Wind Breaker

From an early age, Haruka Sakura was made an outcast due to his unconventional appearance and lack of social skills. However, the rough treatment turned him into a proficient fighter, which is now the only thing he prides himself on. Starting at Furin High School, where it is rumored that strength is valued over academics, Sakura has only one goal—taking the top spot.

Involved in a street brawl the day before his enrollment, Sakura happens to meet a group of his future schoolmates. Instead of the usual rejection, they fight alongside him, demonstrating that what the school actually cares about is protecting the town of Makochi from any harm—hence why the students call themselves "Bofurin." Surprised by the support and appreciation of the townspeople, Sakura has a hard time accepting their goodwill.

Though unfamiliar with kindness being shown to him, Sakura must learn to push past his discomfort when Bofurin is pitted against formidable enemies. After experiencing the feeling of acceptance, he finds himself fighting for the sake of others for the first time.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sakura, Haruka Main

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Suou, Hayato Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Umemiya, Hajime Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Sugishita, Kyoutarou Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Nirei, Akihiko Main

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Hiiragi, Touma Main

Suzuki, Ryouta Japanese

Togame, Jou Supporting

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Tachibana, Kotoha Supporting

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Kaji, Ren Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Kiryuu, Mitsuki Supporting

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Fukushima, Yuuichi Producer

Uryuu, Kyouko Producer

Tsuji, Toshikazu Producer

Reviews

Jun 27, 2024

Marinate1016

Recommended

Ever wondered what Tokyo Revengers would be like if it were good? Well, look no further. Windbreaker is the best delinquent anime I’ve seen and one of the best of the season. Cloverworks’ latest project has amazing production values, badass fights and cool characters. A must watch for action fans.

Windbreaker is a meathead’s paradise. First episode had one of the coolest fights of the season. Within the first 6 episodes we had our first battle arc, etc. This show has nonstop hands flying and it looks great! The story isn’t the strongest so far, but it’s got a lot of potential and it seems they ... want to focus on developing the MC and establishing his relationships with the side characters first, which I actually think in the long run will be better. This creates a stronger emotional bond between the viewer and characters and even by the end of this first cour, I felt like Sakura was my little brother and just wanted him to succeed. While it’s obviously severely dramatised, I also found the whole concept of Bofurin to be cool. A school gang that just wants to act as a police force and help out the community. There’s no desire to grow into the biggest gang in Japan or dominate the underworld or anything like that. It’s a very wholesome premise and you just want to root for these guys.

Now, just like Tokyo Revengers it does require a little bit of suspension of disbelief to enjoy windbreaker. Police officers, teachers and adults seem to not exist in this world. I mean we’ve seen these kids in school for an entire cour now and I haven’t seen one teacher.. but you know, that aside, good show. It’s a very grounded story that at its course revolves around the MC learning to open up and be vulnerable with people. He’s got the traditional macho guy persona and thinks he can fight his way out of every situation and muscle his way to the top of Bofurin, but what he learns over time is that there’s so much more to being the strongest than just physical strength. It’s about those bonds we form with others that give us the motivation we need to push forward and be the best versions of ourselves. Thanks to the fights in this season, he begins to realise that and it was fun seeing him open his mind to the world.

I think windbreaker is definitely aimed at the ladies somewhat, lots of nice looking guys, MC is constantly flustered and looking cute because of how bashful he is, etc etc. So female shippers and meatheads alike can enjoy windbreaker. It actually almost feels like it was made for the tumblr crowd, similar to Dunmeshi. It’s got a little something for everyone though. Action, ships, just a cool ass vibe in this one that I haven’t really seen.

Cloverworks are known for their fluid action scenes and Windbreaker is no exception, this show looks amazing. The fights are of course good, but I mean even minor scenes like Sakura chasing a cat through an alley are full of Sakuga. I’d be lying if I said that weren’t a big part of the windbreaker experience. If it were done by another studio would it have the same type of reception? Probably not. But, hey, good animation has to count for something in this medium.

Windbreaker is a very fun watch for anyone who’s into yanki or delinquent style shows, wants cute guys doing cute stuff or just meathead action fans who want to see some amazing fight choreography. The story isn’t the most profound, but it was good enough for me to stay entertained and the characters are awesome.

