Haruka Sakura is a tough guy who only values strength. Bullied all his life for his differently colored eyes and hair, Sakura has enrolled in Furin High School, a low rank school filled with miscreants and fights everyday. Sakura’s goal is to become the top dog at the school and fight his way to the top. We see his natural inclination toward fighting when he happens across a group of guys harassing a young woman named Kotoha Tachibana and proceeds to beat them up. When she makes him food at her restaurant as a thank you, she tells him that he can’t become the top fighter at Furin because he is alone and thinks he doesn’t need others. He leaves upset with her assessment, only to be confronted by the guys he beat up, back for another round. When things turn south for Sakura, a group of students from Furin High School arrive, not to fight him, but to save the town from the gang that’s been harassing the area. As it turns out, the students of Furin High School used to be known for their delinquency, but now are known for protecting their town, almost like heroes or vigilantes. Though Sakura is used to people rejecting and ridiculing him for his looks, this town seems to genuinely care for him for helping get rid of the street punks who have been harassing them. Perhaps Sakura has found his place at Furin!
If there are two words to summarize Wind Breaker, they are “decent” and “potential”. The opening scene was actually quite good. Stylized in black and white with sketched linework, we see Haruka Sakura walking on a tightrope while images of social rejection flash across the screen. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Japan, the social pressure to conform or be rejected is no joke. This opening scene captures that uncomfortable sensation, and it actually made me feel something. Then, once the fast and catchy theme song kicked in, I thought I may have been in for quite a good surprise. The rest of the episode after that was… just fine. There was nothing offensively bad about it, but nothing quite as interesting as the opening. The themes of non-conformity and changing how a community can feel toward people who look different is quite good, and personally near and dear to my own heart, but the episode doesn’t quite drive these themes home with the necessary pathos beyond the opening. There is a nice moment toward the end between Sakura and Tachibana about the value of other people, but it’s not enough. I just wish the episode had more of this to really seal the deal on connecting the audience with the main character.
Still, the fights are pretty entertaining, though a little disjointed in tone. At one moment, it is a realistic street brawl. At another, people are flipping a dozen feet in the air. I know this is anime, but I wish they had committed the less stylized, more realistic street-level fights that look like they take place in our world today. But perhaps that unique combination of clashing tones, like the main character’s hair and eyes, may end up attracting a fan base for Wind Breaker. I can absolutely see the appeal of this series for the part of the Japanese market that consists of people who are tired of conforming to the immense social pressure they face each day, which may translate well to the international audience. As for me, I’m curious to see where this series goes. It has potential, and I can see myself watching a few more episodes before making a final judgment call on Wind Breaker.
Wind Breaker is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
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I enjoyed that first episode. While the mighty leap at the end was, odd, the rest of the episode was good in establishing the mindset of our main character and showing off his skills (and the animators as well for that matter). It does set up itself up as kind of a typical shonen style ‘delinquents turned heroes’ story and so I imagine chunks of the series will just be the team doing their thing defending the city and helping people out as the evil forces escalate their attempts to stop them. Nevertheless, they have at least set up an interesting enough story and setting that I want to keep watching. Let’s just hope they don’t start pulling super powers into this because I like the grounded in reality aspect off it, but that leap has me worried.