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They match each other's freak.

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KEEL MATTERS: Why KEEL needs to come back and be explored

(Manga Spoilers)

Not redeemed, but examined more closely. I honestly think the show would be incomplete without exploring KEEL.

That’s a bold claim, i know. To start my explanation I want to spotlight a piece of a reply on my last blogpost about KEEL. Someone in the comments said a funny line that stood out to me. 

They said:

“I also agree with needing to have an evil team to oppose furin and show the more negative side of gang culture.”

I'm happy they agree but what an odd thing to say,

“The more negative side of gang culture…” has the same energy as  “The more negative side of cancer…” or  “The more negative side of volcanoes erupting…”

In real life, street gangs are bad. Most gangs are like KEEL. Criminal organizations that steal and intimidate. To Nii-sensei’s credit, most of the smaller nameless gangs are like this. Bofurin and Roppo are the exception to the rule. KEEL more closely represents all of those smaller gangs. And in a sense, KEEL is the amalgamation and intellectualization of all the dirtbag gangs in the show:

KEEL is Spaltips. KEEL is Graffiti B.  KEEL is that gang that tried to extort Akari. 

KEEL is just like all those gangs but given names and an actual spoken ideology. And I for one, have the controversial opinion that the story should explore the criminal gang in the show about gangs. But some might ask: Why waste time exploring KEEL more when we’ve already seen gangs like Shishitoren and Gravel get explored. 

What makes KEEL special? 

It’s an actual criminal gang. I'd argue the KEEL guys are some of the only true gangsters or villains in the show.

Shishitoren was never evil deep down, they were just a bunch of bullies and punks who needed a lesson in manners. And to a greater extent, I think this also applies to Noroshi. Conflating strength with destructive power. Using that power to “be free” and do as they pleased. In other words, they saw power as a means to an end. 

KEEL is different. To KEEL, the violence is the point. It wasn't even about the money. It’s a power trip. While fighting Kiryu, Kaga explains KEEL’s ideology is that of “might makes right” and how the strong have a right to dominate the weak.

We also see elements of this in their parent company Noroshi, but again, you get the sense that the Noroshi guys are just “doing what they want”. They’re rebels, nothing more. But there’s something truly sinister about KEEL. Even Gravel, didn't match up to them.

Gravel is the more apt comparison to KEEL as they commit crimes too. One that was made by the show itself by having their leaders Suzuri and Natori fight. Like KEEL, Gravel was also truly criminal. But even then, it was done more from a position of necessity. They needed to steal to eat, so their motives were more understandable. But to be honest, I think this was kind of a cop out. 

Don’t get me wrong. Gravel was a good start, but “criminality from necessity” is just one reason teens commit crimes. There are many other reasons that go into a child leading a life of crime beyond Kaga’s “might makes right” and Suzuri’s “steal to eat”. 

So what’s in between? Why explore KEEL? 

I’m gonna level with you. The chance of us getting KEEL backstories is VERY small. We’re more likely to get the Roppo lieutenant backstories than we are to get KEEL VIP backstories. But for the sake of argument, let’s pretend we did.

Let’s take Kongo. The guy Sakura fought in the warehouse. My reading on Kongo is that his obnoxiousness is a defining feature of his personality. He exhibited a ton of attention seeking personality traits in his fight and was almost certainly a problem child. 

Put yourself in Kongo’s shoes, like this is one of those horrible life explanation YouTube videos. 

Imagine. Nobody pays attention to you. Not even your mother. Your father is out of the picture. You have no social skills and blab to anyone around you. This annoys those classmates. You want their attention, you want to be cool. So you badger your classmates into playing games with you. When they finally relent, you cheat so you can be a winner. But they notice and hate you for it. So your attempts to get their attention has backfired, making them more put off by you. This vicious cycle continues and compounds over years. So now you’re the most annoying kid in class, and end up in a lot of fights. You become a strong fighter, but don’t have any friends. Until finally someone notices you. This person reaches out and gives you a place in a gang, and a sense of belonging. You’re a “Very Important Person” in the gang or a VIP. So long as you steal and commit crimes for them.

So basically, Kongo is your classic 'attention seeking trouble maker' who is so perpetually annoying that the only person willing to keep him around is a criminal using him. He reminds me of Satori Tendō from Haikyuu!!, but instead of joining a magnet volleyball team, he like many misfits is recruited into a crime ring.

In a way, if this is true, then that means Kongo not all that different from Nagato. He's Nagato with extra steps. Even the highest members of KEEL are just being used by it.

Kongo might represent the Principal Office to Street Crime pipeline that make up a majority of young gangsters in real-life. (He also literally carries a pipe so there’s that.) For all we know, Kongo might represent a VERY LARGE portion of troubled teens.

Kongo might be a proxy for why most kids join criminal gangs

And THIS is the character we’re never getting a backstory for?

Shouldn’t we explore the criminal gangs in the show about gangs?

Don’t get me wrong. My goal here is not to redeem these characters, (i could see that working but that's not really the point.) Instead I just want an explanation beyond simple “might makes right”. I want the show to explore youth criminality and why kids start to commit crimes. And the show already has a gang with a bunch of named characters ripe for characterization. And I haven't even touched on Mogami's Napoleon complex or Natori's undiagnosed ASPD. I say all this because right now KEEL is just:

"Evil man does evil things because he's evil."