Windbreaker gets 9 out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 27, 2024

ZeroMajor12

Mixed Feelings

TL;DR
Wind Breaker's only good merit is the action thanks to Cloverworks' production, unless you delve deeper into what the anime is about.

If you know me, most of you would be familiar with me pointing out flaws in character detail since they're mostly the bulk of what makes an anime good. Besides that, I'm just an avid fan of action anime, it's just blatantly obvious that I regularly watch them every year. It's one that I felt most comfortable with, one where many greats were born from it, ones that have made me laugh, ones that have made me cry, but it's also one where ... I have a high standard of, and it's also easy for others to fumble with the action genre, most commonly with animation issues, just being still drawings being dragged in and out of the screen that is supposed to be "action" for the audience. And having Wind Breaker on the radar, I had to personally check it out for myself.

I have a mixed view of Cloverworks in general. They have proven that they can produce good new anime series which are pretty popular mangas at that given time, especially since one of my favorite anime was My Dress-Up Darling from Cloverworks, but whenever they decided to make sequels, they would always discombobulate it to ashes just so they would never have to associate with it ever again. At least that's how I felt when they animated TPN S2 and WEP sequels (well to be clear, they were released a while ago, but ever since then I couldn't trust Cloverworks anymore when it came to hyped sequels.) So when Wind Breaker was announced to be animated by Cloverworks, I went on to assume the former, whereas they will be able to bring good production to this anime and likewise, the anime on the surface looks really good. The choreography looks sick, the visuals are bright and vibrant, along with a good 1st impression in general thanks to the OP being quite fitting with what the anime wanted to portray. But even so, Wind Breaker has a long way to go to reach the gold standard of what a good shonen anime should achieve.

First of all, what is Wind Breaker all about? Well, you could see a whole group of delinquents ganging up together to be acknowledged by everyone, foes and friends alike. Sakura Haruka is the MC who yearns for acknowledgment and it's prevalent to see that in him. I hate to use comparisons but you can deliberately see that his ideals are like Naruto's, only with a more juvenile personality. The only thing he knows is fistfighting, punching the living soul out of anyone who dares to stand in his path, a lone wolf who has been ostracized by his peers and community alike, and you guess it, he wants to attain the crown at the top for himself just so he can be acknowledged by everyone. From there, the MC's development begins from a juvenile lonely Go-haired boy to someone who starts to learn what it means to strive for the top seat.

On the other hand, let's not act like this is an uncommon thing. Teenagers being insecure with their own identity is just common to see in any anime whose majority of the cast are teenagers, but it's difficult to find anime that knows how to portray it without relying on too much melodrama or making up plot conveniences. For instance, show flashbacks for 3 minutes to supposedly bring context to characters' backstory or make the main characters say the right thing at the right time which somehow dealt damage to the adversary's psyche. Not to mention being an anime revolving around high school students, you can tell from a glimpse of it, it was going to be about gaining the respect of the community and beating the shit out of others for treating people ill-willed. The anime is another one of those "make your MC scream their own righteous goal in your face and have their adversary be bamboozled by their screaming" kind of schtick. I may sound like I'm criticizing it for an abundance of cliches, but that's not my point. It's not the idea that any anime should try to always be original or do things out of the ordinary in every aspect, some of my favorites have done these things that I am speaking of, but the anime does nothing but feel like it over-relied on the stereotypes for too long that any form of freshness the anime could produce is just non-existent compared to what the anime commonly shoves in your face.

Besides, it's filled with so many character archetypes and cliches that it further cements the point that the anime lacks its own identity and originality. Even Umemiya's character is basically a knock-off version of Gojo Satoru with the same VA. And it's not just him, it's the whole cast themselves for being so one-dimensional and archetypal. Typically, Sakura has the most depth out of all the different characters, given the fact that he's the main character, and I'm willing to say that even the new adversaries that showed up also have some depth to them. Albeit what he has managed to achieve is just a minuscule scale of what a good character should be. It felt like he had barely touched the surface of many possibilities his character could be. And the cast has done nothing to complement each other but rather more like cheap gimmicks just to arouse your attention.

