AnimeNYC 2025: Yuma Uchida charms fans at WIND BREAKER panel

The WIND BREAKER panel on Friday, August 22, 2025, at AnimeNYC 2025 started with every entrant receiving an official WIND BREAKER Season 2-branded plastic band-aid dispenser, a unique and yet thematically appropriate merch tie-in for a series about wholesome delinquents fighting to protect their hometown.

Photos and recording of the actual panel were forbidden, as voice actor Yuma Uchida and CloverWorks animation studio president Akira Shimizu appeared to talk about the show. After a quick highlights reel showing some of the most exciting moments of Season 2 (during which the audience cheered especially loudly for fan-favorite Hayato Suo), the moderator welcomed Uchida and his interpreter onto the stage.

Uchida voices protagonist Haruka Sakura in WIND BREAKER, as well as Megumi Fushiguro in Jujutsu Kaisen and Ash Lynx in Banana Fish, among many other roles. Fans cheered loudly when he sat down at the panel table. It was Uchida’s first time in New York, and he was enjoying the city so far.

When asked about his experience being cast for the anime, Uchida explained that he’d already voiced Sakura in a commercial for the manga, but didn’t know for sure if he’d be cast in the anime, as anime announcements are as sudden for the voice actors as they are for the fans. Still, even then, he “didn’t want to hear another voice for Sakura.” His first impression of Sakura was that he’s an “aggressive guy, but really very sensitive, and very kind. I tried to convey the fragility of his spirit and the weakness that’s also part of Sakura.”

Uchida’s favorite character in WIND BREAKER is Umemiya, and his key line “A fight is a conversation” is Uchida’s favorite line. He believes that someday, Sakura will learn to communicate without fighting.

After several minutes, Akira Shimizu joined Uchida on stage. He described the process of CloverWorks picking up WIND BREAKER as a project (suggested by Aniplex, CloverWorks’s parent company), and the process of choosing Toshifumi Akai to direct. As Shimizu put it, he was impressed with Akai’s work on Fate Grand Order: Babylonia and thought he would be a good choice for a series as action-heavy as WIND BREAKER. Character designer Taishi Kawakami Shimizu described as “still young, but a genius, very fast and efficient.” They did a test animation of a fight scene before Kodansha greenlit the project. 

Both Shimizu and Uchida talked about the appeal of stories about delinquents in Japan. Shimizu talked about how Japanese society has a lot of rules, so kids willing to break those rules to stand up for themselves are appealing. Delinquents in manga always protect and stand up for the weak, and are often shy towards girls. Uchida talked about how most young people are still unbalanced and deciding if they want to go with the flow of society or not, so people who have their sense of self figured out early become called “delinquents.”

The panel played a clip from the fight between Bofurin and KEEL in Season 2. Uchida talked about how that fight was a fight of strength and ideology, and mentioned how sweaty he got while recording. Shimizu said it was very expensive, but it turned out well.

Uchida talked about the difficulties of voicing a very active character that moves around a lot while standing in a small recording booth. The Shishitoren fight from season 1 in particular was very tricky to record, but fun, combining fighting and talking in a way only possible in animation. 

Both Shimizu and Uchida talked about Tsubakino. “Cool and beautiful,” Uchida said. Shimizu pointed out that they’d lengthened the pole-dancing sequence compared to the manga to really highlight her unique skills, and focused on leg movements for her fight scenes. The audience applauded these decisions.

Uchida again highlighted Umemiya’s key line and mentioned that the theme of WIND BREAKER is “conversation… through fights,” as well as the benefits of being part of a community.

The last clip shown in the panel was a compilation of Sakura’s blushes, followed by a quick glimpse at an upcoming CloverWorks projects: Spy x Family season 3, and a new Atsushi Nishigori original anime called Grotesque. 

For more coverage on AnimeNYC 2025, you can find it right here in the AnimeNYC 2025 archive on The Beat!