#noroshi

w(ﾟДﾟ)w (⊙o⊙)

Takeshi's fighting style looks so cool, He's straight up doing the salsa. I understand what endo ment by "I couldn't come up with a word to describe it.

Also, Takeshi and his love for backflips

Keel is a pretty brutal group in its methods, so it's not out of the question to think of threats of hurting friends being made and violence being exercised on the person "sacrificing" themselves. And you remember that Anzai was mad and wanted to find Nagato and fight him but in the end as he learnt everything that was going on they solved it with a regular conversation and a meal.

We ramped up the themes during the gravel arc, we're told about Sunaba district in Makochi, a very poor place where kids basically don't go to school and they end up working shady jobs for survival, both Suzuri and Shizuka are perfect representations of what can happen to people who grow in the same place but diverge later on, Suzuri stayed because he gave himself the role to protect and care for all his friends, no matter what, it kept them alive but it kept them miserable, meanwhile Shizuka got found by Kanji, Who heard her sing, offered her a job and she ended up forming bonds, but Shizuka never told her friends about where she came from and that ended up coming back to haunt them.

Now, Shizuka was aware they were after her, and she was bidding her time because she didn't want to go but she steeled her resolve and was willing to leave with Gravel if they wouldn't hurt her friends.

We're introduced to themes of human trafficking, poverty, corruption of youth, manipulation, social inequality..... So really it's not farfetched to think that Suo's arc could touch on human trafficking, given that Suo's dream is the emancipation of slaves.

Now, Shizuka gets protected, they force a confession of not wanting to leave out of her in full Nico Robin style and then they task the kids to protect her and Tsubaki faces Suzuri, for this one they needed 3 upperclassmen and Roppo Ichiza.

And then Endo showed up, and Endo has all the shady connections and doings he can, however he seems to be able to call off Shizuka being trafficked or deal with the fall out andhe mentions some guy who was behind all this.

Am I crazy enough to imagine that guy could be involved in whatever is going on with Suo and that's exactly how Endo is going to find out about where he is.

We're shown Noroshi afterwards, that we need all of Furin to face, and again we're introduced to self-sacrifice from Sakura this time.

I'm saying, the topper of darkness in wbk seems to not want to get itself into mafia or Yakuza related things, Makochi has plenty of shady gangs, but they stay gangs. I think a mafia or Yakuza would work on bigger cities.

But wbk still doesn't shy away from topic of extortion, torture, human trafficking, duress, social disparities...

I'm just saying, we had a character pushing away a friend so he wouldn't get hurt while he gets hurt for not performing to the gang's liking, a character that almost got trafficked and wanted to avoid her loved ones getting hurt so she tried to offer herself freely, we had a character being told them being there was hurting their friends (Endo was one hell of an asshole) and convincing him the only way to stop their friends from getting further injured was to just leave with him.

And then we got a character who lost everyone in his family, to show us Nii-sensei is not scared to talk about death, to show grief, not because he might kill a main character, but because we might yet have to see the effects of a funeral on another person and without any support in a flashback, because we might be shown more graphic death scenes than Umemiya's parents. Because Momijikawa's arc touched on the topic of suicide, and showed how taboo it is to even imply it in Japanese society but how unafraid Sugishita was to use it, normalisation is important, because it reminded us that Nii-sensei wasn't scared to bring heavy topics, in case anyone had forgotten about Ume being suicidal as a child after his parents death. We might get some more suicide related stuff this arc.

We're definitely getting someone who was previously trafficked, who worked for someone else for years (slavery adjacent) and then got rescued but somehow lost his support system before the main events of the series and is willing to go back after being found in order to avoid their friends getting involved, or perhaps they already threatened his friends.

It seems pretty in line with the topics of Wind Breaker, that's what I'm saying.

If Sakura and Suo do fight, it might be about Suo saying to stop trying to get him back and maybe implying he's not worthy of being rescued or he doesn't need it, and not about how or why Suo left.

Also, while I'm on it, Suo's name not being Suo Hayato or him not existing before middle school, doesn't exactly mean anything bad or him "pretending he's someone he's not", because if Suo was trafficked as a child but remembers his birthday, he definitely was old enough to have a name, a name he might not want anymore depending on how he ended up on the trafficking network, then comes the very likely probability that he was given a number instead of a name for being trafficked, then whoever bought him might have given him a new "name" for his "job" and finally if he got out, because of the meaning of his current name, I do think it was a name probably given by his master, and one he is quite fond of. So again, not necessarily a bad thing, but something Suo knows shouldn't be brought up. A new identity keeps him safe until it doesn't anymore.

you can tell he's a really sweet guy, who cares a lot about Kaji and Sako, and although he's very sympathetic towards Banjo- and offers him a solution to become a better person and stop taking his fights so far- he's still fucking pissed

he's got this dude, a MASOCHIST, sobbing and begging him to stop, and he does not give two fucks because this little bastard hurt Kaji in way that's deeper than a physical beatdown -> there's not ONE badly written character in WinBre, i swear

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: