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So.. I'm sure some of you already saw this from @grey-spark's synopsis post! But I'm going to post about it again to hopefully spread it to more people!

I have been translating all of the side stories and event stories from "WIND BREAKER 不良たちの英雄譚" (Wind Breaker Heroic Tales of a Delinquent), also known as Winhero, which is the official game of Wind Breaker, for quite a while now.

"Eng Subtitles" Yes, I screen-recorded every single story and edited it. Hence, there are no breaks in between (it's actually killing my storage), allowing you to enjoy the whole experience! Also included some of the scene animations of the featured characters in certain events.

Timestamps are included in the description for easy navigation, and yeah! Hope you enjoy :D

Since the side story is practically canon now, I really want other people to see this, and also for the people who can't really play the game, or people who struggle since it's all in Japanese (I shall be the one to sacrifice LMAO) 😭

I will continue to update this playlist whenever a new event or any development outside the original storyline occurs. So be on the lookout for that!

Do note that this is translated with Google Translate + some additional research I've been doing to hopefully make more sense out of it, so this is not a perfect one-to-one translation. also please forgive me for the amount of typos 😭

[grey-spark]

I think this will be the first half of the fight until Suo finally goes all out, and starts attacking without caution.

The thing is, Suo expends so much energy trying not to be hit. Suo's superpower is NOT evasion, its actually anticipation. Suo can avoid any hit because he can anticipate what the enemy is going to do. It ties into his whole "use empathy to be an adult" thing. Suo imagines what its like to be in another person's shoes and predicts their attack accordingly. That's his secret. So in a way, Suo was practicing his ideology while explaining it to Kanuma.

Using empathy to anticipate Kanuma's clumsy moves. But it also explains why he's so adverse to being hit. Being hit, is childish failure to Suo. To allow himself to be hit is a betray of his ideology, and so he basically fights with an arm behind his back.

So in order for someone to hit Suo they either need to be:

A) Totally unpredictable. Where he can't decipher the decisions being made or, B) Totally instinctual. Where the person isn't making decisions, just doing.

So yeah. Sakura can hit Suo. 100%. And he'll have to get his hands dirty to beat Sakura, but I think he can do it.

So many people think Suo is gonna be a traitor. I think he’s gonna get his ass kicked. Sakura made a point of saying “you’re the last person I’d expect to get beaten up” and then SPOILER in the latest chapter they put a lot of emphasis on the one Shishitoren guy who got beaten up so bad he was in a full body cast. I think Suo will be Sakura’s snap into his own beast mode like we saw with Ume in his fight on the roof.

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2/7

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Return of the King 👑4️⃣

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COLOR THEORY in WIND BREAKER

So there are FIVE COLORS that stand out in Wind Breaker. And while the show displays a full use of colors, there are five colors that transcend any individual person or gang. And in this quick analysis I'm going to go over all of them. (Mild Spoilers ahead)

GREEN is the color of GROWTH

Green is the main color of Bofurin and clearly represents plants. It all ties into Umemiya's garden metaphor about personal growth.

Green = Good, basically.

The plant imagery is not very subtle but some of the color uses are. Take for example how Togame, Nagato and Endo all have green eyes, hinting that these are actually good characters underneath despite doing bad deeds. They may be on different teams but they're "Bofurin on the inside". (Although, in Endo's case his eyes have a blueish hue, which means his goodness is very hidden.)

If plants represent the goodness of the world then we must extend this metaphor to the source of the plant's energy...

YELLOW is the color of WARMTH

Yellow represents the warm light piercing into a cold world, and the sun more generally. It's righteousness and love.

Nirei is the most yellow indicating he's the moral compass of the gang, but Oldman Ito outright points out that all three main characters wear yellow: Suo's earing. Nirei's hair. Sakura's eye. (saying it reminds him of the sun directly). But its interesting how the applications of this color reflect their story arcs:

Suo was given righteousness. Nirei adopted righteousness. Sakura was born with it.

