you know it's one thing to talk about how much suo opened up for sakura since he joined furin, as a reader of the series, but to see sakura remember every single one of those moments after being confronted with the physical and verbal testimony of the cruelty suo inflicted upon nirei...i just can't.
he's not just remembering all the times suo's shown care for him. he's also remembering all the times he's shown care for the people around them: nirei, shizuka, the whole town of makochi.
the thing is, even if suo's initial impression of sakura had been an idiot who's potentially just all talk, he never let it show.
even nirei doubts sakura when they first meet at pothos. kotoha straight up tells him he can't become furin's top cos he's all alone. when sakura first opens the door to their classroom, there's animosity over him being from out-of-town. with or without malice, sakura has always known dismissal to be people's first to him.
and then there's suo.
the first time they meet, suo brings up his first fight, effectively opening up the entire class to him. suo's suggestion for a handshake leads to sakura initiating non-violent physical contact for the first time in god knows how long. in the shishitoren arc, suo talks about sakura like he's something to be chased after and not shunned. he talks of respect, and heart, and admiration. this is a guy who has known him for all of Two days. and then that same guy nominates him for class rep.
in a life plagued by people turning away from him, sakura has never known a suo who rejects him. fifteen years of people distancing themselves from him, all of it against his will, and suo chose to walk towards sakura as soon as their eyes met.
that's the suo that sakura has known since day one. that's the suo that sakura's forced to question the existence of.
Seeing this panel knowing Suo legitimately made a 2 hour journey to Makochi every morning and a 2 hour journey back to Bankoku-Gai every day just hits different
And this isn't even talking about just regarding Furin, Suo was doing this way back when in middle school because he also attended school in Makochi back then, unless he was frequently absent, he was also making that 4 hour round trip every day, and barely eating what the fuck and why, was Suo truly just looking for some freedom outside of his responsibilities in Red Chanpuru, he had to have been a member already at 12 to be allowed to leave with nobody being too concerned about it, his training basically finished.
One has to wonder. But truly, you're telling me he had to do a 2 hour journey back to Bankoku-Gai after all of this
He looked exhausted, he did so much, no food or anything and then after this had to help his friends out, presumably walk both Sakura and Nirei home and then go on a 2 hour journey and act like he was perfectly fine back at Bankoku-Gai.
How has this kid not collapsed yet, I mean, deep down I know from personal experience that teens in such situations can handle a lot until the moment something gives and then everything comes crashing down. Suo is keeping himself upright and functional because he's needed like that and he can't allow himself anything else, and it hurts to see.
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! ♥
wbk chapter 217: the cosmopolitan city spoilers!!!
looking at both the new chapter and some theories on how the arc is gonna go!
slower paced chapter this time but lots of information inside!! we go back to suo from where we left off with furin before - without a resolution on what happened at the meeting (though i'll put my 2 cents in about what i think happened there later) and there is lots to say!
first off is - suo being multilingual fully confirmed! from what i can tell he's speaking chinese (probably mandarin but maybe another dialect but i don't know enough to tell), vietnamese and korean here. he also speaks english with rakta and bacchus later. interesting to note that being a polyglot isn't uncommon in the red chanpuru as stated later by rakta. but also interesting that he seems to know the most out of the three members here, or at the very least rakta doesn't know viet and korean. says a lot about how he was raised if he knows so many so well. i also want to point out that he knows all these citizens by name! it's later confirmed in the chapter that suo was making the commute to makochi every day and was in fact living in bankoku-kai while going to furin so even while being part of bofurin it seems he was engaging with his local community and probably working for the red chanpuru as well.
the chapter then moves to a place called the red vortex and it seems to be where suo grew up and may still live. the kids here are seem to be being trained in the same mixed martial arts style as suo but it's kind of odd that there's no adult supervising or even a older kid. all of the boys (and this i'll come back to) are younger than 15 and seemingly teaching themselves, which is odd? i did karate for a time and then fencing at a slightly bigger club and it's really common for the older kids to help out teaching classes (i did assistant coaching for a little while) but it doesn't seem like that's happening here - probably because all the kids older than 15 have gone into the red chanpuru.
this is a sentiment that suo doesn't seem very happy about, he moves to his favourite deflect and redirect in conversation technique to steer away from the topic of joining and its seeming more and more likely to me that there's probably internal problems inside the red chanpuru that suo is trying to solve.
