Assuming the flowers at the beginning of the chapter are Chinese Redbuds:
"The Chinese Redbud symbolizes family harmony, deep kinship, and brotherly love."
and as suo walks away, the roots are being torn away from sakura's arm, his right arm to be specific since suo was sakura's right-hand man
there's also a legend of the chinese redbud tree called "The Sibling Tree Legend" about three brothers who learn the importance of unity and staying united.
btw IS THAT SUO SINKING? AND THE CONNECTIONS GETTING SEVERED AND ROOTS GETTING RIPPED OFF FROM SAKURA(CAUSING SAKURA A LOT OF PAIN) MEAN HE DOESNT WANT SAKURA TO SINK IN TOO? HE WANTS HIM TO STAY FAR AWAY AND SAFE?
in my previous meta post, the strength of nirei akihiko, I mentioned that the current arc would be a good opportunity for sugishita to take a more active role in the story, since he and nirei now have an established rapport. well, it seems like that is indeed happening, so here I am, rushing to finish this post before the new chapter drops, because I have unmedicated ADHD and can't do anything in good time unless someone sets something on fire.
so, thank you for that, nii-sensei.
if I had to pick one word to describe sugishita, that word would probably be "misunderstood". because of the way he's introduced, the way he's written, and the perspective that the bulk of the story is told from, I think it's very easy to get the wrong idea about sugishita—and this is something that happens to him not just within the narrative, but also outside of it.
"fanatic". "mad dog". "aggressive". "cold". "hard-hearted". these are all words I've seen used to describe sugishita; by other people in the fandom, yes, but also in canon content. so, I wanted to try to clear up some of these misunderstandings. I want to talk about what makes sugishita tick, how he's developed (and is continuing to develop), and why he's one of my favourite characters in a series with an overall stellar cast.
this post contains spoilers up to chapter 218 of the manga.
prelude: the heart of the matter
it is impossible for me to write a post analysing sugishita's core and not talk about the fact that, intentionally or otherwise, he is very heavily autistic-coded.
there are a fair number of characters across the cast who could be interpreted as autistic based on various traits they display (and I do, in fact, headcanon several other characters as autistic), but I do also think the majority of these cases can be attributed to characters' trauma as opposed to inherent neurodiversity. I do not think this is the case with sugishita.
even having grown up with the love and support of his grandparents, sugishita struggles to understand his own emotions, express himself, and interact with others. add to that textural issues with clothing, chronic resting bitch face, and an extreme resistance to change, and it's very clear to me that sugishita is an autistic teenager who is still trying to navigate the world in a way that works for him, so I will, at least partially, be analysing him through an autistic lens.
a placid heart
I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have about sugishita—both inside canon and outside of it—is that he's aggressive by nature. wind breaker is a story that's told, for the most part, from sakura's perspective, and at the beginning of the story, sakura perceives sugishita as aggressive. this is an understandable first impression that helps form the basis for their entire relationship over the course of the story.
this also couldn't be further from the truth. sugishita doesn't like fighting. he never has. much like sakura, he never really wanted to fight in the first place, and this is both a parallel and a contrast between the two; though they were both forced into fighting at a young age, sakura found a form of refuge in it, while sugishita found it exhausting.
mostly, sugishita just wants to be left alone. he's a very passive presence, content to while away the hours napping in isolation if not for external interference. he's also someone much too small for his own body, and who would naturally fade into the background if not for the all ways in which he sticks out. he only really ever fights to protect what he values, which brings me to my next point:
a passionate heart
sugishita is not an uncaring person. he struggles to express himself and often comes across as rude or standoffish as a result, but to quote umemiya, he's really just an awkward little guy. this is my own interpretation of his character, but I think the main reason sugishita gets so angry about people disrespecting umemiya, or threatening the peace of the town, or ruining the bento his grandmother made for him, is that he cares.
he says himself that he has strong emotions. but I don't think he realises these emotions are sourced from a place of love: his love for the ones who take care of him, his affection for the town he was raised in, his admiration for the person who carved out a place in the world where he could exist peacefully, where he could just be.