Sakura can't take the yellow off even if he wanted to. But beyond that we have Sakura's favorite food Omurice. In a show where food is everything, the omelet rice almost serves as his first taste of love. Notice how it also has red ketchup on it, and Suo's earrings also have a red bead. In this show, red and yellow almost always go together. When put together they makes orange, the color of strong Shishitoren. It's a subtle way of saying love creates...

RED is the color of POWER

Red is the fruit of power. Or let's put it this way:

Sun -> Plants -> Fruit Love -> Growth -> Power

Red is a color with many different meanings, but in this show, its the color of power. We see it in Ume's tomatoes. We see it in Tsubaki's lipstick, which he outright says is the source of his strength.

But not just creative power. In Takiishi's case, red also represents the destructive power of fire. Red represents all power, and it makes sense why its the main color of Suo, a character who hasn't even taken a single hit. But plants and fruit are not the only thing sunlight effects, it also melts ice...

WHITE is the color of TRAUMA

More specifically, traumatized innocence.

White = the harsh snow of winter.

In the very first chapter, Nirei's suggests Sakura's hair turned white from stress. It's played off as a joke at first, but later on it's suggested that Umemiya's hair also went white from stress. This feature connects them deeply, both wear white shirts too, symbolizing Sakura and Ume wear their trauma for all to see.

White is also the main color of Gravel, a team with the most tragic backstory, comprised of children starving to death. (KEEL also wears white, but in their case it feels like they're deliverers of trauma.) In the anime, we also see that Gravel's school uniforms are...

BLUE is the color of COLDNESS

Blue is the color of icy callousness and hardened hearts. Unlike sunlight that melts trauma, blue is the cold that generates it.

Blue = Evil, kinda.

But it's a little more complicated than that. Sure, all the evilest characters wear blue, like KEEL (the evilest gang) and Endo (who has a blue fire theme). But then we have Sugishita, who isn't an evil person at all, but its also not a coincidence that the hero's main rival has a blue color scheme. His heart is guarded, and is in need of the most character growth out of all of them. Concerningly, we also saw that Suo turned icy blue when he reverted to his old ways. So blue is not just limited to the bad guys. It's a systemic problem.

CONCLUSION

This show has MANY colors in it: pink, orange, black, grey, magenta and so many others that might also have meanings as well. But I feel like these five pervade the show everywhere and build a greater allegory of Winter Vs Spring, which goes as follows:

The freezing cold (blue/callousness) has created snow (white/trauma) and can only be banished by sunlight (yellow/love) which grows vegetation (green/growth) and eventually bears fruit. (red/power)

That's how I see it anyway. Thanks for reading!

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The Complete Events of Lion’s Fury

So with Shishitoren coming back in the manga, more people need to get up to date on the events of the Winhero Game. So here's a 1000 word synopsis covering Episodes 1-7 of the Shishitoren storyline. It takes place between the Shishitoren and Noroshi War Arc.

Here is the complete ENG SUB of the series on youtube translated by the wonderful Spirit_Glaze, if you want to watch it yourself:

Episode 1

Choji and Togame decide to immediately step down after their loss to Bofurin, and many of the members leave anyway. One of the random members that remained suggested finding Wanijima, the old #3 to be the new leader, but nobody has his phone number. 

They hear that Arima and Kanuma are quitting the gang, and find the two under the bridge (who literally have nothing to do without Shishitoren lol). They inform Arima and Kanuma that they’re stepping down and don’t have to leave. But this only offends them, since they blame themselves for the debacle. Arima and Kanuma challenge them to a fight and lose. They all reminisce on the old times and commit to rebuild the team. Arima text Wani.

Episode 2

Wani is working part time jobs to make money for his family. He also has a sister, Asuka, who will be relevant later. They find him on the street while doing an errand and reconnect. We get a flashback of Wani standing up to Choji shortly after he goes evil, but after losing decides to quit the gang.

Since then, he’s been doing part time work, which explains why he didn’t beat the weakened Choji before Umemiya did. He fights Choji again and says he’s gotten weaker. But he also tells them his own fighting skills have since diminished and wouldn't make a good leader. Wani tells Choji to find his old faith in power, then leaves.

