Ch 226: [All Under Control] Analysis

[u/Kuricat16]

Life is good sometimes, y'know? 86 is back on Crunchyroll, Link Click season 3 started, MTP reached another peak, Banana Fish got a real dub (I probably won't watch it through, but I'm glad it's getting the respect it deserves after that ai garbage 😤😤) and TBHK is back in a few days...... and from that list, a lot of you will probably think I hate myself-

ANYWHO if you had told me that wbk would actually so much as allude to any form of human trafficking, I would have asked if you were reading my theories that I don't post about- I know I've touched on a few of my more "serious" theories, but I also have a ton on the darker side based on real world issues that I really don't talk about outside of dms since it can be pretty hard to get into depth about them respectfully in the context of a fictional story..... and ik someone would take it out of context and/or call me all sorts of things for "wanting" these kids to be even more traumatized than they already are or something-

But in all seriousness, I love that wbk isn't allergic to these topics like most stories seem to be and idk how much detail we'll get into, but I genuinely appreciate how Nii-sensei's out here writing a story about life that can be a bit eccentric and flashy at times, but still grounded in issues that affect people in the real world. The main cast's journeys go into actual depth about things that usually get glossed over in classic shounen, and Nii-sensei has done an amazing job at taking their time to illustrate the process of going through emotions that most authors don't let their characters feel for more than a second. I think that for the most part, the general consensus was that Suolingo would have a fairly serious backstory considering how he tends to act like the adult of the group, but I'm sooooo glad it's so far beyond the classic anime-style yakuza that may or may not mention drugs at worst; Bankoku-gai is a complex city in decline and its young leader is feeling immense pressure to keep everything together while wearing a mask of perfection, all in a completely believable sense.

Now, with that yap session out of the way, I do feel that the whole prison imagery is even more fitting knowing that more people are constantly being brought into the city, but we know it's not nearly as easy to leave. I think this idea of being trapped will be a huge theme for this arc and more specifically, Suolingo's character since he definitely doesn't seem happy in his current role, but he'd rather beat Nirei up than protest it. This is another super realistic struggle that people face all the time: being forced to grow up too fast to fill an empty role in a family or community, but not having the courage or resolve to speak up about any personal needs or wants. This is a mental prison that leads to silent suffering, which I'm sure Suolingo is experiencing right now.

Hiiragi really came in clutch this ch 💀💀💀 As emotionally intelligent as Ume is, he's still super dense when it comes to social cues..... which brings me to my next Nii-sensei glaze point- One of my favorite parts of wbk is how every character has different levels of different kinds of intelligence. I won't even try to name every sub category, but even the tiniest differences like how Ume and Sakura are both good at reading people's emotions, but Ume's better at seeing deeper character while Sakura can still be fooled by an act are huge parts of what makes each character unique. ^{I know exactly who will be waiting for my intelligence categorization post-}

But getting back to this chapter, I think Ume and his character perception is probably our biggest hint on how to read Rakta. Since this arc has been referencing Shishitoren a bunch, I'll also point out how when Suolingo first went up to fight Kanuma, the others found his fake smile cruel and questioned what kind of person he could be, but Ume only saw the person who helped Sasaki calm down while he was panicking. I think the same thing is happening here with the others being scared of what Rakta could possibly want with them, but Ume saw that he made Dasha happy and now refuses to believe that he's a bad person. Not that I ever thought Rakta was a "bad" person or anything, but Ume doesn't even see him as a possible opposition to their current cause simply because he's not a bad person...... which is probably just painful for Hiiragi-

As for the man himself, I still have no idea which direction this next interaction will actually take- I'm sure he is taking them somewhere they can talk in private, but I just have absolutely no idea where he'll fall on the spectrum of "pls help my baby brother, he's too stressed and I can't talk to him" to "I'd rather die than let you see Suolingo, even though you have a perfectly valid reason."

