemed to have gotten over Hitomi’s death pretty quickly. Maybe it’s because they’ve gotten used to him being gone or maybe it’s because of his frequent mood swings over the past couple of episodes, but I think if the series went on from here, it would have been forgotten completely, despite being (what seemed to be) a rather large event. It certainly was forgotten in the manga pretty quickly.
I’m still kind of disappointed in Ouji’s powers (and the fact we never went into her gender), but her fights in the last few episodes were cool. …That’s right, I’ve given up on being ambiguous and I’m just going to straight out say that Ouji is actually female since the series is over. I’ve stopped caring. Rei was pretty badass in that last episode with taking off his ring and his powers suddenly increasing. They never went in to why he was wearing a ring or why taking it off would stall his Lost, but meh, details. The double voice thing they did was cool and definitely made him feel intimidating.
Taunt the people who almost murder you? A foolproof plan!
In the end, Sakura was… useless. She sat on the ground the whole time (when she could have been helping Rei by nullifying Hitomi’s powers or something) and I gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was just injured, but as soon as the battle is over, she runs over to Rei. SIGH. Anime injuries. In the end, I can’t even say that she was that necessary to the plot. The end of this arc was totally only about the Code:Breakers and their organization and Sakura just kind of sat in the background the whole time and occasionally yelled names or told people to stop killing each other. Her skills with martial arts didn’t come in handy once. In the end, I just can’t bring myself to really like her character…
On the plus side though, Heike finally made his intentions behind betrayal clear. It’s kind of sad that Hitomi trusted him to the end, but at least Heike made it clear that he kind of felt bad about his part in Hitomi’s downfall. You can tell that the Code:Breakers did like working together (or at least with Hitomi) back before Hitomi left. On the other hand, Prime Minister Fujiwara certainly proved himself asshat material this episode. Toki should have thrown him off the building, even before that speech on controlling Nenene (I wonder how many people even remembered that she existed at this point). I would have done it. Though I guess since his character is still alive in the manga, they kind of need Fujiwara alive in case they ever pick up this series again.
It was an awkward ending for Rei and Sakura, but I admit that it kind of worked here. I say awkward because nothing was really solved, but they made it seem like seem like world peace had been completely achieved from the way the original image of people getting burned alive at the very beginning turned into laughing children with flowers at the very end. Yes, the Code:Breakers solved the main problem with Hitomi and do work for peace, but they also learned that the Eden only has them killing certain people to benefit themselves, the Prime Minister is an asshat and they’re all going to die horrible power-inflicted deaths if they’re not murdered on the job. Sakura gave up on finding Rei pretty quickly as well, leaving it as ‘I know you’re out there and I won’t forget you’. …It seems pretty far from the girl who hated any sort of death/murder and stalked followed Rei everywhere to prevent him from doing that. Maybe Sakura trusts him more, but at the same time, nothing was really done to cause that. Rei just did what he always did. Though I guess he did have that show of self control in not killing Hitomi. Oh well, at least they tried to close things off. It’s just that the emotions they tried to create just weren’t that believable due to a lot of little plot holes and inconsistencies.
Overall, this had all of the makings of a good series but something went horribly, horribly wrong in the process. Really, it had intriguing arguments of good vs. evil, a somewhat ruthless and evil protagonist, a great cast of side characters, and a lot of violence. Written down, it sounds pretty good. I guess what didn’t make it great for me was that they changed a lot, but kept other things that didn’t make sense with what they changed. Hitomi had more mood swings then a woman on menopause. Sakura was stubborn, but she totally just gave up at the end (not to mention the fact that her very important past was mentioned, but not elaborated on, leaving everyone watching this in the dark). Nobody cares that Eden is made out to be an organization with ulterior motives. The anime never covered why Rei made himself to be evil, yet his mindset was a huge part of every episode. There were just too many lose threads at the end.
So this wasn’t bad per se, but I can’t exactly call the Code:Breaker anime good either. I guess I feel like it was just a big waste of effort plot-wise since at the end, everything seemed to reset back to the way it was in episode 1. Everybody learned things, but nobody really decided to apply that knowledge to anything. The only real differences are that Sakura now knows about the Code:Breakers and Fujiwara is now coughing up blood. Nobody went through any character developments. There don’t seem to be any more arguments of good vs. evil anymore. …I hate to say this, but I feel kind of apathetic about going and catching up where I left off with the manga. I stopped reading it because I didn’t want to compare the current storyline in it with the animation (since I’m totally biased towards any arc but this one), but after watching only this for so long, I forget what was so good about the manga. Maybe if this continued onwards into the arcs I remember liking, I could have gotten my enthusiasm back, but with this as it is, I could care less. I didn’t even dislike the ending or the adaption itself, but the changes they made and the stuff they cut out just totally drained my enthusiasm. In the end, this just came off as average for me.
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.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
In the end, Code: Breaker was very average and near forgettable. Maybe this wasn’t worth all the time I invested in this and I think you might also agree, Kara, because from your words, it barely followed the manga. I doubt I’d watch if another season comes along.
It’s almost like I was watching Arcana Famiglia again but the difference is Felicita wasn’t as one dimensional, useless or annoyingly optimistic as Sakura. Definitely not my favorite female lead. What this has going for it is the action. Rei was interesting but I felt he was wasted potential here. His new power was great, though. I think his ring served as a limiter so his power doesn’t get out of control.
Heike and Toki’s antics did great for some comic relief. I expected Heike’s betrayal to Hitomi. He was being way too polite. The whole situation with Hitomi and the other Code: Breaker in his last moments was a mess and in so much disorder that I couldn’t tell what was going on anymore so I just stopped caring.
