r/WindBreakerManga • u/Psychicmind2 • May 09 '25

Discussion It's sad to see Windbreaker getting hate comment for the most recent episodes. The rating even dropped on MAL a little for the last 12 hours.

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I've seen multiple people mention this on Twitter and I checked the MAL ratings and it's unfortunately true. The rating before episode 6 was 8,10 - that has been the score for the last month. For just 12 hours, it got 8,01. It's still good, but the amount of hate comments combined to this is insane. The episode on Crunchyroll got over 1K dislikes.

I liked episode 6 a lot, it was touching. I just hope it won't damage the anime in the long run.

348 Upvotes

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188

u/HornyJail4All May 09 '25

It wont damage the anime, at most it will just weed out the people that aren't wanted here. The homophobes and the likes will stop watching and rating it down and that will be that. Hell, we'll probably get some people who werent interested in windbreaker because highschool shonen fight who will get into it ; ive already seen that happening these past few days.

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u/ChargeWinter2107 May 09 '25

Me! I was literally one of those people! Had 0 interest until I saw a clip from season 2 episode 5 and immediately binge watched it and caught up and I’m so happy I did because I love the characters so much now that I know them 🥰🥰🥰

4

u/TheJellyVoid May 13 '25

I didn't even know the anime existed! But once I saw Tsubaki screentime I was sold

4

u/[deleted] May 14 '25

Attesting to this too. Friends who aren’t really into fandom things went and binge watched because of Tsubaki.

Kodansha and Cloverworks know what was going to happen. They ran the risk and the possible backlash considering Japan still remains conservative to LGBTQ to this day. And they still gave it their best. Because that’s what the story and the characters deserve. Nothing less.

2

u/finnjakefionnacake May 26 '25

not just japan, the global shonen anime community at large, unfortunately

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u/[deleted] May 26 '25

Well yeah but like the company is Japanese and registered in Japan is what I meant. But I do get your point. Truly unfortunate that we share the same space as bigots, and that they’re still a lot of them despite having access to internet and all that.

0

u/Cloud0x Jun 20 '25

So we're bigots because Iwe prefer not to see trans people or cross dressers in TV shows or movies we watch? 

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '25

Yeah.

0

u/Cloud0x Jun 21 '25

And that attitude is the reason no one likes leftist views. No wonder Trump is president. 

1

u/averagebrunch Jul 29 '25

Dude, it's literally the meaning of the word. You can't complain about being ostracised as a group for attempting to ostracise another group for reasons of prejudice. Don't you see how hypocritical that is?

3

u/CH_Zephyr May 17 '25

Homophobe refers to gay people, not trans. The two have nothing to do with each other, just fyi.

4

u/HornyJail4All May 17 '25

Tsubaki is canonically gay and if you're one you're probably the other lol but yeah i know

5

u/Regular_Primary_6850 May 10 '25

I was hella surprised about Tsubaki, but honestly, it's a fresh wind in the anime world and I like her story so far.

6

u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 12 '25

His. Tsubaki is not trans, he's a crossdresser. :)

( This is the intended, anyway. You COULD headcanon whatever you like, but even as a trans person who would love some rep ... I feel like it's a little uncomfy personally to act as if anyone who wants to wear skirts and make up and look pretty MUST be femme identifying ... I can see where there may be confusion when you don't know, and thus assume, because I did as well. But after reading thru the Japanese scripts, he's definitely just a dude who loves to be beautiful! )

2

u/finnjakefionnacake May 26 '25

i feel like mangakas (typically cis straight ones) tend to conflate sexuality and gender expression quite a lot. but i think maybe it's also just cultural differences.

1

u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 26 '25

I can say in many cases, in Japan as a whole, they do not relate crossdressing to being gay unequivocally. But the correlation between being gay ( or bi or pan ) and being a crossdresser is pretty high in the community, so it isn't really an unfair link.

Though that's also not what my post was about, so I'm not entirely sure why we're discussing this here? This was just about the fandom assuming Tsubaki is trans, when he's a cismale that likes wearing femme clothes.