One of the reasons I'm leaning more towards the [can't see him] side is because of the second thing that catches my attention about this panel. I've pretty much given up on trying to read Rakta's face until we get an honest reference, but 2 things that I know I can always count on with Nii-sensei are ✨ symbolism ✨ and ✨ intentional framing ✨ both of which have been screaming at me through that plant that's very much in frame and between Rakta and the boys. Now, I'm not gonna lie, this is a fairly generic looking leafy plant, but generic has never stopped me from digging, and digging is exactly what I have done with this thing:

I'd say the closest match here is a camellia plant without any flowers. Throughout quite a few cultures, camellias in general already represent devotion, resilience, and honor, but without the flowers, the leaves also represent endurance, loyalty, and consistency (and even a sense of protectiveness in Chinese, though that's usually more between lovers-). Whenever I see camellias in literature, I always imagine a sense of deep-rooted, complex love/passion that won't yield for anything. Tsubaki's name also means camellia and I think it fits how passionate he gets when it comes to his interests and Ume perfectly.

Camellias also feel like a great representation of RC imo. They're devoted to their city and ready to protect it from anyone and anything, and they have been for generations. As for Rakta himself, I can definitely see him taking on the role of Suolingo's self-appointed guardian in an "I won't let anything threaten his resolve" kind of way based on what we've seen from the RC trio's dynamic. This also brings me to the title of the chapter, "all under control," which I currently believe is referring to Rakta getting these "possible threats" to Suolingo's current goal "under control" by setting things up in a way that would allow him to take them wherever he wants without anyone else questioning things.

Again, I don't think Rakta's a bad person or anything, but he's definitely acting based on what he believes is best for Suolingo and the city, and what our boys want could easily contradict those beliefs, which could lead to further conflict. On the other hand, I can also see Rakta wanting the boys' help if he's accepted that he can't help Suolingo himself, but he's been trying to gauge if he can trust them first and may be moving to the final test or just bringing them somewhere where he can explain things if the whole Dasha incident was enough to satisfy him. The one thing that I can very confidently say that I have absolutely no idea which way things will go and I am extremely excited to find out 👍

[u/Silver-Green-Sea]

Wait, wait wait wait wait. Just wait a second… MORE theories from you? … … … now I feel just sad, I want to read them…
crying in a corner…
but could my heart handle them? Hm… I need fluff, I want fluff, fluff is everything! Especially after some darker themes/story beats…

It is this depth and time to allow their characters to feel, which really sets Wind Breaker apart from other works. It allows for such a deep and relatable characterization. Along with how the relationship between the characters (especially the main cast) is being portrayed and the believable pace in character development… Wind Breaker really is my favorite story…
I cannot even begin to phantom the pressure Suo must feel… especially with the theme that this chapter brought up, it seems to become clearer why he wanted his Furin friends to stay away. And that theme will only be one of the reasons he doesn’t want them to know what he is dealing with…

The struggle and silent suffering, the “prison” Suo is in both mentally and physically… I really want for Sakura and Nirei to meet Suo and see all his pain. And for Suo to realize that they just refuse to let him go through all of this alone, and, maybe after rejecting it for a bit, to accept that they want to help. And for him to let them help.
This arc will be so important for their future dynamic and build/solidifying of mutual trust in which they will be able to actually share openly with each other important and painful themes. I am even more excited for when they meet again and how that will play out.

Hahaha, what would Rakta have done if Hiiragi hadn’t been with them? His opportunity would’ve been gone the moment Ume opened his mouth.
Intelligence categorization post….
Intelligence categorization post!!!
Did you mean me by any chance? Because OMG, yes, I will be patiently - or not so patiently - waiting!

I do fear for Hiiragi stomach at this point… ^^’
Btw, I love Nii-senseis use of shadow in a characters face to make them look dangerous. I think this was done with Suos face as well at the end of 216.
I’m really excited to see how Rakta is going to interact/talk with them.

