Grey-Spark

So Nii-sensei recently made a shocking comment in an interview stating how he’d be interested in doing a spin-off about Natori. That on its own is already a wild topic we could speculate on. The fact that he would consider taking the evilest named character in the show and give him a spinoff is extraordinarily BOLD. It’d probably include Suzuri, but that’s a topic for another rant. What I want to hyper-focus on today is a strange aspect of the statement that’s left me puzzled.

He says “why Natori JOINED KEEL”

What an odd thing to say… KEEL is a new team and Natori is the leader. That’s like saying “Suzuri joined Gravel.” It doesn’t add up. Tomiyama joined Shishitoren and became its leader. But Shishitoren predated Choji. The manga makes it clear on multiple occasions that KEEL is a new thing around Makochi. So how does Natori join a new team when he’s also the leader? There are a few explanations and some are very thought provoking…

Explanation A: Endo started KEEL

This is the idea that KEEL is a suicide squad started by Endo for his naferious purposes. Endo’s control over KEEL is verified as canon. He forces them to fight in the war. But does this mean that Endo started KEEL? Not likely. In the KEEL arc he talks about it in a detached way. Something he’s visiting that’s far away and Endo calls it Natori’s team.

Why start a gang far away from where Endo lives? And why stack it with weak guys like the VIPs when he already has his own gang with much stronger guys. What’s more likely is that Endo has some sort of contractual control over it like an investor. As Nii-sensei says, Natori “came to meet Endo” and that was the start of the business relationship. So this explanation doesn’t add up. In a recent chapter, Endo ordered some goons over text to find Suo, so maybe they’re his hunters? Maybe KEEL is his personal crew of “assassins”.

Endo just orders “some guy” to find Suo and that’s the end of the matter. “It’s done!” he says. Endo has complete confidence in this person. We all know Natori is smart and likes “chaining people up” so it wouldn't surprise me at all if Natori was his personal tracker. There’s no doubt in my mind that Endo controls Natori’s crew, but I don't think Endo himself started KEEL.

Explanation B: The VIPs started KEEL

And Natori adopted them. This is the cutest explanation and probably the most likely to be canon, but it has big flaws. Perhaps the team grew organically as a group of like-minded thugs and Natori joined later, but if that’s the case, how are they a new team? And who was leader before Natori and why is that guy not the Vice-Leader? When asked, Kaga states his time in KEEL is a way of helping out a friend, almost like he’s a part-time employee.

Natori didn’t join them, they’re lending him a hand. This is why for the longest time, I assumed Natori hand-picked his crew like he tried to recruit Kaji. Natori is the one in control. He feels like the founder. But if so, how can he be both the “founder” and join the team? The simplest answer is that he joined a team with no members.

A team waiting to be reborn…

Explanation C: KEEL was revived.

It’s possible KEEL is an ancient evil gang that Natori has revived for some reason. KEEL was a dead gang that Natori brought back from the dead. We know KEEL means Bone Dragon in japanese but is that the only reason? This would explain why KEEL’s logo is an undead skeletal dragon with icy colors. Perhaps there was an evil ice dragon gang that was killed long ago but has been revived. Or maybe KEEL are just the metaphorical necromancers reviving the dragon.

For purely symbolic reasons, I’ve always thought KEEL might be the final villain of the series or if not they’ll be born out of KEEL. It just has so many of the hallmarks of a final evil group and holds continued significance in the story, see my Natori post. I get it- it’s far-fetched. I mean, it’s not like there any other ancient dragon team in the story-

I want you to turn your attention to the Gravel Arc, where Endo’s fame is brought up.. Look how little Suo knows about Yamato Endo. 

Suo basically says, “I live 2hrs away and even I know Endo.” In hindsight, this was brilliant foreshadowing that he’s an outsider living far away from Makochi. Compare that to his knowledge about KEEL. Despite living far away, Suo’s somehow the one to explain what KEEL is to the group and is the first to call out Anzai’s beef with them.

Mr. Dragon team is showing a bit too much interest in the other dragon team. Suo claims he doesn’t have all the details, but I don’t really trust the guy who lied about his home address. So let’s take a step back and reframe this from the Red Chanpuru perspective:

Hypothetical incoming:

Let’s say RC has an ancient evil enemy called the “Ice Dragons” that’s as old as Red Chanpuru. They have suspicions these Ice Dragons may have returned, but the “Ice Emperor" isn't just gonna announce their presence. Instead they’re gonna bide their time to build strength, numbers and capital under an alias. And then you hear about this blue dragon gang raising money for some unexplained reason. Naturally, you’d be curious.

But again, Suo explaining KEEL might be purely coincidental. After all, everybody in Furin knows what KEEL is. Even the Heavenly Kings!

There’s something about this panel that feels incredibly ominous??? Especially since it’s from a special chapter that was released long after KEEL was defeated. Why is KEEL still getting hyped/dreaded in the manga? I thought the KEEL issue was put to bed. There’s something awfully strange feeling about KEEL’s absence. KEEL hasn’t even been used in any of the Winhero storylines. Like Cyberbolts for example, that would have been a shoe-in for a KEEL cameo. The game devs have the assets for KEEL in the game, but for whatever reason KEEL is off limits.🙌  Like they’re too important to be used frivolously…

Did I mention that KEEL is the evilest team with all the story's most antagonistic symbolism? That keeps getting referenced long after its arc is over! Okay, but how could KEEL possibly be the final bad guys? KEEL is small. KEEL is weak. Its leader can’t even beat Suzuri. The only way KEEL could possibly be the main villain of WBK is…

Explanation D: KEEL is much bigger than we think.

The only way to “JOIN” an organization while being the founder of a new team is to start a new branch of an existing organization. When Natori was asked if he was the leader, he didn’t answer.

It bugs me how so much of KEEL is left to mystery! Like who actually started KEEL?! What are they doing with all the money they make?! Why do they have quotas? Kaga is collecting money from Nagato on an itemized schedule! Tell me. Is KAGA the type of person to use an itemized schedule? I guess the obvious answer is Endo, but what does Endo need money for? He’s already a millionaire. (See Explanation A) And Natori has this whole “fear, control, and numbers” ideology that doesn’t quite fit in with Noroshi which is more about chaos and being alone. KEEL is its own thing. For the longest time I thought Natori was the originator of that ideology… but we now know he JOINED it.

Is there a slough of other characters that share this “chains of fear” ideology?

Basically I’m suggesting Natori is just the manager of a single KEEL branch. He’s like a McDonald’s franchisee who borrowed money from his tattoo’d millionaire friend to start his own location. It’s very possible the KEEL we know and “love” is just one small twig on a very big tree. 

Natori being a corporate mouthpiece really should’ve been more obvious. This is the team that represents ruthless capitalism. The joke is - “oh haha, he’s acting like a receptionist at a big megacorporation” - we always took it as figurative. But what if KEEL really is a corporation? With some Ice Emperor serving as Giovanni. 🤔Honestly, if this turns out to be true, itwon’t change my feelings on the original KEEL at all. In my mind they’re a separate thing. It’s like comparing Team Rocket to THE Team Rocket.

This comparison is nothing new. Many WBK fans have jokingly compared KEEL to Team Rocket from Pokemon. But what if that’s spot on? What if we’ve only seen a small weak group of an otherwise large threatening organization.

WHAT WOULD KEEL CORP LOOK LIKE?

Oh good. It’s the fun part. Let’s talk numbers! So just how big is KEEL Corp? Well, for starters, I took the liberty of counting the men in the Makochi Branch of KEEL.

I counted 120 members.

Note: Upon seeing this graphic, a friend commented: "the reason the keel community has no infighting is cuz we all agree grey is the biggest keel fan"

120 is a bit steep! This was KEEL at its height, remember? Some branches might be smaller! 100 is reasonable. Let’s also assume you need 1 VIP per 25 units (circled in light blue). So let's say a functional KEEL branch has around:

1 Manager. 4 VIPS, and 100 Grunts per KEEL Branch

Now it's just a matter of figuring out how many KEEL Branches are there. Well, let’s assume KEEL is big enough to challenge all the friendly cities in a big war at the end of the winter. A sprawling yakuza-like organization! A Tokyo-wide threat! So just how big is Tokyo?

