Wind Breaker Season 2 ‒ Episode 17 (2025)

In this week's riveting, rip-roaring episode of Wind Breaker, Sakura comes down with a cold. Okay, obviously there's more to it than that, and even as a low-key episode this is a necessary break after several weeks of a massive, major brawl. But it is just sort of funny that a series defined by its peaks of explosive action is now pushing for major moments of characterization via its lead getting laid low with a mild case of the sniffles. It's earned in its simplicity, especially given how basic Sakura's emotional intelligence still is, though maybe that doesn't merit quite the multiple layers of intellectually bludgeoning it into his skull it takes for him this episode.

As with any teenage emotional issues, Sakura's hang-ups with the classmates he's found himself appointed leader of haven't simply vanished overnight. The malady he's letting himself marinate in is symbolic of his own malaise. The irony is that the viewers are shown that he has nothing to worry about before they catch up with Sakura. The whole class is concerned about his whereabouts, and jubilant to have Nirei call him up. When they realize he's sick, it's clear everyone is worried about him. The boys of Bofurin have always been a good bunch, it's in their nature and the premise of the whole series. But it's heartening nonetheless in a story like this to see their hearts of gold shining through for one of their bros. Right away it signals how Wind Breaker is still the dudes-rockin'-est anime to portray this kind of positive masculinity.

That's key for how it interfaces with Sakura facing his own issues, framed by Nirei and Suo seeing how he is at home. Never mind that Sakura's housing conditions call to mind him not wanting anyone to know how he lives—this is a guy who's simply not wanted to know anyone for the longest time. The audience, along with Nirei and Suo, can only guess at what kind of occurrences might have led to his solo living situation for now, but the specifics aren't important. What crystalizes is why Sakura gets so prickly at the possibility of getting close to others. It's not just how he's been shunned for his appearance, it's that he was left alone on a primordial level at this still-early stage in his life.

Seeing Sakura get talked out of that understandable mindset—by Suo, by Kotoha, by Kaji—forms the multi-step arc of this episode. As I alluded to, it can feel somewhat repetitive as they hammer home for Sakura the seemingly clear point that he's not alone anymore. His phone's blowing up with messages and a bunch of lovingly labeled get-well-soon gifts were left at his side, after all. But Kotoha notably acknowledges why Sakura might push against this. Change, even positive change, is scary. Having to break out of his usual routine of simply sweating out his illness himself and be concerned with what his new friends think instills in Sakura not just anxieties, but new anxieties!

The thing about new anxieties, for those that have gotten to feel them in contrast with their routine worries, is that they can actually be kind of welcome as a reprieve from the usual kind of stress. It's scary and new, but also exciting and new at the same time. And new anxieties that come as a result of new connections you're concerned about losing are the kind that can ultimately motivate some forward movement. In his talk with Kaji (on the roof, "out in the open" because Wind Breaker appropriately has the subtlety of a 13-year-old boy) Sakura wrestles with his feelings while making clear that he does want to let himself rely on his teammates and vice-versa. He's scared of weakness and rejection, especially since he thought he'd willed himself past caring what others thought of him. Now having expectations he wants to live up to? New anxieties!

Kaji, simple as he is, brings it home for Sakura and the viewers thanks to the preview point treated at the beginning of the episode. Everyone already knows Sakura's class loves him; even Sakura can see it. These are a bunch of meatheaded fight-boys who have bludgeoned what few brain cells they did have into further submission, so what you see is what you're going to get; there isn't going to be any psychological subterfuge. That can be hard to move on from, but hearing it from someone with a similar mood profile like Kaji makes it go down easier for Sakura. And it's made clear that this was a lesson Kaji had to learn himself before, in the flashback (and whole point of the episode) showing how he heard these teachings from Hiragi when he was but a slightly younger, slightly dumber brawlin' boy.

This all makes for maybe a little long-winded Wind Breaker, but I struggle to think of a way they could have compressed it and welded it to another story bit in the episode without doing a disservice to what's here. The presentation for such a static, talky episode does it a lot of favors, loaded with the anime's trademark cinematic framing and visually luxurious flashbacks. Granted, it will feel like an actual shaggy-dog story if Sakura's hangups continue to distinctively drag him down after all this, but that's a problem to judge for future episodes of the anime.

Crunchyroll's English dub for the second season of Wind Breaker rolled out this week. It brings its surprisingly straightforward treatment for a series where I might have expected a bit more punching-up, in terms of adapted dialogue. The main feature here is going to be the voices for the new KEEL characters in its opening act. The actors avail themselves well of the more manic members, with Alejandro Saab as Natori and Eric Vale as Kongo being standouts in that respect. Though I'm never going to not be disappointed by Ricco Fajardo not even trying to roll his r's as Enomoto.

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Wind Breaker is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

Chris brawls his way through the mean streets of anime reviews, with a close-knit crew of co-writers he knows he can count on. You can check out his stomping grounds over on his BlueSky or see some of the tags he's thrown up on his blog.