Code:Breaker is a disappointment for me, but it’s one I keep returning to. The art is something I enjoy, even though the author’s character design is basically swapping hairstyles on the same face. But I defend the art as being clean, distinct, and aesthetically pleasing in terms of characters, movement, and backgrounds.
The premise is something we’ve all heard—there’s a mysterious organization purporting to support justice but is actually quite sketchy, its members have strange powers and painful pasts and are conveniently numbered by strength, things are not as they seem, and then a regular girl gets caught up in it all. It’s not exactly trying to be original with its premise, but it’s still fun and fresh as a story.
But I must voice my biggest criticisms about the story, which happen to be the main characters: an Ogami Rei and a Sakura Sakurakouji.
Despite protagonist Ogami Rei’s insistence that he’ll show enemies what “real evil” means, he never delivers on that evil promise. I have never felt less impressed nor less threatened by a character who is meant to represent and make me question the duality and hypocrisy of executing justice.
I was initially excited by the potential of Rei’s character, if only because he wasn’t the blatant angel that usually appears as a manga’s main character, but I was quickly disappointed—he was too predictable, too uninteresting—and a little too invincible to make me feel invested in his fight scenes. After denying it to myself so long, I’ll admit it—I’m bored by Rei, who is so obviously in love with Sakura and in agreement with her idealism by now that I don’t know why he even bothers to deny it anymore. Rei is the author's vehicle to represent the controversy of justice, power, and their respective responsibilities and it doesn't work.
But Rei is nothing compared to Sakura, who went from pretty cool action girl to comic relief and just the weirdest airhead ever. She went from competent, practical fighter to really incompetent, oblivious, and obligatory - just a love interest to Rei. I am actually so irritated by Sakura I will skip pages or stop reading for a few….weeks.
With that said, there’s still characters to like in Code:Breaker—a whole supporting cast, in fact. The smartass Toki is clever and full of flaws, which I like; Heike is the gentlemanly “real evil” I was looking for; the bizarre Yuuki is pretty funny, though his personality is basically just quirks. Still, Yuuki’s two uncharacteristically human bursts of concern for frenemies Toki and Ogami were ten times more emotional than any overly sentimental Ogami/Sakura moment. And there are legitimately funny moments involving all characters throughout the series.
This all sounds like serious criticism, but like I said, I still read Code:Breaker and enjoy it. I recommend it, too. It can be quirky, fun, and dramatic in its best moments, and I think reading through a few dull moments for those gems are well worth it.