Suo’s Harvest Moon & the Scythes of Extinction War (?)
(WBK Spoilers) About a year ago, I made a post about whether we might have a Trilogy of Extinction Wars based on elements that threaten plant-life and the safety of Bofurin. Those being...
FIRES - BLADES (METAL) - BLIZZARDS (ICE)
The WIND element represents Bofurin and Noroshi was the FIRE in the Summer. Going by the Buddhist sequence of elements and seasons, the next two wars would be a ice/water themed war in the Winter, but before that we’d get a METAL / EARTH in the Autumn.
At the time I called it “Blades of Extinction" because I was understandably uncertain what form the “METAL” or “BLADES” would take for the Autumn war. I spit out a series of ideas ranging from Yakuza to Mining towns. Would it be about metal ores like Zinc and Cobalt? Metal tools? Metal Music? Communist sickles? Vengeful axes? In one panel, we were given the answer. In hindsight, it should have been obvious… It appears the harvest moon is coming… Autumn is a time for harvest. Scythes are the tool of harvest. In Japan and China there are harvest celebrations set to the beginning of October.
In this sense, Suo is being harvested. His time at Furin has come to an end. And now he has to return. I made a ‘Predictions about Suo’ post going over what we know about Suo and what’s going to happen with him but to summarize, I think Suo got caught up with the wrong crowd in the past and that past is expecting him to return.
So reapers and scythes it is! Not to mention Suo has also had an ominous connection to the number 4, which has an association with death in Japanese culture. It goes well with the Reaper/ Death theme that might come with a scythe war. Also it's clear in Chinese mysticism, metal tools are the enemy of wood and plants, associated with AUTUMN. I’ve always known Suo would play a big role in the Autumn War, and I predicted there would be an arc about him leaving Furin in the early 200s. The real question is to what extent is Suo relevant to the plot and for how long?
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM SUO'S ARC
Is Suo going to get one arc? Is Suo going to get one war? Is Suo going to drive the rest of the series?
There is some indication that Suo might be related to an icy threat. Suo had an usually ICY GLOW during his moment of regression in the KEEL arc. This might imply some connection to the winter war.
However… As I discussed in my WBK Color Theory post, Wind Breaker is FULL of enemies with blue color schemes. BLUE is generally the color of cold and evil, thus its appearance on Suo doesn't tell us that much. I mean, GRAVEL has blue school uniforms, does that mean Gravel is in the winter army? Sugishita is blue, does that mean Sugi is going to be in the winter army? I am not convinced Suo will be the cause of the Winter War. That honor will more likely go to Umemiya’s Rooftop Savior or somebody from Sakura’s past.
I'm also not entirely convinced that Suo is the center of the Autumn War, either. We might get a half season arc that sets up a big player in the Autumn War, in the same way that the KEEL arc set up the villain of the Noroshi’s Summer War. That said, it's hard to imagine people who could be more powerful than whatever gang is tied to Suo. I assume the next few volumes will be about getting Suo back, even if it pisses off a powerful gang that promises war in return. Followed by a Momose-Mizuki centric side-story that sets up other factions that will appear in the metal war. It’d look something like this and the Fall Saga would last from Volume 27 to Volume 42:
This is assuming the Autumn War is slightly shorter than the Noroshi War. I gravitate towards a Momose arc after Suo's because we just went through a big Momijakawa arc preceding the Suo arc. Momose and Momijakawa have an unexplained close relationship that needs to be explored before getting into any big war-sized conflict. Not to mention we still need to meet the second years. So if the next big war starts on Chapter 300, we might have to wait a full IRL year after the Suo Arc before we see its fruit. This is only a vague timeline of course. But it begs the question, what is this Autumn Saga going to look like?
SCYTHES ARE DIFFERENT FROM FIRE
Fire is an aimless destructive force. Blades are not.
Scythes are tools held by humans, with intentionality Scythes are a human invention, one made from metal that does not naturally exist in nature, or at least not in the form of a blade. Unlike the mindless destructive animal-based threats that came before (Shishitoren, Noroshi), this reaper threat will be something different entirely. In my last post I discussed how Vermileo signals a new type of “Pro-Humanity” enemy is coming, thus I think KEEL is a better model of what to expect, an extractive human institution. One that might even use literal blades! We’ve seen knives used before in Wind Breaker.
The first years were really lucky that the last weapon users they fought were a bunch of wimps. The next weapon-using clan might be on a whole other level. KEEL on steroids, basically, with Suo playing the part of Nagato. That said, They’re more likely just going to use powerful martial arts. Anyone strong enough to put fear into Suo,
Maybe the strongest fighters in the series thus far.
We’ve seen “small-but-strong” clans like Roppo in the past. This would basically be an evil version of that. Maybe based out of Chinatown? Or it could be Suo’s family clan… Or a motorcycle gang he joined in middle school. It’s hard to guess! But if we’re moving in a harvest moon/reaping direction, then now is the time for the knife gang / villain.
If KEEL was the baton gang, the “Reapers” might use knives
However, I’m not convinced the whole team will use knives, it could be a situation where the clan just uses strong martial arts and only the leader is lecherous enough to use knives.
SO WHO IS THE NEXT VILLAIN?
Now we move into the realm of far speculation, if villainy really is moving in a pro-humanity direction then we can expect a hard shift away from Endo. Noroshi loved the madness, hated society. He is framed as the dark half of Furin, the evil half of delinquency.
So the opposite would be:
Somebody who hates brawling. Somebody who hates delinquents. Somebody who hates childishness.
I'm going to assume that most WBK fans reading this know or like Kung Fu Panda, so let's put it this way. If Endo was like Tai Lung, an aggrieved insider coming back from exile. (They even share the same blue flame motif.) Then the king of blades will be like Lord Shen. Decidedly ruthless. Decidedly cruel. Utter contempt for rebels with no honor holding him back. I make the comparison to Lord Shen, because he is a model for how the next villain might be a “pro-human” or "pro-modern" enemy who relies on blades, guns and institutions to flatten anyone in their way. I don't think we’re gonna see guns or swords.
Knives are certainly on the table though. And the only person who can fight a villain with knives is someone who can dodge every attack without a blade landing on them. If anybody can fight a knife fighter, it’s Suo. Whoever it is, they’re gonna be the biggest threat since Noroshi… and this time the odds are against us.
VICTORY IS NOT CERTAIN
History tells us the second war usually doesn’t go well for the heroes, going by the Empire Strikes Back model. Starwars Episode 5 did not end well for Luke Skywalker. And to spoil a 20 year old cartoon, (yes you’re old), Avatar the Last Airbender ended Book 2 with Azula taking the entire earth kingdom and heroes running away into hiding. So my hopes after Nirei’s ominous narration are not high.
The best we can hope for is a pyrrhic victory in the Autumn War. One were maybe Bofurin's allies might succeed, but Bofurin itself is left on its back foot with an incomplete, unsatisfying outcome where they lose something important. I think Azula is an on-point comparison. The villain of the next war might be the second-in-command of the final enemy that represents the cold. This No.2 will deal a decisive blow to Bofurin on behalf of an “Emperor Palpatine” or “Fire Lord” sitting in the shadows. And like The Empire Strikes Back, we might see some cloak and dagger palace intrigue. Perhaps even a proxy war, where their true goals don't become apparent until it’s already too late. In any case, I don't see this ending well for Bofurin.
Bofurin has gotten too many lucky breaks. It’s luck is going to run out. I think Bofurin is going to pull out a victory in the long run, but “the cold” is here. Winter is coming, and before the Winter comes the Fall.
