Broken Blade 5

As a penultimate episode, "Break Blade 5: Shisen no Hate" has done a fairly good job on maintaining the bar I've set for the series. This movie reminded me why I original started watching the series, for the adrenaline-pumping action scenes, which any good mecha show should have. Break Blade 5 continued where the last movie ended, with the battle between the forces of Krisna led by General Baldr and the forces of Athens led by General Borcuse ended in a draw. This time, with the arrival of Athen's main force, General Borcuse turns his attention towards Krisna's capital, the Binonten, taking a little detour toget there. As for Krisna's side, the news that General Borcuse made a detour couldn't be any worse for Rygart, the pilot of the ancient golem, distracted and nervous, he disobeyed his orders to get back to the capital city and made his move to counter General Borcuse's advance. What the significance of that detour of General Borcuse's forces to Rygart and Krisna's counter for that as well as Binonten's preparation for the upcoming attack is the main focus of the movie. Animation is the strongest selling point of the movie. The level of detail of the mostly desert setting of the movie is as superb as ever. The characters are very nicely drawn with no noticeable derangement even in distant camera shots; their movements are very fluid and very lively. The mecha design couldn't get any more better than what is shown on this movie or the entire series in general, it is very detailed, giving the impression that the golems are battle-weary and worn out. The fighting probably holds the best moments of this movie as it continuous to be very detailed and with a lot of focus on little details such as shrapnel, debris, damages, and scratches giving the impression of a chaotic and war-like environment. The movie retains its previous Opening theme "Fate" by Kokia and Ending music theme "Serious-Age" by Faylan, which feels just about right and appropriate for a mecha movie embedded with maturer story themes. The movie is also covered by several soundtracks that are not really noticeable but feels just about right in adding extra details for the movie. There is not much focus on the characters on this movie, however the movie was kind enough to give some sort of fanservice of Sigyn and Cleo on their sleep dress with Sigyn reminiscing her past with Rygart, Zess, and Hodr as the main topic and Cleo giggling every time Sigyn talks about Zess, a very nice scene. The characters that received a lot of attention on this movie are Narvi with her determination to save Rygart despite their grave situation which in the end ultimately endangered her unit, and most specially Girge, his interaction with Rygart is really something with Girge questioning and challenging Rygart's true resolved to fight during the final scenes of the movie. Voice acting is superb in general, worth noting is the voice of Hoshi Souichirou as Rygart, I really like his voice (because of his performance as Yamato Kira and other similar roles) and applaud the producers in selecting him for the main role, and Saito Chiwa as Sigyn as well, I think her voice is really elegant and befitting of any heroine or main roles. Break Blade 5: Shisen no Hate retains all the elements that made all its previous installments great, it has a very good story, nice characters, superb animation, and interesting battle scenes. The production values are very high in general. Never a dull moment on this movie, it is enjoyable and exciting from start to finish. My final thoughts for the movie are very positive and leave me wanting to watch the final episode immediately as possible. As a final note, I would recommend Break Blade for viewers seeking a mecha series in a movie format that contains sci-fi, and fantasy elements and doesn't mind the long breaks between each episode.