Later at Kraken’s base. Takeru Takoya hatches a plan to attack the weakened Shishitoren after hearing they're desperate enough to make Wani their new leader. Takeru is noticeably abusive to his own men and is doing this to impress his big brother, Takoya Toru.

Episode 3

Choji and Togame ponder what to do, and Choji says he wants to find his favorite stray cat. But hilariously, the cat is getting scared by Inugami who growls (like a dog) when he’s upset. He’s upset that Sako is leaving the gang and they set off to find him.

Sako is at the river bank pondering what to do. Hiragi was the only reason he join Shishitoren and now that’s over. Inugami arrives and begs him not to leave. Sako is reminded of his devotion to Hiragi and maintains that he’s not someone to look up to. Sako throws off his jacket, but Inugami yells at him then challenges him to a fight,

If he wins Sako has to stay in the gang. He struggles horribly, and eventually Choji steps in. Sako loses, and feels bad for abandoning Inugami like he felt Hiragi abandoned him. He runs off near tears. They chase after him. Meanwhile at HQ, the base has received an imminent threat from Kraken.

Episode 4

Kraken kidnaps Wani’s sister. Thinking he’s the new leader, Takeru Takoya calls Wani and threatens him to come save her at their base at the docks, or else. Wanijima tries to explain he’s not the leader, but Takeru doesn’t listen. Wani has no choice but to collect the forces gathered at The Cage and go to the docks.

That night, Shishitoren gets to the docks and find Wani’s sister being held hostage high up on a shipping container. Wani fights Takeru while Kanuma and Arima all get their asses handed to them by Kraken. They tell Kanuma to run off and bring the others.

Episode 5

Arima and Wani are barely holding on. They threaten to break Wani’s legs an force his sister to watch. And then, just in time, Choji and Togame arrive. They play it cool and lure the Takoya Brothers into a false sense of security. It’s then revealed that Sako and Inugami had snuck around back and save Wani’s sister. 

In a flashback, it cuts back to the riverbank, where Inugami demands Sako explain why he’s leaving, but Sako can’t bring himself to explain his past with Hiragi. Just then, Choji and Togame run up with word that Kraken is attacking. Sako can’t bring himself to quit while Shishitoren is in need and stay with the team. Sako then devises the plan to take a stealth approach. Back in the present, Takeru Takoya struggles to fight Togame. And Toru blames their loss of the hostage on his brother’s stupidity and incompetence. Toru finally steps in and challenges Choji. Wani demands Togame let him finish off Takeru, so Togame and others take the Kraken army.

Episode 6

Ironically, fighting Kraken brings the Shishitoren team closer together again. The battle turns and everyone is having fun. Wanijime beats Takeru by using his special alligator grapple move.

But Choji is struggling. He confronts Toru Takoya on his philosophy. The leader of Kraken is a smart ‘octopus’ like mastermind who sees everyone as a piece on a chess board, even his brother. Choji recognizes that until recently, he saw his own team members as replaceable too. Choji then gets the upper hand, and Toru is stunned to see all his allies are defeated. Before he goes down, Toru gloats that Kraken is only the first, and that a whole conspiracy of teams are planning to strike against Shishitoren. But Choji just knocks him down, claiming they’re ready for anything that comes their way.

Episode 7

After the battle, everyone reaffirms their commitment to Shishitoren. Wani realizes what the team meant to him and his sister also thanks the group. Sako takes Choji and Togame aside to explain his past with Hiragi to them offscreen. Togame notes how Sako was too shy to share the story in front of Inugami, which makes him blush. Sako says he wants to be like them and commits to growing with the team. Later on, the whole team gathers for an announcement where Wanijime officially rejoins as a member.

He gives a motivational speech where he declares Choji and Togame the leaders again. The narration declares that New Shishitoren will become the strongest team of all time.

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Extinction Wars Trilogy Theory

The WBK series is probably going to end with graduation, which means we have two more semesters left and possibly two more Extinction Wars. In this analysis we are going to determine what they might end up being about. 

