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Wind Breaker: Who Are The Shishitoren? Origins And More Explained
Shishitoren has emerged as the rival gang of the Bofurin in the Wind Breaker anime. But what are the origins of this strong group and how are they different from Bofurin?
This article contains spoilers from Wind Breaker anime and manga
Based on Satoru Nii’s manga of the same name, the Wind Breaker anime is the new hot delinquent anime. Featuring interesting characters with great backstories and delinquents who strive to protect their town and its people from foul influences, the anime has emerged as a favorite in the genre. People really like the fact that despite being a shonen story, Wind Breaker is grounded in reality and devoid of any fantastical elements usually found in this genre.
Wind Breaker’s story centers around the group called Bofurin, which the protagonist Haruka Sakura becomes a part of after enrolling in Furin High School. Even though Sakura thought that the school was filled with delinquents who only focused on mindless action, both the protagonist and the audience soon found out that that was not the case. Under the leadership of third-year student Umemiya Hajime, Bofurin is the group of delinquents who fight to protect their town, gaining the admiration of many. However, as the anime progressed, we found out that not every delinquent group is dedicated to protecting the town of Makochi like Bofurin, and the group Shishitoren only values strength and brutality.
Shishitoren: origin and ideology of the group
From the beginning of the anime’s recent arc, it was established that Shishitoren was pretty much the antithesis of Bofurin. The Bofurin members including Sakura first come across them when some members of the other group were chasing a middle school boy from their town. Their first face-off ended with the second-in-command of Shishitoren Togame Jo calling it off, promising another meeting soon. Very soon after that, the leader of Shishitioren, Choji Tomiyama came to Furin High School to challenge Umemiya. His penchant for violence led him to declare five one-on-one fights between Shishitoren and Bofurin members. He also declared that whoever loses the fight has to give up their group.
It is made very clear from the beginning that even though Shishitoren does not involve the townspeople in their fights, their ideology is the opposite of Bofurin’s. They value strength above all and we saw throughout the series how cruel their two leaders could be when it came to kicking out weaker people from the group. Three guys from the group were also seen chasing a middle schooler and hitting him although they were all older. When two of their members lost their fight against Suo and Sugishita, Togame immediately took away their group bomber jackets. It is very clear from their stance that Shishitoren believes that physical strength is the only respectable character in a person. However, from their history with Bofurin, we got to know that even though they always respected strength, Shishitoren was not always brutal and that this change happened under the leadership of Tomiyama.
The members and leaders of Shishitoren
Even though we saw that Shishitoren is a huge group with a lot of members, we only got to see a few in action. All Shishitoren members can be identified with their orange bomber jackets with a black lion’s head design on the back. Sakura and the others met three members of Shishitoren who were chasing after a middle school boy and Sugishita and Sakura beat up one of them. When Togame showed up, instead of protecting his own team, he beat up his own fallen member and took his jacket. Later during the fights, we got to see the brutal nature of Shishitoren as Arima and Kanuma both lost against their Shishitoren opponents and were extremely scared.
The audience also met Kota Sako, another strong Shishitoren member who had a history with Bofurin’s Hiragi Toma. Unlike the others on his team, Sako was more interested in beating Hiragi in their battle and put up a great fight but ultimately lost. After that, we got to see Shishitoren’s second-in-command fight the protagonist Haruka Sakura. During this, we got to see that Shishitoren was not always like this and was a group that valued friendship and teamwork. However, since Tomiyama’s sudden change, Togame also had to change his ways to become more cruel so that the members don’t lose their faith in their leader and so that Tomiyama does not lose his sunny disposition. In the end, he also lost to Sakura but learned a valuable lesson.
Lastly, we met Shishitoren’s leader Tomiyama Choji who thought that being the strongest could make him happy and that is why he wanted to fight against Umemiya. However, during their fight, Umemiya made him realize that much like Togame, he has also lost sight of what’s important in life and made him remember that he used to be happy when he was with his friends but lost it in his quest to become the strongest. Both Togame and Tomiyama’s character development in the last few episodes was amazing.
Shishitoren’s change after their fight against Bofurin
As mentioned earlier, both leaders of Shishitoren realized their mistakes in managing the group after they fought against their Bofurin counterparts. In the 10th episode of the anime, which is also the most recent, we got to see Tomiyama and Togame join the Bofurin guys for some snacks on a rooftop as they talked to Umemiya. Tomiyama asked Umemiya how he is so happy even though he was the top dog, to which the latter answered that he only became the leader of Bofurin because he wanted to spend time happily with everyone and because others chose him as their leader.
His words left a profound mark on Tomiyama and Togame, who after saying goodbye to the other group’s members, decided that they would correct their mistakes. With their friendship mended, these two will focus on getting the morale of their group up again and start to fight for a better cause than just brute strength. In the manga, we also see Shishitoren come to fight alongside Bofurin against some very strong enemies who seek to destroy the school. The history and development of Shishitoren was a great storyline that the audience definitely enjoyed and we can’t wait to see them on screen again.
ALSO READ: Why Are Fans Comparing Wind Breaker to Tokyo Revengers Manga; Here's What Makes Them Similar
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