This Week in Anime

Run With the Wind is a Breath of Fresh Air

Your manga or your life. Which would you give up first?

To be fair, he manages to be decently well-groomed, seems to attend class, and we even saw him try to recruit new members to his manga club. He may be the most unathletic character ever to grace a sports anime, but he's a functional nerd who also has his heart in the right place despite it causing him immense physical suffering.

I love that even though the main setup is your typical "we've only got a year but we're going to Koshien!" premise, the real conflict is managing the emotional expectations of a team. Watching the characters give themselves excuses as to why they can't do this, but also internally rationalizing why they're still trying is great. Kakeru in particular is super-interesting not just because he's a ball of freshman anxiety with no idea how to express himself as an adult, but we also the damage caused by having both no expectations for the team and too high standards for himself, all compacted into one character. He's so reluctant to be part of a running team again that he fails to see how his presence could lift everyone up. Even after he tries to step into that mentor role, he still can't understand their position on this endeavor, so he pushes them away again.

He's got a lot of pain and insecurity stemming from his past, and boy does he need to adopt a healthy outlet. We get snippets of how being outstanding alienated him from his team due to a shitty coach. Coaching Tip: if you have a good player on your team, don't give them special treatment they didn't ask for and then berate their teammates for not being as strong.

I'm gonna disagree on this one. While the journey is definitely part of it, I think it's fair to call out just how overbearing Haiji can be. A large part of the show's fun factor early on is watching him force the others into the club, and then force continually harder training on them. Kakeru trying to rush the schedule is a problem not because it's futile, but because it's trampling on the seeds Haiji's sowed that can actually make it all the way. Part of why Kakeru even sticks around is his inability to get a bead on Haiji; he's never seen the guy go all out and doesn't know which of them is truly faster. All Kakeru knows is that Haiji spends a lot of time training these slow runners, yet he's respected by someone even faster than himself.

While everyone else is at varying stages of mental and physical ability with running, Prince's place in the group is pretty much set. He's the strugglebus of the group physically, but mentally, he always makes damn sure he's not the reason anyone else gives up. We'll just have to wait and see whether or not the value of that kind of strength can get through to Kakeru.

With that hair, I don't know why I was shocked when the show told me he spent his nights clubbing, but somehow I was. Like no. You are not allowed to be a successful law student, have a great aesthetic, and find time to go clubbing.

In addition to looking good, I'm also gonna mention the sound design. Everything from the whooshes of wind to the music as they run, and especially the times when it completely drops into dead silence.

It's really cool and totally worth checking out. Especially when they kick into gear and the sweat starts flowing.