Break Blade / First Impressions / OVA/Movie

「死線ノ涯」 (Shisen no Hate)
“Horizon of Death”

The story has shifted away from Zess since the capture of Cleo and introduction of Borcuse in the third movie, and this fifth one continues on that trend. In his place, we have Girge bumping heads with Rygart, and ultimately changing his attitude toward the war between Athens and Krisna altogether. Following the near annihilation of Borcuse and his men during their retreat last time (that saw the death of Aires), there was further distrust among Narvi’s Millennium Corps, which had Girge shaping out to be a major antagonist. Quite honestly, I was intrigued by that prospect since Girge’s proven to be a complex character who’s difficult to understand. Baldr’s backstory reiterated that notion, which explained how his son killed a fellow soldier during a training exercise and incapacited all the others for no apparent reason. Evidently, Girge has some screws loose — possibly from all the expectations to live up to his father’s potential — but the fact that he’s calm and composed and possesses quartz manipulation abilities that far exceeds everyone else (including Borcuse) makes him one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen in a while.

It says a lot when I found it rather heroic how he sacrificed himself to protect Rygart in the end, considering he purposely provoked him in a fight just before, stating that it’s not their fault if their weak soldiers die around them and claiming that Rygart’s true objective is to kill Hodr and steal the beautiful Sigyn for himself. Leading up to that, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somewhat jarring to find Rygart and Girge at odds with one another all of a sudden, even though I could appreciate the subplot that turn of events was going for where we have an ungifted person (i.e. “unsorceror”) doing everything he can to protect his friends after his father passed away on one side, and possibly the most gifted person in the world not giving a damn about his potential even when he has one of the best fathers anyone could ask for on the other. On paper, it’s yet another conflict of personal values that drives characters beyond the breaking point, but it’s not a plot device that I’ve grown tired of seeing in different settings. In Break Blade’s case, it wasn’t entirely predictable either, as Rygart’s winning stipulation that Girge become a Krisna general never became reality, showing that protagonists can’t always beat some sense into everyone.

In comparison, Rygart’s clash with Borcuse in his village on the outskirts of Pegg Mountain was fairly straightforward, in the sense that Borcuse mercilessly slaughtered all the villagers, and Rygart assumed the worst about his younger brother Regatts. (Not that the two of them needed another reason to fight one another to begin with.) However, their battle did go on to emphasize that Borcuse isn’t a typical, one-dimensional villain, given his twisted enjoyment in engaging highly skilled enemy knights in battle alone. That’s largely in reference to Girge of course, seeing as Borcuse had very little interest in Rygart during their one-on-one fight and seemed to be toying with him more than anything else. He did eventually take interest in Delphine though — something that becomes more relevant in the final movie.

Unfortunately, overshadowed in this movie and the one before it was the situation between our four main characters, of whom only Hodr really showed any emotion after learning that Rygart charged into enemy lines to look for his brother and got captured in the process. As much as I enjoyed watching Narvi stick a press gun against Rygart’s crotch for defying orders, forcing them to go after him to save his ass, I definitely would’ve liked to see more of the Rygart/Zess and Rygart/Sigyn subplots this time around, since the finale does very little to address either of them. Sigyn telling Cleo stories of Zess’ childish past with Rygart and Hodr made it pretty clear that there’s a lot more story about the four of them to be covered, whereas the amount of time remaining made it painfully obvious that this movie series would never get around to doing so. I don’t mind how there’s been no screen time for the Empire of Orlando’s involvement due to time constraints — other than explaining how Krisna reached an agreement with them and its people fled their kingdom to seek refuge there — but it does bother me that there isn’t any closure between the main characters.

Casualty-wise, Narvi was spared the news of True’s death for the time being, which undoubtedly let her stay focused as an elite knight when Nike ambushed her. Given Nike’s psychotic nature, I can’t say I’m too remorseful about Girge ultimately killing her — especially when he had resigned to dying right after — though I do have a bit of a soft-spot for her character since she’s really petite and voiced by Shiraishi Ryouko. In any case, Io didn’t lose it as badly as I thought he would upon seeing Nike killed right before his eyes, or at least, he didn’t get a chance to because Girge’s sacrifice to save Rygart stole all the attention in the closing scene. Compared to those two, Nile’s death at the hands of Io was less dramatic, until I took into consideration the impact it would have on Narvi to learn that her brother was killed as well. That is, assuming that Nile actually died there.