mostly a side note but an interesting reaction when caught being rude and snappy to a superior in age and station. suo brushes it off easily and it's a reaction that could be taken as just embarrassment and maybe a little upset at saying the wrong thing to the wrong person but given that he also calls him sir right after, it seems like the hierarchy is really strict here and there might've even been times when discipline has been handed out for being rude though not likely from suo himself.
now this is where i'd like to talk a bit more. i mentioned before that it's only boys training, i didn't realise at first given that their kids and all the long hair was tied back but in the line up its pretty clear that yeah all the kids learning to fight are boys. the girls are kept out of the way watching and seem to not be allowed to learn. rakta and bacchus' reactions to the girls is pretty telling too, those aren't guilty looks theyre sporting - they don't feel like it's wrong for the girls to be excluded and if anything they seem annoyed that they're calling out to suo to say hi. now im not saying that this is be-all end-all misogyny but given the grace and care nii-sensei puts into the female characters of windbreaker im sure there will be more exploration into this. its not to say there's anything inherently wrong with an all boys gang, bofurin is an all boys gang, primarily because it's based out of an all boys school. but its interesting to see that an organisation based in a multicultural city still draws lines for oppression in different areas.
it's looking like there are a lot of internal issues inside the red chanpuru and maybe even the city itself and i wonder if part of the arc and conflict is tradition versus equity and an evolution/modernity of culture.
perhaps its not that deep but as a girl its always a bit personal to see things like this. but it's hopeful for me to see suos reaction being a kind one to the girls and their genuine joy in interacting with him.
moving on we see the chef, the first adult of the red chanpuru associated characters we've seen so far. (i'm thinking rakta and bacchus are around 17-18 like roppo-ichiza and the furin 3rd years are). we also see what are almost definitely kids in poverty, notably lacking adults with them from what we can see. though parents of the kids are mentioned it's clear they've been sent to get food while the parents presumably go without and this is a common occurrence. this says a pretty big amount about the state of the city and hints more towards issue within red chanpuru and the city itself.
this conversation corroborates that. the chef says more kids have been coming and business isn't that great, more importantly suo - an officer and some one who can represent the red chanpuru somewhat - apologises to the chef which makes me think there's definitely someone off about the red chanpuru. there also the reaction to saying thing will get better, suos buddies look pretty annoyed and incredulous to this remark, while suo only looks sad and a little guilty. it's made clear later that bacchus at least thinks the chef is ignorant and naive and there's clearly a coverup of some sort going on that's the root of the issues popping up and likely the reason suo had to leave.
yeah definitely something going on here...
and then this heartbreaking panel, sakura you don't deserve all this suffering...... god take his suffering and give it to endo fr
but yeah back to what i said at the start, i think the conversation at furin ended with umemiya barring them from going after suo. it's been established before that sakura and ume have very differing directions to leadership. while some of umes ideals are things that sakura wants to emulate it's also shown that there are conflicts in how they deal with problems and their thought process doing so.
umemiya is shown to be a bit of a monolith when leading, he's makochis big brother and he wants to protect his family but this leads him to be single minded and not reach out for help.
umemiya's priority is the people of makochi and protecting them and while sakuras priority is also this he approaches it differently.
windbreaker is about sakura, he's the main character and the narrative is about him. and windbreaker is specifically about his growth and how he learns to trust and grow along side others when he was isolated for most of his life.
and his growth has been showing! he was the one to contact their allies for the extinction war and learn how to fight with others. the majority of his growth so far has been teaching him about making and using connections either others, learning to rely on and help people in the community and that's exactly how he leads. unlike umemiya who wants to protect as a singular force, sakura protects as a collective as he learns to trust others abilities. umemiya made furin because he knows he can't do it by himself but in the end he will always try to do it by himself . sakura has learnt to bring people together and that's how he wants to lead, leaving no man behind.
but umemiyas priority isn't the unity of furin and makochi though it is important to him but more their safety. i think umemiya when hearing about red chanpuru and suos position as officer (not leader im not sure where people got that idea from?) is that it would be too much of a risk and that he would have to cut losses. and this is where they clash, sakura doesn't want to leave anyone behind and would resist against it. and i think he'll have a following along with him. i'm sure the kings will take umes side, they sympathise with sakura but if red chanpuru really is stronger and suo is a member they don't have a leg to stand on in interference for one kid.
but sakura sure isn't going to take that lying down. he seems miserable and someone pointed out that he didn't hang up his clothes, something he made sure to do even when sick, and it might be because he feels horrible but it might also be because he feels slightly disillusioned with furin.
so far windbreaker has been about sakura learning to connect and trust people, and now i think he'll learn how to deal with betrayal and conflict when it comes to people you care about. he's finally healed from his wounds before and now he's going to learn to stitch up new ones.
i think red chanpuru is going through some kind of civil war, maybe factions have split and i also think that they might have closed off the the city, which is why suo had to leave. i'll probably do a more in depth post on what i think the arc will look like later (like i mentioned before but still haven't done... whoopsie) since this is really long but yeah
anyways great chapter and i'm super excited for next week! sorry for any typos or incoherency there's a heatwave in the uk rn and im melting, have a great day and thanks for reading if u got this far!
okay so im not sure about race or ethnicity but i can tell you that rakta is a sanskrit word that means blood (he lowk looks indian to me too)
but i know that sanskrit has influenced a lot of other places in the past and the word rakta may have spread to other places through ayurveda (basically indian traditional medicine) im really not sure bec india's culture spread to a lot of other places
i know the source says hinduism (which is what im familiar with) but maybe its in buddhism too ! chakras are a concept from yoga for meditation, so maybe buddhism adapted that concept too
and this bacchus guy's name is probably more well known, bacchus is the roman god of wine. and wine is pretty much a red shade when talking about something 'wine-colored'
maybe theres a mythology angle here too, because of the dragons that exist in the emblem of the rc, like sensei is drawing inspiration from mythology or maybe its just her interpretation of the concepts.
and of course, we already know that suo comes from the word for sappanwood dye which is red. it's also a kind of nobility thing, and bacchus is a god. so both of those are like kinda similar i guess ?
rakta however is a bit different. in the source i included, it says its associated with kama of the svadisthana chakra, and basically kama is passion and desire. we train the chakra to regulate emotions if i had to put it in like basic words. i could go more into it but even i dont get it yet, its a lot to do with karma too i think.
so its about restraint and conquering negative emotions i think ? which sounds similar to suos whole thing. but if rakta is associated with simply just kama, then it means just passion. looking at the character though, i feel the first association about regulation fits better
and bacchus is famously a god who was um. not very restrained. again idk how relevant the source of these names are to the characters themselves ? but it is wbk and sensei places a lot of importance to names so maybe !
another red thing was the name of the place that trains future rc members, crimson vortex. i feel the rc emblem also kinda looks like a vortex ?
so yeah, sensei is going super heavy with the red symbolism which is interesting. oh yeah, another thing i noticed was that the three of them have piercings, which is interesting. maybe its some kind of initiation for joining the rc ? because none of the kids had that. lets see 🙂↕️
Sooo i tried to do a quick search for chanpurū to get a clue on Suo’s whereabouts…
Apparently, chanpurū is a group of Japanese stir-fry dishes, and it’s considered the representative dish of Okinawan cuisine.
The word’s literal meaning is “something mixed”:
Not that it wasn’t obvious, but now it’s basically confirmed that Suo’s associated with a group/organization with some kind of Chinese heritage/influence, although it’s probably based in Okinawa insead of mainland China (imo)
Also, just as a lot of us have suspected, Suo’s earrings are probably signifiers of the group: RED beads ~ RED Chanpurū, long tassels ~ Chinese heritage
I mean last week we had a whole separate panel showing just the chinese lamp with it’s tassels… i’m convinced the earrings will be very important during this arc.
So with all this considered, i was thinking that Suo might be located in Okinawa? Though it would be hard to imagine the whole Furin gang buying plane tickets to travel all the way there, especially since most of them are underage… maybe the Red Chanpurū has a faction located somewhere near Makochi…?
