This article was originally published on May 7, 2021.
WIND BREAKER tells the tale of Haruka Sakura, a young man who arrives in town to enrol in Furin High School, famed for its rough-and-ready delinquents. What he doesn’t know is that these delinquents are beloved by the residents and known as Bofurin, the protectors of this town. Join Sakura on his journey as a member of Bofurin in this battle-action manga!
To celebrate the release of the first volume, we sat down with the creator of WIND BREAKER, Satoru Nii-sensei, to talk about what they think makes a guy “cool” and their favorite aspects of WIND BREAKER, as well as how it came to be and some juicy behind-the-scenes info!
●Raised on Weekly Shonen Magazine
――Could you tell us what made you decide to become a manga artist? Were there any manga that influenced you when you were a kid?
Satoru Nii:
Ever since I was a kid, we’ve always had Weekly Shonen Magazine in the house. My dad was a regular reader. I think it’s because I grew up reading it, you know. Of all the manga that I read in it, I really loved Rave Master by Hiro Mashima and SAMURAI DEEPER KYO by Akimine Kamijyo. As I was reading them, I started thinking I’d like to create manga myself someday.
――When did you first submit a manga for a contest?
Satoru Nii:
When I was 19 years old. During spring break before I moved up to my second year of university, I drafted the story and then submitted it for the spring Newcomer Award. That’s the first manga I seriously tried my hand at. Everything else I’d tried to make before then, other responsibilities like clubs or exams got in the way, and I just couldn’t quite get there.
――What kind of manga did you end up creating?
Satoru Nii:
I submitted a dark fantasy called Uramareya. At that point, I hadn’t drawn anything other than dark fantasy… my previous serialization was my first time drawing anything to do with modern sports.
――Were you particularly attached to the dark fantasy genre?
Satoru Nii:
I used to love Fullmetal Alchemist [laughs]. When I entered the Newcomer Award, I drew a lot of stuff that took heavy inspiration from the dark fantasy genre.
――Were there any aspects of Rave Master or SAMURAI DEEPER KYO that you took inspiration from?
Satoru Nii:
I think what I liked was that these were stories about “cool guys” doing stuff. I wasn’t really conscious of it at first, but during my last serialization, my editor mentioned that I was really good at drawing those parts, which made me realize [laughs]. Even now, I have the most fun drawing guys who I think are cool.
●The desire to draw something cool
――Could you tell us how WIND BREAKER came to be?
Satoru Nii:
When I was thinking about what to create next after my previous serialization ended, my editor suggested that I create another sports manga so I tried drawing another badminton story.
――Was the badminton theme picked based on your own experiences?
Satoru Nii:
I played badminton all the way from elementary through high school, so because I had that experience, I thought it might be easy to create a story based around it. I couldn’t get it quite right, though… When I started wondering what I was going to do, I watched a lot of movies and anime with cool male characters. That ended up being the base for WIND BREAKER.
――Ah, so that’s how they all became “bad boys”?
Satoru Nii:
Yeah. But, rather than them being “bad boys”, I think the image of them being “boys who fight” is stronger [laughs]. I wanted to make something people can enjoy reading, where all of the characters are cool.
●Drawing your main character should be fun
――Are there models for each character from Bofurin?
Satoru Nii:
There are not. For Sakura, I wanted to make his internal conflict easy to understand from his appearance, so I gave him his distinctive hair and eyes. I designed him so that his monochrome style sets him apart from the other guys and makes it easy to understand that he’s the main character.
――What’s the reasoning behind Sakura’s eyes?
Satoru Nii:
Heterochromia is really cool [laughs].
――Were there any difficulties you faced when coming up with Sakura?
Satoru Nii:
We actually talked about whether or not to make Sakura handsome in one of our meetings. We discussed whether making him too cool would make him unlikeable, how to make him relatable to the readers, whether or not to make him look more like a country bumpkin… and so on. Sakura’s personality and expressions were already linked though, so in the end, I told my editor that I wanted to go with something that I had fun drawing, and they accepted that [laughs].
――How did you come up with the idea for Kotoha?
Satoru Nii:
Originally, there were no plans for any female characters. That made it kind of hard to develop the story though, so I thought about opening the series with a scene where Sakura helps a girl in a tough spot, and that’s how she came about. Someone who’s weak and timid wouldn’t be able to survive in this town, so she ended up being a strong girl who doesn’t back down even when surrounded by rough guys.
―― Is the shopping street that’s part of Bofurin’s turf based on a real-life location?
Satoru Nii:
It is based on a shopping street from somewhere in Tokyo. It’s an area with a lot of old buildings and a strong retro vibe, and one of those big signs at the entrance.
――The cafe with all those plants also left a really distinct impression.
Satoru Nii:
Bofurin’s team color is green, so the area reflects that by featuring a lot of greenery. I thought it would be good to have that link. Shishitoren’s colors are based on the red lanterns you can sometimes find outside bars.
That’s the end of part 1! Come back soon for part 2!
▼Click below to read WIND BREAKER on K MANGA!
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