BIG SPOILERS for the Wind Breaker Manga. All photos used are from windbreaker, ads or stock.

PART 1: Defining the elements

So let's start off with what we know. The first Extinction War is based around Fire. Takiishi’s war is fireworks and summertime themed. Even down to names 焚石 (Takiishi) and 棪堂 (Endo) both contain radicals for “fire” and “tree”

Takiishi and Endo don’t just represent “fire” they represent “fire burning trees” or “fire as a threat to trees” If we assume there will be three semesters ending in graduation. Then it’s not too far off to assume we’ll have three extinction wars. So if there are three wars for each semester and the summer one is based on the “fire” element. What will the next two be?

Well, answering that depends on whether Nii-sensei goes with the Buddhist Elements or the Chinese Elements, but it won’t make much of a difference for reasons we’re about to cover.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on these religious topics at all. I’m just using general knowledge found on the internet to make predictions about a funny delinquent anime.)

It just so happens that Bofurin is based around the Buddhist Heavenly Kings. So let’s start there. In Buddhism there are four Mahābhūta or “Great Elements”:

There’s five/six if you count Akasha (Space) and Vijñāna (Mind) but those are special, so we’ll sideline them for now.

Let’s assume

Bofurin itself is Vayu (Wind). (Obviously.)  Noroshi is Agni (Fire). (We just went over that.)

So that means the next two big wars will be:

Prithvi (earth) Ap (water)

But what if there’s a more literal connection between Summer and fire. Then we’d have to look at the element of the Chinese Zodiac or “Wu Xing”. In the chinese system there five different elements:

Wood / Spring Fire / Summer Earth / Late Summer (or in-between seasons) Metal / Autumn Water / Winter

Let’s assume:

Bofurin is Wood / Spring  Noroshi is Fire / Summer

That means if we go by the Chinese Elements instead it could be:

Earth/Late Summer Metal/Autumn Water/Winter

To put it simply, the Chinese Elements have a specific order to them where they create the next one in the cycle, and overcome the one after that. In this system the enemy of Wood is Metal (Blades) so Metal is more likely than Earth, especially since it's associated with Autumn more directly. But even if they go by the Buddhist elements, Metal is considered a form of Earth.

So whether it’s Buddhist Great Elements, Chinese Wu Xing, or even Japanese Godai (which mirrors the Buddhist Elements) We’re looking at:

Summer Extinction War based on Fire Autumn Extinction War based on Earth (Metal/Blades) Winter Extinction War based on Water (Ice/Blizzards) 

Now, you may be wondering why I’m so hyper-focused on Metal and Ice specifically, instead of the broader Earth and Water elements. That's because Metal and Ice are natural enemies of plants and trees. Let’s go back to Takiishi’s name or “Fire as a threat to trees”. It makes you wonder: What are the other enemies of trees? According to Chinese Elements, it's Metal. 

PART 2: The Metal War

Predicting the theme of the next war in Autumn is FAR HARDER to predict than the last one (which will almost certainly be about Winter itself) but we can make a few guesses. 

-Sickles of Extinction -Scythes of Extinction  -Axes of Extinction

Sickles of Extinction / Titanium Theory:

Oh, did I mention we already have metal themed gangs fighting Shishitoren called Zinc and Cobalt. 

Yes, that’s right! Zinc, the weakest gang in the series is the key to figuring out everything. But not Zinc itself but rather whoever is controlling these petty metal gangs. It’s possible that these gangs are like tiny states in a greater Union.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s take a look at Zinc and Cobalt’s culture. Zinc seems to come from an industrial part of town that has a redbrick and brownish theme. 

Zinc itself has copper and black colored jerseys and its base is a run down industrial warehouse or hanger of some sort. 

Then there’s Cobalt. It appears to be a skater themed gang with jaggy shirts and jeans. Most of them are seen wearing work caps. But some wear beanies or have lost their hats. 

The background looks industrial, you can spot a few smoke stacks.