It’s kinda sorta one of the biggest cities in the world. 33 million people. 😅 It’s about twice the size of NYC. And NYC has 250 McDonald's locations. Convert that to KEEL locations and it means Tokyo can have a max of 500 locations if it takes over the full metropolis.

There could be up to 500 KEEL lairs around Tokyo!

But more likely it’ll be localized to one region of Tokyo. I’m assuming North, because North = Cold and the final war will probably be winter themed, and that’s the direction KEEL is from. The fact that KEEL is in the gang positioned north of Makochi is kind of telling. Let’s be conservative and assume there’s around 100 KEEL Branches, give or take. Enough to command the delinquent “northside” of the metropolis that’s relevant to the story. Running an organization of this considerable size would require executive managers.

The upper leadership of KEEL and their ideology is a topic that requires its own post. (Trust me, that’s gonna be a fun one.) But they’d have to be pretty damn strong to control such a large area. Otherwise the managers would just go rogue. They’d need two executives for every 2500~ men (25 branches) under their Endo-like influence. (That’s the amount of troops Takiishi and Endo brought to their war. I counted. Endo sent 1000~ to the park. 500~ to mainstreet. And 300~ to each bridge.) These executives would be the dangerous resurrected “Ice Dragons" operating on behalf of the CEO / Ice Emperor. If there’s one per 1,000 men, I could see there being 8-10 “KEEL Executives”

Each as strong as Banjo. If KEEL really has a hundred hidden splinter cells all over the northern region of Tokyo, then we can get a good idea of how big KEEL could be if it were the final gang.

Possible Population of KEEL Corporation:

1 Ice Emperor 8 Executives (< Each strong as Banjo) 100 Managers (< Natori is one of them) 400 VIPs 10,000+ grunts

ᴵ ᵃᵐ ᵘˢᶦⁿᵍ ᵁᵐᵉ'ˢ ˢᵃᵛᶦᵒʳ ᵃˢ ᵃ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉʰᵒˡᵈᵉʳ ˢᶦⁿᶜᵉ ʰᶦˢ ˡᶦᵗᵗˡᵉ ᵇʳᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ᵐᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵇᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᴵᶜᵉ ᴱᵐᵖᵉʳᵒʳ

Guys, did it ever occur to you that Bofurin would brush up against a real crime organization with 10k or even 50k men at some point in the series? Well, this is what it'd look like. Say good night. You guys know that scene at the end of Spy Kids 3 where they call in everyone including Mr. Dinkster. That’s what would be needed to beat this cancerous Tokuryu monstrosity. Sakura is going to need everyone.

The problem is that KEEL has fast recruitment. It’s much easier to train a KEEL grunt to use a club than it is to train a Bofurin footsoldier in complex martial arts. So if they go on a recruiting spree, the number might actually be greater than 100,000 grunts!

They could assimilate and train every Splatip goon in Tokyo, like Moby Dick did to the seaside district. Which would honestly be perfect. That’s completely on brand, KEEL is the numbers gang, and bigger groups ganging up on people is what Sakura hates most. 

THE FINAL WAR

It doesn't have to be KEEL. You can basically swap this out for whatever the final threat is going to be. Maybe it’ll be a Toman-style biker gang with 10,000 members, I don’t know but…

If the enemy has anything more than 10,000 men, it's hopeless. I genuinely don’t think the Bofurin Alliance can beat that. At that point the only thing the good guys can do is hold off long enough for Sakura to take out its leader. Bofurin barely beat Endo’s 2500 goons and Endo doesn’t actually have a real united organization. Ironically, Noroshi’s chaotic nature makes it hard for them to organize effectively. The same is not true for the hierarchy of KEEL.

I like to think there’s a team out there who hates society more than Endo, so much so that they’ll want to take control of all of Tokyo just to see it frozen in fear…

Notice how the plants are being uprooted from Sakura.

Harvested.

This is just more evidence pointing towards a harvest themed war. I wrote about it extensively here: Scythes of Extinction War Theory

So what happened between Kraken and Moby Dick? (Lion’s Fury Spoilers for Chapters 8-17)

[Masterpost]

It’s been a year since the end of the Kraken Arc, and a lot has happened in Lion’s Fury! We’re about to move into a new arc against a villainous team called Moby Dick but luckily for you I’m here to fill you in on the details of what happened in the interim. Admittedly, the past 10 episodes have been more lowkey, focused more on character development much like the Summer Break in the manga. I am unofficially dubbing this the “Makeover Arc” where Shishitoren reflects on the past and changes their outlook and hairstyles.

Once again, I will be used the translated videos by the wonderful @winter-glaze, if you want to watch it yourself here is the link.

Instead of going episode-by-episode like the last post I will instead be going over the mini-arcs, because it’s easier to organize that way. I’m going to summarize the events in 1000 words starting now:

Episode 8: Kanuma and Arima Cat Hijinks 

Starting off, we get probably the silliest episode so far. It’s a comedy bottle episode that you can pretty much skip. The plot is… Arima and Kanuma chasing after a cat. Let me explain. So basically, it’s an ongoing joke that Arima is whipped by his unseen big sister. Arima has to find his sister’s purse and a cat steals it…🤦And so now everyone on the team have to find the cat. Eventually Kanuma finds the cat being picked on by a group of bullies. 

The only serious takeaway from this debacle is this moment where Kanuma channels his inner Suo dodging the bullies' attacks. Kanuma sees his old self in the animal abusers, after what he did to the middleschooler, and now it’s his turn to dish out a whooping. It ends with the rest of the team showing up to watch them finish off the bullies and claim the purse. 

I can’t help but chuckle at how they’re being portrayed as badasses here for beating up three dudes. Great job guys!

Episode 9-11: Weak Members Return

Things take a more serious turn, as Choji and Togame have to face their past sins. The former members they brutalized and cast out from the team during their villain arc. Episode 9 starts with Shishitoren being attacked. There’s an endless barrage of teams attacking Shishtoren, just as Kraken’s leader promised. It turns out someone is spreading rumors that Shishitoren is weak and vulnerable.

Instead, this fight only makes Choji feel nostalgic for the old days and makes him want to reach out to all the members he “skinned” from the team. The day ends with them setting up a meeting to apologize to the banished members. Choji and Togame are terrified to face the outcasts, and they worry if they’re even going to show up. The former members are stunned to see Waniijima back.

Non-summary note: I think this is a rare case where the limitations of the medium really holds back the story. The animation team wasn’t going to make brand new models for outcasts, resulting in Choji conversing with unseen, nameless characters most of the time called “Former Member A” and “Former Member B” etc. They needed a character to represent the outcasts. Maybe the guy Choji attacked? Anyway, the next few chapters are a whole lot of serious discussion with nobody on screen, and I'm gonna cut out a lot of fluff here.

The outcasts accept Choji and Togame’s apology, but refuse to rejoin the gang since they consider themselves too weak. Crazier still they actually blame themselves for getting kicked out. Choji speaks to the weaker members of his team for their perspective. It dawns on Choji that he doesn't understand how it feels to be weak and he realizes he must learn to empathize with the outcasts.

Choji insists that everyone is strong and that he just needs to bring it out of them. In the end, the outcasts come around and rejoin with a new commitment to become stronger.

Episode 12-13: Sako and Inugami Backstory

The next episode finally covers Inugami’s fateful encounter with Sako back during his emo phase, and it doesn’t disappoint. This turned out to be way dumber than I ever expected it to be. It starts out with Inugami chasing Sako around town. Sako refuses to train him, but Inugami thinks that the running  is part of the training. Sako says, “How long are you going to chase me?" And he’s like “FOREVERRRRRR!”

We get to see the moment they first meet, where Sako (still a villain) saves him, and needless to say Inugami looks at their first meeting with rose tinted glasses...

