Broken Blade

Broken Blade
First English edition of Broken Blade as published by CMX
ブレイク ブレイド (Bureiku Bureido)
Genre	Action, Sci-fi, Mecha
Manga
Written by	Yunosuke Yoshinaga
Published by	Flex Comix
English publisher	CMX
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	April 10, 2007 – present
Volumes	6
Anime
Break Blade
Directed by	Tetsuro Amino
Studio	Production I.G, Xebec
Released	2010

Broken Blade (ブレイク ブレイド, Bureiku Bureido, aka. "Break Blade") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yunosuke Yoshinaga. Flex Comix published the first tankōbon volume of the manga on April 10, 2007. The manga is licensed in North America by CMX, which released the first tankōbon volume of the manga on July 7, 2009 despite previously announcing the release date of the manga as June 23, 2009. The manga is licensed in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing. The manga is to be adapted into six 50 minute animated movies, each movie based on each of the six graphic novels.

Plot Summary

The series is centered around Rygart Arrow, an "un-sorcerer" born into a world of people who can use magic. These people can make quartz do many things, but Rygart is one of the few exceptions; he cannot use quartz, making many aspects of life difficult for him. Yet despite this, at military school, he manages to become best friends with Hodr and Sigyn, the future King and Queen of the Krisna Kingdom and Zess, the younger brother of the Secretary of War of the Athens Federation.

Years later, Rygart is reunited with Hodr and Sigyn at the Capital city of Krisna where he learns the Athens Federation has just declare war to the Kingdom. But it is at the capital that Rygart learns that his un-sorcerer ability allows him to pilot an ancient, effective, mecha that cannot be piloted by magic users.

Rygart later learns that Zess is leading a mecha strike force to the capital which forces Rygart to choose to side between Hort or Zess.

Characters

Kingdom of Krisna

Rygart Arrow (ライガット・アロー, Raigatto Arō)

• Age: 25
• Height: 174cm

Rygart is the series' main protagonist at the age of 25. He was born an un-sorcerer, meaning that he can't use magic, unlike the majority of the worlds populace. Before he left to see Hodr, he worked on a farm with his brother who's also an un-sorcerer, because of this, his father sold all Quartz operated tools and worked with tools without Quartz. After his father took out loans, he was able to attend a military school where he befriended Zess, Hodr, and Sigyn where the four of them were known as "the four problem children of Assam's Military School", him being known as the "King of Make-up tests". He hates violence and believes he can win via his opponent tiring out before him. He later becomes a pilot of an ancient mecha designed for only an un-sorcerer's use as a soldier for Krisna.

Sigyn Erster (シギュン・エルステル, Shigyun Erusuteru)

• Age: 25
• Height: 158cm

Sigyn is the 25 year old Queen of Krisna and Hodr's wife and a close friend of Rygart. They went to the same military school as him, where she was known as the "Mad Scientist" for secluding herself in the school's lab for 3 days and nights without eating or drinking. She pursues a career of science and cares deeply for her friends, to the point of pointing a gun at Rygart upon first seeing him to ask why he didn't show up at her wedding and confirm that he doesn't hate her. While she is the Queen, she rarely acts like one as she usually spends in the castle maintenance workshop tinkering with machines with the royal engineers. Even though she and Hodr are married, both of them are never seen sharing the same bed suggesting their union was an arrange marriage.

Hodr (ホズル　（クリシュナ９世）, Hozuru)

• Age: 25
• Height: 193cm

Hodr is 25 year old king of Krisna and Sigyn's husband. He befriended Rygart at the military school when he ditched class to help him save an owl after he spotted him from his classroom's window. He was known as the "Crown Prince" for staring at the sky and scoring failing grades. He doesn't want to be king, but tries to be a good leader caring for peoples' lives.

Narvi (ナルヴィ・ストライズ, Naruvi Sutoraizu)

• Age: 24
• Height: 165cm

Narvi is 24 year old female Upper Class Heavy Knight from Krisna. She served under General Tool.

Nair

Nair is Narvi's brother and a First Class Heavy Knight.

Federation of Athens

Zess (ゼス, Zesu)

• Age: 25
• Height: 182cm

Zess is 25 years old soldier of Athens. He met Rygart at military school, where he was called "straight-laced Zess". He was one of the best pilots and was the full of pride. He met Rygart when he was being bullied and not complaining or fighting back, scaring the bullies off and quickly befriended Rygart afterward. When he learns his nation plans to conquer Krisna, he leads a small commando strike force of mechs to the Krisna capital in order to make Hodr surrender quickly to spare his friends and their country from the wrath of the main Athens Invasion Army, unaware that the Athens wants the royal family executed. He is married and has a 2 year old daughter.

Cleo Saburafu (クレオ・サーブラフ, Kureo Sāburafu)

• Age: 12
• Height: 153cm

Cleo is 12 years old mech pilot who looks like a teenager which her friend Lee makes fun of Cleo for being extremely developed for her age. She's a quick learner, but despite this she is very clumsy and somewhat a slow thinker with other things. She states that her positive skills are cooking, laundry, and keeping watch without even getting tired. She and Lee graduated from military school after 2 years, when it ordinarily takes 6 years. Lee later commits suicide to prevent from being captured under the belief that the enemy are barbarians, but Cleo believes Rygart killed her and initially wanted to kill him. After this, she meets Rygart in battle and shows a surprising amount of skill contrary to how she was before, almost fighting off Rygart. She is defeated shortly after securing Zess's escape and taken prisoner, where she is treated very leniently and shares a room with Sigyn. She initially tries to escape by securing Sigyn's gun and tries to kill Rygart, but fails because the gun actually had no ammo. She befriends Sigyn and doesn't try to escape afterward.

External links

• Broken Blade official website Template:Ja icon
• Broken Blade (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Broken Blade (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia