writings-from-abyss

[writings-from-abyss]

Yatsuo 🍵

We are about to patrol the town.

Haru Nakajima 😴

Ok, I'll come find you. I just got out of my appointment, so I'll be there soon.

Nakajima stretched her arms up as she walked through the streets of Makochi. She had another sleep study that started the night before and stretched into the new day. Because of that, however, Nakajima knew she had a good amount of time before she might find herself dozing off again.

She felt a buzz in her pocket, and took out her phone to see a massage from Hayato Suo, who sent her his current location. It seems they ended up at an alley-way near a pastry shop. Knowing her best friend, it wasn't likely that they got into a fight there. He wouldn't have sent his location otherwise. Yatsuo (a nickname Nakajima came up with in elementary school) had always tried to steer her away from any fighting, despite her being a talented fighter.

Nakajima chuckled at the thought and continued her way. It wasn't too long before her eyes landed on on Yatsuo and what seemed to be some of her classmates covering up some graffiti. She noted an older looking Bofurin member with spikey, dusty blonde hair who she identified as Toma Hiragi, one of the four kings. She also recognized Akihiko Nirei and Kyotaro Sugishita, as she's seen them around town.

Lastly, Nakajima's eyes landed on someone she hasn't seen before. He had bi-colored hair, one side black, one side white. He wasn't facing her, so she couldn't see any other features. However, she did hear about a fight that broke out with another gang yesterday, and there was a new kid already cleaning it up. Nakajima recalled his name to be Sakura, from what Yatsuo told her.

She broke into a light jog and headed toward the group. "Sorry I'm late," She called out as she caught up with the boys. Yatsuo turned to her with a pleasant smile on his face. "Hey, glad to see you made it. Better late than never right?" Nakajima rolled her eyes and lightly slapped her friend on the arm. She turned towards Hiragi and bowed. "I'm Haru Nakajima, and I'm in the same class as they are. I really am sorry that I'm late. I got caught up with an appointment."

Hiragi didn't look too bothered at her sudden appearance. He smiled and waved her off. "It's fine, we haven't done much yet." Nakajima straightened back up and turned around when she heard an exclamation. She saw Sakura gaping at her, and she knew what he was about to say.

"Why does a girl go to our school?" Sakura sounded shocked, but Nakajima had to give him props as she didn't detect any condescension in his voice. Beside Sakura, Nirei looked almost panicked when he said that, so she gave the two a patient smile.

"Because I want to use my skills to protect the town. Just like the rest of you." Her answer was simple and truthful. Of course, it wasn't the entire reason, which caused Yatsuo to step up and place a hand on her shoulder. "That, and Haru wanted to go to the same school as me. Isn't that adorable?" He teased Nakajima's eye twitched. She was quick to elbow his side as he laughed.

She turned her attention back to Sakura and Nirei. Sakura was blushing at stuttering while Nirei was writing something in a small notebook. She blinked at Sakura's reaction and casted her friend a confused look, to which Suo returned with a smile and shrug of his shoulders.

This was going to be an interesting year.

[writings-from-abyss]

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!

[writings-from-abyss]

Haru Nakajima was a kind and lovely young girl. However, after a severe case of swine flu, she had developed narcolepsy, a condition that will plague Nakajima for the rest of her life.

Hayato Suo is Nakajima's childhood best friend. He was with her before she became sick, and has never left her side. Wherever Suo went, Nakajima was quick to follow. And wherever Nakajima went, Suo was always right behind her. It didn't help that their masters were good friends.

So when Suo decides to attend to Bofurin High, it was only natural that Nakajima followed him. But as the only female attending Bofurin, shenanigans are sure to ensue.

Also, who's that new kid in town? He's kind of loud.

Please let me know what you think! This is just a summary and/or outline of what I'm thinking, and I'll add more details later.