Wbk Analysis - Blog Posts

I don't get it ngl . Why would the author give every single side character some set of chapters exploring everything about their past & fleshing out everything about them & giving them centric arcs with the conflict revolving around them while Sakura" the protagonist"barely get one chapter focus on him alone/ the conflict of every arc doesn't revolve around him . Very disappointing treatment for Sakura from the author!

I would personally argue that every arc is a Sakura-centric arc, even when the conflict revolves around another character on the surface! We see Sakura almost every single chapter, and he definitely gets the most amount of panel/screen-time than any other character. I believe each arc is built around a lesson or push he needs to grow into his fullest potential as a character (this honestly might be an analysis I do at some point on my wbk blog- what important is being imparted to Sakura towards his personal growth in each arc). Each arc is him growing into a person he can be proud of, learning how to be a protector and leader of Furin and the town, and have ingrained internally that he is just as deserving of love and should be valued as much as everything and everyone else in Makochi.

We don't necessarily need to know the specific details of why he is a part of Furin because we already know that part! He's spent his whole life being rejected and treated like he is incapable of doing any good. He's always had to do things on his own and was never able to make positive connections with those around him. But the characters around him? We are told these things about Sakura pretty quickly and everything else is just filling in the gaps. However- Why does Sugishita practically worship Umemiya? Why is a pretty boy like Kiryuu a 'delinquent'/fighter? We don't know these things, nor does Sakura. A part of Sakura's personal journey in becoming a good leader or even just his personal journey in learning how make connections IS to learn about the people he is protecting/the people who are putting their support behind him. Getting to know these people's backstories IS a part of Sakura's personal growth as a character.

Every little thing we learn about Sakura's past does build up though! Maybe we don't get it all at once, but we may continue to get it throughout the rest of the series, however long it goes. We cover more than one manga chapter in a singular episode of the anime, if side characters gets one episode about their backstory that's really not that unheard of! Though I do admit that the slow and gradual reveal of small details from the main character's backstory is unconventional to most animes, there are so many other series where huge things about the main character's backstory is reveal WAY into the story (Luffy from One Piece especially comes to mind immediately, but Noragami and Clannad are other series where huge details about the main character's backstory are revealed as the story progresses).

It definitely is a preference of storytelling, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that Sakura's character is neglected by the narrative. So much of every arc has something that Sakura needs to learn, or involves a change in perspective he needs to develop further to push beyond the mindset and deeply-rooted beliefs of his (lack of) self worth that he's been left with from his past.

Community and Family Through Food

The usage of food in the narrative of Wind Breaker (Spoilers up to the Noroshi War Arc in the manga)

* Content Warning: Mentions of Attempted Sui

Perhaps it is partially because my other biggest fixation right now is One Piece, but something that has always stood out to me in this series is its importance of eating, but even more-so: The ability to eat in good company. Wind Breaker seems to follow this pattern that is also present in One Piece that after every arc, the characters have to have a meal together. A festival, a meal offered by the owner of a restaurant in town, Kotoha’s diner, take-out on a rooftop; Wherever it may be, there is a meal being shared. Nii Satoru doesn’t hide why this is the case, and even has one of the most important characters to the manga, Umemiya, explicitly say why he insists on everyone eating together as often as possible.

Now, of course, Umemiya being who he is, this comes across as both a little ridiculous and perhaps even a bit childish/selfish to the other characters in the scene (and possibly even the reader) who are a little less familiar with Umemiya. Yet, being able to hang out and eat good food is the reason he decided to aim to become the leader of Bofurin, it’s the reason he gives for how he can be so happy while leading, and he sticks by it. He continues to put emphasis on everyone eating together at the end of each arc.

A detail I love about the chapter when he first gets food for everyone at the end of the Shishitoren tournament arc? It is called ‘Umemiya-Style’. Initially, one could see this as being because that’s just how Umemiya Hajime rolls, or, a play off of ‘fighting style’ but for Umemiya he fights against Choji with his words. Using fights as a ‘dialogue’ to get to know the other person better, as he puts it. However, we get the fuller meaning later in the story with the chapters covering Umemiya’s backstory.

