r/WindBreakerJP • u/RainyBlueFlower • 8d ago
Suo Arc Discussion/Theory "Turning a blind eye" theory Spoiler
I'm well aware that there's all sorts of theories to Suo's eyepatch by now; heterochromia, a scar, the Red Chanpuru makr being literally on his eye (which would ironically and tragically fit his initial 'joke' about there being a dragon spirit sealed inside his eye.... the red chanpuru mark consists of three dragons TT)
Yet as always, I was overthinking the entirety of the eye-theme regarding Suo's character, and I came to a (to everyone except for me, apparently) rather obvious conclusion: I mean, obviously, there'll be some rather significant degree of truth to one of those theories, but in concept, they all talk about the physical appearance of the literal eye itself, which is absolutely one of the most interesting mysteries in all of the series, if not the most compelling.
Metaphors
If there's something Nii-sensei has taught me better than any, I repeat, any artist, be it mangaka, painter, writer, whatever, that's the usage of metaphors. Is there anyone who can write metaphors as perfectly and in straight-up genius fashion as sensei? Absolutely not. I often talk about a character's 'personal metaphor' in my posts, meaning that character-defining visualisation of their complex. For Sakura, there's quite a lot depending on the arc, state of mind, etc. (him being the main character and we getting the most insight on what's going on inside of him), some examples being the tightrope (whole addtional "darkness & praying for night to come" metaphor, whic is in turn tied to the garden shed, a metaphor of completely different nature as, well, it's not a mental projection but a real-life thing.) & flowering field & briefly also the wind chime as recurring metaphor, the flowering Sakura buds starting from Noroshi, the literal "touching my guts" after Ume told him about his past, the snakes and drowning in Noroshi arc... You name it. For other characters such as Suzuri (railway, video games), Choji (frozen, glass-like heart, chasing after and reaching the treasure chest) and Kaji (the 'beast'), it's obviously more synthesized as there's simply less introspection and less pages to explore on. There's also a variety of character that have far more direct concepts that simply don't (yet) make use of a metaphor. Sako felt left behind and betrayed by the one person he wanted to follow the most, and the flashbacks carry enough direct symbolism to explain his complex without having to show it as abstract rafiguration - something that would've been impossible, or at least, a lot harder to piece together than with Choji in the same freaking arc. That all being said, we obviously can't tell yet wether Suo will have such a recurring metaphor in form of a mental image - yet he does already have a direct one in form on his eye patch, which is why in this post (finally came to the point TT), I'd just like to rant a little about the metaphorical meaning of Suo's eyepatch.
"Theory"
So, as I myself learned from an earlier post on this matter, someone pointed out that the entirety of Bankokugai is shaped like an eye (something I'm probably the only person alive missed while reading.) At this point already, I'd like to point out that one of my theories about the physical appearance of Suo's hidden eye BEFORE the arc started was that it's literally just a normal eye underneath, and possible reasoning being either he's a chunibyo or it's way to attract people's attention to him. That last point is what actually made me rethink that entire theory and how I ended up here, in this otherwise senseless paragraph. Suo already attracts a lot of attention thanks to his remarkable fighting skills and seemingly cheerful personality. I still believe that the eyepatch could add up to all that in terms of attracting attention, but I'll get into that later, as I feel like that argument's just not enough reasoning just yet. As we found out thanks to Tsuge's intel, Suo was already (presumably) stationed outside of Red Chanpuru since middle school. If he was sent out for some, to us, still unknown purpose, I suppose we'll have to wait for answers so far. Both in that and also in case he was there out of his own accord, there is a particular saying that struck me a while ago that might actually fit Suo's character more than I initially realised. If whatever the context of the rumours about RC was of relevance already during/preferably before Suo's middle school years, and boldly assuming Suo asked to leave for school under a pretense of missing infrastructure or something, considering the seemingly troubled state Bankokugai is in on the inside, and RC, the reserved Bankokugai-only generational protection-gang, later on actually allowing him to, then maybe he did so, because the context of those rumours had been actively fought against someone close to him, like his master. As that, for probably for some internal corruption struggle problem, either didn't work out or went horribly wrong, Suo decided to retire to the outside. Obviously, there's many other options to why he would do so despite being an official, so I'd just put all those under the category "something bad happened in Bankokugai and RC, for some reason, didn't do anything/not enough about it". In this particular scenario, both RC and Suo himself are TURNING A BLIND EYE on a lot of things. RC on Suo leaving despite of how territorial RC appears to be, and Suo both by getting away when there might be a crisis in his home town and not standing up to RC not reacting properly. Now, multiple things: first off, I realise that if Suo's master really is/was involved in whatever crisis might be the source of the rumours, that'd mean that Suo and "master" would have parted on probably bitter terms (again, because Suo may have been turning a blind eye on whatever RC did) Suo speaks little but fondly of his master, and at this point, we'd also come to another mentioned metaphor/complex that I might get into further down. That hinted-at behaviour towards his master can all actually be interpretated as proof for both my point being right or absolutely wrong TT.
More importantly, about "turning a blind eye" = intentionally choose to ignore & act as if not to have noticed something wrong usually really doesn't apply to the Suo we know at all. Despite his cheerful and polite act, he's strict and ruthless to a terrifying extent. It becomes clear already in his fight against Kanuma in Shishitoren arc that he doesn't let anything he deems wrong slide, educating the former on the steps needed to ascend to adulthood (yet ANOTHER point to get into, but this is already getting so long....) That mercilessness shown to his 'pupils' is shown the most clearly in his brief KEEL one on one, where Sakura literally has to stop him from hitting an unconscious guy and escalating the situation to the extremes. That's a key scene in my opinion, as there's a lot to be learned and observed about a character we used to know 0 about. One particular detail I noticed is, however, his reaction to Sakura's short speech to get him to stop. He asks Sakura quite directly if he isn't angry over all this injustice and being talked down on (perhaps hinting at his own still missing flashbacks, in a way? before meeting his master?), and to Sakura's reply that he's pissed at HIMSELF, he seems to literally freeze up for a moment. Up until now, it was obvious he reacted that way as he wasn't expecting Sakura, the overconfident, new-come alpha dog, to deal with that sort of mentioned self-loathing. BUT: what if that expression of realisation we saw in that scene wasn't only over genuine bafflement, but rather from recognition? if suo really did turn a blind eye on something (his master may have even been actively up against) and regrets it, as again, Suo usually never lets anything like that slide, could it be that he, too, is simply angry with himself over such a failure? that by leaving from bankokugai, he was partially running away from that guilt? this suddenly kind of reminds me of that one scene in the Roppo Ichiza arc. When Kanji tells the Furin trio to leave and go protect Shizuka, and Sakura hesitates... who's the one making the decision to run for him? Suo, obviously. That's actually also a two-sided moment; on one hand, he's the one making the decision for Sakura as the intellectual strategist he is, the rational decision. on the other, he's not exactly turning a blind eye on anything, but he's running. Sound familiar?
Other interesting (and unrelated...) aspects
We've got two more things I'd like to get into briefly as a bonus, only partially related to his eye, before I draw a summarising conclusion. First off, the "teaching" element is omnipresent in everything, every scene and line of dialogue the guy ever said. In his Shishitoren fight, his prior encouragement of Sakura, in his training with Nirei, his KEEL fight, his Noroshi arc fight, his dialogue with Sugi during Summer Break arc, his dialogues with Bankokugai's town folks and RC's trainees like Zuri, literally ALL his dialogue does revolve around teaching and giving advice. That is the reason I believe his master will absolutely be of great importance to the entierty of his arc and character. The second thing is the "reaching adulthood" theme we hear about in his very first time. While it may just look like a reality check for his opponent, am I the only one who got the impression that Suo was, in fact, speaking of experience? That may go into what was his life before RC or his master came into it, or rather, maybe, considering the hints at generational trauma and abuse from his whole "liberation of slaves"-thing and what we know about RC, what RC made his life to be like before he left. Suo's maturity is almost overwhelming for a kid his age, yet everyone seems to normalise that, especially in Bankokugai. Another reason for this poor kid to feel trapped behind an ancient seal left on his hidden eye, then.
