New Wbk analysis post 222 P. 1
The full analysis ended up being basically 6 pages long front and back
Anyways, let me start talking about what we have from RC and Bankoku-Gai so far.
- RC was founded 80 years ago, almost parallel to the founding of Bankoku-Gai, by 3 guys or at least organised by 3 guys who wanted to protect their people from threats, likely related to xenophobia and racism, as we know to be a real problem in modern day Japan and throughout the country's history.
- The bonds in RC are said to be stronger than blood (this is a quote from Endo, who, drawing from the knowledge we have so far, got it from someone on the inside of the city)
- Because of its logo and how it's presented to us: 3 dragons, 3 founders, Suo is in a group of 3 in RC; we can infer it is a tripartite system.
- the position of "officer" seems to be pretty high up in the hierarchy, just from the way Endo narrates it, but also from what little we've seen in the RC chapters; and there's a big possibility that "Officer" is the highest position, and clearly there's 3 up top of RC (officers or otherwise)
- this rule of 3 makes sense as 3 is considered a lucky number in many cultures (including Japanese and Chinese, which seem to heavily influence the system of RC)
- RC has a dojo where they train future members, called "pupils of the crimson vortex" (unsure if crimson vortex was just a different spelling of Red Chanpuru btw)
- This dojo takes in kids that are abandoned at its gates, they raise them, care for them and train them to become members of RC as soon as they're 15 years old (though I imagine there might also be a "training time" stipulated if they are abandoned at say, 13/14/15; I'm going off a limb and saying they consider kids 15 up to be basically adults)
- Now, this dojo also trains kids that don't live in the dojo, and also works as a community kitchen of sorts, feeding kids that are neither part of the dojo, nor external trainees. Which solidifies RC's devotion to protecting the people of Bankoku-Gai.
- The cook mentions economic hardships, we have a kid mentioning his mom is sick and implying he's the only one who can care for her and asking to take the food to her. From which we all assumed food scarcity issues and economic hardships in the whole city, supported by the run down state of the inner city, including the trash seen on the floor by the entrances in the most recent chapter, as well as the deteriorated railing in the dojo building balcony.
- RC seems to operate like a well-oiled machine, yet somehow so far we've only seen teens in high positions: Suo as an officer, Rakta and Bacchus (seem around Ume's age group) being seconds in command and the 3 teen platoon accompanying Rakta (again, driving the number three relevance, they're likely new recruits in training for patrols), the guys guarding the doors seem to be regular civilians given a job, or they're RC members dressed casual to not draw attention, as RC stays unknown to the outside world.
- RC also seems to have a dressing code that hinges around ethnic traditional garments from various cultures and an overcoat (or a jacket in Bacchu's case, which I'm yet to figure out if this is meant to be a rank distinction like Rakta's neckpiece, or a personal choice) that seems to be the same shade for everyone (likely a shade of red).
- According to Endo's intel and his own interpretation, they're far more violent than Furin, we have yet to learn exactly what this means. We also know they never strike first. Both things fit perfectly with what we've seen of Suo's character, from the Keel incident, to his fight against Kanuma or Obiki, his first reaction to Endo and how he always takes a protective role first.
- All RC members seem to speak Japanese, as well as the civilians who work in the tourist area and the door guards, the rest of the population that stays on the inner circle seems to only speak one language, their own in particular, causing quite a communication issue.
- Which is why RC members are expected to be at least bilingual, like Bacchus, to help bridge this communication gap.
- Bankoku-Gai is a city with a clear division, it's built a bit like a fortress (someone brought up Kowloon city a while ago and I mean...) with an outer street to make business and sell an image of the city attracting tourists, but keeping the inside residential area hidden from view and only accessible via narrow alleyways, closed by metal bar doors and guarded. To access the city, you need a pass, which I imagine is physical, as words can travel far. It is likely the same pass is needed to get out.
- this pass system is likely born out of protection, one can imagine people trying to enter the city to commit all kinds of crimes (possibly race motivated as well), however there's a very fine line keeping a system like this from becoming controlling and authoritative.
- Regarding Suo's adventures in Makochi, it is important to keep in mind that Suo started coming and going at 12 years old, when he entered Middle school, a lot of people seem to focus only on Suo joining Furin, thinking it has to be a spy mission of sorts, but frankly when Suo started going to Makochi, Umemiya hadn't changed Furin yet.
- The dojo seems to be in charge of educating the kids, so I personally believe they don't have formal schooling in Bankoku-Gai, which would explain why Suo decided to attend school outside (something that might have been encouraged and made possible by his master).
- Now, RC people definitely knew Suo was coming and going everyday, the kids probably didn't, or if they did they don't think much of it, only thing they noticed is now Suo is back at the dojo earlier. However, only Rakta and Bacchus might have known about his classmates at Furin and what exactly Suo was doing there.
- Rakta and Bacchus' stance on this whole Furin thing is unclear, their faces could show displeasure that Suo was spending so much time away or that he had to drop out, at the mention of him coming back earlier.
- Because of Suo's official file stating he has "kyodai" or brothers (mostly used for martial arts), and the way Rakta, Bacchus and Suo seem casual with each other (as well as Kyodai often being a term used between those who train under the same master), it's likely these Kyodai Suo talked about are Bacchus and Rakta.
- Why appoint a 15 year old as officer? He was likely younger, given the amount of respect he seems to be given naturally. Well, it's likely that Suo was already being trained to assume said position when the previous officer stepped down, and whoever the officer was (I'm leaving towards his master) passed away or became too sick to uphold his duty and so the responsibility fell on Suo.
- Whatever the reason is, Suo was an officer before 15, because this level of freedom he had to come and go and delegate his job (while things are stable) can't be attributed to anything but that, and also because Suo only turned 15 a mere 6-7 days before the school year started (Suo was born on March 28th, the Japanese school year often starts around April 3rd-4th, likewise Sakura only turned 15 a mere 2-3 days before highschool started, they're the class babies)
- Now, RC definitely puts in the work, all of them (so far) are pretty involved in the city, fixing up stuff, dissolving conflicts... The convo with the cook shows they have immense faith in RC, however our trio's reaction tells us that this isn't working as well as the civils think, which means that externally they're doing an amazing job and helping as much as they can, but it's not enough for whatever the issue is.
- By technicality, Suo doesn't have the entire weight of the city on him, as long as we don't get told otherwise, that weight is shared between 3 officers, and clearly Rakta and Bacchus do an amazing job since Suo trusts on delegating them responsibility while he's out in Makochi. But even then, ultimately the weight of responsibilities falls on Suo as an officer, and that would take a toll on anyone, imagine how hard it is for a 15 year old.
- and this is not even bringing in the fact that Suo likely didn't have much of a choice, his whole life (and most of RC's life) is about protecting Bankoku-Gai and doing everything for it, no matter what. And that's not even bringing up how indebted they must feel to the organisation for saving them, for giving them a place to grow up when they'd been abandoned...
Okay, I feel like this is long enough, see you on part 2, where I'll talk about Suo more in depth (that's probably going to happen tomorrow tho, because it's almost 1 am already and a guy has to try and sleep so their Braincell can function relatively properly)
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