Wind Breaker Episode 15 Review - The Tamed Wild Beast
One thing I like about Wind Breaker is that Sakura isn’t the one beating up the arc boss. In the Shishitoren, he fought Togame who is Choji’s second-in-command while Umemiya was the one who fought the leader. In the current Keel arc, Sakura isn’t the one to defeat Natori, despite wanting to do so. That honor goes to Kaji. The reason why Sakua is not fighting the final arc boss is because of both circumstances and development. He couldn’t fight Choji because that’s Umemiya’s duty as leader of Bofurin. What kind of leader would want to make a dude from who knows where be the one to defeat a notorious gang boss? For Keel, he gets humbled by Kaji because he’s taking on too much at once and it was getting to his head as he couldn’t focus on wanting to protect his classmates and trying to beat the snot out of Takeru. Those two instances are Sakura learning the small steps of leadership.
If you think this Keel arc is too short, it’s because it is. Despite that, the fight choreography is amazing. Like, I get why Clover Works took a year to get this season out because they’re focusing a lot on the choreography (and they also got a ton of projects like the newest arc of Black Butler that is also airing in the same season as WB). The way Sakura and the major first years beat their opponents was so cool.
I did mention that the opponents the first years face are all people the total opposite of them. Sakura vs Takeru is that of a noble vs unfair fight in that Sakura fights by himself without the need to use underhanded tactics like how Takeru did by instilling fear into other Keel members to try and attack Sakura. That resulted in him getting beaten up by him with one punch before Sakura shifts his target to the other mooks. Tsugeura vs Kirishima is basically a matchup between a talkative guy and a quiet guy as the latter is a man of few words. On top of that, Kirishima was the first to fight without the need of his weapon as he started fist fighting Tsugeura before getting knocked out. Sugishita vs Mogami is a match up of David and Goliath but this time, Goliath wins. I did like how he grabbed Mogami’s ankles and slammed him onto the ground before Sugishita dealt the final blow. Then, there’s the Kiryu vs Kaga fight where both are polar opposites in every way. I liked how Kiryu taunted his opponent by saying he’ll be b*tchless if he keeps up the tough manly macho guy act as girls hate it. For Suo vs Tone, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint what makes them opposites, but I do like to think that Suo was fighting to protect Nirei and now that Nirei got hurt, he’s lashing out. Tone, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to use other mooks or have someone worth fighting for.
Now, the highlight of the episode is definitely Kaji vs Natori. Natori is the leader of Keel and a violent, psychopathic guy who instills fears into his underlings and relishes it. While Kaji isn’t the leader of Bofurin, he’s the Grade captain of the second years and basically in a position higher than Sakura in terms of hierarchy. Kaji had a past of being like a rampaging feral beast but he hated that side of him. Hiiragi is the one who managed to tame him and that’s how he became the way he is today. While Natori did egg him on to become the violent beast he once was, he still manages to stay as he is, showing their major difference—Kaji can control himself while Natori cannot. The way Kaji was like he wished he could’ve done one more punch to make ten like he promised Sakura was so cold. Like he could’ve done so when Natori was still unconscious, but he’s better than that.
There were two aspects of this fight I liked. The first is using the vicinity to their advantage. Kaji shows off how nimble he is by doing backflips on the rails and even uses a hanging rope to swing himself so that he can get the right trajectory to kick Natori. When I read that part in the manga, I was amazed because it’s so much different from the Shishitoren arc where it’s just hand-to-had combat in a enclosed space. Keel’s base being an abandoned warehouse does mean there’s more room to do crazy stuff like make holes in the wall and rope swinging. The second is Junya Enoki’s voice acting as Natori. Can’t you believe this is actually Enoki’s FIRST time voicing a villain? Enoki, you should start auditioning for villains because you were AMAZING as the sleazy and psychotic Natori. Like, why haven’t you gotten villain roles sooner?