However, that Prime Minister was such a bastard. I cringed watching him on screen. They should have just done us all a favor and let Hitomi kill him before he died or Toki dropping from the top of the tower. That little aftershock in the limo nowhere near cuts what he deserves.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
If it’s any consolation, the manga is good (from what I remember). I suggest reading it, if only to compare and see how poorly the anime turned out. I’d watch another season, but I certainly wouldn’t blog it.
Compared to Arcana Famiglia, this series was a better, but compared to what it could have been, it’s still pretty forgettable. LOLOLOL okay, anime Fel was STILL better then Sakura. I can agree to that. Yeah, Rei’s ring served as a limiter. In fact, 90% of his powers have been suppressed for reasons and as the manga goes on, he steadily becomes more and more badass. Wish we could have seen it. Unfortunately we didn’t.
Ugh, Heike was so awesome in the manga. This is like the 3rd time I’m saying this in this comment alone, but seriously. Read it. Once it gets past the first arc, the story gets pretty good. …Or at least better then the manga.
Fujiwara was bad in the manga, but the anime totally made him worse. Lol I totally would have dropped him off the tower. Or let Hitomi at him. Sigh, none of the Code:Breakers seem to care how much of an asshat he is though.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…Anime. I meant that the manga is better then the anime.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The situation is mostly like that. You’d rarely find an anime that completely follows the manga without something being added by the studio. It ruins your expectations.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’m trying to think of anime adaptions I like better then the original and can’t… I think the only things I can think of where I like the anime marginally better better added extra plot in (Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura). I think I might like the Higurashi anime adaption better then the game, but the translation I played wasn’t the best and I didn’t like the artwork. You know things are off when I like art less than what DEEN does.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The problem is that with so much stuff noted that doesn’t follow the source material, it’s hard to be motivated to read the manga. Sometimes, it feels better to watch an anime without knowing its based on a manga or reading a manga and not knowing there’s an anime adaption.
After seeing this, I’d never nominate Sakura for anything positive because her character’s flat as cardboard, melodramatic and annoying. Her idealistic views and her notions of believing the world is black and white are what’s weighing down to being mediocre. Especially about people’s deaths. One way or another, it happens and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Fujiwara is scum and those like him always get what’s coming to them. It’s only a matter of time and I hope it’s something gruesome, fitting his rotten personality.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Sometimes it works out though (the whole anime and manga thing). I remember with FMA before brotherhood, I enjoyed the manga and anime as two separate and equally great things. Brotherhood was awesome too, but the original was good for the fact that it broke off from the manga and didn’t really care about what was going on.
Briar, you have to read the manga now, just to see the chapter where Sakura tried to kill everyone. I don’t think she was too bad in the manga as opposed to the anime, but it’s easy to ignore 15 speech bubbles of ‘OOGAMI! NO!!!’ as opposed to an actual voice shouting it 317 times an episode.
Maybe if something other then a little bit of retribution happened, Code:Breaker would have felt like it had a better ending. As it stands, nothing was really solved.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
For me, it was a waste of some really cool characters (awesome voice cast too). I do have a question though, WHAT THE HELL IS PRINCE’S GENDER!
I dunno if you paid attention to Rei’s doppelganger in white hair? Does he appear in manga? I had the deja vu of White Ichigo from Bleach all over again, equipped with Katana and all. I think he and his gang is what the PM was referring to as the next hurdle for Code:Breakers. As the evil-twin is voiced by Namikawa Daisuke (such a waste for only one short scene!); there might be chances of another season. Though, I’m not sure I’ll be watching. Some riffling through manga will decide.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Prince is totally a bishounen looking girl. There was a pretty funny manga chapter about that, but the anime didn’t seem to care for that nonsense. OTL
Yeah, the one being sought (I don’t even remember his real name OTL) is the (one of the) next hurdle(s) and he looks like Rei because of reasons I forget. The two have a bumpy past though. They certainly left things open for another season (plus there are at least like, 10 more arcs and the manga is ongoing). I’m really surprised that they only chose to animate the 1st one. Even Magi is continuing on.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, I can agree with you there, Kyo. Every time Prince was on screen, I was struggling to find out the gender. There were times Sakura kept saying “she” but there was no certainty. I’m at least relieved to find that it’s a girl because she was talking about Hitomi in a way I found was a bit too affectionate and her chest was very flat.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
That was the subtitling people either not caring about spoilers, or being too lazy. Her gender is supposed to be questionable due to a traumatized past. …Or maybe the trauma caused something else. …Either way, you’re supposed to think that Prince is a guy. Up until the awkward chapter where her true identity is revealed, Sakura thinks Prince male and uses gender neutral pronouns when addressing her.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Jesus, the mangaka was the creator of Samurai Deeper Kyo. Nobody it has the same vibe. Crappy female character (Sakurakouji is better though), badass super evil main character, ambiguous friendship, cheese.
The ending is better than I expect it to be, though. Hitomi’s reasoning is alright, and the “what if” scenes made me this close to crying. And the whole flower stuff. The PM is a asshole and I hope he dies at the end of the manga.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Really? Sakurakoji is less annoying then whoever is in Kyo? I refuse to believe it.
The what if scene kind of redeemed the ending for me, but the flowers felt like they were really trying to force the peaceful ending vibe when nothing had been solved.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
No no no, I’m talking about Kyo’s woman. Man, she was annoying as hell
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
….That’s what I meant. I just didn’t feel like typing out the entire title.