Code: Breaker-Series Collection (Blu-ray) (2012)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Anime	Audio Commentary-US Voice Cast x 2 Trailer-Japanese Promo Videos x 8 (11:13) Trailer-Japanese Commercials x 4 (1:35) TV Spots-TV Spots x 3 (1:12) More…-Textless Opening Song “Dark Shame” (1:32) More…-Textless Closing Song “Outsider” (1:32) Trailer-US Trailer (1:25) Trailer-x 10 for other Funimation.com series
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	308:26 (Case: 325)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Takayuki Icie
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Yoko Hikasa Jackie Ross Nobuhiko Okamoto Micah Solusod Kenichi Suzumura Todd Haberkorn Shin-ichiro Miki David Matranga Subaru Kimura J. Michael Tatum Toshiyuki Toyonaga Jerry Jewell
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Takayuki Hattori

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

"An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Evil for evil"

     Sakura (voiced by Yoko Hikasa / Jackie Ross) is the “coolest” girl at school and an excellent martial artist. On her way home on the bus one night Sakura sees from the window some men in a park being consumed by blue flames controlled by a young man. When she hurries back to the spot with the police nothing remains except a few scorch marks on the ground, which the police disregard. Next day at school a new boy is transferred into the class; he is Rei Ogami (Nobuhiko Okamoto / Micah Solusod) and Sakura is startled to discover that he is the person she saw killing the men the night before.

     Returning to the park that night, Sakura is attacked by a group of thugs. Despite her skills Sakura is kicked and beaten but is saved by Ogami, who kills the thugs with the blue flames. It seems that he is a Code: Breaker, a super-powered assassin employed by a top secret government organisation called Eden whose job is to kill those criminals, gang members, yakuza and corrupt politicians and police, who are above the normal law. Ogami is a passionless assassin who kills without remorse or a second thought; he is, as he says, “more evil than anyone else”, but Sakura for reasons that are not immediately apparent decides to try to keep Ogami from killing again. Sakura is thus drawn into Ogami’s secret world of shifting alliances, cruelty and mayhem.

     Officially Code Breakers do not exist in any records but Sakura discovers that there are a number of Code Breakers with different super powers. Toki (Kenichi Suzumura / Todd Haberkorn) uses magnetism, Yuki (Toshiyuki Toyonaga / Jerry Jewell) sound waves, Heike (Subaru Kimura / J. Michael Tatum) light energy and Hachioji (Mitsuki Saigo / Jessica Cavanaugh) shadow. And there is a sixth Code Breaker with the strongest powers of all, Hitomi (Shin-ichiro Miki / David Matranga), who has gone rogue and is about to launch a devastating attack on the unsuspecting population. But as the Code Breakers join forces to fight Hitomi, it transpires that he is not the only one with a different agenda. As well, it seems that Sakura has special powers and secrets of her own.

     Code: Breaker is based upon the manga by Akimine Kamijyo that was published in Shonen Magazine starting in 2008. As well as colourful and varied action sequences, Code: Breaker has a surprising depth and does not go quite where expected. That is in part because it is basically a psychological study of the Code Breakers, including in the story considerations about the nature of justice, what it is to be a hero, what it means to fight evil and whether evil can be used to fight evil without becoming more evil and dangerous than the evil it is expected to destroy. These considerations do tend to mire some of the latter episodes in an anguish of guilt and slow the action, but everyone has a reason for what they do and believe that even terrible actions can bring about change for the good. That this attitude, even in those with the best hearts, is naïve at best is made very clear for evil, self-interest and manipulation are everywhere, reaching to the highest levels of government.

     The characters of Code: Breaker are also unusual. Ogami is interesting: he is cold and calculating, can kill without remorse or mercy but is compassionate about animals and children. He is single-minded and uncomplicated but he is not all wise or all powerful, and is perhaps the last of the Code Breakers to work out what is actually going on. The relationship between Ogami and Sakura is also not the usual; what could easily have been a story of an initially hostile relationship turning to romance is far more complex and interesting. And finally the character of Sakura has many layers; she is a girl who is adamant about not killing, even in the name of justice, but she has a background and powers which are only gradually revealed in the course of the series.

