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My beautiful oomf Max have you drawn Choji before

I HELLO?? VDFNVJFKDNVJFD I HAVE NOT

and now i have

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Sakura and Water

Throughout the series, we see certain characters typically represented with elements of nature—predominantly, fire. However, I find it quite interesting how Sakura is associated with water instead.

The most egregious example of the former is Takiishi, who’s portrayed [in the manga’s art] with flames around him and is described as an ‘inferno’ by Endo.

He’s also shown to set his (metaphorical) world ablaze as he walks through it in Chapter 153—which brings us to our next contender, Umemiya.

Umemiya is also associated with fire (though his flames are blue), which is quite ironic given that everyone Furin student follows the common theme of having a tree or plant in their name. After all, fire sets nature and foliage ablaze, destroying it in the process.

Endo also alludes to Ume being similar to a fire (ie. a source of heat). He especially highlights this fact during Noroshi’s final battle.

Although he isn’t exactly portrayed with flames around him, Endo does have a connection to fire. The 棪 character in 棪堂 (Endo) has the Japanese radical for fire (火) in it twice—after all, his character is staunchly connected to both Takiishi and Umemiya. He expresses the desire to burn Sakura down:

I’m also aware that Hiiragi is drawn with fire around him in his Bishamoten art but I couldn’t find a place to fit him in this post so this is just a footnote

As I’ve mentioned at the beginning, Sakura is portrayed with motifs related to water. The only exception is when he’s first shown to team up with Sugishita as both of them have flames rage in the backdrop. Perhaps fire (in a rather ironic sense) symbolizes an inherent connection to Bofurin and it’s students/allies.

Since fire is connected to Furin, Sakura being represented with motifs related to water merely solidifies his status as an outsider. Fire and water have always been considered opposites, both thematically and in the real world.

This theme is especially prevalent during the Noroshi arc. When Sakura discovers Tsubaki’s collapsed body and has his dead wife flashback likens it to Nirei in KEEL, we see a large volume water douse him in order to illustrate his shock.

In the next page we see Sakura begin to sink in a body of water, hinting at his slow mental decline during his fight with Endo. It also symbolizes how unsure and insecure he is, as Sakura thinks of his peers advice and thoughts.

Though, the thought of his community by itself manages to pull Sakura back up and focus on Endo again, but this moment foreshadows what is about to come of Sakura’s fight with Endo.

When Endo digs into Sakura’s insecurities, Sakura loses himself—and drowns as snakes (representing Endo) pull him even deeper into the water.

What makes this symbolism especially cruel is the fact that Sakura doesn’t know how to swim. He’s unable resurface on his own (both literally and in a metaphorical sense), having to rely on his peers to help him—though Endo makes it out to be Sakura dragging his friends down instead.

Sakura does eventually come back up and defeats Endo—and indirectly reaffirms Ume to win his fight with Chika. Additionally, Bofurin would’ve been in much more trouble if Sakura had never contact their allies to assist in the war. In a way, maybe water (Sakura) managed to douse the Great Fires of Extinction (Noroshi).

Sakura being the water to Umemiya/Endo/Chika/Furin’s fire also makes Hashirao’s connection of Sakura and that trio implausible and ironic.

This brings us back to Chapter 184, in which he doesn’t come in direct contact with the river of Makoichi. Instead, it reflects off of hos face.

Throughout his conversation with Natsuki, he divulges his own feelings to her in order to put them on an equal emotional footing. He reflects on his past experiences (with an unreadable expression) in the process, many of which involved him grappling with similar emotions as Natsuki.

It’s important to note that Sakura and Natsuki converse near the bridge where the Noroshi vs Bofurin war had begun. Despite the battle being difficult for Sakura (as his and fears insecurities were brought to the forefront in the arc) and water having a general connotation to his negative emotions, Sakura is able to accept his fears and divulge them when needed.

Bonus: Sakura is able to differentiate the taste between certain types of water. He’s either sensitive to flavor, or he’s accustomed to noticing the differences in something as plain as water (I assume had to drink from various sources of water due to his neglect). Kid’s had it rough growing up

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What I personally think is behind Suo’s eyepatch

The title explains itself (though my claims are a bit farfetched), so I’ll get straight to the point.

Firstly, I believe that Suo is blind in his right eye.

