These are pretty cool animoose, I suppose

[Anzekay]

There's a lot of interesting allegory hidden in Shu's character and actions, though a few of them are a bit more closely tied to Japanese culture. What his kendo stick symbolizes, and what happens with it, was a pretty impressive bit of writing.

That said, I can see why you'd find him frustrating to watch, though I didn't find him quite that annoying (even if he wasn't the best piece of writing in the show). The rest of it though, honestly, did make up for his shortfalls with the sheer brutality of how they presented some of the core themes.