I’m NaOH [Naoh]. This is a Wind Breaker (Nii Satoru) centric blog, in which I mainly post meta/analyses about it. My favorite characters are Suo, Nirei, and Sakura Rakta, Rakta, and Rakta. Maybe Bacchus too.
I’m not very active on social media nor do I have a consistent posting schedule anymore, but I try my best to keep up with things.
I seldom block, but if you are blocked it means I dislike the content you post, or I don’t like you at all. Don’t take it personally.
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#wbk analysis: Contains all of my Wind Breaker analyses. Most of these contain manga spoilers, and are tagged as such (with #wbk spoilers).
#naohs soapbox: Responses to asks I’ve received.
#naoh yaps: Random thoughts from me (which is either general yap about Wind Breaker or related to my blog).
The Volume 5 bonus is still funny to me 2+ years later because why did Nii Satoru marry off the most emotionally repressed guys in this series way before their relationship had substantial meat to it
They called me crazy for saying Suo is a traitor who’s part of a faction opposing Furin and they’ll call me crazy AGAIN for saying Bacchus is an insurgent of that same faction
Yes and no? If that’s the case, it’d probably be someone working under Bacchus because you do need the collaboration of a large amount of people for an (hypothetical) insurgency group. Bacchus’ position as an officer could also be a liability if he was Endo’s direct informant, so I suppose it would be a “through the grapevine” thing via his subordinates.
Thinking about Bacchus’ name again (because when am I not) and his character may harbor the theme of duality. Dionysus is quite a complex god; not only is he mixed (having an immortal father and mortal mother), what he reigns over is very polarizing. He is mainly known for being the god of wine, as well as fertility, agriculture, and festivity—but madness, ritual insanity and (religious) ecstasy. Which dovetails it with wine—getting drunk off alcohol can be liberating, however it can also turn you mad. From a Nietzschean perspective, Dionysus also represents the more primitive and savage nature of humans (that isn’t acknowledged forthright), such as violence or sexual indulgence. But of course, all of this can be safely explored through the realm of stories/fiction, ie. theater (which is another thing Dionysus is a god of). And Dionysus has a few books and a very notable play written about him. Maybe Bacchus (the WBK character) has a darker side to him that’s hidden under the surface?
Much like Sunfei’s name having two different pronunciations in two languages (Suo Hayato and Sufang Sunfei) yet having the same definition, Bacchus’ name is also dual in nature. Bacchus is the Roman equivalent of the Greek God Dionysus, and vice versa as both of them reign over wine and the same aspects of nature that happen to oppose each other.
These panels still intrigue me immensely. We all know of the common phrase “a knowing look”, but here Rakta and Bacchus seem to come to a mutual understanding despite looking away from each other. I think that despite both of their differences and squabbles, their views will naturally sync somehow. Or they trust each other so much that they don’t need to look at each other for any sort of confirmation.
Sakura clutching at himself whenever he thinks of Suo is quite interesting. Foremost it is a signifier that he’s frustrated, but it may also be emphatic of Sakura’s inability to reach Suo. It’s like he wants to grab Suo, but since he is no longer present in Sakura’s life the latter can only grab at what’s more accessible: his own body parts. His own inability to hold Suo.
Which is funny, because the one time Sakura has made physical contact with Suo was when he stopped him during KEEL. In which Sakura’s grip on Suo tightened while he was talking about his own shortcomings, even though Suo was stationary in his grasp at that point. Suo wasn’t struggling to break free either, but Sakura still squeezed him while preaching that “getting pissed off won’t help” for no reason??? When Sakura meets Suo again, he’s going to hold onto him so tight that Suo will never be able leave Sakura’s side again (delusional)
Seeing that one guy calling the runaway kid a “hamari bacche” is just so funny to me. I don’t know a lick of Hindi (I’m from the South) but I sure know what their swear words are
It’s vitally important that people remember that no matter how many followers someone has on here they’re still literally just some person with a blog and not, like, The Authority on anything.
Been thinking about how communication plays a big role in Windbreaker…
Like, communication, and/or the lack of it, is significant to any story, but it’s specifically a central theme both in the text and subtext of Windbreaker. Whether it’s through intense brawls, group meals, sharing interests, or even flower languages, the series shows that there are many different ways to communicate with others.
It’s not uncommon for coming of age stories to explore these topics since kids, teens, and young adults are all still developing the tools necessary to properly understand and communicate with others. This is why all the characters in Windbreaker, regardless of upbringing, are going through that learning process too (though at different stages of fluency).
