Yunosuke Toshinaga's Broken Blade (CMX) is a boy-and-his-giant-robot tale with a tiny twist. In the world that Yunosuke Yoshinagta posits, nearly everybody has the capabilities to power and steer a giant robot — except for our hero. From early childhood, the people of Curzon have been gifted with the ability to "power up" quartz, the prime energy source on this world. ("There is no oil to be taken from the earth," we're told in the series' opener.) Yet Rygart Arrow, as we're shown in an opener that goes back to his childhood, doesn't possess this basic ability. As a result, he lives his life in relative isolation as a "lowly farmer," 'til his old schoolmate King Hodr requests that he be brought to the Imperial City.
Hodr, who reigns over the kingdom of Krisna, once attended the Assam National Military Academy, with his queen-to-be Sigyn and our "unsorceror" hero Rygart. Though Rygart was forced to drop his schooling, the bond between the threesome remains strong — as nicely depicted in their teasing interactions when they're reunited. It's clear that Sigyn, the typically headstrong not-so-girly queen of Krisna, still has vestiges of a lingering attraction for the "good-for-nothing" Rygart.
Krisna is presently under siege by the neighboring kingdom Athena, though the isolated Rygart has been unaware of this situation until he's delivered to the court. Leading the Athenian attack is yet a fourth former school chum, Zess, who can't help wondering on the verge of an attack what Rygart will think about what he's doing. "If you knew that I was trying to take Hodr's country by storm, would you be angry, Rygart?" he wonders. Clearly, this quartet has a plethora of unresolved issues.
Broken Blade's mighty big weapons are giant robo-suit creations called "golems" that are powered by quartz and brandish cannon-sized pistols. Because Rygart can't charge up quartz, he's the only one in the land incapable of combat fighting, though the archeological discovery of an ancient "under-golem" rapidly changes that situation. Possessing an unknown power source and run via manual controls, the device appears to be useless until our curious hero gets behind the controls. Once inside the antique weapon, christened Broken Blade, Rygart proves a formidable fighter.
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