Doom Breaker
a review by RaeJay
a review by RaeJay
Looking at the massive response to this manhwa, I was expecting a blood-chilling action manhwa filled with despair, struggle and eventual triumph.
Alas...
This manhwa does an okay job for its genre in making the initial setting - the end of the world. But the afterlife part and the regression left many things unclear; like the reasons for the moral bankruptcy of the temple and the general state of degradation of the world. The part about the Gods added a level of mystery, which was good.
The very first chapter, which should have shown the MC's lowest point and his utter despair, just fell flat. And that is just the start.
At no point in the entire storyline did we, as readers, have to root for Zephyr, because it is clear that he is stronger than the whatever he is facing right now.
The allegiance and trust of his comrades were won too easily. This was a bit of an overkill, even for our OP hero.
The past memories could have served as a great plot device - the unreliable memories making MC's life difficult, the ripple effect causing unintended consequences for the team, etc. But it was not meant to be. The MC conveniently remembers every minute detail about everything that happened in his previous life, even the exact way to move to defeat a particular enemy. Maybe the MC has an eidetic memory, or it could be a skill. Who knows?! The author certainly didn't bother to clarify such things. The other characters don't even think to question all of the suspiciuosly precise info he is giving them or ask where he got them from. They just follow the hero blindly.
The plot and the story structure suffered a lot. The plot remained predictable throughout and there was no real build-up to the story. The conflicts seemed minor than they should have been to the readers because there was no real struggle or despair.
We do not start by seeing the humble beginnings of a relatable character. No... we are introduced to the hero, the last-standing warrior, the savior of humankind (implied), being cruelly defeated by a demon god, who then proceeds to sing praises of our MC and asks to join him. After all of that awesomeness, our MC regresses with more fantastic powers bestowed by the Gods, because to them the MC was "interesting" and "not like the other guys."
There is nothing wrong with being OP; it is just that the vast majority of people (sans the ones with God complex), cannot relate to such a charcter.
The way our MC acts - all high and mighty, may irritate you at times. But this is somewhat justified. People who go through a series of horrible things, like the MC, become f*cked up in the head. So MC's whole "Daddier-than-thou" vibe is forgiveable, but is high-key cringe.
Finally, the readers don't know the MC. Why does our MC have this strong need to save the entire world on his own? Is it because he was grieving his love? Or does he have the Messiah complex? What does he feel about the evils done by the humans in power, particularly the temple? Even after 80+ chapters, we still know next to nothing about the MC.
Most characters have minor roles and we know only the basics about them.
The only character I liked till now is Ned. His backstory and character development was good. But the story didn't delve into the internal struggles and the trust issues that Ned most likely had. It got swept under the current of the next impending conflict. Also, Ned and Dame Ophelia seem to be the only promising couple in the story.
Speaking of couples...
The princess believes him too easily about their past relationship (in another life) and they bed each other pretty fast. Just like that, they are a couple - with zero build-up. I don't know about guys, but no adult woman with immense responsibilities like that of the Princess, would jump into something so fast. There are just too many things at stake.
If the manhwa had a romance tag anywhere near its vicinty, this would have been sacrilegous. And since it doesn't, let us meet in the middle and agree it was in poor taste.
Oh! the poor villains. The evil group is just made up of your everyday corrupt people who were dissatisfied with how the people in power blatantly abused the weak and the poor. And there are a lot of them. Most just had sad circumstances, mostly caused by the temple. Haven't seen a truly evil enemy yet.
This could have been a great opportunity to show our MC struggle with morality, his sense of right and wrong. But, alas. He just goes and crushes the heads of all those sad villains to get to the truly evil bug.
(-_-) /~~~
And that first demon god was a total joke. His stupid actions led to our MC getting this 2nd chance, which I'm sure the MC will fully make use of, by whooping that demon's sad behind.
Hoping atleast the ones at the top of the evil organization don't disappoint. Till now, the Gods were the only ones complex enough to show any real potential for evil.
The art is really good and the action scenes are superb. The art style suited the genre very well. Although some scenes were a little hard to make out, like the POV was a little unclear in the midst of some battles, most scenes were precise and clear.
The characters are all very good-looking. Even the women were drawn respectably and the fan-service type portrayal of women were few and far between.
Total: 55/100
Overall, wouldn't hurt too bad even if you sit this one out.
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