Typically, eyepatches are mainly worn by people who:

Are recovering from surgery

Cosplay

Have some sort of eye trauma or are half-blind

The first point is immediately negated, since we see that Suo has been wearing an eyepatch on his right eye since middle school at the earliest. I doubt that even the most extensive eye surgeries would need him to be wearing one for years on end. Most eyepatches are made out of adhesive material, whilst Suo's is made out of leather as it is more 'breathable' according to him; indicating that he's been wearing his eyepatch for a long time. I won't dwell on this point much since I don't think this outcome is very likely, but I just wanted to bring it up anyways.

The second point could be plausible, considering that Suo voluntarily draws attention to his eyepatch in his introduction, even stating that there is “an ancient Chinese spirit” sealed inside—there’s a story behind it.

However, Nirei’s question immediately disproves Suo’s bluff. Nii Satoru is a very deliberate writer; I don’t think there would be any reason to include Nirei’s dialogue about a ‘past accident’ (more on this later) if it wasn’t meant to serve as foreshadowing or turned out to be somewhat true.

On the other hand, Suo directly agrees with Nirei’s claim, though his wording is very vague (ie. it’s what other people say rather than Suo himself confirming it).

I believe this scene is mainly meant to showcase Suo’s comical side (backed by Nirei’s comment about expecting Suo to be more cold/aloof and with Suo introducing himself as Leonardo di Caprio). I assume that he decided to make up a story about his eye because he’s been questioned about it many times in the past. It’s obviously not true, but I don’t think that Suo would voluntarily wear an eyepatch for years on end just to look cool (not to mention the depth perception issues that comes with having one eye obstructed).

It’s also important to note that Nirei’s information is scarily accurate as well. He even figured out that Suo hates natto despite how secretive the latter is, but I digress.

This leads me to the third point, which is what most of the fandom (myself included) speculates. However, I’ll be focusing more on the prospect of Suo being half-blind.

If Suo is blind in his right eye, he would have a white iris. Although many blind characters in anime/animation have their eyes closed or just lack pupils, some do have white/clear/sheen irises:

Additionally, some people who are blind in real life can also have ‘milky’ eyes!

Even other animanga characters who wear eyepatches have some sort of eye trauma (if they aren’t pirates/concealing some power/forced to give their eyeball up for a contract, though WBK isn’t that kind of story) such as Hange Zoë and Asuka Langely Soryu.

I personally believe that Suo's right eye was injured to the point of vision loss given with the evidence presented before. I don't have any theories as to how this happened due to a lack of canon evidence, but it's likely linked to why he tells Nirei to never close his eyes. It's highly probable his right eye is linked to a traumatic incident of his past-though anything further related to Suo's backstory prompts an entirely different conversation.

Theres also a possibility that Suo might have been born half blind as well, and uses his eyepatch to protect/cover the affected eye, though it's merely speculation on my part (and I'll talk about this theory more in a bit).

You've probably noticed that I'm drawing a lot of attention to the color of Suo's right eye, rather than the cause of his potential blindness. This is where my theory starts to sound rather implausible.

Let me introduce in our beloved protagonist of Wind Breaker: Sakura Haruka!

Wait, isn’t this a theory about Suo? What does Sakura have to do with Suo’s eye?

Although Sakura and Suo do have their stark differences, they do share some similarities (this criteria applies to Suo + Nirei and Sakura + Nirei as well). The most prominent thing they have in common [design wise] are their ‘abnormal’ eyes (with Sakura having heterochromia, and Suo with only one eye visible), and how they’re somehow linked to some sort of past trauma. I already went over how Suo’s right eye could connect to a potentially traumatic incident earlier, so I’ll be focusing on Sakura in the meantime.

In the beginning of the anime, we see snippets of dialogue by people from Sakura’s past, which mainly consisted of a barrage of criticism and rude remarks towards him. This line in particular stands out to me:

Japanese society is very conformative both in real life and what we see in Sakura’s memories. Being unique or looking/behaving differently from the norm is often looked down upon. We see different people in the series poke fun at Sakura’s hair, but I feel like the comment about his eyes is the most egregious. You can’t exactly change your eye color easily without contacts, unlike hair in which you can style/dye it as you please (though doing either and changing his appearance would contradict Sakura’s values and suppress his identity/individuality).

For the majority of his life, Sakura has been consistently ostracized due to his ‘weird’ appearance. This caused him to internalize those sentiments for years on end before coming to Furin. He project these insecurities externally throughout the manga whether it relates to his leadership skills or how he interacts with the other students (initially questioning why people can accept him given his ‘strange’ appearance and mannerisms). There’s also this:

Sakura used to cover his hair and eyes with hats/sunglasses, however it failed to work as people still avoided him. This is where his dislike of covering his appearance stems from, which is quite a contrast to Suo’s eyepatch (which is either brought attention to by the narrative or Suo himself).

