Is there more to KEEL?
So Nii-sensei recently made a shocking comment in an interview stating how heβd 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. Itβd probably include Suzuri, but thatβs a topic for another rant. What I want to hyper-focus on today is a strange aspect of the statement thatβs left me puzzled.
He says βwhy Natori JOINED KEELβ
What an odd thing to sayβ¦ KEEL is a new team and Natori is the leader. Thatβs like saying βSuzuri joined Gravel.β It doesnβt 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 heβs also the leader? There are a few explanations and some are very thought provokingβ¦
Explanation A: Endo started KEEL
This is the idea that KEEL is a suicide squad started by Endo for his naferious purposes. Endoβs 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 heβs visiting thatβs far away and Endo calls it Natoriβs 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. Whatβs more likely is that Endo has some sort of contractual control over it like an investor. As Nii-sensei says, Natori βcame to meet Endoβ and that was the start of the business relationship. So this explanation doesnβt add up. In a recent chapter, Endo ordered some goons over text to find Suo, so maybe theyβre his hunters? Maybe KEEL is his personal crew of βassassinsβ.
Endo just orders βsome guyβ to find Suo and thatβs the end of the matter. βItβs done!β he says. Endo has complete confidence in this person. We all know Natori is smart and likes βchaining people upβ so it wouldn't surprise me at all if Natori was his personal tracker. Thereβs no doubt in my mind that Endo controls Natoriβs 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 thatβs 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 heβs a part-time employee.
Natori didnβt join them, theyβre 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 βfounderβ and join the team? The simplest answer is that he joined a team with no members.
A team waiting to be rebornβ¦
Explanation C: KEEL was revived.
Itβs 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 KEELβs 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, Iβve always thought KEEL might be the final villain of the series or if not theyβll 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- itβs far-fetched. I mean, itβs not like there any other ancient dragon team in the story-
I want you to turn your attention to the Gravel Arc, where Endoβs fame is brought up.. Look how little Suo knows about Yamato Endo.Β
Suo basically says, βI live 2hrs away and even I know Endo.β In hindsight, this was brilliant foreshadowing that heβs an outsider living far away from Makochi. Compare that to his knowledge about KEEL. Despite living far away, Suoβs somehow the one to explain what KEEL is to the group and is the first to call out Anzaiβs beef with them.
Mr. Dragon team is showing a bit too much interest in the other dragon team. Suo claims he doesnβt have all the details, but I donβt really trust the guy who lied about his home address. So letβs take a step back and reframe this from the Red Chanpuru perspective:
Hypothetical incoming:
Letβs say RC has an ancient evil enemy called the βIce Dragonsβ thatβs as old as Red Chanpuru. They have suspicions these Ice Dragons may have returned, but the βIce Emperor" isn't just gonna announce their presence. Instead theyβre 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, youβd be curious.
But again, Suo explaining KEEL might be purely coincidental. After all, everybody in Furin knows what KEEL is. Even the Heavenly Kings!
Thereβs something about this panel that feels incredibly ominous??? Especially since itβs 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. Thereβs something awfully strange feeling about KEELβs absence. KEEL hasnβt 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.πΒ Like theyβre too important to be used frivolouslyβ¦
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 canβt even beat Suzuri. The only way KEEL could possibly be the main villain of WBK isβ¦
Explanation D: KEEL is much bigger than we think.
The only way to βJOINβ 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 didnβt 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? Heβs already a millionaire. (See Explanation A) And Natori has this whole βfear, control, and numbersβ ideology that doesnβt 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 ideologyβ¦ but we now know he JOINED it.
Is there a slough of other characters that share this βchains of fearβ ideology?
Basically Iβm suggesting Natori is just the manager of a single KEEL branch. Heβs like a McDonaldβs franchisee who borrowed money from his tattooβd millionaire friend to start his own location. Itβs very possible the KEEL we know and βloveβ is just one small twig on a very big tree.Β
Natori being a corporate mouthpiece really shouldβve been more obvious. This is the team that represents ruthless capitalism. The joke is - βoh haha, heβs acting like a receptionist at a big megacorporationβ - we always took it as figurative. But what if KEEL really is a corporation? With some Ice Emperor serving as Giovanni. π€Honestly, if this turns out to be true, itwonβt change my feelings on the original KEEL at all. In my mind theyβre a separate thing. Itβs 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 thatβs spot on? What if weβve only seen a small weak group of an otherwise large threatening organization.
WHAT WOULD KEEL CORP LOOK LIKE?
Oh good. Itβs the fun part. Letβs 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. Letβs 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, letβs 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?
Itβs kinda sorta one of the biggest cities in the world. 33 million people. π Itβs 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 itβll be localized to one region of Tokyo. Iβm assuming North, because North = Cold and the final war will probably be winter themed, and thatβs the direction KEEL is from. The fact that KEEL is in the gang positioned north of Makochi is kind of telling. Letβs be conservative and assume thereβs around 100 KEEL Branches, give or take. Enough to command the delinquent βnorthsideβ of the metropolis thatβs 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, thatβs gonna be a fun one.) But theyβd have to be pretty damn strong to control such a large area. Otherwise the managers would just go rogue. Theyβd need two executives for every 2500~ men (25 branches) under their Endo-like influence. (Thatβs 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 βIce Dragons" operating on behalf of the CEO / Ice Emperor. If thereβs one per 1,000 men, I could see there being 8-10 βKEEL Executivesβ
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
α΄΅ α΅α΅ α΅Λ’αΆ¦βΏα΅ α΅α΅α΅'Λ’ Λ’α΅α΅αΆ¦α΅Κ³ α΅Λ’ α΅ α΅Λ‘α΅αΆα΅Κ°α΅Λ‘α΅α΅Κ³ Λ’αΆ¦βΏαΆα΅ Κ°αΆ¦Λ’ Λ‘αΆ¦α΅α΅Λ‘α΅ α΅Κ³α΅α΅Κ°α΅Κ³ α΅αΆ¦α΅Κ°α΅ α΅α΅ α΅Κ°α΅ α΄΅αΆα΅ α΄±α΅α΅α΅Κ³α΅Κ³
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. Thatβs what would be needed to beat this cancerous Tokuryu monstrosity. Sakura is going to need everyone.
The problem is that KEEL has fast recruitment. Itβs 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. Thatβs completely on brand, KEEL is the numbers gang, and bigger groups ganging up on people is what Sakura hates most.Β
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 itβll be a Toman-style biker gang with 10,000 members, I donβt know butβ¦
If the enemy has anything more than 10,000 men, it's hopeless. I genuinely donβt 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.Β Bofurin barely beat Endoβs 2500 goons and Endo doesnβt actually have a real united organization. Ironically, Noroshiβs chaotic nature makes it hard for them to organize effectively. The same is not true for the hierarchy of KEEL.
I like to think thereβs a team out there who hates society more than Endo, so much so that theyβll want to take control of all of Tokyo just to see it frozen in fearβ¦
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 thatβs way down the line because we just don't have much detail on the later-manga yet. Hell, weβre barely setting up the fall war. In the meantime, Iβm 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!
