In April, an anime adaptation from a manga titled Wind Breaker by Nii Satoru premiered under the producers of Aniplex, Mainichi, Kodansha, and Tohan Corp. The studio in charge is CloverWorks Studio. From the line-up itself, a lot of expectations were shown by manga/anime lovers. If you are not familiar, CloverWorks is also the studio behind Spy X Family, Horimiya, The Promised Neverland, Darling in The FranXX, Bunny Senpai, and many more famous animations.
It’s not a sports anime. At first glance, you might think the anime is about track and field athletes or any sports that have to do with slicing the wind with their aerodynamic strategies. No, it’s not.
If you are searching for the manga, please do not get confused by another manhwa with the same title. One is from Japan, and the other is from Korea. This anime that I am about to tell you – is from Japan.
As of today (7th June 2024), 10 episodes have been released for Wind Breaker anime. You can stream the anime on Netflix, Crunchyroll, or any other streaming platform you desire. I wouldn’t say the anime is not doing well, but I feel like the hype for this anime is still lukewarm, unlike what I think – it is supposed to be hyped more.
Fun fact! Our voice actors for Megumi (JJK) and Gojo Satoru (JJK) are in the anime as well, here are the other reasons why you should add this anime to your watchlist. Or why you should read the manga.
SYNOPSIS
Haruka Sakura (our Megumi) is a boy with a bizarre appearance since his birth – his hair is half black and half white, one black eye and the other orange. Due to this ‘abnormal’ characteristic of his, he was shunned to be an outcast from an early age. He was abandoned by everyone and forced to live alone to the point that he no longer knew how to receive help and affection from others.
With a resolve to change his life, he moved to a different town called Makochi to enrol in a delinquent high school called Fuurin High School – which is famous for its reputation of a ‘dog-eat-dog’ kind of curriculum. From what he’d heard, the strongest student in Fuurin will be the top dog and others will fear him. That’s his goal – to start afresh and be the top dog!
Unexpectedly, a day before he started his first day in Fuurin, he realized that something was wrong with the town. Instead of fearing the Fuurin’s delinquents, the townfolks love them! After some observations, he discovered that the current top dog in Fuurin was named Hajime Umemiya (our Gojo Satoru) had reunited every student in Fuurin and established an organization called ‘Boufuurin’ (Bofurin) which means ‘Wind Breaker’. Bofurin consists of Fuurin’s students who will eliminate any harm, dangers, and evil people in the town of Makochi. They would patrol and help the townfolks who are mostly elderlies.
The rest of the story will cover how Sakura slowly opens himself to people’s warmth, and how he learns how to love his friends and family while aiming to be stronger, kinder, etcetera.
REASONS TO LOVE ‘WBK’
#1 Reverse Pyramid Backstory Revelation
Mostly in an anime, the backstory of the MC will be revealed in the earlier episodes to give viewers or readers an idea of why the MC is doing what he is doing. At the same time directing us to grasp the motivation of the MC in pursuing his goal. For instance, in Naruto, the backstory of Naruto is revealed that he became an orphan, although not in detail, so we can think “Aahh, poor him, no wonder he wants to be the Hokage so bad.”
However, in WBK, there’s so little information regarding the MC. The only thing shown is he was a loner, he was always walking on a tightrope throughout his life. No mention of his parents in the first 9 episodes. What Nii Satoru does instead, is reveal the backstory of the supporting characters one by one starting from the bottom and moving upward. FYI, the manga is not yet finished (145 episodes as of today), and we readers still don’t know the real background story of Sakura.
Is that a good sign? For me, yes. It keeps the tension lit. The revelations of the other characters also really fit the plot progress. They were revealed at the most suitable time for viewers/readers to immerse in their story.
#2 No Character Left Behind
I’m not talking about the extra characters, but the characters I meant are those with plots. Especially Sakura’s left-hand man – Akihiko Nirei. Nirei is similar to Sakura. He was bullied and all, BUT, he doesn’t have the fighting skills and strength like Sakura. While Sakura’s aim is to be at the top of Fuurin, Nirei aims to enrol in Fuurin in the hope that he can get strong, at least to defend himself from the bullies.
At first, people might feel like Nirei is redundant in the story. Absolutely no. Being a nosy person, Nirei is the biggest intel on the town’s people, including Fuurin’s students. He has the intel on their enemy, and also the deepest empathy. With Sakura being a newcomer in the town, Nirei is vital in his vision.
So far, in the manga, Nirei does show his resolve to learn how to fight to not be a burden to Sakura. He also declared to everyone that he would be the one who created the path for Sakura to the top. Seeing that the manga is not yet finished and just past its biggest arc (so far), I cannot wait to see how Nirei will get stronger.
On top of that, I praise the author for highlighting the fighting scenes for each member of Bofurin. Truly a story about camaraderie. Viewers will be able to watch how much they grow while sticking together.
#3 Realistic Fighting Scenes
Just imagine your Jujutsu Kaisen troop but without the magic and curses. Every fighting skill and strength is purely brute force supported by each character’s background. For instance, an ex-gymnastic student has the fighting skills of an acrobat, making his moves flawless and smooth. Another example is the son of a former wrestler who has the fighting skills of a beast in the ring. A student who is small in size and loves parkour can make his way up to a two-story building by using the 2 walls in a narrow alley. Everything is realistic and possible to be re-enacted in real life by professional stuntmen or action actors.
The improvements in their fighting skills are of course through sparring with stronger Fuurin students and fighting experiences while protecting the town from gangsters. No magic whatsoever to help them win their fights, just pure resolute, motivation, friendship, alliance, and tons of acid reflux pills.
#4 Clean Graphics & Editing
Just take a look at the other CloverWorks Studio products. Horimiya for instance. The colours and graphics are not too vibrant like Demon Slayer, yet not too pastel-ly like Honey & Clover. It’s easy on the eyes, I would say.
Another trademark in CloverWorks Studio is their hidden signature. Almost always in their animation, subtle colourings are added. Again, in Horimiya, you would notice blue, red, or pink-filled shadows suddenly appear behind the characters. Each shadow colour symbolizes the unspoken feelings that are supposedly felt by viewers.
That can be seen in WBK too. The black colour when an immense aura is present, the grey colour when insecurities and loneliness are portrayed, the bold red colour when the character is resolute, and the sunset colour portrays sadness and sorrow.
Not to forget the fighting scene editing. The editing is made as if they’re on a bullet camera where the background would sometimes be set to freeze to see the limbs’ movements better. Less saturated frame and less messy background.
CONCLUSION
There is so much more to point out but I will save them for you to spot on while watching the anime yourself. But you need to remind yourself one thing while watching the anime – the manga is not yet completed, and not everything has been revealed. Hence, you might be left with a lot of questions about why or how. All I can say is, that I would be the first one to get berserk if Nii Satoru suddenly left the manga on a cliffhanger (so far, we can still see he shared some updates on raws).
Don’t you also think that WBK would be like Bucchigiri?!. Bucchigiri is a comedic action anime. It’s cringy and stupidly funny with unrealistic MC motivation with the help of supernatural beings. WBK is a slice-of-life and action anime. It does have comedies, but the comedies are natural like it would happen in real life. It’s not a lie if I confess I cried a lot during their fighting scenes and backstory scenes. Each of the characters is so precious, I feel like hugging them is the only thing I could offer.
Looking forward to you joining the Bofurin adventure with me. If you would like to read more about anime from us, you can just go >> here. Till then, MATA NE~
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