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Official Natsuki Love Post

Because apparently I am the advocate of newly introduced female characters and NATSUKI IS EVERYTHING I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

So if anyone hasn't read Wind Breaker chapters 182-183, we got to met a new female character: Natsuki (菜月). So let's break her down.

Introduction

Na 菜 means "greens, vegetables" which has the tree radical, connecting her to Furin Tsuki 月 means "moon, month, moonlight"

We first hear of Natsuki in 182 when Furinen are throwing a Welcome Party for her and we hear her screaming about not wanting to be part of it at all.

A lot of her attitude is very reminisent of early Sakura, just without the blushing and cockiness.

I also feel like a lot of her anger is incredibly justified. A stranger (Kotoha) called her Natsuki-chan (a very cutesy and informal greeting to aim at a stranger, even one younger than you), a whole gaggle of kids she doesn't know want her to go have a party and smile with her, absolutely no one is respecting the boundaries Natsuki is trying to set up and after another stranger she doesn't know welcomes her as part of his family, this happens:

She's very isolated, refusing to eat with Umemiya, which is a pretty significant thing in the "Food is community and connection" manga. Even when Sakura was hesitant to eat Kotoha's omurice, he never threw away any of the food the town gave him.

However Natsuki's isolation is definutely due to some sort of troubled past she has.

After throwing food, Kotoha again keeps things calm and tries to relate to Natsuki. But it only angers Natsuki and the language Kotoha uses is very... be littling? Dismissive?

Everyone is treating Natsuki like a confused little girl who justneeds to smile and join them at the dinner table, which only prompts further violence and rejection from Natsuki-

Until Sakura grabs her arm and actually talks to her where she's at.

He points out that she's acting pretty shitty to people who are trying to be nice to her. His words seem to actually get through to Natsuki-

-to the point she kicks Sakura hard enough in the shins he actually goes down and she makes her escape from Furinen.

Where after accidentally kicking a can at the head of a high schooler who doesn't take it well, she almost ends up in a fight with a group of them until Sakura comes to save her.

So this is what we know of Natsuki now. Time for the

Theories

Given that her name has the Furin Tree radical but also the kanji for moon, I think this could imply that she's a small green bud that's been struggling to grow under moonlight, but will eventually bloom under the right conditions that Furin can provide. But what or who is the moon?

It's difficult to tell due to the blurriness of the figure, but it's possible her "moon" and the figure here is her mother who she held close to her. But why would an orphan get upset about being offered a new family if her mom isn't around anymore?

Well in Japan, based on my research, even if a child ends up in foster care, if their birth parents are alive, they have every right to prevent the adoption of their child into another family. Which could mean that Natsuki is still holding out onto hope that her mother will come get her away from all these fuckers trying to make her play nice and then things can go back to whatever way they were supposed to be. Natsuki could be living in denial.

It's also possible that the blurry figure is a prospective adopter who promised to come get Natsuki, but who never came for her, so that's why she doesn't trust people who promise to make her part of their family.

Now it's also possible that Natsuki is so rejective of Furinen because all the other group homes and orphanages she's gone to in the past came to hate her, and so Natsuki is rejecting them before they can reject her.

The blurry woman could be one of Natsuki's care takers in one of those facilities, which could be why Natsuki reacts so strongly against being included in the Furinen family.

It's also heavily hinted that there are parallels between Kotoha and Natsuki, so I think this arc will result in some Kotoha backstory.

Whatever the situation for Natsuki's past, I'm actually rather curious about her

Future

Now I know she's probably just another of the one shot side show female characters like Akari or Shizuka. But it is 4am and I am feeding my delulu and we finally have a girl who is feral, so I'm going feral.

I think after Sakura kicks the asses of those high schoolers, he and Natsuki are gonna have a talk. One idea I've seen thrown around is that it will be a parallel to Umemiya and his Saviour's relationship from the backstory arc, where Sakura is the only one taking Natsuki's feelings seriously and facing her head on instead of letting her stew in it or trying to make her approach them where they're at.

Another thing I could potentially see happening is Haruka could start training Natsuki. While Haruka Sakura and Natsuki WBK's kanji don't carry these specific meanings, there are kanjis pronounced "Haru" that mean spring and "Natsu" that mean summer. In fact, alternative kanji combinations of Haruka and Natsuki can include those kanjis I meantioned.