We learn at the end of Hajime Umemiya’s backstory that eating meals as a family was a value passed to him from his parents. Your food (and life) is better when you are surrounded by the people you care about. In this story, a character’s ability to enjoy food is directly linked to their quality of life in the narrative. (The fact that this immediately follows an arc that centered around adversaries who were literally living in poverty and starving? Who united together so that they could all continue to have *something* to eat, even if it meant sacrificing their individual hopes and dreams? MWAH, chef’s kiss.)

Umemiya, however, lost his ability to taste or enjoy food when his parents died and he was brought to the orphanage, Furinen.

Umemiya didn’t eat alongside the others in the orphanage. He couldn’t taste or enjoy any food given to him. At the same time as he is rejecting eating, he is of the firm belief at this point that he should stay away from all people because he believed he got his parents killed. He believes that he is a murderer and doesn’t deserve to sit at a table with others- laughing and talking about their day, eating omurice as his family had once done together. During this same meal that he is rejecting, we have Yuki Shitara and the other kids at the orphanage trying to connect with him. They want to know about him: if he’s feeling okay, what his favorite foods are. During this meal they are trying to connect with him as a family, and he pushes himself away from that connection.

It isn’t until just as Hajime Umemiya attempts to take his own life that he gets a flash of the sight of his parents just before they were killed that he remembers that in their last moments they were smiling at him. They weren’t looking at him with fear, they were looking at him with love and relief. Relief that Hajime was going to live. I think it is also important to note that the Furin high schooler who is with Hajime when he attempts to commit suicide says these lines too.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think this could be the first time Umemiya comes across someone from Furin. At the very least, Umemiya does refer to this meeting as a part of fate. And we see this member of Furin mention being hungry, wanting to find something to eat. When he’s taking Umemiya back to the orphanage and comes across Yuki, he mentions how he and his buddies at Furin can’t sit still while outsiders to the town are coming in and doing whatever they want, making a mess of the rest of the town. Their hearts are not full, and they are not happy with the way things are. This shows, even before Umemiya adopts his dream, that there are already people who would probably be receptive to the changes he wants to see in town.

But in the meantime, when Umemiya gets back to the orphanage, we see the words of the others there finally resonate with him. Why? For two reasons- he finally believes he deserves to keep on living, and because they share that they understand him. That he doesn’t have to be an outsider with them, because they are all the same. They know the loneliness he feels, they know that it is hard for him to laugh and enjoy meals and that being able to do so again will take time. But still, whenever he is ready- They could be his family, and he could be their older brother. 

So Umemiya finally decides to step into that role of an older brother. He wants others to be able to rely on him and to do what he can to protect those around him. By the time he’s 14, he’s decided that this doesn’t just extend to the members of the orphanage. He wants his hometown, and all its residents, to be able to feel that same happiness and have the ability to all share in meals as a united family together. Furin is a high school of outcasts, the town of Makochi are constantly beaten down by both infighting and others coming in and making a mess of their homes and businesses. The police and professions that involve building community (teachers) have abandoned the town, deciding that the place is beyond hope. So Umemiya decides he is going to do whatever he can for the people of the town. To bring them into his family. Everyone there, regardless of labels or bitter feelings, deserves to eat and be surrounded by loved ones. At the age of 14 he is already leading by example of what he wishes to see in the future from Furin: patrolling the town, doing little things for the townspeople, showing them compassion and care. And what do we see in this first scene of him helping out the townspeople? He is offered food.

So now, in the present, Makochi is a family. But even more than that, they extend love and care to all outcasts. To all the lonely people they come across. This is why Umemiya insists on eating takeout with Choji and Togame. This is why he insists on Nagato and class 1-1 to eat a meal with him after the frustration and blows to self esteem experienced by those involved in the battle with Keel. This is why one of the first things that happens to Sakura upon coming to Makochi is he is asked if he is hungry, and he is fed. Because everyone, regardless of bitter feelings, regardless of how others may see them or how they see themselves, deserves to be loved and to eat good food. If fighting is a dialogue to get to know another person, sharing a meal is a solidification of that connection made. To make sure that person knows they are loved and cared for no matter what.