Poor Anzai got knocked out early on and had to sit out for the rest of the fight, but a win is a win for Furin. I’m glad that he got to save Nagato. Hopefully, the next episode will show the tearful reunion between the childhood friends. Overall, this was a great episode. I can’t wait for Thursday to come so that there’s more Wind Breaker. What are your thoughts on this episode?
This was based on the headcanon from @nothoughts-justyuga and me that Kirishima works in a cat café (you can safely assume all of the headcanons I post here belong to her for 50% too lmfao) (also ignore how the quality decreased in the last doodle BWHAHAHAHA)
Maybe I should list all of the headcanons we have for them, we have quite a bit lmfao
Wind Breaker is back which means that I'm back to give WB trivia.
Keel got a cool lineup of voice actors, so I'll list them below.
First is the leader Natori
He's voiced by Junya Enoki.
Some of his roles include:
Toto from Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions
Yuuji Itadori from Jujutsu Kaisen
Min Byung-gu from Solo Leveling
Next is Kongo who is voiced by Chiharu Sawashiro who happens to be Miyuki Sawashiro's younger brother.
Some of Sawashiro's roles include:
Fret from Neo TWEWY
Naoki/Brave Max from Yugioh VRAINS
Fujishima from Solo Leveling
Then there's Kirishima who didn't talk in the premiere, but his voice actor is credited as Kou Bonkobara.
Bonkobara is Japanese-American, and you might have heard him as a random English-speaker in modern anime like the guy trying to talk to Yuki in the first episode of A Sign of Affection.
One of his roles also includes Ishikari from Blue Lock.
Next is Mogami who is voiced by Tatsumaru Tachibana.
Some of Tachibana's roles include:
Basen from The Apothecary Diaries
Jin Mori from God of High School
Gregory Violet from Black Butler
Next is Kaga whom I like to call Mr. Ugly Forehead
He's voiced by Shoya Ishige. Some of Ishige's roles are:
Gojo from My Dress-up Darling
Playmaker/Yusaku Fujiki from Yugioh VRAINS
Last is Tone who is voiced by Atsushi Tamaru.
Some of Tamaru's roles include:
Kunimi from Haikyuu
Masaki from Tadaima Okaeri
Alonzo from Metaphor Refantazio
I feel like Wind Breaker is really good at casting, whether they be high quality voice actors or those with notable roles.
I am back! Man, it’s been a year since the first season of WB first aired. Windbreaker was one of my favorite anime from last year due to the amount of new people I met on social media and how my reviews got a lot of traction here and on Tumblr. Though, I don’t think I’m a popular anime blog just yet, but I still appreciate the amount of attention my reviews have gotten last year and it was a way for me to keep going forward with them. My reviews are my way of contributing to the fandom since I am neither a talented artist nor an entertaining Youtube reactor. I’m just a mere reviewer… Anyways, enough self-deprecation; it’s Windbreaker time!
I’m surprised that the season starts with no recap and just heads straight into the new arc! I do think that’s a good thing because the lack of a recap means Cloverworks isn’t going to waste any second getting into the new arc and they’re going full speed ahead! It’s basically a brawl! I do like that this is a little different from the previous arc where there was individual battles. This time, everyone in Class 1-1 gets to throw hands and the main first-years minus Nirei get their own opponents in the middle of it all. It sucks that Anzai had to get knocked out early despite this being his redemption of not being able to save Nagato, but remember that a win for Furin is a win for Anzai.
This is the first arc ever since Sakura was appointed as grade captain, so it makes sense that he’d not do a great job as a leader. He gets shocked when he sees his classmates getting injured and probably senses tremendous guilt within. Fortunately, Kaji is there to give him solid advice on how to be a leader. A leader is someone who helps his people. He shouldn’t focus on the big boss and do what he can for his class. I’m glad that Sakura is able to be reasoned with and accepts Kaji’s advice and help.