I think real-life is more complex than that. I think pure evil does exist, but I don't think it comes from nowhere. What kind of message does that send? I don't know how to put this better but...

The fact is that Wind Breaker keeps cheating with its redemptions

I was pleasantly surprised by Shishitoren's redemption. I was taken aback by Gravel's redemption. (Still okay.) I was flabbergasted by Endo and Chika's redemption.

I'm sorry but if Endo and Sakura are hanging out in their free time, that's redemption. One that comes completely out of nowhere, after the man just tried to burn down an entire city.

It ties back to an idea brought up in my last KEEL blogpost about how Nii-sensei struggles to place evil characters. They're either redeemed immediately or banished to the shadow realm.

In conclusion, KEEL is the gang that best represents real-life gangs and ironically its the one getting the least development.

As the Summer arc drags on, I can't help but feel things are getting too chummy around here. (I like the Summer Arc but still...) Wind Breaker should probably explore criminals, real criminals, by the end of the series. If so, we gotta bunch of unused characters sitting in the shipyard. Just add water and BOOM. Any of these VIPs could have magnificently interesting backstories.

An “enemies team-up” storyline is just teeming with possibilities...

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A COMPLETE CHARACTER MAP OF WIND BREAKER

There a total of 10 character groups in Wind Breaker. 11 if you count Kraken from Lion's Fury. You could also probably create a 12th group for Makochi Town, but minor characters have been left off the map. Groups are usually (but not always) based around a gang leader. It operates like a solar system where small characters revolve around bigger ones, and Umemiya is at the center of everything.

I also left room at the bottom corners for Shishitoren's future rivals and Momose's rivals, and will be adding to this in the future.

I DO NOT consider this a piece of artwork. You DO NOT have to ask permission to share and post this. It's an info graphic that's meant to be shared around and used in discussion.

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WBK Timeline of events

Unlike most other series out there, Nii-sensei does a good job of giving the series events a sense of [progression of time]. This way, the audience has a good idea of how much time passed since the start of the series, and thus Sakura’s character growth:

From the information available, we are able to extrapolate a rough timeline of events

April 1st - Sakura’s birthday. He turns 15 (confirmed by Nii-sensei that Sakura is the youngest in his class)

First week of April: School starts

First day of school: Meets Nirei and Suo and the rest of the classmates, goes on patrol after school and gets in a tussle with Shishitoren.

2nd day: 1:1 matchups with Shishitoren.

3rd day: Meet more of Class 1-1, including Kiryu and Tsuge.

4th day: Class 1-1 chooses Sakura as grade captain

(assuming a weekend here)

5th day: Sakura wants to get to know his classmates more, including Anzai and learns about KEEL.

6th day: fights KEEL after school

7th day: Sakura needs a sick day off from school.

8th day: Sakura speaks up to Kaji-senpai, opens up to Class 1-1 and is accepted by them for both the strength they see but also his awkward self too :)

The rest of April-June: Getting used to Furin life, meeting Tsubaki, Old Man Ito etc.

First week of June - Ropo Ichiza and Gravel arc

June 7th ish - June 21st: Training arcs with the senpai

June 21st - Furin War starts (Takiishi’s birthday). Lasts one night

Around July 21st- Bbq party, shortly after summer break starts this week.

August 5th - festival hangout with Shishitoren

Second week of August: Visits Furin Gardens (Kotoha and Ume’s group home/orphanage), meets Natsuki and we see how relaxed and calm he is, and how he acknowledges he’s been changed by the town :) !

usually the summer break ends the last week of August.. this could mean slice of life will end and plot hits when they’re back in school, or plot hits in the next few chapters anyways.

timeline wise it still seems to be the first week of August

cool tidbits:

S1 anime covered literally the first week of Sakura starting high school (and the first 10 episodes took place over the first 3 days!)

S2 anime covers about 2 months of time in their world

the hoped for S3 anime will probably have the first 3 episodes cover the 2 week period of June 7-21, and the rest of the season will take place in the hours after June 21 (talk about dragon ball Z pacing haha, a few hours is covered by 15+ anime episodes)

In ~200 chapters of the manga, only about 5 months have passed since Sakura moved to Makochi. We’ve already seen him experience Spring at furin, and now we’re currently in Summer.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s wild that only 2-3 months after starting high school, Sakura has assimilated so much into the community and has earned so much love and respect from everyone there, even the 4 kings and Ume 🥹❤️

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WIND BREAKER Fighters (Spring Term)

Spoilers: Includes all characters featured in the first third of the manga up to Chapter 162, and two characters from Winhero.

Factors considered while making this list:

Every character is run through a match-up with all the others on the list. Generally, if one character beats another, the loser will go under the winner's tier. Thier showing in the fight will determine how much lower they go. However, there are other factors to consider beyond simple wins and loses.

The Power of Friendship: Or what a character can do when everything is on the line. (Example: It's hard to say who Sakura can't beat when he gives it his all, but that also applies to those above him. This ranking assumes everyone takes the fight seriously.)

