An intriguingly dark tale with a strong touch of mystery makes this book an interesting read.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Akimine Kamijyo
Translation: William Flanagan
What They Say
Rei seems like an affable transfer student to everyone around him, but quirky high school beauty Sakura sees his true face as a terrifying vigilante – a “nonexistent” Code:Breaker who cannot be touched by the law. And since Sakura has just witnessed the effects of his deadly blue flame, she’s slated to be the next to burn!
The Review!
Technical:
The front cover presents a nice image of the main characters standing back to back in front of a background coated with blue lines. The result is decent, showing off the characters well with some rather nice shading, but something about the image feels a tad flat, giving the book a cheaper look than it should have. The back cover instead focuses solely on a quick summary and a small image of Rei, and fares much better, giving off a simple yet somewhat “cool” appearance. The paper used is solid and translation notes are included. The text reads smoothly, sound effects are kept in their original form and subtitled, and honorifics are maintained.
The artwork present in this book is quite solid. A good amount of detail is used, and the shading in particular is thorough and fits the artist’s style well. The detail and beauty of the art is also taken even further when things turn grim or intense, which looks great and even helps to elevate the tension in such scenes. Backgrounds occur often and are well done. All this together adds up to a rather interesting and solid art style.
Content:
On her way home late at night, high school girl Sakura Sakurakoji witnesses an odd and frightening sight: a young boy burning a group of people to ash in a strange blue flame. The next day, after a quick display of the her adventurous and masculine side, Sakura hurries to the scene of the crime, only to find that no trace of the bodies remains. Though she insists that she witnessed a murder, the police simply dismiss her and shoo her away, leaving her to contemplate the case herself. Sakura is thrown for a loop, however, when she arrives at school only to find a new transfer student, Rei Ogami, who looks exactly like the boy she saw the night before. As the day progresses, she continually tries to corner him, but he looks more and more to be completely innocent, even making friends with the stray dog “Dog” that Sakura has been taking care of ever since his owner, a homeless man, was killed by a local gang called the “G-Falcons.”
Later, Sakura returns to the local park to feed “Dog” and sees members of the “G-Falcons” torturing a homeless man, trying to find information on what happened to their comrades who disappeared in the area recently. Sakura steps in but is quickly overpowered. “Dog” attempts to save her, but is severely wounded in the process. Just as it looks like things are over for Sakura, Rei enters and puts “Dog” out of its misery before proceeding to wipe out the “G-Falcons” with his strange blue flame.
Sakura wakes up the next day and confronts Rei, and he tells her that he could easily burn her and every single witness to his crimes, making him virtually “untouchable.” After mysteriously muttering to himself how Sakura is a “Deviant Breed” (meaning that his fire can’t burn her), he tells her that he is a “Code:Breaker,” a “garbage man” who cleans up the human filth of society so that normal people can continue living peacefully. Needless to say, Sakura is unhappy with his methods, but Rei flexes his power and informs her that he won’t hesitate to get rid of anyone she dares to tell.
As the volume closes, Rei gives Sakura dog’s puppy, whom she names “Puppy,” and Sakura ends up following Rei into a gang hideout, where Rei ends up burning not only the criminals, but also the policemen who arrive on the scene.
In Summary:
The set-up offered in this book is an interesting, giving us a key character out to better the world with absolutely deplorable methods, and another determined to stop him. However, despite his dark demeanor and “evil for evil” attitude, certain scenes seem to hint at a softer side to the cold hearted killer. For now, the intrigue present here certainly makes for an interesting, but it will certainly be interesting to see how these characters develop in further volumes.
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Age Rating: B+
Released By: A-
Release Date: B+
MSRP: A
