Silf / 30+ / they/them; fandom & writing(?) blog. Currently into Hetalia (always into Hetalia), Black Butler, SpyxFamily, Apothecary Diaries, Frieren, and Wind Breaker. If I'm not here, you can check my rp blogs or ask for my discord
1. He needs to experience failure. He needs to learn that the whole world won't fall apart the moment if/when he fails
2. He needs a good cry. Preferably in front of the dojo kids, his brothers, and Sakura & co. Bc obviously this kid has been bottling up all his true emotions for who knows how long and he needs to release them somehow. It would also be for everyone else's benefit to see that this fifteen-year-old is in fact a fifteen-year-old who has been pushed way beyond reasonable limits and expectations and needs their support
Some days ago I saw people talking about seeing Suo's fighting aura in his character tag... and that may have stayed niggling in my brain. At first I was thinking to myself like "ofc it's gonna be a dragon bc RC = dragons and at the end of this arc, Suo will have proven himself as the most noble of all the dragons". But then I saw some official art and was like "wait but the dragon is already assigned to Sugi, and Sakura is a tiger (that is probably black and white like his hair)... that means we have two out of the four legendary beasts already" and then we have this guy with a bird in his name, whose whole theme is resurrection (also literally coded in his name), and his theme colour is red......
Imagine if this arc culminates to the little falcon flying out of his golden cage and transforming into a magnificent, flaming phoenix and then raining hell on whoever took his freedom
thinking about furin trio and the niisato interview time because wdym sosk were supposed to be a duo? those two emotionally repressed guys???? those two extremely mentally fucked up guys who don't know how to ask for help????? you mean to say they were supposed to progress through the story by themselves??? fr??????
#nirei actually spawned as a natural environmental consequence of their dynamic #there was a gap in the ecosystem #load bearing character (via @goatedgreen)
2 hours to Furin, doesn't eat all day at school, stays after school too (patrolling Makochi, rooftop BBQs, cafe pothos, visiting Sakura that one time, training Nirei), 2 hours back to Bankoku-gai, assumedly also walks around there and breaks up disputes (??), goes back to their base to train/ say hello to the kids there, doesn't join them for dinner- WHEN DOES HE EAT. SUO. SUO WHEN ARE YOU EATING.
Before I go to write any longer analysis posts, there's a few things I need you to know about the new chapter. Pls excuse me as I go on a bit of a rant from a professional standpoint
*clears throat* English and Translation Studies major in uni here, hi
THIS IS BAD TRANSLATION. THERE IS IN FACT NO TRANSLATION HAPPENING HERE. Translating is the act of transmitting a message from one language into another. Interpreting is transmitting the message in spoken language while translating usually refers to written texts. In layman's terms, both are included under the umbrella of translation so that's what I'm using here. But what Suo is doing is simply policing people in multiple languages. He's not transmitting any messages between any languages even tho he clearly knows multiple
The core ethics of a professional translator/interpreter are also to maintain neutrality and transparency. We are not allowed to change the message we're transmitting in any way, we're not allowed to insert our own opinions into the message, and we're not allowed to pick and choose which parts of the message get transmitted. A translator isn't supposed to draw attention to themselves, our role is to be invisible. We're simply there to transmit messages between people who lack a common language, and who we are outside the job and the role of a translator - our identity and problems - is left behind at the door. These are things we're taught on day 1 of Translation Studies. So if Suo and his brothers are supposed to act as translators/interpreters/multicultural community negotiators, this is UNETHICAL PRACTICES
Secondly, I need you to know the term "linguistic imperialism" that popped up very early in my studies (and might be something of a special interest for me). In our modern world, English is the global lingua franca and Anglo-American culture has spread all over the world via Hollywood movies, music, memes and other media. In our modern world, knowing English gives you a privilege over people who do not know English, and an advantage in education, the job market, etc. and just gaining worldly knowledge in general. So if English is not your native language, you're more or less forced to learn English in order to get ahead in life