I’ll leave my impressions about the fifth movie at that, as I can’t really say much more without bringing in my slight disappointment about the final one. For those wondering, things quickly pick up with Baldr throwing away his rank to try and save Rygart, accompanied by the select group of knights that has chosen to follow him.

Note: It’s a bit difficult to look at fifth movie alone when I’ve already watched the sixth one that was streamed on Bandai Channel, but I wanted to talk about the final two movies separately. I’ll have more thoughts on the ending later on and how it left the series as a whole unfinished, should I decide to cap off the much lower quality stream. (The BD release isn’t until July 22.)

 

Preview

43 Comments

    2. latest latest I presume, cause it got scanlated into chinese as ch “51” (the earlier chapter got named ch50-2 or something similar)

      …sort of a quick summary: *spoilers*

      Show Spoiler ▼

      overall, it felt lack luster after that epic action form the 2 chunks of the latest English scanlated chapter

      …on the other hand, that is one heck of a deviation here in movie no.5; and I highly doubt the series can end in one more movie length episode, not when the manga’s long from over…

      info600
      Reply

      1. Speaking of which, I quickly skimmed some parts of the manga, so for those familiar with it, the sixth movie concludes around the events in chapter 50. It’s actually fairly faithful, with some minor deviations here and there. Almost the entire movie is devoted to Show Spoiler ▼

        Divine
        Reply

      2. Having watched Episodes 5 and 6 in succession, concerning manga/anime divergence and similarities:

        Show Spoiler ▼

        Either way, epic soundtrack, good episode.

        Vena
        Reply

      3. About the latest chapter,

        Show Spoiler ▼

        chaos
        Reply

  3. OMG…want subs now….T_T
    Now that this part is animated….ugh. I love the manga, lol, it’s just win, and I agree with you Alec, latest chapter is indeed very epic.

    Silivious
    Reply

  7. Of course, it’s not the first time I thought an adaptation wasn’t as good as the manga but I think it’s the first case I’ve seen where the adaptation is still really great. Break Blade really is awesome, the scale is high.

    They changed many minor things yet it doesn’t change the way how things end, but it makes the characters look slightly less developed and lacks closure like you said ( I saw the sixth movie too) . It’s true here it was jarring to see Rygatto and Girghe suddenly fight while in the manga Girghe was threatening to kill Narvi, unconscious in her golem after fighting Nike, if Rygatto doesn’t duel him.

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

    2. Yeah, same here.
      I was waiting for that after they got surrounded, but they did not include it and changed the way Girge died. Though Girge’s sacrifice in the movie is a lot better than the one in the manga.

      Hagiri
      Reply

  9. Girge´s death was way different that of his manga counterpart, but I think it has the same degree of effect on Rygart. Also, it shows how strong Girge really was, I mean the could´ve taken out most of Athen´s army and walk out of there like nothing happend.

    haseo0408
    Reply

  10. “showing that protagonists can’t always beat some sense into everyone.”
    I was really surprised by this.

    Also i found it jarring that while the rescuers were getting killed the two strongest ones were having an internal fight.

    And enough with the girls lying in bed they need some plot development there as well.

    outcast
    Reply

  11. So, when he and his allies are ambushed, Rygart chooses to chase after Girge instead of helping the rest against the onslaught and THEN gives pretty speeches about how wrong it is to abandon your comrades? And after Girge doesn’t listen to him and mocks him, instead of going back to help the ones that are still under attack he decides to fight Girge in a fit of rage?

    I really cannot fathom what went on in his head. This is some of the worst decision-making on Ryger’s part I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a character flaw of his, which in my opinion doesn’t really work for his character, or just bad writing.

    Rygart lost a LOT of the goodwill I had for his character during this episode.

    Zreon
    Reply

    1. Exactly what I was thinking.
      He lost a lot of hero points from me cause of that.
      But the conversation they had proved a valid point as to why he did it.
      And it’s like every other type of show that they would fight cause he lost to himself and had to be angry at someone else other than himself.

      Uipt
      Reply

  14. THANKS everybody for all the info/spoilers “i love spoilers” it makes me really want to attempt to blow thorough those 50chapters to see the DIFFERENCE…nut then again, for a dude who’s seen the movies up till 4. WHERE SHOULD I START IN THE MANGA to be up to THIS point????

