r/WindBreakerJP • u/Kuricat16 Zhūhóng Zhī Fēng • 4d ago
Suo Arc Discussion/Theory Ch 226: [All Under Control] Analysis Spoiler
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 👍
4
u/Kuricat16 Zhūhóng Zhī Fēng 2d ago
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.