I think that, to sugishita, an infringement on any of those things is as good as an infringement on his own being, and I think that knowing this also helps put into perspective the extreme response he had to sakura on the day they first met.
sugishita is not the type to take a measured approach, to step back and assess a situation before acting. instead, he acts primarily on impulse, driven by powerful emotions he doesn't understand and often can't even put a name to.
a heavy heart
I got bullied a lot as a kid.
I wouldn't get diagnosed until much later, but I'm pretty sure they could smell the autism on me—kids are perceptive like that, in ways adults often fail (and failed me, spectacularly). it would often be the case that someone would bother me, taunt me, harass me, anything to try to get a rise out of me, and as soon as I retaliated, they'd be the one to go crying to an adult about it. I'd be punished. the adults were rarely interested in hearing my side of the story.
as I mentioned earlier, sugishita struggles to understand his own emotions, and he struggles even more to express himself to others. there's a great post by @choberr that goes into detail about sugishita's likelihood of experiencing alexithymia, which you can read in full here (I feel it's worth noting that alexithymia has a much higher rate of occurrence in those with autism than in the general population—50% vs only 5%).
earlier in his childhood, this struggle to express himself led to misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings led to fights, which led to more misunderstandings, and so on. it seems to me as though, aside from the support he got from his grandparents, he was basically never afforded any grace or patience during this period of his life. no-one to take his side. no-one to hear him out.
so of course he would latch onto umemiya, who is seemingly the first person to have ever asked for his side of the story. of course he would find a sense of safety in that, even if that sense of safety would lead to his stagnation.
a stubborn heart
autism is a condition that craves stability; as such, sugishita is a character who is extremely resistant to change. this is something that even shows through his family name: sugi, a conifer, evergreen, unchanging even as the seasons pass. he is happy with the status quo, and wants things to always remain exactly as they are, to the point that he doesn't even consider that his upperclassmen are eventually, inevitably, going to graduate.
sugishita wants things to stay the same. it's for this reason that sakura makes a poor first impression on him, and that this impression sticks. admitting you were wrong about someone is difficult for anyone, but it has to be particularly hard for sugishita, who already has trouble parsing his own emotions. logically, I think he realised pretty early on that he was wrong about sakura, but knowing something and accepting it are two very different things.
but this is also beneficial in its own way; right now, there are plenty of people around sakura who are willing to uplift him, but few who are willing to be brutally honest with him. sugishita doesn't mince words. he doesn't sugarcoat. he doesn't talk down to sakura. and I think sakura needs that too: someone who'll hold him accountable as an equal and not a supporter. a rival.
throughout most of the manga, sugishita has continued acting aggressively towards sakura, and I think that's at least partially because he still doesn't know what else he's supposed to do. anger is seemingly the default he reverts to when he's experiencing strong emotions (it's safe, it's consistent, it's a reliable fallback), and he's still building the toolset he needs to handle the conflicting emotions he feels towards sakura in particular.
I think he does care about sakura, in his own way (and nirei would seem to agree with me), but this caring chafes against the loathing he's still stubbornly clinging to.
in other words, he's still growing.
a change of heart
"forever" is an impossible dream.
I think the crux of sugishita's arc is accepting this—accepting that change is an inevitable part of capital-b Being. umemiya is probably aware of this, which is why he encourages sugishita to expand his horizons, little by little. it's glaringly obvious that amongst his peers, he's by far the slowest to adapt. but given enough time, even mountains move, and it also helps that he has a catalyst; someone to prompt him to action and promote change in him.
it was honestly a stroke of genius on suou's part to pair sugishita up with sakura during the noroshi war. I think he's one of few people able to see past their surface-level bickering and understand their deeper level of compatibility, and the ways in which they could influence each other for the better (and in sugishita's case specifically, come to the agonising realisation that maybe sakura doesn't suck as much as he initially thought).