Resolve/Seriousness: How invested was the character in actually winning the fight. (Example: Endo becoming distracted against Sakura, and Togame forfeiting. Sakura likely would have lost these fights if they had been solely focused on winning.)

Strength of the Righteous: In WBK, being morally good automatically increases your power-level by about two ranks. (Example: At the start of the series Choji was in the A+ Tier, but by the Noroshi War he was back in the SS Tier.)

Fighting Condition: How spent was the character when the match-up started. (Example: Tsubaki, Suzuri and Nakamura all got wiped by Endo, but the first two get leniency for coming off big fights.)

Distraction Factor: How long did a character distract another stronger character, and vice versa, how long where they distracted by a weaker character. (Example: Tone gets a lot of points for distracting Suo for as long has he did, and Suo loses a ton of points for struggling against him when Nirei was in danger.)

Final note - Some characters are hard to place due to us not seeing them in a real match up (like Inugami.) This list is subject to adjustment upon further reveals.

This is only my opinion so don't take this too seriously.

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I eventually added the furniture:

Sunny’s apartments before Faraway Town 

still have to add the details like furniture and what not.   

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The Presence of Plants in Wind Breaker

So both in reading the manga as well as from posts I’ve seen from others in the community, another on-going vessel for symbolism Nii Satoru uses in Wind Breaker is in the presence of plants. How plants are used/what they are used to represent in the series I think changes from place to place, and I’ll do my best to cover as many of those different instances as possible but it is also entirely likely that there’ll be things that I’ve missed (and by all means I’d love other people to point out other things they’ve noticed!).

Makochi and Furin

The town of Makochi consists of stores that seem to all be named after plants. Not only that, but many of them are plants that hold meanings for resilience, adapting, and thriving. It definitely does illicit the idea that Makoshi is and has been a town that has stayed standing and growing despite its hardships and the threats it has faced.

Saboten - Cactus. Resilience; able to thrive in harsh conditions. Strength. Tsukushi - Horsetail; strength, resilience, adaptability. Pothos - Common house plant named after a minor deity associated with longing and desire. The plant represents growth, perseverance, and good fortune. Kiku - Chrysanthemum. Friendship, happiness, well-being.

From this compilation of character name meanings and analyses, the members of Furin High School all also have a reference to a type of plant in their names. There are a lot of cool theories in there and a lot of symbolism in the names so I highly recommend you guys read through, but the main pull away I think can confidently be interpreted from this is that Umemiya’s garden isn’t just limited to his small rooftop garden. Yes, that literal garden is also important symbolism wise as it ties into Umemiya’s desire to ensure everyone is able to be brought together as a community and be fed, but all of Makochi and Furin is Umemiya’s garden. He does everything in order to make sure the townspeople are taken care of and can thrive, and Furin is absolutely a part of that. Everyone in Furin are his brothers, Furin is his family, and nothing brings him as much happiness as seeing his brother learn and grow and become the best version of themselves.

The naming convention also extends to the characters who have stood directly against/have directly threatened the unity/safety of Furin as well. This also connects to this amazing post by grey-spark where they theorize the themes of upcoming 'wars'/gangs that will threaten the safety of Furin/Makochi (I also see credence in this as I don't think the Noroshi war is what the opening sequence was referring to when they said Sakura would become the 'hero of the town'). From both here and the names document, it's pointed out that both Takiishi and Endo have names referencing burning down a forest/burning wood. I would also say that the animal naming theme of Shishitoren also reflects the relationship between them and Furin. Animals can be invasive and harmful to plants in an environment, but for the most part animals are also a vital part of a healthy ecosystem. In restoring balance and making allies with Shishitioren, Sakura and Umemiya were able to strengthen Makochi and ensure it could survive Noroshi's attacks.

Plants are also used physically as a representation of Bofurin. We see plants covering the sign that displays their motto, and we see plants taking over the school itself.

Kotoha also fills her café with plants and is noted to also have a passion for gardening and taking care of plants, similar to how she 'takes care of' Sakura and the other Bofurin members in being their preferred spot to get together and eat.

We feel Bofurin's presence whenever there is an abundance of plants in the environment. They are the forest in the story. They are the plants that bring a sense of peace and life, even through the fires of violence and other hardships. They grow in the cracks of broken foundations and holding everything together.

As a Reflection of the Self / Wellbeing

Nii Satoru has also used plants to represent a person's wellbeing. We see it first in Sakura thinking how Makochi/Bofurin is where he can actually begin to grow and eventually bloom.

In the Chapter 'A Place Where I Belong' Sakura sees himself as a seedling, a small sprout just beginning to grow into himself. He's still learning, he's still fragile and only beginning to accept that he doesn't have to live by himself and forever on-guard. By Chapter 138 'Bloom', Endo sees Sakura as a large Cherry Blossom tree in full bloom. The branches and flowers of this tree stretch across the whole panel. He sees Sakura as the tree he must burn down if he wants to destroy Furin for good. Though I'm not sure that Sakura sees himself this way yet, given the glimpse at emotional conflict we've seen when others have told Sakura they know he'll become the top of Furin in recent chapters. How could he replace the gardener of Furin? Umemiya, who is practically the massive tree currently at the top of Furin, who has changed the very image of the school and the town itself?