However, with how particularly significant this is in Windbreaker’s narrative, it’s not surprising that Sakura is our protagonist. Due to being shunned all of his life, he enters Makochi without even having a basic foundation to communicate with others. His isolation from others has caused him to develop his own language, which means other people struggle to understand him, and his lack of social experience means that he can’t understand other people either.
He’s essentially a foreigner in his own land, which is likely why he brightened up significantly when he initially thought Suo was a foreigner during his introduction. Though, despite the obvious teasing, it may not have been entirely incorrect.
For most of Windbreaker up until this latest manga arc, Suo has been a significant character because of his role as interpreter. When other people don’t understand Sakura, Suo translates for him in a way that they can comprehend. This is shown as early as his first appearance when his (deliberate) actions towards Sakura in the Furin classroom help ease the tension between Sakura and his classmates. Looking at how they act when Sakura first enters the room versus a few minutes later is like a night and day difference, and it’s all thanks to Suo lightheartedly introducing Sakura to the class.
He also helps interpret what other people are saying to Sakura. In most major emotional scenes in the story, Suo is usually there to easily summarize the main points to Sakura in a way that is easy for him to internalize and recall. It’s significant that Suo is often the one to bookend the emotional monologues of other characters to Sakura, and that Sakura seems to finally grapple with it properly once Suo gives that explanation
Overall, throughout most of the narrative, Sakura is largely able to grow and develop the communication skills he didn’t have before because he had Suo to act as his interpreter. But, despite his attempts to remain a passive participant, Suo isn’t an unbiased translator. The reason he is so good at being Sakura’s interpreter is because he shares Sakura’s language and is thus also a “foreigner.” This makes itself known during what is arguably Suo’s most significant early scene besides his introduction: his fight with Kanuma.
Up until this point in the story, Sakura has been suspicious and dismissive of Suo. Although he can tell that Suo is strong, he doesn’t try engaging with him significantly despite Suo placing himself in his orbit. In the moments that he does, it is with the legitimate belief that Suo may want to antagonize him.
But, when Suo tells Sakura that he was inspired by Sakura and wants to give it his all right before the Kanuma fight, Sakura immediately changes. He asks Nirei questions about Suo, he focuses on Suo’s battle, and he eventually tells Suo that he wants to have a proper battle with him, which in this series essentially means that he wants to learn more about him and get closer to him. And, though Suo characteristically deflects and doesn’t engage Sakura, the event is enough to convince Sakura to accept Suo into his budding group. He drops his suspicions, and takes Suo’s antics as playful rather than dangerous.
It’s such a significant early turning point for them that it’s the clearest memory Sakura has of Suo when the memories wash over him after learning about what he did to Nirei during the latest arc. And it’s because it’s one of the few times (and the first time) we see beyond the passive mask Suo wears.
Before that moment, Suo was just acting as an interpreter. A bridge between the class and Sakura. But, in that moment, Sakura and the audience see the human, the boy, that lives under that smile. A boy who was amazed by his new classmate and friend. A boy who was so angry that someone was mistreating others that he humiliated them in front of everyone. And he did it in a way that, whether consciously or unconsciously, was in a language that Sakura could understand. He can understand wanting to pummel a smug bastard into the ground. Sakura saw that “nasty” personality and was relieved and intrigued.
Their similar languages and thinking is also why Sakura often takes Suo’s explanations without question while Nirei is more likely to push back. Nirei’s unique perspective to the trio means that he is often the one to challenge their viewpoint the most.
Though Sakura now knew there was more to Suo, he both didn’t feel the need to push deeper or even had the tools to do so. But, as the story has progressed, he’s been slowly gaining the ability to properly communicate with people on his own, which is why Suo’s arc has occurred at just the right time.
Suo leaving Furin means that Sakura looses the training wheels that he has had up until this point. He now has to use the skills he has learned on his own, and he has done really well so far. Despite the hurt he felt after Suo’s departure, he took the time to listen to Nirei’s perspective and decided to make the effort to try to find Suo. And, when everyone was struggling to find him, he also took the initiative to ask everyone including Endo. These are all things that Sakura would not have done at the start of the series, which shows just how far he’s come.
Of course, the main test of these new skills will be trying to break through to Suo, especially since Suo knows him so well and shares a similar “language.” But as Suo himself has said, Sakura is the type of person who can do anything he puts his mind to. Hopefully, whatever happens, Sakura will help Suo to finally begin communicating and growing alongside the rest of the group, rather than simply being Sakura’s interpreter.
sometimes you see Takes™ that make you go "mmmhmmm okay yeah i see we both interpreted that differently based on what the show gave us, but i see how you arrived at your ideas even if they're different from mine," and then sometimes you see Takes™ that make you go "brother what show did you even fucking watch"
