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WIND BREAKER is a great show, but I feel it wouldn't have interested me as much if not for Cloverworks' animation.

WIND BREAKER is a show that I personally went into without any expectations whatsoever; and I think that is the objectively best way to start watching this anime. It has a simple story, where the protagonist Haruka Sakura wants to reach the top stop of a school that values fighting ability more than academics, and protects the town from any wrongdoings, such as robbery and violence, etc., while meeting many friends that want to join him on his way to the top. This season mainly ... covers the arc in which they are confronted by multiple members of an opposing school, and Sakura and his team, together with the leader and vice-leader of the school, have to fight the top 'students' of this opposing team to not let the opposing team get their hands on Sakura's school. The season ends with a cliff-hanger where another team/school is threatening a classmate of Sakura's to lure in members of the school to fight. That is a very short synopsis of this arc that I made in two minutes with little to no memory of the story, and let's move on.

The animation is mesmerizing, as expected of an animation studio like CloverWorks. They probably put their best animators on this because the animation didn't falter at all during all thirteen episodes of the anime. The fight scenes were nice too, and it at times put me at the edge of my seat to see who would have won in the end (but it's a shonen, there of course was no doubt in who would win).

The characters are alright. they're not unique at all, but they get the job done. Although, Sakura's personality is quite different from the typical shonen protagonist: he's definitely outgoing, but he has a shy side, which is a personality that is not mesmerizing, but usually interesting to watch. The side characters, as I said, have all the typical shonen anime trope: the yellow-haired guy who's not strong but is useful to the team; the chill one who is actually a badass, but this time he's *posh*; a violent guy who hated the protagonist, but now wants to be like him; the vice-leader, who's more normal; and the leader, who literally has Gojo Satoru's VA.

On that note, let's talk about the VAs. They're OK. Nothing stood out apart from the leader's VA, who anyone that watched Jujutsu Kaisen would recognise in a heartbeat. Sakura has Jujutsu Kaisen's Fushiguro's VA, so a very normal VA, and certainly nothing special. The eyepatch guy has Shanks' VA, the yellow-haired guy has Ayanokoji's VA, and the long-haired guy has Tsukishima from Haikyuu's voice. I have to say, these voice actors certainly have very versatile voices, to say the least, because I never would have expected the yellow-haired guy to have Ayanokoji's VA: alas, they are still, from a critical standpoint, nothing special.

To end off this review, I do not want to say this is a mid show, it's certainly not. I really enjoyed this show, and loved most things about it. Although I do think that this show is heavily carried by the animation, it's a good show nonetheless.