Nirei is a comic relief that also serves as the show's exposition, but oh no, since the writing is so blatant, you'll see Nirei acting like a narrator who doesn't know how to shut up. Suo acts how "normal" Mahito would do without his psychopathic tendencies. Don't even get me started with the show's humor. When you have characters this bland, you'd have a better chance of laughing at a reflection of yourself than this one, it is cluttered with these archetypes playing random quips just to cue for a laugh, but to no avail. Their connections and dialogues are superficial, none of them has any meaning other than to drive the plot to where it needs to be. To add further, I'm not trying to say a show shouldn't put stereotypes, it can be used if done with care and some creativity behind it. The stereotypes that many found annoying need to receive growth or any form of subversion to serve as a breath of fresh air, but because the show rarely tries to do so for the main cast excluding Sakura, you won't be able to see any ideal growth from them either.

Despite the excessive criticism I'm giving to this anime, there is some merit to what Wind Breaker has managed to offer despite its many blunders. As much as it is an action anime, for the most part, it isn't really bad, in fact, I'd say it's pretty good. It follows all of the ideal ingredients that make a good action anime, and as a result, most of its fights are spectacularly good, well for a couple of exceptions, (of course, I'm looking at you, Umemiya). It's nice how Cloverworks still continues to bring lively visuals and slick animation for their new projects and it definitely shows here. Even when you have simplistic characters or some of the most embarrassing dialogues known to mankind, action isn't particularly affected by it that much, so the action shines like a glimmering light on all of its weaker aspects. The pacing is also nice and it didn't suffer from too much downtime, it's straight to the point, and boom, you get a good action anime. Just not that great on the others.

In the end, Wind Breaker, without a doubt, delivers the action sequences, much of what you should expect from an action show. However, it's difficult to recommend this when you have the weakest cast to support a somewhat decent main character. If you can tolerate archetypes or abysmal characters, you should be able to watch this with particular ease. Otherwise, it will be a painstaking gauntlet to get to the good part, since it spends a lot of time on the cast, and it's just a norm for shonen to have an ensemble cast to appear for most of the show, but when the cast is really bad, it can be quite a downer.

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 27, 2024

ST63LTH

Not Recommended

Sakura leaves urban life for a quieter town known for its school of the strongest delinquents. Convinced he has what it takes to climb to the top, Sakura is ready to spend his high school days fighting for supremacy.

Story & Character: 3/10 & 4/10
Delinquent series typically incorporate elements of conflict over territory, finances, and hierarchy. While Wind Breaker includes turf wars, it lacks intensity, with fights ending in trivial ways. The series feels more like a civilized drama than a battle shounen, focusing on character dynamics and situational comedy rather than rivalry. Sakura's goal of rising to the top is challenged by the reality that ... Furin's hierarchy is determined by democracy, not meritocracy, making the story risk-averse.

Wind Breaker attempts to develop characters through conflict of identity, addressing their feelings instead of fostering rivalry. This results in characters with cringe-worthy personas and dialogues, particularly seen in Sakura and his enemies. The delinquents of Bofurin all seem one-dimensional, friendly types, with unique traits limited to unexpected hobbies or quirky habits. The series tries to develop character bonds with witty humor or forced camaraderie through minor events and flashbacks, leading to shallow connections. Ume and Chouji have split personalities that become delusional and awkward when they 'break,' making it difficult to endure.

Art & Sound: 7/10 & 6/10
The art and animation are Wind Breaker's saving grace. The character designs remain consistent, and the fight animations have superior visual impact and fluidity, making them breathtaking to watch. However, beyond this, the average frame is filled with minimal movement and typical comedic art tropes like super-deformed characters or expressive typography. The quality disparity between action and dialogue scenes is jarring but necessary to focus on the more important aspects.

The sound design in Wind Breaker is not too ambitious. There are thematic soundtracks, especially in conflict and comedy scenes. The voice acting suits the characters but lacks expression beyond their personas. Despite being the stereotypical weakling of Bofurin, I enjoyed Akihiko's unhinged dialogues of panic throughout the series.

Overall & Enjoyment: 4/10
The series would have been more enjoyable with a greater variety of characters. I expected turf wars, brawls, crime, and other delinquent activities, but ended up watching a class of truant students on neighborhood watch, rescuing missing cats. A grittier premise and more masculine characters could have enhanced the series, especially with its visually appealing fight choreography.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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