Being constantly alienated and perceived as ‘disgusting’ by others causes a sense of distrust and insecurities to develop in person, especially if it happened during their developmental stages (as Sakura experienced most of it as a child/teen), hence why it is a traumatic experience for Sakura. Even though he’s in a better place now (both mentally and literally), the ghosts of his past still haunt and affect Sakura to this day.

Since Suo and Sakura do foil each other, there is a chance that Suo might have also covered his eye for a similar reason to Sakura in the past. Maybe he doesn’t want other people to know he is blind to not be perceived as weak, or Suo was ashamed of for a different reason—perhaps other people thought his blind eye was scary? Suo could have been born with a blind eye, as well, much like how Sakura was born with a “half and half” appearance.

As I’ve mentioned before, Sakura has heterochromia (wow no shit Sherlock); his left eye is yellow, while his right is black[ish-grey] (his eye is sometimes colored a light grey/blue but thats usually a stylistic choice)

Both Sakura and Suo’s character colors are based off their left eyes: Sakura’s being an amber color while Suo’s is red (rather than sappanwood but its a shade of red anyways and Suo is usually represented with a bold red in other official/merch art so shhh)

If we were to follow my theory, Suo would hypothetically have a milky colored right eye and a red iris for his left; whereas Sakura’s heterochromia would still consist of a black and amber iris. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Both Sakura and Suo would have their character color as their left eye (amber and red respectively), while their right eyes (black and white) would contrast each other. Black and white are considered opposites, after all.

If my speculation holds true, this could perfectly showcase Suo and Sakura’s differences and similarities—but instead of it being almost hidden through the layers of their unspoken relationship, they are physically represented through their character designs.

You’re probably thinking that this theory actually is far fetched (even I think the same). But hear me out:

There is another duo in Wind Breaker that have character designs that contrast each other: Togame and Choji!

Nii Satoru makes it a point to emphasize how different these two are—and it’s no secret given their designs (I go more in depth about their thematic/design differences here), especially their eyes. Togame’s are thin, slanted, and green while Choji’s are wide, round and red[dish brown]. (I know that his eyes are more brown in the anime and I don’t really like it lol, though Nii sensei does color Choji’s eyes red sometimes)

Additionally, Sakura is sometimes drawn with his hair slicked back, which makes him look eerily similar to Umemiya, and I believe that this is intentional given that the two share a lot of parallels.

In the case of Suo and Sakura, these two elements could possibly coexist in their character designs via their ‘irregular’ eyes.

TLDR; Suo and Sakura are the only characters in the cast with messed up eyes -> If Suo’s blind in his right eye, it would be white -> which would contrast Sakura’s black iris thats also in his right eye -> this shows their differences -> but also reinforces the fact that they are similar since their left eyes are red and amber -> which are their character colors -> I am kind of delusional

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I want to crack his head open and study his mind, lol.

I can't! So I drew this instead, Him and a Redbud tree🌺🍃

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Take my "Which Wind Breaker Character Are You?" Quiz that I spent WAY too long on

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// wbk 184

I just really love how Sakura wanted an individual person to stay by his side at first, but ended up having an entire community that loves him unconditionally. It’s kind of sad how he used to be so apprehensive of other people, but subconsciously desired for at least one person to stick with him. Despite his trauma, Sakura still had a lot of humanity and compassion inside him (which is very endearing given that he was outcasted and abused/neglected for most of his life).

Coming to Furin and meeting lots of different people (those who are similar/different from him regardless of whether they like Sakura/Sakura likes them) changed Sakura for the better—and this chapter really shows. He’s come a long way from the traumatized newcomer who was afraid of rejection from others and all too eager to throw himself into danger, and this chapter really emphasizes this fact.

His growth is pretty crazy when you compare Sakura’s conversation with Natsuki to how he handled Umemiya disclosing his past and Kiryu’s home life. With Ume, he felt an overwhelming amount of sympathy but didn’t know how to properly process such an intense feeling.

As for Kiryu, Sakura immediately tried to intervene and stick his nose where it didn’t really belong (ie. Kiryu’s interpersonal family affairs) because Kiryu’s situation heavily reminded him of his own trauma (though he does mellow out and help Kiryu and his sister as an outsider later on).