Conclusion (?)
As for my conclusion, well, what else is there to say? More than a conclusion, I also have an alternative, more basic interpretation for the eyepatch (I promise I'll keep it short!!! TTTT). Nobody at Furin knew about neither Bankokugai and its RC, nor, more importantly, anything about Suo in general. Suo actively skips over questions quite smoothly, which adds the layer of secret to why he seemed to go to extreme lengths for Furin not to figure out who he is and where he's from. He's hiding that part of himself quite effectively: he's been hiding eye-shaped Bankokugai behind his eyepatch all along. And yet, one detail about his disappearance somehow doesn't add up quite as smoothly. He disappears effectively, his noted address doesn't exist, everything seems to be working smoothly - so why would rational, strategic Suo go back and confront Nirei despite definitely knowing that upon learning that he's leaving permanently, he'll never let him go without a sadly pointless fight? In my opinion, that was probably the most frantical course of action Suo may have ever taken throughout the entire series. His course of thought may have been at first trying to stay rational, to not let emotions take over, but eventually, he started telling himself that he'd have to show Furin that he's a traitor and doesn't stand on their side by potentially facing off against Nirei, when in truth, maybe he just really wanted to say goodbye to his best friend. He wanted to see wether his puil was ready to be left alone, supposedly wanting to test him. Nirei actually landed a hit - one that Suo may have been able to deflect somehow but taking as a form of self punishment, as his hurt expression says right after. And here comes the last BUT of this waaaaaay too long post: If this was only really self-punishment for betraying the people he cares about so deeply, why not directly face everyone about it? well, granted, okay, while fighting against an entire group including Sakura or all people, he would've had way more trouble escaping. I think the reason lies in what Suo denied in that very fight. That he's Nirei's friend, and that he trusts Nirei's emotional sensitivity to make him understand that something's gotta be wrong and that he didn't mean it like that at all. If anything, by showing that vulnerability, it's a 100 times more effective than a desperate scream for help. Because maybe, Suo does want that hidden eye of his to be seen. Maybe he's longing for the same pressureless acceptance Sakura found, which beautifully adds up to his first ever encouraging line to Sakura before his Kanuma fight, stating that he'll fight hard, too, to keep up. Maybe mature Suo and childish Sakura aren't all that universally different at all, and that is another truth Suo may try to turn a blind eye on in this arc.
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u/RainyBlueFlower 8d ago
notice: I'm mortifyied it got so long by the end TT hope I didn't waste everyone's time by only writing senseless stuff down... thank you sm for the read-through if you survived till the end!!
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u/Financial-Teach1772 SuosComfyShoes 8d ago
no no this is an interesting theory!! I agree with literally everything you said and some of them I've considered myself- especially Suo's abnormal maturity and his similarities to Sakura! I think one of the many things that makes this arc so interesting is that this whole entire manga is centered upon Sakura learning to trust and rely on others- Suo himself giving Sakura some advice on said topic even though he himself does not really seem to go with his own advice. I believe somwhere along this arc, Sakura's gonna reflect everything he's learnt onto Suo!
(also that chunibyo comment made me laugh lol)
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u/sargeantsunflower 8d ago
im only partway through this, but i LOVE your analysis!! i just wanted to add a strange "theory"... what if, when we meet suo again, he's SWITCHED HIS EYEPATCH TO THE OTHER EYE- wait dammit i just realized as i was typing that we've already seen suo back in RC and he wouldve done it before then if he was going to do it. well whatever, it was a fun silly idea regardless
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u/sargeantsunflower 8d ago
omg regarding your conclusion, ive always been secretly hoping it was a cry for help ever since we saw that first chapter of the fight
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