I think that's also one of the reasons why suou later said he was glad that sugishita had been getting along with nirei; a unit works best when all its parts are well-integrated, and sugishita had always kept himself to the fringes, only ever getting involved with provocation from sakura or encouragement from suou. him forming a connection with nirei is a major milestone in his personal growth, evidence that slowly, quietly, his world is expanding.
this growth bleeds over into the next major arc, where we see sugishita, if rather indirectly, approaching sakura for help. we haven't yet found out why exactly sugishita chose to do this, because he's still struggling to be open with others at this point in his development, and being open with sakura is probably an entirely different level of challenging because he's still dealing with the fact that he thinks sakura is Kind Of Cool, Actually. so when sakura probes him about it, he defaults to lashing out in order to avoid answering.
but personally, I believe the reason sugishita approached sakura is because he was able to acknowledge, if reluctantly, that reaching out to momijikawa is something he wasn't personally capable of. sugishita doesn't have the charisma, struggles with his words, can't communicate like others can. but he knows from seeing it happen before that sakura is capable of bridging that gap.
as for why he shared what he knew about momijikawa with the others, I think the reason was twofold: one, he wanted to give sakura the best shot at connecting with him. two, he wanted to clear up any potential misunderstandings. earlier, it was shown very clearly that he was overhearing his classmates griping about momijikawa's behaviour, and I think at the time, he was worried that it might end up in a situation like he himself experienced when he was younger.
in order to avoid that, he'd have to actually explain what momijikawa's deal was—and I remember around the time of the chapters in question seeing posts about it not really being sugishita's place to divulge that information, and I agree, and things could have gone much worse when considering that.
but I also think his heart was in the right place. he was coming from a place of not wanting momijikawa to be misunderstood like he himself had been in the past. sugishita himself said they were never really close, but I think him going out on a limb like this for momijikawa's benefit shows he cares a lot more than he ever actually admits to.
I think, if momijikawa had come back earlier in the school year, sugishita probably wouldn't have made the same choices. in fact, I doubt he would have done anything at all, and the situation likely would have turned out worse for it. it's only because he's been slowly, steadily changing that he was able to reach out in the way he did; the execution was imperfect and inelegant, but an undeniably sugishita way of going about it.
which brings us to the current arc. I don't think it's any coincidence that sugishita is asking to visit sakura alongside the two other people in his year he's been able to connect with. this is, I think, going to be another major milestone in his character development, and I'm really curious to see what tomorrow's chapter brings.
I've seen some speculate this is going to be another case of "tough love", like when he talked to sakura in chapter 146/7, but the more I think about it, the more I think that probably isn't the case. it's definitely possible, and I do think that it would be really fun and interesting if he completely biffed whatever interaction he has with sakura and just made the situation worse. but I think it's unlikely for one very simple reason: his hair.
sugishita has always preferred keeping his hair long, and it's been stated in his profile that he hates tying it back or getting it cut. for a long time, I thought this was just another autistic trait of his, but I've come to realise it's more than that. his hair is a shield. it's a way of keeping himself closed off from others. and what does his hair look like in chapter 218?
tucked behind his ears. face exposed.
I think this is a sign that sugishita has grown to a point where he's now more comfortable interacting with others, and has also become more emotionally open. I think he's at a point where he's ready to be open with sakura in particular, and maybe—just maybe—finally clear up the misunderstanding that's been hanging between them from the get-go.
right now, sakura doesn't need someone to hold him accountable; he needs as many people as possible on his side. and I think sugishita has been thinking very hard about that fact. and while nirei has told sakura (on more than one occasion now) that sugishita has changed, it's one thing to hear that secondhand, and quite another to experience it directly.
that said, it'll also be very useful to have both nirei and momijikawa to hand, because they both already have a strong, positive relationship with sakura. even if sugishita wants to clear things up with him, there's a good chance he'll still struggle to express himself, despite his progress. I don't doubt he'll need help smoothing things over.