The reason Sako refuses to teach Inu is because he thinks Inugami is stronger than him. He has a "strength of heart” that Sako lacks. Ultimately, Choji and Togame force him to take Inugami on as pupil, so he has no say in the matter. During training, they run into Sako’s old bullies called Team Chronos and after confronting his past, Sako makes peace with it the next day shows up with black hair again.

I always took Sako’s hair as a metaphor. Like the black tips of his hair is the old hair from middle school, and the new hair that grew in was the “new him” bleached of all sentimentality. It's good to see him back to his old style. This gives Choji and Togame some ideas…

Episode 14: Choji and Togame Get Haircuts

So the next day, they get a scare about Cobalt, the team that attacked on the day Sako joined, featured in chapter 172.5. They beat them up no problem, but it gets them reminiscing. Choji and Togame decide to change their hair just like Sako as a spiritual makeover. 

They try to cut their hair themselves...

But in the end they ask Wani to do it for them. For Togame, it's a relief to let go of that rattail. Good for him.

Episode 15-16: Arikanu make amends

Arima and Kanuma are in the arcade district and run into the middle schooler - uhh whats his name- Sasaki Naohiro, the kid they bullied. Same kid that set off the Shishitoren Tournament. (Maybe Nagato will make a cameo someday?) They apologize and finally understand the guilt Choji and Togame were feeling in Episode 9. They work together to chase down some pickpockets only to discover that the guys are former Shishitoren! GASP! Not really. Turns out the defectors were attacking the pickpockets. They rejoin Shishitoren after Arikanu saves them for the the angry pickpockets.

Episode 17: Trip to the Zoo

(The episode where the foxes call Sako gay!)

I guess big story arcs are bookended by comedy episodes. After the outcasts return, Wani arrives to tell them that his part-time job at the zoo needs help on a busy day so Choji volunteers Shishitoren. At the zoo, they wrestle the lines, Sako gets overwhelmed by the foxes (who love him for some reason) and a bunny goes missing. Turns out the rabbit just wanted to return to its original holding place near the turtle exhibit… In the shuffle, Wani loses his necklace, an heirloom from his dead father. His friends stay after hours to help him find it, and he gives thanks to the heavens for having such great friends. 

POST-SUMMARY THOUGHTS

The so-called “Makeover Arc” is a mixed bag, it has filler arc energy but has just enough bright moments to carry it. The mini-arc of the weak members returning could have been more interesting. I was expecting a bit more resentment? It’s a bit too convenient that all of them forgave Tomiyama. Perhaps we’ll see more of that from the 5th member of Shishitoren later? Or the metal gangs? I’m still attached to the idea that the metal gangs will adjudicate Shishitoren’s sinful past.

My favorite parts are the Sako/Inugami sections. There’s a lot of funny moments. Like at the zoo where the zookeeper says “It’s snacktime” and Sako says “SNACK TIME!” like he’s Scooby-Doo. It got a serious laugh out of me, especially since Inugami was the serious one, which implies their relationship is a bit more complex.

Red is complimentary to green. Making it the opposite of Bofurin.

2) There's also a subtle downward triangle in the middle of the dragons. Ie "Down" or "Lowest" as opposing "The Top". It kinda reminds me of a down button on an elevator. The downward triangle also has a dark history of marginalization.

3) It's fingerpainted, Shitōga (指頭画). I'm guessing the logo was painted with blood, giving it an older almost cult like feeling.

ENDO IS BACK (WBK Spoilers)

Noroshi Redemption has left the station. Noroshi WILL eventually become a good guy gang. Umemiya still very much wants to make peace with Takiishi. And Endo and Sakura are already hanging out. The question isn’t IF Noroshi will be redeemed, but HOW?

1) These rebels are not going to follow Endo blindly.  2) It’s not clear Endo actually cares if they stay or go.

In fact, Noroshi is a strange case where the cohesion of the gang is actually a point of contention. The question of “Do these guys actually care enough to stay together?” is itself a plot point. I’m sure Endo would be happy to fire them all. He only cares about Takiishi. But what if Takiishi doesn’t? What if Takiishi learns their names… 

Endo and Chika are trying their best

Endo and Chka’s sudden redemption is a point of debate. But I think I understand why it happened so quickly because fundamentally…

Endo and Takiishi never hated society. They only rejected it. 

There’s a difference. To Takiishi, human society was always an obstruction. Something that “got in his way”, he never hated society necessarily, he just wanted nothing to do with it. Thus his violence was a method of creating an insulated bubble around himself away from society’s inconveniences. Well, Umemiya popped that bubble. The reason he accepted society so quickly is because he never had any ill-will against it. (Unlike some of the other villains who truly hate humanity.) And the same mostly holds true for Endo.

Endo loves anti-social people for their independence. He loves Takiishi and Sakura because they can defy society like no one else. Endo and Sakura’s Odd Relationship requires its own post but in short, Endo was just bored. He never actually hated society. 

After their upcoming talk with Umemiya, Noroshi might have to change. Or perhaps they mellow out off screen. So let’s go over how I think each member would handle that change. Starting with the guy who challenged Class 1-1.

Hashirao is actually a chill dude

Hashirao only cares about fighting. Villainy has always been a means to an end for him, otherwise he’s an honorable dude. He’s even friendly enough to take on a pupil, (ie “He’s good with kids!” etc.) It shows that he has an innate kindness, and I personally think he’s the 4th strongest in Noroshi for this reason. He’s always willing to learn. Obiki would be excited to see Suo again. (I think everyone would be excited to see Suo again 🥀) So these two would be very open to reform.

Many Suo fans think Obiki would be scared of Suo like with Kanuma, but I actually think it’d be the opposite. Maybe there’ll be a running gag where an obsessive Obiki jumpscares Suo instead. Sort of like how Suo was with Tsugeura during middleschool.

Banjo was scared straight

Banjo is frequently considered the vilest character in Wind Beaker, and I think that’s completely off base. There’s many characters worse than him. To Banjo, pain has always been a way of connecting with people, and it's made very clear that he doesn’t realize the effect he has on other people, sharing Chika’s lack of empathy. I think it's safe to say he learned his lesson after his fight with Hiragi and would be very amenable to reform. Also I see some interesting Kaji interaction.

Elvis and the Bald Guy seem chummy

We don’t know anything about bald dude Kyosuke Masuda. (So much so that I had to copy and paste his name right now.) If he does go along with the redemption plan it’ll be out of sheer indifference. He just seems like a “go with the flow” kinda guy. I mean he seemed happy to see Hiragi again? But that friendly greeting was probably insincere.

The same cannot be said about Genji Sugichi (the Elvis Guy) who appeared to have a very REAL interest in Tsubaki. He would have a self-interested reason to ally with Bofurin, and I think he’s actually gettable. But with Masuda I’m less convinced, I think baldie would probably follow the lead of the next two jackasses.

Tarumi and Chihiro are the next AriKanu

These shitheads are going to be the hardest to convince. I get the sense they have a close connection with the two leaders, sort of like Arima and Kanuma in Shishitoren. Which is why they had the honor of rallying with Endo and Takiishi in the Noroshi War, but I don't think for a second that either are stronger than Hashirao, a guy who devoted his life to fighting. Unlike the other members who have glimmers of humanity, these guys are complete assholes. Especially rotten, we haven’t seen ANYTHING redeemable from these two.

To be fair, we didn’t see anything redeemable about Kanuma and Arima at first either. So I’m not going to write them off entirely, but they would likely not be onboard with redemption. The only way I could see Endo convincing them to stay is by pulling the loyalty card. 

Endo would have to beg them to stay.

