Wind Breaker Episode 5 Review - Suo Plays With His Food

Wind Breaker episode 5 further proved that this series is making its case for the best new anime of the season. In the land of sequels this spring, Wind Breaker continues to stand out from the pack. It is managing to stay consistent from every angle — humor, story development, animation, etc. — and in this week’s episode, we witnessed fan-favorite Suo embarrass his opponent in the most hilariously disrespectful ways possible.

Our Favorite One-Eyed Gentleman

If Suo isn’t your favorite character from Wind Breaker at this point then I undoubtedly know he’s in your top three. Otherwise, you’re lying. I cannot stress enough how much I was crying from laughing so hard after seeing him embarrass Kanuma and telling him “Congratulations” while walking off the stage after the fight. I understand it was because he learned a little bit of empathy, but I wouldn’t stand for some guy who just beat me in a fight telling me “Congratulations”.

Suo provides a sprinkle of mystery to a series that’s pretty much upfront about everything. Umemiya not even knowing about Suo’s past was a surprise considering he’s the leader of Bofurin, but I like it. Umemiya didn’t care Suo’s past. He just cares that he’s a good person…but I have questions.

Suo’s demeanor is completely different from every other character in this series. He doesn’t share any similar traits with anyone other than his ability to fight. The way he carries himself is something like a high-class butler for a rich family. His fighting style isn’t anywhere close to simply just throwing fists either, which Sakura even took note of. We saw Suo fight, but we also didn’t either.

With his final kick that he times and calculated perfectly before the match ended, Suo proved he’s a hidden beast that is just waiting for someone to just get on his bad side — and I need to see that side immediately. Someone that interests Sakura in how he fights, even somewhat worries him, goes to show how much of a threat Suo really is when the bell rings.

I Hate to Say This…

Shishitoren needs a win after back-to-back embarrassing losses. It sucks to say, but it’s necessary for a few reasons. For one, it makes everything a little bit more interesting and there are only three fighters left for Bofurin — Sakura, Umemiya, and Hiragi. One of them is going to lose and my money is on Sakura.

When we take a look at this from a writing perspective it would be wasteful if the series presents a rival gang that is posed as some sort of threat and completely folds in every which way like a lawn chair. It wouldn’t make sense if Bofurin just mops the floor with them. A win for Shishitoren with just Sakura, Hiragi, and Umemiya left can cause some conflict to arise.

Seeing as how Sakura is fighting Jo, who we’ve already seen is a ruthless monster, there could be an opportunity for Sakura to really endure his first brutal loss, in turn, establishing the long road he still needs to go to reach the top of Bofurin. Not only this, Jo could be on the verge of beating Sakura to death and Umemiya steps in to stop the fight too for getting out of hand, perhaps all of the guys from Bofurin step in (even better).

I need a Black Clover moment where everyone from Bofurin steps in to save their boy as the Black Bulls did with Finral. Imagine Jo is about to land one final blow to Sakura’s head while he’s down and Umemiya, Suo, Hiragi, and Sugishita all run up to the stage to stop him in a flash. This ain’t that kind of series, but Bofurin is all about protecting their own so it would definitely fit, but also for Sakura’s character development sake.

Another reason Shishitoren taking a win is a good thing for the series is that tensions will rise a bit and so will my excitement when watching it, but only if Sakura or Umemiya loses. I think if Hiragi loses to a character we’ve barely seen, and Sakura and Umemiya win, it won’t hit as hard. I’m sure we’ll receive some backstory on why Sako wanted to fight Hiragi, but even then, I don’t think this arc will hit a “do or die” moment with a fight between those two. It’ll further progress Hiragi’s character, which I will love every second of, but for shock value purposes it won’t be there.

The last reason is that I don’t want Bofurin to be this overwhelming dominating force, at least this early on. I need there to be some kinks in the armor. Usually, when the roles are reversed and the antagonist is an overwhelming force so the protagonist has to work towards stopping them for whatever reasons (usually drenched in morality), it works. But when you have an overwhelming force of good, it downplays conflicts. A story needs a threat to the protagonist and right now is a perfect chance to showcase it with Jo versus Sakura.

Wind Breaker Production Continues to Impress With Episode 5

Kaori Akatsu, Taichi Nakaguma, and Naomi Utsuno worked some magic with the animation direction in episode 5 of Wind Breaker. Taito Kawakami did a beautiful job with the episode direction and storyboard uplifting Suo’s fight to much better heights than the manga did, but I need credit to go to the animation team here.

Suo’s entire fighting technique revolved around making his opponent stumble. He didn’t land a single blow in terms of punches or kicks but rather made his opponent dizzy and disoriented from all the tossing and turning. This episode did a beautiful job with the camera angles, animation, and use of 3D space to really grasp the impact of Suo’s fighting style, which is no easy task compared to just other guys punching each other repeatedly with no real rhyme or reason to how they fight. If there’s one definitive term for Suo’s fighting it’s style.

To capture that certain style the way that the animation team did in this episode deserves a round of applause. The entire setting of having the fights on a stage is brilliant on series creator Satoru Nii’s part. But having the animation team really capture that “stage play” feeling with Suo’s fight felt like poetry in motion. Suo and Sugishita’s fights were the types that deserved to be replayed from beginning to end over and over and over. When we’re dealing with hand-to-hand combat, having those kinds of “I need to watch that again” moments makes the experience all the more thrilling.

But it’s almost becoming nothing new to Wind Breaker. The series has shown from the series premiere to the opening that this production staff means business when it comes to showcasing its fights, no matter if it’s serious or even something as simple as sparring.