Based on what i found about chanpurū (a mixture of tradicional Okinawan, Chinese, mainland Japanese, Southeast Asian cultures) my guess is that it’s possibly a larger organization, maybe even to an international scale (aforementioned places)
But anyways, what i’m really curious about is how Suo got involved with this underground gang / shady group, and what exactly does his involvement entail. I’ll be absolutely destroyed if the child-trafficking or slavery theory turns out to be true :((
One thing I alluded to earlier is that Suo has really, really good martial forms. As someone who dabbled with martial arts at various stages of my life, these details jump out. Of course, any martial artist worth their salt must have good forms, unconventional style or not (as Suo described the forms he learned as a "jumble of mixed martial arts"). Wind Breaker is one of the best choreographed manga I have seen, so these details are very much worth analyzing :P
Table of contents:
Martial arts start with good forms
Suo v. Oobiki: Is Discipline Rigidity or Fluidity?
Foundational Grounded-ness: Defense as Offense
Circularity; Yin and Yang
Suo on the Offensive: no_fist.megamind?
I will first go over the basics — how the choreography demonstrates Suo's solid skills, which segue into Suo v. Oobiki's debate about "discipline" (spoiler: Suo wins because he has better forms, i.e. better discipline), then moving on to make more observations about his styles— particularly the circularity and how the narrative is restraining Suo from using his fist to attack.
Martial arts start with good forms
As an introduction, I will note that Suo always sits and stands very properly, with his back straight and his posture supported by his hands behind his back.
Notice also that while Sakura casually leans back against his chair, slumping backward, and Nirei "cowers" -- leaning forward -- Suo sits straight-backed like the epitome of a polite young man :3c
This is another fun contrast between Suo and most other delinquents in the story— in an environment emphasizing rebellion, freedom, and a bit of teenage arrogance mixed in, sparking all sorts of wild and flamboyant self-expressions (dyed hair, undercut, piercings, etc.), Suo alone stands with a very traditional, conservative, and almost a prudent sensibility, in both his clothings and behaviors. Had he not don his Furin jacket, would anyone believe that this gentleman is a delinquent?
That is to say, Suo's trainings are baked into his bones, to the way he holds and moves himself, most likely to even his speech. Good forms from the beginning to end. Suo likely has practiced martial arts for a good while.
The thing that makes me notice how good his form is is from his fist placement in the Kanuma fight:
First, note that Suo's right fist is in the ready position by his hip, ready to hit. It's small, but surprisingly easy to forget when you are starting out. It's somewhat about being ready to punch at anytime (even though we never see Suo actually punching anyone), but more about the discipline of always being ready for your next move.
Similarly, the fist is there during the Oobiki fight. Note that Suo was able to surprise Oobiki and get a hit in because the ready-to-go fist exists as a camouflage, distracting the opponent from his other arm (out of frame— out of Oobiki's visual field). Having the fist there is an excellent basic form, and it allows Suo multiple options of attack.
Let's transition to legwork. One of the most important thing in martial arts is stances. Generally, the deeper your stance is, the lower your center of gravity, hence the more stability you have. This is, of course, at the cost of mobility, which is achievable with narrower, higher stances. An exercise at the advanced (masters') level of karate is to stand in kiba-dachi, the basic horse stance (first thing you'll ever learn) continuously for an hour or more. That's how strong your legs have to be. And practice staying in proper stances is how you hone it. Having a strong, solid stance is essential for balance and power,
Notice the solid, deep (low) stance— and how much power is behind it as Suo very gently seize Kanuma's fist and flips him. We can see the difference in speed (and thus input power) by the blur in both frames.
Again and again, Suo does a lot of "flipping people over" like this (I'm sure there is a proper term for it, in what I assume is Aikido, but that's a martial discipline I haven't flirted with lol). I will labor the point of Suo's moves being primarily circular later, but just to demonstrate the power behind his seemingly-effortless moves:
Note the stance— and the engaged legs muscles
Same here— the deep stance provides a tremendous amount of power required to fling a grown man and knock out two more people. Note again the difference in speed/input momentum (top right panel).
Doing mixed martial arts doesn't means that every move is a hodge-podge of everything. Suo's starting stance is a very basic/common starting form in kungfu:
As a side note, visually this starting form is very representative of Suo as a character/fighter :P He doesn't start (seemingly) looking for a fight; his stance is neutral, relaxed; one hand is inviting the opponent into his space. However, when we look closer, his feet are position such that he is ready to lunge forward (front-facing leg) and a fist is hidden behind his back, also ready to pounce.