Which would be unthinkable character growth for him and the entire team. I don't see any other reason they’d stick around, let alone change their dastardly ways. I mean these two display KEEL-levels of villainy. Speaking of KEEL …

The KEEL-Noroshi Alliance may end

Cutting off KEEL would be a sinking symbolic change for Mr. Yamato battleship. Endo cannot continue to be friends with both Sakura and Natori at the same time. The fact that his social circle includes both of these people AT ALL is its own point of interest. Sakura and Natori are diametrically opposed. You’d think this would be an easy choice. Obviously he’d choose Sakura, right? Well… here’s the thing. Natori represents ultimate freedom. It's not so much that he loves Natori necessarily. Rather to him, Natori represents his freedom to flaunt the law and morality. By cutting off Natori he’d be shedding a large part of his identity. Endo wouldn’t be Endo anymore if he didn’t do whacky criminal hijinks, like torturing rando goons apparently. 🙄

There’s also been new discussion on whether Natori has actually been a member of Noroshi all along. We see somebody who looks just like him fighting with Endo in the past. So it's possible Natori has dual membership. If Natori actually is the ninth member of Noroshi this would complicate things even further. This would mean Natori (of all fucking people) would have a seat at the peace talks and argue strongly against any reconciliation. And many of these dirtbags would rather walk off with KEEL than become allies with Bofurin. In fact, this whole scenario would be great for Natori backstory. (Something Nii-sensei has been interested in recently.) Not that he’s a threat or anything. Endo and Chika could clobber all those losers easily… 

But Endo can’t make them stay either.

Cut it however you want, the evil parts of Noroshi might walk and Endo’s criminality will NEED to be addressed. Which means somebody more convincing than Noroshi’s two dunderhead leaders will have to make a strong counter argument.

Who are Noroshi’s missing members?

There are two noroshi members that were not featured in the Noroshi war. This can be explained in one of two ways. 

They were completely off screen. 

They were moral objectors that abstained from the war

Maybe they were completely off-screened while fighting the Zojo and Komoku 2nd year captains, who were also completely off-screened in the war. However, in this post I want to explore the latter option. Mostly because it seems Endo and Nirei are a big deal in this arc. Meaning Nirei might run into an old hero of this.

Nirei’s Savior Theory

Some people find it odd that Nirei’s Savior hasn’t appeared yet. He wasn’t at the first captain meeting. You can see in this picture that he's a second year, so he should have been there as a third year. Nirei should’ve been jumping all over him. So not only did the tenth member of Noroshi not participate in the war. HE TRIED TO STAY. He actually gave Bofurin a chance but then left! That’s assuming Nirei’s Savior actually is the tenth member. But even if the missing members don’t include that guy, I think it’s strongly implied they took moral objection. Noroshi’s may get its own Wanijima-type character(s). A careful steady voice of reason that guides them to the light.

Whoever they are, they’re probably just free spirits who didn’t fit in at Bofurin, but don’t like Noroshi’s senseless destruction either. Keep in mind that Noroshi is not an inherently criminal organization and spent most of its time clobbering other gangs. So there’s always been room for moral members. Unlike Wani, they’d have their work cut out for them. I suspect these missing members will be central to this redemption arc and possibly Nirei's development.

So how will this play out anyway?

These Noroshi guys are borderline criminals, each with an independent streak. Changing their hearts would be a considerable task. But even still, there’s no doubt in my mind that‘s where we’re headed. But Nii-sensei has to tread a needle very carefully… A Noroshi redemption almost REQUIRES a schism, otherwise it’ll feel cheap and unearned. However it also doesn’t have to happen all at once. 

Anyway, here's my chart were I think all of them would fall:

I think your theories and analysis add a lot to the worldbuilding and I’ve really been enjoying reading all of it!

Something I did pick up right off the bat with KEEL’s first appearance was that they were *such* a sharp visual contrast to Bofurin and even Shishitoren. The members of the latter gangs have their own individual style and manner of dress while still wearing the colors of their group.

Then there’s KEEL, which honestly unless their hoods are down-we really do not see much visual difference/indiviudalism aside from height and even then there’s usually not much distinction unless the height difference is significant.

(Also, I noticed that it may have been an author’s choice but even in the flashbacks of Nagato we see only Natori or the VIPs will have their hoods down in their ‘lair’. Everyone else keeps their’s up-unless they’re getting a beat down (Nagato, and probably that one kid who wanted to leave)

It’s like there’s some sort of unspoken rule amongst KEEL that only Natori and the VIPs can really show any sort of individuality, because they’re ‘stronger’.)

You're right on the money. The KEEL grunts are literality forced to wear hand me downs that minimize individuality. Mostly from the VIPs. Although they seem to have a genuine interest in cyberpunk for some reason. I suspect this is because they're douchebag NFT bros that think cyberpunk is "COOL" so the keel guys are basically tech bros which is a reference to thier "tokuryu" nature.

I'm going to do a full post about KEEL's fashion next!

7 REASONS why FEAR is the main villain of Wind Breaker and how Natori could become it's vessel.

(Manga Spoilers / Mentions of Abuse)

Look. I get it. KEEL is probably not becoming the main villain but I can see Natori being a big instigator moving forward. And in some ways, KEEL's return is almost inevitable for symbolic reasons. Natori has all the right symbolism to become Wind Breaker’s main antagonist.

I’m framing this almost like a sales pitch why Natori is “main villain” material, but in truth this post will serve as my complete analysis of Natori as well as the broader themes surrounding him. Understand I am approaching this with the utmost self-awareness, so take all of this with a grain of salt and just have fun. So let's jump right in~

REASON 1 - Natori represents FEAR, the main antagonistic theme

It’s understandable why most would think Natori won’t be a big deal. Natori doesn't even have a profile for the official website, and isn't even listed as a major character. 😂 Nii-sensei probably just considers him an unofficial member of Noroshi about as unimportant as Hashirao in the grand scheme of things. But what I want to impress upon you is that what KEEL represents DOES matter. 

Natori represents the illusionary power of fear. 

During Natori’s speech in Chapter 47, we see “fear” is directly compared to Natori’s bat, center framed. A literal cudgel. But just like how Sakura hesitated to jump off the rope only to find it was a short drop, we find Natori turned out to be a push over that couldn’t even last ten punches. Only appearing to be big and scary, but it was all a lie. In this sense, Natori and KEEL sort of has to be weak for the story to work. But why doesn’t this same rule apply to Endo and Noroshi? Why isn’t Noroshi weak like KEEL? 

Well, that’s because while KEEL gets its power through fear, Noroshi gets its power through independence, ie “being alone”. This distinction between Natori and Endo is what makes Endo stronger, but ironically that’s why Endo was never cut out to be the main villain of the series. Just like Choji before him, he’s not truly evil, not deep down. And so now Wind Breaker’s story has entered an invisible bind, a chain if you will,  where all evil characters need to be weak, like KEEL and Spaltips, while all strong characters have to be good or turn good.

🐉 KEEL as the opposite of “The Top” 🐉

I mean sure, you can give an evil guy a ton of muscles but without narrative substance it’s meaningless. We need a truly strong, truly evil character… For metanarrative reasons, it has to be KEEL.

As I pointed out in my Momijikawa post, KEEL is the anti-thesis to Bofurin, the very lowest point of the ship, the “lowest of the low” just like the thieves that stole Momi’s workshop.

If Umemiya is “The Top” KEEL is “The Lowest”

And it continuously gets referenced for this reason...

🐉 KEEL as the winter-colored team🐉 

Let’s think about it for a moment. What can we expect from the final enemy of the series? As I’ve discussed before, winter is definitely going to be the final threat to challenge Bofurin. It’s the natural enemy of all plants, and it takes place at the end of the year. As I’ve discussed in early posts, the theme of spring overcoming winter is baked into the story's DNA. And we see it in the show’s color-theming. In my color theory post, I discussed how Green and Yellow are generally the “good” colors (representing growth and warmth), and white and blue are generally the “bad” colors (representing trauma and coldness). Fittingly, those are KEEL’s colors, even the KEEL arc is formatted blue in the TV show, so now it's kinda theirs.

🐉 KEEL as the dragon team 🐉

So It’s no coincidence that Sakura’s main rival Sugishita has a blue color theme. And not only that, he also has a dragon motif. Reflecting a long running trope in Chinese Buddhism called “The Dragon vs The Tiger” which to grossly simplify represents directness vs devising. See, dragons represent something very different in East Asia. Chinese Dragons are wingless and serpentlike representing wisdom and power. While the Western dragons (like the one we see in the KEEL logo) have wings and represent evil and greed. 