and those two are probably the best supports he's going to get.
if you've read this far, thank you, and if you're someone who hasn't thought much about sugishita's character or his role in the narrative before, I hope I gave you lots to think about and maybe helped you gain a new appreciation for him! I'm really excited to see where nii-sensei takes him and the rest of the cast in the future, so let's all find out together! ♥
I'm watching Windbreaker with the english dub for the first time, and it's my first rewatch of season 1 in a while, so i totally missed this, BUT
In chapter 3, when Ume interrupts the first Saku Sugi fight, he says, verbatim through the intercom:
"Some advie: you better enjoy your youth. High school is the last passion of being a kid. Get out there and make memories. Live a meaningful life. Take a trip to beach, or the mountains or something"
And then IT PANS TO SUO AND WE GET ONE OF HIS VERY FEW INTERNAL MONOLOGUES, AND HE THINKS:
"Interesting... I really couldn't care less"
My boy. My sweet baby boy, who's secretly a high ranked member and responsible for a massive gang in a neighboring city. Of course he'd think 'this has nothing to do with me' when someone in a position of power TALKS ABOUT BEING A KID AND ENJOYING LIFE.
I can't believe how foreshadowed everything was, from the VERY BEGINING.
you know while i still stand by my earlier post about how i hope this arc ends with suo finally getting the breakdown he deserves i think it might actually be more fulfilling narrative-wise if this is the arc where sakura finally gets the breakdown he deserves. let the child loudly express an emotion other than defensive anger.
Yes, exactly.
That's the best ending, and I really want to see them breaking down and comforting each other; they've both experienced abandonment and very deep trauma.
Suo Hayato’s fear: what Being Scared of Manju means:
[Caption: When the class asked Suo what is his weakness, his fear, he answer “I’m scared of manju, I guess!”]
At this point, in the middle of Suo’s arc, we have analysed him in a lot of angles. We know, since he said this, that it was a lie. It’s a white lie, yes, but one that shows us how much Suo doesn’t want to be “acknowledged”. How much he hides from the rest of the school, intentions and reasons aside.
But, what if I tell you that, in a sense, he was saying the truth?
it wouldn’t be surprising, since we know for sure that he tends to tell the truth in strange ways (the line, paragraphing, “The journey doesn’t end until you get home”… now we know he traveled four hours a day to go to school and back).
So…, let’s talk about Suo’s fear of manju and what it really means.
The scene
In the unofficial translation, Suo says: “I’m scared of manju, I guess”.
And the characters react accordingly. Suo doesn’t get it, with a question mark bubble as his answer. We don’t get it either. It’s Kiryuu who gives a little insight. He, as a little comment, says: “That’s the title of a rakugo story”. For all the readers who don’t have deep literacy culture or for us, foreign readers, this is our biggest clue.
The unofficial translator of this chapter adds a note about Kiryuu’s comment: “Rakugo is a style of japanese comedic storytelling in which a single performer sits in front of a crowd and regales the audience with a lively and gripping story, playing all the parts themself. “Manju Kowai” (“Scared of Manju”) is a popular rakugo story about a group of boys talking about their fears”.
This translator`s comment… does it rings a bell?
What Rakugo really is?
Before talking about my ideas and analysis, I want to make a section about what it really is Rakugo and why this scene is so well made.
An article (which tumblr doesn’t let me link it) says:
“Rakugo is a traditional Japanese comic storytelling artform. A single performer sits on the stage and tells interesting stories that are sentimental or humorous”.
And…
“Rakugo is performed by a solo performer who sits at the center of the stage and tells hanashi (Rakugo stories). It is a very simple style of verbal performance, the story often consisting merely of conversations among the characters. The performer thus portrays numerous different characters by her/himself, expressing a variety of emotions and situations with skillful gestures. A hanashi (story) always ends with an ochi, or punch line”.
It goes along the same line as the translator`s comment, doesn’t it?
