Wind Breaker

Episode 5

Talking about shows like Wind Breaker can be challenging. Not because they're complicated or deal with sensitive topics, but rather because they're so self-evident in their goals that you feel like an idiot stating the obvious. Like, hey guys, you notice how the sky's blue and there's relatively modern technology? That's some clever world-building that shows us that it takes place in the modern day on Earth! That's what it can feel like when a show is primarily about dudes beating the living daylights out of other dudes for episodes. So, I'll focus on breaking down the hows and whys of those fights. Warning: that's going to involve a lot of wrestling comparisons.

Take Sugishita's fight, if you can even call it one. In wrestling parlance, it's what you'd call a squash match, designed to make Sugishita look so indomitably powerful that his opponent can't even hope to fight back. That can be used well or poorly depending on the format, but here it makes a lot of sense. For one, I don't think anyone realistically expected Sugishita to lose to a guy with no name and two lines of dialogue, so getting the fight done right away is a much better use of our time. When the outcome of a fight is so predictable in mechanical and narrative terms, belaboring the point would slow things down for a show that's already happy to take its time.

The reaction to his win is arguably the more important aspect. It lets us see how Shishitoren operates and how their group's dynamic greatly contrasts Bofurin's. They're our heel faction – guys we're supposed to root against and want to see taken down by our heroes – and firmly establishing their complete disrespect for any member who loses is a good way to play them off the good guys. Bofurin is the type to stand up for their allies regardless of strength, while our villains can't even be bothered to carry their slumped comrade off the stage. They represent purposeful violence for the sake of defending their community, where Shishitoren will eat their own at the first sign of weakness. It's a blunt but effective setup and leads into the much more compelling match that follows.

Suo is probably even more of a lopsided match for his opponent, but whereas Sugishita is raw instinct and power, Suo is about finesse and control. Just the way he fights, using well-honed martial arts to completely shut down his opponent lets us infer a lot about his background as does his disgust for Shishotoren's way of doing things. It's immediately clear that he can beat Kanuma any time he likes. Instead of taking his easy W and moving on, Suo wants to make a point and proceeds to psychologically dissect not just Kanuma but the entire juvenile philosophy of Shishitoren's ruthless definition of power. If you're only as worthwhile as your last fight and write off anyone who loses for any reason, eventually your credibility will crumble, and you'll find yourself at the bottom of the pecking order, being stepped on by those you used to step with.

Watching that lesson get drilled into Kanuma is almost unsettling, even if he's reaping what he sowed, and it gives Suo a striking introduction. He could have humiliated Kanuma and called it a day, but he keeps the utter ass-whooping going until he's sure the message has landed. Where the rest of our cast are some mix of noble and practical, Suo seems almost vindictive by comparison, willing to dish out some supremely effective cruelty when he feels it's justified. It's a fantastic way to make him stand out among a cast defined by violent tendencies and an excellent example of how you can use a simple fight to do a lot of good character work. If I have a complaint, it's that spending a whole episode wiping the floor with their goons makes the Shishitoren feel pretty weaksauce, to borrow Sakura's word. Maybe that's an unavoidable consequence of using these battles as an introduction. I hope the next rival gangs manage to land some blows next time.

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Wind Breaker is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.