“Compared to the pain of losing the things you love, a punch like that feels like a damn scratch.”
I’m not done with discussing Satoru Nii’s Wind Breaker because I adore the character I’m going to talk about.
As some of you may know, most shonen manga don’t have LGBTQ+ characters that are taken seriously. I remember the times where I played Japanese RPGs featuring queer characters/NPCs and they are treated as jokes.
It would be nice to have properly-written genderqueer heroes in shonen series and we have a notable one in a popular series like Wind Breaker, Tasuku Tsubakino. His introduction story is great for many reasons and I’ll get to that now.
Tsubakino is one of the Four Kings of Furin High School, a school of delinquents who help protect the town. When formally introduced into the story, Tsubaki shows up enamored with the protagonist, Sakura Haruka. Readers also learn right away that Tsubaki is a man who dresses completely like a woman and fights with high heels on. His fellow classmates don’t really judge him at all for it. They don’t even mind that Tsubaki is in love with Hajime Umemiya, the leader of Furin.
Tsubaki’s story continues when the former asks Sakura, Akihiko Nirei and Hayato Sou to help him talk to an old man named Ito, who lost his wife, Yui, a year ago. While it seems like Ito is fine, Tsubaki tells his underclassmen that something’s very off and that he feels obligated to help him because Ito and Yui accepted him for who he is.
A flashback chapter of Tsubaki’s childhood days happens. We see him talking about how he always liked cute things that are considered girly. As early as 2nd grade, Tsubaki felt peer pressure from his male classmates to love manly stuff. There’s a scene where he sees a reflection of himself and says “You liar.” in response to a lie he told a classmate earlier about liking cars. Tsubaki then finds an earring on the street and meets Ito, who was looking for the earring as it belonged to Yui. Tsubaki would come to hang out with the Ito and Yui over several occasions. But then came a time where Tsubaki broke down over his inability to fulfill his gender role.
Tsubaki catches Yui putting on lipstick. She then asks if he wants to try it on. Tsubaki is hesitant to try due to his insecurity as a boy, but ends up having lipstick put on. Ito and Yui would compliment Tsubaki, but he cries and says,
“Why? Why do I like this?! Normal boys don’t like having lipstick on! But why do I think this is so pretty that it makes me happy?! I don’t want to lie anymore to my friends and my family anymore. I wish I liked the same stuff as everyone else! I wish I was normal!”
I’ve heard so many stories about gay teenagers who felt so pressured by their families to be straight. They ended up being not true to themselves and ruining relationships along the way. What’s worse is that they often try to label gay as a bad thing because it’s not the norm (especially decades ago). Statements like “Oh yeah, I love sports! I love to hunt. There’s no way I’m gay, right?” are made out of fear. And how do they cope with that dissonance? They hide it all in and/or resort to numbing it with drugs.
Yui comforts Tsubaki by talking about the history of high heels and how they were originally worn by men as a tool of war. She even talks about men using makeup as protection. Ito even chimes it saying that normal is defined by the majority. The couple tells Tsubaki that it’s okay to like the things he likes and no one should give him crap for it. More importantly, they love Tsubaki for enjoying the things he likes. This is what drives Tsubaki to help Ito deal with the grief of losing Yui.
There was a time where I was young and liked “girly” things, but kept it hidden. I was actually teased once by a boy for liking something feminine and didn’t bring it up again. I wonder what if I met some older adults in the past like Tsubaki that I wouldn’t feel bad about being feminine. I also felt more feminine than most guys at a early age and preferred talking to girls. Even though now there’s greater acceptance due to Pride, I just wish I came to self-acceptance of my femininity much, much earlier.
But I do know that people love to change history to create a more suitable narrative much to the dismay of people being stigmatized. All of that for a patriarchal hierarchy that wants to enforce strict roles (i.e. gender) and not give a care about anyone’s well-being.
Another thing is while we talk about self-acceptance, it is hard to do so. It does take other people to tell us how to accept ourselves by accepting us first. When we feel that we’re unconditionally accepted by others, we can take on many things in life with pride. Unlike Tsubaki, a lot of LGBTQ+ youth feel that their mental health isn’t the best and have considered suicide. While help is there, there is still a lot of concern about being outed and having that help vanish as a result because ignorance is still a huge thing.
Readers later see why Tsubaki is one of the Four Kings of Furin for a reason. In the subsequent arc where Furin is fighting to protect a red light district, Tsubaki fights an opponent who feels no joy in life due to not being able to enjoy the things he likes. When Tsubaki puts on makeup during the fight, he says.
“It’s my heart that becomes stronger. When I put on makeup, I can become the person I always wanted to be. I feel so happy and it gives me the drive to keep going. This isn’t limited to just makeup, either. Love itself can make anyone stronger.”
Tsubaki even tries to empathize with his opponent.
“What I do understand is that you must’ve been suffering a lot. That has nothing to do with how we’re born, what gender we are, or if we have everything or nothing!
When times are tough, everyone in the world always believes that what they’re going through is the absolute worst!”
What makes that late statement more powerful is that the image shown with that text was the crying 2nd grader Tsubaki who put on lipstick and had the breakdown over not being normal.
I really appreciate that a character like Tsubaki is visible for LGBTQ+ youth. He’s powerful, full of pride for feminine things, and understands the importance of kindness crushing mental barriers that get in the way of being a healthier self. Even though he still faced discrimination after self-acceptance, Tsubaki has a supportive environment that every LGBTQ+ youth deserves, thanks to Umemiya, and one that I hope gets modeled after.
Finally, about Tsubaki’s love for Umemiya, he makes a grand statement much later in the manga that is pretty much full of Pride.
“I like myself when I’m with Ume. I’m proud of who I am for falling for him. Whether he feels the same way or not, or our genders, none of that matters. The value of love comes from our souls.”
Tsubaki may a King, but he’s truly the Queen of Furin and Wind Breaker. A queen worth inspiring for men who wish to be the same.