There is ZERO chance this was unintentional. KEEL was given the dragon logo to represent the opposing force against Sakura. And in Western canon, an evil dragon is often portrayed with a great hero who tries to slay it, and is generally perceived as the most fearsome creature in western literature. It is a creature of fear incarnate.

🐉 KEEL as the main antagonistic theme 🐉

FEAR.

From the very first scene and at every turn moving forward, FEAR has been the main negative driving force of Wind Breaker for so many things that happen in the story. Fear is what drove Togame to commit his sins. It’s what drove Narita to run towards her captors and scared Tsubaki away from wearing makeup as a kid. There are other themes, but fear and loneliness seem to be central. And even now, in the New Semester, it’s still not going away, there’s the fear of treading a new path like Akari or fear of reaching out for help like Suo. 

Fear is here to stay as the main villain of Wind Beaker. It’s not going anywhere. 

So that means the endgame enemy team needs to be: >a winter-colored, ideally blue >with an animal that contrasts Sakura’s tiger >that’s based around fear, the main antagonistic force of the story…

Nii-sensei gave the most important color, theme, and animal to KEEL.

Nii-sensei has almost written himself into a corner in this regard…

That’s not to say the final enemy can’t be something else! It may be more possible that KEEL revives some other dragon team to serve as the final antagonists instead, like hooded cultists reviving the bones of a dragon. KEEL is almost perfectly designed to be a recon unit for a much bigger and dangerous team, they have "bank heist skills".

But even if KEEL doesn't become (or bring about) the final villains, it's hard to imagine KEEL not coming back, given their sheer symbolic importance already imbued onto them. When the author makes a team that represents fear and evil itself, how does one not bring them back? 

REASON 2 - He’s evil enough

Let us appreciate how much of a wonderful bastard Natori is.

There’s something refreshingly cathartic about having a simplistic villain. One that gets beaten up and sent flying into outer space like Team Rocket. KEEL is the designated irredeemable team, where even the character’s in-universe notice they’re the worst. And it was only really done once. In the same way the Kremlings were phased out of Donkey Kong for over a decade, it feels like KEEL and the evil teams have been kinda phased out in favor of generic goons. 

Ever since KEEL we’ve seen a change in how teams are presented, at least in the manga, where if there ever is an evil team, it's just random goons. Even the Noroshi guys didn’t have team uniforms, they too were just ultra powerful goons. My god so many goons. I am so tired of nameless goons. The closest thing to a real evil team again was Kraken, that was a year ago, and they kinda felt like a knock-off of KEEL.

It’s almost like KEEL has property rights to EVIL™ It’s like Nii-sensei has been giving us Diet Coke, Diet Rite, Dr. Thunder, RC Cola-

GIVE US NAME-BRAND KEEL ALREADY!

I want our unapologetic villains again! Preferably with development this time. If they’re gonna be frugal about adding evil teams, they might as well go all in on the original and just make the evilest guy the main villain. And funnily enough, he might even do it on purpose…

REASON 3 - Natori’s the genre-breaker

Natori is the 4th wall breaker, who reminds me of a famous character from Persona 4 and I won't spoil anything about the game but Adachi's basically a cynical NPC that's not following the script of what his character should do. Both figuratively and metatextually.

And in this sense, Natori and Adachi have a lot in common. Both appear to be dopey idiots on the surface, while actually being cynical underneath. They have this shared genre-breaking irreverence to the optimistic themes of their series. Adachi says you’re going to die working a boring 9 to 5 job. You’re not going to be the one to get the big promotion because talent and nepotism matter more than hard work. He just takes a giant piss on all the feel-good “Believe In Yourself!” nonsense of early 2000’s anime.

Natori has that same designated gadfly energy who viciously pokes at the inauthenticity of Bofurin. Like he knows something we don't.

I’ll expand more on this in Reason 6, but for now, let’s just say that Bofurin doesn’t exist in most of real-life Japan. The real world is far more cut-throat and FEAR is the only thing that gave Sakura any respite until he reached Furin. The bullies didn’t back off until they feared him.  Self-defense alone didn’t get Sakura peace. Going KEEL did. He put FEAR in them. So to most of the world, Bofurin and KEEL are the same. Bofurin is still a violent gang with scary haircuts.

Bofurin wouldn’t exist without gangs like KEEL

Bofurin and Noroshi (KEEL) have a symbiotic relationship. Japan has a very conservative culture. And it's been explained how the only reason Makochi’s citizens are so accepting of Sakura (and the Furin delinquents) is because they trust them after years of being protected by them from Spaltips, Vermilleo, and all the other little gangs that plague the town like KEEL. But what if Makochi has no gang problems at all? Would the people of Makochi be so accepting of a kid with scary colored hair? The answer is a clear and definite no.

Sakura has already been to five well-to-do towns and looked at how they treated him. Trusted organizations like Roppo Ichiza and Bofurin only flourish when gangs like KEEL rough up the town. KEEL and Noroshi’s violent rebellion against society leads the way for Bofurin’s reform. Creating a strange ying-yang symbolism; hence tiger and dragon. Obviously I don't think Natori is a revolutionary, but…

Right now, the only character in the whole story that has any grasp on this meta-understanding is Natori. 

He’s a giant dose of uncomfortable realism just like Adachi, who also walks on the fourth wall in this way, and you get the sense that he alone has a deeper understanding of what’s really going on. Like he's playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers…

REASON 4 - He’s smart enough

I already made a whole post about how Natori is the most cunning Strategist in Wind Breaker. I may have to recover a little old ground but to sum it up again. Natori is an exceptionally cunning strategist whose entire identity revolves around controlling and trapping others. The stickers on his bat suggest that his knack for strategy might even come from his personal history with baseball. And boy did he sweep Class 1-1.

Putting Sakura’s naivety aside, what’s stunning was Natori’s forethought and restraint. He carefully prepared and hid a large army. Held back his strongest men and did some reconnaissance first. Singling out the strongest members. Through sheer tactics, Natori was on the verge of winning despite having the weaker army. The way he planned that shipyard ambush was flawlessly thought out, and unlike Endo, KEEL’s leader actually has a great understanding of people. So far Endo has filled the mastermind role, but now that he’s a good(ish) guy, I could easily see Natori slipping into that role. Even if he clearly doesn’t have the strength on his own.

The Joker can’t beat Batman in a fistfight, and Kisaki can’t beat Mikey either. Natori doesn’t need to be strong to make problems.

When I used the term “main villain” at the start, I never used the term “final boss”. Like the Joker, Natori is a shit-starting mastermind, he can do serious damage even as he is now just with his cunning.

I’m not convinced Natori is formidable enough to be the final big bad, but I could see him filling this “Bowser Jr” type role to the big bad. Or becoming some shit-starting instigator like Kisaki who sets things in motion. 

But if that’s the case, how could Natori and KEEL possibly evolve from here? How could Natori possibly become a big enough threat for him to continue being an ongoing player?

REASON 5 - Natori is the “weapons guy”

There’s a very easy way Nii-sensei could make Natori threatening again, and it's staring us all in the face. Natori is the weapons user. So far, Natori is the only fighter in the series who’s skilled with a weapon, the one-handed weapons specifically. Just look at him go!

Can you imagine how dangerous Natori would be with an actual weapon? Or blade? Or just any stronger weapon besides a baseball bat?! I know Natori would never use a sword, the WBK manga would never go there, but holy hell! So far, none of the KEEL guys use blades because I suspect the manga has some kind of ‘No Kill” rule, but still. Imagine if Natori had to defend his life, or fight for a cause he actually believed in. You really think he’d bring a baseball bat? 

As we discussed at the start, the reason Natori loves weapons is because weapons give you power over people. They give you control. So why would we just assume that this bored sociopath would just teach himself to use a bat and call it a day? So I could see a scenario where Natori has taught himself to use a multitude of weapons. Here are just a few non-lethal weapons Natori might be trained to use:

Polesarms. Chains. Mace. Bokken. Hammers. Nunchucks. Knives! 