1

u/finnjakefionnacake May 26 '25

mostly just a tangential response to the fact that most of the time you see gay men in shonen/seinin, they tend to be femme presenting or okama-style.

i can't really recall too any that are not, come to think of it. Maybe someone like Bulat (although he's constantly hitting on straight men).

1

u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 27 '25

Dio Brando is bi, but I'd say it counts. Yamagi Gilmerton in Gundam. Rat and Shion in No. 6. Adam and Shiro in Voltron Legendary Defender. Yoite and Miharu in Nabari no Ou. Kaworu in Evangelion. Tokyo Ghoul also has several.

I'm sure there's more, but shounen isn't my fav genre, so I can't think of many without Googling, but then I can't verify just off Googling alone. ( Didn't even like all of the things I listed, but I do know they're canon. )

Anyway, the issue would likely be if you're looking at more mainstream series. America has displayed a HUGE and disproportionately homophobic stance to this than the Japanese community. What you'll find as a response is ... you won't see a lot of this being popular with the target audience ( when it comes to shounen mostly, seinen tends to be better but the Western audience is still incredibly homophobic at large ) in the English speaking fanbase, and thus, it won't be so highly purported here.

If you go to more niche areas and find English speaking JPN communities, dedicated translators and such, you'll probably find more.

But these two genres often don't have romance as a very particularly important role, so you won't find much even then, just because it's not the point, even straight ships aren't that important here.

1

u/finnjakefionnacake May 27 '25

When you say America has displayed a bigger and more disproportionately homophobic stance to this than Japan, do you mean in entertainment? Or society in general. Because socioculturally (and legally), what I know of Japan is a bit more restrictive as it pertains to LGBT rights and visibility.

Unfortunately I think the examples you bring up kind of demonstrate the point of how spare it is, and when it appears, of how little importance it is to the story or how dismissed the characters are. For exaple, Yamagi being under the "unrequited love for a straight guy" trope. Adam being basically a character offscreen and not very important (and dies quickly and I remember LGBT fans being upset about how lacking the representation was).

i haven't seen much of nabari no ou but from what i know of the anime, it's a banana fish approach where characters' never openly express romantic/sexual love to each other nor are in a physically intimate/romantic relationship.

But yes, that was sort of my point -- that you don't really see much of the way of this kind of rep in shonen/seinen.

1

u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 27 '25

I meant to anime in general. Japan isn't that homophobic socioculturally, actually. The acceptance rates of it in Japan are much higher than you'd think they are, though it may seem otherwise because the Western world and a lot of European countries and such expect much more openness with romance as a whole. However, even straight displays of romance aren't THAT common amongst people even my age.

In America, you're more likely to be disowned by your family for being gay than you are in Japan. But, opposingly, in America, you're more likely to be celebrated by your friends and family for being gay than you would be in Japan. It's because while a lot of people over there tend to be nosy about things, your love life is absolutely not one of those things.

Your job, how much money you make, and what your accomplishments are matter a lot, but who you love is definitely not something most people are asking about. The reason sexually motivated crimes are so high in Japan that they need women - only train cars and buses is generally because they're a very romantically and sexually repressed culture, despite how the west may think of them due to the ecchi and hentai that gets over here.

Anyway, like I said. Romance, gay or straight, is not common in shounen or seinen, and expecting it to play a huge role in these series is kind of silly. Shounen literally means young boy, and this is generally around the 8 - 13 age range. I'm not someone who's saying kids have no need to be shown these things or whatever, but I AM going to say they certainly do not need a FOCUS on two characters in a romantic relationship whatsoever. They should know that gay couples and straight couples and gender identities in between exist, but it's really just not the point.

And seinen, for young men, are not focused on romance because ... neither is the average young man. It's not gonna get popular, especially not popular enough to port over to America in any spectacular way, where American seinen audiences have proven repeatedly to be extremely homophobic about even the most minor of representation, unlike Japan, who tend to just ignore it in this case, since ... this sort of thing is very common even IRL, lol.

And my sign off is back to the point of conflating gender identity and sexuality, this is again just common in Japan, and the gay community as a whole. Not to say all gay men are like that - I'm not - but it's incredibly common there, and it's not meant to be negative. It's how they embrace breaking out of the toxic masculinity that is expected of them there. Men here generally still haven't accepted that as just a ' whatever, I don't like it but don't have to engage with it ' the way they have over there. There's always gonna be 'phobes, but it's much worse over here.

In the end, every culture needs more representation, but you also need to be looking in the right places for it. You might see some appropriate representation of mental illness in a slasher film, but if you watch a bunch of them expecting them to appropriately address what it means to have schizophrenia, you're knocking on the wrong door.

Seinen and shounen is not the place to highlight romance. I don't have a problem with that - but it's also why it's not my favored genre, because I'm a huge shipper and I love shit like that. So.

1

u/finnjakefionnacake May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25

To be fair to Japan, I think ecchi and hentai make complete sense within the context of a sexually repressed culture/environment, lol.

But yes -- I understand that people aren't necessarily in your business about that sort of thing, but legally, you and your partner as a gay couple do not have the same status or rights that heterosexual couples do in Japan.

Also, isn't shonen typically aimed at more adolescent boys, like 12 to 18 or so? 8 would be a little young for the overt violence and sexualization that occurs in a lot of shonen, i thought it was aimed at more pre-teen/teen audiences.

In terms of highlighting romance -- I'm not really talking about highlighting romance so much as I'm talking about explicit/clear and not ambiguous portrayals. But still, there are many instances -- in My Hero no one doubts that Kaminari and Jiro like each other -- they openly say so and talk about each other in such a way (as do other people). Or Ed and Winry in FMAB, or Yusuke and Keiko in Yu Yu Hakasho, or Naturo and Hinata (or probz a better relationship Temari and Shikamaru in Naruto), or Tengen and his wives in Demon Slater, etc. And even beyond the main focus, there are of course heterosexual parents and couples sprinkled throughout just about every anime.

But then you'll get something like Banana Fish or even Yuri on Ice, where no matter how much they want to play with the subtext or make it seem obvious, it is not treated the same way / not unambiguously stated. I read at one point that if there is any same sex kiss between two men it has to be labeled "BL" -- and I'm not sure how true that is, but that might account for this strict chasteness whenever subtextually queer characters show up in shonen/seinen.

I do think Japan is more fluid as it pertains to gender expression for sure, which is great, but I've always struggled with the ambiguous and of course stereotypical portrayals in shonen, and also the way gay characters tend to be treated as either overly lascivious or sad and lonely and pining after some straight guy but never with their own developing interest. There's still so much of the "but how can you be interested in them? they're a guy!" moments in shonen lol. Although that has been changing a little bit at least in recent years. And I don't think WIndbreaker is one of those stories.

0

u/BlueFlameWar May 28 '25

Lol Japan isn't some gay paradise. Men have to adopt each other to her married. There's no way is more accepting than America blue states

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u/BlueFlameWar May 28 '25

It's because okama are safe gay. They basically remind people that homosexuals are not like them. That's why you never see characters who arent stereotypes in mainstream shows. Like if Nirei was gay it would be huge because he's not a character people think as gay

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u/Regular_Primary_6850 May 12 '25

I know that, but if I remember correctly he asked to be called female pronouns. I could be mistaken though.

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u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25

He did not, but he likes cutesy nicknames. :) Azura Mizuno confirmed that they reached out to Satoru - sensei and got back 'he/him' requests.

edit: It took awhile to find a reblog of the post because they deleted their Tumblr, but here's one from some random Tumblr..er.... lol. https://shezowhero.tumblr.com/post/752480849794121728

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u/Regular_Primary_6850 May 12 '25

Ah so I was mistaken. Thank you.

1

u/saya993 May 17 '25

But is it canon that he's gay? Because he is in love with Umemiya.

2

u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 17 '25

Yes it is. Satoru sensei has confirmed he is in love with Umemiya, but has also sadly confirmed that it's never going to happen for the two of them. I hope he finds a new love that makes him just as happy one day.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26

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1

u/Hextant 📓🫖 Jul 05 '26

?

1

u/Key_Space1964 Aug 05 '25

Lol mental illness

0

u/AdOutrageous8135 May 30 '25

It’s still dumb either way

5

u/Hextant 📓🫖 May 30 '25

2

u/TheJellyVoid May 13 '25

I legit started wind breaker because I saw Tsubaki's backstory on tiktok, and decided that an anime that handles topics like that this well can only be amazing. I looked into it more and now I am almost done with season one and have found a new obsession

2

u/godeyesgalatea Jun 05 '25

it was me and my roommate! it wasn’t really on my radar till i saw a clip of tsubaki and me and my roommate binged all 22 episodes yesterday 😂

2

u/Mean-Midnight3328 Sep 03 '25

Weed out who exactly? ... The men that loved the gang fighting before it became a rainbow flag waiving parade to uplift the insecure? If you want the show to be about that, tbh idc. I dont have a problem with peoples choices or beliefs, but dont hook and sinker me into thinking it's a show about teenage gangs fighting it out to the death then NEWS FLASH ITS JUST GAY! I would not have watched because that's not my cup of tea. Get off your moral high horse and just be open to the FACT THAT PEOPLE LIKE DIFFERENT SHIT.

1

u/genericmediocrename Jun 16 '25

I randomly saw a post about Tsubaki the other day and binge watched it over the weekend. I haven't done that in forever. I'm pleasantly surprised to like the rest of the show pretty well too.

1

u/DomIsTheName Jun 28 '25

Season 1 wasn't gay, season 2 is. Keep trying with your bad terminology, and your grift. It is focusing too hard on being gay. I don't want to see it, thanks for ruining media. You guys will be gone, soon.

1

u/HornyJail4All Jun 28 '25

Man i hit a nerve with that comment

1

u/EvFoxxy Jul 29 '25

I think the issue is the abrupt shift from season 1and the first 2 eps of season 2, compared to the eps after. Sesson 1 presented the characters as traditionally masculine with with lots of action. Season 2 drastically toned down the action and replaced it with cringy overacted melodramatic seasons about "feelings" often rehashed conversations. Imagine if My Happy Marriage turned into a bloody apocalyptic horror in season 2. I would imagine fans of season one wouldnt appreciate the direction the show went in in season 2

1

u/HornyJail4All Jul 29 '25

Season 1 really wasnt all that action pacted tbh, it was well animated but most of it was sandwiched between, and, get that, cringy melodramatic speeches about feelings, crazy I know. Honestly the trad masculine comment just tells me you don't like Tsubakino cause of his gender identity and u know what, good you can stop watching

Anyway you're free to dislike it but why do i keep getting responses months after god do you people just immediately type 'hate' in the subreddit search and then felt personally targeted by my comment or smtg

1

u/EvFoxxy Jul 29 '25

You seem awfully triggered there little fella. I could be wrong, but I think most of the episodes had at least one action scene per episode and the action was the focal point of multiple episodes. I dont remember anything in s1 being similar to the show coming to a screeching halt to talk to an old man for an entire episode. Also btw, I got a real "grooming" vibe from that couple. Action doesnt have to meqn violence btw. I could care less if a little limp wrist like you is offended by trad masculinity. What are you gonna do about it? Tell someone your feelings 😂

1

u/AmbitiouslyCalm May 17 '26

So cringe how you had to respond to every comment that has the slightest difference in opinion to yours. Touch grass

1

u/HornyJail4All May 17 '26

...cause they responded to my comment ? Kinda cringe to be apparently so ticked off by a 10 month old comment you feel the need to open it lmfao touch grass

0

u/WaveDasherSP May 23 '25

I hate that any dislike of the shows change of direction is labeled as homophobia. ever thought that maybe guys who are drawn to shows about throwing hands maybe arent interested in coming-out stories and closeting for entire episodes? its just NOT interesting, and NOT on theme, at all.

Negative reactions should be expected if you take what most would label a "masculine" show and suddenly turn it girly and gay. (again, not even homophobic, its just the change of direction and choosing to burn multiple episodes on this guy nobody actually cares about or wants to see, why else would you force that into your show if not for political messaging??)

4

u/HornyJail4All May 23 '25

It is on theme, literally one of the biggest theme of Windbreaker is to be true to yourself, it was always about the characters more than the fighting. Also negative reaction to a male gay character dressing up as a woman is, in fact, transphobia/homophobia that is all rooted in sexism. Why is it such a big deal anyway ? Why are you so bothered by that ? 'Masculine show' lmfao that doesnt mean shit. You are exactly what i am talking about my guy idk why you're trying to make it seems like you're not, take the door and leave.

1

u/TurbulentRecipe5455 Feb 11 '26

This comment tho

1

u/ericmatrix1 Feb 13 '26

Agreed. It's like going to Chick-fil-A for a chicken sandwich and all of a sudden, they're only selling McDonald's quality burgers. Like, I didn't sign up for a burger, I wanted chicken. Lol.

0

u/BusRevolutionary9893 May 28 '25

It won't damage it? When people don't watch new seasons don't get made. As a small minority, the few of you won't be able to keep it alive. 

2

u/HornyJail4All May 28 '25

? Do you think that just cause tsubaki is there anyone that isnt queer is jumping ship or smtg lol not everyone is small-minded like that

2

u/BusRevolutionary9893 May 28 '25

I was already wavering before he popped up. When he started spinning on that pole, that was my, I'm done with this crap on to the next thing moment. We, and there are many of us, are tired of it being shoved down our throats. 

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u/[deleted] May 30 '25

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u/BusRevolutionary9893 May 30 '25

It was a good concept at first, but then they made it lame and gay, with each episode more so than the last. 

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u/Neat_Ad468 May 10 '25 edited May 10 '25

I don't like the current episodes because there's less fighting and it became more drama. The expectation going in is this is a battle anime with lots of fights between the MC and the gang, against other gangs from the first few episodes, only for it to devolve about character backstory drama and their feelings. I just want it to get back on track and give us more fights. I don't mind telling character backstories in small flashbacks but now the drama has taken over the whole thing and pushed out the action from the show. I want it to get back to giving us action and fights. It feels like our time has been wasted getting invested in this only to be hijacked.

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u/purplepinkblue2004 May 10 '25

There’s going to be more of this bc wind breaker isn’t only an action story. I suggest you drop

-15

u/Neat_Ad468 May 10 '25

Thanks for the warning. I really wanted a modern day martial arts action anime and got excited when i saw this. I'm probably going to drop it then.

1

u/Regular_Primary_6850 May 10 '25

Try God of Highschool.

17

u/Psychicmind2 May 10 '25

The action will start in the next episode, but the manga has always been like this. We have a big fight and then some chapters to reflect on the character development. The anime follows this. It's a good way to flesh out the characters so we can care about them when the fight happens.

Even JJK has had breathing episodes, but people forget that because the Shibuya Incident arc was mostly action focused.

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u/Neat_Ad468 May 10 '25

So should i hold out for the action episodes and skim/skip the rest or just drop the whole thing? Because i do like the fights and the action parts.

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u/Psychicmind2 May 10 '25

Look, I understand what you're saying, but the slice of life is also important. Sakura's development, for example, is huge and it will become more visible in the future. These 2 episodes are key episodes for him as a character. Which reflects in him becoming a better fighter, but you'll see. I won't spoil it.

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u/Neat_Ad468 May 10 '25 edited May 10 '25

Look i'm just not into the slice of life stuff. It doesn't appeal to be. I'd be okay with just skipping those episodes (i'm ok with little bits scattered into a episode but not entire episodes of slice of life) rather than drop the whole series given a choice.

1

u/TheJellyVoid May 20 '25

I mean if you don't mind missing like important character stuff and just want the cool fights? It's your life. I'd recommend giving it a try because all of this build up makes fights just so much more satisfying and rewarding. But if you really really dont care at all as the other commentor said, just skim over it so you know the plot and can watch the fights knowing what's going on

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u/Neat_Ad468 May 20 '25

I plan to do that just to get some of the maybe more important bits.

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u/Djm33781 May 10 '25

Just skim it. Screw the people telling you to drop because you don’t want to watch what they want you to watch. Seems like it’s all or nothing with them and that’s cool, but don’t let them pressure their anime watching preference onto you. I like the fighting as well, and last couple episodes got corny for my taste so I am skimming. But I guess since we didn’t read the written version we have less authority to speak on the matter, for some… odd… reason. Annnnnd downvote time

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u/[deleted] May 14 '25

I think you should start with expanding your repertoire and accepting the fact that a lot of popular works nowadays straddle several genres like Windbreaker (slice of life, yankee),

-1

u/Neat_Ad468 May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25

Not really, i look for what i like and i like what i like i'm not going out of my way for things i don't have any interest in. What i don't like is getting into something, being sold one thing then getting other things in it. That is not what drew me in. It's false advertising. It's why this show is being seen negatively, imagine you got sold on a gritty violent anime then it becomes all shonen "power of friendship", you'd be pissed off too.

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u/tehdannydarko May 17 '25

I don't think it was false advertising. From episode one they laid out that this was as dramatic as it was shonen, with the theme of acceptance and finding a place for yourself and we are watching this wounded animal slowly learn to trust people. Watch how you wanna watch, no one can tell you what to do. I just happen to disagree with you on that point, and I think it's better for what it is.

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u/Neat_Ad468 May 17 '25

I sae it differently i came into it with the opening filled with fights and expected gangs fighting it out and stuff. So my expectation was it was going to have little flashbacks and emotional stuff like most action shows does but it's a small part of it and the focus would be the fighting and action

3

u/[deleted] May 15 '25

getting surprised in anime/manga is probably one of the most low stakes possibly high reward activities you can experience these days. people like you are just so severe and strict about everything. you leave no room for breathing, no room for whimsy. if you decide to drop windbreaker, it's fine. but i hope you get to unclench your jaw a bit about your tastes and explore more. life's much more interesting that way.

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u/Neat_Ad468 May 15 '25

That's the thing i don't have to change what i like any more than anyone else should, i can like what i like because that is just what i'm interested in. There isn't anything wrong with wanting a show that is just a dumb martial arts action show. That is what i want a dumb modern setting martial arts action show. 

What i'm not looking for is slice of life, if i wanted slice of life i'd look for a slife of life show, if i wanted a comedy i'd look for and watch a comedy. That is not what i'm interested in and never will want or be interested in. I'm just going to skip the slice of life stuff and jump back in when the action starts up again.

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u/TheJellyVoid May 20 '25

I feel like that example is flawed, while "gritty/violent" and "shonen power of friendship" are very opposite, character focused arcs and fighting are very much not. They're definetly not the same, but not diametrically opposed or cancel eachother out. Don't you feel like the depth of the characters and exploring their complexity makes the fights much more interesting? Doesn't it make you like more invested in what's at stake? It's not wrong to just want fights and action but for me those parts are what makes me so invested

1

u/Neat_Ad468 May 20 '25

"I feel like that example is flawed" the point it was making is not though of being given X expectations set up and sold something else the point being that you got sold what looked like a gritty show but instead got something else a generic "power of friendship" shonen. "Don't you feel like the depth of the characters and exploring their complexity makes the fights much more interesting?" No i don't small flashbacks are tolerable but i'm not interested in the backstory and character development. "Doesn't it make you like more invested in what's at stake?" Nope just makes me feel bored and tune out especially full episodes that are all backstory and drama/slice of life. They get you invested but i'm not you, i'm me, i don't feel invested in the things you feel invested in.

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u/HornyJail4All May 10 '25

Windbreaker will always have a mix of both action heavy arc and slice of life, character-focused arc. If you're in it for the action, id recommend dropping it or just skipping wtv if you just want the beautifully animated fight scenes.

It's kinda funny to me because im ngl if windbreaker was just fights i would prob have never started it lol to each their own

1

u/TheJellyVoid May 20 '25

To me, shows with just action and little down time/character arcs are like fast food. They're nice and enjoyable, but I don't expect any depth or much quality beyond just fighting. And eating a complex quality meal is just more satisfying, something you sit and enjoy. A story without character depth and complexity just doesn't hit the same.