All in all, having the two ore-themed factions come from a mine-themed area is not all that surprising is it? But how is that relevant to Shishitoren, who continuously has to fight them? Shishitoren is about meritocracy. Devotion to strength. It’s about striving to be the best. What is the opposite of individual strength and meritocracy?

LET ME BE CLEAR. Wind Breaker is NOT and overtly political show and any symbolism like this will likely be downplayed. Nevertheless, it bears mentioning. There is a VERY long history of mining communities taking collective action across all cultures. Represented by a harvesting sickle. So let's assume all these petty gangs form a collective or pay vassalage to a bigger gang. Lets call it “Titanium”. It is only reasonable to assume they’d have a polar opposite ideology to Shishitoren. One based around equity. I don’t think it's going to get overtly political, it’ll be subtle like when we want over similar themes in the Gravel arc.

But this is just one of MANY ideas. For all we know, "Titanium" could just be a smaller player in a bigger story arc.

Scythes of Extinction / Reaper Triad Theory:

Scythes are the bringers of all harvests. And you don't get much more threatening than scythes. Symbols of death itself. If there was ever a way to hype a powerful evil yakuza gang as a threat it’d be giving them reaper tattoos.

Again, scythes are the natural enemies of all plants. Its the reason Metal overcomes Wood in the Chinese elements. But a scythe can’t take down a whole tree. No, there’s only one tool known for that.

Axes of Extinction / Ax-to-Grind Theory:

Axes are the iconic enemy of trees and a symbol of vengeance. 

Here are just a few adages about revenge:

“Ax to grind.”  “Bury the hatchet.”  “The ax forgets, but the tree remembers.” “An eye for an eye leaves the world blind.” 

Let’s say hypothetically, there was a character who had issues with vengeance and anger. If this character ended up having a big storyline, maybe it’ll be about axes made from metal. 

Also axes are historically held by raiders. If anyone is going to be raiding Makochi, it’d be a horde of barbarians with axes.

PART 3: The Winter War

Blizzards of Extinction / Winter War Theory:

During the Endo fight we get an interesting comparison. Endo compares Sakura to a branch. He states that freezing the branch paradoxically makes it more brittle and easier to break. 

I think this is foreshadowing by Nii-sensei that the greatest enemy of all plant-life is WINTER. It’s what makes all plants die every year. When you pair this together with how WBK will end in the third semester, it almost makes it inevitable the final faction will have a winter theme. Even if I’m wrong and there are no other extinction wars, I still think this will be the case.

Conclusion

Take a step back. The manga is called WIND Breaker. The first big enemy was about FIRE. It's actually not that complex. The next wars will be Earth and Water themed, or more specifically:

We're gonna get a Metal war and a Winter war.

Probably. The "Metal War" might involve Shishitoren at the end of autumn. And the "Winter War" will be the series finale, right before graduation and the new Bofurin Leader is chosen.

I tried to be purposely vague with this theory because I wanted to stick closer to the facts and what we actually know. For example, I could see Umemiya’s rooftop savior being involved in the Winter War. But I can see a lot of things. And there’s also a chance I could be totally off base and there’s no ordained structure to the wars at all. And that’s okay too. But I do think the name “Extinction War” is oddly specific. Almost like it's part of a set…

[grey-spark]

Making Predictions About Suo

Suo is one of the most mysterious and complex characters, and I want to make some predictions about him. I’m aware that most of you already know what I’m about to cover but I need to spell out the evidence here to make my arguments. So let's get right into it:

Warning: minor manga spoilers ahead

GOING OVER THE EVIDENCE

1. Nobody knows about Suo’s past.

Not even Umemiya, who is basically the ears of Bofurin.

That's a big deal. Not only is he a mystery to us, but he's a mystery to everyone in the story. Nirei has no real data on him. Hiragi says he heard his name a lot but went to a different school. Which also begs the question, why did he come to Makochi?

2. Suo talks about his master and his style fondly.

After he has a fight with man-bun guy, Nirei asks him about his fighting style and Suo says this:

Notice the way he talks about his master. It seems rather fond. He doesn't flinch. He doesn't seize. He seems uncomfortable talking about himself, but he's still willing to share. If Suo has any angst it doesn't seem to be related to his master and style. So what is Suo's source of angst and who is this master of his?

