#wbk 180

[ichiharasenrii]

BRO LOOK AT HIM HE IS PROUD OF HIMSELF WITH ALL THAT YAPPING HE DID ABOUT SAKURA. 👍🏼😂😂😂

[nanakorobiyaokii]

"𝖢𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗋𝗒 𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗌𝗌𝗈𝗆𝗌 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗈𝗆 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾'𝗌 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗌𝗇𝗈𝗐. 𝖡𝗎𝗍 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗂𝗍'𝗌 𝗍𝗈𝗈 𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗆, 𝗉𝗅𝗎𝗆 𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗌𝗌𝗈𝗆𝗌 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋. 𝖠 𝗌𝖺𝗄𝗎𝗋𝖺 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗇𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝖺𝗇 𝗎𝗆𝖾. 𝖳𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾'𝗌 𝗇𝗈 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗂𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖾𝗂𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋. 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝖺 𝗌𝖺𝗄𝗎𝗋𝖺 𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗍𝗌 𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀."

[bayleavesfromthevine]

Okay, so I was gathering pictures of Kaji from this week's chapter (because of course I was) and I noticed something:

Sako's mood changes depending on how close he is to Hiragi LOL - when there are people standing in between them (specifically Kaji), he's all -_- but he's happiest when they're standing next to each other!

Also please, Kusumi is such a cutie and he will never let anyone else stand next to Kaji dhfkjghf Kusumi, no one is going to take him from you!! You can relax!!

I love this group so much, I hope we see more of them

[sakuraxharuka]

[tinyevilgremlin]

i love togasaku sm. they make me so

[everysuosaku]

chapter 180 - wind breaker (satoru nii)

[kierouls]

hes doubting himself. he feels so distant and wonders if he could ever reach to the top like umemiya after seeing him and chiika's fight. he just wanted to protect the town and his friends forgetting that his initial purpose of coming to the town was to be furin's top. it was the last thing in his mind. he just wanted to protect the people here. he doesnt know if hes capable of reaching to the top

[hahahafangirl]

WBK 180 Analysis -- Sakura's crisis of motivations?

(TLDR is basically the 3-points list. I have so much to say.) I may also edit this posts later to link textual evidences -- for now, trust-me-bro.png

It's very interesting to see the main character of a shounen to be in a crisis of motivation the way Sakura is right now (this early on at least)... We have seen from the conclusion of the previous arc that Sakura is not quite sure of his original goal anymore, but maybe the upcoming chapters will elucidate on why.

It is quite obvious that seeing how Umemiya is as a person has fundamentally shocked and challenged Sakura’s conception of what a “leader” and especially that of Bofurin should be like. But, I'm quite surprised that the Togame, Endo, and Ume v. Takiishi fights are now playing into Sakura's anxiety too.

So, I have 3 hypothesis/observations on this:

1) Sakura is questioning his strength as a fighter 2) Sakura is re-evaluating what he wants to be a leader for 3) Sakura is understanding the weight of becoming a leader, a symbol, a figurehead — the weight of invincibility.

Let's start consequentially:

Sakura has not (yet) to technically win against his major opponents.

An interesting detail (that I very much love, btw) on how Sakura had won against physically/technically stronger opponents (Togame and Endo) thus far is that he did not overwhelm them physically, but rather by his conviction and “conversation” with them, as Umemiya enlightened him. This is also primarily the way Ume fought, against both Chouji and Takiishi, although Ume's fights are more verbally/obvious than Sakura's. Sakura’s “conversations” to Togame and Endou were deeply internal, where his conviction and ferocity invites his opponent to examine their reasons to fight; meanwhile, Umemiya verbally talks to his opponents.

[DIGRESSION ON UMEMIYA'S VERSUS SAKURA'S FIGHTS]

Going deep into a segue here, but there is a reason why Ume and Sakura has their own opponents. It has never been a matching of strength, but rather who is best to have a conversation with whom. Sakura’s ferocity was what Togame and Endo need to be taken aback by and self-examine their motivations— they’re deeply, consciously thoughtful people that they must be forced to confront themselves. Chouji and Takiishi are very instinctive fighters and don’t think too deeply (comparatively) — therefore having troubles understanding why they’re unhappy. They need an eloquent speaker like Umemiya to “guide” them through. Ume is not going to be helpful talking at introspective people like Togame and Endo; Sakura is not going to know what to say to Chouji or Takiishi.

