For background the original ran from 2007-2010, and Breaker: New Waves (part 2) ran from 2010-2015. Both were in the classic black and white manga format. I honestly didn’t think it would ever come back, but it did - in 2022 in a webtoon format (link).

I had the time this weekend, so I re-read the last bunch of chapters from both part 1 and part 2 to jog my memory and binged the 50-odd chapters officially released in English. The webtoon format is obviously great for reading on mobile, and the colour artwork is fine (and sometimes great). But the artist sometimes throws in a black and white panel that makes me long for the old art style (e.g., Chapter 54).

At the moment, I wouldn’t say it’s reached the heights of the previous parts (my expectations are maybe too high), but the nostalgia is driving me along and I’ve still been enjoying it. Just curious if anyone has tried it, either fresh or someone who read the previous parts.

  • Ledz@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    I am, and I also agree that there is a huge nostalgia factor in me continuing to read the story. The issue is that just the latest couple of chapters, the story started to feel like the Part 1 and 2. But imho its still hast a weak story. Hopefully the story develops further. But I think it loosing traction. I am in the latest chapter, and the last “fight” felt so weak. Even in New Waves, the last small fight felt more chaotic and impactful. This fight was so weak, it took place in the middle of nowhere, with no stakes other than Shinwo wanting to fight him and take revenge, and thats it.

    • ladel@feddit.ukOP
      1·
      11 months ago

      I wonder if they required some time to kind of set the scene for the murim world, since it’s on a new platform so they can’t assume that all readers read the earlier parts. I didn’t mind the earlier chapters, though, because it was like a repeat of Shiwoon meeting Nine Arts Dragon at his school, so kind of fun.

      Are you reading the scanlated chapters or the webtoons ones? I’m just sticking with webtoon, so I’m in the middle of Kang Sung’s fight

      (spoiler)

      with Nine Arts Dragon in the prison

      I’m sure the story will pick up a bit more, as they always do.

      The one thing I loved about Breaker before was that it was always grounded in a kind of physical realism, while other fighting mangas get carried away with their power scaling and the fights all spiral into flying about in the air shooting beams of light at each other. That’s the one thing I would hate to happen in this one, and I feel like the black and white drawings helped the fights to feel grittier. The colour is here to stay, though, so might as well try to enjoy it.

  • luna@lemmings.worldEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    I tried reading the first few chapters when it came out but I didn’t really enjoy it so I stopped reading but I’ve recently started again and being able to read 70 chapters in one go solves a lot of pacing problems! I really had fun catching up to S3 and will continue reading it, I had several moments where I really felt the same as when I read S1 or S2 and I realized how much I missed The Breaker.

    I hope it’ll stay as fun to read now that I’ll have to wait a week each time