The Spring 2022 Manga Guide

Wind Breaker

What's It About? 

Haruka Sakura wants nothing to do with weaklings—he's only interested in the strongest of the strong. He's just started at Furin High School, a school of degenerates known only for their brawling strength—strength they use to protect their town from anyone who wishes it ill. But Haruka's not interested in being a hero or being part of any sort of team—he just wants to fight his way to the top! (from Kodansha)

Wind Breaker has story and art by Satoru Nii and translation by Jacqueline Fung. Kodansha Comics has released its first volume digitally for $7.99.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

I'm going to go ahead and blame the fact that earlier this semester I taught Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale for my first impression upon seeing the title of this MANGA Plus the genre tag “sports”: I thought it might be about competitive farting. Sadly for third graders everywhere, that is not the case; Wind Breaker is actually about a school of former thugs who now function as a wind break for the storms of violence around their town. Not that protagonist Haruka Sakura is aware of this; a kid with at least one chip on his shoulder, he's come from another town to enroll in Furin High School specifically because he only knows it by its old reputation of being a real-life version of the schools in the Kenka Bancho brawler games.

While this has all the hallmarks of a mixed message-based comedy, there's a little something more going on for Sakura. The more we read about him, the clearer it becomes that he's got a reason why he's so set on fighting, and it's not because he loves violence. Instead it seems as if fighting is the only way he knows how to interact with people, because he's been teased and beaten up for his appearance (he's heterochromatic and has a shock of white in his hair) for most of his life. He gets very edgy whenever anyone comments on it, and he's always spoiling for a fight…because, it seems, his experience has been that if he doesn't throw the first punch, someone else will. Furin's old strength-of-fist class system appeals to him because he sees it as the only way he can possible prove that he's worth anything, and his anger at the way that this has changed seems to be less actual disappointment and more anxiety that if he can't show that he's a good fighter, no one will ever take him seriously. After never being loved, he's determined that fear is his only remaining option.

It makes for a pretty good first volume, and despite the shift in the school's priorities, it's still plenty full of punching action. Sakura's insistence on starting every fight he possibly can is a little annoying (especially since everyone keeps explaining things to him), but a decent enough job is done establishing that he has issues that it at least is understandable. And there's something sort of fun about the way that the school protects the town is handled, as if they're a thug-based Shinsengumi or something. The art is very, very busy, which doesn't always work, and it lacks the true insanity of something like Blue Lock, but Wind Breaker looks like it could be a solid action series…even if it isn't about competitive farting.

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Christopher Farris

Rating:

If you're one of those saddened by the lower quantity of delinquent manga these days, the type who was excited to see Tokyo Revengers hit it big, might I also interest you in the unfortunately-titled Wind Breaker? Not to imply that this one exists solely to cater to an underserved genre space, since, for me anyway, this first volume of Wind Breaker was an incredibly engaging piece of work pretty much from the first panels. Key to that is the author's efforts at establishing the setting, the sense of place of Makochi Town, right from the beginning. Everything from the streets, to the interiors of businesses, to the tough-guy hero headquarters school our main character eventually makes his way to are filled with personality, packed with details such that the regularly-deployed spreads and their simulated curved camerawork come off as if actually close to bursting. Similarly, the characters therein and their personalities nearly explode off the pages with energy: Primary good fight-boy Sakura is a strong lead whose prior hang-ups due to being judged by his appearance come through in how he expresses his desire to brawl, but it also makes him the perfect contrast for learning about the true protective nature of the delinquent schoolkids of the town. And I gotta come clean that I'm absolutely in love with Kotoha, the cafe owner Sakura first interacts with who's a badass in her own way. As I presume you have to be, at least a little bit, to get by in Makochi.

The idea of 'not judging a book by its cover' is central to Wind Breaker, what with people's appearance-based assumptions about Sakura leading him to the point he is in the story, so it makes sense for that ethos to apply to Wind Breaker as a book itself as well. The initial setup has all the earmarks of a simple story of brawl-based progression up the ranks of the Furin fight-school, which is a fine enough path for a manga devoted to delinquent dust-ups to follow. But things soon take a more earnest turn than you might've initially expected, leaning hard into the 'thug with a heart of gold' mentality usually buried deeper in the principles of these kinds of stories, and putting the kind of community service a group of good-natured tough-guys can do front-and-center. It sets up Sakura's journey to be less about simply where 'true strength' comes from or the potential power of friendship, and more about him finally being accepted by a community that actually cares to try and understand him. It gives the story a somewhat more unique hook within its genre space and makes it feel just a bit more clearly good-natured right up-front.

It also means Wind Breaker can escalate its all-important delinquent brawls to massive multi-person melees pretty much right from the word go, and that's an appealing distinction as well. I will admit that what we have here might not be to the tastes of those looking for more grounded, gritty street fights, what with things like Sakura's propensity for high-jumping Rider Kicks and the like. But what absurdities like that lend instead is a crazy amount of energy, the kind of stylized smackdowns in an opening chapter that get the audience's fists pumping while the characters' fists are flying. I can't overstate how much my reaction to the big group fight early on was to simply yell "Hell yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah!" aloud as I read. Things do cool off a bit afterwards, as the story works on introducing more key characters and setting up the tone of the overall premise. But there are still a few other neat scrapes in-between, and the volume ends on the promise of another bigger badass rumble. Suffice to say, I'm hooked, and totally down for more of Wind Breaker, goofy title be damned.

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Jean-Karlo Lemus

Rating:

Haruka Sakura transfers to Furin High School, looking for a fight. Having been rejected his whole life, he wants to carve out a place for himself with his fists. Furin, with its reputation of being where the dregs of the world end up, seems to be just the right place for that. What he finds is a town that looks up to the students of Furin High, and even considers them their local protectors. For their part, the student body of Furin takes this honor very seriously—and just by wearing the uniform, Sakura finds himself being treated as such by the townspeople...

Wind Breaker is a very surprising twist on your high-school battler manga. The protagonist rejects friendship, convinced that only might makes right. Over the course of the story, he finds himself learning that there's more to strength than just muscle. He's utterly bewildered by people being nice to him or shaking hands with others, and while he never quite loses that chip on his shoulder, he goes from a violent kid itching to fight to a rebel with a cause. The cast is colorful and memorable, and the town of Makochi feels appropriately characterful and lived-in. The fights are violent and stylish, with phenomenal flow and energy in each panel. It's been a while since I last thought of Tenjo Tenge, and Wind Breaker brought that back for me in the best of ways. All it needs is to follow through on this story. This kid's got a lot of promise.