- With the sudden rise in popularity of Korean manhwas and webtoons, I believe it's time for The Breaker to get an anime adaptation like Solo Leveling.
- The Breaker's story pacing will help split up the series into sufficient chapters, with each of them being action-packed and never feeling dragged out.
- And with the recent popularity of martial arts anime like Baki and Kengan Asura, this is the perfect time for The Breaker to get its limelight.
Over the last few years, multiple Korean manhwas have received the anime treatment. Be it Tower of God, The God of High School, and recently, Solo Leveling, they have presented fans with unique stories that resonated with everyone. While Solo Leveling gets its flowers and appreciation, there’s one Manhwa on the horizon that I’m waiting to get that perfect anime treatment.
Breaker, written by Geuk-Jin Jeon and drawn by Jin-Hwan Park, has been my go-to Manhwa. With Solo Leveling gaining popularity and more Manhwa and Korean Webtoons getting picked for anime adaptations, I think it is time for one of my favorites to shine and get an anime. Now, you must be wondering why, so I am here to gush about my favorite Manhwa series of all time.
The Breaker Has Good Pacing, Never Feels Dull
The Breaker deserves an anime because of its plot and setting. The Breaker is a Korean Manhwa that follows the protagonist Yi Shi-Woon, a high-school kid who wants to get strong enough to beat bullies. It cannot be an action story without focusing on the underlying bullying problems in the world.
In a typical action story fashion, Shi-Woon meets up with Han Chun-Woo, a mysterious figure who so happens to be the enemy of Korea’s secret martial arts alliance. What transpires is our boy Shi-Woon learning martial arts from Chun-Woo, some deaths happening here and there, some deserved character development, and a long hiatus until last year, when we finally started getting the Eternal Force webtoons.
Most webtoon adaptations follow the story of a main character who gets stronger by the end. Here, you’d find some similarities to that concept with a typical Shonen manga vibe. The advantage The Breaker has over its peers is its pacing. Throughout the first two seasons, not once did it feel like the story dragged on. Instead, Jeon’s writing ensures that the payoffs feel good. It’s fulfilling to see Shi-Woon punch his bully for the first time.
And this carries on even better in Breaker: New Waves, the Manhwa’s official second “season.” We see Shi-Woon progressively becoming stronger, improving step by step in his martial arts training. When he pulls off miraculous martial arts combos, you can’t help but stand up and scream out loud in support of our boy. It’s the pacing that does the magic for the Manhwa.
Over time, we have seen many anime having pacing issues, with One Piece being the biggest culprit, where you start feeling that the plot is being dragged out. My colleague Ajith believes it’s one of the many problems that the One Piece remake needs to fix. The Breaker mitigates this problem by never squeezing in a single filler arc. Everything that happens focuses on Shi-Woon’s journey to becoming stronger. The story keeps flowing towards a proper conclusion to arcs.
The Breaker Manhwa’s Art Is Too Good
While the standing up against bullies story arcs and pacing are its strong suits, we cannot stop but talk about The Breaker’s art, especially in Season 1 and New Waves. Park’s drawings bring the raw emotion and the madness most characters experience in the Manhwa.
While the first season is a lot tamer with its art up until the final few chapters, New Waves goes all out with a flashy art style that just works.
Every moment in the Manhwa, be it a fight between two characters or just characters talking with each other, feels high effort. Martial arts sequences are where The Breaker blinds you with its clean and hard-hitting scenes, and Park delivers. That’s why whenever you see Shi-woon going up against his opponents, those moments capture that raw fighting spirit between the characters.
Hence, seeing those art getting animated will highly benefit us all. Just saying. As animes like Baki and Kengan Asura have become popular in recent years, an anime adaptation of The Breaker will surely find the right place among the anime audience. Seeing Shi-woon performing his martial art moves against SUC will be no short of a spectacle on the big screen.
It’s the Perfect Time for The Breaker to Get an Anime
Whether The Breaker and its sequel will get an anime depends on its popularity. While The Breaker isn’t as popular and well-known as manhwa like Solo Leveling, this story will prosper with everyone if it ever gets an anime. Be it the pacing, the stellar fight scenes, or the immaculate art, the seminal work of Geuk-Jin Jeon and Jin-Hwan Park has a great time to become successful.
Moreover, as we are finally getting season 3 of The Breaker after such a long hiatus, I think it is the best time for an interested studio to take the gamble and make it happen. The Breaker anime might bring some much-needed attention to the Manhwa series and help it get its due recognition like Solo Leveling.
Have you read The Breaker and New Waves? Are you following Eternal Force on Webtoon? What is your opinion on them? Let us know in the comments below.
Aparna Ukil