Another, albeit smaller, example of Nii Satoru using plants to directly symbolize a person's wellbeing? Ito! I love these chapters for many reasons but one that I don't think I've seen anyone talk about yet is how the old man's garden itself is a representation of himself. We're told that, outside of the flowering tree, every plant in the garden was planted by Ito himself. How is this garden described?

Yui's presence is shown through flowers. It was the tree she planted that is the only flowering tree in the garden, and in the panel where Tsubaki talks about losing someone important, we're shown more flowers. This reflects how Ito has always seen her- beautiful and elegant like a flower, whereas he is like a plain, non-flowering plant.

He maintains his appearance to be presentable, outwardly looks 'clean' and healthy but that doesn't reflect what's going on on the inside, nor does he feel like he compares to Yui's beauty. It's only once the boys go into his home that they start to see the little clues and pieces of evidence of Ito's internal conflict, both his grief and his fears that Yui wasn't as happy and in-love in their relationship as he was. It's dark inside because the lightbulb burnt out and Ito never replaced it, there are broken down boxes that he didn't finish tying together and taking out, the stylish clothes he used to wear are collecting dust in the dark backroom of his house with his wife's things. He doesn't go out nearly as much any more. He used to love going out on walks or visiting the theatre, and now he doesn't do any of that. All of this stemming from the grief he is still feeling and the doubt he can't help but feel that Yui wasn't happy in their marriage.

The presence of plants in panels or how they are incorporated into the story/environment is something I can't help but keep an eye out for in the story, and I'm curious to see how they continue to be used!

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So.. I'm sure some of you already saw this from @grey-spark's synopsis post! But I'm going to post about it again to hopefully spread it to more people!

I have been translating all of the side stories and event stories from "WIND BREAKER 不良たちの英雄譚" (Wind Breaker Heroic Tales of a Delinquent), also known as Winhero, which is the official game of Wind Breaker, for quite a while now.

"Eng Subtitles" Yes, I screen-recorded every single story and edited it. Hence, there are no breaks in between (it's actually killing my storage), allowing you to enjoy the whole experience! Also included some of the scene animations of the featured characters in certain events.

Timestamps are included in the description for easy navigation, and yeah! Hope you enjoy :D

Since the side story is practically canon now, I really want other people to see this, and also for the people who can't really play the game, or people who struggle since it's all in Japanese (I shall be the one to sacrifice LMAO) 😭

I will continue to update this playlist whenever a new event or any development outside the original storyline occurs. So be on the lookout for that!

Do note that this is translated with Google Translate + some additional research I've been doing to hopefully make more sense out of it, so this is not a perfect one-to-one translation. also please forgive me for the amount of typos 😭

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I think this will be the first half of the fight until Suo finally goes all out, and starts attacking without caution.

The thing is, Suo expends so much energy trying not to be hit. Suo's superpower is NOT evasion, its actually anticipation. Suo can avoid any hit because he can anticipate what the enemy is going to do. It ties into his whole "use empathy to be an adult" thing. Suo imagines what its like to be in another person's shoes and predicts their attack accordingly. That's his secret. So in a way, Suo was practicing his ideology while explaining it to Kanuma.

Using empathy to anticipate Kanuma's clumsy moves. But it also explains why he's so adverse to being hit. Being hit, is childish failure to Suo. To allow himself to be hit is a betray of his ideology, and so he basically fights with an arm behind his back.

So in order for someone to hit Suo they either need to be:

A) Totally unpredictable. Where he can't decipher the decisions being made or, B) Totally instinctual. Where the person isn't making decisions, just doing.

So yeah. Sakura can hit Suo. 100%. And he'll have to get his hands dirty to beat Sakura, but I think he can do it.

So many people think Suo is gonna be a traitor. I think he’s gonna get his ass kicked. Sakura made a point of saying “you’re the last person I’d expect to get beaten up” and then SPOILER in the latest chapter they put a lot of emphasis on the one Shishitoren guy who got beaten up so bad he was in a full body cast. I think Suo will be Sakura’s snap into his own beast mode like we saw with Ume in his fight on the roof.

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2/7

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Return of the King 👑4️⃣

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COLOR THEORY in WIND BREAKER

So there are FIVE COLORS that stand out in Wind Breaker. And while the show displays a full use of colors, there are five colors that transcend any individual person or gang. And in this quick analysis I'm going to go over all of them. (Mild Spoilers ahead)

GREEN is the color of GROWTH

Green is the main color of Bofurin and clearly represents plants. It all ties into Umemiya's garden metaphor about personal growth.

Green = Good, basically.

The plant imagery is not very subtle but some of the color uses are. Take for example how Togame, Nagato and Endo all have green eyes, hinting that these are actually good characters underneath despite doing bad deeds. They may be on different teams but they're "Bofurin on the inside". (Although, in Endo's case his eyes have a blueish hue, which means his goodness is very hidden.)

If plants represent the goodness of the world then we must extend this metaphor to the source of the plant's energy...

YELLOW is the color of WARMTH

Yellow represents the warm light piercing into a cold world, and the sun more generally. It's righteousness and love.