It appears to me that in Bankoku-gai, knowing English is not the privilege, multilingualism is. The more languages you know, the more privilege you have in a multicultural environment. And that gives the multilingual people a position of power over the people who only know one or two languages. Which is why we get Bacchus complaining here about being "only bilingual". And then Rakta makes fun of him for it
And anyway, this was just the first one of MANY fishy things I spotted in the chapter
I just started reading the new chapter and will do a proper analysis (on Bankoku-gai & brother posting part 2) later but I just had to post quick reaction here:
I just started reading the new chapter and will do a proper analysis (on Bankoku-gai & brother posting part 2) later but I just had to post quick reaction here:
Just so you know, in my other fandom my thing for years has been to take minor characters who have like 15 seconds of canon (this is not a joke, I've counted lol) and maybe three personality traits in their bio and run for the hills with them. And then spin my own bs on them until I get a well-rounded character. And then rp that character. So just so you know, I'm in my element here~
Also, I read a theory maybe about a month back where someone said it'd be fun if Suo was involved in a bird themed gang (might have been the same person who introduced the folk tale of three brothers fighting over a redbud tree, but unfortunately I liked a lot of those theory posts on another blog so it might be hard to find it again, I'd love to link it here tho) and I liked that theory so I'm going to lean wholeheartedly into it here
For the rest of this post, I'll be referring to the pants wearing, short-haired brother as Hawk brother (鷹, read as "yīng" in Mandarin, "taka" in Japanese; hawks represent keen vision, swift action, and the warrior's noble spirit, in Chinese the same character is also used for "eagle" which symbolises strength) and the brother with long robes and a man bun as Owl brother (梟, read as "xiāo" in Mandarin, "fukurou" in Japanese; in Japan owls symbolise good luck and protection from suffering, while in China they are seen as guardians of wisdom but can also be death omens). I'm headcanoning these hanzi/kanji as the first characters in their given names until Nii-sensei gives us their canon names
(Juuust kidding, I've already picked out full names for them for my own potential fanfic purposes, I just don't think revealing them is relevant here. But if you ask, I'll spill)
Please be warned that this post is going to be 80% Owl brother propaganda bc I've decided I like this guy haha
First off, I realised they're all wearing red overcoats (how do I know it's red in a black and white manga? The tone used closely matches Suo's hair and we know Suo's hair is reddish-brown - tho ofc we don't know for sure until Nii-sensei posts coloured sketches) so this could be the Red Chanpuru's uniform. Probably it's not the brightest red out there, maybe closer to maroon, something that is inconspicuous enough to pass as normal clothing but distinctive enough to allow RC members to recognise each other on the street. As Endo said that these guys never step out into the spotlight. The same "hidden in plain sight" thing also applies if we assume the red coral and tassels jewellery is used as the insignia marking RC's officers. A "if you know you know" kinda code for a gang that works in the shadows. Suo wears his as earrings, Owl brother wears yajin (press lapels) and Hawk brother... *squints suspiciously at the hand he kept in his pants pocket the whole time* maybe it's a shibazi bracelet?
I've also seen something about how the colour/materials/placement of the tassels has symbolism but so far I haven't found anything concrete on that other than Taoist colour theory (someone who actually knows Chinese could have better luck researching this). Tho earrings could be a sign of either servitude (but I don't have a primary source on this, heard it on a youtube analysis video) or be a protection charm for young boys (if only one ear was pierced). But ofc you also gotta keep in mind that wbk isn't the most realistic manga and while Nii-sensei might take inspiration from lots of places, the symbolisms might not be one to one with the original source
As far as the ranks go, I could see Hawk brother hiding either one coral bead (same rank as Suo, making the two of them Owl brother's vices) or three beads (outranking the other two and making their hierarchy similar to Furin's Grade Captains with Hawk brother holding a similar rank to Hiiragi, I'm leaning toward this second theory atm). I could see these three either leading their own squads and/or the three of them acting as some kind of officer SWAT team within RC
(This is also why I wanted them all named after birds of prey... imagine being some petty criminal hiding in your evil lair and suddenly getting ambushed by these three and all of them fighting to the same level as Suo did with Obiki or that one time he tried bashing Endo's head in- Tho I suppose these guys' style might be more negotiations first and if that doesn't work, then whoop ass)
