Broken Blade Collection [Blu-ray]

I have to admit this one appeared out of the blue for me. I tend to keep a track of whats coming out but this one almost slipped me by. Most of the mecha i own is gundam, which can get a bit samey sometimes, so this was a nice change of pace.

It is set in a world where people have the ability to control and manipulate quartz. This quartz is then used to power and control machinery such as the golems, large mecha used for war. Rygart, a young man born without this ability, is drafted into the military due to his ability to control an ancient golem thought to have been used by a race who also did not have the power to control quartz.

To be honest this is fairly standard mecha plot, young..ish guy gets dragged into a war that he doesn't fully understand or want to be a part of and for some reason manages to get his hands on a stupidly powerful mecha. Though i suppose if it's not broke don't fix it. I do like the whole quartz idea it does set it apart from others in the same genre. Also none of the golems can fly so all the warfare is on the ground and theres a bit more to the battles. No flying around in the emptyness of space firing impossiblely huge lasers randomly.

There were a couple of things that annoyed me a little. Rygart dubbed voice is not brilliant hes suppose to be 25 yet to me he sounds like a 12 year old. You can then flip this around for Cleo, she is supposed to be 12 yet she looks in her late teens if not older. It just goes against the tone of the series, it's not there for humour so why not make her the age she looks or make her look the age she is. Either would have been fine with me.

The box set contains 6 one hour..ish episodes which makes it a chunky enough series to build on the main characters but not so long you get bored or has to resort to filler. Also the opening music is amazing. There is very little obvious humour and it sets the tone for the series very well. The animation is brilliant as well, good movement and actions during fight scenes.

Broken Blade is nothing revolutional but is an enjoyable series and is definitely worth a watch particularly if you are a mecha fan looking for something a little different. Most of the characters are believable and the plot is interesting which is all you really need if you are looking for some entertainment.

This show is amazing on Blu-ray, it has feature film production values, great visuals & sound, story while not ground breaking is still very well made & easy to follow, If you're a fan of Mecha anime you shouldn't miss out on this little gem..

I had heard some good things about this Anime so had it pre-ordered and watched it on release day. 4 months later I finally finished it. This was not because it had a Naruto/Bleach amount of episodes, far from it, there are only 6 50 minute episodes, it was because it was so dull.

The characters are all bland and fit into their stereotypical roles, and aside from the action sequences - which are very well done - there is nothing there of real note. Storyline is basic at best, the script has no real substance and the voice used for the main character in the English dub doesnt fit at all.

The Bluray does look great, but it's certainly style over substance and pales in comparison to Evangelion, Gunbuster, Code Geass, Giant Robo and loads more I could mention. Broken Blade just falls flat on every level bar the battles and the animation. If you love anything Mech related maybe push it to 3 stars, but I like to care why people are fighting and have some interest in the outcome.