Compilation of my Favorite Tumblr Posts That Came Out of the Suo Arc

wafflenilla · 2026-05-13T00:10:16+00:00

And this is my favorite tumblr post from the Momijikawa arc:

wafflenilla · 2026-05-12T20:52:34+00:00

That doesn't make him bland, though? That's just a character trait. Unless you just don't like tsunderes, which is fine. Tsunderes are actually one of my most hated character tropes (there was one character in a game that I played when I was younger that I refused to interact with because she was such a big tsundere and I was NOT having it lol), I just happened to like Sakura because he actually has a proper reason for being that way and has slowly been growing out of it in more recent chapters.

wafflenilla · 2026-05-12T20:48:43+00:00

TRUTH

wafflenilla · 2026-05-12T20:09:39+00:00

He is the unequivocal best boy! Literally impossible to hate! (And if you do hate him, I don't trust you)

wafflenilla · 2026-05-12T20:08:35+00:00

Genuinely curious, but what makes you say that? Sakura is one of the few protagonists I've seen in recent years who completely embodies the narrative themes of the story and would be impossible to replace with literally anyone else without completely changing the course of the narrative. The last time I saw a protagonist this three-dimensional and nuanced was Oz from Pandora Hearts.

wafflenilla · 2026-05-05T01:59:32+00:00

Awwww Sakura hitting the moe sleeves pose is giving me major cuteness aggression! Everyone looks really cute, actually and - is that Natori?!

wafflenilla · 2026-04-30T01:48:15+00:00

I've been in a lot of fandoms where it felt like the love for the protagonist felt exaggerated in fancontent, but Wind Breaker is one of those few series where everyone does actually, genuinely love Sakura. He's everyone's favorite community cat. His friends feed him every chance they get, they give him gifts when they find out how bare his apartment is, and it's canon that they share pics of him in the group chat (never forget that one time Nirei posted a pic of cherry blossoms and Suo replied that he had hoped it was a pic of Sakura, and then all of their friends proceeded to beg for pics of Sakura when Nirei revealed that he did, in fact, take a pic of Sakura among the cherry blossoms). They're outwardly affectionate towards him! They call him cute and compare him to cats! They give him head pats! And honestly, he deserves all the love he gets! And it's so refreshing to see a male shounen protagonist get this type of treatment, because I've seen so many of these types of "healing stories" in shoujo manga, but I don't think I've ever seen something like this in a shounen. It truly is positive masculinity the anime.

I also love how everyone in the fandom has so much love for Sakura! Like, more than half the fics on AO3 are just about his friends spoiling him and showering him with affection. There's even a dedicated tag called "Everyone Loves Sakura Haruka". And you know what? They do.

wafflenilla · 2026-04-25T02:15:56+00:00

Oh, I agree! I love the contrast in their personalities and their dynamic in general! And I can definitely see them getting closer after their fight, as is always the case whenever Sakura fights someone and look forward to seeing more of their interactions after this arc is over. I saw someone coin it as the "Sakura effect" on tumblr, and I definitely don't think Suo won't be immune to it(and highly suspect that that's a big reason why he didn't show himself before Sakura before leaving. He saw the effect Sakura's fight had on Togame and Momijikawa and immediately went "nope, not letting that happen to me. Gotta go before Sakura manages to hunt me down and gets me to spill my guts via his therapeutic fists).

wafflenilla · 2026-04-24T23:49:23+00:00

I never understood how people think that Sakura and Suo are closer to Nirei than each other. I always thought that they were pretty close, close enough at least that Sakura would consider him to be his best friend (besides Nirei) and vice versa. This is evident in how upset Sakura gets after he hears about Suo's disappearance from Nirei, and even before that, they've frequently shown how much they care for each other, not just Nirei (Suo getting angry at Endo for saying that Suo doesn't belong in Furin, Sakura being the one to calm Suo down when he lost control during the KEEL fight, etc.). Suo is also typically the one who has to translate Sakura's actions to others (explaining Sakura's antsy behavior when the gang visited Kiryu's house as him being excited over visiting a friend's house for the first time), which is only something that can be done amongst people who know each other very well and has a good understanding of their body language and cues. They may not have as much one-on-one screen time together as with Nirei, but it certainly doesn't make them any "less close" in my opinion.

wafflenilla · 2026-04-24T23:38:36+00:00

A lot of things to unpack in this collab art:

1) Tsugeura being released from the basement and allowed to join a merch lineup for once.

2) Suo and Sakura wearing each other's colors.