Nirei is the most yellow indicating he's the moral compass of the gang, but Oldman Ito outright points out that all three main characters wear yellow: Suo's earing. Nirei's hair. Sakura's eye. (saying it reminds him of the sun directly). But its interesting how the applications of this color reflect their story arcs:

Suo was given righteousness. Nirei adopted righteousness. Sakura was born with it.

Sakura can't take the yellow off even if he wanted to. But beyond that we have Sakura's favorite food Omurice. In a show where food is everything, the omelet rice almost serves as his first taste of love. Notice how it also has red ketchup on it, and Suo's earrings also have a red bead. In this show, red and yellow almost always go together. When put together they makes orange, the color of strong Shishitoren. It's a subtle way of saying love creates...

RED is the color of POWER

Red is the fruit of power. Or let's put it this way:

Sun -> Plants -> Fruit Love -> Growth -> Power

Red is a color with many different meanings, but in this show, its the color of power. We see it in Ume's tomatoes. We see it in Tsubaki's lipstick, which he outright says is the source of his strength.

But not just creative power. In Takiishi's case, red also represents the destructive power of fire. Red represents all power, and it makes sense why its the main color of Suo, a character who hasn't even taken a single hit. But plants and fruit are not the only thing sunlight effects, it also melts ice...

WHITE is the color of TRAUMA

More specifically, traumatized innocence.

White = the harsh snow of winter.

In the very first chapter, Nirei's suggests Sakura's hair turned white from stress. It's played off as a joke at first, but later on it's suggested that Umemiya's hair also went white from stress. This feature connects them deeply, both wear white shirts too, symbolizing Sakura and Ume wear their trauma for all to see.

White is also the main color of Gravel, a team with the most tragic backstory, comprised of children starving to death. (KEEL also wears white, but in their case it feels like they're deliverers of trauma.) In the anime, we also see that Gravel's school uniforms are...

BLUE is the color of COLDNESS

Blue is the color of icy callousness and hardened hearts. Unlike sunlight that melts trauma, blue is the cold that generates it.

Blue = Evil, kinda.

But it's a little more complicated than that. Sure, all the evilest characters wear blue, like KEEL (the evilest gang) and Endo (who has a blue fire theme). But then we have Sugishita, who isn't an evil person at all, but its also not a coincidence that the hero's main rival has a blue color scheme. His heart is guarded, and is in need of the most character growth out of all of them. Concerningly, we also saw that Suo turned icy blue when he reverted to his old ways. So blue is not just limited to the bad guys. It's a systemic problem.

CONCLUSION

This show has MANY colors in it: pink, orange, black, grey, magenta and so many others that might also have meanings as well. But I feel like these five pervade the show everywhere and build a greater allegory of Winter Vs Spring, which goes as follows:

The freezing cold (blue/callousness) has created snow (white/trauma) and can only be banished by sunlight (yellow/love) which grows vegetation (green/growth) and eventually bears fruit. (red/power)

That's how I see it anyway. Thanks for reading!

[grey-spark]

The Complete Events of Lion’s Fury

So with Shishitoren coming back in the manga, more people need to get up to date on the events of the Winhero Game. So here's a 1000 word synopsis covering Episodes 1-7 of the Shishitoren storyline. It takes place between the Shishitoren and Noroshi War Arc.

Here is the complete ENG SUB of the series on youtube translated by the wonderful Spirit_Glaze, if you want to watch it yourself:

Episode 1

Choji and Togame decide to immediately step down after their loss to Bofurin, and many of the members leave anyway. One of the random members that remained suggested finding Wanijima, the old #3 to be the new leader, but nobody has his phone number. 

They hear that Arima and Kanuma are quitting the gang, and find the two under the bridge (who literally have nothing to do without Shishitoren lol). They inform Arima and Kanuma that they’re stepping down and don’t have to leave. But this only offends them, since they blame themselves for the debacle. Arima and Kanuma challenge them to a fight and lose. They all reminisce on the old times and commit to rebuild the team. Arima text Wani.

Episode 2

Wani is working part time jobs to make money for his family. He also has a sister, Asuka, who will be relevant later. They find him on the street while doing an errand and reconnect. We get a flashback of Wani standing up to Choji shortly after he goes evil, but after losing decides to quit the gang.

Since then, he’s been doing part time work, which explains why he didn’t beat the weakened Choji before Umemiya did. He fights Choji again and says he’s gotten weaker. But he also tells them his own fighting skills have since diminished and wouldn't make a good leader. Wani tells Choji to find his old faith in power, then leaves.

Later at Kraken’s base. Takeru Takoya hatches a plan to attack the weakened Shishitoren after hearing they're desperate enough to make Wani their new leader. Takeru is noticeably abusive to his own men and is doing this to impress his big brother, Takoya Toru.

Episode 3

Choji and Togame ponder what to do, and Choji says he wants to find his favorite stray cat. But hilariously, the cat is getting scared by Inugami who growls (like a dog) when he’s upset. He’s upset that Sako is leaving the gang and they set off to find him.

Sako is at the river bank pondering what to do. Hiragi was the only reason he join Shishitoren and now that’s over. Inugami arrives and begs him not to leave. Sako is reminded of his devotion to Hiragi and maintains that he’s not someone to look up to. Sako throws off his jacket, but Inugami yells at him then challenges him to a fight,

If he wins Sako has to stay in the gang. He struggles horribly, and eventually Choji steps in. Sako loses, and feels bad for abandoning Inugami like he felt Hiragi abandoned him. He runs off near tears. They chase after him. Meanwhile at HQ, the base has received an imminent threat from Kraken.

