7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Anime | Uncertain |
Foreign | Uncertain |
Action | Uncertain |
Fantasy | Uncertain |
Comedy | Uncertain |
Supernatural | Uncertain |
Crime | Uncertain |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (2 BDs, 2 DVDs)
DVD copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Some of you may recall the old Nickleodeon series What Would You Do?, which gave contestants moral quandaries and then asked them to vote on how the participants in the quandary responded. This idea has been used repeatedly for various television outings in both news and entertainment arenas, and in a way it plays a tangential role in the opening moments of Code:Breaker, a 2012 anime culled from a manga by Akimine Kamijyo. In the opening moments of the series, a pretty high school student named Sakura Sakurakouji is riding home from school on a public bus. She’s in that half awake state that is aided by the built in hypnosis of watching a road and scenery pass by. And then suddenly Sakura is startled from her semi-slumber by what appears to be some kind of conflagration outside of her window. The strange blue flames seem to be engulfing—something. And then Sakura comes to the horrifying realization that people have been set on fire by a mysterious figure standing next to them. In a panic, she manages to get a policeman to come with her to investigate the site, but nothing other than some scorch marks are found. Already some in the audience might be wondering how they would respond to something as peculiar as this, but that element is only reinforced when the next day at school, Sakura is stunned to see that a new exchange student named Rei Ogami is the very same figure she spied the evening before evidently taking out some kind of nemeses with weird blue flames. Was she dreaming? Is she crazy? Is he crazy? The choices and decisions Sakura makes once she comes to terms with this potentially dangerous interloper showing up at her school informs much of what gives Code:Breaker some of its dramatic momentum. Code:Breaker has some patently derivative elements and for some may seem like just another supernaturally tinged shōnen outing, but it manages to find a more distinctive voice as it goes along, offering yet another take on a sort of “odd couple” working together to fight the forces of evil.
Code:Breaker is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. One of this series' strongest elements is its really well done design aesthetic, one that doesn't shirk on highly detailed backgrounds and some cool effects in the action sequences. The palette here is incredibly vivid and multivaried. An understandable emphasis on blue permeates many episodes, but there are also deliciously saturated primaries and pastels in abundance throughout the series. In fact, this very vividness points out one of the few artifacting issues with this release, prevalent banding, especially apparent when gradients segue from dark tones to light. Otherwise, though, line detail is sharp and stable and the image is clear and crisp.
As is frequently the case with some of these releases, Code:Breaker offers the original Japanese track in Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and a rather well done English dub in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Even original language purists may well want to at least sample the English dub, for it manifestly opens up not just the big action set pieces, but also simpler dialogue scenes and the typically very well done ambient environmental effects. Both tracks offer excellent fidelity, with clear presentation of dialogue, but the extra oomph in the low end of the 5.1 mix is extremely beneficial to the series' big action elements, and is a further reason to check out that option.
There are a number of elements in Code:Breaker that will understandably remind anime fans of other similar properties, but the good news is this series manages to twist things around rather convincingly while at the same time managing to deliver some adroit psychological underpinnings for both Sakura and Ogami. The series is incredibly colorful, something that contrasts nicely with a somewhat dark and dour emotional ambience. Technical merits on this Blu-ray are very strong, and Code:Breaker comes Recommended.
2012
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