(Also the mental image of a hawk, a falcon, and an owl roosting side by side was fucking cute in my head, sue me)
The rest of their outfits I think are just personal preference rather than related to rank (like with Bofurin, as long they wear the Furin jacket or some part of the uniform - yes I'm looking at you Suo with your summer uniform - they can wear whatever they want under it). So I'm gonna analyse the outfits next for some hints of their personality and potential fighting styles
Hawk brother with his high-waisted pants and short jacket would be perfectly suited to be a quick and aggressive (read: Sakura-like) all around brawler, just with more... Eastern/kung-fu twist to it like Suo's fighting style as they likely have the same teacher/master. He seems likeone who's casual and quite friendly if a bit rough around the edges. Has a bit of a temper too, maybe. I think he'd have been Suo's battle partner, someone he fought back to back with before meeting Sakura. (Also as a side note, I feel like RC!Suo would have much less qualms about using his fists or lethal force in a fight- or at least he probably would have before Furin but might feel differently about it now)
Owl brother and Suo wear much fancier clothes but when Suo turns and we get a glimpse of his ankles, you can see that his long robe has a slit on at least one side (probably both sides and knowing Suo those slits go all the way up/over his hips), meaning he can still use that devastating side kick of his if the need arises. We haven't seen Owl brother's full outfit or hems yet but so far his robe looks... quite impractical for fighting. If his long robe doesn't have a slit or only has a knee high slit, he's effectively limiting himself from kicks (which might be better for their enemies lol, we've seen what Suo's kicks are like) and his fighting style would end up being more like Kiryu's; playing back-up/defense, using his palms to redirect his opponents moves and tossing them in front of stronger fighters - Hawk brother and Suo in this case. He gives a calm and collected impression and might be more of a leader/ commander rather than an active fighter in battles. Like someone who only joins the fight as a last resort/when something goes wrong. (Tbh tho I think it would be funny to see Owl brother lamenting at some later point about how an enemy just had to "make him" kick their lights out and how he ripped his fancy robe in the process oh woe is me)
Actually makes me think that Suo might have been copying Owl brother's calmer, more defensive and redirection focused fighting style (minus the kicks, the kicks feel like Suo's own thing and are perhaps his signature moves) in Furin and his actual RC fighting style is something different and much more aggressive. Atm I'm thinking he'd have probably learnt to fight before joining RC in street fights maybe, and his master only taught him more refined techniques and anger management, probably discouraged him from simply punching things... which is why when his control slips, the fists come out too and then we get stuff like his KEEL crash out (one minor hc but I think Suo is hiding Kaji level anger issues lol)
...This also brings to my mind a sudden thought that that side kick of Suo's that I mentioned earlier feels like something linked to his baser instincts too, like it's more of a panicked knee-jerk reaction than something he plans to do. We've only seen it twice as far as I recall, the one inch kick in his fight with Kanuma when Kanuma suddenly rushed at him with his fist raised.. and the second time with Nirei in ch211 when Nirei got very close to punching him (the first time, he landed it the second time). 🤔🤔🤔 Suo's other kicks like the ones he used against Obiki and Endo feel much more gracefully executed and in the KEEL fight I think we only saw the guy flying, not what kind of kick Suo landed on him. The side kick really just makes me think of a cornered and frightened animal lashing out, like a very violent "Get away from me" (Suooo, is this a trauma response? Nii-sensei, is this foreshadowiiing??)
Getting sidetracked in real time, moving on-
The way they banter here makes them seem close. If there's any rank between them, they're definitely not acting on it, they're acting like family. (Esp if they weren't Suo's brothers and Suo outranked them, they wouldn't dare squabble like kids behind his back and you'd expect them to greet him with bows instead of "Sheesh, back again?") There's also something about how Owl brother speaks that reminds me of Suo himself (tho Owl brother is def a lot more savage with his teasing than Suo is). Lbr tho I'm mostly grasping on the "Hm. That's an interesting take" here. But if Owl brother also does the "Mhm!" at some point then I'm calling it lol. It feels like to me that Suo and him are very similar people? Or like parts of Suo's personality might have been copied from Owl brother?
