Filthy Casual for Life

SERIES SUMMARY

Haruka Sakura wants nothing to do with weaklings—he’s only interested in the strongest of the strong. He’s just started at Furin High School, a school of degenerates known only for their brawling strength—strength they use to protect their town from anyone who wishes it ill. But Haruka’s not interested in being a hero or being part of any sort of team—he just wants to fight his way to the top!

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EPISODE 1: SAKURA ARRIVES AT FURIN

A boy is walking a tightrope in a dream. The breeze is trying to knock him off. The voices of his classmates and various adults are criticizing his looks and calling him dangerous. It the end, they say “gross” in unison and the boy falls off the rope.

Waking up, the white and black haired boy is annoyed. He gets ready for the day and walks the streets in a school uniform. A woman is being harassed by delinquents. The woman starts to walk away but the delinquent grabs her by the arm. The white and black haired boy grabs the delinquent and tells him to stop being lame in daylight. The delinquent takes a swing, but the black/white haired boy dodges. The black/white haired boy proceeds to lay the pain.

The black/white haired boy tells the delinquents to remember his name so the weak avoid him and the strong seek him out. His name is Sakura Haruka.

He begins to walk away. The woman he saved thanks him. He clearly is not used to being thanked. His face turns red. She asks him if he’s hungry. He says no but ends up at her cafe anyway. She prepares him omurice and introduces herself at Tachibana Kotoha. Sakura is on the defensive. He is used to people being afraid of him and bothered by his looks. Tachibana looks at his eyes and Sakura takes it as a sign of aggression. He immediately jumps up and tells her to come at him. Sakura tells her the reason he came from out-of-town was to go to Furin High School where the toughest of the tough go. He proclaims he is going to take the top spot. Tachibana makes fun of him for wearing his uniform a day early. An elderly man gets up to leave and forgets his bag. Sakura calls to the elderly man to hand him his bag. Sakura is weirded out by the town being nice to him rather than judging the book by its cover. Tachibana tells Sakura that he won’t be able to take the top spot as he is. As he gets angry, she tells him to meet the others first and he’ll understand.

Delinquents are tearing up the town. Sakura runs into the large group. It’s the guy he beat up earlier in the day. He tries to ignore him and walk by, but the lead delinquent stops him. The delinquent makes fun of how Sakura looks. Sakura becomes motivated and punches the delinquent again.

Sakura begins to take the whole gang on by himself and is doing a great job at keeping up. Tachibana goes outside to see what is going on and the lead delinquent grabs her and puts a knife to her throat. Sakura kicks him in the head and continues to fight, but realizes he can’t win if he is protecting Tachibana. One of the gang members grabs the knife and slashes him in the leg. Just as he is about to be hit with a bat, another Furin high schooler takes the hit. He thanks Sakura for helping out. The other Furin boys are ready to tag in.

As the Furin boys take down the gang, Sakura is confused. Why are they helping him out? The town cheers are the Furin boys take care of business. Tachibana tells Sakura that the neighborhood was unsafe until Furin came in to take out the trash. The town coined the students Bofurin, the guardians of the neighborhood. Sakura is still confused. He realizes the miscreants he was hoping to find are actually heroes of justice. When a townsfolk tries to help bandage his wound, he freaks out. Tachibana takes over and tells Sakura that she sees he didn’t become alone on his own free will. The townsfolk will come to depend on him. He runs starts running and jumps over the crowd yelling Bofurin is awesome while kicking the head delinquent in the head…again.

THOUGHTS

I think this show is going to be very interesting. It’s always fun to see a redemption arc. Here, we have a boy that was treated poorly simply because he looked different. Over time, that prejudice turned him into a delinquent because that is what everyone assumed he was. In reality, he has a good heart as demonstrated by handing the old man the bag he left behind and helping to save Tachibana. He is not used to kindness and his shyness is understandable. I look forward to all the fighting to save the neighborhood. Will continue to monitor.