English Dub Review: Wind Breaker “The Man Who Stands at the Top”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Furin High School’s first-year Class 1 is infamous for its group of strong fighters.  One of the students in the class, Kyotaro Sugishita, becomes furious with what Sakura said and throws a punch at him.  The two begin a spectacular fight, ignoring an aloof Hayato Suo, who’s carefully watching the fight, and Nirei, who’s now panicking.

A tremendously loud voice echoes throughout the school, interrupting the fight between the two young men.  The owner of that voice that instantly changed the mood of the entire school is none other than Umemiya, the Representative of Bofurin.  Sakura and the rest look nervously up at the speakers to hear Umemiya say something completely unexpected.

Our Take:

Sakura’s first day at Furin High School seemed to be going well for the tough delinquent.  That is, until Kyotaro Sugishita showed up to teach Sakura a lesson.  Not liking what Sakura said about being on top, Kyotaro challenges him to a battle.  So much for surviving the first day without any problems.  On the plus side, we did get another brief yet amazing fight between the two tough-as-nails students, only to be interrupted by the school’s representative, Hajime Umemiya.  Umemiya is believed to be the top fighter in Furin High, much to Sakura’s delight, knowing he may have found his match.

But before Sakura meets Umemiya face-to-face, he gets to experience what being a Bofurin member feels like, thanks to his class’s leader, third-year student Toma Hiragi.  Yes, I’m talking about the same Toma who led his Bofurin team to victory in the first episode.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t involve any fists flying, as he’s tasked to perform good deeds and patrol around the town, which doesn’t bode well for the hot-headed knucklehead.  However, their patrol didn’t last long as they came across another territory run by another group, the Shishitoren clan.  This crew is as tough as Bofurin, but unlike the green-coated team, the particular group doesn’t accept weakness.  After rescuing a middle schooler named Sasuke, Sakura picked a fight with the clan’s second-in-command, Jo Togame, igniting an all-out war between the two teams.

Overall, Sakura’s first day at Furin High was quite eventful, but not in a peaceful way.  “The Man Who Stands at the Top” is another entertaining continuation that further expands the series’s world-building thanks to its introduction to the Shishitoren clan.  Additionally, we learn more about Bofurin through its Four Kings, with Toma being one of them, and even Umemiya, who’s actually more cheerful and kind than we thought he would be.  Maybe it’s a way of hiding his true potential as the school’s top representative?