Episode 4

Kraken kidnaps Wani’s sister. Thinking he’s the new leader, Takeru Takoya calls Wani and threatens him to come save her at their base at the docks, or else. Wanijima tries to explain he’s not the leader, but Takeru doesn’t listen. Wani has no choice but to collect the forces gathered at The Cage and go to the docks.

That night, Shishitoren gets to the docks and find Wani’s sister being held hostage high up on a shipping container. Wani fights Takeru while Kanuma and Arima all get their asses handed to them by Kraken. They tell Kanuma to run off and bring the others.

Episode 5

Arima and Wani are barely holding on. They threaten to break Wani’s legs an force his sister to watch. And then, just in time, Choji and Togame arrive. They play it cool and lure the Takoya Brothers into a false sense of security. It’s then revealed that Sako and Inugami had snuck around back and save Wani’s sister. 

In a flashback, it cuts back to the riverbank, where Inugami demands Sako explain why he’s leaving, but Sako can’t bring himself to explain his past with Hiragi. Just then, Choji and Togame run up with word that Kraken is attacking. Sako can’t bring himself to quit while Shishitoren is in need and stay with the team. Sako then devises the plan to take a stealth approach. Back in the present, Takeru Takoya struggles to fight Togame. And Toru blames their loss of the hostage on his brother’s stupidity and incompetence. Toru finally steps in and challenges Choji. Wani demands Togame let him finish off Takeru, so Togame and others take the Kraken army.

Episode 6

Ironically, fighting Kraken brings the Shishitoren team closer together again. The battle turns and everyone is having fun. Wanijime beats Takeru by using his special alligator grapple move.

But Choji is struggling. He confronts Toru Takoya on his philosophy. The leader of Kraken is a smart ‘octopus’ like mastermind who sees everyone as a piece on a chess board, even his brother. Choji recognizes that until recently, he saw his own team members as replaceable too. Choji then gets the upper hand, and Toru is stunned to see all his allies are defeated. Before he goes down, Toru gloats that Kraken is only the first, and that a whole conspiracy of teams are planning to strike against Shishitoren. But Choji just knocks him down, claiming they’re ready for anything that comes their way.

Episode 7

After the battle, everyone reaffirms their commitment to Shishitoren. Wani realizes what the team meant to him and his sister also thanks the group. Sako takes Choji and Togame aside to explain his past with Hiragi to them offscreen. Togame notes how Sako was too shy to share the story in front of Inugami, which makes him blush. Sako says he wants to be like them and commits to growing with the team. Later on, the whole team gathers for an announcement where Wanijime officially rejoins as a member.

He gives a motivational speech where he declares Choji and Togame the leaders again. The narration declares that New Shishitoren will become the strongest team of all time.

[grey-spark]

Extinction Wars Trilogy Theory

The WBK series is probably going to end with graduation, which means we have two more semesters left and possibly two more Extinction Wars. In this analysis we are going to determine what they might end up being about. 

BIG SPOILERS for the Wind Breaker Manga. All photos used are from windbreaker, ads or stock.

PART 1: Defining the elements

So let's start off with what we know. The first Extinction War is based around Fire. Takiishi’s war is fireworks and summertime themed. Even down to names 焚石 (Takiishi) and 棪堂 (Endo) both contain radicals for “fire” and “tree”

Takiishi and Endo don’t just represent “fire” they represent “fire burning trees” or “fire as a threat to trees” If we assume there will be three semesters ending in graduation. Then it’s not too far off to assume we’ll have three extinction wars. So if there are three wars for each semester and the summer one is based on the “fire” element. What will the next two be?

Well, answering that depends on whether Nii-sensei goes with the Buddhist Elements or the Chinese Elements, but it won’t make much of a difference for reasons we’re about to cover.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on these religious topics at all. I’m just using general knowledge found on the internet to make predictions about a funny delinquent anime.)

It just so happens that Bofurin is based around the Buddhist Heavenly Kings. So let’s start there. In Buddhism there are four Mahābhūta or “Great Elements”:

There’s five/six if you count Akasha (Space) and Vijñāna (Mind) but those are special, so we’ll sideline them for now.

Let’s assume

Bofurin itself is Vayu (Wind). (Obviously.)  Noroshi is Agni (Fire). (We just went over that.)

So that means the next two big wars will be:

Prithvi (earth) Ap (water)

But what if there’s a more literal connection between Summer and fire. Then we’d have to look at the element of the Chinese Zodiac or “Wu Xing”. In the chinese system there five different elements:

Wood / Spring Fire / Summer Earth / Late Summer (or in-between seasons) Metal / Autumn Water / Winter

Let’s assume:

Bofurin is Wood / Spring  Noroshi is Fire / Summer

That means if we go by the Chinese Elements instead it could be:

Earth/Late Summer Metal/Autumn Water/Winter

To put it simply, the Chinese Elements have a specific order to them where they create the next one in the cycle, and overcome the one after that. In this system the enemy of Wood is Metal (Blades) so Metal is more likely than Earth, especially since it's associated with Autumn more directly. But even if they go by the Buddhist elements, Metal is considered a form of Earth.