So if Haruka does end up mentoring or training Natsuki, I think she could potentially be his successor in Furin. I mean, she did manage to kick him hard enough he was on the ground for a while. Natsuki has potential.

And this is the wildest of my theories, but let's go for it because it is officially 4am and I do not give a fuck anymore. But what if Natuski turns out to be connected to the next Extinction War?

Plants can be destroyed by fire, metal and cold. But if you cut off their Sunlight, that means they won't grow at all and will wither and die. Yet Natsuki has the kanji for the moon in her name, which could mean she's part of that darkness that now threatens Furin, or she's part of the light born in the darkness that will fight it now that she's joined Furinen and been accepted by Sakura and Umemiya.

I had a lot more manic thoughts earlier, but I hope I got what I had down into something at least a little coherent.

I just want good things for my new feral daughter who will "live my life true to myself" just like Sakura does.

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ALSO WHAT IS UP WITH WINDBREAKER AND SHOWING GLIMPSES OF SOMEONES PAST BY SHOWING THE BACK OF THE IMPORTANT PERSON IN THAT CHARACTERS PAST

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these together made me wonder if she's had a guardian before that told her she was part of the family to later give her up?

that or she lost her family and doesn't want to think of a replacement

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So I'm catching up on the Wind Breaker anime, and I'll admit to watching the dub for Season 2, episode 11. In this form, the conversation between Sakura and Kanji about how Sakura hates how Roppo Ichiza fights caught my attention more than in the manga.

Sakura: I hate knowing my friends will get hurt in a fight, and I hate knowing that there's no fight where people won't get hurt. Kanji: Yeah, you probably should hate that. I've had to learn how to ignore when my friends are hurting. I've sacrificed some of my tenderness. But you? Perhaps you can find a way to fight without your friends getting hurt. Sakura: *shocked pikachu face*

Now, here's where I'm synthesizing this with more recent manga chapters: Sakura has learned he doesn't need to be the sort of leader Umemiya is for Bofurin. Sakura has also demonstrated a mindset of reaching out to other gangs--and thus to other parts of the area surrounding Makochi. While Umemiya was the one needed to solidify Bofurin as a presence in the area, to establish the martial prowess of those who protect Makochi, what next steps can Sakura be taking as a potential future leader of Bofurin, to ensure his friends don't get hurt in fights?

Bonus question: what role do you think the third years will fill in the narrative once they graduate?

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Too many people will pass around "always trust your gut!" and "your intuition never lies" content when actually your "intuition" isn't immune to either propaganda, bigotry or trauma reactions. Which is important to be aware of actually

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okay now that we’ve a had couple lesbian blockbusters and milfs are having a romance moment, we need to bring back the manic pixie dream girl. she was never fuckin suited to fixing all the problems of some boring twenty year old everyman, but you know who could actually benefit from a quirky free-spirited blue haired girl with pronouns (she/they)? a newly divorced forty-something mom who’s trying to learn how to be herself for the first time in her life

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HAVE YOU READ THE CHAPTER UPDATE!?

HER NAME IS NATSUKI

WAIT, IS MY PREVIOUS POST DESCRIBING WHAT I WANT A FUTURE DELINQUENT GIRL TO BE ACTUALLY WHATS GONNA HAPPEN????????

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this millisecond-long frame cracks me tf up every time.

the cheeky smile

the pronounced nose

the unhinged gremlin eyes

the top-side angle

the fucking grappling fighting style

i love my feral son togame, he was raised by the streets.

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IF ANYONE HURTS NATSUKI I'M DRAWING BLOOD

chapter 183 spoilers

hello there. he had this child for +- a day, but if anything happens to her? you're dead. sakura will fight for her. bofurin will fight for her. the wind breaker fandom (me) will fight for her. that's our little sister, our daughter now.

natsuki protection squad, rise.

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You guys think Natsuki reminded Sakura of himself when he was young?

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A lot of chaos for my poor Sakura, and obviously it had to be Ume who fell on top of the two of them.

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when Nii-sensei associates him with cute little pomeranians but any dog can go mad 🧡

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this is umemiya. you agree. reblog

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canon

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Sakura’s guardian angel role is 💯 distracting me from my casual Ume like HE IS THERE being the sweetest heartthrob as always 🥹💖