This makes another interesting contrast with our hero. Sakura uses his friends as weapons. Natori uses actual weapons… If Natori was a mulit-weapon specialist trained in everything, then that’d make him a one-man army, a one-man-band. The ultimate lone fighter to contrast Sakura’s character arc. So Natori evolving as a weapons user would actually have symbolic weight, and frankly it just seems like his natural progression. It's a crazy headcanon, but honestly any weapon upgrade could do. After losing two times, of course he's gonna try something new. We already saw in the second fight, Natori was angry enough to take off his jacket, symbolically rolling up his sleeves. He took the Suzuri fight a little seriously for a change, but with each return, Natori is only going to focus his power more. Bofurin is forcing him to evolve, and the obvious solution is to reach for another weapon.

Natori has an overpowered ability hiding in plain sight

. In this way, he’s kinda like The Spot from Across The Spider-Verse. One has portals. One has weapons. Both are underestimated. Natori could evolve into the final boss like The Spot, where he starts out as a joke but slowly becomes more dangerous. It would certainly be a narrative twist for Sakura’s first enemy to be his final enemy, especially considering he was the ‘asshole that got away’. 

REASON 6 - He still owes Sakura a punch

Bofurin has unfinished business with KEEL. If it wasn't clear already from the previous sections, Sakura and Natori are basically fated to be archenemies. They are complete opposites. Symbolism aside, Sakura and Natori have been built up for an overdue fight!

1) Natori is Sakura’s first shown enemy.  2) Sakura never got to fight him, so there’s some build-up there. 3) He still owns Sakura one punch.

He asked Kaji for ten, and only got nine. Truth be told, I think Sakura might’ve won that fight. But again, that was then. Natori might have developed since then. It intrigues me how it was teased but didn’t happen. At the moment, it was more important for him to learn to step back and be a leader. Nevertheless, KEEL has basically become Sakura’s white whale, and one of his big regrets. The incident was pivotal to his transformation that was seen in Chapter 60. And there are still many mysteries about KEEL even after the dust cleared. Like the full meaning of their symbol. What are they collecting the money for? How were they created? But that’s small details, the big picture is that KEEL and Bofurin are on a symbolic collision course.

I know what you’re thinking: “GREY! WHAT ABOUT SAKURA VS ENDO?! HE ALREADY BEAT NATORI’S BOSS! SO WHY BOTHER FIGHTING NATORI NOW?” Here’s the problem with that, Endo and Natori represent different things.

Noroshi is a pack of lone wolves. KEEL is a cult. 

If Sakura is “The Individual" who won’t compromise himself, then Natori represents “The Many”

More than anything else, Sakura hates when a group of people surround a single person, and Natori’s whole model is surrounding people with numbers. Natori represents everything Sakura hates about the world. And while Endo used numbers too, it's hardly his modus operandi. Noroshi is defined by its independence. Endo encourages Sakura to “work alone”. As we covered in a previous section, Natori is speaking representative of the asshole masses that terrorize Makochi, and terrorize Sakura his whole life.

It feels like Natori Shingo was designed in a lab to be Sakura’s archnemesis

He's an evil genius with a dragon theme. Made first contact. Embodies Sakura’s Chapter 60 fears. Represents the abusive masses. And has an unsettled score with the hero. He runs the team that truly is Bofurin’s opposite. The lowest of the low. The evil team that cannot be reformed or appeased. Natori wants to destroy everything. All of Furin. Maybe all of TOKYO if given the chance!

KEEL is essentially the final loose end. As far as the moral fabric of the story is concerned, KEEL is the final obstacle to peace in this universe. There’s an endless horde of goons that keep coming for Makochi and Natori is the face of the horde. But to solve that obstacle, we first have to figure out why Natori is the way he is.

REASON 7 - His backstory might mirror Sakura’s trauma

I've always thought Natori is who Sakura would’ve become if he had chosen hatred. Natori has all the telltale signs of abuse.

There are three traits a kid develops after experiencing early childhood physical abuse:

1) a complete normalization of violence, even towards themselves.    ie "If it was done to me, then it must be fine, they'll be okay" 2) a deep-seated desire for control over others.     ie "I'm the one that's feared now. I'm the one in control now. Me!" 3) a pathological distrust of society and institutions.     ie "adults will pretend to be nice, but then just hurt you in the end."

Natori doesn't just have all these traits, they're thoroughly his defining features. If this is true and Shingo was beaten, then Natori might be just like Sakura. But unlike Sakura, Natori did not forgive the society. Natori met hatred with more hatred. It's also explain his desperate need for control, as compensation for what he lacked.

Consider this: why did Endo and Chika come around so easily in the end, but not Natori? Why did they agree to a truce? Well,essentially their issues are innate to them. Endo and Chika were built differently. One is a genius living on an island, the other is implied to be neurodivergent in some way with trouble understanding human empathy. Endo and Chika were doomed to never fit in. So when Umemiya and Sakura finally got through to them, they finally got the social acceptance they secretly always wanted and agreed to terms. 

Natori is an entirely different creature

I have reason to believe Natori is a product of his environment, not nature. And he does NOT want social acceptance. He wants all human society to eat shit. He has this fury and hatred about him that Endo doesn’t seem to have. When Endo puts his guard down, he becomes an oaf. When Natori puts his guard down, he becomes joyless. 

Like Choji before him, Natori is a deeply depressed and insecure individual. But unlike Choji his issue does not seem to be aspirational, he doesn’t seem to have any real “goal” besides inflicting madness/suffering on the weak and powerless. So why is he this way? It's hard to say because at the moment, we have no backstory on Natori. We know everything about his ideology and nothing about his person. And anytime somebody asks him a hard question, he doesn’t answer. He deflects.

Kaji asks him, “Are you the real leader of KEEL?” — No response. Suzuri asks, “Why don’t you stop all this?” — No response. 

Instead he gets unbelievably, veins-bulgingly angry. He’s offended. I think part of this is foreshadowing Umemiya's revelation about Takiishi. Where Ume realized he had dismissed his foe without bothering to find out why Chika wanted to fight in the first place. Thus leading to the very war he wanted to avoid. But with Natori I think it's more than that. We already know from the Kaji fight that he wants everyone to "reject humanity, return to monke" But why is he's so emotionally invested?

We know Natori hates liars

It’s no coincidence that Natori fights the same man that fought Tsubaki, the “lipstick boy” who also had an arc about being a “liar”. In this shared vision, Natori and Tsubaki are united. Natori hates society much like Tsubaki hated his old self. The only difference is Natori thinks all human kindness is a ruse. He has a fundamental distrust for all societal institutions, and believes only in the law of the jungle. He has this hate fixation on hypocrites that he mentions at every opportunity. Mockingly calling people a ‘pretend saint’. And there’s only one other character who has these kinds of trust issues.

Turns out Kotoha hates pretend saints too…

One of my followers even pointed out an interesting Sakura/Kotoha KEEL connection. The fact that there's a Sakura class of battleships and it includes Sakura and Kotoha exclusively is too much of a coincidence, that might be intentional. And it makes me wonder how long Nii-sensei intended KEEL to be a bad guy in the story. More to the point, the two characters we know have been abused and abandoned at a very young age have trust issues and hate liars just like Natori. If Natori was beaten from an early age and it messed him up, that'd explain his trust issues just like Sakura, Kotoha and Natsuki. So much so that he can’t believe anyone can be a good person at all.

And frankly, I think he's just jealous of other people's happiness. And would rather beat everything else to the ground than face his issues. Being human is simply too painful for him.

If this is true. If Natori really was abused and all the madness he created is just an aimless nihilistic rampage, then I tremble to think what would happen if he took his rampage seriously. There might be a whole other side of Natori and KEEL coming with the winter air… 

CONCLUSION - The King of the Cold

That was fun. Time to return to Earth. Natori isn’t going to be the main antagonist of Wind Breaker. I know. But how is he NOT?

So the evilest, smartest character who represents the main antagonistic theme, who’s the narrative counterbalance to everything good in the story is not gonna be the main villain and might not even come back… If not him, who is? 

Natori is more likely our Mahito than Wind Breaker’s Sukuna. But I think this was still a good exercise in pondering who the real ”Ice Dragon” is gonna be waiting at the end of the series. Natori but stronger, I guess? Or things might go in a different direction, but that would be a mistake.

