English Dub Review: Wind Breaker “For a Friend”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Sakura, Nirei, and Suo finish their meeting with Umemiya, the other members of the Four Kings, and other prominent leading figures and join up with Kiryu and Tsugeura on their way home.

Our Take:

What a way to cap off the first season of this surprisingly incredible anime.  In the previous episode, we got a dose of Sakura putting his faith in his trustworthy allies, Nirei and Suo.  More importantly, we see more of the Four Heavenly Generals of Bofurin alongside the other leaders of the different classes.  It was a charming meeting that didn’t add much to the plot but offered more of what the school had to offer regarding the distinction of its classes.

The remaining episode afterward is where things get exciting, with Sakura and his allies encountering an injured classmate named Anzai.  His injuries are caused by a new turf team called KEEL, consisting of guys with white hoodies and blue dragon skeleton tattoos.  Like Shishitoren, the KEEL members don’t mess around in abusing people, but they also happen to be way more dangerous and unhinged than Tomiyama’s gang.  Despite that, Anzai continues to pursue KEEL because his childhood friend, Nagato, is attempting to pay back the members of KEEL.  However, Nagato refuses to leave despite the torment he’s receiving, and from the looks of his expression, he might be pushing Anzai away to keep him from getting involved.

It’s now up to Sakura to help his classmate, bolstered by his promise to Anzai’s other friend, Tsuchiya, to bring Nagato back.  It sums up Sakura’s inner understanding of assisting and protecting those in need, especially a classmate, even though he’s stubborn to admit his generosity.  The show’s second season will center on Sakura leading his Furin team to battle KEEL and rescue Nagato, and from the looks of it, we won’t have to wait too long for that confrontation to happen.  This is excellent news for me and the show’s fans because the season finale of Wind Breaker did an amazing job of getting me excited for what’s next with this heartfelt and rousing set-up. This also emphasizes the series as one of the more surprising hits of the summer season, which I’ll explain further in my upcoming season review.