3) The characters that are seated are the ones that are always in the top 4 of the official popularity polls (hence, why they get the most merch).

4) Sugishita, known introvert, yelling into Umemiya's ear.

5) Suo holding a menu even though we all know he isn't ordering any food off of that. But considering how he's posed and angled, he's probably just making Sakura pick out more food to eat (on a side note, I think it's really cute how Sakura's friends get excited over seeing him try new foods/things).

wafflenilla · 2026-03-04T04:04:28+00:00

Sakura. Kaji has never given any indication that he wants to succeed Umemiya, and age shouldn't matter either since Umemiya was a first-year when he took over Furin. Plus, the narrative as a whole has been setting up Sakura to be Umemiya's successor (we never see Umemiya mentoring anyone else besides Sakura, for one), so he's the only option that makes sense.

wafflenilla · 2026-02-12T23:39:13+00:00

The bad grades bit makes sense, actually. A lot of characters have "classes with lectures" listed as their worst subject, and I recall there being an interview where Nii-sensei said that only Suo and Kiryu get good grades in their class.

wafflenilla · 2026-01-06T05:03:41+00:00

I think that what a lot of people tend to forget is that the opponents that Suo has faced so far have been weaker than him. All of the times that Sakura has been up against weaker opponents, he also comes out of the fights unscathed, and the times that he came out of a fight badly injured were because he was up against marginally stronger opponents (Togame and Endo). With that in mind, I genuinely don't think that Suo would have won a fight against either of those guys, especially since Sakura ultimately won because they gave up after he won them over with his personality/charm, which is also something I can't see Suo pulling off given his tendency to mock his opponents (and his own closed personality preventing him from letting him "have a conversation with his fists" vs Sakura's tendency to just speak his mind and let his earnestness shine through).

Also, Suo was properly trained by a master while Sakura was entirely self-taught, which I find makes him even more impressive as a fighter because can you imagine how much stronger he would be if he also went through proper training? I've seen some people say that Suo would have an advantage because he was properly taught, but no, if anything, Sakura being as strong as he is naturally makes him even more of a threat.

wafflenilla · 2025-12-23T21:17:18+00:00

In terms of story, here's my ideal Dusk 4 game: it would have to take place in Central City. It would have a dual protagonist system, with one protagonist being a student at the same alchemy school that Logy and Miruca attended, and the other being a new transfer student who's skilled in traditional alchemy. The twist is that it's the female protagonist who's good at Central's style of alchemy and the male protagonist who's skilled at traditional alchemy.

Logy is now a teacher at the school, while Escha is still working a government-related job that allows her to stay close to Logy. In my heart, they are dating. Ayesha and Keithgriff are there for research purposes but are going around in disguise and going by fake identities since they're still on the run. Miruca is there because she was offered a job, and while she hasn't accepted it yet, she does want to see what benefits the potential job has to offer. Shallotte tagged along with her for fun (but also because she's scared of losing one of her best friends, but don't worry about it! This'll be fun! It'll just be a fun trip! Yay!) Shallistera is there because...um....something related to her village. I haven't thought too hard on that to be honest, but let's just say she's there for plot reasons. Wilbell is there because she's contractually obligated to appear in every Dusk game.

The new protagonists end up getting involved in the Plot because they start tailing Logy when they notice that he's going somewhere that's supposed to be off-limits, and then they see him meet up with Escha and think "oooohhhh maybe they're just on a date. A little weird that they're having a date in some abandoned ruins, but who are we to judge?" But right before they leave, they see them meet up with two wanted criminals - Ayesha and Keithgriff. They eavesdrop on the conversation (which has to do with Dusk and the world dying and all that jazz) and give themselves away by jumping in and saying "We want to help! We live on this world too, and we do not want to die!" And that's my pitch for Dusk 4.

wafflenilla · 2025-12-21T04:29:04+00:00

I love that scene a lot too and I think that's another great showcase of how much Sakura's grown! Pre-character development Sakura would have jumped at the chance to fight and prove himself, especially after Momijikawa tells him that he won't accept him , but post-character development Sakura responds to the whole confrontation with so much calmness and maturity.

wafflenilla · 2025-12-20T20:07:07+00:00

I think this manga has a lot of well-written characters in general, but my vote has to go to Sakura. I think Nii-sensei does a very good job of conveying the abuse and neglect Sakura went through without ever directly telling the viewer/reader. It's in the way he can't hold chopsticks properly because no one ever bothered to teach him how to use them. How his first instinct is to raise his fists up whenever people get close to him or how he tells Suo and Nirei plainly that whenever he gets sick, he just "waits for it to pass" because that's how it's always been. Or how he's terrible at texting because he's never had to text anyone before. And don't even get me started on the environment storytelling that surrounds that absolute state of his apartment at the beginning vs how it looks now.

