As a lot of my fellow otaku(s) here know, I'm a sucker for sports anime and manga, but that's not the sole genre I enjoy. Though I might say, I enjoy it more than the others. lol
A few years back, there was this certain webtoon that I have been eyeing. There weren't a lot of chapters available back then, so I decided to save it for later. Fast forward to last month, I decided to start reading it. I remember the title, so I just searched it to check some information, but then another thing came up. It's a manga with the same title and from the looks of it, it was giving me "Tokyo Revengers" vibes.
Both of them are still ongoing but with already quite a number of chapters, so I decided to read both of them and finally caught up after a couple of weeks. lol What I'm talking about are the Webtoon and manga called WIND BREAKER.
First, let's talk about the Webtoon.
WIND BREAKER (Webtoon by Yongseok Jo)
All photos are taken from the WIND BREAKER WEBTOON
The story revolves around the "perfect student" Jay. He is the student council president at their high school and he's a straight A students. He's kind of aloof and doesn't talk to anyone unless it's related to school affairs and studies.
If he's mostly buried under his books, except his way to and from home. He rides a bicycle his late uncle gave him. It's the only thing he does that he actually enjoys.
Everything changed when Minu came into his life. Minu is a student from his school. He is the leader of a certain bike crew who happened to see Jay doing skidding brake from a very steep slope. He wanted to recruit him to his crew.
However, for some reasons, Minu ended up leaving his crew and creating a new one with Jay and other friends from school.
Being a part of the Hummingbird Crew, Jay experienced life and a new world outside of studies. He finally became human!!! Their crew joined a street bicycle race called LEAGUE OF STREET which opened up a lot of secrets including the death of his uncle.
The story is still ongoing, so I don't know what happened fully, yet. However, it's getting more and more interesting and the past has been clearer as each chapter and as the League of Street comes to an end.
I like how crazy this Webtoon is. It's not your regular sports comics as it is much deeper than that. There's also a lot of fist fights and crazy moves, be it bike-related or not. There are also some sensitive topics like mental health issues, drugs, bullying, suicide and the like, so keep that in mind before deciding to read it.
On the brighter side, it depicts how awesome it is to have a circle of friends who are willing to give up even their own life to save you. I literally cried a bunch of times reading this Webtoon. The struggles they faced are relatable, but so are the support and love they had for one another. And oh, there's a pinch of romance and comedy in this series, too!
Feel free to read it on Webtoon site or the app. It's for free, unless you want to buy the advance chapters. :)
Now, let's talk about the manga...
WIND BREAKER (Manga by Satoru Nii)
All photos are screenshots from the manga...
As I was searching for the Wind Breaker webtoon, I stumbled upon this manga of the same title. It caught my attention because of the great art style and the vibes I'm getting from it. It reminds me of Tokyo Revengers for some reasons.
In this manga, Sakura Haruka, the main character, has nothing to do with weaklings. He's only interested in the strong and becoming the strongest. So, he decided to go to a town where the high school of his choice, FUURIN High is located.
The photo above is practically the reason why he wanted to go to this particular school. This was his expectation. He wanted to be at the top of this school. However, when he arrived, it was quite different from what he had expected.
Instead of being the social dropouts, the students of FUURIN high were considered heroes in the town. They were called BOFURIN which means WIND BREAKER by the residents. They live by protecting the town and its people from any kinds of destructions. They get along very well with the townspeople and Sakura found it extremely awkward.
Despite it being different from what he expected, he tried to stay true to himself and aims to fight his way to the top.
So far, it has more than 130 chapters, but every chapter was so exciting to read. I couldn't stop and couldn't wait for the upcoming ones. Who would have thought that there'd be really kind delinquents? Earlier I said that it reminded me of Tokyo Revengers because of the fact that they're a gang and all, but the gang here has a really good purpose.
I also like how accepting and supportive the townspeople are. They don't judge delinquents by their appearance which is pretty heartwarming. It also has a Gokusen vibes to it, though there's no Yankumi-sensei in this manga.
As I was talking with my senpai about anime and the like, I told him how I enjoyed this manga recently and he told me that they're actually going to animate it next season starting April. I was so happy to know it and am excited to see Sakura and the rest of BOFURIN in action!
Of course, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the manga as well!
And that, my otaku friends, was how I fell in love with a Webtoon and a manga of the same title. So if you're interested, feel free to read them as well. The Webtoon has almost 500 chapters while the manga has more than 130 chapters. I had to work, so I caught up with them in two weeks. It's a long read, but so worth it!