Tbh I'm also not closing out the possibility that Owl brother could be Suo's master. If this image is Suo's master, then they have similar hair at least, and we don't see this person's face just like we haven't seen Owl brother's face yet so we can't tell how old they are (my guess is that the brothers would be 4-7 years older than Suo, with Hawk being slightly older than Owl). Like maybe we've been looking at Suo's master from the wrong angle this whole time, maybe they're not an Adult (also gotta keep in mind this is the manga where the only ones shown doing actual parenting are a few grandparents and Yuki Shitara), and instead Suo was just like Nirei once upon a time and simply picked an older kid he admired as his teacher. Tho the word "Shishou" does have somewhat parental vibes... (or maybe I'm just thinking Furuba here) It could also be that the master only taught Suo martial arts and the life lessons came from Owl brother? Or at the very least it feels like master's life lessons could have been filtered to younger Suo through conversations with Owl brother
Also is it just me or is this the most emotionally honest thing Suo has said in the whole series? Ofc it's still Suo so he has to word it in the most "cryptic ancient sage" way possible but at least to us readers, his meaning is very clear? "I come to this balcony to think. I reminisce about the past and feel anxious about the future. I miss the friends I left behind. If I close my eye, it's like I can still hear the wind chimes and I can feel close to them". And for him to open up at all about his thoughts implies he has a lot of trust for these two. But unfortunately his brothers didn't catch the ball, tho it feels like Owl brother might have wanted to press further if Hawk brother wasn't there to ruin the moment or they weren't in a rush to find Suo and bring him to a secondary location. I wouldn't be surprised if Owl brother tries to check in on Suo again in a chapter or two
And now we're heading 100% into the Fanfic Lane. Aka my speculations for what their relationships/history with each other is like
I would assume that the brothers and Suo have known each other for a long time, like at least 5-6 years, possibly even longer. I could see Suo getting adopted into RC already in elementary school. Like maybe he was a street urchin (or an abandoned box of kittens, if you will) at some point and his brothers found him and brought him to their master and he was taken in. At least Hawk brother seems like he has a long history of distrusting every word out of Suo's mouth and no longer falls for his bs lol
I could also see both brothers being very protective over Suo (Hawk brother perhaps being more physically demonstrative about it, Owl brother feels like someone who'd offer solace with his words and be someone who's there for Suo to talk to), maybe to the point where they have a hard time looking at Suo's eyepatch, bc in some way they blame themselves for not having been there on time to prevent the injury. Esp if the injury happened during Suo's time in RC and not before. And at the same time, if RC is a cult/sect, the organisation may be very strict and authoritarian and "showing weak emotions" or "coddling children" may not be allowed or is at least heavily discouraged
So no matter how caring and well-meaning these brothers are, they probably haven't been able to shelter Suo from all (potential) abuse in RC. If the brothers themselves register RC's practises as abuse either. I don't think they themselves would be abusive to Suo (at least I hope they're not) but I could easily see them being unintentionally emotionally neglectful due to their own RC trauma/upbringing. And Suo being a quiet, mature, responsible "easy child" doesn't help the matters either
Especially if we go by the theory that Suo's master has passed (and there's someone Suo is much less fond of now in charge), it could be as simple as the brothers just being completely ill-equipped/not knowing how to help a grieving teenager. But they could be people Suo could trust and talk to if only Suo didn't have a compulsive habit of bullshitting his way through every conversation
But also if there's one trope I'm an actual Whore for, it's estranged siblings/tragic misunderstandings between people who truly love each other but can't spit it out for one reason or another (like siblings affected by the same trauma in different ways, the axe forgets but the tree remembers, the Hedgehog's Dilemma, tropes like that are my jam and I'll find a way infect everything I touch with them) so please take everything I've said in this section with a heaping spoonful of salt. There's like a 90% chance I'm just seeing what I want to see
And finally we have this panel and let me tell you, this one hurts me more than the "Suo-san was suffering" one. Bc in that one, while Suo's expression was completely new and unfamiliar to us, at least he was still recognisable as himself. This one here, while he still has all the familiar attributes of the Suo we've grown used to; the eyepatch, the earrings, the curtain bangs and ever-present smile... there's nothing familiar or "Suo" in his expression. It's like looking at a skinwalker
Every time I see this panel, I end up zooming in real up close to his face, in an attempt to find something "Suo" in there. And maybe there's still something left in his eye (once you get close enough to see pixels haha). But that doesn't really make it any better. It's like his eye is saying "I love my brothers but I don't want to be here anymore" and "I'm scared, terrified even, but I'm trying my best to keep it together". Wherever they're headed to next, he's so clearly foreboding about it. Almost like he's about to walk out to his own (metaphorical) execution
My prediction for ch217 is that there are still one or two other members of Suo's family we've yet to see, a third older brother and/or his master. And that one of those is probably gonna be an authoritarian and shouty/scary figure who Suo's not that fond of