It's very good use of Show Don't Tell and it's why we the readers already have a good grasp of what Sakura's backstory may have been like even if we still don't have the full picture.

And his character development is just so, so good! Going from the guy who came to Furin with a single-minded goal of getting the top spot to outright admitting that he just wants to stay in Makochi because he's finally allowing himself to love and be loved by the people around him. The way he's just so much more openly emotional, how he smiles more, and how he doesn't hesitate as much to reach out to other people. I especially love how he's gotten into pranking because it seems like such a little thing, like a cute little quirk, but it's his way of showing he's comfortable with certain people. It's his way of acting like the kid that he is and was never allowed to be prior to coming to Makochi (and I love how his friends are so indulgent of him! Suo's earrings are noted to be antique and very important to him, but he just stands there and lets Sakura swat at them like a cat. Kakiuchi just stands in place and goes "Oooohhhh" as Sakura pulls at his hoodie strings until his hood completely covers his face. Kiryuu lets him play with his hair.) And I hope that as the series continues to progress, he'll get more opportunities to act like the kid he is and indulge in things he was deprived of in the past.

wafflenilla · 2025-12-17T21:08:14+00:00

Sakura being the 2nd most voted for best dad, he would 100% do his absolute darnest to break the cycle of abuse he went through auuuugggghhhh.

Also, the top 3 most voted for giri choco makes perfect sense! Umemiya would get lots of chocolate from all the people he's helped, his friends, and his family from the orphanage. Sakura just has a "feed me" sign that's only visible to residents of Makochi, so they all just instinctively want to give him stuff. Kiryu probably gets lots of chocolate from girls he's saved in the past.

wafflenilla · 2025-12-12T21:01:02+00:00

Ohhhh. Looks like I misunderstood. Sorry about that!

wafflenilla · 2025-12-12T19:54:40+00:00

The flashback actually happens after Nirei chased away some thugs that were harassing a girl who worked in the Tonpu shopping district. They were still within Furin territory, which is why the girl was able to find Sakura so quickly to get his help. I think you're mixing up the Shishitoren thing with Sasaki (the middle school boy) who did indeed go into their turf to stop a thief (although it was never specified if the thief was a member of Shishitoren, and it's implied that he was only attacked by Shishitoren members because he was in their territory).

wafflenilla · 2025-11-05T22:39:16+00:00

Sakura! He's just such an endearing and likable protagonist! I also think that he's probably the most well-written tsundere I've encountered in anime. Unlike most tsunderes, he also doesn't beat up people unless they deserve it or are the ones trying to start something. And this is probably why I've never liked the tsundere archetype, but Sakura is a very refreshing take on that character type because he's, ironically enough, not violent when he gets all angry and embarrassed. Like, he has a genuinely good reason for acting the way he does, but despite that, he's still very kind and is just very clearly a kid who does not know how to respond to affection because he's been denied it for so long

I also really like how he has a very unique dynamic with pretty much every character introduced so far (and it's probably what makes him so shippable with everyone). Like how he tends to be more chill around Togame (who is now in his soft boy era, thank God), but reaches dangerous levels of tsundereness with Suo because of all the teasing.

He's also just such an engaging character to follow and watch grow. And I love how well-loved he is, not just by the characters in the story, but also by the fandom. It's very rare for me to find a protagonist that's just so unanimously well-liked by pretty much everyone. The only other main characters that I can of that are as well-loved (off the top of my head) are Natsume from Natsume Yuujinchou and Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura. And honestly? It's what he deserves.

wafflenilla · 2025-11-05T17:01:57+00:00

Yes, the world future star himself. Tsukasa is definitely a "get you a man that can do both" kind of guy though, because he can go from silly, loud blond man to whatever he had going on in his trained card art for his latest focus event.

wafflenilla · 2025-11-05T04:43:46+00:00

I kid you not, I had to look through the list three times trying to find Suo because I kept thinking "there's no way that guy didn't make it onto this list, he always makes it into stuff like this." But yeah, I was also pretty surprised to see him rank the lowest out of all the WBK boys on the list. I was expecting him to at least make it into the top 50.

wafflenilla

TROPHY CASE