     Code: Breaker ran for 13 episodes on Japanese TV from October to December 2012. These are the only episodes that have been made so far. Code: Breaker Series Collection includes all 13 episodes; episodes 1-9 are on disc 1 and episodes 10-13 plus extras (except for a commentary) on disc 2.

Video

     Code: Breaker is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original broadcast ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     The print looks stunning and almost 3D in intensity. The lines are sharp, detail is excellent and the colours are clear, deep and vivid, with beautiful pastel yellows, blues and greens in the backgrounds. Blacks and shadow detail are fine.

     There was ghosting with moving close-ups against mottled surfaces such as pebbles but otherwise marks and artefacts were absent.

     It is anime so lip synchronisation is approximate in either audio track.

    The English subtitles are in American English in a clear white font. The subtitles are burnt in when the Japanese dub is selected so cannot be removed for Japanese speakers. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors.

    Note: All episodes except for episode 10 have the English text titles during the opening credits.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 or English TrueHD 5.1. I listened to some episodes alternating the audio (it cannot be changed on the fly with the remote – you must go to the set up menu).

     The Japanese is only 2.0 but is surround encoded and the rears did feature music and ambient sounds, while the sub-woofer added rumble to the music, explosions and fights. The English 5.1 dub effects did have slightly more depth, but there was really not a lot of difference in the rear and sub-woofer use. Dialogue was clear in both. I almost always find the original Japanese voice acting to be more intense, although in this case the English voice cast did a reasonable job.

     The score by Takayuki Hattori varies from single instrument cues to epic orchestral and classical sounding sections. It was excellent and gave good support to the visuals.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Disc 1

Trailer

     On start-up a trailer plays for Attack on Titan (1:43)

Commentary – Episode 7

     US voice cast members Micah Solusod, Jerry Jewell and Todd Haberkorn (the voices of Ogami, Yuki and Toki respectively) sit together and watch the episode. Haberkorn mainly moderates and they do discuss powers and being “lost” but mostly laugh and chat about nothing in particular.

Disc 2

Trailer

     On start-up a trailer plays for Deadman Wonderland (1:47)

Commentary – Episode 12

     US ADR director Colleen Clinkenbeard and US voice cast members Jessica Cavanaugh and Ben Phillips (the voices of Hachioji and the Prime Minister respectively) watch the episode. Clinkenbeard moderates the discussion. The commentary is dominated by the two women and while they only discuss the show in part, with topics such as playing their characters and how they got involved, the balance is quite an interesting discussion of aspects of voice acting / dubbing, making this better than most of these FUNimation commentaries.

Japanese Commercials (1:35)

     Four short TV spots for the Japanese Episode 1 Blu-ray / DVD release.

Promo Videos (11:13)

     Eight extended commercials, six concentrating on one of the main characters and two on the Code Breaker world, such as Eden.

TV Spots (1:12)

     Three Japanese TV spots for the series.

Textless Opening Song “Dark Shame” (1:32)

     The opening song without the credits.

Textless Closing Song “Outsider” (1:32)

     The closing song without the credits.

US Trailer (1:25)

     Trailer for the US Blu-ray / DVD release.

Trailers

     Trailers for Psycho-Pass (1:15), Jormungand (1:13), Serial Experiments Lain (1:45), Shiki (1:40), Dragon Ball Z (0:17), Aquarion Evol (1:27), The Devil is a Part-timer! (1:18) and FUNimation.com (0:32).

     Our local release of Code: Breaker is identical the Region A US version, including the FBI warning.

     How many lives can a hero take before he becomes more evil that the evil he destroys? Code: Breaker asks some interesting questions and includes unusual characters as well as providing colourful and spectacular action. While the themes of Code: Breaker are not unusual, the series takes a slightly different slant and is well worth a look for anime fans.

     The video looks beautiful, the audio good although the original Japanese audio is only 2.0. There is a range of extras and we get what is available in other regions.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall