#kongo takeru

[elmyraerased]

my kongo ita bag so far!!!

[grey-spark]

KEEL MATTERS: Why KEEL needs to come back and be explored

(Manga Spoilers)

Not redeemed, but examined more closely. I honestly think the show would be incomplete without exploring KEEL.

That’s a bold claim, i know. To start my explanation I want to spotlight a piece of a reply on my last blogpost about KEEL. Someone in the comments said a funny line that stood out to me. 

They said:

“I also agree with needing to have an evil team to oppose furin and show the more negative side of gang culture.”

I'm happy they agree but what an odd thing to say,

“The more negative side of gang culture…” has the same energy as  “The more negative side of cancer…” or  “The more negative side of volcanoes erupting…”

In real life, street gangs are bad. Most gangs are like KEEL. Criminal organizations that steal and intimidate. To Nii-sensei’s credit, most of the smaller nameless gangs are like this. Bofurin and Roppo are the exception to the rule. KEEL more closely represents all of those smaller gangs. And in a sense, KEEL is the amalgamation and intellectualization of all the dirtbag gangs in the show:

KEEL is Spaltips. KEEL is Graffiti B.  KEEL is that gang that tried to extort Akari. 

KEEL is just like all those gangs but given names and an actual spoken ideology. And I for one, have the controversial opinion that the story should explore the criminal gang in the show about gangs. But some might ask: Why waste time exploring KEEL more when we’ve already seen gangs like Shishitoren and Gravel get explored. 

What makes KEEL special? 

It’s an actual criminal gang. I'd argue the KEEL guys are some of the only true gangsters or villains in the show.

Shishitoren was never evil deep down, they were just a bunch of bullies and punks who needed a lesson in manners. And to a greater extent, I think this also applies to Noroshi. Conflating strength with destructive power. Using that power to “be free” and do as they pleased. In other words, they saw power as a means to an end. 

KEEL is different. To KEEL, the violence is the point. It wasn't even about the money. It’s a power trip. While fighting Kiryu, Kaga explains KEEL’s ideology is that of “might makes right” and how the strong have a right to dominate the weak.

We also see elements of this in their parent company Noroshi, but again, you get the sense that the Noroshi guys are just “doing what they want”. They’re rebels, nothing more. But there’s something truly sinister about KEEL. Even Gravel, didn't match up to them.

Gravel is the more apt comparison to KEEL as they commit crimes too. One that was made by the show itself by having their leaders Suzuri and Natori fight. Like KEEL, Gravel was also truly criminal. But even then, it was done more from a position of necessity. They needed to steal to eat, so their motives were more understandable. But to be honest, I think this was kind of a cop out. 

Don’t get me wrong. Gravel was a good start, but “criminality from necessity” is just one reason teens commit crimes. There are many other reasons that go into a child leading a life of crime beyond Kaga’s “might makes right” and Suzuri’s “steal to eat”. 

So what’s in between? Why explore KEEL? 

I’m gonna level with you. The chance of us getting KEEL backstories is VERY small. We’re more likely to get the Roppo lieutenant backstories than we are to get KEEL VIP backstories. But for the sake of argument, let’s pretend we did.

Let’s take Kongo. The guy Sakura fought in the warehouse. My reading on Kongo is that his obnoxiousness is a defining feature of his personality. He exhibited a ton of attention seeking personality traits in his fight and was almost certainly a problem child. 

Put yourself in Kongo’s shoes, like this is one of those horrible life explanation YouTube videos. 

Imagine. Nobody pays attention to you. Not even your mother. Your father is out of the picture. You have no social skills and blab to anyone around you. This annoys those classmates. You want their attention, you want to be cool. So you badger your classmates into playing games with you. When they finally relent, you cheat so you can be a winner. But they notice and hate you for it. So your attempts to get their attention has backfired, making them more put off by you. This vicious cycle continues and compounds over years. So now you’re the most annoying kid in class, and end up in a lot of fights. You become a strong fighter, but don’t have any friends. Until finally someone notices you. This person reaches out and gives you a place in a gang, and a sense of belonging. You’re a “Very Important Person” in the gang or a VIP. So long as you steal and commit crimes for them.