    BROOKLYN otaku
    Reply

  15. “Bastion of Sorrow”

    What an appropriate title for the next movie. I can imagine a lot of grim truths coming forth. Hodr’s reaction to Rygart’s situation was a little surprising to me but all the more powerful because of it. I felt a bit of pain in my chest to see that Hodr’s plans to take care of his friend’s family were spoiled. Even moreso when that pain showed through his reaction. D:

    Nike’s death wasn’t very significant. I felt she needed to go. She didn’t really have much reason to be around save for revenge. Revenge-only characters don’t last long. >>”

    I definitely would’ve liked to see more of the Rygart/Zess and Rygart/Sigyn subplots this time around..

    Same. But for the sole reason that I’ve been spoiled by Sigyn when she’s flustered or showing her concern for Rygart openly. Speaking of which, this is the first show that I’ve seen where characters notice something like this and throw it smack dab in the protagonist’s face- forcing him to acknowledge it.

    btw I think your like the only one who does the full screenshots. (I think Takaii did them once too.) Many thanks they are fantastic. :]

    Shirt
    Reply

    1. I was surprised they didn’t mention much on Rygart and Sigyn seeing that apparently Rygart is in this whole mess for her. Of course, he fake the whole “I fight for my friends and homeland” thing, but according to everybody else, it is very clear he is doing it for Sigyn and even she know it. Only Rygart doesn’t come to term with it. Probably because he choose to let her go years ago. Part of him feel like he doesn’t deserve her, another part think he must be too late now that she is married, and last part think she is happier with Hodr.

      Of course, he is really stupid in his decision because it should have been clear to him that she love him and choose him over the royalty life as a queen. In order for her to be able to marry the crowning prince, she must come from a high position herself. Yet she choose to give all that up and choose Rygart. And what does he do, he think she is better off with Hodr. How stupid?!

      “Disappointed” is the word. For a story to be based on love, it sure didn’t show much of it. Rather it focus on the fight and violence instead. I am sure the mange describe their relationship in better details, I wish the anime would, too…

      chaos
      Reply

    2. Takaii generally puts together full-length images when he feels the need to. He created quite a few for Kore wa Zombie Desu ka and Hanasaku Iroha for example.

      I just tend to put them together at every opportunity.

      Divine
      Reply

  19. This was a pretty good adaption. Although I’m dissapointed that they cut off some good parts. Mainly the awesome 5v1 battle where Girge curb stomped the Elite Sparta squad with a half broken Artemis. They made Lygart seem really stupid too. In the manga Girge had to threaten to kill Narvi multiple times and make Lygart believe he killed another squad member before finally being pushed into fighting him. Also two people who survived in the manga seem to have died this time. Since it’s a movie, can’t they extend the time to include these scenes? Grige’s re-done sacrifice was better than in the manga, but I think they could have fit in the fight too.

    FlameStrike
    Reply

  22. Sorry, guys, but you disappoint me. Also Divine.
    Regarding your claim that Girge is dead. That is obviously knowledge which isn’t only based on this movie, because I thought that it was still possible that he would be found later miraculously alive. But since you’re basing that on the sixth movie and/or manga I can probably forget about it.
    So yeah, thanks for NOT enforcing the spoiler rule here. 🙁

    Other than that, I agree that Girge and Rygart fighting while their comraded where dying was damn stupid. I loved the way how they saved Rygart though. That made me all warm and fuzzy inside. 🙂

    boingman
    Reply

    1. Girge is dead. Both in the manga and the anime, In the anime, he was shot multiple times from several soldier golems after saving Rygart. The one shot that killed him was the shot that ripe through his cheek. In the manga (Chapter 39: the One and Only), he was executed by Borcuse himself after admitting he was the pilot of the Deplhine. Look on page 32, he was shot right between the eyes. I heard that getting shot in the head has a 1% survival rate. Girge may be a genius and high-skilled, but he is not immortal.

      Still believe Girge is alive, look for your self here:

      http://www.mangafox.com/manga/break_blade/v08/c039/32.html

      chaos
      Reply

  26. Just watched 5 and 6 yesterday… and I was pretty disappointed. They’ve done a good job following the manga up until the 4th movie but they parted ways in the 5th and 6th. They should have shown Girge’s character development with Rygart but instead, he had 15 mins of screen time. His death was like nothing at all. His development in the movie was too weak to consider it to be “emotional” for Rygart.

    5 and 6 were like ‘Meh’

    The Story You Don't Know
    Reply

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