3. Suo has a “diet” where he never eats with anyone.

In a show were eating with other people is a big deal, he repeatedly refuses to eat food with other people. There is zero chance this is a quirk or an actual diet. He doesn't even eat during a leadership summit, where it's sort of disrespectful to refuse.

4. Suo is almost certainly hiding arm tattoos.

We NEVER see Suo in short sleeves. Even in the merch and advertisements. He never shows his bare arms.

And in the beach episode, he seems to avoid taking off his clothes to swim, and doesn't even want to risk getting wet. Probably out of fear of water making his rash guard see through. (Also why does he wear a long sleeve rash guard if he has no intention of swimming.)

5. He’s going to fight Sakura at some point.

This is not a fact per-se, but it's been hinted. Sakura is already thinking about ways to get Suo to fight him seriously.

Suo and Sakura have this strange rivalry were Suo has already conceded defeat. There's this strange tension between them. They're basically opposites. A man with nothing to hide verse a man with everything to hide. And the only way its going to be resolved is by "talking" through fighting.

Recap

Nobody knows about Suo’s past.

Suo talks about his master and his style fondly. 

Suo has a “diet” where he never eats with anyone.

Suo is almost certainly hiding a tattoo. 

It’s been hinted that he’s going to fight Sakura seriously. 

Using these established facts we can start to make some deductions and predictions about his story arc.

DEDUCTIONS/PREDICTIONS

Questions: 4a- Why would Suo hide/be ashamed of a tattoo?  3a- Why isn’t he eating?

Answer: He’s ashamed. He doesn’t eat for the same reason child Umemiya wouldn’t eat. He hates himself and the tattoo he's hiding has something to do with it. He’s so guilty he can’t even eat. So chances are Suo was a scumbag in the past. The only people in the scope of this story who do super evil things are evil gangs, which is likely where the tattoo comes from.

Questions: 4b- How can Suo be friendly/good if he was in an evil gang? 2b- How can Suo have a nice master if he was in an evil gang? 1b- Why does Suo even go to Furin in the first place if he’s not from around there?

Answer: His eye. Suo lost his eye somehow and that turned him into an angry resentful person who fell into the wrong crowd. We see this in the KEEL arc where he temporarily regressed back into his revenge obsessed "eye-for-an-eye" mindset.

But eventually Suo must have had a crisis of conscience, and Suo was likely redeemed by his sensei somehow. His sensei was a positive infulence in his life and may even be the reason he turned into a sinophile. His sensei made Suo into the friendly person he is today. In fact, he may have been the one to suggest going to Bofurin as a way to make friends and “further his training.”

Question: 5c- How are Sukura and Suo going to fight if they are close friends?

Answer: Suo is going to be blackmailed into leaving Bofurin. Sakura is going to fight him to stay but ultimately lose.

Or more generally, Suo is going to do something Sakura completely disagrees with. And it will almost certainly be about his old gang. I don’t see Suo becoming a real villain, so he’s most likely going to be blackmailed. Suo will see this as a rational self sacrifice (which is on theme with the KEEL and Gravel story arcs). Sakura will challenge Suo to a fight on the condition that if he wins Suo will stay, but Sakura will lose. Sugishita will replace him as the third party member and this will force Sugi to grow, which is the first new plot element introduced after the Noroshi war.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Given these deductions we can guess a SUPER VAGUE order of events. These are all vague predictions. Some of it could be false, but I’m 80% sure that 80% of this will be true:

>Suo will leave suddenly after his old gang blackmails him to return. >Sakura will fight to stop him but lose. >Class 1-1 will form a task force to find Suo. (This could take many chapters resulting in Sugishita taking his place.) >Class 1-1 will eventually find Suo at the evil gang base. >Sakura and Suo will have a rematch where he comes home. > The gang will declare war on Bofurin/Makochi unless they surrender Suo. (This could even lead to another Extinction war.)