It is a basic stance because it is good, and great when done right. If there is one (1) single thing you get from all the ramblings I do, let it be that Suo has very good basics. From his resting stance, fist placement, low stances, to kick— everything is solid.
This brings us to the "debate" between Suo and Oobiki about what "discipline" means.
Discipline: Rigidity or Fluidity?
Suo v. Oobiki is, ultimately, a fight about their philosophy regarding "discipline". (In this manner, we can say that Suo participated in at least one conversation, lol. But more on this later in Crisis of Contact or The Failure of Language (coming soon. at some point.) perhaps.) Firstly, Oobiki brought up discipline with the context of punishment for bad behaviors:
Which suggests that a (rigid) social code was violated here— which is that Suo, the underclassmen, had insulted his superior (in age and school-year). Discipline, here, is a violent mean to "bend" someone back to the appropriate behavior; or, perhaps, discipline means the rigid code of appropriate behaviors itself. Regardless, we get the sense here that "discipline" is rigid, meant to be followed to the letter, and even somewhat hierarchical: the elder enforces discipline onto the younger, not the other way around.
Ironically, this rigidity and hierarchy of discipline is what Oobiki forsook in the first place when he gave up competitive gymnastics:
Rigid routine, rigid rules;
The hierarchy of ranking and rigid scoring system;
And yet, old habits die hard. The brutality of competition and gymnastics is engrained into Oobiki's conception of discipline, and what it means to be, yourself, disciplined, or to discipline somebody else: beating the same stringent routines and rules until submission.
Afterwards, Suo relays a very different view — another definition altogether — of the word:
(Yeehaw! The first visual of Suo's master--- the same narrative role as Akari, yet so much further away...)
Discipline here is not a rigid code of rules or behavior, but rather the transmission of knowledge. This may be due to localization (can somebody please supply me with the Japanese version), but notice that Oobiki uses "discipline" as a noun, while Suo uses it as a verb. One is a thing that you have; the other is an action you impart upon someone else. Already, we see the rigidity of an object without care for whom it affects, versus an action that involves two people at the minimum (the teacher and the student) and widens the possibility of what could be taught. Martial arts is a discipline; so is calligraphy, for example, or tea ceremony, or life philosophy, or math, or science, or literature, etc.
Discipline, to Suo (relayed to him by his Master, by the quote) is a living, mobile thing, means to share knowledge without forcing it upon somebody. You can try to train or teach someone; it doesn't mean they will learn it that exact way, or they may modify your teachings to their needs. Suo is already innovating upon the discipline passed down to him by teaching Nirei to protect himself and fight back at once
It's a living thing in the same sense that humanity is a living thing, as culture and knowledge get passed down and modified generations by generations. It's quite generative, to employ a pun here. It's more philosophical and metaphysical than the concrete, object-like "discipline" that Oobiki wants to impart, or force upon, others.
How do these two views of "discipline" duke it out? By fighting, of course! And, I will argue that Suo wins because he has the better discipline, narratively speaking. Of course, it's nearly impossible for two definitions of the word to duke it out— this is why we have stories and narratives :D The key observation I want to make is that Suo has the more solid and proper forms.
I noted earlier that Suo was able to get a hit into Oobiki with his elbow because of his good ready stance with the fist. The more demonstrative example, I think, is in this sequence here, which immediately follows the aforementioned example:
Oobiki begins with a gymnastic-inspired cartwheel, using one leg to attack and hook Suo's arm down. Note that the force is concentrated on Suo's wrist. With his momentum, Oobiki's arms push upward to complete the cartwheel, and, theoretically, slam Suo's body down by his wrist (a very tiny fraction of Suo's body mass— which is proportional momentum). That's cool and all, but I think Oobiki makes a grave mistake next…
... of attacking with his other leg instead of landing. He expects Suo's whole body to go down with his wrist (which, again, very small fraction of body mass— Suo is a lot stronger physically than Oobiki expected). If that is the case, then Oobiki gets the point. However, I think, giving yourself zero point of contact on the ground — your form and stance not being grounded at all — is a risky gamble. You risk standing on nothing and having no foundation beneath to push you on. While you are falling mid-air, your opponent easily get a grasp on you, and, supplying some (seemingly) minimal amount of force, turns gravity against you. Again, no foundation, nothing solid to land on.
