Break Blade 3 - Scars From an Assassin's Blade ブレイク ブレイド - 凶刃ノ痕 (2010)

when he was about to abandon King Hodr n Queen Sigyn, who both happened to be his old friends, for a mistake he made, Rygart decided to go against his own will n returned trying to help them throughout the war. he continued to stand between Hodr n Zess, their friend who happened to be leading the enemy's troop. protecting them against each other while making decisions that he hoped would not later regret. Rygart's Black Golem, which was mostly destroyed during the last movie, was now newly armored, thus making the fight between him n Zess even more intense as its result.

when we thought Rygart would finally kill Zess on the battle field, we weren't exactly surprised to find him hesitating n in the end getting beaten because of it. that was so completely his character, naive yet still likable. Zess' troop however had a much more realistic personality in comparison, they knew clearly that sacrifices were necessary, especially when their leader's life was in jeopardy. their strong-will may had them looked merciless, but it was clearly agreeable that the move was necessary. at some point, i was eager to see the 4 friends standing together, discussing or even negotiating the whole issue that had gotten so messed up from their personal assumptions. unfortunately, i believe things will only get uglier from here onwards, for at the end, more characters were revealed. n these dreaded characters definitely didn't have the 4 friends' best interest in mind.

some background on the anime:
- episodes: 1
- director: Tetsuro Amino (網野哲郎)
- released: 2010
- language: Japanese
- genre: Action/Fantasy

sequels:
- Break Blade: The Time of Awakening (2010)
- Break Blade: The Split Path (2010)
- Break Blade: Scars from an Assassin's Blade (2010)
- Break Blade: The Land of Disaster (2010)
- Break Blade: Edge of the Line of Death (2011)
- Break Blade: Enclave of Lamentations (March 2011)