So whether it’s Buddhist Great Elements, Chinese Wu Xing, or even Japanese Godai (which mirrors the Buddhist Elements) We’re looking at:

Summer Extinction War based on Fire Autumn Extinction War based on Earth (Metal/Blades) Winter Extinction War based on Water (Ice/Blizzards) 

Now, you may be wondering why I’m so hyper-focused on Metal and Ice specifically, instead of the broader Earth and Water elements. That's because Metal and Ice are natural enemies of plants and trees. Let’s go back to Takiishi’s name or “Fire as a threat to trees”. It makes you wonder: What are the other enemies of trees? According to Chinese Elements, it's Metal. 

PART 2: The Metal War

Predicting the theme of the next war in Autumn is FAR HARDER to predict than the last one (which will almost certainly be about Winter itself) but we can make a few guesses. 

-Sickles of Extinction -Scythes of Extinction  -Axes of Extinction

Sickles of Extinction / Titanium Theory:

Oh, did I mention we already have metal themed gangs fighting Shishitoren called Zinc and Cobalt. 

Yes, that’s right! Zinc, the weakest gang in the series is the key to figuring out everything. But not Zinc itself but rather whoever is controlling these petty metal gangs. It’s possible that these gangs are like tiny states in a greater Union.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s take a look at Zinc and Cobalt’s culture. Zinc seems to come from an industrial part of town that has a redbrick and brownish theme. 

Zinc itself has copper and black colored jerseys and its base is a run down industrial warehouse or hanger of some sort. 

Then there’s Cobalt. It appears to be a skater themed gang with jaggy shirts and jeans. Most of them are seen wearing work caps. But some wear beanies or have lost their hats. 

The background looks industrial, you can spot a few smoke stacks.

All in all, having the two ore-themed factions come from a mine-themed area is not all that surprising is it? But how is that relevant to Shishitoren, who continuously has to fight them? Shishitoren is about meritocracy. Devotion to strength. It’s about striving to be the best. What is the opposite of individual strength and meritocracy?

LET ME BE CLEAR. Wind Breaker is NOT and overtly political show and any symbolism like this will likely be downplayed. Nevertheless, it bears mentioning. There is a VERY long history of mining communities taking collective action across all cultures. Represented by a harvesting sickle. So let's assume all these petty gangs form a collective or pay vassalage to a bigger gang. Lets call it “Titanium”. It is only reasonable to assume they’d have a polar opposite ideology to Shishitoren. One based around equity. I don’t think it's going to get overtly political, it’ll be subtle like when we want over similar themes in the Gravel arc.

But this is just one of MANY ideas. For all we know, "Titanium" could just be a smaller player in a bigger story arc.

Scythes of Extinction / Reaper Triad Theory:

Scythes are the bringers of all harvests. And you don't get much more threatening than scythes. Symbols of death itself. If there was ever a way to hype a powerful evil yakuza gang as a threat it’d be giving them reaper tattoos.

Again, scythes are the natural enemies of all plants. Its the reason Metal overcomes Wood in the Chinese elements. But a scythe can’t take down a whole tree. No, there’s only one tool known for that.

Axes of Extinction / Ax-to-Grind Theory:

Axes are the iconic enemy of trees and a symbol of vengeance. 

Here are just a few adages about revenge:

“Ax to grind.”  “Bury the hatchet.”  “The ax forgets, but the tree remembers.” “An eye for an eye leaves the world blind.” 

Let’s say hypothetically, there was a character who had issues with vengeance and anger. If this character ended up having a big storyline, maybe it’ll be about axes made from metal. 

Also axes are historically held by raiders. If anyone is going to be raiding Makochi, it’d be a horde of barbarians with axes.

PART 3: The Winter War

Blizzards of Extinction / Winter War Theory:

During the Endo fight we get an interesting comparison. Endo compares Sakura to a branch. He states that freezing the branch paradoxically makes it more brittle and easier to break. 

I think this is foreshadowing by Nii-sensei that the greatest enemy of all plant-life is WINTER. It’s what makes all plants die every year. When you pair this together with how WBK will end in the third semester, it almost makes it inevitable the final faction will have a winter theme. Even if I’m wrong and there are no other extinction wars, I still think this will be the case.

Conclusion

Take a step back. The manga is called WIND Breaker. The first big enemy was about FIRE. It's actually not that complex. The next wars will be Earth and Water themed, or more specifically:

We're gonna get a Metal war and a Winter war.

Probably. The "Metal War" might involve Shishitoren at the end of autumn. And the "Winter War" will be the series finale, right before graduation and the new Bofurin Leader is chosen.

I tried to be purposely vague with this theory because I wanted to stick closer to the facts and what we actually know. For example, I could see Umemiya’s rooftop savior being involved in the Winter War. But I can see a lot of things. And there’s also a chance I could be totally off base and there’s no ordained structure to the wars at all. And that’s okay too. But I do think the name “Extinction War” is oddly specific. Almost like it's part of a set…

[grey-spark]

Making Predictions About Suo

Suo is one of the most mysterious and complex characters, and I want to make some predictions about him. I’m aware that most of you already know what I’m about to cover but I need to spell out the evidence here to make my arguments. So let's get right into it:

Warning: minor manga spoilers ahead

GOING OVER THE EVIDENCE

1. Nobody knows about Suo’s past.

Not even Umemiya, who is basically the ears of Bofurin.