But even though Sakura related to Natsuki’s situation and behavior, he kept rather calm (even when he was dealing with the group of guys that intimidated her) while talking to her about his experiences and her feelings. After all, she is just a child—and Sakura has grown for the better as a character.

tldr; uhh Sakura development good I want to poke him with a stick tbh

Also I love how the chapter is titled “Next to You” whilst the cover has both Natsuki and Sakura standing next to each other 🥹

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different anon and kinda unrelated to the ask game, but your answer of “Both of them are really similar in the way they repress their true feelings and are avoidant towards the people they care” really hit it in the nail. I think it sums up Suo’s, not exactly his character/characterization but a huge part of it? I’m not sure if I’m making any sense, but I want to let you know that from now on if I see people ask “why is Suo /like that/?” I’ll show you this answer of yours

I understand what you’re trying to say, nws! I just think it’s pretty interesting how amongst all the characters in Wind Breaker and how tight-knit Furin is, it’s Suo (who is such a prominent character) who distances himself from the others, and how he is closest to Sakura (the MC who embodies WBK’s core values).

I’m honored that you’d use my silly answer to answer such a complicated question~ Thank you for the ask!

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Hello, I wanted to reach out to mainly thank you for all of your wonderful analyses! Especially for Suo and Sakura... they are very "underrated" as a duo imo and analysing them (considering how closed off they are) together is sooo fun.

Also wanted to add, dunno if you follow the daily questions of the characters, but I find it so amusing how Suo thinks someone "falling for his jokes" makes him happy and, as you pointed out, Sakura is his target 4 out of 5 times lol. All the Japanese comments mention it too (I don't usually give weight to 'bonus content' like this, but since Nii-sensei stated he checks basically everything surrounding WBK -anime, gacha and merch - I am more willing to consider it)

Aww, thank you so much for the nice message! Suo and Sakura are very fun, I’m glad you enjoyed my writeups on them!

I do follow the daily questions! They’re pretty funny (I love Sakura and Nirei’s dreams lol), and gives us some cool insight on the characters. I assume that these asks do have canonical weight as they line up with what’s been established (taking Tsugeura for example: when he was asked about Suo’s hidden side, he says that Suo being bad at art is surprising, which makes sense since the latter’s worst subject is Art as stated in the character book). As you said, Nii-sensei is consulted about official content outside the manga as well, so atp I just consider them to be canon.

Suo’s interviews are interesting (considering the “things you aren’t good at” and the question about his elementary school days were answered with lies, which is typical of his dodgy behavior). However, Q4 does seem really genuine, because Suo always smiles whenever Sakura falls for his tricks. It’s really cute…

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Please tell me that we will get huge focus on suosaku dynamic soon ... I miss them. I hope suo arc affects Sakura's in someway

I hate to break it to you anon, but none of that will be happening. In the next arc, Suo will leave Furin to go on a 5 year seclusionary training in the mountains of Jiangsu and never return ever again. This is the last we will see of him; this new plot point will definitely address the implications of him being a traitor. All bro wanted to do was enlighten others with his 大人 speech, because his involvement in Furin was really just a part of his training to become a Buddhist sage.

His parting words to Nirei will be "Are you the Navigator because you are Nirei Akihiko, or are you Nirei Akihiko because you are the Navigator?". Suo doesn’t acknowledge Sakura because their relationship is irrelevant. Then he ascends to Nirvana which we find out through Endo Yamato who will conveniently barge into the narrative again. Suo thus achieves spiritual harmony with the universe as per buddhism teachings. 阿門!!

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本当に敵わない

S2E2 // S2E6

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choji (and more togatomi sketches !!)

i really like them. ok thanks bye

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clenches fist. i must not discourse. discourse is the mind killer. discoursing is the little death that brings more discourse. i will ignore the posts. i will permit the discourse to pass over me and through me. and when it has gone past i will turn my tumblr blog to see its path. where the discourse posts have gone there will be nothing. only i will remain.

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really love dynamics that are like 'it honestly doesn't matter if you view them as romantic or platonic, the point is that they love each other. the type of love is inconsequential, all that matters is that it's there'. gotta be one of my favorite genders.

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jokingly made an au where kaji and sakura were actual brothers

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Blue screen of death

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2, 12, and 28 for Suo?

2. I think despite everything thats of his personality, Suo *is* a genuinely kind person. The fact that he would donate his spare change to charity ☺️

12. I headcanon that Suo had an imaginary pet as a child. It’d be some sort of mythical cat lol

28. Aoi (the girl) from Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun. Both of them are really similar in the way they repress their true feelings and are avoidant towards the people they care for.

ask game