Makochi wont find peace until the “Natori problem” is dealt with.

In chapter 119, we learn about the “Way of the Fist”, the show’s philosophy laid out. We see how Suzuri did everything he could to not use his hands, he’d rather use them to cook food and shake hands, but when faced with an unrelenting evil is forced to use his fists. 

But the “Way of the Fist” is limited. 

Bofurin has to address the CAUSE of this pestilence beyond the symptoms instead of just fighting back an endless horde of goons forever. We’ve been stuck in symptom treating mode… diegetically at least. Metanarratively, Shishitoren, Gravel and Noroshi all give insight into the causes of delinquency. Freedom. Survival. Competitiveness. All defeated, all joined the nakama, save one. But reform is STILL just symptom treating. We need PREVENTION. What about Spaltips? That’s the most important question, actually. What is it gonna take to stop hooligans from spawning infinitely outside the town? And who will be the king of this endless stream of coldhearted assholes?

Some of the names of Bofurin's members are also names of destroyers/ships.

I don't want to overthink or jump to conclusions since it could just be a coincidence, but...... It seems that Bofurin and Wind Breaker's story as a whole lead back to KEEL all along.

I am losing my shit. Especially over the first one. To be fair, there are a lot of battleships and many are named after nature.

Discussing the chances of a Momijikawa villain arc and other possibilities (WBK Spoilers / TW Suicide)

If I had written this article two weeks ago, I’d be dismissed as a crackpot again for even suggesting this kid can become a villain. But thankfully, everyone’s darling Suo crashed out on main, and so now the barn door has been blown wide open.

If SUO can become a villain. ANYONE can become a villain.

And between the two, there was far less evidence of Suo villainy. We only got a hint of that during the KEEL incident. Suo only had one scene hinting at a villain arc. Momijikawa has had several. So I want to go over all the hints and why Momijikawa might give into hatred. And why he has every reason to go searching for the man who killed his grandfather. 

Part 1: Anger in the New Semester 

Without getting too specific, I think the Suo Arc will have themes about anger and revenge, probably involving some villain with an ax to grind. My point being that a main theme of this fall semester saga is… ANGER.

The Axes of Extinction War theory seems more possible than ever. (My theory that the next big war will be about metal chopping trees.) Axes have long been associated with anger, revenge and longstanding conflict. (Sugishita has an axe motif, and he’s closest to Momi 🤔) Also We just got a new team in Lion’s Fury literally called Moby Dick, a quintessential revenge story. And oh boy, does Momijikawa totally have an axe to grind as well…

Momijikawa is angry. Filled with it. But unfortunately, we don’t actually get a full examination of Momijikawa’s hatred of outsiders. He tells us WHY he hates outsiders, but that’s it, he doesn't explain HOW he hates them, leaving questions unanswered…

Does he hate outside civilians? Does he hate foreigners? Did he STOP hating outsiders? Or just Sakura specifically?

His hatred of outsiders is never thoroughly explained or put to bed. In fact, he sort of doubles down on his hate and changes the subject.

But he also has the baptism moment where he jumps into the water and calls himself scum. So…. It’s left kinda vague??? But my reading is that he doesn’t hate outsiders anymore, but he still hates the scammer, specifically. 

Which almost feels like a set up… Like Nii-sensei has quietly created a challenge: 

Can Momi forgive the scammer too? 

Why else have him say that? That’s the only way to complete his character arc now. On the topic of scammers, let's talk about my favorite thieving organization.

Part 2: Momijikawa entangled with KEEL

For once in my life, making a giant tangent about KEEL is actually justified because I think the New Semester Arc is very much designed to draw comparison to KEEL. The New Semester Arc is meant to be a redux of the KEEL Arc. A second chance for Sakura to do things right this time, and demonstrate his character growth as a leader. 

Even Momijikawa’s name has strange ties to KEEL’s battleship theme. The Nakajima Sakae Engine, or just Sakae (栄, Glory) was a 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine and the most produced and used engine for Japanese fighter aircraft during World War II by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Meaning if a plane came off a battleship carrier, it was probably using a Sakae engine.

The ghost of KEEL continues to pop up in the story, in a way that the other arcs don’t. The main themes of the KEEL Arc is about fear and being outnumbered and the angry reaction to that and so central to the story that they’re arguably the main antagonistic theme. Not having courage, “looking away” as Sakura put it.

And since Momi is a foil in for Sakura, it stands to reason he’d get his own KEEL called Vermileo. But Momijikawa is not Sakura. Momijiaka doesn’t have the same self-hatred checking his impulses. He will beat and brutalize his opponents without mercy.

Unlike Sakura, Momijikawa has opened is heart to hate

There's an old quote, “If you stare into the abyss long enough and it’ll stare back into you.” And sure enough, we keep getting these panels where Momijikawa is positioned JUST like the Vermileo scum he’s fighting. Almost like he’s becoming one of them.

The biggest hint of all is the scene before he gets jumped. We have this moment where he looks himself in the mirror. And then the Vermileo guy points out how he’s not in Bofurin’s uniform. Instead he’s wearing a black shirt. Which figuratively suggests that he’s beginning to leave the Bofurin path.

Here we’ve seen him hitting a lowest point, his last loved one is dying, and gets confronted by “Banjo Jr”. Back in the war, we saw Suzuri suggest Natori go home and Natori gives a cryptic non-answer about how he’s “good at pissing people off” and here we see the Vermilleo guy saying the same thing.

Of note, immediately after saying that line, Natori takes off his uniform to reveal a plain black shirt. Now look, I'm not sure if the shirt is supposed to be a literal comparison or if the black shirts just convey villainy in general, but I can DEFINITELY say the similar themes are being covered by these two encounters.

I love how we see Suzuri give a “?” because Natori just loves to give confusing misdirections and nonanswers. He's as mysterious as Suo! And like Suo, Natori doesn't use his fists, preferring to use a baseball bat and thus can’t be communicated with. We fought Natori twice and we still don’t know anything about his backstory. Because Natori doesn’t want to talk about himself and his ordinary daylight life. Later on in the fight, when he talks about ordinary living, he gives a skeptical bored dreary look. But more to the point, Natori’s goal in this fight is to “have fun” and extract as much enjoyment from it as possible to relive that boredom.

And this is why Momijikawa consents to fight Vermilleo. To “blow off steam” and to “relieve his boredom”.

And because of it, he almost misses his grandmother’s death... Without his grandmother, Momijikawa would have fallen down a very dark path. And even WITH his grandma's influence, he still almost went that direction anyway once she left the picture. He was boarding an elevator going straight down.

If Umemiya is “The Top” KEEL is “The Lowest”

The very name KEEL is meant to invoke the very bottom of a ship, the lowest of the low. And I find it concerning how Momi attributes the death of his grandfather on the “lowest of the low”. Which was caused by scammers and thieves just like KEEL. 

Let me be clear: I am NOT saying Natori is the scammer who stole his workshop. But Natori IS the closest thing. And the tragedy is now Momi is slowly becoming the very type of person that ruined his life. Unlike Sakura who only deals out justice, Momi is meeting the hatred of the world with more hatred and its left him feeling empty and nihilistic. 

When Momijikawa looked into his reflection, he GLARED. He was so utterly disgusted with what his boring thankless life had become.

He was finally beginning to hate ordinary life itself. Or just LIFE itself. When he challenges the whole gang of Vermilleo to charge at him at once, we get a cut away to the damages life has done to him. The injustice and cruelty of an uncaring universe.

Until he snaps and decides he just wants to destroy everything

I'm fully convinced Momijikawa was saved just in time. If not for Sakura and Bofurin, this moment would have put them on the slow path to becoming Natori. Someone completely hollow, who has nothing to give humanity but unmitigated hatred and distrust. And the very next panel when Momi hits this Lowest point-

THATS when we get the shot of the guy dragging the pipe like KEEL.

This is KEEL. This is what it means to hit the Lowest.

Luckily that's when Sakura swoops in to save the day!