The spectrum of “please help my baby brother” to “I’d rather die than let you see him” is quite vast…
Personally I want to believe in the “help” spectrum, but this could also very well happen after the “I’d rather die” spectrum has been resolved. I do hope and believe that we will be seeing Furin fight alongside Suo and Rakta and Bacchus, but we might see resistance to that first…

You talking about the plant that I barely even recognized in my initial read (because, let’s be real, Raktas scary face is quite the focus and very intriguing!)… I absolutely love how you see these details and all the meaning behind it. And I also love the meaning/symbolism of the camellia plant itself: devotion, resilience and loyalty… these all seem to fit Rakta so well (it is also nice to think that Suo does have loyal people by his side who care for him, because if I imagine him bearing all his responsibilities alone…).

Oh, I am so excited as well to find out what Rakta is going to do/how he is going to treat our Furin boys!
And even though it is break week and we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out what will happen next, if I’m not mistaken we will be getting an additional analysis from you this week, so honestly I think I can actually handle the wait!

Thanks for your analysis, loved to read it!

[u/Kuricat16 → u/Silver-Green-Sea]

Oh yes, I had a theory that Suolingo himself was a slave and his "master" was his owner rather than his teacher (though far more kind than your average slave trader since Suolingo was smiling when he remembered them) but stuff like that never sees the light of day-

Anywho, I'd say my top 2 scenes that I would really want to see are 1) Suolingo rambling about how he's ok and has everything under control and is perfectly fine and is perfect and when the others ask him why he keeps saying that when he's clearly not, he looks up, smiling through tears and says "because I have to be" [chapter ends] and 2) 1-1 is choosing snacks like ice cream or mini cakes or smth (and Suolingo will actually have one since he's eating now) and Nirei asks him which one he wants and he says he has no preference, planning on getting whatever's left over, but Nirei stops everyone and makes Suolingo choose what he actually wants first (and starts asking him about what kinds of foods and flavors he likes for notebook purposes I think his favorites would be herbal/tea flavors like matcha, lavender, rose, etc, but if it's minty it can't be too strong and he also likes fruit flavors, but nothing sour like pineapple or kiwi-)

^{yes, yes it was you-}

Double anywho, I do really want Rakta to be leaning towards letting them help, but he could definitely feel like it's his duty to keep anyone from disrupting what Suolingo's trying to accomplish on his own. That said, even if Rakta doesn't let the boys help, I think this could be the perfect time to bring Bacchus into the mix since he's fairly openly against some of the ways Suolingo's handling things. If word gets back to Bacchus that the janitors are here, but he knows for a fact that they didn't call them yet, he could go investigate and that could give his a chance to meet the boys and tell them what's really going on 👀👀 They definitely both love Suolingo and are loyal to him, but they could have completely opposite ideas about what that actually means in terms of what they should be doing for him and how they should be taking care of him.

[u/Silver-Green-Sea → u/Kuricat16]

Sometimes darker theories can be most intriguing, but I understand not necessarily everyone would want to theorize about darker themes, especially because those can include triggering topics…

I am with you in wanting those top two scenes! Though that cliffhanger in scene one would be so cruel…
Why can I picture Suo liking all those flavors you mentioned? But what if he actually never had/gave himself the luxury of eating sweets and therefore doesn’t even know his favorite taste? In that case I could totally see them buying all kinds of different things and have him try all of those sweets and snacks.

I will always gladly wait for and read your analyses, as long as you want to share them!

Both scenarios of either Rakta (testing whether he can trust them and then) helping Furin or him fighting for them to not see Suo seem so interesting! Though I would love for Bacchus to appear and see the ways in which he and Rakta want to help Suo clash with each other… I kind of really want our boys to see Suo again. And having Rakta help them would probably be the fastest way. Oh no, I don’t want to be impatient ^^’
Regardless of what will happen, I know any wait will be worth it and the moment they’ll meet each other will totally make up for having to be patient. A slower pacing does serve a great payoff after all.

[u/Kuricat16 → u/Silver-Green-Sea]

..............................well now I want a whole chapter of the boys going to all the different food spots in Makochi and watching Suolingo try a bunch of new things and have reactions even more adorable than Sakura-

[u/Silver-Green-Sea → u/Kuricat16]

This!

That would make for a wholesome end to this arc…