Is there more to KEEL?
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…
Author note: Thanks for reading. This is basically the KEEL flavored version of what is going to be my Winter War post. That one is going to be more professional, less biased. But that’s way down the line because we just don't have much detail on the later-manga yet. Hell, we’re barely setting up the fall war. In the meantime, I’m working on that KEEL executives post to give you guys an idea of what KEEL deranged senior leadership might look like. Look forward to that!