Of course, Rakugo has a structure, as any other way of storytelling.
- Makura: the warm-up
“Performers do not jump right into the story proper. Rather, it is customary for them to first engage in small talk or share anecdotes that tie into the main story. This is called makura (literally “pillow”)”.
- Hanashi: the main part
“The hanashi span a wide variety of plots. Some have extraordinarily unique characters. Others depict the love between a husband and a wife or among family members […]. Stories feature seasonal events such as the New Year or […] cherry blossom viewing. The length of the hanashi varies, some lasting only about ten minutes or so, while others continue for over one hour”.
- Ochi or Sa-ge: the punch line
“The ochi—a punch line delivered to bring the story to an end. There are various types of ochi—some include witty puns and others bring together hints provided earlier in the story”.
“Manju Kowai”: what is it about?
We should know what Suo is reffering to, don’t you think? Maybe, it has some similitudes with the manga, who knows?
As this web (article without link) says, “Manju Kowai” (“Scared of manju”) starts with five friends talking about what they like. Then the ring leader says, "Well, then, what don't you like?" One by one, they admit their fears: slugs, snakes… Until it’s the turn of the quiet one. He, avoiding eye contact and nervous, admits he is scared of manju. The group is surprised, since they cannot believe his friend is scared of a cake. The quiet one asks them to not make fun of him, since he knows it is a foolish fear.
Later, the other four decide to tease the quiet friend. They buy manju, find the quiet one and throw the manju at him. Expecting a big scene, they are surprised when, peeking inside, they find the friend eating the manju.
The leader of the group says: “You misled us. All right, tell us, what are you really scared of?" The quiet friend answers: “Right now, I think I'm really scared of some tart tea."
Suo and Rakugo: matching points
First of all, let’s compare the Rakugo and the manga scene.
Do you find it funny that Suo is performing the exact same plot as “Manju Kowai”? Am I the only one who considers it another one of his little pranks?
Okay, let’s continue.
The position: in this scene, Suo is sitting down in front of other people, as a rakugo performer. But it’s true at the start of the scene, he is not a performer, although I can not remember whether he participes in the conversation.
The action: they are having a conversation, the whole group. That’s the whole point of the Rakugo: to feel the performer and the audience is having a conversation. Although not a task Suo is doing, the objective of the Rakugo is being fulfilled during the scene.
The structure:
Makura: the warm up. Small talk or share anecdotes, as the quote said. Small talk about others fears, anecdotes about fears… Rings a bell?
Hanashi: the main part. Although we don’t engage in a story told by Suo, he is the main part. When they ask him what is his fear, everybody shuts up and listens. They want to know, they are waiting for the performance (although it would never happen).
Ochi: the punch line. “I guess I’m scared of manju”. What better punch line than that?
Behind scene: what we can conclude with these hints?
It’s obvious, even without knowing about Rakugo, that Suo doesn’t want to talk about himself.
But knowing about Rakugo and specifically, “Manju Kowai” gives us more insight about him.
With this, we know Suo is a person of culture (remember the only person who got what he was saying was Kiryuu, someone from a rich family). Although Rakugo is more or less famous in Japan, it’s still a traditional performance, something that young people may not interested in.
Performing the same story as the Rakugo is, as I said before, the clue that lets us know he is teasing his friends. (Something something, Suo and his love language is teasing his friends, something something). Also, a little note: Japanese people love words plays, words jokes, so it’s probably Japanese readers found it funny too.
Although not stating, this scene lets us know he is afraid of sharing his fears. Not even the original performance gives us a reason. But, since it was a topic imposed by the leader, a forced topic, Suo (and the quiet friend) was not comfortable sharing it without context or preparation.
Remember Suo’s dream is “emancipation of slaves”… so you can imagine how strange his fear could sound without context.
Suo Hayato, my dear emotionally constipated character, didn’t you say anything because it will force you to give context about who you really are, your motives for being in Makochi and your burdens?
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