Like a literal superhero, invoked. The moment KEEL materializes into the world again, Sakura appears to shut it down again. But unlike last time where KEEL was completely wiped out, a little bit of it escaped this time… inside Momijikawa. 

Part 3: Momijikawa’s Revenge?

I suspect the second half of the Momijikawa arc will be in the Momose Arc. This is where he’ll actually learn teamwork and interact with the Zojo team. However, the contours of this arc evade me. I have no idea what it’s gonna look like. If I had to guess I could see the villains being a bunch of anti-art bigots, or some type of conservative militia.

Heavenly King Zojo is said to have a blade that banishes ignorance.

Momose has his pencil. That’s his blade. His art. His kindness. He’ll banish the remaining ignorance from Momijikawa’s soul. I could also see him building a relationship with the Grade Captain Yuzuriha, where Yuzu sort of fills in as his own “Nirei”. 

But until that happens… is there going to be a moment of temptation?

WOULD MOMIJIKAWA BETRAY BOFURIN TO GET A SCAMMER?

Now, obviously, we can’t hold it against Momi for hating the scammer. Not judgement here. Rather I am more so focusing on the symbolic significance of his anger in general. But here’s why it’s still significant now. I think it’s only a matter of time before we run into an evil team that represents ANGER. Let’s say, this villain team is good at tracking down people and trapping them. Will Momijikawa cut a deal? 

POINTS FOR: Why It Might Happen

1) Momijikawa has never been THAT close to Bofurin. And his status in the organization started on shaky ground. He didn’t join for YEARS. He’s kinda like the anti-Sugi in that way.

And to be ‘frank’, he didn’t even help in the Noroshi war. He could have asked a nurse to fill in for a night, when there's a will there’s a way. When everything was on the line, Momi chose his grandmother. That’s fine, but it’s revealing. Again, I’m not judging him for this. But this shows that when the chips are down his personal world comes first. 

2) He’s finally free to pursue revenge. Up until recently, he didn’t even have time to go to school. Let alone track down the bastards that ruined his life. But now that his grandmother has passed on, he’s free to do other things. And It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was always his plan to start hunting the moment he had the chance. And just like the Suo situation, there are promises that run deeper than a school team. If forced to make a choice between Bofurin and justice for his grandpa, what will he choose? I’m betting on the latter. 

POINTS AGAINST: Why It Might Not Happen

1) Sakura has already beaten Momi in a fight. It’s highly implied Momi lost the duel. So that kind of takes the wind out of the sails for any future encounter. There’s no way Sakura is gonna fight him again. That card has already been played once. 

2) Momijikawa is a really good person. Concerningly so. Like an amazingly selfless guy who’d work in a soup kitchen on his weekend. 

Momi acts too much “like a grown up” to go on some childish villain arc. Right? So I don't see him turning evil, or at least not to his core… And besides, we just went through a big arc about him being a jerk, so why go over it again? And he’s already set about changing himself, that's why he jumps in the water. It was his Misogi, his baptism.

No. Any hope of a Momi villain arc was doused when he jumped into the water. 

And what a damn shame...

Part 4: Who’s Afraid of Momiji Wolf?

Here’s the thing…It's questionable how much of Momi’s good nature is genuine goodness or just selfish protectiveness. Let’s be honest. There’s no way his grandmother would have been okay with him quitting school if she was in a sound mind. He protected her and the town for a personal vendetta. And it consumed him. 

When I look at his apartment. I don’t see the room of a teenage boy. There’s no posters. No interests. No room for his own personality. I see the dwelling of a dying woman. Sanitized with little sticky notes everywhere, even after she’s gone… Trapped in time. In a way, his apartment is as empty as Sakura’s used to be. And to be fair, we see him finally let someone in in the end. Sakura. That’s a good first step.

Man, I can already see the rest from here~

How is Momi being even MORE selfless going to solve his problems? 

Again, Momijikawa is NOT Sakura. That happy story worked for Sakura, because Sakura never had anything. Momi has a different problem being that he only lives for others.

So I want him to LEAVE. I want him to jump ship onto a villainous team and track down that scammer piece of crap. I want Momi to get piercings. Paint his nails black. Rock out! Don the black shirt and make mischief! 

Be a kid!

Like Sako before him, he’d actually grow way more as a person by joining a different team. Bofurin is not enough to heal Momijikawa. He needs to embrace the night. Grow into his own like Sako did. Become more selfish. Become more… him. 

I suspect a big feature of his story is going to be him learning that living for somebody else is dangerous. When we saw a flashback of Momi’s grandfather, notice what he says. The workshop YOU were going to run. The shame of letting Momijikawa down is what killed him. His grandfather made the fatal mistake of living totally for somebody else. So having Momi skip a real villain arc (or barely flirt with one) feels incomplete. Squished.

Momijikawa’s declaration of independence never amounted to anything substantial. Which is why the happy ending in Ch.207 misses. It's sickeningly sweet, even by the standards of WBK, and it just feels too good to be true. Compounded by the fact that so many elements of his arc feel incomplete. The only way to salvage this is to have him relapse. An evil team would encourage Sakae to be selfish, and would have no restraints in pursuing his revenge he desires...

AND CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM LEAVING NOW?!?!

Especially now. Especially when we just went through this giant fricking arc, and then he ups and LEAVES with the rascals. That'd be the biggest twist since Mob Psycho 100!!! Where its main character also made a shocking choice of group. Instead of going down the Momose/Zojo path we all expect him to, imagine if this kid makes his own path. That said, it’s possible he might regret that choice later on. Maybe he’ll outgrow the evil gang and come back in the end, but either way, I feel like a detour is needed for his growth.

SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?  

It seems the post-Noroshi, Fall Semester Saga may continue with themes about rage. Themes that started in the KEEL arc and were reprised in Momijikawa, who’s still very much processing his anger even though his Sakura beef is over. He still might take a turn towards the darkside to get revenge. But I think he’ll come around. If he left the team that might even be good for his growth as an individual. But it is equally, if not more possible, that none of this adventureism is gonna happen, and we’re just gonna get a straightforward Momose arc where Momi falls in line with Team Zojo. But it feels like Momi’s arc has left way too many ominous loose ends. The door on this chapter might be shut, but interesting ones are still open…

Nii-sensei is describing the relation of Chinese elements:

Fire beats Metal Metal beats Wood

Interestingly, Metal "generates" Water because it condensates on metal. (Funnily enough. alkali metals can also convert to water but they didn't know that at the time.) And so metal produces water like how Autumn produces Winter (which is their respective elements.) But I'm not entirely sure if Nii-sensei is using the Chinese system or lumping earth and metal together like the Buddhist system.

In any case, Metal is being used as a metaphor for character forging ("forging your own path"). Though its not necessarily a good thing. A manipulative villain might try to mold someone into something they don't want to be. And really that's the story of human oppression, metal is by far the most human and artificial element. And I think there's a baked in implication that Bofurin will have to act more like Noroshi to beat this new upcoming threat.

Just a quick post explaining why the moon keeps popping up in WBK. (Manga Spoilers)

Going off the show's plant growing analogy, the sun (and the color yellow) represent warmth and everything good in the world of Wind Breaker and that puts the Moon in an odd position of a false rival.

Nighttime/the Moon should be the antithesis to (plant) growth. Just like how delinquency should be the antithesis to a healthy society. But in actuality the moon gets its brightness from the sun. It reflects the sun onto us during our darkest time. If Earth didn't have a moon our nights would be pitch dark. The moon is thus a symbol of rebellion and audacity. And that's what Endo loved about Chika. And that's why the wolve is the symbol of Noroshi, its the animal that loves the moon.

The fact that Suo's harvest moon is yellow (depicted in the Sakura holding moon illustration seen below at the end of Vol 25) underlines how delinquency might be the only good thing in Suo's predetermined life. That's what Suo finds beautiful about it.

In the First Semester, the Sun was the source of goodness and the enemies were "pro-animal" ruffians.

In the New Semester, the Moon will be the source of goodness and the enemies will be "pro-humanity "villains and the corrupt aspects of society. Building on ideas that were only teased at in the first half.

That's the short of it anyway.