The past is explored with Hitomi, but it’s Ogami that makes out the best.
What They Say:
Hitomi is made a Code: Breaker at the age of 16, and works for the organization for over a decade. As his allies fall in the line of duty, he reminds himself that he is working to create a world where children can laugh. Then a shocking secret is revealed.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Hitomi having been revealed as the primary villain of the moment, we’ve had some interesting bits in the present day with him about what he’s wanting to accomplish but also the lengths that he’ll go through to achieve it. It’s been interesting enough, but lacks that little bit of extra context that’s necessary, which makes sense since even the ongoing main characters haven’t really felt like they’ve been fleshed out to me. I do like the power dynamic that exists between him and Ogami though as well as the way that Sakura figures into things.
The show starts off decently with a bit of a look at some of Hitomi’s past, becoming a Code: Breaker at age 16 and quickly becoming one of the better agent as he works through the missions and really takes to the whole process. It’s a little bit more than a montage piece when you get down to it, but the core of it is essentially that in order to show just what he was capable of early on and the kind of progress he made up the ranks. Which is why it’s relatively amusing when it shifts back to a closer to the present and you have Ogami in the ranking that Hitomi started at and being rather friendly with him, even if there is a bit of mocking about it at times as well, such as one mission he kind of just shows up at and does with great ease.
Seeing how the group of Code: Breakers works together at this stage is certainly interesting and it definitely gives us a look at Hitomi in a light that we haven’t seen from him yet. But more importantly, it shows us an Ogami that is actually a fair bit more accessible. Heike even comes across decently here, making it a little easier to see the path he’s taken in the present day. With this, we also see the deterioration of what being a Code: Breaker meant to Hitomi, which makes sense since we know the end result of it all. It plays out decently enough overall, but it really is that kind of condensed semi-montage style that brings all the key points up to flesh it out but doesn’t really make you feel it in a significant way.
In Summary:
Code: Breaker spends an episode giving us some important back story when it comes to Hitomi and segues back in towards the end with the whole kidnapping the prime minster and threatening to blow lots of stuff up. We do get a decent look at how Hitomi was early on in his career as a Code: Breaker and his progression, as well as a rather more enjoyable Ogami, but the primary is to show the way he fell out of what the group was doing and set on his own path to bring a style of revenge and justice into the picture that suits his mindset better. It’s decently done overall and has some very good points to it, but the show has been awkward with its arc and style from the get go so this doesn’t feel as out of place as it might otherwise, especially since it is mostly an info dump.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