This is, also, the last significant movement in their choreography before the winner is decided. This ending is signified by Oobiki saying, "I can't read you at all..." before the narrative naturally descend to the conclusion of their fight with Suo as the winner. Oobiki's "encore" is merely the last desperate swipe in a conversation already closed.
Foundational Grounded-ness; Defense as Offense
Another observation: throughout the Oobiki fight, most of Suo's stances are low, deep stances, which emphasizes stability and grounded-ness. We see these in the previous examples— in the one immediately above, Suo's stance is so "deep" that he is kneeling on the ground: very stable (which also necessitates no small amount of core strength, mind you) in contrast to Oobiki's ungrounded-ness.
Here, Suo starts from a neutral, high stance, then steps out and down to move his opponent down along with his own center of gravity
Next, a very impressive (holy crap I can't properly express how fucking insane of a move that is) swing: from a low (kicking) stance, which provides the normal force necessary to push, and over
To a solid, whole foot (HEEL FIRST! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT-- note the angle where the heel is closer to the ground) and a forceful slam down.
While Suo adeptly utilizes high, middle, and low stances, I want to point out that in this fight, all of his move begins from a low stance. Narratively, Suo is focusing on stability, grounded-ness (purpose-wise, Furin's job is to hold their ground, too), and defense — which is his specialty. Suo rarely initialize attacks as offense; here, he relies on the same grounded-ness of his defensive practice as offense. You have heard "the best defense is offense" before, now, welcome to "the best offense is defense" :P.
Combing through the manga, I am struck with how solid Suo's stances are, which I'm sure I have more than adequately emphasized by now. He is agile, mobile, and responsive, yes, but he agilely steps into a sturdy defensive stance in every fight, as demonstrated above in the Kiryuu introductory fight as well as in Roppo Ichiza.
I think this does say something about Suo as a character; just as Sakura's agility, adaptability, creativity, and ferocity says about his, or Tsugeura's high-spirited, principled (even if seemingly odd) virtues being supported by his muscular sturdiness— emphasize the simplicity of pure force, or, Sugishita's long-armed, forceful, but single-trajectory attacks says about his single-minded determination. It doesn't have to be anything too deep lest we step too close into Backstory Speculations territory (though I would not blame us for that, seeing that that is the #1 mystery right now, lol). But, to me, there seems to be an interesting contrast between Suo's image as a lighthearted, blithe, socially-adaptable child and his principled and grounded stances, which are primarily employed to protect or defend someone else.
(Suo's return to the group post-Oobiki is blithe and lightfooted. At this moment, his return is more to a social effect, reconnecting with the rest of the class before the fight resume. Note that, in contrast to his earlier heel-first landing, toe-first landing is used for very light landing— a spirit of windless calm, as I love to say these days. His first impact is this lightness — relieving Nirei from his post, signifying a victory, like a balm upon the toiling soldiers.)
There is, still, a hidden sternness and practicality underneath such a light and humorous character. We caught glimpses of it: Suo who, on the first day of class, "fact-and-logic"'ed Sakura and Sugishita into resolving their conflicts:
Suo who represents the foundational philosophy of fighting as a group to Sakura:
Suo is also teaching Nirei the foundation of fighting, etc. etc.
These roles fit perfectly into his motif as a "teacher" in the narrative, conveniently also as the narrative mouthpiece: I discussed in another analysis Suo's role as the one delivering "conclusive remarks" — the final deliverer of message to Sakura's journey. Just like his conception of discipline as "passing down teachings" — passing down something fundamental, grounding, upon which new innovations can be made — Suo provides the elementary, foundational "bricks" to the story, upon which Nirei, Sakura, the audience, and whomever else he will teach next, can build up their unique substances. It all starts with a good basics— that’s the thing that struck me with Suo’s fighting styles: it’s graceful and simple, based on strong and solid foundational skills.
Circularity; Yin and Yang
By now, it's clear that Suo's fighting motif is primarily circular: he twists and flips his opponents both parallel to and perpendicular to the plane of his body
@darkersolstice and I briefly discussed this point earlier, here, where they insightfully compare Suo to the eye of a hurricane. Inspired by this, I remarked that the philosophical basis of Suo's style is something to the effect of "A steadfast heart amidst the ever-turbulent circumstances" (In Vietnamese, "Tâm bất biến giữa dòng đời vạn biến"). As the calm in the eye of the storm — the central, unmoving axis of rotation — Suo controls himself and the vortex of life such that they all pass by him. He sees and acknowledges the turbulence; but he remains unperturbed and untouched by them.