In a story deeply concerned with how to connect to other people and intentionally, meaningfully build a community, we have seen again and again that the physical fight is not the point, but rather the medium of connections. Similar to how Nirei was best suited to help Sugishita, or Sakura's understanding of domestic violence (neglect, should we want to be precise) makes him most suited to understand Akari, Sakura and Umemiya's styles has its suitable audience. Maybe I'll do a more detailed post on this at some point...

[END OF DIGRESSION]

Nonetheless, we see that Umemiya, Chouji, Takiishi, Togame, and Endo are, objectively, several leagues better than Sakura as a fighter. This makes sense: they’re third years, figuratively the “goal post”, while Sakura is a starting-MC going on a journey of growth. So I think Sakura thinking back about those fights may be a sign that he's questioning his strength, or at least be ready to understand deeper why he has won despite the skill differences. All in all, it might be the time we see Togame or Ume or someone spells out to Sakura his strength and how he win— thus informing our dear MC of how he could grow to be a leader and a fighter (both physically and mentally— as he has been doing)

2) Sakura still does not know why he wants to lead Bofurin

At least for now, it seems natural to me that the story will conclude with Sakura becoming Bofurin's leader (take this with a grain of salt-- I thought Karasuno was going to win the Spring tourney too). However, we saw that Sakura has already understood that the reason he wanted to be the topdog for is no longer valid. In fact, Sakura wanted to be the strongest purely for the sake of being so-- in his conscious thoughts at least; it's clear now that subconsciously, what he wanted is acceptance and recognition for who he is rather than what he seems.

When he asked Kaji what the latter wants to do as a leader; when he sees Umemiya as an invincible pillar of strength by necessity, Sakura already begins to understand that a meaningful leadership needs a "goal". For Umemiya, it is unifying Bofurin to protect the town. Sugishita has a clear goal of maintaining this community that they will inherit. Sakura is not quite sure what he wanted yet-- maybe the next chapter will tell us (the goal of being connected to the larger communities seem nice enough; Sakura has already demonstrated his efficacy in this aspect by soliciting help for their big fight); or maybe not yet. Maybe Sakura will need to step back from this grander goal to figure out what he wants to do as a leader. He has plenty of time still to think about it; it's barely the first ~3 months of school :)

3) The weight of invincibility

Coming back to point 1), we see that Umemiya is not only deeply emotionally intelligent to be able to fight who he fought, he is also an overwhelmingly impressive fighters. He is basically now the strongest in Bofurin history by winning over Takiishi. Sakura's crisis during the Endo fight has opened his eye to the fact that Umemiya not only is currently invincible, he must be invincible as the last bastion of Bofurin in every crisis -- the invincibility comes from Umemiya's conviction as a leader itself. It serves both literal (physical strength) and symbolic (leadership, and Bofurin itself) function in the narrative. Sakura understood the symbolic part; now, he might be feeling the weight of bringing it to literal reality.

And that is a scary thing to strives for! Sakura was psychologically and physically overwhelmed by Endo -- this is the fight that Sakura actually experienced his own loss in -- and has to come back to his symbolic invincibility to bring the narrative to its appropriate end (I will have a segue on this point later; maybe even a separate post). Seeing -- and, following Endo's words, immerse yourself in -- the spectacular brutality that was Ume v. Takiishi really, really drives home the literal pressure of the job. This may means Sakura must gets to a point where he can withstand Endo's sort of psychological attacks, along with the physical strength discussed earlier. And, hell, I would not be surprised if Sakura has to confront the psychological damage Endo did on him-- which revealed his still deep-set anxiety of rejection, along with the newly-added anxiety of weighing people down (typical of someone who just learns to live with, and rely on, other people), etc etc. All necessary character development, and a real, huge, overwhelming mental growing-pain.

So, all in all, natural that Sakura might get cold feet now. Again, still a lot of time to work through it :) WBK's story is not only about community building but also how to truly connect with and embed yourself in that community (the first step to truly build and connect said community). It is a problem that begins during teenage years, and continue waaaay beyond-- and it is all, very compassionately, communicated through Sakura's struggle. Of course he is getting some snags now after a very upsetting conflict, which can prove to be productive, if Sakura (and everyone else can help him) uses it to grow.