So basically, Kongo is your classic 'attention seeking trouble maker' who is so perpetually annoying that the only person willing to keep him around is a criminal using him. He reminds me of Satori Tendō from Haikyuu!!, but instead of joining a magnet volleyball team, he like many misfits is recruited into a crime ring.

In a way, if this is true, then that means Kongo not all that different from Nagato. He's Nagato with extra steps. Even the highest members of KEEL are just being used by it.

Kongo might represent the Principal Office to Street Crime pipeline that make up a majority of young gangsters in real-life. (He also literally carries a pipe so there’s that.) For all we know, Kongo might represent a VERY LARGE portion of troubled teens.

Kongo might be a proxy for why most kids join criminal gangs

And THIS is the character we’re never getting a backstory for?

Shouldn’t we explore the criminal gangs in the show about gangs?

Don’t get me wrong. My goal here is not to redeem these characters, (i could see that working but that's not really the point.) Instead I just want an explanation beyond simple “might makes right”. I want the show to explore youth criminality and why kids start to commit crimes. And the show already has a gang with a bunch of named characters ripe for characterization. And I haven't even touched on Mogami's Napoleon complex or Natori's undiagnosed ASPD. I say all this because right now KEEL is just:

"Evil man does evil things because he's evil."

I think real-life is more complex than that. I think pure evil does exist, but I don't think it comes from nowhere. What kind of message does that send? I don't know how to put this better but...

The fact is that Wind Breaker keeps cheating with its redemptions

I was pleasantly surprised by Shishitoren's redemption. I was taken aback by Gravel's redemption. (Still okay.) I was flabbergasted by Endo and Chika's redemption.

I'm sorry but if Endo and Sakura are hanging out in their free time, that's redemption. One that comes completely out of nowhere, after the man just tried to burn down an entire city.

It ties back to an idea brought up in my last KEEL blogpost about how Nii-sensei struggles to place evil characters. They're either redeemed immediately or banished to the shadow realm.

In conclusion, KEEL is the gang that best represents real-life gangs and ironically its the one getting the least development.

As the Summer arc drags on, I can't help but feel things are getting too chummy around here. (I like the Summer Arc but still...) Wind Breaker should probably explore criminals, real criminals, by the end of the series. If so, we gotta bunch of unused characters sitting in the shipyard. Just add water and BOOM. Any of these VIPs could have magnificently interesting backstories.

An “enemies team-up” storyline is just teeming with possibilities...

[kajisbraincell]

evil edward elric compels me a little bit

[insangelx]

[twistedd0ves]

Barely see any fanart of them so I wanted to draw my boys (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

(Click pic for better quality)

[grey-spark]

KEEL's ANIMALS/LIZARDS

It's widely accepted that Shishitoren has spirit animals for all its members. Some more obvious than others, like (Togame being a tortoise, Sako being a fox, etc.) But no one ever talks about KEEL, how they are called lizards and all happen to look just like lizards. So, I wanna go over what I think they could be.

Natori is the Komodo Dragon The king of all lizards with a slicked back head. Very fast and very dangerous. Natori could also be a horned lizard as indicated by his hedgehog-like mullet, but the Komodo dragon just makes more sense.

Kongo is the Frilled Dragon A hyper lizard with long flaps which jumps around like a raptor it matches Kongo to a tee.

Kaga is a Mountain Horned Dragon A dim lizard with mohawk looking spines. He could also be an iguana, basically any lizard with spikes.

Kirishima is the Gila Monster A flat-faced lizard with blonde and black spots.

Mogami is a Lilly White Crested Gecko A small lizard with big wide eyes that likes to crawl on sticks. But he could be any gecko really.

Tone is a Bearded Dragon A lizard known for closing its eyes, usually one eye. But he could also be a Leopard Gecko which are also known to have squinty eyes.

Final note: While its fun to assign animals, it's possible KEEL doesn't have specific lizards assigned to them, but rather just have general lizard traits. (Frills, thin eyes, back spines, raptor energy, etc.) So take this all with a grain of salt.

[kajisbraincell]

how quickly the blade becomes YOU

© | Ocean Vuong, “Prayer for the Newly Damned”

[elmyraerased]

also on the note of kongonui: idk if ive ever shared this picture but here. he is one apple 🍎 tall