I do like that there’s a lot of contrast between Bofurin and Keel in terms of how they fight and their clothes. Keel members wear white. White is usually symbolized as pure or good, but in this case, they’re used for ‘evil’. It kind of reminds me of the Society of Light from Yugioh GX where they’re sort of like a cult and force new members to wear white and blue while being the villain organization of the second season. Keel members also fight with weapons compared to Bofurin’s fists and kicks. They’re also dirty fighters as they resort to underhanded tactics while armed while Bofurin are noble fighters. Their leader fights by threatening violence to his members while Bofurin fights for the town, which includes the people and their ideals. Their headquarters in a school in a bustling town while Keel’s headquarters are in an isolated warehouse on a port befitting their name as a keel is the bottom structure of a boat, the little fin-like thing on the bottom that balances the boat.
Most of all, the biggest contrast between the two is that Keel have a lot of members which they heavily rely on. Meanwhile, Bofurin don’t need to rely on quantity, but Kaji and the second years still join the fight as Nirei is the one who messaged them—that was the reason behind the beeping noises on his phone before they went into the base.
Okay, the other biggest contrast between them is that Bofurin are easy on the eyes while Keel members are rugged and not that appealing. Seriously, when I saw them in the manga, I was like “put those hoods back on; y’all ugly.” I do wonder what sort of theme the main members of Keel have regarding their names because Bofurin are all named after plants and Shishitoren are all named after animals. What are Keel members named after? If you know, let me know! Funny story, I once played tic-tac-toe with a moot on Kaga’s forehead a few months ago. It was the funniest thing ever. Though, the main Bofurin members get interesting opponents that sort of contrast them. Sakura’s opponent is Kongo who is crazy as heck while fighting while Sakura is rational and calm. The tallest guy Sugishita has to deal with the shortest guy, Mogami. The talkative Tsugeura deals with Kirishima who is quiet and doesn’t speak much. The effeminate Kiryu has to deal with tough masculine man Kaga. Suo, the gentleman protecting Nirei, has to deal with the not-so gentleman Tone who fights alone. I can’t wait to see the fight between Kaji and Natori, the leader of Keel because they’re totally different but I’ll talk about those two in a later episode.
The voice cast is seriously crazy. Junya Enoki voices Natori and he should try to get more villainous roles later on because he’s rocking that sinister tone. The main Keel members voice actors are an interesting bunch as they’re comprised of voice actors who are slowly getting bigger. Kongo is voiced by Chiharu Sawashiro who is the famous Miyuki Sawashiro’s brother. Though, he hasn’t had that big role yet, but I do love how crazy he sounds here. While Kirishima doesn’t talk in this episode, his voice actor is revealed to be Kou Bonkobara. While Bonkoubara hasn’t had his big break yet, he can be heard in some animes as the residential English speaker as he’s Japanese American! Mogami is voiced by Tatsumaru Tachibana who you might know as Jin Mori from The God of High School, Basen from The Apothecary Diaries and Gregory Violet from Black Butler. Kaga is voiced by Shoya Ishige who voices Gojo from My Dress-Up Darling and Playmaker from Yugioh Zexal. It’s been a while since I heard Ishige’s deep voice. Tone is voiced by Atsushi Tamaru who voiced Kunimi from Haikyuu, Masaki from Tadaima, Okaeri and Alonzo from Metaphor Refantazio. I think Windbreaker knows how to cast and they did cast some good voice actors for these villains (also, give Sawashiro a big role later on because he’s absolutely killing it as the crazy Kongo).
The new opening and ending songs are good! I love the visuals for both! The opening is sung by SixTones, which is an idol group who sang for The Millionaire Detective and Yashahime openings. The ending is sung by shytaupe, which is a band I’ve never heard of but they sound nice!
I’m just so happy Windbreaker has returned for a second season. This anime was definitely a sensation last year and it returns to bring up hype once more. I can’t wait to see how this season turns out because I know they’re animating two major arcs for this one. I hope you’ll enjoy my reviews for this new season as much as you did for the previous one! Let me know your thoughts about this episode!