Anyway there's my analysis, I'm scared and excited for ch217 and will continue analysing the brothers whenever they show up 🫡
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Made the mistake of going on pinterest again and my dash was out for blood as usual (or maybe it's just that everything reminds me of the Suo arc these days)
Anyway, it's really starting to feel to me that the biggest tragedy in the Suo arc is going to be Suo simply being far too kind for the kind of lot he was given in life. Like this kid has probably been through absolutely horrid things but no matter what or how much he might have tried, despite how much it would have been for his own benefit to kill that kindness in him, there's a part of him that is so so inherently kind that he has only ever learnt to hide and restrain it, never kill it completely. And then you put him in a fertile environment like Furin and that inherent kindness bloomed in him again so quick and wild and untameable that even after leaving Furin, it remains in his chest, as unkillable as ever but no longer as easy for him to ignore. And that's what's making him suffer now, esp if he's forced to do unkind and unsavoury things under RC's orders
This isn't really here or there, more or less unrelated to anything I'm working on in my drafts currently. But I fucked up my sleep sched and my brain is in full angst mode tonight and there's a thought that refuses to leave me alone
You know in the back of my mind I'm still squinting at that empty lot in Makochi. Bc Suo doesn't tell outright lies (or only ones so outrageous that only Sakura and Ume will believe them). So maybe his actual Makochi address was somewhere nearby or he was actually camping out in the shed thingy at the back of the lot. Or maybe, if we go the ultimate angst route, that address was his real address a long time ago
Maybe Suo was actually born and raised in Makochi for the first few years of his life, before something happened to him that landed him in Bankoku-gai and in RC's ranks. Maybe that's why he came back to Makochi for middle school, after whatever went down with RC that might have cost him his eye
Maybe if Nirei were to talk to some old grandmas in that neighbourhood about people who have come and gone through Makochi over the years or went digging into newspapers articles from his childhood at the local library, he'd find out the story of a family who moved out of Makochi all of a sudden after something happened at their house. Or came across newspaper clippings of a boy his age who went missing when they were children and was never found. Maybe he'd even see a photo of someone who looks remarkably like his friend, sans the eyepatch and about ten years
Maybe they could never find info about Suo bc there has never been a Suo family in Makochi. But there was once a family with a different surname, with a son called Hayato. And something horrible happened to them
the more i read wind breaker the more i see the 'political commentary' being slathered in the unspoken parts of the story
the whole plot centers around kids who basically act out in delinquency and engage in gang wars. the whole society as a whole in the narrative is strangely absent in working adults with a proper job or even working parents. the cities are run down in the corners, sometimes littered with grafitti or just abandoned.
the community is often the gangs the characters find themselves in and hang out with. while the protag's school offers protection to the local area outside of school, it doesnt change that there is a serious detrioriation of the economic health of the setting. there's a severe disconnect between the characters who need help and actual aid rendered from welfare services which should exist.
the characters in the settings are outcasts in some way. more often neglected if not abandoned by the adults who should be in their lives.
its also really not far from reality. tokyo itself is full of business and working adults. but go to just about any other cities even 2 hours away and suddenly there's an empty shopping street and abandoned buildings in the middle of a main street. tokyo feels like a city that grows and siphons away able bodied workers and money away form the other cities, of which makochi feels like.
this all then leads nicely into actual gangs, yakuzas and mafias. these groups are often comprised of the same types of outcasts, the difference is just the age and the way they operate. yakuzas often also recruited from delinquent gangs in the past. there's even more history of them originally being outcasts themselves due to discrimination based on their social status or race. and if you know anything about japanese nationalism, this is a huge and intense can of worms.
so suo or sun fei being an officer of basically a mafia genuinely doesnt surprise me. but i think what does is the race angle here. up until the manga drops his sun fei name and a basic outline of what red chanpuru is, the whole commentary seemed to still be focused on the topic of ethnically japanese only outcasts.
in case no one's talked about this yet; the word chanpuru is a okinawan dish which is basically stir fry. fwiw okinawan is the land of the ryukyuans, who had their own culture and language, and was annexed just like the ainus during the meiji era (which domino'd into ww2 in the asia theater, but im summarizing heavily about this topic). the ryukyuans has historically a lot of interactions with china, korea, southeast asia and even the austronesians.
since wind breaker is also marketed as shounen im not expecting satoru nii to go super deep and explicit with the commentary, but i do smell something worth chewing a lot on. i recognize this ball and i want to play with it
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