But theses are just my guesses. Ultimately, I have no idea where Nii-sensei is going to take the story. But the evidence seems to point in this self-deprecating direction...

[grey-spark]

I'm now releasing ACT 3 of "My First Friend, Humphrey"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55476250/chapters/167203129#workskin

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This is Nagato's transformation timeline in my fanfic KEEL OVER.

Here is the most recent chapter posted today: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60505168/chapters/166891660

[grey-spark]

I headcanon they exist in the same universe and they're brothers. Hanamaki's brother is a criminal gangster. It all checks out.

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The FUTURE of KEEL

Natori and KEEL are in a very precarious position. And I have no idea what Nii-sensei is going to do with them.

The key issue is this:  KEEL is important but KEEL is bad. Natori is important but Natori is bad.

Natori isn’t a character you can get chummy with. And that puts him in a very unique position. So far, Nii-sensei has gotten around this by redeeming the villains immediately. But with KEEL that wouldn’t work. So KEEL is stuck in this strange limbo state. And Natori's popularity is only growing… Keep in mind, Nii-sensei has to move onto bigger things. And for that reason I don’t think KEEL is ever going to take the spotlight as the main threat ever again. They're too weak to play that role again anyway. So I want to go over the four possible outcomes for KEEL moving forward.

Scenario 1: KEEL is forgotten or written out

The most obvious outcome is that KEEL is just forgotten like the Spaltips gang. They played their part and the story moves on. This would be a mistake. KEEL being written out of the story is the worst outcome because KEEL is too important narratively and symbolically to just be cast aside. They represent the evil side of gang culture. If all the good characters are cats/tigers. Then KEEL are the dragons. I like the idea of having an evil team. It would be a monumental mistake to just leave KEEL unaddressed and forgotten.

I hate to say it but I still give this a 50% chance of happening. 

Scenario 2: KEEL comes back periodically

It’s hard to envision KEEL changing knowing the guy on top vomits at the idea of embracing a wholesome lifestyle. But they also can’t be the big bad guys anymore so, one outcome is for them to become “loveable rascals”. The Team Rocket of Wind Breaker. Characters who do evil and shady things but in a playful way. In this scenario KEEL remains evil, but plays a more goofy role. Reduced to a joke of its former self. There’s a certain humanity that comes with weakness and I could even see these idiots becoming allies of convenience. Where KEEL and Bofurin work together to beat a bigger gang. 

I give this outcome a 25% chance of happening. 

Scenario 3: KEEL is redeemed after all

There’s also a chance that KEEL is redeemed after all. The way Endo spoke about them seemed to imply that Natori went mad with power and the gang BECAME rotten. Implying it wasn’t always rotten. This leaves the door open for off-screen redemption. We could see a scenario where KEEL jumps back into the story as an ally of some kind. Much to everyone’s surprise. 

I give this a 20% chance of happening because Endo imply it. 

Scenario 4: KEEL grows into a bigger threat

The least likely option is that KEEL or Natori comes back to play an important villain role in the story. Have them grow as a threat over time. Heck, with the right teacher and weapon Natori could become a major endgame villain. I like the idea of Natori who experienced trauma like Sakura but chose a hateful, vengeful path instead. And the two never had a chance to fight. But it’s more likely Nii-sensei will create a new character to fill that role instead. 

I give this a 5% chance of happening.

So there we have it. I genuinely don’t know when KEEL is gonna pop up next or how they will be portrayed. It’s a jump ball. I’ll take any outcome besides Scenario No.1 if I'm being honest. I'm hoping their popularity will grow with Season 2 coming out.

[grey-spark]

You're literally feeding all the keel fans like... ONLY CONSISTENT POSTER OF THEIR CONTENT !!!!

Move aside Suzuri. I'm the real cook. All the KEEL fans are getting fed in this house.

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KEEL's ANIMALS/LIZARDS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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I love Nirei, but once I spotted this animation loop I had to make this. I'm sorry.

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KEEL members (Re-colorized)

So I took screenshots of the Crunchyroll trailer and upped the brightness, contrast and saturation. Enjoy!

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/62005819/chapters/161389195