That's a big deal. Not only is he a mystery to us, but he's a mystery to everyone in the story. Nirei has no real data on him. Hiragi says he heard his name a lot but went to a different school. Which also begs the question, why did he come to Makochi?

2. Suo talks about his master and his style fondly.

After he has a fight with man-bun guy, Nirei asks him about his fighting style and Suo says this:

Notice the way he talks about his master. It seems rather fond. He doesn't flinch. He doesn't seize. He seems uncomfortable talking about himself, but he's still willing to share. If Suo has any angst it doesn't seem to be related to his master and style. So what is Suo's source of angst and who is this master of his?

3. Suo has a “diet” where he never eats with anyone.

In a show were eating with other people is a big deal, he repeatedly refuses to eat food with other people. There is zero chance this is a quirk or an actual diet. He doesn't even eat during a leadership summit, where it's sort of disrespectful to refuse.

4. Suo is almost certainly hiding arm tattoos.

We NEVER see Suo in short sleeves. Even in the merch and advertisements. He never shows his bare arms.

And in the beach episode, he seems to avoid taking off his clothes to swim, and doesn't even want to risk getting wet. Probably out of fear of water making his rash guard see through. (Also why does he wear a long sleeve rash guard if he has no intention of swimming.)

5. He’s going to fight Sakura at some point.

This is not a fact per-se, but it's been hinted. Sakura is already thinking about ways to get Suo to fight him seriously.

Suo and Sakura have this strange rivalry were Suo has already conceded defeat. There's this strange tension between them. They're basically opposites. A man with nothing to hide verse a man with everything to hide. And the only way its going to be resolved is by "talking" through fighting.

Recap

Nobody knows about Suo’s past.

Suo talks about his master and his style fondly. 

Suo has a “diet” where he never eats with anyone.

Suo is almost certainly hiding a tattoo. 

It’s been hinted that he’s going to fight Sakura seriously. 

Using these established facts we can start to make some deductions and predictions about his story arc.

DEDUCTIONS/PREDICTIONS

Questions: 4a- Why would Suo hide/be ashamed of a tattoo?  3a- Why isn’t he eating?

Answer: He’s ashamed. He doesn’t eat for the same reason child Umemiya wouldn’t eat. He hates himself and the tattoo he's hiding has something to do with it. He’s so guilty he can’t even eat. So chances are Suo was a scumbag in the past. The only people in the scope of this story who do super evil things are evil gangs, which is likely where the tattoo comes from.

Questions: 4b- How can Suo be friendly/good if he was in an evil gang? 2b- How can Suo have a nice master if he was in an evil gang? 1b- Why does Suo even go to Furin in the first place if he’s not from around there?

Answer: His eye. Suo lost his eye somehow and that turned him into an angry resentful person who fell into the wrong crowd. We see this in the KEEL arc where he temporarily regressed back into his revenge obsessed "eye-for-an-eye" mindset.

But eventually Suo must have had a crisis of conscience, and Suo was likely redeemed by his sensei somehow. His sensei was a positive infulence in his life and may even be the reason he turned into a sinophile. His sensei made Suo into the friendly person he is today. In fact, he may have been the one to suggest going to Bofurin as a way to make friends and “further his training.”

Question: 5c- How are Sukura and Suo going to fight if they are close friends?

Answer: Suo is going to be blackmailed into leaving Bofurin. Sakura is going to fight him to stay but ultimately lose.

Or more generally, Suo is going to do something Sakura completely disagrees with. And it will almost certainly be about his old gang. I don’t see Suo becoming a real villain, so he’s most likely going to be blackmailed. Suo will see this as a rational self sacrifice (which is on theme with the KEEL and Gravel story arcs). Sakura will challenge Suo to a fight on the condition that if he wins Suo will stay, but Sakura will lose. Sugishita will replace him as the third party member and this will force Sugi to grow, which is the first new plot element introduced after the Noroshi war.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Given these deductions we can guess a SUPER VAGUE order of events. These are all vague predictions. Some of it could be false, but I’m 80% sure that 80% of this will be true:

>Suo will leave suddenly after his old gang blackmails him to return. >Sakura will fight to stop him but lose. >Class 1-1 will form a task force to find Suo. (This could take many chapters resulting in Sugishita taking his place.) >Class 1-1 will eventually find Suo at the evil gang base. >Sakura and Suo will have a rematch where he comes home. > The gang will declare war on Bofurin/Makochi unless they surrender Suo. (This could even lead to another Extinction war.)

But theses are just my guesses. Ultimately, I have no idea where Nii-sensei is going to take the story. But the evidence seems to point in this self-deprecating direction...

[grey-spark]

I'm now releasing ACT 3 of "My First Friend, Humphrey"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55476250/chapters/167203129#workskin

[grey-spark]

This is Nagato's transformation timeline in my fanfic KEEL OVER.

Here is the most recent chapter posted today: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60505168/chapters/166891660