There is a nuance between what I argue here versus what I argued by Suo's evasiveness, in that it is not the fighting style that is the evasive one, but Suo is. The evasiveness — the "letting life flows by" physical philosophy — is just one of the many possible motivator for his evasion. The bulk of Suo's dodging, I think now, is social rather than physical; the physical aspect just further enforces the motif. (Or, I may argue, the physical aspect may hints towards a deeper motivation for the habitual deflection, without it being the main culprit of the evading act.)
Coming back to the circularity itself; the perfect circle has been symbolically important, throughout many culture, as a symbol of perfection and completeness. The Aristotelian view of the universe was that of a series of enclosing sphere, because circles — and spheres — are perfect. In Chinese philosophy, the same ideal is reflected in yin and yang
There is light in darkness, darkness in light, as circular force and motion rotate in the universe. This is the total encapsulation of everything. Suo's circular form, where he controls the sum total of his force and the opponent's momentum to his advantage, symbolize this philosophical totality. By Suo's association with a heavily Chinese motif, this could be the intended basis of his form.
Suo on the Offensive? no_fist.megamind?
Another thing that is apparent is that Suo has yet to (actually) attack with his fist; both time, against Kanuma or KEEL, he was thwarted from doing so:
Both time, Suo going for the punch was considered an excessive use of force— explicitly so in the KEEL's case, where it was considered the wrong and overly-aggressive choice. There, it also marked a break from his serene and mature characterization.
Suo does attack— but it is always with his legs, palms, or elbow (in the Oobiki fight).
Never the fist. Why?
I, to be honest, still have to ponder more what this means in relation to the rest of his defensive, circular (yin-yang), and deflective (utilizing the opponent's momentum) fighting style. An oath of non-violence, perhaps?— an oath to respond to your environment, to defend as the need arise, to seek not violence but repel it? These are compelling statements. Why kicks and push, but not fist? Perhaps there is an "excuse" of repelling and deflecting in kicking away, pushing away that does not exist in punch in, punch at, punch through. With its various prepositions, punching is rarely away, but always offensive, violating, stepping inside in a sense. Suo's discipline seems to be that of pacifism or at least, minimal violence. Violence cannot touch him, and he cannot exude violence with the discipline he was taught— handed down to? constrained in?
There are still so many interesting thoughts to extrapolate on, so many narrative trajectories wide open for Suo (and his backstory) to take— but that shall be the story for another day.
if you're not watching wind breaker with the highest quality headphones you have, you're missing out on how much the battle music amplifies the theme of "fighting as communication" bc that shit has so many nuances and many of them are bass-y as hell
when one character heavily outclasses another, or in moments someone's really feeling the danger, it literally sounds like horror chase music. I listen to horror ost's recreationally I know this to be true.
The initial bit of Sakura's brawl with Togame especially, I could only think "danger danger predator playing with his food sakura he's gonna KILL you". Which is a fitting vibe for a fight between a guy who has been masquerading as a sadistic villain (and doing it WELL) and a kid with the danger sense hypervigilance I'd label c-ptsd if it felt like he was actually "post" that traumatic stress
And then there's the genuinely exciting and elegant music of my darling beloved tsubaki who treats fighting similarly to umemiya! But her emphasis on pairs dancing changes the "fist conversation" from a compassionate listening ear (umemiya) to an active attempt at collaboration, an outstretched hand offering companionship at the outset. This element of tsubaki is easily apparent in the orchestral elements that mesh with an edm club bop when she fights.
(Side note: love the guiding light vs helping hand foils thing, big bro vs big sis, umetsuba you will always be famous)
love when a show deftly weaves in musical leitmotifs. also, how the fight choreography meshes with the music & sound design so perfectly??? the percussion making every battle seem more like a dance????? those recurring scene/ mood break sounds I think are hand drums????
wind breaker's got my fuckin number bro. how'd they know I'm a slut for good sound design and an excuse to use my Sonys
